TASCHEREAU, ELZAR ALEXANDRE, b. Quebec, 1818; educated at the Quebec seminary. He entered the Roman Catholic priesthood in 1842; was for sonic time professor of mental philosophy, and superior in the Quebec seminary, and became professor of canon law at Laval university in 1856. He became administrator of the Quebec diocese in 1870, and archbishop of Quebec in 1871.
till recently a t. of Independent Turkistan, but now in the possession of Russia, is situated in the khanate of Khokan, 92 in. n.n.w. of Khokan, the capi tal on the n. bank of the Saralka, a small feeder of the Djirhik river, an impetuous tor rent, which empties itself into the Sir-Daria. It is the chief commercial town in the district, is the center of the transit-trade between Bokhara, Khokan, and Chinese Tar tary, and has extensive trading relations with Orenburg and Petropavlovsk. Like most of the cities of central Asia, it stands in a fertile plain. It covers a large tract of ground, being said to extend 10 in. in one direction and 5 in another, and is protected by a high wall of sun-dried bricks. Within the walls are numerous gardens and vineyards, inter
spersed among the houses; the houses themselves are built of mud, and thatched with reeds. The streets are narrow and dirty. The chief buildings are the castle (which is fortified), various mosques, colleges, old temples, and a bazaar. The chief manufactures are gunpowder, silk and cotton goods, and iron. According to a census taken in 1871, the pop. amounted to 78,125. Tashkand is also important in a military point of view, and. mainly for this reason, had been long coveted by Russia. The Russians, who captured it in 1854, and retained it for a short time, finally took possession of it in 1865, having in the mean time made great •advances in central Asia. The petition of the inhabitants, that they might be received as Russian subjects, was granted iu 1866; and since then it has been governed by a kind of municipal board, the president being a Rus sian officer, and the members chosen by the townspeople.