INTRODUCTORY NOTICES. 
21 
proposed as tlie readiest method of mining the gold, the annexation of tho 
country. It belonged, he pointed out, to the Zunghar Chief, then 
Tse-Wang-Rabtan, and his plan was to advance southward from the 
Irtish, by means of a route which he would protect by a line of forts. He 
sent specimens of the gold-dust which had been brought to him, and so 
greatly interested the Tsar in the scheme, that the latter despatched a 
force of some 3,000 men, including artillery, artisans and others, under 
an officer named Ivan-Buchholz, to commence operations by building a fort 
near Lake Yamish, and thence to push southward. In 1715 the establish¬ 
ment of this post was begun, but its position being beyond Russian 
limits, as then recognised, Tse-Wang-Rabtan treated the proceedings of 
Buchholz as an invasion of his territory. He and his brother Chiring 
Donduk, therefore, lost no time in collecting their men and laying siege 
to the half-finished fortress. For several months the communications 
with Russia were cut off, and the garrison was so nearly starved that 
sickness broke out and Buchholz determined to retire. The fort accordingly 
was destroyed, and the troops, reduced by losses and disease to 700 
men, retreated northwards to the confluence of the Om with the Irtish, 
(the site of the present town of Omsk) whence the commander was recalled 
to Russia. 
A fresh force was pushed forward in 1716, and again another, in the 
following year, under an officer named Stupin, while Gagarin was urged 
by Peter not to abandon his efforts to reach Yarqand. Stupin advanced 
up to Irtish for 228 versts above Lake Yamish, and there began, in 1718, 
the erection of a fort which has since become known as Semipalatinsk. 
At the same time an officer was sent to treat with Tse-Wang-Rabtan, who 
was then camped in the Ill valley, but the result was unsatisfactory to the 
Russians, for nothing was elicited but threats of what the Chief would do 
if the new post were not at once dismantled. The Tsar, becoming impa¬ 
tient, appointed, early in the next year, a General Likhareff to superintend 
the proceedings, and sent with him a number of other officers. This party 
arrived at Semipalatinsk in 1720 and, with a force of 440 men, made their 
way up the Irtish, in boats, to Lake Zaisan. The Qalmaq Chief was as 
good as his word. On the 1st August he attacked the Russians with 
numerous bodies of tribesmen and after an indecisive battle, which conti¬ 
nued for three days, a parley was arranged, when it was agreed that the 
Russians should abandon their scheme and retire down the Irtish. They 
retreated, accordingly, to within 181 versts of Semipalatinsk and there put 
up a new fort which has since developed into the town of Ust-Kameno¬ 
gorsk. 1 
1 See Howorth, T, pp. 646-648. 
