The Sully County watchman. (Clifton, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1894, 1888-11-24
A CITY OF THE DEAD.
Skulls and Bones in Heaps Around the Aban-
doncd Houses.

Skulls and Bones in Heaps Around the Aban-
doncd Houses.
Here is q graphic description by the
great Russian artist, Vassil Vereschagin,
| OF the results of the Mohammedan rebel
lion against the Chinese government in
| Tchugutuhak:
Presently large clumps of trees we're
visible in the distance on both sides of
the road marking the farms, of which
| there are many around Tchugutchek.
About two versts outside the town we saw
several ruined houses aud chapels; the
paintings on the walls were still unin.
jured. Snme splendid old trees were
! still standing, bus quite dead for the ir-
! rigation caI.als are silted NJ and the soil
is qxito dry. In the town
similar sights meet the eye.
Wonderful groves and avenues, the work
OF years, are sometimes completely de-
stroyed or going to decay. As you up
proach the town IL is hnId to b. live il il
empty; You cannot help hoping to meet
some human being, if it he only a rob
ber. But not q soul was to he seeh any
where. The houses are for the most part
unipjured, and likewise the paintings on
the walls and the wooden latice-work of
the windows. Potshers and fragments
ol gTiiClts VI every tuHcclNdUie blhu
were lying all about-vessels OF iron and
clay of oil sizes; e quantity of copper
coin strung on n string; dresses, cape,
plaits of hair, shoes of all sizes-the
clumsy shoes of Dunghans and Cal
mucks side by side with the miniature
slippers of Chinese women. / put a
PAIR of extraordinary small slippers in
my pocket as a memento.
Rut ahnya all EkO,la living
about everywhere. The town is like an
east tomb, and the whole impression it
produces is terrible. I wandered about a
whole day in BIS company and then for
several days alone without being able to
accustom myself TO this stiffness as of the
grave, and To the sight of all these streets,
chapels, theatres and squares standing
forever empty. The gate OF the fortress,
which the besiegers had bio wn in, is still
tolerably strong. Nea- the gate Is to be
eeen the entrance into the subterranean
gallery by which the besiegers, after a
long and tedious seige, made their way
into the fortress. Then came a merci- |
lsss butchery, in which no one was
spared. Skulls and bones lie liter
ally in heaps against the walls
here and all around the fortress: at
many points, by several of the gates, the
SKULLS were piled up TO great height. In
the fields around the town, too, lie skulls;
as far as the eye can reach, skulls and
sBui!s, aud again skulls.
The wolves and jackals have already
done their work; the ravens are still en-
gagged in picking the bones clean for the
sun and rain to bleach. One of the farms
in particular, which lies nearest the tosh
sbnunds in bones. A body of Calmucks,
$4,000 strong, came this way to help the
beseiged, but p force of only few hun
dred DuRhans fell upon them, drove
them back, and killed them to the last
man. What wonderful energy on the
.art of the insurgent Mohamme dane!
What cowardice IN the part of the China.
mep. / had enough to occupy M.
From the governors palace to the sim
pie little houses of the common
people all the dwellings were habi.able;
ail were painted, all decorated with paint
inge, sculptures, bas-reliefs, flowers,
Dragons, etc. Theatres of an original
construction, Buddhist temples in which
some colossal idols were still intact
(fhough the MDhammedans evidently
showed great zeal in overthrowing these
ard breaking them to piecc-) J, seemed al
most TO be waiting for the people 10
throng in to their prayers and their
amusemen's.
For three weeks l lived with one Cos
sack and one Tartar in a wreiched cabin
on side the walls OF the fortress, and
every day from morning till evening /
roamed about, looking az everything,
drawing and painting. Occasionally a
wild goat would stray into the courtyard
where | was painting, stand transfixed
with as,opishment, and then rush off Mt
full speed across the brows and desolate
steppe.