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CHINESE TARTAR y. 



CHAPTER CLI. CHINESE TARTARY. 



1. Boundaries. This country is bounded north by Russia, east by the Sea of Corea and 

 the Channel of Tartary, south by China, and west by Independent Tartary. It is inhabited 

 by wandering tribes, but only the western part is occupied by the Turco-Tartars, the rest being 

 ill the possession of the Monguls and the Mantchoos, who are entirely distinct fiom them. 

 This country is commonly divided into three parts. 1. Little Bucharia, in the west ; 2. Mon- 

 golia, in the middle ; and 3. the land of the Mantchoos, in the east. 



2. Surface. Most of the country between the Himala and Altaian Mountains lies at a great 

 elevation above the sea, and is composed of several table-lands, intersected by the mountain 

 chains already described under the head of Asia. Between the Altaian and Teenshan moun- 

 tains is the table-land of Zoongaria, from 2,000 to 2,500 feet above the level of the sea, con- 

 taining Lake Palcati. Between Teenshan and Kwanlun is the plateau of Little Bucharia from 

 6,000 to 9,000 feet high, in which lies Lake Lop. Between Kwanlun and the Himala are the 

 two table-lands of Eastern Thibet and Western Thibet, elevated from 9,000 to 14,000 feet above 

 the sea. The Mongolian table-land is from 8,000 to 12,000 feet high, and stretches along 

 the northwestern borders of China Proper. Two great deserts occupy a considerable ptirt of 

 this cold and dreary region ; the desert of Gobi or Shamo, extending through Mongolia, 

 and the Central Desert occupying a part of Little Bucharia. On these plateaux and deserts 

 are scattered volcanic peaks and salt lakes. The desert of Gobi, is about 2,000 miles in length, 

 from northeast to southwest, and from 400 to 600 in breadth, and is crossed like the great Af- 

 rican desert by caravans with camels. The ground is covered in many places with tb"^ and 

 short grass, but the water is generally so brackish as to be scarcely drinkable. 



3. Rivers. Several large rivers traverse this great region. Of these the Amour or Sagha- 

 lien, which, after a long, winding course of 1,800 miles, through Eastern Tartary, falls into the 

 Sea of Okotsk, is the principal, and vies with the largest Asiatic streams ; but, from its unfa- 

 vorable position, it contributes little to communication. The Yarkand or Tarim flows east- 

 wardly through little Bucharia into the great lake of Lop. North of the Teenshan, is the Hi, 

 a considerable stream, also running east into lake Palcati or Balkash. 



4. Ldttle Bucharia. This country appears to be bounded north and east by Mongolia ; south 



by Thibet, and west by Independent Tartary. It is almost en- 

 tirely unknown to Europeans, and all the materials on which its 

 description is founded are imperfect and obscure. The inhabi- 

 tants are Turks and Mahometans, and since 1759 have been trib 

 utary to the Chinese. The principal towns are, Yarkand, Cash- 

 gar, and Aksou. This country is called by the Chinese Teen- 

 shan-nauloo, or the province south of the Teenshan. The former 

 kingdom of Cashgar, which is now incorporated with it, forms a 

 wide, fertile, and beautiful plain east of the Beloor Mountains ; 

 this fine region, rising hke an oasis in a vast desert, is well-water- 

 ed, and carefully cultivated. Cashgar is an old and handsomely 

 built city, and the seat of considerable trade. It has about 

 40,000 inhabitants, and is occupied by a Chinese garrison. 

 Yarkand is a still larger and more busy city, being the great 

 centre of the inland trade of Asia, and the depot of the traffic 



between the north and the south, the east and the west. It contains a great number of shops 

 and warehouses kept by Chinese, numerous caravanseries for the reception of strangers, and its 

 bazar is remarkable for its great extent. There are also many madresses or colleges here, and 

 the population is estimated at 70,000. Aksou is also a great mart and resort for the caravans, 

 and has about the same number of inhabitants. Khoten, Turfan, Hissar, and Hami, appear 

 to be important towns, of which we know nothing but their names and their celebrity in the 

 East. 



5. Mongolia. Mongolia is an extensive country bounded north by Asiatic Russia, east by 

 the land of the Mantchoos, south by China and Thibet, and west by Little Bucharia and Inde- 

 pendent Tartary. It includes a great part of the desert of Shamo or Cobi, and is traversed 

 by the wandering hordes of that nomadic race, which, under the name of Monguls or Moguls, 

 have been so celebrated in the annals of Asia. Under Genghis Khan they extended their do 



Turco- Tartars. 



