The New York herald., 1879-07-14

name to this day for the ANU Darya. Gihon.
rises the Belur Tagh nearly fifteen thousand six
hundred feet above the level Of the sea- receives
many afiuents from the mountains Of Turkestan
and the Hindoo Koosh. flows through Bokhara and
the Kara Kun sands of the south past the longer
Independent Khanate of Khiva and emptes into the
Aral Sea by several mouths. The length Of its
course is variously stated. but the most accurate
estimate makes it 1.5ac s,.es The source of the
great river. 'the roof of the world" is in the
sir-kool. in the district of Pamir. The
sir-i-kool Lake has recently been the scene
of an investigation by engineers under
Seyortsef attached to General Abramof's
Ferghanah column. For about three hundred miles
of first part of its it is called the Panja.
aud in that part it receives five important and great
number of smaller afiiuents, draining Eastern Box
hara and Northeastern Afghanistan. Below the most
westerly of these Ave affluents the Koksha River,
the main stream receives the nsme Of Anu Darya.
From this point it is nsvigable for steamers. but
flows through the almost completely desert waste of
Khiva. At Kilif, the point at which the caravan
route from Samarkand to Bakh crosses it, is stream
of 800 yards in width and very rapid Balkh is only
forty miles distant At the Khodja ferry. 100 miles
further down stream from this Afghan outpost.
the river ia 100 feet broad and 10 feet deep.
This ferry was rendered famous last year by the
first European vessel which had ever touched the
dominons OF the Durani Empire. The nsvigabiity
of the Oxus does not stop at this point, for the
Samarkand could proceed as far up as Koondooz 600
miles from Khva, where the stream becomes too
rapid for even small boat to ascend. Sir Alexander
Burns describes the channel at this locality as
straight and sngularly devoid Of rocks. rapids and
whirlpoos, and rarely impeded by sand banks" The
average velocity Of the current is fixed by him at
about three and half miles an hour.
ACROSS THE TURKoMAN DESERT.
At Kerki, sixty miles further toward its mouth
the stream has broadened to g 400 feet. 1t Is now
fairly launched into the Bekharan desert, and it
gains little in volume below this point. The ANU
Darya gracefully winds along through the desert in
a great canal and assumes the placidity of
mighty stream At tCharjooee. 100 miles further down
stream the river to 1850 feet and increases
to a depth of twenty-nine feet This is the point
which the traders bound to the sacred city OF Box
hara who have descended the river from the towns
of Northern Afghanistan. go ashore. The point
at which embarkation is effected for Khva
IL about fifty miles further down the river.
the road from and to Bokhara diverging at
town called Karakool, about thirty miles back from
tho Oxus. From this place. Eltchig by name, the
river pursues its northwesterly course to Khiva.
passing the ruins of many cities and forts. Three
hundred and forty miles lands the traveller at Khva,
the scat Of the longer Independent Emir of that
Khanate The greatest width Of the stream below
Khva is 5000 feet and its greatest depth is 81 cet
Its delta is and marshy and several of its mouths
are 40 shallow that small craft cannot navigate
them In the winter the ice collects on the surface
near the Aral sufficiently thick to permit of caravans
crossing 1t. In the spring the valley is liable
be flooded by the melting of the Hindoo
Koosh. The absence Of towns along its banks
Is not to be ascribed to the imperfections OF the
river but to the merciess rapacity of the Turko-
mans on the western side and the Khirgiz nomads
on the other, both Of whom wage relentless war
against steady habits. When it is remembered that
the Teke-Turkomans alone boast of 900 mounted
warriors, 1t will be what is to be overcome by
Russia before a permanent series of cities be
built up the oxus Valley from Khiva to the Afghan
frontier. The fruitful oasis of Khiva with
its canals nifty feet broad. its rows of
stately ems its orchards Of mulberry trees apples
apricots and cherries, and its lovely gardens, is
simply slice of the desert irrigated by the waters of
the oxus This charming oasis is described III that
remarkable book. MacGahan's "Campagning on the
oxus;" also in vaniberys Travels in Central ASIA
and Burnaby's "Ridc to Khiva." Settlements and
cities similar to Khiva would in time grow up along
this mighty stream If the predatory nomads of the
Kara-Kum and Kizil-Kum sands (thc Black and the
Red deserts that lie the two banks) could be de
stroyed. The conjunction of the movement of tho
Russian column from Chikishliar, under General
Iazercif and the opening of the dam at Bend or
Karagatch, appears. therefore. in new and import
ant light.
THR ROUTE OVER THr ANCIENT CHANNEL.
Tho route from Krasnovodsk to the oxus pursued