John T. Bealby and Peter A. Kropotkin

“ In a region like East Turkestan, where the settlements are so scattered and the population so thin, the arts and crafts are prosecuted necessarily on only a local scale. Nevertheless certain of the oases are famous individually for one or more handicrafts: for instance, Khotan for its silks, white carpets and felt goods; Kashgar and Turfan for cottons, Kucha and Kara-shahr for leather and saddlery, Ak-su for felts and leather and metal goods, Yarkand for silks, carpets and felts, and Urumchi and Uch-Turfan for sulphur. ”

“ In the Turanian basin the contrast between desert and oasis is much stronger than in the Balkash region. Fertile soil, or rather soil which can be rendered fertile by irrigation, is limited to a narrow terrace of loess along the foot of the mountains, and is surrounded by barren deserts. Even where the loess stretches out over terraces at some distance from the mountains, as in the south-east of the Transcaspian region, it can be cultivated only when irrigated. ”

“ Population.—The people who inhabit the plains and mountain slopes of East Turkestan consist partly of Aryans and partly of races of Ural-Altaic stock, and are partly of mixed blood. In Dzungaria they are Dzungans or Dungans, a Turko-Tatar tribe who nominally profess Mahommedanism, and in Kulja they are Kirghiz, Tatars, Mongols, Dungans and others. The agricultural population of the oases are principally of Turkish stock, powerfully influenced by Aryan blood. ”

“ East Turkestan contains several minerals, such as gold, mined to a very small extent in the Kuen-lun Mountains; lead found in the country west of Kashgar and once worked in the Kuruk-tagh, and copper and petroleum near Kashgar; coal exists in abundance in the Kulja valley and is found at Ak-su, Korla, Kara-shahr, Turfan and Hami on the northern verge of the deserts. Salt is obtained from stagnant lakes and from certain parts of the desert. ”

“ That of Darial (the Terek) is fairly well known, but those of the Cherek and the Urukh, farther west, are stated to be still more magnificent. And not only do the snow-clad ranges and the ice-panoplied peaks which tower up above them surpass the loftiest summits of the Alps in altitude; they also in many cases excel them in boldness and picturesqueness of outline, and equal the most difficult of them in steepness and relative inaccessibility.
Hydrography.—Nearly all the larger rivers of Caucasia have their sources in the central parts of the Caucasus range. ”

“ After the “rebellion of the seven khojas” in 1847 nearly 20,000 families from Kashgar, Yarkand and Ak-su fled to West Turkestan through the Terek-davan pass, many of them perishing on the way. In 1857 another insurrection broke out; but a few months later the Chinese again took Kashgar. In the course of the Dzungarian outbreak of 1864 the Chinese were again expelled; and Yakub Beg became master of Kashgar in 1872. But five years later he had again to sustain war with China, in which he was defeated, and East Turkestan once more became a Chinese province. ”

“ The town of Kulja, which stands about the middle of the Chinese part of the valley of the Ili river, has an altitude of 2165 ft., but the valley of Dzungaria ranges at 900 to 3000 ft., and in the lakes (e.g. Ebi-nor) which dot its surface it descends to 820 ft. The mountain ranges which shut off East Turkestan from the rest of the world rank among the loftiest and most difficult in Asia, and indeed in the world. The Kuen-lun on the south rise steeply from the flat deserts of the Takla-makan and Kum-tagh by successive terraces until they reach
an elevation of 19,000 to 20,000 ft. ”

“ Successful attempts are being made to grow the tea-plant in the Transcaspian region. Large numbers of oleaginous plants are cultivated, such as sunflower.
Agriculture.—The arable land, being limited to the irrigated terraces of loess, occupies little more than 2 % of the whole area of West Turkestan. The remainder is divided between pasture land (less than 44%) and desert (54%) . Owing to a very equitable distribution of irrigation water in accordance with Moslem law, agriculture and gardening have reached a high stage of development in the oases. ”

