nothing more of it, than that it is a large salt lake, and seems to be the same with the sea of Sin, mentioned by Edrisi in his imperfect and romantic geography of the country of the Turks.-E. of this, in the province of Hami, is the lake called Parkol or Barkol, seemingly surrounded with mountains, and which lies to the N.W. of Hami. Of the other lakes, their names may be seen in the Jesuits' maps of Bukharia and Tibet. Deserts.] More than one-half of this region is composed of sandy and sterile deserts, towards the S. and S.E. It is here that the Great Kobi or Shamo commences, to the E. of the province of Khashghar, and runs E. and N.E. as far as the mountains of Siolki on the confines of Mandshooria. Climate.] Like the other plateaus or uplands of Central Asia, the temperature is extremely cold, especially towards the mountains. So great is the cold in the province of Toorfaun, that the ambassadors of Sharokh Mirza, in their journey from Samarcand to Peking, found the water covered with ice two inches thick, falls of snow and rain were frequent, and all this at the time of the summer-solstice, which rendered their journey extremely fatiguing and unpleasant. The tract to the N.W. of this, on the Ili, where the Chinese commandant resides, is called in Canton Colo, or the cold country;' and thither the bankrupt Hong merchants are banished as a punishment for insolvency. The Chinese armies lately sent to crush the revolt of the Mohammedans of Khashghar suffered severely from the rigour of the climate, and were arrested in their progress at Hami, through the inclemency of the season. The temperature seems to be mildest, as might be expected, in the centre of the country. Soil and Produce.] Of these little can be said; and what has been said on this head is inconsistent and contradictory. The truth seems to be, that the soil and produce vary exceedingly in different places from the difference of temperature and supply of water, and can be best described in our account of its different provinces. Divisions.] Chinese Toorkistaun may be conveniently divided into the four large districts of Khashghar, Aksoo, Toorfaun, and Khamil or Hami. All these provinces are superintended by a Chinese governor, who resides at Eelah, and holds rule over the following places of importance: Eelah, Khashghar, Yarkund, Khotan, Karakash, Gumma, Toorfaun, Elchi, Karria, Kargalik, Yenghi-Hissar, and Wooshik. The following are said to be the eight great Mohammedan cities of this region: Khashghar, Yarkund, Harashar, Koochay or Outchi, Aksoo, Khotan, and Yinkeshar or Yingkishshaur; but the lack of geographical information is so great, that even neither Joles Klaproth, with all his boasted store of Chinese geography, nor his friend Remusat, have been able to supply the void. Klaproth has been forced to eke out his description from the Jehan Nooma of Hajy Khalifa and the Takwimal-Beladan of Abulfeda. 1st. Province of Khashghar.] This is the most western division of Chinese Toorkistaun, and is now comprehended in the district of Yarkund, which also includes that of Khotan. Khashghar, the capital, was for many ages the seat of an independent prince, in later times the residence of the Karakitayan khans, and subsequently that of Jagatay khan and his successors, till subdued in 1683 by the Eluths. It is situated, according to the Jesuits' maps of 1760, in 39° 25′ N. lat. and 76° 0′ 45′′ E. of Greenwich, on the banks of a river which derives its name from the city, and was a place of great celebrity both as a royal city and a commercial entrêpot. It was, however, completely destroyed by the Mirza Abubeker; but was again rebuilt by his orders. Before the late rebellion of 1826 and 1827, this city was supposed to equal Amritsir, the capital of Runjet Singh, in size, containing 10,000 houses, and being crowded with population and thronged with strangers. Khasghar is called Ordukend, or the City of the horde,' by Abulfeda, and Hasikar in the Jesuits' map; and Kih-shi-ko-urk by the Chinese. Yarkund.] This is the largest and most commercial city in all Chinese Toorkistaun. It is situated in 38° 19′ N. lat. and 78° 27′ 45′′ E. long. This city also was destroyed by Mirza Abubeker, but again rebuilt and restored to prosperity and population by the hand which destroyed it. As he found the air and water of the place agreed with his constitution, he made it the place of his residence, had water conducted into the town, adorned it with splendid buildings, surrounded it with walls thirty cubits high, and planted 1200 gardens in its vicinity. Yarkund was in 1812 defended by a stone and mud wall with five gates, and had ten colleges supported by donations in land. The city is