THE SEEDS OF DISSENSION. 211 



CHAPTER XIX. 



KULJA. 



Yakub Khan — Internal disorder in Kulja in the 'Sixties — Eussian inter- 

 ference — A ghastly holocaust — Eeport of a Chinese official — Russian 

 assurances — Tso-Chungt-'ang, a Chinee of " great steadfastness of pur- 

 pose " — The reconquest of Turkestan by China — Difficulties with Russia 

 — Gordon summoned — The treaty of St Petersburg — What Russia 

 gained — The position of Kulja to-day — Suidon — Kulja — Mineral 

 wealth of the province — Tribes, sedentary and nomadic — Kirgiz and 

 Kalmuk — The Chinese quarter — A visit to the Taotai — The future of 

 Kulja — Russian intrigue with Tibet. 



I MUST now retrace my steps for a moment to the 

 Chinese province of Kulja. Like most parts of Central 

 Asia, Kulja has enjoyed a chequered career, and has 

 been the scene in modern times of at least its fair share 

 of Eastern disorder and intrigue. While Yakub Khan, 

 after raising his master to the throne of Khokand and 

 then deposing him in his own favour, was parading 

 himself before the Central Asian world in the character 

 of the "Athalik Ghazi" or "Champion Father," the 

 seeds of dissension, which he had so successfully fos- 

 tered, spread north of the Thian Shan, where, thanks 

 to the juxtaposition of rival creeds and conflicting 

 interests, the flame of rebellion was soon fanned into a 

 very tolerable conflagration. 



The thread which runs through the tale of massacre 

 and strife, which fills up the page of history devoted to 



