386 DZUNGARIA 



the great cities of Turkestan. On the death of Galdan, 

 his nephew Rabdan, who was chief of a small branch of 

 the Eleuths named Songares or Dzungars, succeeded to 

 the possessions of his uncle. He established a firm 

 hold over all his subjects, and gave the name of his own 

 tribe to his entire kingdom ; hence the origin of the 

 name Dzungaria. Here arose, for the first time, a 

 power whose headquarters were in this hitherto name- 

 less portion of Inner Asia. 



Rabdan must have been a man of remarkable ability. 

 He is said to have hindered the Russian advance into 

 Turkestan, and to have reduced the kingdom of Hami. 

 He warred with China and invaded Tibet, where he 

 contented himself with looting the monasteries. Eventu- 

 ally the Chinese drove the Dzungars out of Tibet, and 

 retook Hami on behalf of its Khan, — who remained 

 vassal to them, — while the Dzungars were pushed back 

 into their own Dzungaria. 



Then followed a short period when the Chinese stood 

 aside and allowed anarchy to prevail amongst the tribes 

 on the far w^estern confines of her dominion. Rabdan, 

 Khan of the Dzungar Empire, died, and his son con- 

 tinued a similar course of war and quarrel. All authority 

 was lost on account of continual intrigue and assassina- 

 tion, many of the inhabitants fled from the country, 

 including the Torguts, who migrated en masse into 

 Russian territory, and the Empire gradually fell to 

 pieces. Finally the leadership passed to an adventurer, 

 Amursana, who played his cards first for the Dzungars, 

 and then for the Chinese, and created such disturbance 

 that, at last, when the Chinese appeared again on the 

 scene, they annihilated the Dzungars and annexed 

 their country. Of a population of 600,000 souls not a 



