# England and Russia in Central Asia/Volume 1/Chapter 1

ENGLAND AND RUSSIA
IN
CENTRAL ASIA.
CHAPTER I.
RECENT RUSSIAN EXPLORATIONS IN CENTRAL ASIA.
In commencing a work of this character, which aspires above everything to place the intricate phases of the Central Asian Question in a clear light before the English reader, it is necessary to state concisely what meaning we attach to the definition Central Asia. No term has been more abused in its use than that of Central Asia, for, geographically speaking, it has never been applied with accuracy; and those events which have attracted so much notice in Turkestan, and have become known as the Central Asian Question, have really taken place in Western Asia. Yet it would be perfectly useless for anyone to attempt to revolutionise the phraseology of the subject by seeking to apply to that burning Central Asian topic any new title. It only remains to fix some limit, some ​precise signification to the term, and this is by no means easy. For we may give it too wide a significance or too narrow; and as the term is convenient rather than correct, we should seek to confine it to those limits which are required by convenience alone. Therefore it would seem that Central Asia is an elastic phrase that must yet be defined before we proceed any further, both for the sake of perspicuity and for the assistance of the ordinary reader.
The simplest definition we take to be the following: Central Asia is that portion of Asia which intervenes between the English and Russian frontiers wherever they now are, or wherever they in the future may be. It is consequently a variable tract of country in accordance as those frontiers advance or recede. Khokand and the districts Amou Darya and Trans-Caspiania are by this definition no longer in Central Asia; but Bokhara, Khiva, the Turcoman country, and Afghanistan remain included in it, and these countries, with Persia and the Pamir Khanates, actually constitute the whole of what may be called Central Asia. Beloochistan and Cashmere, which now extends to Baroghil, are within the practical limits of our Indian Empire, and Central Asia is consequently restricted to those countries and regions before mentioned. In this sense, therefore. Eastern Turkestan, which has passed once more into the possession of China, the third great power in Asia, is outside the sphere we have defined as Central Asia; but as some most interesting explorations have recently been made in the Tian Shan regions, it is proposed to include ​them in this chapter, which summarises the results, so far as they are yet known, of the discoveries of the last three years on the part of Russian explorers. To shut out the highly important journeys of Potanin, Prjevalsky, and Kuropatkine from our retrospect, would be to give a very partial description of what has been done by the Russian Government and its subordinates. But in treating of political events Central Asia has, for convenience sake, been assumed only to embrace all those minor countries which lie between the frontiers of England and Russia in Asia. The Central Asian Question really is, What is to be the destiny of those countries? Are they to remain independent, or to become portions of the dominions either of Russia or of England? Regarded in this light its complexity would not appear to be great.
In 1874 the Czar, acting upon his own authority, sanctioned the scheme which had been proposed by the Grand Duke Michael, Lieutenant of the Caucasus, for the formation of the country east of the Caspian Sea into a district under the immediate control of the Tiflis authorities. The extent of this district was held to be from a place known as Mertvii Kultuk on the north to the river Atrek on the south, and from the Caspian on the west to the Khivan frontier on the east. The Turcomans were practically ignored. It is scarcely necessary to say that over a considerable portion of this extensive region the authority of Russia was, and still is, vague, and that even geographical information about it is not as complete or as accurate as could be desired. Yet, despite these weak points ​in the Russian administration over the Trans-Caspian district, it is the law that every Turcoman and every Kirghiz within that zone shall pay an annual tax to the Russian Government. The district or governorship is divided into two sections, that of Mangishlak and that of Krasnovodsk. The latter is the more important, and under the immediate supervision of the governor of the whole region. In the Mangishlak sub-division the Kirghiz element greatly preponderates, and we may suppose that their taxes are paid with a certain amount of regularity. The wells that the Russians have sunk in two directions across the Ust Urt plateau as far as the Aral Sea, and Khiva, place in the hands of their officers the means of acting with promptitude against any turbulent Kirghiz. Moreover, since the days of that daring leader, Kutebar, the Kirghiz appear to have lost all their former courage, and have never dared to resist in any form the demands, just or unjust, of the Russian officials. We may assume that the Kibitka tax of three roubles for each tent is paid without murmuring, and at the stipulated season. But it has been far different in the Krasnovodsk district, where the people are not Kirghiz, but Turcomans. It will be more to the purpose to defer any remarks upon these people until a later chapter, but we may say here that the reconnoissances of General Lomakine have resulted in the acquisition of precise information concerning the river Atrek to a distance of one hundred miles from its mouth, that is to say, to its junction with the river Sunbur, as well as of the country between Krasnovodsk and Beurma, a ​village beyond the strong position of Kizil Aryat. The results of those investigations have not been made known, but we can judge of the importance of the latter by the fact that General Lomakine has recently advanced to Kizil Arvat and Kizil Tchesme, still further on, at the head of a considerable army, and that he is supposed to be meditating a coup against Merv from those posts of vantage. Notwithstanding these results, which have however been obtained entirely within the Russian frontier, it may be said that Russia has not done much towards exploring the country held by the Turcomans, and that the great sandy expanse of Kara Kum, with its oasis of Merv, and the fertile strip of country from Sarakhs to Abiverd is still a terra incognita to Russia as well as to ourselves. Of course it is just possible that great diligence may have been shown by the Russian officials in collecting information concerning these places from native sources in Khiva and at Charjui; but if there has been this diligence it has apparently borne little fruit. The Russian official map of Central Asia, which is to be obtained only with great difficulty outside Russia, and which the author has been so far privileged as to have secured for these volumes, throws no more light on the Kara Kum desert than Petermann's or Walker's Turkestan. Russia, with great opportunities, has done scarcely anything for the advancement of geographical knowledge in this quarter, and this apathy has been the more surprising because political and military advantages were here the sure rewards of success. It should, however, be remembered by those who may ​reckon upon a prolonged continuance of apathy in this direction, that the advantages of action are so obvious that sooner or later they must induce Russian governors to sanction operations upon a large scale, and that once they are sanctioned the results must be certain and immediate. Elsewhere in Central Asia the result of geographical research, and of individual courage and labour, can only be reaped after years of patient and persistent toil; but here the prize can be secured in a few months.
