Page:From Kulja, across the Tian Shan to Lob-Nor (1879).djvu/30

Rh It followed as a matter of course, that the dissensions and internecine feuds which at once sprang up, afforded a splendid opportunity for the advance of Tso and his Chinese army, and he soon found himself courted and welcomed by the inhabitants of Aksu and other cities who were anxious to throw off the Mohammedan yoke. Even Niaz Beg, the Mohammedan ruler, under the Ameer of Khoten, sent messengers to invite the advent of the Chinese, and went into open rebellion against the Ameer's son Beg Kuli Beg, who was wounded in a fight with his rebellious lieutenant. The Governor of Kashgar, Alish Khan Dadkhan, for a time restored the fortimes of the family, by defeating the force of the late Ameer's murderer, Hakim Khan Tura. But Beg Kuli Beg soon afterwards stained his hands by the murder of his young brother, Hak Kuli Beg, and the drama closed on the 5th December, when Beg Kuli Beg and his followers fled from the city of Kashgar, and took refuge in Russian territory. It is worthy of note, that some English merchants who remained in Yarkand after the Ameer's death, and during the first few months of the subsequent disturbance, were in no way molested, but returned to India in perfect safety at the end of the year.

It is curious and at the same time interesting to go back just ten years, and read once more by the light of recent events the brilliant article in