much larger than Khashghar; the houses are of stone cemented with mud, and are filled with balconies. It is under a Mussulman chief, who regulates its civic economy, and is called the Hakim, and two Chinese collectors called Ambans,—all under the command of the chief who resides at Khashghar. above 40,000 individuals who pay poll-tax in Yarkund and its environs. The inhabitants of these two cities are chiefly mechanics, merchants, and moollahs. There are no servants in these cities, but slaves imported from Badakshaun and Kaufireestaun. Many of the inhabitants are afflicted with the large glandular swelling in the throat called goitre. Yarkund is 360 li or 124 British miles S.E. of Khashghar. There are Khotan, &c.] For three days' journey to the S.E. of Yarkund, the country is filled with rivers, trees, and gardens. Six days' journey farther on is the celebrated city of Khotan, but, except the stations, there is no habitation on the whole road. Khotan 12 is the capital of a populous and fertile district, 1000 li, or nigh 350 B. miles in circumference, according to a Chinese description of the western countries, published at Peking in 1777. It is bounded on the W. by very high mountains and chains, which it is impossible to cross, and to the E. it has nothing but sandy deserts and marshy grounds, which extend nearly as far as the Sing-soo-hee lake (near the source of the Whang-Ho). The country is bad, and governed by two superior officers, dependent on the commandant of Yarkund. It contains the following six cities, Khotian, Yooroong-kash, Karakash, Tsura, Karia, and Takhoobooee. Each of these cities has its hakim, and form what is called the council of Khotan.-To the S. of Khotan, 20 days' journey, is Western Tibet, and 700 li, or 240 B. miles N.W., is Yarkund. The country is flat, and consists of well-watered fields. It is in fact an oasis in the Buckharian desert. According to Marco Polo, who visited this place, the district is eight days' journey in extent, and produces cotton, flax, hemp, vines, and other useful plants, besides melons and fruits of various kinds. The men are employed in agriculture, and the women are engaged in domestic economy and commerce. They also raise silk-worms, the mountain-silk is most esteemed. Khotan is called Cotan by Marco D'Anville has 19 The site of Kotan has been variously placed in modern maps. placed it 33° W. of Peking, or upwards of 83o E. long. and 37° N. lat. nearly 76° E. long., and Dr Morrison, in his view of China, in 35° 36′ N. and 34" W. Polo, and Hotom by the Jesuits; and the river on which it stands Hotomnisolon-Khateen by Bentink, Chotun by Strahlenberg, and Koton and Khoton by the Orientals. Hence some have been led to believe that it is the same with the Mandshoorian word khotun or hotun signifying a city, and that it was built by the Karakitayans, a Mandshoor tribe, who ruled this region in the 12th century. But this is altogether a mistake, as Khotan existed many centuries before the Karakitayans were even heard of, and the name is no other than a corruption of the Shanscrit name Koustanna, the Breast of the Earth.' It was founded by a colony of Hindoos long before the birth of Christ. It is called by the Chinese Kiusatanna and Juthean, which are mere corruptions of the Shanscrit name. At present it is named Khoteyan Ilitchi by the Chinese. According to Morrison's view of China, Khotan contained a population of 13,642 families, and 44,650 individuals. Khotan was not only a Hindoo colony, but also a colony of Hindoo Boodhists, as Boodhism was established there before the birth of Christ, and continued to be the prevailing system till the Mohammedan Turks conquered all the cities of Little Bukharia. It was a flourishing wealthy city in the second century of the Christian era, when it contained a population of 32,000 families, 83,000 persons, and more than 50,000 soldiers. It was a great resort of the Boodhists from all quarters, who brought thither their sacred books and the traditions of their faith. All the environs were covered with Boodhist temples and monasteries, in one of which 3000 rahans were lodged, who lived in common, and the city was adorned with a prodigious number of statues of Boodha and his priests.