xtreme south-west, which is
principally of importance as the chief post on the frontier of
Afghanistan. Near Sirikul are Badakshan and Wakhan, and it has been
asserted that Shere Ali, of Afghanistan, viewed with a suspicious eye
the presence of Kashgar in this quarter. It is quite certain that he
would not have tolerated that further advance along the Pamir, which
Yakoob Beg seemed on several occasions inclined to make. Sirikul
commands the northern entrance of the Baroghil Pass, and has
consequently been often mentioned in recent accounts of this road to
India.

Maralbashi, or Bartchuk, a military post of some strength, is
strategically important, as being placed at the junction of the roads
from Kashgar and Yarkand, which lead by the bed of the Yarkand river to
Kucha. But it possesses greater interest for us, as being the chief
town of the district inhabited by the extraordinary tribe of the Dolans.
These people are in the most backward state of intelligence that it is
possible to imagine human beings to be capable of. In physical strength
and stature they are, perhaps, the most miserable objects on the face of
the earth, but their social position is still more deplorable. Some of
their customs are of the most disgusting character, and their dwellings,
such as they are, are of the rudest kind and subterranean. Travellers
who have seen them in the larger cities, say that all the rumours that
have been circulated about them do not exaggerate the true facts of the
case; and the most pitiable part of the matter is, that they have become
so resigned to their degraded position, that they are averse to any
measure calculated to improve their existence. They have been compared
to the Bhots of Tibet, but these latter are quite superior beings in
comparison with them. They are treated with contempt and derision by all
the neighbouring peoples.

Kucha is, or rather was, another very flourishing city which has never
recovered the loss of Chinese wealth, and the subsequent disturbances
during the Tungan wars. At one time Kucha had at the least 50,000
people, and it was not less famed than Aksu for the resources and
ingenuity of its people. But now it is almost a deserted city. The
greater part of the old town is a mass of ruins, and during the nine
years that have elapsed since the Tungani were crushed by the Athalik
Ghazi, scarcely anything has been done to repair the damage caused in
those very destructive wars.

Korla, Kour