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60 60 CHAPTER III. THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT OF TURKESTAN. It is not easj to determine the modifications that have taken place since Mr. Sclmyler penned Ms graphic description of the Russian administration in Central Asia,* and it is almost impossible to say whether there has been progress or retrogression. The Russian possessions in Turkestan at the present moment cover about four hundred and sixty thousand square miles, and the population of this vast region is at the highest computation under three millions. Yet within the confines of the Russian possessions are to be found the ruins of several powerful kingdoms, and the representatives of great conquering races and families, such as the Kipchak, the Usbeg, and the Kirghiz. The kingdom of Khokand has been completely ab- sorbed, those of Bokhara and Khiva have been stripped of some of their possessions, and a province of the Chinese Empire has been retained at the cost
 * " Turkistan," by Eugene Scliujler, vol. ii. chapter xiii.