388 DZUNGARIA 



regions — Turkestan and Dzungaria — which had for ever 

 been " a thorn in the flesh " of the Chinese, and had been 

 lost and won several times, were incorporated into a 

 province and named Sin-Kiang — the New Dominion. 

 With characteristic persistency the tenacious Chinese 

 have once again built up their fabric of government, 

 greater towns supersede the former ones, colonists 

 continue to pour into the country, trade grows, 

 and, although ruined towns and villages still dis- 

 figure the landscape, there is not only every likeli- 

 hood of progress in the future, but less chance of 

 retrogression. 



Such is the kaleidoscopic story of Dzungaria. Small 

 wonder is it that ethnological confusion reigns at present 

 in the ancient land of the Dzungars. The migratory 

 hordes and conquering armies passing backwards and 

 forwards, have left a flotsam and jetsam which now 

 forms its population ; within this area reside remnants 

 of every race which has used it as a camping-ground 

 or attempted to make it a home. There are Mongols, 

 Kalmuks, Kirghiz, Turki descendants of the ancient 

 Uigurs, Chinese, Dungans, and Russians. 



The tribal distribution is to-day much the same as it 

 was formerly, in that Northern Dzungaria is still the 

 nomads' land, while its southern borders are the home 

 of the agricultural and settled section of the population. 

 In enumerating the various races inhabiting Dzungaria 

 at the present day, I shall deal with them under the 

 separate headings of Nomadic Residents and Sedentary 

 Residents, i.e. agriculturists, merchants, and officials, — 

 including in this category occasional visitors. Roughly 

 speaking, the Chinese form the merchant and official 

 class, besides being the market gardeners ; the Moham- 



