The Sun.
London, England, 1840-07-29 00:00:00

(From the Athenceum.)
According to some of the Turkomans, the drying up
of the Oxus took place 100 or 150 years ago ; others
say 500 years. It is variously related, as a measure of
defence ; as an attempt to save the water ; as an hos-
tile act ; and as the effect of au earthquake. This
variance of the traditions appears to us to demonstrate
that the event in question was brought about silently
and by degrees, and not by a single effort of man or
convulsion of nature. The injudicious cutting of canals
of irrigation, may probably, by causing back currents
and creating shoals, have laid the foundation of that
disease of the river, as we may term it, which terminated
its existence. We are aware that high authorities explain
the matter otherwise. Humboldt and his disciples look
back to the time when the Caspian Sea embraced that of
Aral, and spread its waters far and wide over the-Steppes
of the Turkomans ; but now, alas ! they exclaim, the
process of desiccation is rapidly going on ; Khawaresm
is no longer famed for that matchless fertility which a
humid atmosphere at one time conferred on it ; the in-
land seas are sinking. and rivers are dried up. All these
assertions, so far as they relate to the period of history,
appear to us gratuitous. Khawaresm always owed its
fertility, which it still enjoys in a degree proportioned
to the industry of its inhabitants, to its canals of irriga-
tion, a system of culture which stands quite indepen-
dent of atmospheric humidity. No general desicca-
tion of a region can be inferred from the fate of a
single river ; and as to the permanent sinking of the
seas, it appears to us certain that it does not take place.
The people on the shores of the Caspian believe that
the sea rises and falls in a period of thirty years.
When Hanway wrote, he was informed, and we believe
correctly, that the waters of the Caspian had risen two
fathoms above their former level. Eichwald informs
us, that the ruins of a small fort, constructed in 1717 by
Prince Bekewich, on Point Krasnowodsk, near the Bay
of Balkhan, were submerged when that coast was sur-
veyed in 1764 ; but now again, covered wit's shells
they stand above the level of the water. The sound-
ings found along that coast, and in the mouth of the
Oxus, by the same excellent observer, in ;1825, exactly
coincide in general with those of Woodroffe in 1743.
But though Khiva is no longer watered by the
classic waves of the Oxus, nor transmits the rich mer-
chandise of India by an easy navigation into the Cas-
pian, it has still abundant advantages in the copious
stream of the Amudaria. Mouraview says that he
never saw in any part of Europe the soil more care-
fully cultivated. The canals were constructed with
much art, often crossing one another on bridges, while
other bridges again afforded a passage over those com-
pound aqueducts. But while we arc willing to concede
to Khiva the full dimensions assigned to that state by
geographers, namely, 150 miles in length and 100 in
breadth, we see no reason to suppose that the entire of
that area resembles a well-watered garden. On the
contrary, we believe that the green and irrigated ter-
ritory is an oasis of comparatively small extent. A
population of 300,000 souls, nevertheless, under a
steady and strong protecting government, can easily
increase the number of canals, and spread fertility over
a much larger surface. Khiva is now the granary of
the wandering Kirghiz and Turkoman hordes, and its
importance in this respect may be much increased.
Though the power of Russia can never restore the na-
vigation of the Oxus, yet skin and industry may extend
a line of hamlets and gardens along the bed of that
river, and thus strip of its asperity the desert inter-
posed between Khiva and the Caspian. There is no
likelihood of the navigation of the sea of Aral, of the
Syr-Daria or A mu-Daria, being prosecuted with suc-
cess : the camel must still continue to be the chief
means of transit.

This reminds us that the Russians have not yet con-
quered Khiva. Though their superior military organ-
isation and characteristic perseverance give them great
advantages in such a contest, yet they have formidable
difficulties to overcome. It was determined that the
expedition should cross the desert during the winter, in
order that the deficiency of water might be
supplied by snow. But the intense cold (the thermo-
meter on the march often sinking to 40 degrees), and
the snow-drifts, proved fatal to the camels, and the
army was obliged to retreat to the Emba. It will now
have to march in summer over a desert in which a scanty
supply of salt and bitter water is found only every
second day, and where the heat is insupportable.
The Russian soldiers will scarcely be able to
bear the torrid summer of the Turkoman
Steppes. But if they reach their destination unwested
by want and disease, they may yet possibly encounter
an obstinate resistance from even a weak enemy, in a
country like Khiva, intersected by numerous canals.
The town of Khiva itself, as described by Hogg and
Thompson, who, in this particular, are much superior to
Mouraview, is capable of delaying for some time an in-
vading army. It is surrounded by a very broad and
strong embankment or wall of earth, which is higher
than the houses within, and has turrets along it at
equal distances. Outside of the embankment is a
broad and deep moat. If the Khivcly be as bold within
their own walls as they occasionally show themselves on
the frontiers of Persia, the Russian army, which is, after
all, a small one, may find itself in a difficult position.

FURTHER PARTICULARS OF THE EXPEDI-
TION TO CiiiNA.--Cape of Good Hope papers received ye -
terday to the sth cf May state, that her Majesty's ships Mel.
rifle, of 74 guns, Admiral and Commander-in-chief,- on the
India station, the Hon. George Elliot, Captain, the Hon.
R. S. Dundas; Blonde, frigate, Captain, T. 'touchier, and
Modeee, sloop of war, Commander 11. Eyres, sailed from
Symon's Bay, on the 30th of April, for the rendezvous at
Synffaporc, to join the expedition collecting there. Her ma_
j :ty's line of battle ship Blenheim, Captain Sir H. Fleming
Siembouse, Kt., arrived at Symon's Bay from England on the
Ist of May, in company with the Columbine, :loop of war.
Command( r G. Elliot, which wculd immediately proceed to the
same destination.
THE FIRST TROUBADOUR.—The first trou-
badour on record was a Prince, viz., William Count of
Poiton. Hztlived at the end of the eleventh century, and at
the colsmencernent of the twelfth, dying in 1122. He took
part in the first crusade, and with most of his companions in
that expedition, suffered numerous hardships and difficulties.