382 DZUNGARIA 



Much water disappears also in the zone of piedmont- 

 gravel, but reapproaches the surface at about twenty 

 miles from the foot of the mountains (at an altitude of 

 from 1,500 to 2,000 ft.) in sufficient quantity to enable 

 the land to support forests of stunted poplars and jungles 

 of reeds and scrub. The productive belt is very narrow, 

 but here and there tongues of vegetation stretch out across 

 the plain, and denote the courses of the various rivers, 

 which supply the necessary underground moisture. 



This zone has been occupied, from time immemorial, 

 by one of the earliest races of Central Asian agricul- 

 turists — the Uigurs — and at the present day it forms 

 a colony for Chinese, Dungan, and Turki cultivators. 

 Here have been built the large towns, including the 

 government capital, and the centres of internal trade 

 between Siberia, Mongolia, Turkestan, and China Proper. 

 A boom in land speculation is taking place, which may 

 greatly increase now that the former dumping-ground 

 for colonists — Mongolia — ^has become a forbidden land 

 to the Chinese ; Dzungaria alone, of lands within the 

 Empire, remains untenanted. 



From these physical features and climatic conditions 

 results the history of Dzungaria. 



Dzungaria, before taking its name as the land of the 

 Dzungars, was a no-man's-land, claimed at different 

 periods by such ephemeral empire-builders as the Kara- 

 Kitai, the Uigurs, the Naimans, and the Mongols ; yet, 

 it was never entirely under the sway of any of these 

 peoples. The earliest traditions about this region centre 

 around either the southern portion, — the site of the 

 present capital, Urumchi, — which has always been a 

 favoured locality, or the Emil Valley on the northern 

 border, which, on account of its situation on the high- 



