Sulphur, saltpetre and alum are found at certain places, as in the Turfan depression and near Yarkand. Iron and lead were once mined in the Ili region. Coal occurs in the Turfan depression near Kurla and west of Kashgar, and the latter region also yields lead and copper. The famous Chinese jade occurs south of Khotan and Yarkand, where some of the rivers have golden sands.
The region north of Tien Shan is famed as the home of nomads, who find good summer pasture on the heights. They are mainly Turkoman, including Kirghiz and Kazaks, mainly Sunni Moham medans ; the Mongol element is Buddhist in religion. Turki is the prevalent language. South of Tien Shan is the region of oases, with little opportunity for nomads, save as rulers or marauders, i except among the mountains. Here again Turki is spoken and Sunni Mohammedanism is the general religion, but there are Shiah Mohammedans in the south-western mountains. The Chinese element is mainly administrative, and is said to have come largely from the Tientsin area ; they are found especially at Urumchi, the political capital of the dominion on the north side of the Tien Shan. The governor of Sin Kiang is nominally under the viceroy
of Kansu ; there are four Intendances of Urumchi, Kuldja, Kash gar and Aksu, and these are divided into 16 prefectures.
The cultivators of the irrigated lands live on cereals, beans and fruit, and grow a good deal of linseed for oil, etc., as well as silk and cotton. Some tea is grown. The towns of the oases of the Tarim basin include Aksu, Kashgar, Yarkand, Khotan. The Ili basin has Kuldja, Dzungaria has Urumchi. The Turfan depression has Turfan. These towns are trading centres with business in skins, silk, cotton, carpets, etc.