The cities are called Taskentl and Caskayre,! and the people that warre against Taskent are called Cassaks! of the law of Mahomet, and they which warre with the said countrey of Caskayre are called Kirghiz, Gentiles and idolators.—ANTHONY JENKINSON. Ox March 5, 1915, my brother and I started off on our long journey to Kashgar, the capital of Chinese Turkestan, where he was to act for Sir George Macartney, the well-known Consul-General, who was taking leave. Owing to the War, we were obliged, as

Farghana is a country of small extent, but abounding in grain and fruits ; and it is surrounded with hills on all sides except on the west. . « . Andijan is the capital. The district abounds in birds and beasts of game. Its pheasants are so fat that the report goes that four persons may dine on the broth of one of them and not be able to finish it.— Memoirs of Baber. Arter three days and nights in the train it was pleasant to make a halt at Tashkent, the capital of Russian Turkestan, though the

For stalking about the streets (of Leh) or seated in silent rows along the bazaar, were men of a different type from those around. Their large white turbans, their beards, their long and ample outer robes, reaching nearly to the ground and open in front showing a shorter undercoat girt at the waist, their heavy riding-boots of black leather, all gave them an imposing air; while their dignified manners so respectful to others, yet so free from Indian cringing or Tibetan buffoonery, made them seem

Arabic is science, Persian is sugar, Hindustani is salt, but Turki is Art. Turki Proverb. As soon as we had settled down at Kashgar we were anxious to explore the city and its environs, and Mr. Bohlin proved an invaluable guide in our various expeditions. From its position the capital of Chinese Turkestan was a commercial centre from very early times. The town as we knew it is built on high ground above the Tuman Su and surrounded by a mud wall and a dry moat, but there are ruins of old Kashgar

It is doubtful if these Central Asian towns ever change. Their dull mud walls, mud houses, mud mosques look as if they would remain the same for ever. In most climates they would be washed away, but in Central Asia there is hardly any rain and so they stay on for ages. . . . * As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be,” would be a particularly appropriate motto to place over the gateway of a Central Asian town.—The Heart of a Continent, Sir F. YOUNGHUSBAND. We arrived at the capital o

This Central Asian scenery has a type of its own, quite different from the Swiss or Caucasian mountain scenes. . . . Here, though the mountains are higher, the glaciers, owing to the small snowfall, are much more puny, while below there is a picture of utter desolation that would be hard to match in any other part of the world,—Sr. GEORGE LITTLEDALE. AT the end of May we found it unpleasantly hot at Kashgar, with a temperature close on 100 degrees ; so, early in June, we decided to start off on

I scaled precipitous mountain crags clad with snow: found my way through the scarped passes of the Iron Gates ;—I have traversed the valley of Pamir.—Life of Hiuen Tsiang, BEAL. The Pamirs are both fertile and barren, both habitable and desolate, both smiling and repellent according to the point of view from which they are regarded. They are among the deliberate paradoxes of nature.— The Pamirs and the Source of the Oxus, Hon. GEORGE N. Curzon. It was a thrilling thought that I was about to trea

A SARIKOLI LOVE SONG 1 Alas, my unfaithful Love ! Alas, my inconstant Heaven ! I am become thin as a blade of grass from craving for thee. 2 Oh, thou heavenly Beauty ‘Whose ears are adorned with gold, Would that I might become thy closest companion. 3 Thy breasts are as a newly plucked apple. Oh, mount thy swift steed and ride with me. ‘When its shoes are worn, I will replace them with silver. WE left the Russian Pamirs by a pass that seemed, when we reached its summit, to have an almost intermi

The Turki have long-shaped faces, well-formed noses and full beards. . . . These facts show that the modern Yarkandees are not pure Tartars like the Kirghiz . . . but rather Tartarized Aryans, if I may so express myself.—RoBERT Saw, Visits to High Tartary, Yarkand and Kashgar. It was the beginning of September when we set off on the tour which had Khotan as its goal and which was in reality a passing from oasis to oasis along the edge of the Takla Makan Desert. This sahara may be regarded as the

