alia, or Kouroungli, as it has been named, and Karashar, two
towns which lie to the east of Kucha, have likewise never revived from
the period of anarchy and bloodshed, through which the whole of this
district has passed; but even the state of these places contrasts
favourably with the far worse ruin wrought at Turfan. Turfan, perhaps
more than any other, profited by the trade with China, for, although it
may not itself have been as rich as either Aksu or Kucha, it derived a
certain source of income as the rendezvous of all the caravans
proceeding either east or west, or north to Urumtsi and Chuguchak. Very
often a delay of several weeks took place, before merchants had arranged
all the details for crossing the Tian Shan to Guchen, or for proceeding
on to Hamil through the desert, and Turfan flourished greatly thereby.
Now its streets are desolate, the whole country round it is represented
to be a desert, and all its former activity and brightness have
completely disappeared. Yakoob Beg had extended his rule a short
distance east of Turfan, to a place called Chightam, but Turfan may be
styled his most eastern possession.

We have now given a somewhat detailed description of the chief cities of
Kashgaria, and in doing so we have distinctly intended thereby to convey
the impression to the reader that it is only these and their suburbs
that were at all productive under the late _regime_. To those who have
been to Kashgar, nothing has remained more vividly impressed on their
mind, than the exceedingly prosperous appearance of the farms in the
belt of country from Yarkand to Kashgar; but at the same time this
wealth of foliage and of blossom has only made the barrenness of the
intervening and surrounding country more palpable. The farms are
certainly not small in extent, but rather isolated from each other, and
surrounded by orchards of plums, apples, and other fruit trees, in which
they are completely embowered. A Kashgarian village is not a main
street with a line of cottages and a few large farms; but it is a
conglomeration of farmsteads covering a very extensive area of country,
and presenting to the eye of a stranger rather a thinly peopled district
than a community of villagers. Again, although the soil is naturally
fertile, the system of agriculture is of an exhaustive character, and it
seems probable that only a small portion of the land on each farm is at
all productive. But these settlements, which present an exteri