Then by the yamen of the Titai and the Great Five Glory Gate, the northern entrance of what was for seventeen years the palace of the Mohammedan king during the rebellion, we turned down the East street to the _Yesu-tang_, the Inland Mission, where Mr.and Mrs.John Smith gave me a cordial greeting.
Tali has always been an important city.

It was the capital of an independent kingdom in the time of Kublai Khan and Marco Polo.

It was the headquarters of the Mohammedan Sultan or Dictator, Tu Wen Hsiu, during the rebellion, and seemed at one time destined to become the capital of an independent Moslem Empire in Western China.
The city surrendered to the Mohammedans in 1857.

It was recaptured by the Imperialists under General Yang Yu-ko on January 15th, 1873, the Chinese troops being aided by artillery cast by Frenchmen in the arsenal of Yunnan and manned by French gunners.

At its recapture the carnage was appalling; the streets were ankle-deep in blood.