EASTERN TURKISTAN, known also as Upper Tartary, Chinese Turkistan, Little Buk haria, and Tit' rfan, is bounded on the n. by the Thian-shan mountains, on the w. by the Pamir table-land, and on the s., by the highlands of Thibet or Cashmere. Toward the e. it sinks to the desert plain of the Gohi, round the western bay of which it forms a vast crescent-shaped oasis from 4,000 to 5,000 ft. in elevation, drained by the tributaries. of the Tarim. This river flows eastward into the desert, and empties itself in the Lob nor, after a course of 1500 miles. The Lob-nor, a lake, or rather series of lakes and marshes, was visited by col. Prejevalsky in 1877. The region around it is very desolate and unattractive. Mr. Shaw, the first Englishman who visited eastern Turkistan, gave a very enthusiastic account of its capabilities as a field for English commerce as it when under the late emir, Yakoob Beg (see his report, 1871). Mr. Shaw described the plains as covered with corn-fields and orchards, though their fertility is dependent on irrigation. Canals ramify-the country, sometimes crossing one another at three levels. But large areas are very unproductive; and though there are' numerous villages and towns, some of them large, the population of the country as a whole—probably some 600,030—is but thin. The country produces gold and abundance of silk; and the inhabitants are skillful in making gold and silver stuffs, carpets, and linen, cotton, and silk goods. The political capital is Kashgar; the commercial capital, Yarkand. In the latter are numerous colleges and schools; in both there used to be an active trade, with resident representatives of most of the nations of Asia. But since the reconquest of the country by China, anarchy prevails, and trade is for the time being destroyed; all the more as Kuldja, taken by the Russians from the rebels against Chinese authority in 1871, has been retained by Russia, in spite of Chinese protestations. In 1879, however,
It was understood that Kuldja was to be restored to China. The inhabitants speak Turkish, but are said to be of Persian descent. Little is known of eastern Turkistan previous to its conquest by Genghis Khan; but after the decay of his empire into petty states, among which are Kashgar, Yarkaud„‘.ksu, and Rhoten, the chiefs of these were constantly quarreling with each other—a temporary peace being occasionally produced by their subjection to some powerful neighbor—till several of the leaders, with the Yar kand prince at their head, invited the Chinese to take possession of the country, and in 1758 it became a province of China. In 1864, however, a mutiny among the Chinese induced nduced the dispossessed native chiefs to stir up a Mohammedan insurrection. They invited a Khokan prince, Bilzurg Khan, to assume the government. Through his lieut. Yakoob Beg, he dispersed the Chinese Garrison left to defend the fort of Kashgar. But the lieut. soon superseded him, and became sole emir, under the title of Athalik Ghazi. He possessed civil as well as military capacity, and raised the country to a state of considerable prosperity. He sent an envoy to Calcutta in 1872, and in 1873 sir T. D. Forsyth visited Kashgar from the Indian government. But the emir's position did not secure more intimate relations. He had since 1869 successfully resisted the encroachments of Russia, but in 1876 the Chinese again advanced, defeated him, and retook their old province in 1877. The emir died shortly after. See Forsyth's Report (1875); Fioin Baja, across the Tian. Sham to by col. N. Prejevalsky (1879); Boulger's Life of Yalcoob Beg (1878).