3-065-895 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Mission to Yarkund and Kashgar: entrance to the British Embassy, Yangi Shahr, Yarkund, 1874. 'The remote and secluded country of Eastern Turkestan...has lately been put in diplomatic communication with the British Indian Government. The mission of Mr. T. Douglas Forsyth, C.B., to the present ruler of those Mohammedan States, Yakoob Khan,...is of some political and commercial importance...To the west of the city of Yarkand lies the Yangi-Shahr, or "new city." This, in the time of the Chinese as now, was occupied by the conquering race. It is a fortified rectangle, its sides facing the four points of the compass. These are respectively 700 yards and 800 yards long. When this citadel was last captured, the Chinese in possession, so soon as the Tungarees had made a practicable breach by mining, blew up the fortress and perished in its flames. Captain Chapman's sketch is of the street outside the building where the British Envoy and his companions were lodged. One thing here to be noticed is the Chinese two wheeled covered cart, drawn by four ponies. The way in which the ponies are harnessed, one in the shafts, with three others abreast in front, is worthy of remark'. From "Illustrated London News", 1874.