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72
EAST ASIA.
During the prosperous period of the kingdom of Khotan the jade harvest began
after every rise of the waters with a religious ceremony conducted by the King,
and the finest specimens were reserved for his treasury.
At the beginning of the Christian era Khotan was a large city, and capital of
a powerful empire.
The Chinese records speak of a garrison of 30,000 troops, and
a population of 85,000, all Buddhists, besides numerous lamassaries in the district,
and a large monastery of 3,000 monks, 50 li farther south. During the processions
from the city
to the surrounding temples the King walked barefooted before
the image of Buddha, and presented
himself to the high priest bareheaded and
laden with perfumes and flowers.
The Chinese conquest and subsequent Mongolian invasions ruined the trade of
Khotan, although it was saved from the fate of so many other cities engulfed in
the sands. In 1863 it was the first place to revolt from the Chinese, and notwith-
standing the massacres which then took place, Johnson describes it two years
afterwards as a large manufacturing town. Here are produced copper-ware, silks,
felts, silk and woollen carpets, coarse cotton goods, and paper made of the mul-
berry fibre. The district yields cotton and silk, while the neighbouring mountains
abound in gold, iron, antimony, coal, salt, sulphur, and saltpetre. But the gold
mines alone are worked, yielding a yearly average of about 2,100 Ibs., valued at
110,000.
In the south-east corner of the Tarim basin lies Sanjit, on a torrent which is
lost in the desert. Farther west and north-east follow Kilian, Piuliiia, Gitma,
Kargalik, and to the north-west Posyam, all crowded together in the richest part
of the whole country. Here also is the famous city of Yarkand, the largest in
Eastern Turkestan, with a population estimated at from 60,000 to 100,000, includ-
ing some 8,000 foreigners of every nationality.
The bazaar lies in the centre of an
intricate labyrinth of streets and canals encircled by a broad wall, which is flanked
by towers and defended on the west by the fortress of Yaugi-shahr, or " New
Town," erected by the Chinese to overawe the unruly Yarkandi. all Nearly the
towns of Eastern Turkestan have their Yaugi-shahr, consisting mainly of adminis-
trative buildings and barracks.
The route from Yarkand to the socond capital, Kashgar, approaches the foot of
the mountains in order to connect the city of Yangi-hissar, or " Newcastle," near
which are some metal works visited by Shaw. Kashgar, which lies 5 miles west of
its " Yangi-shahr," is surrounded by a thick mud wall, beyond which are the
remains of a city said to have been destroyed by Timur. Although lying in a less
productive district than Yarkand, Kashgar occupies a better position for trading
purposes, for it commands the route leading .over the Terek-davan to Ferghana,
besides several others here converging from the Tian-shan. It is thus at once a
commercial entrepot and strategical point of vital importance, a warlike city in
legendary history, the birthplace of the hero llustan. In the surrounding
villages coarse cloths are woven and exported to the yearly value of over 100,000.
North of Artush, one of these villages, the defiles leading to Russian Turkestan
were fortified in Yakub's time by the stronghold of Tash-kurgan.