guiding spirit. But
what must they have appeared to Yakoob Beg in his palace at Kashgar,
although that palace was 1,000 miles removed from the spot where his
victorious enemies lay encamped? It is impossible for us to gauge the
feeling of apprehension with which these first triumphs of the Chinese
were viewed throughout Eastern Turkestan; and if the bold heart of the
Athalik Ghazi did not misgive him, it was not through any light spirit
as to the gravity of the danger.

Intelligence of the fall of Manas reached Yakoob Beg, probably, before
the end of November, and in consequence of the lateness of the season he
had the whole of the winter before him to make his preparations for
defence. The surrender of these cities was not generally known in this
country until April, 1877, when we also heard of Yakoob Beg's march
eastward to protect his menaced frontier. There is very little to be
learnt of the internal affairs of Kashgar between March, 1876, and
March, 1877; that is to say, between the close of the revolt in Khokand,
with the surrender of Abderrahman Aftobatcha, and the mustering of
Yakoob Beg's army round the city of Turfan, or Tarfur. There can be no
doubt that in that period some important changes had taken place in the
sentiment of the Kashgarian people; these changes may not have been very
perceptible to a casual observer, yet in their consequences they were as
important as manifest sedition. It is not difficult to suggest what some
of these modifications may have been; of what they resulted in there can
be no doubt--the weakening of the power of the Athalik Ghazi.

Yakoob Beg's over-caution in November, 1875, when the last rising broke
out in Khokand, damaged his prestige more than a lost battle. It damped
the ardour of the Khokandian element among his followers, and when we
remember that these were his ablest and most devoted partisans, this
alone was a serious blow. But there are many tokens that the
disaffection was not confined to any special party among his people, but
was spread amongst them all. The Tungan wars had never been popular, and
had been costly and sanguinary operations. The old trade with Russian
territory, that once had been so lucrative, languished for want of a
fostering hand, and the difficulties of that northern range of
mountains, which the patience and care of the Chinese had for a time
pierced through, were made the most of to prevent intercourse with
Kuldja and Vernoe. More than all,