itary following was the highest evidence of latent
power. Order was supreme, and discipline was as apparent in the palace
of the Ameer as in the barrack yards of his fortresses.

The formal interview took place on the 11th of December, when the
presents from our government to the Ameer, carried by over 100 men, were
delivered to His Highness. There were guns of all kinds, including two
small cannon, vases, &c., &c.; but the token of friendship at which the
ruler showed most symptoms of pleasure was the autograph letter of Her
Majesty. This letter was enclosed in a "magnificent casket of pale
yellow quartz, clamped with gilt bands and handles, and bossed with onyx
stones." The Ameer received this with unconcealed satisfaction, several
times repeating, "God be praised." And then he made those declarations
of friendship which, taken in conjunction with our admiration for the
man, were the means of riveting England and Kashgar into a closer
alliance than any that has as yet subsisted between ourselves and any
other Central Asian ruler. "Your Queen is a great sovereign. Her
government is a powerful and a beneficent one. Her friendship is to be
desired, as it always proves a source of advantage to those who possess
it. The Queen is as the sun, in whose genial rays such poor people as I
flourish. I particularly desire the friendship of the English. It is
essential to me. Your rule is just. The road is open to every one, and
from here to London any one can come and go with perfect freedom."

On the 13th of December our representatives paid their first visit to
the city of Kashgar. The country round Kashgar is very fertile, highly
cultivated, and thickly populated, and the mission was not less struck
by the air of prosperity prevalent here than it had been at Yarkand. In
addition, the people had a healthier appearance, mainly through the
absence of goitre. The Dadkhwah of Kashgar, Alish Beg, who was a
Kashgari and not a Khokandian, was not less friendly than the Governor
of Yarkand had been, and a very pleasant day was passed in his company.
On the 18th a grand review was held, but for some reason, far from
clear, only of the old Chinese troops who had taken service under the
new ruler when Kashgar citadel fell. The description of the manoeuvres
which this force performed reads more like the display of an itinerant
circus than of a disciplined army, but, nevertheless, these Khitay
troops were excellent material for an army. Thei