CHAPTER IX. 

 A Desert March to Kuchar. 



Kashgar is the chief city of Southern Chinese Turkistan, and 

 from a pohtical standpoint enjoys considerable importance, 

 while since the Russians have accorded increased trade facilities 

 to merchants from Russian Turkistan it has assumed greater 

 prominence. The roads leading from the city to points on the 

 Russian Central Asian Railway present no serious obstacles, so 

 that trade prospers under the circumstances. 



Kashgar is similar to Yarkand, though its population is less, 

 amounting to 35,000 or 40,000 in all. The province of Kashgaria 

 has passed through troublous times, and been the scene of war 

 and tumult which, as I remarked in the case of Yarkand, has 

 left its mark upon the people. 



Prior to the revolt under Yakub Beg in the sixties of last 

 century, the country had been devastated by constant rebellion 

 against the Chinese, first one side and then the other gaining 

 control. In 1877 the province again came under Chinese domina- 

 tion, and has since remained so. The Kashgarians possess no 

 martial qualities, and as they have neither the power nor inclina- 

 tion to rule themselves, or leaders amongst them capable of 

 conducting a revolution, are content to remain under Chinese 

 government as being the lesser of two evils, since they are not 

 unduly harassed and allowed to go their own way. The people 

 rest happy in their present condition, showing no desire to im- 

 prove it, and even were a change to ensue it would probably 

 not concern them. 



China appears desirous of consolidating her power, and 

 since the Russo-Japanese War is awakening to a sense of her 



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