that went amiss was set down to the hostility of the Ameer. Yakoob Beg had, however, succeeded in throwing cold water on the enthusiastic preparations that were being made for exploiting Eastern Turkestan, and his mode of doing so had been quite original and characteristic. Few rulers would have foreseen that the best way to get rid of a troublesome visitor was to purchase what he had brought to sell to the people; and that the simple remedy of paying in a questionable currency would suffice to deter hundreds from following the example of Mr. Somof. Yakoob Beg, however, was not satisfied with leaving well alone. Having paid the claim of Mr. Pupyshef, it might have been supposed that he would maintain a discreet silence on his intentions in the future with regard to Russian merchants. He might have let the question, indeed, find, as it would have found, its own solution; but, in a weak moment, to place his own _bona fides_ beyond suspicion, he desired the Russian government to send another merchant to Kashgar, and then it could judge by his reception whether the Ameer was not amicably disposed towards his "close allies," the Russians. The Russian authorities took him at his word, and after an interval of more than twelve months, during which Kashgar had been unvisited by a Russian merchant, another, a Mr. Morozof, came to put Yakoob Beg's assertions to the test. True to his word, the reception of this gentleman was most cordial. Facilities were placed in his way for getting purchasers of his articles, and the Ameer bought for his arsenals such of them as seemed suitable. Mr. Morozof returned to Kuldja, narrating how cordially he had been welcomed by the ruler himself, and how the enterprise had commercially been a success. Others followed his example, and during the last two and a half years of his rule Russian merchandise, either through Russian or native agents, found its way in considerable quantities into Kashgar. But this trade was always liable to periods of depression through the clouds that frequently darkened the political horizon, and the Russians did not derive the advantages from trade with this state, that they had previously convinced themselves they were to do. Indeed, English manufactures, after the year 1873, entered into keen competition with theirs in the cities of Kashgar, and had driven their goods out of the market of Yarkand at all events before the close of the year 1876. But this fact only served to impress more forcibly on the Russians the necessity either for annexing Kashgaria or establishing on its throne some puppet, who would be content with the post of deputy of the Czar. Indeed, many suggested that the Chinese should be brought back; but then they were so far off, and apparently so weak. The party advocating the absorption of Kashgaria every day became stronger and more pronounced; and all observers agree that it was only a question of time when the