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TOPOGRAPHY. 83
broad, connects Chinese Kansu with this North-western Kansu, which, from the
nomads frequenting it, may be called Mongolian Kansu. Its area may be estimated
at 160,000 square miles, with a population of probably less than one
million, centred chiefly in the southern towns and in the oases at the foot of the
Tian-fihan.
INHABITANTS.
In a region of such strategic importance, and so often disputed by rival hosts,
the inhabitants are naturally of very mixed origin. Tribes of Turki stock, the
Uigurs and Usuns, Mongols of diverse banners, the Tanguts of Tibetan blood, and
the Chinese have frequently contended for the possession of the pass connecting
the Gobi with the snowy range. The work of the nomad warriors was soon done ;
after destroying everything in their sudden inroads they would retreat rapidly to
the steppes of the plain or to the upland valleys. But the Chinese, while slower
in their movements, were more tenacious and persevering. They founded garrison
towns at convenient intervals, which soon became centres of culture, and the land
was thus slowly peopled, while the wilderness was crossed by military and trade
routes. The barbarian might return and burn the crops, level the fortresses, waste
the cities. But after the storm was over a few years always sufficed for the
Chinese to restore the network of their strategic routes and strongholds. Thus
the cities of Northern Kansu, reduced to masses of ruins during the recent wars
between Dungan Mohammedans and the Imperial Government, are again gradually
recovering, while others are being founded by the Chinese agricultural settlers.
The Mongols ranging over these steppes belong mostly to the great family of
the Eliuts, kinsmen of the Kalmuks. Some fifteen hundred years ago the country
was occupied mainly by the Usun, supposed by some to have been of Teutonic
stock, and who were distinguished from all their neighbours by their deep-set
eyes and straight nose. These " men of horse-like features," as the Chinese
described them, were gradually driven westwards to the Tian-shan and Tarim
basin. Here Prjevalsky met many of the peasantry who seemed remarkably
like his fellow-countrymen of Central Russia.
TOPOGRAPHY.
The chief towns going westwards in the district connecting the inner and outer
Kansu are the walled cities of Liang-chew, Kanchew, and Sucheir, founded at the
time of the first settlement two thousand years ago. From the combined names of
the last two, capitals of the Kan and Su districts, the province of Kansu has been
named. Kanchew has rapidly recovered from the disastrous civil war, and Liang-
chew, a large and busy place, is one of the cleanest and most orderly cities in
China. This is true, however, only of the portion comprised in the inner enclosure,
the quarter stretching between the first and second wall being a mere mass
of ruins. From the ramparts are visible a number of small forts dotted over the
landscape, all of recent origin, having been erected since the Dungan insurrection