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towards the east ; and in these take up their abode in their filth and their rags a number of calamdar and darvesk—demented ascetics and abandoned mendicants—who with their hags and a few wretched children here lead a life of idleness and folly, the cause and effect at once of their love of bang—veritable "dwellers amongst the tombs," impudent claimants of charity from every passer by, and equally ready with curse or blessing as their loud appeals may require. By the Amir's favour we were permitted to visit this sacred shrine, and were received with marked attention and hospitality by Eshan MVlahmûd Khan, the Mutawalli BG,ski or " Head Custodian," a quiet and deferential priest who had received his education at Constantinople, and on parting informed us that we were the first Europeans, nay the first Christians, who had ever set foot within the hallowed precincts.
A few hundred yards to the west of Kuhna Shahr are the ruins of the Chinese fort called Gulbâgh. It was destroyed in 1825 A.D. by Jahângir Khoja, and on the recovery of the country by the Chinese they built the several forts or mangskin which are now called Yangishahr at Yarkand, Yângi Hiss r and this place.
The Yangi-shahr of Kâshghar was built in 1838 when Zuhûruddin or Zoruddin was the Hakim Beg or " Chief Governor" of the division. It stands on the plain five miles south of the city and near the right bank of the Kizil `river, and is nearly as large as the city itself. It is of oblong shape running north anti south, and is entered by a single gateway with three portals at cross angles one within the other in the north face. The walls are lofty and massive and topped by loopholed turrets at intervals, and on each side is a projecting bastion to protect the curtains by flank fire. The glacis is protected by a covered way, and the whole is surrounded by a deep and wide ditch which can be filled from the river ; at the risk, however, of bringing down the whole structure, for the walls are of mud and stand upon a porous sandy soil.
In the time of the Chinese it held a garrison of six thousand men, and was the residence of the Ambân and other Khitây officials, with a number of families and followers. It is now the residence of the Amir whose orda occupies the site of the Ambân's palace, and the officers of his Court who each have their residencies within the area. The other principal buildings are the Friday Mosque or Jumd Masjid built upon the ruins of the Chinese temple, and the harem of which the long blank line of tall walls is all that can be seen, and, coupled with the stillness around, all that prompts conjecture as to the nature of the life within. In the middle line of the area is a military bâzâr, and on each side is a row of soldiers' huts, but the bulk of the troops are quartered under their respective commandants in separate barracks outside the fort; and each of these is enclosed within crenelated and loopholed walls, entered through a fortified gateway ; and they are disposed within gunshot of each other between the fort and river to the north, and on the road to Yangi Hissâr on the east. Amongst those in the former direction is another harem. A commodious enclosure said to accommodate two hundred ladies whom " the king delights to honour."
The orda or " palace" is a succession of courts one beyond the other up to the fourth in which are the Amir's private apartments. The third is occupied in the width of one side by the audience hall—a spacious chamber spread with carpets and felts and provided with a fire-pit in the centre—and in the length of one contiguous wall by a covered and raised verandah in which on State occasions the body-guard take their seats. The opposite walls are a blank spread of mud plaster singularly in keeping with the simplicity and absence of adornment around, and wonderfully suited to the aweful silence and studied stillness that characterize the discipline of the court. The second court runs parallel to the third only a wall intervening. Its short sides are occupied by a row of offices in each. One set are cook-rooms and store-rooms for the dusturkkwan or " table cloth of ceremony" which forms so important a feature of the social customs of this country. The other set communicate with the King's private court and are for pages in waiting and other domestics. On the long sides of this court are verandahs similar to that in the preceding. Each is matted and occupied along the wall by a long row of solemn looking figures, seated with downcast eyes, motionless and silent. Each wears a snow white turban ; each has a long prong-rest gun placed on the floor in front of him; and each has his baggy robes gathered in at the waist by a buff leather belt from which hangs a sword and a multitude of the paraphernalia belonging to his gun. For the rest no two in the
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