160 REPORT 1870. 



blessings of commerce will restore this fine region to some portion, at least, of the 

 "wealth and dignity which it held in those ages when its monarchs ruled over nearly 

 one-half of the then civilized world. The crude and ill-founded apprehensions which 

 once existed that these advances of Russia would prove highly prejudical to British 

 India, have, through due reflection, entirely evaporated from among British states- 

 men, who are now convinced that it is much better for the commerce and peace of 

 both nations that intermediate wamng chiefs should be kept under by a strong 

 power. After all, between the great territories of Russian lurkistan and those of 

 British India, there lies the long, broad, and mountainous region of Affghanistan, 

 with whose present ruler we are on good terms. 



But what about Eastern Turkistan ? some of my hearers may say ; what about 

 those enormous tracts which lie immediately to the north of the north-western 

 mountains of British India, the Himalayas, and Cashmere ? The answer which I 

 have given in my last Address to the Royal Geographical Society is the most satis- 

 factory explanation which can be offered, and I here give the pith of it. The 

 Russians have not advanced beyond the chain of the Thian Chan into any part of 

 those territories in which the cities of Kashgar, Yarkand, and others are situated. 

 These countries, which until a few years ago were held by the Chinese, and are 

 inserted in all old maps as an integral part of the Chinese empire, have entirely 

 extirpated theu' conquerors, and the mass of the natives, being Mahommedans, are 

 now under the rule of a brave soldier of their own faith, who, under the title of 

 the Ataligh Ghazee, or Leader of the Faithful, has brought the people into a state 

 of perfect order, after having been in the most tumultuous and insurrectionary state 

 so long as the Chinese vainly attempted to govern them. 



The process by which an intercourse has been established between this Eastern 

 Turkistan and British India has been so eminently characteristic of the efforts of 

 a powerful trading nation like our own, that a very brief account of it may be 

 acceptable to some of my hearers in this great mart of commerce. Tea-plantations 

 having been successfidly cultivated by om- countrymen upon the southern and 

 lower slopes of the IlimaJayan Mountains, it occurred to a most able British civilian, 

 Mr. Douglas Forsyth, who was diplomatically employed in Cashmere, that the 

 population of Eastern Turkistan having been so long accustomed to drink tea, and 

 having been entirely deprived of it since all intercourse with China had ceased, 

 would gladly hail the reappearance of their favourite beverage, if a supply could 

 be brought to them from the south. Mr. Forsyth accordingly sent a small sample 

 (a horse-load only) of tea across the mountains, as a present to the great ruler of 

 this new kingdom. As this present was "gratefully received," one of our British 

 tea-cultivators at KangTa, Mr. Shaw, resolved to face all the difficulties of a pas- 

 sage through the lofty mountains of the Karakonmi and Kuen Lun ; and, fitting 

 out a caravan bearing tea, he conducted it himself in safety by Yarkand to Kashgar, 

 where he was well received by the Ataligh Ghazee. At first, indeed, things 

 looked unpropitious, for Mr. Shaw was proceeding fairly and simply as a British 

 merchant, when there arrived just at the same time a warlike-looking Englishman. 

 This was Mr. Hay ward, late of the 72nd Regiment ; and for a time both were 

 placed en surveillance, but most amicably treated. In fact Mr. Ilayward had been 

 sent out by the Royal Geographical Society to explore, if possible, that great 

 desert plateau, the Pamir Land, occupied entirely by nomade Kirghis, in which 

 the rivers Oxus and Zerafshan have their rise ; but being unable to force his way 

 thither through certain disturbed tracts to the north-west of the Punjaub, he took a 

 route which led him to Y''arkand. The arrival of the two Englishmen, which at 

 first seemed so unintelligible and suspicious, turned out to be in the end most ad- 

 vantageous to all parties concerned ; for Mr. Hayward had it in his power to fix 

 the latitude and longitude of places never before visited by a geogi-apher, whilst 

 Mr. Shaw, dmiaferens, gratified the Ataligh Ghazee not only by his manners and 

 address, but particularly his packages of tea. After a j^ear s sojourn at Kashgar 

 and Yarkand, in Eastern Turkistan, Mr. Shaw returned to British India, and the 

 Viceroy, the Earl of Mayo, seeing the prospect of establishing a profitable alliance 

 with this new sovereign, his Excellency not only received an envoy sent by the 

 Ataligh Ghazee to his Excellency and the Queen, but has recently sent a special 

 British mission to that great chief ; and for this important mission he has wisely 