-To the W. of the city, in the fourth century, as we are told by the Chinese writers, under the Tang dynasty, was a great monastery called the New Temple, which was 80 years in building, and three kings successively overlooked the work. It was 250 feet in height, and adorned with paintings and inscriptions engraved in metal, covered over with gold and silver, and enriched with all sorts of precious ornaments. It was terminated by a tower, and a saloon was constructed for Boodha, the beams of which were of the most precious wood. The columns, the gates, the windows, and screens were covered over with plates of gold. Close by the side of this monastery were small cells, for the Boodhist monks, which also were beautiful and very richly ornamented. But the system of Mohammed has long supplanted the Boodhist creed of Khotan, and the temples, monasteries, and palaces, are now in ruins, if even these remain. But Khotan has always been celebrated for its jasper or yu, as the Chinese call it; of this, three kinds are brought down by as many rivers, during the annual floods, white, green, and black. Province of Auksoo.] This province lies to the N.E. of Kashghar and of Peking, or 82° 27′ E. of Greenwich, in which Mr Remusat seems fully to acquiesce. Klaproth, on the contrary, who can let no opportunity of displaying British ignorance pass, says that Morrison's statement is wholly unworthy of credit, and was not taken from the Itoundohee, but from the notes accompanying a small planisphere in one sheet, published at Peking in 1795, with which the missionaries, members of the mathematical tribunal at Peking, had nothing to do. By Strahlenberg, in his map, it is placed in nigh 40° N. lat. and 84o E. long., the most erroneous of all the positions hitherto assigned Khotan, except by Rennel, who placed it in 40° N. and 75° E. long., or 41° 27′ W. of Peking. Its true position, as determined in the great map of the Jesuits, in 1760, is 37 N. lat. and 35° 52′ long. W. of Peking, or 80° 35′ 30 E. of Greenwich. This position agrees with that of Sir George Staunton's Chinese map of the seat of the late war in Western Tartary, a copy of which is lodged in the India-house. From what we have stated of the great disagreement amongst our best modern geographers, respecting the position of Khotan, it may be safely inferred that our ignorance of the geography of Chinese Toorkistaun is deplorably great, and not likely to be soon re On W. of the province of Toorfaun, and comprehends the tract S. of the Teen Shan or Alak mountains, and the river Ili. These mountains and the subalpine tract contain, according to the Chinese accounts, much mineral and metallic produce, as gold, silver, and gems, and the soil in the valleys and lowlands is exceeding fertile. In the mountains near the source of the Auksoo, or White river, are mines of lead, sulphur, sal ammoniac, and silver. The chief places are Outchei or Outcheeferman, the Uks of Islenief, Harashar, Koochey, and Auksoo, but little more of them is known than their names. Koochay is a large place; and Harashar is probably the Kerasher of Izzet Oolah, a great Kalmuck city on the left bank of a navigable river that runs from E. to W. and has a resident Chinese governor. the route westward from Toorfaun to Auksoo, the stream of the Eela or Eelee is passed, which has given its name to a city, in former days the capital of the Eluth Kalmucks. According to Izzet Oolah's Chinese itinerary from Peking to Khashghar, Eela is 15 journeys N.E. of Auksoo. place is probably the Korghos of the maps, near the pass of Khongis, where a range of mountains separates the source of the Eelee from that of Hazitoo river, which runs S.E. to the Lake of Lop. Izzet Oolah was informed at Khashghar that the Chinese governor of Eellah had 100,000 men under his command, and some even raised it to 300,000 men; but recent events have completely disproved this enormous estimate. In his itinerary, a chain of mountains runs to the N. of Eelah, (whereas all the maps place it to the N. of that range,) and at the western extremity is a great lake of water called Azash-Kol, which is no other than the BalkhashNoor. This It Toorfaun.] This is the most N.E. province of Little Bukharia. contained-if it does not now contain a great number of cities, as the Greater and the Lesser Yulduz, Karakoja or Oramshi, the Aramuth of Benoit Gois, and Toorfaun itself. This district, though high and cold, is well-watered and fertile. Yulduz, the Cialis of Goes, signifies in Persian, 'the morning star,' from the beauty of its fountains and pastures, a most delightful place. The grass there is so nourishing, says Sherefeddin, as to fatten the leanest horses in a week's time. Toorfaun is a large city, where resides a Chinese governor and Mohammedan hakim. Some distance to the W. are the ruins of Old Toorfaun. Goes represents it as a strong well fortified city. In the Jesuits' map it is placed in 43° 30′ and 89° 36′ E. of Greenwich, and 26° 52′ W. of Peking, but in Sir George Staunton's map, where it is called Tooloofan, the Chinese being unable to sound the consonant r, it is placed at only 24° 30′ W. of Peking, or 91° 58' E. of