New-York tribune., 1868-06-29

caravan trade of the East. The ancient city,
however, is still regarded with the greatest ven
Grafton by the people, and well it may be.
Zoroaster, the great prophet of Okmuzd, shows
in the Venddad that to SOgdiana was trans
ferred, from the primitive AUganfm VdcjO,
the worship whose mystic signs may yet be
found on so many monuments in the East
With the army of XerXes so signally defeated
by the Greeks marched the Sogdian soldiers.
At a later day, under Tamerlane, it became not
only the capital city of the SOgdians, but OF
the world. Thirty-fye victorious campaigns
placed the crowns of twenty-seven thrones
upon his head. Damascus, and Bagdad, and
Constantinople fell before his arms; in the
famous battle of Angora he conquered the Sui
tan Bajazet, and placed him in an iron cage,
where he died from torment and despair the
kingdoms of Christendom received his yoke, and
even the imperial City of Moscow trembled at
his approach Now the order of things is re-
versed. and Russia is the conqueror where the
hosts of the mighty Tamerlane went forth to
victory. Samarcand and Bokhara have both
fallen before the aggressons of the Gar, and,
in the event of a European war, llindostan may
be the theater of q contest between British and
Russian aggress0rs.
The commercial enterprises Of the Russians
first supplied us with anything like accurate
data respecting the condition of the country.
The caravans of that nation for many years
have been passing between 0renburg, and
Khiva, and Bokhara; and by their means many
valuable facts were communicated to the world.
DR.. Eversmann accompanied the great caravan
IL IL, 5o;a and pl vnp
MeyendOrf was one of the escort. The former
published his observations in his journey
"from Orenburg to Bokhara' Berlin, 1929, and
Heeren was indebted to the latter for many
valuable manuscript notes, when preparing his
great work on the "Asiatic Nations" Evers-
mann tells us that the whole country around
BOkhara and as far as Samarcand, has been
brought into a state of cultivation resembling
n garden: and Murayief, Russian who trav-
eled the same year from BaliOu across the Cas-
plan Sea to Khiva, informs us that the same
is the case with the territory on the Oxus.
Muravief is of opinion that Khiya is the same
district which HerOdotus describes as artif-
cially irrigated by water-cOurses from the Aces
(Oxus). Few English travellers have penetrated
into the regions of Central Asia. Ker Porter
confined his journey to Persia, Armenia, and
what was ancient Babylonia Sir Alexander
Burnes is the only Engshman who visited Box
hara. Until the appearance of Yambery's great
work, Bumess travels were the chief authority
on this region.
The travels of Arminius Vambery, which are
the most valuable and cOpious contributions to
our knowledge, and entirely supersede all other
works on Central Asia, were published so re-
Gently, and made such profound impression,
that it were useless to sum up his facts in this
place. 1t has always been unsafe for a Euro
pean to travel in Khiya or Bokhara; but in the
disguise of a dervish thorough familiarity
with whose peculiarties Yambery acquired by
a long residence in Constantinople, this dis
tinguished Hungarian traveller was enabled to
penetrate the country, and study the people as
no one had ever been before. The narratives
of NJ. Du Chaillu were not more interesting,
nor is there any part of the world about which
intelligent persons are anxious for fuller
knowledge than these countries of Central
Asia; so that, urged on by the example of NJ.
Vambery, and following in the track of Rus
sian conquest, we are likely within the next
few years to have as many works on these
regions as we had within the past few years
on Central Africa and Abyssinia.