the last Khoja invasion under
Buzurg Khan, and the Kooshbege, Mahomed Yakoob. Before giving an account
of that enterprise it is necessary that the reader should know what the
past career of the future Athalik Ghazi had been. The previous chapters
have, it is hoped, thrown some light on the state of Central Asia, and
will assist the student of the question in comprehending how it was that
Yakoob Beg achieved success, and what claims he may have to be
considered a great ruler, for having done a work that is unique in the
annals of modern Asia.

Mahomed Yakoob was born in or about the year 1820, in the flourishing
little town of Piskent, in the khanate of Khokand. His father, Pur
Mahomed Mirza, had, at various periods of his life, filled positions of
responsibility in the government of the towns in which he resided. Thus,
a native of Dihbid, near Samarcand, he had migrated to Khodjent, in the
reign of Mahomed Ali Khan, with the intention of entering the priestly
order. There, although he enrolled himself as a student in a religious
seminary, for some reason or other, he appears to have changed his mind,
and, instead of entering the Church, turned his attention to secular
affairs. He was soon made Kazi of Kurama, a district and town of
Khokand, and married a lady of that place. By this marriage he had one
son, Mahomed Arif, who has since filled several posts of trust in
Kashgar, notably that of Governor of Sirikul; but of late this
half-brother of Yakoob Beg seems to have been, either for incompetence
or some other reason, under a cloud. Pur Mahomed, or Mahomed Latif, as
he was more usually called, changed his residence from Kurama to
Piskent, about the year 1818, and he shortly after his settlement in his
new abode married again, his second wife being the sister of Sheik
Nizamuddin, the Kazi of Piskent. Yakoob Beg was the issue of this
marriage. The family of Yakoob Beg's father seems originally to have
come from Karategin, on the borders of Badakshan, but in the time of the
Usbeg conquest of that district the father of Mahomed Latif, then an
infant, took refuge in Khokand. It is uncertain whether Mahomed Latif
was born before their arrival at Dihbid or afterwards; and it is now
asserted that he claimed descent from Tamerlane. Whether this was a
claim brought forward when his son was advancing in the world or not, it
is impossible to test its accuracy. The parents of Yakoob Beg were
therefore not without some pretensions,