“ Hence the passes lie at great altitudes, ranging from about 9000 to 14,000 ft. On the other hand the fact of the ranges radiating outwards towards the west, and the further fact that they are in more than one place penetrated by deep depressions (e.g. Dzungaria, Kulja, Issyk-kul, Ferghana) for a considerable distance towards the east, greatly facilitate access to the loftier plateau lands of Central Asia, and have from time immemorial been the highways of human intercourse between East and West. ”

“ But as the slopes of the mountains are ascended the rainfall becomes more copious and grass makes its appearance, together with a few species of arboreal vegetation, such as the juniper. What cultivation there is, is confined to the oases which nestle at the foot of the mountains all round the Tarim basin. The soil in them is of great fertility wherever it is irrigated, and despite the supineness of the Chinese authorities, irrigation is very extensively practised in nearly all the oases. ”

“ To the east of Khotan, cities which were prosperous when visited by Song-yun had a century later fallen into ruins.
Little is known about these regions during the 7th, 8th and 9th centuries. In the 7th century the Tibetan king, Srong-btsan, with the help of the western Turks, subjugated the western part of the Tarim basin. During the following century the Mahommedans under Kotaiba ibn Moslim, after several excursions into West Turkestan, invaded (712-13) East Turkestan, penetrating as far as Turfan and even China. The Chinese supremacy was not shaken by these invasions. ”

“ Excellent crops of wheat, barley, maize, sesame, millet, cotton, opium, tobacco and rice are grown, and several of the oases, e.g. Khotan, Kashgar, Korla, Turfan and Hami, are famous for their orchards, in which cucumbers, the mulberry, apple, pear, apricot, peach, melon, grape, pomegranate and walnut ripen to perfection. ”

“ Notwithstanding the salt springs of Ferghana and Syr-darya, the salt lakes of the region, and the rock-salt strata of the Alexander Mountains, salt is imported.
Industry and Trade.—Turkestan has no manufacturing industry carried on by means of machinery, except distilleries and establishments for dressing raw cotton. These last have greatly increased in number; over a score are driven by steam and about a hundred by water. But there is a great variety of artisan work, such as copper and brass, paper, knives (at Bokhara) , silver filigree, shoes, caps (at Samarkand and Andijan) and carpets ”

“ The wild camel frequents the scattered oases along the margins of the desert and roams into the desert itself. Gadflies and mosquitoes are a veritable plague around the lakes of the lowlands in the hot weather. In the higher mountainous parts animal life is more abundant, the typical forms being the wild yak, the kulan or wild ass, the arkhari or wild sheep, the orongo and other antelopes, the marmot, wolf, hare partridge and bear. Fish are plentiful in the lower Tarim and in its lakes. ”

“ The Ingur, Tskhenis-Tskhali, Rion and its tributaries (e.g. the Kvirila) are longer, but also in part torrential; they drain the great glacier region between Elbruz and Kasbek. The Rion is the Phasis of the ancients and flows through the classic land of Colchis, associated with the legends of Medea and the Argonauts. The Lyakhva and Aragva, tributaries of the Kura, carry off the waters of the main range south of Kasbek, and other tributaries, such as the Yora and the Alazan, collect the surplus drainage of the main Caucasus range farther east. ”

“ The commonest are mostly European acquaintances. The insect fauna is truly multitudinous. Among the Lepidoptera of the Pamir there is an interesting mixture of Tian-shan with Himalayan species. G. E. Grum-Grshimailo found on the Pamir the butterfly Colias nastes, a species characteristic of Labrador and Lapland; like the alpine plants which bear witness to a Glacial period flora in the Himalayas, this butterfly is a survival of the Glacial period fauna of the Pamir. [5] Of 50 species of molluscs found in Turkestan quite one half are peculiar to the region. ”

