NOTES. 



The following Note, translated from the Russian, pur- 

 ports to be an extract from the Diary of a Chinese Exile at 

 Urumchi. Although this place is only incidentally men- 

 tioned in the preceding narrative, I have nevertheless 

 thought it worth while inserting, the more so, because, from 

 a letter lately received from Colonel' Prejevalsky, I learn 

 that his next expedition, to start in March 1876, will be 

 directed to the Eastern Thian Shan and Kuldja, whence he 

 w'ill try to penetrate to Lob-nor and Northern Tibet. 

 Urumchi would, therefore, lie so near his route that doubt- 

 less it will be visited by him. 



Urumchi, or Urumtsi, the Bish-balik of the Middle 

 Ages, has played an important part in history. Its ad- 

 vantageous position at the northern foot of a chain of the 

 Eastern Thian Shan, dividing Dzungaria from Eastern 

 Turkestan, always enabled it to recover rapidly from the 

 wars which destroyed its less fortunate neighbours. Its 

 district is fertile and its water and pasturage abundant. 

 The first mention of Urumchi dates from the period of the 

 establishment of the Chinese empire in the extreme north- 

 west during the Tang dynasty (a.D. 646). Its district, with 

 that of the neighbouring Barkul, became dependent on the 

 government of the province of Kan-su, from which, however, 

 it was separated by the Great Desert of Gobi. 



When the Uigurs forsook their homes on the banks of 

 the Orkhon, the Tola, and the Selenga, they settled here ; 

 and the ruins still remaining in the vicinity of the town 

 probably date from that period. After the Mongols were 



