ken place either by intercourse direct, or
through native states, with the two great providers of Central Asia. The
exaggerated enthusiasm that it was endeavoured to raise up in this
country about this same mythical ruler of Yarkand never spread far, and
there was always some scepticism, if there could be no disproof, of the
reports of the formidableness of this new kingdom. Looking calmly at the
real state of Yakoob Beg's position, even at the height of his power, we
find him to have always been a pecuniarily embarrassed ruler, glad of
the smallest windfall in the shape of the spoil of a single merchant.
The _Zakat_, his advisers pointed out to him, might be made a most
productive source of revenue, if foreign merchants could be induced to
bring their wares into the country. The loss the people had felt in the
departure of the Chinese might be amply repaired by the appearance of
Russian and English merchants to supply the same place that they filled.
If his aspirations were disappointed, and the _Zakat_ did not show any
signs of possessing that elasticity which had been predicted, it is
probable that in his impatience, heightened by the perception that
foreign trade might lead to foreign complications, he did not give the
scheme a sufficient time for a fair trial. His other sources of revenue,
_Ushr_ and _Tanabi_, and the gold mines of Khoten, brought in a sum
enough to meet the current expenses of the government and to maintain in
his service as many soldiers as his recruiting officers were able to
secure. But there was little if any surplus; and local improvements, and
all outlay that might have been reproductive and for the benefit of the
people, were strictly forbidden. The only works we can find constructed
by him, with a view to the advancement of the interests of his subjects,
were the merchants' _serais_, built in each city, and these were
self-supporting. Yakoob Beg has no claim to being considered as a
beneficent ruler. He was a military dictator, who had shown a rare power
for inaugurating a rough system of government, and whose campaigns had
always been singularly successful. As a ruler, showing a full
appreciation of the wants of his people, and adopting the best possible
measures to obtain them, he had no claims to consideration. Indeed, he
could not be compared with the Chinese, who, however personal may have
been their motives, certainly raised the state to a high pitch of
material prosperity, and left ma