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22 two months in the valleys of the Kash and the Ili, and the heat of summer is modified by the absence of those fierce dry winds which sweep across the steppes and sandy deserts of Turkestan. The inhabitants are mainly of Calmuck race, with the addition in the towns of the Tungani, descendants of Chinese military settlers, and of the Tarantchis, whose ancestors were natives of Kashgar. The country is extremely fertile, producing rice, sorgho, cotton, wheat, and fruits of all kinds in great abundance, and it is consequently a region emi- nently suitable for European colonisation. The Russians, during their seven years' rule, do not seem to have settled to any considerable degree in this favourable clime, and, according to the French traveller, they do not appear to have done as much for the country as had been supposed. Colonel Prjevalsky tells a different tale of the Kuldja administration; but this is what M. de Ujfalvy informs us: "Since the Russians came here more than a thousand persons have sought the favour of being allowed to settle in Kuldja, but the Russians refused, as they are said to count upon having to give the country up to China. Since the civil war which ravaged the country for several years, the valley of the Ili presents a sad spectacle. The traveller passes dozens of villages in ruins; the fields are covered with weeds; the numerous canals are dry; and even the fine forest of Karagatch, which the Chinese planted between Borohoudjie and Ak-kent over an extent of thirty miles, will perish for want of water if the remedy be not soon applied. Formerly the country contained more than 2,000,000 inhabitants, now there