The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1873-03-09

revenge ON them, in the Day OF Judgmer
He will visit them. "-Brooklyn Catholic RI
CieU.
In the valley of the river Amou, til
ancient Oxus, brought prominently into no
tice just now by the aggressive Easter
movement of Russia, there centres pecu
liar historic interest. We should rathe
say prehistoric, for no written record ha
preserved the fact that this was the cradl
of the Indo European races. Tradition
faint and indefinite in detail, pointed t.
the high table-lands at the head waters o
this stream az the early home of the clar
which sent out in successive migrations the
tribes that peepled Southern Asia and near
ly the whole of Europe. Modern science
through the agency of comparative philo
logy, proved the truth of this tradition
and it is now undisputed that the ancestors
ofthe Indians and the Persians. of the Celts,
the Slaves, once dwelt here together, n
united family, speaking common lang
uage, and invoking the same Deity. The
evidence of this, derived from the anal ysis
and comparison of the various languages
of these races, is as perfect and consistent
with logical induction as is tho demonstra-
ton of the truths Of any of the natural
of philolegy, to read the story Of the life
Of these early nomads as accurately az the
geologist draws from the fossil the history
of organizations long buried in the past.
We know that they were a simple people,
whose chief wealth lay in their herds and
hocks, although they did not neglsct agri-
culture. They knew the use of iron, they
ploughed the soil, they built houses and
made roads, and they wore acquainted with
the arts of weaving and sewing. AS their
semi nomadic habits became modified by
advancing civilization, they formed COM
munities and settled in towns. Association
beget now wants and passions; predatory
warfare made them rich /; and their fast
increasing population overlooked the mar
row boundaries of Arya, first on the south
and aftcrward on the north and the west
When the earliest migration crossed the
Hindoo- k0osh into the valley of the Indus,
the Aryans were people of considerable
culture, warlike in their habts, and fanatic
in their religious zeal. Their country,
wide plateau, descending on the west into
the desert, but OIL the east fertile and we'll
watered. Bactra, near Balkh, was prob
ably the first great city of the race. 1t is
now under the dominion of the Khan of
Bokhara, and contrasts strongly in its pre-
sent insigniticance with what must have
been it's ancient importance. 1t is strange
that, notwithstanding the advance of mod
.rn geographical science, we know but
little of the country about the head waters
u the Oxus. Thirty-six years ago, Lieu
enant Wood, an officer of tho East Indian
lavy, penetrated the table land of Pamir,
md visited the lake Sari- Kol, in the Tar
aric Caucasus, whore the river takes it's
Use. He describes the region rs sublime
n its snowy desolation, it being about as
Ugh above the sea level as Mont Blanc.
10 is the only European who has looked
n the source of the Oxus since the DAYS of
LARGO Polo. The river, which is fed by
hree or four other lakes, flows thence, in
northwesterly course, a distance of near
fourteen hundred miles, until it empties
ito the Aral Sea, which is supposed to be, '
Ike the Caspian, over eighty feet below !
10 level of the Mediterranean. In ancient VI
mes 1t discharged it's waters into tho Cas- !
ian, but the channel has long been closed. /
he present inhabitants of Bokhara are of '
ANY nationalitics among which the Taujiks Il
re believed to represent the ancient race. s
hey are said to reseu. BILE closely the eau II
lsion type, and to be possessed of such d
teilectuai activity as almost to monopol-
Q the business of the country. a large
AIDE is carried on between Bokhara and
ussia, by means of camels, over three ;.
ousand being employed in the caravans. II
he route passes down the valley of the Il
nou, through the kLauate of Khiva a
d thence to Astrakhan aud Orenburg. =,
ne hhans of khiva have always been hos al
e to Russian influence and have oppos- q.
their progress in their direction. In h.
IA an army, sent into their country by Il
ter the Great, was defeated; and, in ia
81, an expedition, under General Perov- N,
i, succumbed to tue severity of the eli n,
ate. Notwithstanding treaty made f.,
TIA the khan in 1854, he has rendered ri
mself particularly obnoxious to the Rus ~
N Government, interfering with the car t.
ans and treating captured prisoners with
rbarity. Ii reports are TO be believed, NJ
. car has sent q force into his country, q,
tn what Interior design it is Impossible II
to tell; but, whatever may be his ~
ans, England can scarcely prevent their a,
even if it be to extend his !,
wer to the Hindo Koosh.-Appleton's RI
urnUl. =:
e.
HOW A DOC WAS MSn1 II y IInro L. % ;r