And what has been said with regard to Kara Kum applies with equal force to Kizil Kum. Although the latter desert is mostly within the Russian frontier, it is so barren that the Russian Government has never been at any pains to explore it, nor has it made any attempts at improving it. The few routes which are marked across it, or which skirt its edges, are traversed by few travellers or caravans; and so long as Russians strain the resources of their country in efforts to press forward in all directions towards India, so long must the Kizil Kum expanse remain the waste which it has been since the alteration in the course of the Jaxartes. It is within the strict limits of accuracy to assert that, since the annexation of the Amou Darya district, nothing has been done in the way of exploring Kizil Kum, and that, with the securing of a waterway from Kazala to Khiva and the Oxus, even the old caravan route through Kalenderhana has been to some extent neglected by the Russian authorities. In olden days the highly prosperous and thickly populated kingdom of Khwaresm stretched on both sides ​of the Oxus far into Kizil Kum and Kara Kum. The aqueducts and canals can still be traced in the sand, which were constructed by beneficent khans of the Chaghtai and other dynasties; but the civilised rule of Russia has not conceived it to be necessary to imitate those laudable and prudent measures.
During the campaigns which resulted in the capture of Samarcand and the virtual subjection of Bokhara, the Russians acquired copious information concerning the roads leading to Charjui and Kerkhi from Bokhara. Charjui is exactly one hundred and ten miles distant from Bokhara. The road passes through Bugudjan, Kara Kul, and Ardan to Ustik, on the Oxus, whence the route lies south-east to Charjui, which is on the left bank of the Oxus one hundred and fifty miles from Merv. From Bokhara to Kerkhi there is a road through the desert for a portion of the journey, passing through Hosh Robat and Shaha to Karalindai, which is opposite to Kerkhi. The distance is one hundred and thirty miles, but there is a want of water and an absence of cultivation that greatly increase the difficulties an army would have to encounter. Recent explorations along the Karshi-Kilif road tend to show that there are practicable roads to Kerkhi from the east. But after all, the Kerkhi road, and Kerkhi itself, are of far less importance than Charjui. But Charjui itself is only the half-way house to Merv, and recently events have moved so fast that if Russia should now if ever resolve to play the bigger of the two games which always lie ready to her choice, Merv, important as it is and must ever be, sinks for the ​moment into a secondary place. The Russians in Tashkent have never ceased to hope and to believe that they could advance upon India through Balkh and from the Pamir ; and they have indulged in those hopes and beliefs chiefly for the reason that if they are not founded on fact they must give up all claim to the foremost part in any proposed invasion of Hin- dostan. Given the requisite number of troops, and the due amount of roubles, and Russia can always advance against India from Khorasan and the Atrek; but that would be an expedition under the immediate control of the authorities at Tiflis and St. Petersburg. Neither in its dangers nor its glory could the Tashkent army or Governor General claim the first place. It is unnecessary to point out that to such a deprivation the Tashkent army, which has conquered " Central Asia," will not willingly submit. Therefore it is that during the past few summers explorations have been so persistently carried on in Kulab, Hissar, Karategin, and on the Pamir, and it is of those investigations that we must now speak.
"When Russia annexed Samarcand, Bokhara was in a state of disunion, and its vassals, the Beks of Kulab and Hissar, were in reality independent princes in the close vicinity of the new Russian frontier. Russia at once interested herself in this domestic quarrel, and General Kaufmann had the satisfaction of settling the matter on the basis that these Beks were to be the vassals of Bokhara. Still more to the content of MozafPur Eddin, a Bokharan garrison was placed in possession of Shahr-i-sebz, and thus the nominal ​dominions of the Ameer of Bokhara were carried to the foot of the Pamir. Karategin passed at the same time under the influence of Khudayar Khan of Khokand, and when that potentate was deposed, partly by his own people and partly by Russia, in 1875, it is to be conjectured, although nothing definite has been said upon the subject, that Karategin passed under the controlling influence of Russia. In the summer of 1875 a Russian mission visited Hissar, and proceeded through that province to Kulab on the borders of Badakshan and Darwaz. That mission was composed of Messrs. Vishniefski, Maieff, and Captain Schwartz, and their object was to throw light on the little-known province of Hissar and the country lying east of that district in the direction of the Pamir. Our chief information of those places was derived from the Chinese, and to a great extent we are in a no better position now, as the results of the Russian explorations have been only partially divulged. The journey of the Indian explorer, Faiz Baksh, which will be referred to in a later chapter, alone to some degree makes us independent of Russian sources of knowledge. It is known, in a general way, that this mission acquired some very useful and important information concerning Hissar and Kulab, and more especially of the Guzar and Shirabad oases. At the place called Baisun, close to the road to Shirabad, there is a range of mountains through which there passes a gorge that these Russian explorers pronounced to be impregnable. The importance of Baisun is to be found in the fact that it is on ​the road from Karslii, the chief town of eastern Bok- hara, to Hissar and Kilif on the Oxus. The rivers Surkhan and Surkhab were crossed in several places, and considerable fresh information was also acquired of those little-known states Shignan, Darwaz, and Roshan, which lie immediately beyond the Afghan frontier in the direction of the Alai Tau. A map was drawn of the region by Captain Schwartz, which showed the results that had been attained, but what these precisely were we as yet only vaguely know. Such as have been divulged are to be found upon the map. It acquires fresh importance from the later journeys of M. MaiefE and Captain Schwartz.
