Mission and Revolution in Central Asia - Svenska Missionskyrkan

Kashgar to Jarkend in a carriage along a wonderful road, where the oases were even more
shady and lush than the ones in the north.” 12 She also mentions meeting the Swedish
missionaries in Kashgar in the year 1927. As a matter of fact, Mrs. Lattimore and her
husband, the great authority on Asia, Owen Lattimore, were there on their honey-moon. She
speaks in enthusiastic terms of the “happy” bazaars and dignified mosques. 13 Owen Lattimore
himself also praises Kashgar, a beautiful and interesting town he would not mind seeing
twice. 14
The rich summer vegetation of this country was overwhelming. Billowing fields of corn
reached right up to the lodgings of the missionaries. Almost every kind of vegetable was
grown, and several crops could be harvested three times a year. The most common cereals
were wheat, barley, corn, rice, millet, flax, hemp and cotton. And among vegetables carrots,
sugar-beets, radishes, onions, cucumbers, peas, beans, melons and water-melons were
mentioned. Fruits and berries were also in abundance such as mulberries, apricots, nectarines,
cherries, pears, apples and grapes, plums, olives, figs and pomegranates. 15 Mrs Eleanor
Lattimore makes a note of the fact that she could buy fruits such as melons, apricots and
“wonderfully juicy nectarines” at nearly every halting-place. 16
Farming was done in a traditional way. A vital necessity was the watering of the earth. As
has already been pointed out, the rains were rare during the summer months. During the
spring and summer of 1915 for instance when Sir Percy Sykes moved to Kashgar, there was
no rain at all. 17 Spring rainfall could be quite violent though. Raquette mentions one such
rainfall in May, which was so violent that it nearly jeopardized a wedding-celebration in
Kashgar. 18 However, as a rule the fields were supplied with water brought down by the great
rivers during the melting away of the snow in the mountains. This water was diverted into
canals, which were later on diversified into ditches and grooves. The canals were filled
according to a systematic order. Thus the mission stations, for instance, received water in
their canals on a special day of the week. During the annual autumn rainfall, large basins were
filled with water at the mission stations and elsewhere, a supply which was to last throughout
the winter. Since the water supply was so well organized, the country was very productive
and poor harvests and failures of the crops were rare. 19 During the Mission period this country
was even one of the world’s best areas for fruit farming. 20 From June up to Christmas, people
actually lived almost exclusively off fruit. The American Professor Ellsworth Huntington, on
a journey through Eastern Turkestan in the early 20th century, predicted a great future for this
interesting area in his book The Pulse of Asia. He recommended large scale irrigation. He
says that the country was especially suited for cotton crops but also for other crops. 21
Even though flowers were rare, the rest of the vegetation made the country beautiful. The
Norwegian missionary, Otto Torvik, visiting Eastern Turkestan in the 1930s, called the area
where the Mission was engaged “the country of oases”. He mentions Kashgar and Aksu, but
the largest oasis was around Jarkend. 22 In an interview, Ester Johansson, one of the Swedish
missionaries, was once asked what it was like living in the desert, “We didn't live in a desert,
12 Lattimore, 1935, p. 233.
13 Ibid. p. 7 and p. 231 f.
14 Lattimore, 1930, p. 316.
15 Högberg, 1925, p. 8. Persson, 1938.
16 Lattimore, 1935, p. 219.
17 Sykes, 1936, p. 239.
18 Ansgarius, 1907, p. 85 f.
19 Torvik, 1946, p. 90.
20 Ekberg, 1948, p. 100.
21 Macartney, 1909.
22 Interview with Ester Johansson, February 27th, 1973.
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