pings round Nankin were at the summit of their career,
just before the appearance of Colonel Gordon, when, in 1862, a fresh
danger broke out in the provinces of Kansuh and Shensi. From a remote
period there had been extensive Mussulman settlements in these
provinces, and so early as the seventeenth century they had been the
cause of trouble to the great Kanghi. The Emperor Keen-Lung, indeed, at
one time attempted to settle the question for ever by ordering the
massacre of every Mahomedan over fifteen years of age. Even this
sweeping measure did not have the desired effect, and whether
persecution was the means or not of giving vitality to the cause, it is
certain that they had become more numerous, more resolute, and more
confident in their own superiority to the other Chinese by the middle of
the present century. These Mahomedans were known as Tungani, Dungani, or
Dungans, while the Buddhist Chinese are spoken of as Khitay. Many
writers are not satisfied with this simple explanation of the name
Tungani, and will have it that they were a distinct race, who were
either transported to China at some period of Chinese conquest, or were
compelled to seek refuge there by some advancing barbarian horde. They
even assert that they can trace the name and origin of this people to a
tribe dwelling in the country of the lower waters of the Amoor; but
while there is complete uncertainty on the subject it seems simpler to
accept the signification that the word Tungani conveys to the Chinese,
and that is Mahomedan. We know, for certain, that these people had
resided in Kansuh and its neighbouring province for centuries--that they
were remarkable for a superiority in strength and activity over the
Khitay, and that they possessed the virtues of sobriety and honesty.
They were also not infected by the disease of opium smoking, and we
should imagine them to have been a quiet, contented, and agreeable
people at their most prosperous period. Their physical superiority to
the Khitay would probably be owing to their abstention from "bang" and
opium, and we need not suppose that they were the descendants of a
stronger race, who had issued from the frigid north, when we have an
explanation so much simpler and more natural at hand. They were found by
their Khitay rulers to form excellent soldiers, policemen, and other
Government servants, such as carriers, &c. In this last employment many
found their way to Hamil, thence to Turfan and Urumtsi, and