YARKAND is the richest oasis in Chinese Turkestan, but we did not appreciate this fact until we had left the city and saw the open country covered with wide stretches of rice, maize, wheat and millet; and I confess that I had to revise my opinion as to the lethargy of the Yarkandis, or at all events of the peasantry, when I realized the ceaseless labour required to produce such abundance. The Yarkand River, the source of which had recently been fixed by the Filippi expedition, was about six mile

There is no article of traffic more valuable than lumps of a certain transparent kind of marble, which we, from poverty of language, usually call jasper. These marbles are called by the Chinese Iusce.l —BeNEDICT GOES, 1603 A.D. To Mrs. St. George Littledale belongs the distinction of being the first English, if not European, woman to enter the town of Khotan, and I felt proud at being the next to follow in her footsteps. We had travelled over three hundred miles from Kashgar to this farthest cit

Le Turkestan est pour les Chinois une position stratégique et un excellent débouché pour Paristocratie mandarine qui ne trouve plus assez de places disponibles dans la vieille Chine. (Pest tout simplement une bonne terre de phture pour engraisser une portion notable du troupean administrateur—GRENARD, La Haute Asie, ii. 273. Hsin-CHiANG, or “ the New Province,” as the Chinese term it, includes the province now generally known as Chinese Turkestan, together with Urumchi and other districts situat

L’histoire des Tures occidentaux est comme la clef de vofite ou convergent et se rencontrent pendant quelques années les histoires particulitres de grandes nations qu'on regarde trop souvent comme isolées les unes des autres; elle nous rappelle que la continuité est la loi de univers et qu'il nest pas d’annean qu'on puisse ignorer dans la chaine infinie dont toutes les parties sont solidaires. — CHAVANNES, Documents sur les Turcs Occidentauz. Tue history of Chinese Turkestan presents the difficu

Cascar constituted a Kingdom in former days, but now is subject to the Great Kaan, The people worship Mohamed. There are a good number of towns and villages, but the greatest and finest is Cascar itself, The inhabitants live by trade and handicrafts; they have beautiful gardens and vineyards, and fine estates, and grow a great deal of cotton. . . . There are in this country many Nestorian Christians, who have churches of their own.—Maroo Poro. Tez rise of the Mongols from the position of despise

The soldiers of the Atalik in the Six Cities were many; goldembroidered turbans and silk cloaks were the instruments of death for these dainty warriors.—From a Kashgar Ballad. By way of introduction to this chapter some reference to the Khanates of Central Asia is called for. Half a century ago little or no accurate information on the subject was obtainable in England; for, although a brilliant band of British officers had penetrated to remote Bokhara and Khiva before the middle of the nineteent

La latitude assez basse du Turkestan chinois combinée avec son altitude considérable, la sécheresse de son atmosphére et ses saisons nettement tranchées rendent le pays propre & des cultures tres diverses, 4 celles qui se contentent d'un climat tempéré comme & celles qui exigent des chaleurs fortes et prolongées; mais excluent les plantes qui craignent les froids hivernaux ou réclament une grande humidité,— GRENARD, La Hauté Asie, ii. 173. Tue cultivator, who is the backbone of C

Straight and slender-waisted are the maids of Kashgar, Short, with sack-like figures, are the maids of Yangi Hissar. A goitre ahove and fat helow are the maids of Yarkand. Arranging apples on saucers are the maids of Khotan-Ilchi. Wearing felt caps, with foreheads high, are the maids of Sarikol. The Maids of Turkestan. (From an old ballad.) TaE inhabitants of Chinese Turkestan are divided by the anthropologist into four distinct groups. The first consists of the Sarikoli and Pakhpo mountaineers,

Do you know the world’s white roof-tree—do you know that windy riff Where the baffling mountain-eddies chop and change ? Do you know the long day’s patience, belly-down on frozen drift, While the head of heads is feeding out of range ? It ia there that I am going, where the boulders and the snow lie, With a trusty, nimble tracker that I know, I have sworn an oath, to keep it on the Horns of Ovis poli, And the Red Gods call me out and I must go! KreriNg, The Feet of the Young Men. Lire in the Eas