From that period to last year little or nothing was done in this direction, but the warlike preparations that were made last spring gave a fresh impulse to general explorations south of the Russian frontier. In fact it was absolutely necessary for the staff to know what sort of country it was between Karshi and Kilif before the army could advance to the Oxus. For the primary object at which Kaufmann intended that the corps concentrated at Djam should strike was Balkh, and to reach Balkh could only be accomplished by a direct march from Karshi either upon Khoja Salih or Kilif. Therefore it was that M. Maieff, editor of the "Tashkent Grazette," was sent upon those two expeditions which enabled him to describe the nature of the road to Shirabad, and its branches which led to Hissar and Khoja Salih. The information he acquired during these journeys was of great practical value, but it was confined to the roads leading ​to the Oxus fords. He found that the best road was the direct one by Derbend and Shirabad to Kilif, but that the mountain road through Guzar was more practicable than had been supposed. On that road Baisun may be said to be the half-way post to Kilif. In August M. Maieff set out upon a second journey in Hissar, and on this occasion his discoveries were more important than on the former. He accompanied M. Weinberg's mission to Bokhara as far as Karshi, but at that town he turned in a south-easterly direction to Guzar. He explored the road leading from Tengi Khoram to the thickly-populated district of Koris- tan, passing through Akbatch and the valley of the Kerchak river, the existence of which was previously unknown. Another road, leading from Koristan east- wards through the Tengi pass to Shirabad, was found to be passable at all times, and constantly used by the inhabitants. From Shirabad the traveller turned in a north-easterly direction, crossing the Surkhan near Kakaity, and proceeded along the river to Regar and Sarijui. He then by a circular route reached Shahr-i- sebz, passing through the kishlaks of Sengri-dagh, Batch, Tashkurgan, and Yakobak. During this ex- ploratory tour he acquired an immense amount of geographical and political information, that is stored away in the archives of Tashkent. It speaks well, however, for Russian influence that a traveller should have been able to pass in safety through that wild and semi-independent country which lies between Karabagh and Shahr-i-sebz. With regard to this journey the following information as to the southern parts of the ​khanate of Bokliara has oozed out in the proceedings of the Russian Geographical Society. The khanate is, as is known, subdivided into several bekdoms, which re- mained very imperfectly known until M. Maieff explored them. Three of these bekdoms — Chirakcha, Gruzar, and Shirabad — are on the route from the town of Guzar to Kilif, on the ^Amou Darya. That of Chirakcha occupies the mountains of Djam, and the neighbouring steppe, which last reaches the Kashka Darya river. Both mountains and steppe are but scantily watered, and therefore but poorly peopled with Usbegs of the Saray-kipchak branch, who are engaged in agriculture and cattle-breeding. Grain is raised on the steppe and exported to Samarcand and Katty-kurgan ; the crop is estimated to produce annually six thousand four hundred hundredweights of wheat, and three thousand two hundred hundredweights of barley ; rice is not cul- tivated, because of want of water. The bekdom of Guzar also is rich in wheat, and especially in cattle, which is bred on the hilly part of the bekdom. More than four thousand head of cattle may be seen at once in the weekly fairs of Guzar. The bekdom of Shirabad is rather poor, the export of grain being difl&cult; owing to the great distances from the larger centres of Karshi and Bokhara, agriculture cannot be profit- able ; and the trade in grain is in the hands of the tuachi, or travelHng merchants, who purchase the grain at very low prices. The bekdom of Kobadgan lives on silkworm culture. The inhabitants of Kilif town, on the Amou Darya, live mostly by the salt trade, rock-salt being raised on the mountains, Kuityn ​tan, and exported to Afghanistan, where it is ex- changed for wheat, barley, and rice. There are, how- ever, settlements engaged in agriculture in the valleys around the bekdom of Kilif . The bekdom of Baisun numbers a good many nomad Usbegs and a few settled Tajiks ; both live by cattle-breeding. On the contrary, the bekdoms of Denau, Yurchi, and Ghissar, which occupy the upper parts of the Surkhan and Kafirganan rivers, as well as the Shahisabs (bekdoms of Shaar and Kitab), are very fertile; much rice, wheat, millet, ^barley, oats, and various fruits, are raised in the well-watered steppe-like valleys at the foot of the mountains, while the bekdom of Karshi is an important centre for trade with the steppe of the Amou Darya, and for the transit trade between India and Bokhara. The nomad Turcomans and Usbegs bring here the varied produce of their domestic manu- factures — carpets, rough cloths, and saddles, and large flocks of horses — which are met by the caravans for the transport of merchandise. The krokesh from Karshi (men engaged in the transport of wares on horseback) are met with everywhere in the khanate of Bokhara, and the prices of transport are invariably one tena for the tash (about sixpence for 5*3 miles). As to the routes which lead from Guzar to the Amou Darya, and the exploration of which was the chief aim of M. MaiefE's journey, there are two — one of them, one hundred and forty-six miles long, passes by Tenga- khoram and through the cleft of Shirabad, while the other, ninety- seven miles long, leads through Taka- shur and Kuitan. Both offer several difficulties in the ​mountainous region ; but the former is preferable to the second, which crosses uninhabited regions without sweet water and wood. Both led to passages across the Amou Darya river to those of Shur-oba and of Kilif. The former is most important, as it is on the route to Balkh, Mazar-i-sherif , and to the great highway of Cabul ; but it is rather difl&cult, the