SINKIANG'S LOST ISOLATION.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 147, 23 June 1934, Page 7 (Supplement)

SINKIANG'S LOST ISOLATION.

The province of Sinkiang, scene of disturbances involving Moslems, Indians, Chinese and British, is a picturesque region whose inaccessibility hitherto has been its charm, romance and mystery. It is variously known as Kashgaria, Chinese Tartary or Turkeston, or Sinkiang—that is, the New Dominion—and on all sides it is either walled in by immenso ranges or isolated by vast deserts. To the north Sinkiang rune into the steppes of Dzungaria, the land of roaming Kazaks and Tartars with traditions of Tamerlane and the great Mongol conquerors.

The south-western frontier, however, is distinct and clear-cut. Here the greatest mountain wall in the world, the Mustagh, runs westward from the' Karakoram Pass. South of the mountain wall is British India. To the northwest another series of ranges divides Sinkiang from a part of the new Republic of Kazakstan.

Now Sinkiang, long isolated, is no longer remote from civilisation, Aircraft may land at Ivashgar, and even hard-driven motor cars have struggled in from the north and east. And the Mohammedan Tungans, a disturbing element since tho wane of Chinese authority, or perhaps the spirit engendered by the new "ethnic" republic formed by Moscow in 1 may form a brew to trouble British India.