The Shasta courier., 1863-02-07
An El d. rado in Central Asia,


The work of Father Hue. priest of the
Eazarite Order in France, on his travels in
Mongolia, Tarlary, Thibet, etc., in IS44-5--6,
is one of the most valuable on those coun-
tries. The countries through which this yea
loas priest Travelled, accompanied only by his
brother Padre, Ga bet. and few servants,
have not been visited by any European ira
veler since the time of the famous Marco
Polo, some GOO years ago. And the account
which Hue gives of these countries the
names of many of which have heretofore
been entirely unknown to the rest of the
world is exceedingly interesting most
of it entirely new, and in every par. highly
curious.s The description is chiefly confined
to the elevated lands of Central Asia, which
are similar in almost every particular to Cali
Grnia and the countries between the Sierra
Nevada and the head waters of the rivers
flowing into the Gulf of California and the
Gulf of Mexico. They have their boundless
plains, called . the Land of Grass - kind
Of buffalo (the Yak), wild horses, ,>asses, cam
els, goats, sheep; wild men, thievish as
Blackfeet aud Pawnees mines of silver,
gold coal, copper, lead immense salt lakes
having no outlets to the ocean, with their
own systems of rivers, some as large as the
Missouri; snow capped mountains, the high
unknown to foreigners. Their nearest neigh
bors under. settled governments are the Rus
slams, Chinese, and English. ~
The extracts we insert Below will show
what sort of country this California of
Asia is, which is now for the first time made
known to us. From these Asiatic Steppes
and Alturas- have issued hordes who have
everrun the rest of Asia and the East and
South of Europe from time immemorial
. Thibet, poor in agricultural and manu-
ftctured productions. is rich in metals; and
gold and silver are so easily obtained that
the humblest shepherds are acquainted with
the art of Purifying the precious metals.
They may be seen sometime at the bottom
of the ravines or in the fssares- of the noun
tains, crouchel over fire of goats dung,
purifying in crucibles the gold dust gathered
while leading their focks to pastnre The
result of this abundance of metals is, that
specie is of little value, and in consequence
all commodities remain at high price, The
gold and silver collected by the people are
absorbed by the great, and especially by the
Llama Colleges, in immense reservoirs, into
which flow, by a thousand channels, all the
riches of these vast countries. The result of
this accumulation of money in the Golfers of
the privileged classes, and the high price of
tuc ucCc>SdIicS VI lie, tildt u large part Oh
the population is continually plunged in
frightful poverty.
1.-The Kingdom of Gechekten is astonish
ingly rich in gold and silver, but these very
treasures have been the cause of its greatest
ealamities. Though there exists severe
prohibition against working the mines, it of
ten happens that great troops of Chinese ban
ditti come and search for gold and it is said
they have remarkable capacity for discov-
ering it from the shape ofthe mountains and
the kind of plants produced on them. But
such discovery does but bring desolation
on the country where it is made, for it at
tracts toward 1T thousands ofvagabonds, some
of whom employ themselves in robbing the
inhabitants. while the rest dig for gold and
silver. In 1871 the Kingdom Of Ouinot be-
came the prey of multitude of these ruff
ans, who continued in occupation of it for
two years. and were not reduced till the King
had assembled all his banners and marched
against them. Being in such numbers, they
made a desperate resistance; but at length
great number of them retreated into the
mine. and the Mongols pereeiving it, stopped
mp the entrance with greet stones, where
every one Of them persisted. Alexander S.
Taylor.