Amou Darya having here a width of about two thousand yards. The crossing at Kilif is far better, the river being only four hundred yards wide, steamers going as far up the river as that town, and the environs of Kilif affording very favourable conditions for a larger settlement. The distance from Kilif to the next Afghan town, Akche, is estimated to be only five tashes (twenty- seven miles) long ; twenty-seven miles more would lead them to Shiborgan ; and a further eighty- five miles to Maimene, from which there remains only a ten- days' travel to Herat. M. Maieff observes, however, that all these distances must be estimated somewhat greater than the true ones. The results of M. Maieff' s tour have been supplemented by another Russian traveller, M. Otshanin. This gentleman may be said to have explored Karategin more completely than any- one else, visiting the capital, Gharm, and the winter settlement of Zaiglan, between which places he found an admirable road. The distance is sixty-five miles. Zaiglan is situated close to the junction of the Muksu and Surkhab rivers. The mountains here are very elevated, and M. Otshanin had to abandon his intention of proceeding through the Muksu Yalley, and follow the better-known route through the Zir​sagar pass to the Pamir. His journey confirmed the general accuracy of the maps, and presents many features of interest. The results of this later journey were so striking that it was at once resolved to de- spatch another and a larger expedition from Samarcand. It was to follow the same route as that by which M. Maieff returned, and to turn off at Deh-i-nau on the Surkhan, whence it would proceed to Hissar, Khawa- ling, and Grharm, on the road to TJshkurghan in Ferghana. From Grharm it was to visit the Pamir. The scientific officer attached to this expedition, M. Muschketoff, has lately published some of the geogra- phical results of that journey. His observations apply exclusively to the northern part of the Pamir, known by the name of Chargosch. The geological examina- tion of the strata proved that the structure of the Pamir is mainly granite, metamorphic clay, and mica slate, and that the granite outcrops are generally the same in their direction as those of the Tian Shan, viz., east-north-east. The highest summit in this part of the Pamir is that peak called after General Kaufmann, which towers for twenty-five thousand feet into the air. M. Muschketoff' s examinations of the region go to show that Humboldt was wrong in supposing that the Pamir represented a meridional mountain system, to which the name of Bolor was given. M. Musch- ketoff explains the misconception which the appear- ance of the Pamir had given rise to, in the following manner : — " On the ground both of the geological structure of the Pamir and Alai, as well as on the basis of the geological data collected by Stoliczka, I ​find no support for the assumption of a regular meridional mountain system. The aspect of these mountains, which has caused the erroneous belief, I should explain by the fact that eastward from the Kara Kul the Trans- Alai diorite mountains (which run from east to west) and the south Khokand syenite mountains (which run east-north-east) meet with the Ferghana diabase mountains (which have a north-west direction), whereby a colossal aggregation of mountain masses takes place, which is increased by the accession of the Pamir granite range (stretching east-north-east). The entire mass of this meeting point belongs to different mountain systems; but from a distance, from whatever side it be regarded, from east or west, the outline on the horizon of the several concurrent heights gives the impression of an entire meridional chain, which in reality does not exisfc." This is the latest opinion upon the structure of the Pamir, and in absence of other information M. Muschketoff's criticism must be accepted as correct. The Russian frontier has, as the result of these Pamir explorations, been pushed southward for a distance of eighty miles, thus including in the Czar's dominions both Karategin and the great Kara Kul lake. In this direction Russia evidently expects to be able to work a way to Lake Victoria and the head-waters of the Oxus.
Of the almost inaccessible district of Karategin we know scarcely anything. Mr. Schuyler endeavoured to visit it, but the Khokandian officials refused to give ​him the necessary permission. In 1869-70 a difficulty occurred between Bokhara and Khokand as to which state Karategin owed fealty, and Russia, under whose auspices the negotiations were carried on, solved tha question by deciding that Karategin should be practically independent. Geographically speaking, Karategin should be Bokharan, but historically and politically it should have belonged, as it mostly has, to Khokand, which had always been in the habit of selecting the Beg or chief. When Russia annexed Khokand in 1876 Karategin virtually became a Russian possession. The inhabitants of this region are represented to be an exceedingly primitive people, and the following particulars have leaked out concerning their customs. They have no conception of measure or weight, no booths, caravanserais, or fairs, such as are common to all nations, and Eastern ones more especially. They possess no knowledge of public institutions, but live on in a state of primitive equality that is generally considered synonymous with Arcadian myths. They are principally cattle breeders, and with very few exceptions there are no agriculturists. The barrenness of their country is not redeemed by any feature of a brighter possibility such as is to be found in all the valleys of the Hindoo Koosh; but the total wealth of the district forms a common stock, out of which the necessities of the whole population are supplied. In times of dearth the suffering is often slight, as the whole community shares alike. The crime of theft is unknown, and the Karateginese are alike famed for their good humour and their sense of honour. ​Mr. Schuyler, who saw some of these people in Khokand, describes them as "swarthy, thick-set, good-natured fellows."
