Little Bucharia, in ancient times, was the country of the " Seres ;" but very little is known of its history, un til its conquest by ZenL;is Khan, who bequeathed it, along with Great Bue.haria, to his son Zagatai; and it continued to follow the fortunes of that country till 1683, when it. was conquered by the Calmucks. Under the dominion of their Contaish, or Great Khan, the depen dencies of Bucharia had extended over the provinces of Turfan and Hami, and cast of the desert of Cobi as far as the great wall of China. Of this country they remained in quiet possession until 1715, when the jealousy of the Chinese, and the animosity of the Mongales, were raised by the discovery of a gold mine at the foot of the moun tains which separate the territories of the two king doms. The Contaish had dispatched a body of 10,000 Calmucks to seize upon this treasure ; but, being attack ed by the Mongales and Chinese, were completely routed, and pursued into the deserts, which they, how ever, re-passed, by certain fertile vallies, scattered among the mountains, which till then had been entirely unknown to their enemies. The Chinese emperor, wishing to profit by his success, sent a powerful army, wed furnished with artillery, under the command of his son, attended by a Jesuit ol Pekin, well skilled in the science ol fortification and gunnery. This prince pass ed the deserts by the same route which the Calmucks had taken in their flight,and entered the extensive plains of Turfan and Hann ; but, being unwilling to risk his army in such an open country, against the cavalry of the Contaish, who had advanced to meet him, he contented himself with erecting a chain of forts, which he supplied with cannon and infantry. Under the protection of their
forts, the Chinese kept possession of these provinces, without the Calmucks being able to bring them to an engagement. The Contaish, who now saw that it would be impossible to drive out the Chinese without the aid ol cannon, with which his subjects were entirely unac quainted, was compelled to have recourse to Russia. He offered, in 1720, to pay an annual tribute to that pow er, upon condition that it would supply him with an army of 10,000 regular troops, well equipped with cannon, to enable him to meet the Mongales and Chinese ; but Peter the Great, who was at that time engaged in a war with Sweden, and also prosecuting his plans of con quest on the side of Persia, was prevented from accept ing such advantageous proposals. The Chinese, conse quently, remained masters of these provinces, with all the territories of the Contaish, east of the desert of Cobi, towards the frontiers of China. The Calmucks, irritated by their losses, became the most determined and dan gerous enemies of the Chinese empire ; and though its monarch had made repeated visits into Mongolia to overawe their restless neighbours by a display of supe rior power, yet they continued their hostile ravages whenever an opportunity could be found of harassing their enemies, until they were completely subdued by Kiang Long in 1759, who thus extended the limits of his empire as far as the mountains of Belur.
The principal cities of Little Bucharia are, Cashgar, Yarkand, Koten Katie, Chialish, and Turfan. See Pink erton's Geography, vol. ii. p. 252 ; Peuchet Dictionnairr, &c. ; Recutil de Voyages au .Vord, torn. x. p, 113 ; and Astley's Collection of Voyages, vol. iv. (p)