20 
HISTORY OF THE KHOJAS OF EASTERN TURKISTAN. 
These campaigns, though a heavy burden on the Manchus, both in men 
and money, seem scarcely to have affected the power or influence of the 
Zunghar Chief, for, during the time they lasted, we find him not only hold¬ 
ing his own against the Russians, but also retaining his suzerainty over 
the Khoja rulers of Eastern Turkistan and intervening effectively in their 
affairs. Since the death of Galdan these factious priests appear, as will be 
seen in the course of our author’s narrative, to have seldom been in want 
of a cause for quarrel among themselves ; yet, as far as their external 
relations were concerned, we only hear of two occasions when they came 
into conflict with Tse-Wang-Rabtan. The first of these is not mentioned 
in any account based on Chinese chronicles, as far as I am aware, nor does 
our TurkI author refer to it, but Sir H. Howorth cites a German authority 1 
on Russian history, who states that on Tse-Wang-Rabtan’s accession, the 
Khojas attempted to withhold their tribute, with the result that he led an 
expedition against Yarqand, and carried off the Khan together with other 
chiefs to the valley of the Hi. 2 The second occasion was about the year 
1713 when the Qalmaqs were seized with a desire to revenge themselves 
on the Khojas for the perfidy of Hazrat Afaq in attacking his benefactor, 
Galdan, some twenty and odd years previously. The invasion of Kash- 
ghar and Yarqand which followed w r as brought to a favourable conclusion : 
the reigning Khoja, Danyal, and several other members of the Black Khoja 
family were led captive to Ill, while all Qalmaq prisoners found in their 
hands were released and restored to their homes. Some seven years later, 
however, or about 1720, an opportunity was taken to re-instate Danyal as 
Governor over four of the cities of Turkistan, for which favour a tribute 
was levied from him of the same amount as that originally fixed by Galdan 
to be paid by Afaq, viz,, one tanga 3 a head of the population. 
The Emperor Yung Ching, who succeeded to the Chinese throne in 
1722, being of a more pacific disposition than Kang-Hi, began his reign by 
reversing his father s policy in the matter of the Qalmaq wars. He saw 
no advantage in attempting to subdue the Qalmaqs or in protecting the 
Mongols from them. The tribes of the steppes were to be allowed to settle 
their own differences, and as long as the Empire was not disturbed, Yung 
Ching believed that he would have peace. For a time this was the case, 
and during the five following years, which comprised the remainder of 
Tse-Wang-Rabtan’s life, the western w y ar was practically in abeyance. His 
death occurred in 1727, as we know from Chinese sources, while our TurkI 
author tells us that it w r as caused by poison administered by his wife— 
1 Viz., Dr. Muller who (it seems possible) may be following Uskowski, the Russian 
Envoy at Tse-Wang-Rabtan’s head quarters (p. 645). 
* Whether the “other chiefs ” were Khojas or not, is not mentioned. 
A ianga is a small silver coin, worth, usually, about one-sixth part of a rupee. 
