under some disadvantages in
religion, and other conditions, as compared with him. And when we do
this, after impartial consideration we find that the balance is greatly
in favour of the Chinese. What can we judge from this, but that the rule
of Yakoob Beg, while presenting some striking features, was inferior in
degree to that of the Chinese? It is only fair to remember that the
difficulties in his path were great, and that he overcame many of them.
Before closing this chapter some description of the chief men who
assisted him to conquer the country, and then to govern it, may be not
without interest to the reader.

First among these, by right of his position as well as by his high
abilities, comes the Seyyid Yakoob Khan, or Hadji Torah, as he has more
conveniently been called, the prince who has recently visited several of
the principal courts of Europe. He is a near relative of the Athalik
Ghazi, although, strange to say, there is no consanguinity between them.
He is a son of Nar Mahomed Khan, the governor of Tashkent, who married
as his second wife Yakoob Beg's sister, and who was instrumental in
advancing the interests of Yakoob Beg during the earlier days of his
career in Khokand. The Seyyid was almost as old as his uncle, the Ameer
of Kashgar, having been born in Tashkent in 1823; but despite this near
connection Hadji Torah played no part in the conquest of Kashgar. Until
Yakoob Beg achieved complete success in his enterprise in Eastern
Turkestan he was considered by Khokandians of high rank a simple
adventurer. The Seyyid Yakoob Khan was of the best lineage in Turkestan,
and it is very possible that until the year 1867 he regarded his uncle
with a considerable amount of indifference. Certain it is that Hadji
Torah was far otherwise employed than in assisting his relative when
the latter was engaged in some of the desperate encounters of his not
uneventful career. In the civil administration of Khokand he filled,
under Alim Kuli, high posts, such as Principal of the Madrassa of
Tashkent, and then he was appointed Kazi, or Judge. It was after the
fall of Ak Musjid that he commenced that career of activity as a
traveller and a negotiator which brought him to the shores of the
Bosphorus and to the banks of the Neva and the Thames. That was in the
year 1854, and he was appointed as a sort of secretary to the embassy of
Mirza Jan Effendi, the ambassador sent by Mollah Khan to Constantinople
for aid. On a subsequent o