From another source we learn that the mission sent to the Pamir consisted of Messrs. Severstof, Skassi, and Captain Schwartz, in addition to M. Muschketoff; and that its operations were carried on under consider- able difficulties through the inclemency of the weather. The cold was often very great, the thermometer going as low as 25° below zero centigrade, but the actual cold was felt still more keenly through the bitter winds that swept across the barren wastes of the Pamir. On the Pamir there are no forests and hardly any herbage ; and the expedition had to carry its own fuel with it. As the season was so advanced when the expedition left Tashkent in September, it is not at all fair to judge from the report of this expedition what the cli- mate and condition of the Pamir are during the spring. No inhabitants were found either on the Pamir or in the Alai valleys, and the Russians assumed that they had taken shelter in the warmer valleys of Ferghana. They traversed the Shart Pass, which is the next to the Terek, on their road from the Alai to Pamir, then taking the same route as Scobelef's force in 1876. The river Kok-su was here reached and to some extent explored; but we have yet to learn accurately what is the true course of the Pamir rivers, which have been several times christened and re-christened. The natives assert that this particular stream flows east- ward through Kashgar and into Lob-Nor, and is known as Tarimbal. If this be correct the Kok-su is merely ​the head- water of the Kashgar river, which eventiiallj becomes the Tarim. The expedition did not get much beyond the Kok-su, on account of the snow, but returned via Osh to Tashkent, having acquired most valuable information on many points, and with a fine ornithological collection. Captain Schwartz revised the map he had previously prepared, but these new results are not of course shown on the official map to which we have already referred. Russia has thus stored up considerable information concerning the Pamir during the past twelve months, and the rapidity with which the missions succeed each other proves that the Tashkent authorities believe that explorations in the Pamir khanates, over which their influence is steadily increasing, may prove as advantageous in a pohtical and a military sense as much as they are for scientific or geographical benefits.
In close connection with these Pamir explorations are the efforts that are being made to collect historical information concerning the Aryan races of the Upper Oxus, the Hindoo Koosh, and the Western Himalaya. The Russian Greographical Society has commissioned M. Minaieff to compile a systematic digest of whatever information has been acquired of those primitive peoples either by Russian, English, or native travellers. This work when completed should be most interesting, as much remains to be done in this respect. The people of the valleys of the Hindoo Koosh, the Kafirs, the Wakhis, the Chitralis, etc. etc., and also those of the Pamir, are of great sentimental interest; and their practical political importance may some day become ​very perceptible. M. Minaieff's region of observation includes the valleys of the Indus, the Cabul, and the Yarkand rivers.
Although M. de Ujfalvy is not a Russian subject, some record of his explorations in the country to the south and east of Ferghana may not be out of place at this point. M. de Ujfalvy was commissioned by the French Government to travel in Central Asia during the winter of 1877, and he returned to Paris in the summer of last year. The following description of his travels is taken from the narrative of the proceedings of the Paris Greographical Society. The real interest in his travels commences when he left Samarcand, and proceeding along the right bank of the Zarafshan river, passed through Paishambe to Penkajend, XJru- mitan, and Varsiminar. The result of that tour in the Zarafshan region was to convince M. de Ujfalvy that the Galtchas, Karateginese, and probably the people of the Pamir khanates and of Badakshan as well, represent the original inhabitants of Trans - Oxiania. He considers them to be an Iranian race distinct from the Tajiks. He devoted special attention to the customs of the Galtchas, who have been gene- rally confused with the Tajiks. One great distinction is that the Galtchas only marry amongst themselves, while the Tajiks, as is well known, ally themselves with Usbeg or Kirghiz women, or vice versa. The Galtchas are therefore a pure race. They are hyper- brachicephalic, tall in stature, with white skins, which are often bronzed from exposure to the sun and weather. Their hair varies in colour, but as a rule it ​is black, although fair and even red hair is often to be found amongst them. They have flowing beards, and their brown or blue eyes are close set in the head. The nose is well shaped and slightly arched, the face oval, the frame vigorous, and they are excellent horse- men and pedestrians, being of very active habits, and capable of enduring severe fatigue. Their language is a Persian dialect, which led to their being classed among the Tajiks, and their social habits are those of a contented and fairly prosperous community of agri- culturists. The village assembly decides all matters of dispute, but there are degrees of station amongst them which are unknown in the more primitive regions lying to the south. Each village has a mayor or Aksakal — White-beard — who is as a rule the oldest man in that village. The greater number of the Graltchas are monogamists, but some of the more pros- perous have two wives. The Galtchas say that their name signifies "The hungry raven which repairs to the mountains to find means of subsistence." M. de Ujfalvy returned to Samarcand after this interesting tour in the Zarafshan Yalley.
But his later travels in Kuldja are still more important. From Samarcand he went to Khodjent, Margilan, Andijan, Osh, and Houlsha, or Grulsha, at the northern entrance to the Terek pass ; and after a brief tour in the direction of the Pamir he went on to Kuldja. In this secluded quarter of the dominions of Russia M. de Ujfalvy found a temperate climate, not to be met with elsewhere in Central Asia in the same latitude. The winter, never very severe, lasts only for ​two months in the valleys of the Kash and the Ili, and the heat of summer is modified by the absence of those fierce dry winds which sweep across the steppes and sandy deserts of Turkestan. The inhabitants are mainly of Calmuck race, with the addition in the towns of the Tungani, descendants of Chinese military settlers, and of the Tarantchis, whose ancestors were natives of Kashgar. The country is extremely fertile, producing rice, sorgho, cotton, wheat, and fruits of all kinds in great abundance, and it is consequently a region emi- nently suitable for European colonisation. The Russians, during their seven years' rule, do not seem to have settled to any considerable degree in this favourable clime, and, according to the French traveller, they do not appear to have done as much for the country as had been supposed. Colonel Prjevalsky tells a different tale of the Kuldja administration; but this is what M. de Ujfalvy informs us: "Since the Russians came here more than a thousand persons have sought the favour of being allowed to settle in Kuldja, but the Russians refused, as they are said to count upon having to give the country up to China. Since the civil war which ravaged the country for several years, the valley of the Ili presents a sad spectacle. The traveller passes dozens of villages in ruins; the fields are covered with weeds; the numerous canals are dry; and even the fine forest of Karagatch, which the Chinese planted between Borohoudjie and Ak-kent over an extent of thirty miles, will perish for want of water if the remedy be not soon applied. Formerly the country contained more than 2,000,000 inhabitants, now there ​are scarcely 130,000. Flourishing towns, such as New Kuldja or Hi (300,000 inhabitants), Bazandai (100,000), and Tchimpansai (50,000), have disappeared; there remain only the ruins. The numerous industrial works which the country contained have been burnt, and the laborious inhabitants killed without distinction—men, women, and children."
