the
strange inconsistency of an intensely strict etiquette being enforced
side by side with extreme plainness in costume and ceremonial. It is
rare indeed to hear any traveller to Kashgar speaking of the richness or
finery of court functionaries. Even Hadji Torah, or the Seyyid Yakoob
Khan, as he is now called, and Mahomed Yunus, the governor of Yarkand,
two of the most trusted and prominent followers of the Athalik Ghazi,
were not to be distinguished from a host of minor luminaries in the
court circle by any external insignia of their elevated position. Some
of the military, officers of the household troops, wore a device of a
dragon's head worked in silk over their plain uniform of leather; and
this seems to have been a custom surviving the disappearance of the
Chinese. Hadji Torah--who recently visited this country, and who had on
previous occasions travelled in Russia, Turkey, and India--however,
alone among Kashgarian notables, had introduced into his household some
of the comforts and luxuries of European life. His example was not
imitated by many others, and, after a brief period of fashion, the
improvements he had striven to make popular died out and were lost sight
of. The ordinary dress of a person above the rank of gentleman is a
large blanket-like cloak worn over a close-fitting tunic and breeches;
and the dress of the peasant is similar, only his cloak is usually a
sheepskin. The Ameer himself set the example of exceeding plainness in
his costume, and his followers were far too skilled courtiers to vary
their practice from that of their ruler. But what his court lacked in
pomp it gained in impressiveness by the perfect system of etiquette
enforced, and by the external show of reverence to the ruler and to his
religion, manifested in every petty detail of the palace ceremonial. The
Ameer received publicly in his audience-chamber every day, when all
petitions and stringent punishments were submitted to him. His
_shaghawals_, or foreign secretaries, made their report to him on
whatever business might be most pressing, whether it was concerning his
relations with India or Russia, with Afghanistan or the Tungani; and the
local governors, who might happen to have arrived at the capital, were
received in audience, either to present their personal respects to the
ruler, or their reports of the government of their provinces. But with
the exception of a few of his kinsmen, and more intimate associates,
such as Abdulla