of the lake Issyk-kul. His son reigned at Samarkand, but was overthrown by Timur (Tamerlane), the Mongol sovereign of Samarkand, who, to put an end to the attacks of the wild Tian-shan tribes, undertook in 1389 his renowned march to Dzungaria, which was devastated, East Turkestan also suffering severely.
The reintroduction of Islam was of no benefit to the Tarim region. In the 14th and 15th centuries Bokhara and Samarkand became centres of Moslem scholarship, and sent great numbers of their learned doctors to Kashgaria. Rubruquis, who visited East Turkestan in 1254, Marco Polo between 1271 and 1275, and Hoïs in 1680, all bore witness to great religious tolerance; but this entirely disappeared with the invasion of the Bokharian mullahs or Mahommedan priests. They created in East Turkestan the power of the khojas, or “theologians,” who afterwards fomented the many intestine wars that were waged between the rival factions of the White and the Black Mountaineers. In the 17th century a powerful Kalmuck confederation arose in Dzungaria, and extended its sway over the Ili and Issyk-kul basins, having its capital on the Ili. To this power or to the Kirghiz the “Whites” and “Blacks” alternately appealed in their struggles, in which Yarkand supported the latter and Kashgar the former. These struggles paved the way for a Chinese invasion, which was supported by the White khojas of Kashgar. The Chinese entered Dzungaria in 1758, and there perpetrated an appalling massacre, the victims being estimated at one million. The Kalmucks fled, and Dzungaria became a Chinese province, with a military colonization of Sibos, Solons, Dahurs, Chinese criminals and Moslem Dzungars. The Chinese next re-conquered East Turkestan, marking their progress by massacres and transporting 12,500 partisans of independence to the Ili (Kulja) valley. Hereupon the dissentient khojas fled to Khokand in West Turkestan, and there gathered armies of malcontents and fanatic followers of Islam. Several times they succeeded in overthrowing the Chinese rule—in 1825, in 1830 and in 1847—but their successes were never permanent. After the “rebellion of the seven khojas” in 1847 nearly 20,000 families from Kashgar, Yarkand and Ak-su fled to West Turkestan through the Terek-davan pass, many of them perishing on the way. In 1857 another insurrection broke out; but a few months later the Chinese again took Kashgar. In the course of the Dzungarian outbreak of 1864 the Chinese were again expelled; and Yakub Beg became master of Kashgar in 1872. But five years later he had again to sustain war with China, in which he was defeated, and East Turkestan once more became a Chinese province.
Antiquities.—In 1896 Dr Sven Hedin discovered in the desert not far from the town of Khotan, in a locality known as Borasan, objects in terra-cotta, bronze images of Buddha, engraved gems, coins and MSS.; the objects, which display artistic skill, give indications of having been wrought by craftsmen who laboured to reproduce Graeco-Indian ideals in the service of the cult of Buddha, and consequently date presumably from the 3rd century B.C., when the successors of Alexander the Great were founding their kingdoms in Persia, Khwarezm (Khiva), Merv, Bactria (Afghanistan) and northern India, and from that date to the 4th or 5th century A.D. At the same time the same explorer excavated part of the ruins of the ancient city of Takla-makan (near the Keriya-darya), which had been overwhelmed by the moving sands of the desert. There he found mural paintings, some of which represented local lake or river scenes, carved woodwork, fragments of pottery, gypsum images of Buddha, and traces of gardens. These discoveries were followed by others made by Dr M. Aurel Stein in the same part of East Turkestan, though at other localities, namely, at Yotkan, the ancient capital of the kingdom of Khotan, and at Dandan-uiliq, Endere, Karadong, Rawak and other places, all lying east and north-east of the town of Khotan. His “finds” consisted of pottery, images, statues, coins, seals, frescoes, MSS. written in Sanskrit, Brahmi and Chinese characters, wooden tablets in the Kharoshti script, furniture and various cereals. These things appear to date from the very beginning of the Christian era, and continue down to the end of the 8th century. Again, in another part of the country, namely, in the heart of the desert of Lop, in approximately 40° 40′ N. and 90° E., Dr Sven Hedin was fortunate enough to discover early in 1901 the ruins of the ancient city of Lou-lan or Shanshan, which was destroyed, apparently by a desert storm or by an inundation, or perhaps by both, towards the end of the 3rd century A.D. Among the objects found on this site were documents testifying to the name of the locality and furnishing materials for fixing the date.
A little before the date of these last discoveries, others of a somewhat similar nature were made by D. A. Klements in the Lukchun depression already mentioned. Here in 1898 the explorer discovered the ruins of ancient monasteries, dating from the beginning of the Christian era down to the 13th and 16th centuries. Among these ruins Klements found several very interesting MSS., some of them written in the language of the Uighurs, an ancient Turkish race, and others in tongues unknown. Finally, in 1904, Dr von Le Coq, when excavating the sand-buried ruins of Kara-khoja, between Turfan and Lukchun, discovered extremely valuable MSS., some written on Chinese paper, some on white leather, and some on wood, besides Buddhistic wall-paintings. The MSS. are written in ten different alphabets, and of the languages employed two are entirely unknown. The excavators also brought to light a vast number of human corpses in the garb of Buddhist monks. Other finds were subsequently made by the same explorer, in conjunction with Professor A. Grünwedel, at Kucha and Korla, two other oases at the south foot of the Tian-shan Mountains.
In 1906-1908 Dr Stein made a second and more important journey, principally for the purpose of antiquarian research, though he also carried out important geographical investigations, with the assistance of a native surveyor, in the Eastern Pamirs (about Mustagh-ata), in the Nissa valley south of Khotan, and elsewhere. His archaeological investigations were carried on chiefly in the following localities: (i.) at and about Tashkurghan. (ii.) North-east of Khotan, where a large Buddhist temple, with relievos derived from Graeco-Buddhist models, were investigated and numerous MSS. and wooden tablets were discovered, inscribed in Sanskrit, Chinese, Tibetan and the Brahmi script of Khotan, the arid conditions, here as elsewhere, having caused these and other perishable objects to remain remarkably well preserved. (iii.) At Niya, east of Kenya, where many Kharoshti documents on wood were [recovered, sometimes retaining their clay seals of Greek type and wooden covers as envelopes, together with implements, furniture, &c. (iv.) At Miran, near the western extremity of Lop-nor, where Buddhist shrines with frescoes, &c., were investigated. (v.) At Lop-nor itself, where Chinese and Kharoshti records on paper, wood and silk were recovered, and flint implements and other evidences of prehistoric occupation were discovered. (vi.) At and about the oasis of Tung-hwang, east of Lop-nor. Here the explorer traced a Chinese wall with watch-towers, guard-stations, &c., for a considerable distance, and made an important archaeological collection. Evidence of settlement back to the close of the 2nd century A.D. was obtained, and also of commercial traffic from the distant west in the shape of records in Indian, Kharoshti and Brahmi scripts and an unknown script resembling Aramaic. The sacred grottoes known as the Halls of the Thousand Buddhas, south-east of Tung-hwang, were visited, with their frescoes and cave temples, and a large number of documents and examples of early Chinese art were recovered. Dr Stein also investigated sites in the neighbourhood of Kara-shahr and others to the north-east of the great desert.
