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   P.   The explanation of these successive Khoja revolts under Jahrangfr in 1825, under

Yûsuf in 1830, under Katta Tora in 1846, and under Wall Kan in 1857, is not difficult if we consider the claims of their family and the nature of the tenure of the country by the Chinese. As to the first, the preceding pages will have illustrated the character of the Khoja government in the country from the date of its first establishment by Khoja Afâk; their rule, it will be remembered, was in subordination to the authority first of the Ghaldan of Zûnghâr, and then of the Emperor of China, and was characterized by mutual jealousies and party rivalries, and by a persistent hostility to the paramount power. Whilst as to the second, the Chinese, as has been mentioned, held the country by a mere military occupation for the maintenance of order, the realization of revenue and the protection of trade. Their garrisons were located in forts outside the several towns they commanded, and their troops were kept quite distinct from the Musalmân population inside the walls. Whilst the Chinese merchants and traders, and others following in the wake of the relieving troops came and went, or settled and traded, and worked in the market suburbs that sprang up between the forts and the cities ; only a small proportion of them took up quarters amongst the Musalmân residents within the walls, and their numbers amongst the peasantry were even still less. The internal government of the Musalmân population not under the Khokand agents, both in the cities and rural districts, was everywhere conducted according to the shariat by Musalmân officials appointed by the Chinese Viceroy, and wearing Chinese uniforms and emblems, jointly with officers of his own nation to whom they were subordinate.

   P.   The clashing of rival interests produced by this three-fold system of govern-
ment,—viz., the Khokand agency, the shariat for the Musalmâns, and Chinese law for the traders and settlers of that empire,—the venality of the officials of all three

classes, coupled with the general laxity of morals and the neglect of their religious ordinances by the Musalmâns now no longer awed by the dictation of an arrogant priesthood, soon led to grave discontent amongst the influential classes of the Muhammadan population, especially those under Khokand rule. And this state of affairs, coupled with the blow given to the Chinese prestige by the establishment of the Russians at Almâti or Fort Vernoe in 1853, encouraged them since more to try and cast off the foreign yoke. Intrigues with the Khoja party in Khokand had from the commencement of the new rule been a dangerous feature in the political relations of this Chinese province with that Muhammadan State, and the opportunity now promising success they were renewed with a redoubled energy through emissaries inviting the Khojas to come and resume the possessions of their ancestors, and assuring them of the support of the population.

   M.V.   Consequently, during 1855-56 A.D., Wall Khan Khoja and his brother Kichik

Khan made several attempts to invade Kâshghar, but on each occasion were repulsed at the frontier pickets owing to their numerical weakness. In the spring of 1857, however, Wall Khan, after performing the prayers of the Ramazân'1d, 16th May, set out from Khokand with seven Kâshghar emissaries and a small band of trusty adherents to carry out a preconcerted enterprise against the Chinese.

They arrived at the Ocsâlâr Fort belonging to Khokand (on the Ush and Kâshghar road) at night, and surprising the little garrison killed the commandant and won over the soldiers to join the Khoja. Some Kâshghar troops who had been sent by Nûr Muhammad, the Khokand agent there, to collect the revenue from the Chongbaghish Kirghiz, and who were then encamped in the vicinity, soon joined the adventurers, and brought with them a party of the tribes to swell the Khoja's force. At the same time some scouts sent out by the Chinese were captured and brought to Wall Khan who inaugurated his bloody career by at once striking off their heads with his own hand.

He then pushed on, and crossing the Kizil ford surprised the picket there as they slumbered under the effects of their opium pipes, and slew every soul of them, and at dawn appeared before the Kûm Darwc za, or Sand Gate," on the south side of the city. He set fire to the gate, and, forcing through, rushed into the city,

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