This is the evidence of a traveller in Kuldja during last year, and it fully confirms what Mr. Schuyler saw six years ago. The Russians have done literally nothing for the advantage of Kuldja and its people during the seven years and a half that they have been there. The great works carried out by the Chinese, which were so ruthlessly destroyed by the Mahomedans in the great outbreak in 1863, still remain to testify by their ruins to the fact that the Chinese possessed administrative qualities which Russia has never evinced in any of her numerous annexations. If we are to judge between the merits of China and Russia as governing powers, is it a false test to apply to the question, to compare the state of Kuldja in 1860 with what it is now in 1879, after it has had the supposed benefit of seven years' administration by a Russian officer ? In 1860 there were canals and roads, forests rising on the one hand, and fertile fields stretching on the other, tranquillity and order, a bustling trade, and a prosperous people; and in 1879 all those have dis- appeared or become useless, except the roads — which, like those of Rome, were indestructible — and the tranquillity which is only a military despotism. Under China, Kuldja contained two millions of people, and ​under Russia its population has not increased from the very small number to which Mahomedan violence had reduced it. China proved herself to be a thoughtful and considerate ruler ; Russia can in this matter be only compared to a thoughtless and improvident one.
Before passing on to those other Russian explorers whose scene of activity lies still further to the east, we may summarise what M. de Ujfalvy has written upon the subject of Central Asia as a field for sports- men. During his ethnological pursuits he was struck by the fact that the art, or rather the business, of hunting was closely interwoven with the daily life of the people of Central Asia, and he at once came to the conclusion that this was worthy of attention even from a scientific point of view. The causes for this devo- tion to sport vary with the particular people referred to. Some hunt as a means of subsistence, being naturally loth to, or ignorant of, sedentary pursuits ; others because they are shepherds, and are obliged in self-defence to assume the ofensive against the fierce beasts of the mountain or the plain. The former only engage with the combative animals when they interfere with the chase of those upon which these people, chiefly mountaineers, subsist ; but the latter wage war against the combative animals alone. The people of the towns have long forgotten their old skill and eager- ness in the chase ; and M. de Ujfalvy's remarks apply exclusively to the Kirghiz, the Kipchaks, the Aryan people of Trans-Oxiania, and the Turcomans. Of these, perhaps, the Kirghiz are the most skilled hunters, and this can be explained by the fact that ​they hold that mountainous and wild country which stretches from the Jaxartes to Lake Balkash and Semiretchinsk. Wolves, foxes, badgers, wild goats, and grey hares are to be found in abundance in the country specified, and in the province of Ferghana deer are so numerous that he compares it to " an English park." The large Maral stag is to be found in herds of several hundreds. Water-fowl, herons, cranes, ibises, wild geese, swans, and a bird resembling a flamingo are also to be met with in immense quantities round Issik Kul and along the Syr Darya and its affluents. Bears are to be found in the rocky country, and a tame kind of gazelle, which is, however, never to be seen in greater numbers than five or six at a time. The Zarafshan valley east of Samarcand is the haunt of wolves, lynxes, foxes, etc. etc. ; and eagles and vultures are frequently to be seen. But on the whole the wolves are of a cowardly race, and the Kirghiz hunter does not hesitate to attack them single-handed and armed only with a heavy riding-whip, which is made of wire woven into the lash. With regard to the Central Asian tiger, which M. de Ujfalvy states, on what authority we know not, to be larger than the Indian tiger, and particularly fierce, it seems to be an animal which is gradually disappearing. Twenty-five years ago, when the Russians were first advancing along the Syr Darya, the marshes on the banks of that river swarmed with them, but from this quarter of the country they have been expelled by the en- croachments of man. They are still found in limited numbers along the banks of the Chu river and on the ​shores of Lake Balkasli. When Prince Dolgorouki was sent m 1876 to inspect the Central Asian forces, however, he was unable to discover a single specimen of this formidable animal; but the stories of its existence are too recent and too well authenticated to admit of any doubt as to its being a literal fact that there was such an animal, even if there is none still surviving, as the Central Asian tiger. Its size has, however, in all probability been exaggerated. The Russian authorities have offered a reward of ten roubles to the slayer of each tiger, and the skin generally fetches double that amount; so that it is probable that the tiger is gradually being exterminated.
The Kirghiz, who, as we have said, are the best hunters in Turkestan, are capital riders and possess horses which are not easily to be surpassed in the qualities of endurance and speed. The chiefs possess a very fine breed of Turcoman horse, which is believed to be an Arab breed with some English blood in its veins. It is longer-legged than the pure Arab, and is known as argamak. It comes from the Turcoman country. As this horse is very scarce and dear, it is not surprising to learn that it is only possessed by some of the wealthier of the Kirghiz chiefs. The indigenous Kirghiz horse is small and mean in its appearance; but it must not be condemned from appearance alone, for it is capable of enduring great and sustained fatigue, and can put up with the most meagre accommodation and the most irregular diet. The karabair is a cross of these two ; but it possesses the virtues and good qualities of neither.
