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4. Narratives of the Mission of George Bogle to Tibet, and of the Journey of Thomas Manning to Lhasa; edited with Notes, an Introduction, and Lives of Mr. Bogle and Mr. Manning, by Clements R. Markham, C.B., F.R.S., Geographical Department, India Office. London, 1876.

5. Clouds in the East. By Valentine Baker. London, 1876.

OF all the Mohammedan States of Central Asia, no one has

emerged from great obscurity, to become the object of general attention, more rapidly than Kashgar. Twenty years ago the name of this region, then enveloped in Chinese darkness, would have evoked only the half-mythical, half-classic, associations which clustered round the name of Marco Polo or Prester John; at the most it might have recalled, to well-informed people, the last aggressive movement of China, in 1757, when her vigorous advance to Badakhshan sent a panic-tremor through the Mohammedan world, which was felt as far as Persia. But the revolt of the population in 1863 against Chinese supremacy attracted attention as a new evidence of the widespread revival of Islam, and on this ground caused excitement even in India, despite the thickness of the paries proximus. Still the country might long have been considered as lying beyond the political horizon of India, had not the steady advance of the Russian power induced a more active interest in its affairs, an interest heightened perhaps by the remarkable career of the present ruler of Kashgar.

The story of these events has been written more than once, and we need only recapitulate them shortly. Toward the middle of the sixteenth century, the supreme power in Kashgar had fallen from the hands of the House of Chingiz into those of the Khojas,' the descendants of a famous religious teacher, Makhdumi el Azam, who had come from Bokhara some two centuries before. Of these 'Khojas,' as they were called, there were two rival branches, one of which held the chief sway in the southern, and the other in the northern districts of Kashgaria. These were continually at war, till the latter called in to their aid the Kalmak ruler of Dzungaria, who annexed the whole country to his own dominions, though it continued to be administered by members of the Khoja family. But when, a century later, the great wave of Chinese conquest swept over these regions, Dzungar and Khoja were alike overwhelmed, and the Khrin retired to Khokand, where the sentiment arising from and a community of faith, seems to have thrown halo of legitimacy, and given them a strong hold ts of their former subjects, who always rallied to

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them on the attempts which they frequently made to recover their power. At last the Khoja Buzurg Khan, taking advantage of the anarchy which followed the revolt against the Chinese, invaded the country, as usual from Khokand, and gained a footing there through the skill and bravery of his lieutenant, a certain Mohammed Yakub, a Khokandi officer. But instead of prosecuting his success, the Khoja gave himself up to the indulgences natural to a Central Asian Bourbon, and was quietly supplanted by his lieutenant, who, having reduced the various scattered cities of which the kingdom consists, and crushed all opposition with an iron hand, became the ruler of the country, and is now known as the Amir Yakub Khan.

The Chinese do not seem to have ruled badly, from an Eastern standard. The country prospered, and several arts and industries flourished which have disappeared with them. Commerce was protected, the caravan routes over the surrounding mountains being kept secure by a system of payments to the chiefs through whose territories they passed. The Government of the country was administered through native officials, and its religion was respected, though not allowed to interfere with social freedom. But this, in Mohammedan eyes, is a serious restriction, and in fact a religious grievance justifying revolt; indeed rebellion is with them a religious duty as against a heathen government, their casuists obligingly drawing some distinction in this matter between a pagan government and a Christian.

Having established himself in the chief cities of Kashgar and Yarkand, the Amir marched against the scattered towns to the eastward, where the Dungani, or native Mohammedans, had already expelled the Chinese and established a government of their own; these he also reduced to obedience, and he has even subdued and disarmed the nomad Kirghiz of the surrounding mountains, who had never submitted to the Chinese. His mode of government, though necessarily strict, is not cruel or needlessly severe, and affords substantial justice to the people; its weak point is its absolutely personal character. Even his chief subordinates are not trusted. He maintains confidential agents in each city as a spy on the actions of the governor, who is summoned yearly to pay a short visit to the capital to give an account of his stewardship. It is obvious that such a power must fall to pieces when the guiding spirit is withdrawn, and the son who is his heir is said not to be equal to the position. Again, his chief subordinates are natives of Khokand who entered the country with him, and they are looked on as foreigners by the people. The adherents of the Khojas, too,

