36 THE CONTACT OF CIVILIZATIONS cx. H
migrations. It was Russia's temporary occupation of Kulj a and of the fertile Ili valley which facilitated the reconquest of the New Dominion in 1877 after the great Muhammadan rebellion had flung the Tarim basin for a decennium first into anarchy and later on into oppressive misrule under Yakub Beg, a usurper from Western Turkistan.
The strings of oases between the Tien-shan and the Ktun-lun no longer serve a great trade route. The brave patient camels which carry what traffic there is as efficiently as in the times of Chang Chien or Marco Polo, have not yet been replaced by the rushing motor car or the bustling railway. The traditions of China's great past as a Central-Asian power still protect the peace of the region. Only the future can show whether they will suffice also hereafter to ward off those troubles and sufferings of which its less secluded neighbour, Russian Turkistan, has had abundant experience during recent years.
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