LIFE AMONG THE KIRGHIZ 
427 
with them ; for to them they were as commonplace and 
uninteresting as possible. 
Their knowledge of the outer world is very limited. 
They only know the district they live in, but that they do 
know extraordinarily well ; as also the routes across the 
Pamirs, and to the principal towns in the west of East 
Turkestan. But anything beyond that is a sealed book. 
They have heard of Russia, England, China, Persia, 
Kanjut, Kashmir, Tibet, Hindustan, the Great Kara-kul, 
Lop-nor, and Peking. Their sole knowledge of the busy 
places of the world is derived from the towms in that 
part of Asia, or from itinerant merchants; but they seldom 
pay much heed to what they learn from these sources, for 
it is mostly matter that is foreign to their own concerns, 
and the echoes of the peacock “ madding crowd ” never 
reach them. To them the world is flat, and girdled by 
the sea ; while the sun circles round it every day. T ry 
how I would to make them comprehend the real facts, 
they were never able to grasp them ; they only answered 
with imperturbable assurance, that at any rate the place 
in which they themselves lived stood still and never 
moved. 
The old men often told me the story of their lives ; and 
it was always interesting and instructive to listen to, not 
least for the sake of the language. Among the older 
Kirghiz, Beg Bulat, of Rang-kul, had had a varied and 
adventurous life. In the days of Yakub Beg he served 
for twelve years as a yuz-bashi (chief of a hundred men) 
in Tagharma. After the death of Yakub Beg, in 1877, 
the Chinese took Kashgar. Two years later Hakim 
Khan Tura marched with a thousand men from Margelan 
to Tash-kurgan, where he was joined by Beg Bulat and 
his brother, and five hundred Sarik-kol Kirghiz. P'or 
an entire week they besieged the Tajik population of 
Tash-kurgan, but were unable to conquer them. A large 
Chinese force then entered the mountains for the purpose 
of quelling the revolt ; and the Kirghiz Abdurrahman 
Dacha was sent by Hakim to Tash-kurgan to make terms 
of peace, but was killed by the Tajiks. Hakim Khan Tura 