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form a discontented legitimist party, who might give trouble on occasion. But the Amir is no doubt more than a match for all his native adversaries. For a long time the Russians refused in any way to acknowledge his Government, on the plea that their allies, the Chinese, were still, de jure, in possession of the country. They viewed with great dislike the rise of an independent power which might control the course of trade between China and Russia. On the other hand, the leading spirits of the Amir's Government, natives of Andijan and of parts of Khokand which had lately been annexed by Russia, regarded her with equal fear and dislike. Mr. R. Michell has thrown out the suggestion that the Amir has a secret understanding with Russia, which the fanaticism of his people prevents him from avowing, but we see no evidence for this. It is no doubt his knowledge, from personal experience, of her resistless power that has led to his desire for intercourse with the Government of India, and the late Mission under Mr. (now Sir T. D.) Forsyth was sent in compliance with his pressing invitation. In one sense this Mission seemed to have some significance. It looked like a disavowal of the policy of isolation and indifference, and a practical admission of the fact that the condition of the surrounding countries must necessarily have a bearing on the interests of India; and without pressing it too far, we are glad to think that the inference is a fair one. We have long felt that, as regards India, this great doctrine of non-intervention, so far from being the highest outcome of political sagacity, may even tend towards a dereliction of the duties of our position, while the proclamation of it is likely to be misconstrued by our neighbours, even if it does not encourage aggression. In truth, to the mind of an Oriental, an abstract principle of political action is an impossible conception, and will be interpreted in turns either as apathy or fear, or as the cynical craft of la perfide Albion. But it would almost seem as if we sometimes hardly cared to veil our cynicism. 'Help yourself and England will help you,' though, like the more ancient maxim it resembles, a fine moral tonic to throw to a struggling neighbour, is unlikely to excite the gratitude even of a successful recipient; and yet it might be important that England should be known to be on occasion an active friend and a dangerous enemy. But those who remember the gradual abandonment of our influence with Persia, and our steady refusal to exert it recently in Afghanistan, could hardly have expected to see it exercised in distant Kashgar. It would be an intelligible, and

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picion or menace of aggression; but to abstain from promoting this policy at our doors, and at the same time to encourage and strengthen Kashgar, lying geographically and politically almost in another system, would be merely Quixotic. There was thus a sense of unreality in the idea of a political Mission to that country which can hardly have escaped the Government, or still less Sir T. Forsyth, who had always been its chief promoter. However, the idea met with very general favour and interest, and the Mission was carefully organised and despatched, not without a certain flourish of trumpets, which seems incidental to the start of all expeditions nowadays, from Ashantee to Arctic. But the result cannot be said to have equalled the expectation. Politically, as we have shown, no direct results could have been expected. Sir T. Forsyth might have done such work well, but there was very little to be done. The Amir was ready to conclude a treaty of commerce, or do anything else that would give him a claim on our protection; but the discovery, at an early stage, of the exact value of the 'friendship' which the Mission had come so far to offer, may have increased the suspicion with which their movements were watched, though they were treated to the last with the greatest courtesy and hospitality. The surveillance and restraint to which, under the guise of attentions, they were subjected, might, we think, have been resisted successfully at the beginning, and is to be regretted as having limited the opportunities for observation in a country so little known. For with the exception of Captain Trotter's report of the expedition to the Pamir, the addition to our previous stock of knowledge is not great. A few statistics of the trade with India, in itself a somewhat microscopical subject, are given, but no estimate of the revenues of the country; also some account of the population, their manners and customs, and an elaborate résumé of the history of the country, ancient and modern, by Mr. Bellew; but these, with some meteorological tables, routes, and vocabularies, representing no doubt considerable labour, comprehend the total, if somewhat meagre, results (as reported to Government) of the labours of the Mission.

*

It is curious, indeed, that a writer in this Review should have been able, three years ago, to evolve, partly from his own geographical consciousness, and partly from reports of native explorers, so complete a sketch of the country, that an English expedition on the spot, with all appliances and means to boot, has added comparatively little to what was already known. Mr. Bellew's 'Kashmir and Kashghar' is as yet the only inde

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pendent work on the subject by any member of the Mission. He is, as becomes a practised traveller, a diligent and acute observer, and gives us a lively and interesting account of his experiences. He is always in good-humour, and always in good taste; and this is no small praise. But both the style and the arrangement of the book are marred by evident haste and want of care, which detract in some degree from the pleasure of reading it. We feel bound also to take exception to his system of spelling Oriental words-if system it be for we have quite failed to discover its clue. It is highly desirable that there should be a uniform plan, like that now in force in India, but words and names that have become part of the English language must be excepted. It is wrong, on any system, to write jungal for jungle. And it is a mistake to change other naturalised English words, such as Tibet, Cossack, Koran, into Tibat, Cossac, Curan, &c. And if the names of two of our oldest acquaintances are to be travestied as the Great Mughol and the Grand Lamma, we may as well allow Young Bengal to write Landan and Mariban for London and Marylebone. A member of the medical profession should, moreover, not be guilty of such slips in spelling as belladona, hyosciamus, æleagnus, hipophoe; and 'kut, the costum of the ancients,' should be costus. Some curious expressions are used which we do not recognise as English. It is not, perhaps, too late to protest against the imitation of the French idiom in such a sentence as, "The party encamped on the flats where, since some days previously, the officials had collected,' &c. House to house visitation' is a formidable expression to apply to a round of afternoon visits, though that ordeal may have its terrors. In another place we read of the invaders of Tibet 'plundering, slaughtering, and captivating.' Here we are puzzled, and can only conjecture that the author may have plagiarised the idea from the poet (perhaps his countryman) who sang, 'He meets with a friend, and for love knocks him down!'

The author, when remarking on the fact that the Buddhist creed of Tibet has never yielded to Mohammedan pressure, either from Kashmir on the south, or from Kashgar on the north, is led into some strange speculations. He admits that the Buddhist population is sunk in ignorance and superstition, while their priesthood is idle, sensual, and degraded. He then describes the unnatural custom of polyandry, and adds, 'By this means, and the transfer of so many to a life of celibacy in the monasteries, the population is kept down to a proportion which the country is capable of supporting.' The result is, that the community is peaceable, well-ordered, and industrious.' Indeed,

but

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