and in the presence of numerous witnesses when he was brought up " on remand " for a third time. Whether encouraged by his apparent success so far or by the forbearing treatment I had accorded to him, it was evident that the sly, restless-looking fellow was for the time being off his guard. So I promptly confronted him, from the detailed account printed in Dr. Hoernle's Report, with an exact reproduction of the elaborate stories which he had told, in the course of depositions made on different occasions before Mr. Macartney, about his alleged journeys and discoveries in the Taklamakan during the years 1895-98.
The effect was most striking. Islam Akhun was wholly unprepared for the fact that his lies told years before, with so much seeming accuracy of topographical and other details, had received the honour of permanent record in a scientific report to Government. Hearing them now read out by me in re-translation, he was thoroughly startled and confused. He appeared also greatly impressed by the fact that, with the help of the exact information recorded by Mr. Macartney and reproduced by Dr. Hoernle, I could enlighten him as to what " old books " he had sold at Kashgar on particular occasions, what remarkable statements he had made about the manner of their discovery by himself, &c. He was intelligent enough to realise that he stood self-convicted, and that there was nothing to be gained by further protestations of innocence. He now admitted that he had seen manuscripts being written by his above-named employers (recte accomplices) at a deserted Mazar near Sampula. Little by little his admissions became more detailed, and ultimately, when assured that no further punishment awaited him, he made a clean breast of it.
Islam Akhun's subsequent confessions proved perfectly correct on many important particulars when checked from the records kept at Kashgar, as well as from the evidence of a number . of independent witnesses. He showed himself to be possessed of an excellent memory, and readily recognised among the numerous photogravure plates accompanying Dr. Hoernle' s Report those
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