​The Kirghiz dog, called tazi, is akin to a greyhound. It is intelligent, bold, and remarkably swift of foot. Among the Galtchas and the people of Pamir another dog, called gurdja, a species of basset with pointed ears, is to be met with. It is strong and intelligent, particularly in finding the track on mountains covered with snow or ice; but all attempts to take it out of its native haunts have failed, and even the short journey to Samarcand inspires it with an irresistible longing to return. M. de Ujfalvy has succeeded in bringing back to Paris three specimens of the tazi, which may be seen in the Jardin d'Acclimatation. It would have been as cruel as it would have been useless to have attempted the same task with the gurdja.
The journey of M. Gregor N. Potanin through the Altai mountains in the autumn of 1876 is too interest- ing to be passed over in silence. Travelling from the post of Zaissan in Kuldja he reached Bulun-tokhoi in seventeen days, travelling along a "new carriage road that has been constructed leading to the valley north of the Saur mountains. Beyond the post of Bulun- tokhoi, which was held by a sotnia of cossacks, the traveller followed the eastern shore of Lake Ulyungur, crossing the deep and rapid Black Irtysh at Durbeljin in a ferry-boat. A month after he set out from Zaissan he arrived on the banks of the river Kran at a point about eight miles from the Chinese city of Tulta. The heat had been very intense during the march, and the annoyance from flies was extreme ; but on reaching the Kran more temperate weather was encountered. In fact the nights were cold, as hoar frosts ​had set in; and most of the corn had already been harvested. The valley of the Kran is singularly fertile, and from the Phara-sume monastery down to the town of Balbagai, a distance of about ten miles, the fields are in a high state of cultivation under the care of the native population, who are chiefly Eleuths and Kirghiz. It is the granary of the Eastern Ektag Altai, and the Kirghiz from as far away as Kobdo come hither to purchase their corn. Poppies are also sown to a great extent, and opium is exported to Kobdo and Bulun-tokhoi. While staying on the banks of the Kran, M. Potanin resolved to pay a visit to the lamasery of Phara-sumé, where a lama known as the Tsagan-gygen resided, and where he expected to obtain both a guide and general information concerning the country and the people. But the Chinese authorities were inimical to the advent of strangers here, as elsewhere, and they stirred up the people to acts of a semi-hostile nature. So that when M. Potanin appeared on the road leading to Phara-sumé he was on the first occasion met by a body of men who said it was too late that day to visit the Tsagan-gygen; and when M. Potanin returned the next day he was met by shouts of arjur, "be off!" from the townspeople. An excuse was then discovered for placing him under arrest, and during the one night of enforced residence in Phara-sumé he had to accept the hospitality of a lama.
Now, it is given on the authority of numerous travellers in all parts of China, and on the particular authority of one gentleman who has travelled across ​North-west China, that the ordinary lama is a thoroughly good fellow and boon companion. Not free from much of that self-esteem which attaches to the priestly office all the world over, he is yet far above those prejudices and ignorances which make the mass of Chinamen, in their unreasoning antipathy to everything that is foreign and unknown to them, the playthings and the tools of an intriguing official class and of a nervous, dominant caste. M. Potanin's host was true to his cloth, and through his loquacity as well as by his hospitality served to while away the time pleasantly enough for the Russian traveller. The tea and mutton with which he regaled his visitor were admirable in their way, and although he declined to participate in the meal, which he declared was provided at the expense of the Bogdo Khan (the Emperor of China), he enlivened it with his presence and his bonhomie. M. Potanin does not attempt to relieve the curiosity we feel to be admitted into some of the mysteries of lamadom, nor does he in any way seek to throw light on the manner in which the Chinese have succeeded in maintaining their authority for centuries in this far-off corner of the empire. For a reply to these highly interesting political questions we must still await the advent of some gifted traveller. The next day M. Potanin was taken before the governor, whom he found seated on a bench in a small room, with four soldiers wearing yellow jackets at his side. He was forthwith accused of having entered a peaceable town with arms in his hands, and of having committed sacrilege by approaching a temple. After some delay, and an evident desire on the part of ​the Chinese to husli the matter up, M. Potanin was permitted to depart ; but the Chinese authorities declined all responsibility for his safety if he proceeded elsewhere than to Kobdo, and otherwise than by the line of the pickets. M. Potanin crossed the Altai range by the Urmogaity pass (nine thousand feet), which is near the sources of the Kran; the Jamaty pass, which is generally used, being impracticable at that time of the year. M. Potanin is one of the very few European travellers who have explored this portion of the Altai range, and that region which lies round Dannkul and Talnor. On the 16th of October, M. Potanin reached the town of Kobdo, where he passed the winter. M. Potanin's journey is, perhaps, the only one that has been under- taken at the instigation of the Russian Government in the interests of pure science and geographical research. It is well to do justice to this solitary instance of the Russian authorities shomng that they have once recog- nised the wisdom of assisting an explorer whose explorations can bring them no political gain or military advantage.
Of the two recent Russian travellers [in Eastern Turkestan, we have received very meagre records of the geographical information which Captain Kuropatkine placed at the disposal of the Tashkent authorities; and in the lecture that he delivered in that city he confined himself to the military and political aspect of affairs in Eastern Turkestan. At that moment attention was absorbed in the progress of events round Turfan, where Yakoob Beg and the Chinese were in close proximity to each other; and Captain ​Kuropatkine was questioned rather as to the military preparations made by the Athalik Ghazi than as to the condition of the country itself and the accuracy of the extant geographical information. But during the course of his journey from Kashgar to Turf an, by the Aksu and Kucha road—a journey which, so far as we can ascertain, has never been performed by any other European within the present century—he must have acquired information that is still and will probably for some time remain unique. But as we possess no material for giving the details of his journey, we may pass on to the next and last of the Russian travellers, Colonel Prjevalsky.