“ There is also an import and export trade to and from Urumchi and China, via Kulja and Ak-su.
Population.—Turkestan has been the theatre of so many migrations and conquests that its present population could not fail to be very mixed. Both Aryans and Mongols have their representatives there, the former settled for the most part, the latter chiefly nomad. The Ural-Altaians are numerically the predominant element, and consist of Turkomans, Kirghiz, Uzbegs and Sarts. The Turkomans inhabit chiefly the Transcaspian region. They number less than a quarter of a million. ”

“ General Condition.—Populous cities adorned with fine monuments of Arabian architecture, numerous ruins of cities decayed, grand irrigation canals now lying dry, and written monuments of Arabian literature testify to a time when civilization in Turkestan stood at a much higher level than at present. This period was during the first centuries after its conversion to Islam. Now all is in decay. The beautiful mosques and madrasas (theological colleges) are dilapidated; no astronomers study the sky from the tops of their minarets ”

“ The entire trade with India does not exceed £200,000 per annum. Traffic is carried on principally by means of caravans of camels, horses, asses and oxen. The caravan routes mostly followed between China and the more populous centres (Kashgar and Yarkand) of East Turkestan start from An-si-chow and Sa-chow respectively, converge upon Hami on the north side of the Pe-shan swelling, and continue westward along the south foot of the Tian-shan Mountains through the oases of Turfan, Kara-shahr, Korla, Kucha, Ak-su and Uch-turfan. ”

“ Sometimes the tree is a mere knot peeping above the sand with a sheaf of thin branches. In spring, however, the steppe assumes quite another aspect, being clothed, except where the sands are shifting, with an abundance of vegetation. Persian species penetrate into Bokhara and the region of the upper Amu.
Vegetable Products.—As already stated the climate of Turkestan varies considerably from north to south. In Akmolinsk and Semiryechensk most of the kinds of corn which characterize Middle Russia are grown. South of the Chu and the Syr-darya gardening is a considerable industry ”

“ The atmosphere in the desert regions is remarkably dry, and though a little rain falls occasionally on the lower slopes of the mountains, scarcely any falls in the desert, at the most a smart shower at intervals of several years. At Kashgar the annual rainfall amounts to less than 18 in. ”

“ But though it is in reality an elevated plateau, with a general altitude of 4600 down to 2675 ft., it is nevertheless a depression when compared with the girdle of mountains which surround it on every side except the east, and even on that side it is shut in by the crumbling remains of a once mighty mountain system, the Pe-shan (see Gobi) . The region as a whole slopes very gently towards the Lop district, where the lake, or rather marsh, of Kara-koshun, in 39° 51′ N. and 89° 24′ E., lies at an altitude of 2675 ft. ”

“ Minerals.—The mineral wealth of Turkestan is considerable. Traces of auriferous sands have been discovered at many places, but the percentage of gold is too poor to make the working remunerative. Silver, lead and iron ores occur in several localities; but the want of fuel is an obstacle to their exploitation. The vast coal-beds of Kulja and some inferior ones in Samarkand are not seriously worked. The petroleum wells of Ferghana and the beds of graphite about Zairamnor are neglected. There are abundant deposits of gypsum, alum, kaolin, marble and similar materials. ”

“ On the north the schists come first, sometimes rising into peaks and ridges in a state of ruin ... but more often worn to rolling downs; then the limestone range—writing-desk mountains that turn their steep fronts to the central snows ”

“ The population of Dzungaria is estimated at 600,000 and of Kulja at 150,000. The prevailing religion all over East Turkestan is Mahommedanism. The country belongs politically to China, and Chinese fill all the higher administrative positions and form the garrisons in the towns. The region is divided into the administrative districts of Kashgar, Yarkand, Ak-su and Urumchi. ”

“ The inspiration of early belief has disappeared; the ruling motive of the mollahs (priests) is the thirst for personal enrichment, and the people no longer follow the khojas or theologians. The agricultural labourer has preserved the uprightness, diligence and sobriety which characterize the Turkish peasant; but the richer inhabitants of the cities are grossly sensual. ”