484 KAMI, OR KUMUL 



was obvious that the reputation which Kumul possessed 

 in the days of Marco Polo had been entirely changed ; 

 this change cannot have been the result of their conversion 

 to Islam, and can only have taken place in recent years, 

 for Prjevalsky, who visited the oasis in 1879, said that 

 " the women were free and easy in their manners, just 

 as they were in Marco Polo's time." Now, however, 

 morality is a feature — a strange paradox indeed, a moral 

 town in Chinese Turkestan ; a profound contrast to olden 

 days, in order to produce which some very strong cause 

 must have been at work. 



As Chinese influence is responsible for the mixture 



of customs which the Kumuliks now exhibit, so is it 



indirectly the cause of their morality and good behaviour. 



Formerly the rapid advance of the Chinese element was 



viewed by the Khan with apprehension ; he foresaw the 



degeneration of his people into a mongrel type — half 



Chinese, half Chanto, and, as a good Mussulman, fearing 



the effects that might follow, he determined to keep his 



subjects so closely to their religious principles that they 



could not slip away from Islam. The Khan, no doubt, 



also suspected the possibility of discontent amongst his 



subjects, and perhaps even a desire for freedom from 



his rule ; eager, therefore, to keep his people from being 



contaminated by the Chinese, realizing that he might 



lose his hold over them, he strictly enforced the tenets 



of the Mussulman faith. The fact of this very small 



but extremely strict Mussulman community situated at 



the very end of the Islamic world and completely under 



Chinese influence is, indeed, a paradox. Herein lies 



the chief peculiarity of Kumul. It is cut off from any 



other strongholds of Islam, and lies outside their sphere 



of influence, few Mohammedans pass through it, and its 



