THE PRINCE OF ALA-SHAN AND HIS FAMILY. 243 



princes, and g-overns Ala-shan on the principles of 

 mediaeval feudalism. By origin a Mongol, this 

 prince has become quite a Chinese, the more so on 

 account of his family ties with the Imperial house, 

 having received in marriage one of the princesses, 

 A few years ago his wife died, and he now lives 

 with concubines. 



The prince himself is a man of forty, with a good- 

 looking face, but rather pale, owing to his being 

 addicted to smoking opium. In character he is 

 corrupt and despotic to the last degree. The grati- 

 fication of a whim, a sudden outburst of passion, or 

 the desire for revenge, override the dictates of calm 

 j"udgment and discretion ; in fact his own sweet will 

 replaces every law and is implicitly obeyed without 

 the slightest opposition from anybody. But the 

 same system prevails throughout the whole of Mon- 

 golia and China. Nothing but the ignorance of the 

 masses could allow such a state of society to continue, 

 which under other circumstances would inevitably 

 lead to the dismemberment of the empire. 



The prince of Ala-shan passes all his time in the 

 seclusion of his house, smoking opium, and never 

 appears in the streets ; formerly he used occasionally 

 to visit Peking, but the insurrection of the Dungans 

 put an end to these journeys. 



The Amban has three full-grown sons, the eldest 

 of whom will be his heir ; the second has entered 

 the monastic order ; and the youngest, by name 

 Siya^ has no fixed profession. 



' The name and title of this prince, as he wrote it himself in my 



R 2 



