Page:Mongolia, the Tangut country, and the solitudes of northern Tibet vol 2 (1876).djvu/151

Rh Kan-su, where the Dungans are in such close proximity with the Chinese, we repeatedly heard it stated that the Mussulmans at such and such a place were on good terms with some temple or village in their neighbourhood with which they traded. Thus the Dungans at Tatung were at enmity with the temple of Chobsen and the surrounding district, while at Simni, on the Tatung-gol, forty miles to the north of Chobsen, they were friendly with the Gigen of its temple, trading peacefully and molesting no one. In the same way the commander of Mur-zasak, one of the banners of Koko-nor, as we have already mentioned, was on excellent terms with the Dungans at Yunan-chen, whom he supplied with cattle.

Such an anomalous position of affairs could only exist in a country like China. Let us now see what measures were taken by the Chinese to quell the insurrection in Kan-su.

After the loss in a few years of the whole of Eastern Turkestan, the countries lying at the foot of the Thian-Shan, and a large part of Kan-su, the Chinese Government began to realise the great danger of their position, and determined to employ every means in their power to prevent the insurrection from spreading to the northern provinces of China Proper. With this view a line of defence was drawn along the upper and middle course of the Hoang-ho. Here 70,000 troops were disposed, partly garrisoning the towns of Kuku-khoto, Bautu, Ding-hu, Ning-hia, Lang-chau, &c., and partly quartered by small detachments in the intermediate villages. The