Produced by The Bookworm, [bookworm.librivox AT gmail.com], Asad Razzaki and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from scanned images of public domain material from the Google Print project.) Transcriber's Note: Variations in spelling and hyphenation have been retained as in the original. Some typographical and punctuation errors have been corrected. A complete list follows the text. Words italicized in the original are surrounded by _underscores_. Superscripted words are surrounded by {} brackets. The 'oe' ligature is represented as oe. THE LIFE OF YAKOOB BEG; ATHALIK GHAZI, AND BADAULET; AMEER OF KASHGAR. BY DEMETRIUS CHARLES BOULGER, MEMBER OF THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY. _WITH MAP AND APPENDIX._ LONDON: W{M} H. ALLEN & CO., 13, WATERLOO PLACE, S.W. 1878. _[All rights reserved.]_ LONDON: PRINTED BY WOODFALL AND KINDER, MILFORD LANE, STRAND, W.C. THE LIFE OF YAKOOB BEG. TO MY FATHER, BRIAN AUSTEN BOULGER, I Dedicate THE FOLLOWING PAGES, AS SOME FAINT TOKEN OF FILIAL AFFECTION AND GRATITUDE. PREFACE. The following account of the life of Yakoob Beg was written with a twofold intention. In the first place, it attempts to trace the career of a soldier of fortune, who, without birth, power, or even any great amount of genius, constructed an independent rule in Central Asia, and maintained it against many adversaries during the space of twelve years. The name of the Athalik Ghazi became so well known in this country, and his person was so exaggerated by popular report, that those who come to these pages with a belief that their hero will be lauded to the skies must be disappointed. Yakoob Beg was a very able and courageous man, and the task he did accomplish in Kashgaria was in the highest degree creditable; but he was no Timour or Babur. His internal policy was marred by his severity, and the system of terrorism that he principally adopted; and his external policy, bold and audacious as it often was, was enfeebled by periods of vacillation and doubt. Yet his career was truly remarkable. He was not the arbiter of the destinies of Central Asia, nor was he even the consistent opponent of Russian claims to supremacy therein. He was essentially of the common mould of human nature, sharing the weaknesses and the fears of ordinary men. The Badaulet, or "the fortunate one," as he was called, was essentially indebted to good fortune in many crises of his career. He cannot, in any sense, be compared to the giants produced by Central Asia in days of old; and among moderns Dost Mahomed of Afghanistan probably should rank