in his earlier days, he found
himself unable to attempt the task of coping with the evil when it had
assumed such alarming proportions. It is impossible to believe that he
remained in ignorance of what was occurring under his very eyes, and
there is some evident foundation for the accusation that he participated
in the division of the profits of his tax-gatherers. We should be loth
to admit the accuracy of such a charge, and yet the arguments in its
favour are too plausible to admit of a very confident contradiction. It
would not speak well for the efficiency of his secret police if he had
remained in ignorance of a fact which was losing him the sympathy of his
subjects.

The gold mines at Khoten were worked after the fall of that city in
1868, and continued productive down to the present time. There is no
information on the quantities of the precious metal that are there
turned out in the year, but it is probable that they are not very great.
The coal mines near Aksu and Kucha are no longer made use of, except by
a few individuals, and the copper mines in that district have, since the
departure of the Chinese, only been very partially explored. The jade
that used to come in great quantities from Aksu and Khoten, is still to
be found throughout Kashgar; but although it is probable that it still
nearly all comes from those cities, the Kashgari themselves tell a
hesitating tale as to its place of production. A visitor to Kashgar, on
going the round of the bazaars, soon found that the people's tongues
were tied by the presence, in his train, of a number of the secret
police, who had been specially told off to prevent the Feringhee
obtaining any troublesome information on the state of the people, or the
resources of the state. A striking instance was given him of the close
attention paid by these guardians of order to the veriest trifles. The
traveller inquired in one stall where the jade, which was the chief
commodity of the merchant in question, came from, and received the
reply, Aksu. Proceeding to another shop in the street, he repeated the
question, when he was informed that it was imported from Khokand. But
the traveller said, your neighbour told me it came from Aksu. The
shopkeeper, taken aback by this abrupt remark, became confused, and
admitted that it came from Aksu. Warned by a look from the official, he
then repeated his original assertion that it came from Khokand. The use
of all this absurd shuffling, and att