The discoverer of Kashgar aniquities

This article is devoted to historical and cultural activities of N. F. Petrovskiy, the consul of Russia in Kashgar. The author notes the tendentiousness of appraisals on the history of Eastern Turkestan. Nevertheless, to him belongs the honour of the discoverer of the past of this territory and the pioneer in solution of complicated problems of archaeology and spiritual life of its aboriginal population. He did not limit himself only to the collection of separate articles of antiquities, as it had been done before, and he began his own rather systematic collecting of them. He investigated and described abandon town housing area Khan-uy, represented it as a fortress and the centre of handicraft production, as well as made close study of the Buddhist cult monument Uchma-Ravan and certified the cultural common character of the Turkic languages population in Kashgar and Western Asia. He also confirmed use in the states of Western Region not the Chinese but their own gold and silver coins. N. F. Petrovskiy gave investigators of the Eastern Turkestan the striking illustration of the fact that ancient inhabitants of the region used their own written language. To one of his most interesting finds the manuscript executed by mysterious letters refers. When academician S. F. Oldenburg had received this manuscript, he wrote: «In spite of likeness of forms of some letters with known to us samples of North-Indian letters, the manuscript of N. F. Petrovskiy contains in itself the new alphabet which, and it is possible, will introduce interesting information into the sphere of Indian paleography». The Past of Eastern Turkestan for N. F. Petrovskit did not come only to exposure and description of any kind of material things and sites. In this connection, the Russian consul's interest to toponymy (place-name study) is notable. Using it, he, in particular, said about curious opinions on the Saka problem. So in the name Sakal-Tash he perceived echo of the permanent residence of Saka tribes in that place. N. F. Petrovskiy, as a person, won respectful relations to himself on the local population's side. And this was confirmed of memoirs by S. Hedin. Even in the remotest depths of Xinjiang province it was possible to hear: «Do you know General Petrovsiy? He is such a great man and such a just one». This opinion is very essential, especially taken in compare with attitude of aborigines to other foreigners which was quiet far from benevolent.