With the overthrow of that sway and then of Yakub khan in its restoration, all this industry disappeared. In the destruction ensuing on these long struggles for supremacy, one learns the explanation of the barbarism which has succeeded the downfall of mighty empires all over Western Asia. The city has no important manufactures; it enjoys a local reputation for its leather, and boots and shoes made here are esteemed all over the province. Among other articles of trade are horses, silk, and wool, and fabrics made from them; but everything found at Kashgar is sold also at this market. In a Chinese notice of the city, the customs at Yarkand are stated to have yielded over $45,000 annually; the taxes are 35,400 sacks of grain, 57,569 pieces of linen, 15,000 lbs. of copper, besides gold, silk, varnish, and hemp, part of which are carried to Ílí. Jade is obtained from the river in large pieces, yellow, white, black, and reddish, and the articles made from it are carried to China. The Chinese authorities have no objection to the resorting thither of natives of Kokand, Badakshan, and other neighboring states, many of whom settle and marry. Khoten is situated on the southern side of the desert, and the district embraces all the country south of Aksu and Yarkand, along the northern base of the Kwănlun Mountains, for more than three hundred miles from east to west. The capital is called Ílchí on Chinese maps, and lies in an extensive plain on the Khoten River in lat. 37° N., and long. 80° E. The town of Karakash (meaning ‘Black Jade’)[125] lies in lat. 37° 10′, long. 80° 13′ 30″, a few miles northwest in the same valley, and is said by traders to be the capital rather than Ílchí; it is located on the road to Yarkand, distant twelve days’ journey. On this road the town of Gummí is also placed, whose chief had in his possession a stone supposed to have the power of causing rain. Kirrea lies five days’ journey east of Ílchí, near the pass across the mountains into Tibet and Ladak; a gold mine is worked near this place, the produce of which is monopolized by the Chinese. The three towns of Karakash, Ílchí, and Kirrea, are the only places of importance between the valley of the Tarim and Tibet, but none of them have been visited for a long time by Europeans.[126] The population of the town or district is unknown; one notice[127] gives it a very large number, approaching three millions and even more, which at any rate indicates a more fertile soil and genial climate than the regions north and south of it. Dr. Morrison, in his _View of China_, puts it at 44,630 inhabitants; and although the former includes the whole district, and is probably too large, the second seems to be much too small. ~KHOTEN DISTRICT.~