Greenwich, and in 43° N. By the Jesuits it is stated to be six days' journey W.N.W. of Hami, over a branch of the Cobi, but 10 days' by the hills to the N., which is reckoned the safer road. It must be remarked, that Toorfaun was not visited by the Jesuit missionaries, who made the map of Kansuh and Hami, and its site is fixed merely from itineraries and the reports of the people of Hami. The inhabitants of Toorfaun, says Haitho, the Armenian, in his Oriental History, ch. 2d, are called Jogoors; they abstain rigidly from drinking wine, and eating animal food. They raise much wheat, but have no vines. Their towns are very pleasant and contain many temples sacred to the worship of idols; they cultivate the arts and sciences, but are not at all addicted to war; they have a peculiar mode of writing, (the Oigoorian character,) which has been adopted by all their neighbours (the Mongols). The inhabitants of Toorfaun, says Shadi-Khuaja, who was there in 1420, are idolaters (Boodhists) who per form the ceremonies of their religion in spacious temples, on the carpets of one of them was placed a large image, which they called Sacyo Moonee, (the hermit Sacyo,) a Shanscrit appellation of Boodha. To the W. of Toorfaun eight or nine leagues, is Hochew, the ancient capital of the Oigoors, and still called Pe-ting-too-hoo-foo by the Chinese, says father. Gaubil, in his history of the Ywen dynasty. According to the Mohammedan historians, Bishbaligh was the capital of the Oigoors, but this is a mistake, as Bishbaligh is far to the N.W. of Toorfaun, and in Soongaria near the base of the volcanic range called in Turkish Ak-taugh, the white mountain.' This district, and that of Ab-maligh, to the W., belonged to the Toorkish tribes and not to the Oigoors. To the E. of Toorfaun three days' journey, is Karakoja, or Aramuth, according to Shadi Khuaja and Goes. We have no other account of it, than that it is 35 caravan journeys N.E. of Khotan, and 31 from Tetkawl the frontier of China, where there is a wall between two mountains, in which wall is a great gate and caravanserais to lodge passengers, and where several soldiers are always stationed to guard the frontier and entrance of the wall. The Tetkawl of Sherefeddin can be no other than the fortress of Khyayuquan, at the western extremity of the great wall, in 39° 48′ N. and 17° 37′ W. of Peking, so that from Khotan to Khyayuquan by Karakoja, is not less than 66 days' journey of a caravan. But the direct road from Khotan to Khyayuquan, is stated at only 40 days' journey, but then it is wholly through the Cobi, without a single house or tent on the road, through moving sands, and where, though the water of the wells is easily come at by the thirsty caravan, yet in several it is poisonous, and kills the animals which drink of it. The Province of Hami.] This lies to the E. and S. of Toorfaun, and is merely an oasis of the Cobi, surrounded by deserts. The climate, says Du Halde, (not the missionary, as Malte Brun calls him, for he was never out of Paris,) is very warm in summer, but we are equally certain, that it must be very cold in winter, from its great elevation and that of the neighbouring mountains. We are told by Shadi Khuaja, in his route from Hami to Shachew, that he and his companions met a flock of yaks or Tibetian bulls, called by him gao-kitas. Now we know that these animals and the musk-deer cannot exist but in regions intensely cold or of great elevation. The gao kitas, says Shadi Khuaja, are said to be so strong as to support their riders for a considerable time on their horns. The mountains produce agates and diamonds, says Grosier, but the only vegetable productions are said to be melons and grapes, the former are of superior quality, and served up at the table of the Chinese emperor. people are strong, able-bodied, active men, well-shaped and handsome. The city of Hami stands 90 leagues N.W. of Khyayuquan, the western extremity of the great wall, and 185 miles N.N.W. of Shachew, the most western fortress of China, in 42° 53′ 30′′ N. and 22° 23' 20" W. of Peking by observation. Between these two places and Hami extends the Shamo or Cobi, full of arid shifting sands, and for 10 days' journey on the road from Shachew to Hami not a drop of water is to be found in the desert. Immediately beyond this, is a small pleasant grove of trees, and several springs, where the governor of Shachew entertained the ambassa dors of Sharokh Mirza, on their journey to that city. The country contains, besides the capital, Hami, a number of towns and villages, as marked on the map, but beyond their names nothing more is known. The inhabitants of this province, like that of Toorfaun, were all Boodhists, and |