Of all Asiatic travellers the Russian Colonel Prjevalsky is the most distinguished. More than any other does he appear to possess the qualities of Marco Polo. His travels in China, Mongolia, the Tangut country, and more recently in Eastern Turkestan, are all entitled to rank among the most brilliant of modern enterprises. At the present time Prjevalsky is preparing to set out from Kuldja on a journey across the deserts and mountain chains of the farther portion of Eastern Turkestan, in an attempt to reach Tibet and to visit the capital of the Dalai Lama. His last journey to Lob Nor was so remarkable, that, although a translation of his own narrative has just been published, it would be an omission not to give a brief sketch here of its salient features. Colonel Prjevalsky ​set out from Kuldja on the 12tli of August, 1876, and the task which he had put before himself was the discovery of the mysterious Lake Lob. He had also some intention of continuing his journey to Tibet, if he found the Calmuck route from Korla to be feasible. He was accompanied by six cossacks and a Kirghiz interpreter. His road lay along the banks of the Hi as far as its junction with the Kash, where the smaller river, the Tekes, marked his course, and proceeding by the valley of the lower Kunges and the Zanma river he approached the Kashgarian frontier. He then, after crossing several passes, reached the valley of the Yuldus. These valleys are singularly fertile, and abound in some parts with fruit trees, and in other parts with rich foliage and vegetation. In the wilder regions large game abound, and the Maral stag, of which we have already spoken, is to be found here in its largest dimensions. By the banks of the Balgantai-gol (river Haidu) the traveller reached Charimoti, to the north-west of Korla. While here Colonel Prjevalsky made inquiries concerning the lake known as Chaidu-gol, which is not marked on ordinary maps, but which, according to the information he received, was very deep, and eight or nine days' journey round. "While staying in the town of Korla he did not learn much of its actual condition, although from subsequent evidence he heard that it contained six thousand inhabitants. But the country lying south of Korla was found to be very barren, and almost a desert. A mountain range, to which Prjevalsky gave the name of Turuk Tag, and a river, ​the Konche Darya, were crossed. After striking the Tarim at the village of Aclitarma the aspect of the country improved. One hundred and forty miles south of Achtarma lies the town of Charchalyk, built about forty years ago by outlaws from Khoten, and two hundred miles across the desert to the south-west of Charchalyk is another town, called Cherchen, under the same administration as the former. There is a trade route across the desert from Charchalyk to Cherchen, Cherchen to Nai, Nai to Kiria, and Kiria to Khoten. The two lakes, Kara Koshun and Kara Bunar, the former of which Colonel Prjevalsky identifies with Lob Nor, lie to the north-east of Charchalyk on the route to Hamil. There is a great scarcity of water and in the supply of meat in the Charchalyk region, and the Russian traveller suffered much from both these wants; but from what he says of the country lying immediately to the north of the great Altyn Tag range, which he discovered, it would appear that there was a possibility of its becoming by judicious government and some outlay a very flourishing settlement. The people certainly possess many features of attraction to foreigners, and are harmless and industrious in the extreme. Of the vexed Lob Nor question we will say nothing here. The identity of that lake has not yet been decided beyond the shadow of a doubt, but Colonel Prjevalsky has so far obtained the best of the argument.
Herr von Helwald, in his interesting work, "Die Rüssen im Centralasien," says that everywhere do we see the progress of science and knowledge following ​in the rear of the victories of a civilised power. It is to be regretted that the English observer cannot but fail to perceive the accuracy of that assertion in the case of the subject of which Herr von Helwald was immediately treating. We find the progress of science and knowledge in the rear of Russia's conquests to be remarkably slow; we discover numerous undertakings of all kinds that should be promptly carried out neglected; and we look in vain for that enlightened administration which always follows, according to the German writer, in the rear of the triumphant armies of civilised nations. But we find, on the other hand, that remarkable enterprise is shown in Russian circles, military and scientific, in making science and exploration go before their armies. The territory that is already Russian is neglected; but that destined to become Russian is explored and mapped out with remarkable care. While Kizil Kum, S emir et chin sk, and list TJrt, are, comparatively speaking, disregarded, Hissar, the Pamir, Kara Kum, and Kashgar are explored with the greatest possible diligence, and information bearing upon those places is snatched up with the most eager avidity. And this remarkable reversal of the natural order of things is one of the most unequivocal indications of the truth of the assertion that in her present Asiatic possessions Russia finds neither content nor satisfaction; and the result of her disappointment is that she looks beyond in her policy, just as her soldiers do in a mere spirit of chauvinism, to the prize that is to reward her for many years' expenditure in blood and treasure. Her reward can ​only be found in Persia, China, or India, and on the question of which it is to be hinges the whole Central Asian controversy. The problem is rendered more complicated by the fact that neither in Persia nor in China could England permit Russia to encroach any further. By encroachments in the first country our empire in India would be menaced more nearly than before ; and by any change in the second, other interests, scarcely less important, would be seriously jeoparded. But it is evident that all recent Russian explorations tend to show that the Russian Government has sanctioned them only for the further- ance of its own selfish ends. Science owes nothing to them, for not only have they not been undertaken in its interests, but their principal results have also been concealed. Russian explorations are but the pre- cursors of an advancing army; and those travellers whom we have mentioned are only the scouts of General Kaufmann's battalions. When Russia begins to perform her duty to the nationalities upon whom she has forced her rule, then we shall be more willing to do justice to the enterprise and courage of the by no means undistinguished band of Russian travellers. But until then we can only refuse to consider that they have conferred any service on mankind in general.
* ↑ See "Geographical Magazine," November, 1875.
* ↑ This assertion is based on the new Russian map of Central Asia accompanying these volumes.
* ↑ See Mr. Delmar Morgan's translations of Colonel Prjevalsky' s works.