The New York herald., 1879-07-14

ordered the construction of fort at the point whore
the Oxus had formerly entered the Caspian. This
is the history of the Russian fort at krasno-
vodsk), and its direct connection with the scheme
or the hour shows the ambition and the energy
of Peter This fort built to accommodate
permanent force Of 900 men. Before it was CON-
pleted Ashur-Bek. the Khivan Ambassador. left St.
Petersburg his return home. Although Peter
charged him with some mission other to his
ter the willy monarch was too astute to place any
confidence in servant who had been ready to be-
tray his monarch, and the result was that on
his arrival at Astrakhan Ashur-Bek found
that he would not be allowed to proceed any
further. He was kept a prisoner for two
years, during which the fort completed and
equipped and two important surveys were made
Peter did not caro- so much about reaching Khiva
| and Dokhara, but looked upon these countries as
lying on the road to richer lands and he that if
the largest river of Central Asia could really be
turned into the Caspian, Cabul and India might be
reached by water.
THE FIRST EXPLORING PARTY.
An exploring expedition at once organized. and
Prince Alexander Bekovitch Cherkasski, who had
presented the Turkoman HodjaNefes to the Czar.
was appointed to its command. Early In TIA Prince
Bekovitch despatched from Astrakhan osten-
sbly to Khiva for the purpose congratulating
reality carry out the projected investigation of the
old channel Of the oxus. After great difficulty in
crossing the Caspian. because of the floating ice.
Prince Bekovitch finally reached Tup -Karagan,
the west side of the sea. about latitude "A deg.
so min., and established an ntrenched camp. He
summoned the chiefs OF the Turkoman tribes.
They declared to him that the course Of the Oxus
had been changed. and that il a canal Of hrteen
miles dug to great gully known to them to
be the old channel Of the river the water would
more flow into the Caspian at Krasnovodsk Bay.
Bekovitch sent two Astrakhan noblcs together with
nodja- Neses the Turkoman who knew the country.
and stroag escort to the place where the dam was
said to the waters. They instructed. after
reaching the dam. to return by the old bed of the
river to Krasnovodsk (.tho Bay Of the Red water'.
and to that Prince Bokovitch sailed with
his whole force from Tup- -Karagan, the spot where
he had encountered the Turkoman chiefs.
'.rHE OLD CHANNEL"
From Tup-Karagan there q road to Khiva.
After a fortnight's ride on camels HodjaNefes and
the two Russians of Astrakhan came to Karagach.
Khivan boundary settlement. through which lay the
great caravan road from Astrakhan to Khiva. and
hero wthn two vcrsts lone mile and third) of the
oxus was an embankrnent OF earth three feet high
by seven feet wide. extending nearly eleven miles
and washed along the whole line by the Oxus.
the waters OF which were at that time
very high" The writer Of this article has
been particular to follow. nearly possible it'll
necessary brevty the original translation from the
Russian because this valuable document affords the
chief authority upon which all subsequent state
ments to the effect that dam at Karagatch Tor.
some say, at Ben). is the work of based. 1t
will be that Sir Henry Rawnson assumes that
the shifting of the channel freak of nature 1t
is very much to be regretted that Armnus YAM
berry in his remarkable journey, should have dis
played little curiosity about this important phys
ical phenomenon. The meagre references which.
in book he makes the valuable facts that 1t lay
within reach to settle forever. stamp him tho
Cameron of Central Asia.
FORMER CITIES.
Returning to the exploring party of 1714. wo learn
that the explorers proceeded the steppe and.
after traversng about sixteen miles, came in sight
of the gully which the Turkomans assured them was
the old bed of the river. They marched three days
along this gully to ths Ata-Ibrahim settlement
ticing the traces of former cities on both
banks. They also found traces of irrgating
canals leading to the ruins of adjacent
yillages--al confirming the opinion that the river
had actually flowed there in bygone days. Here at
the very gateway of complete success the explora-
tion failed. Hodja-Nefes assured the Astrakhan
MOBILES that the gully which they had followed from
Alta Iprahim continued all the way to the Caspian.
but he positively refused to conduct them further
fearing he said. attack from Khivan and other
robbers 1t has since been asserted that diplomatic
reasons weighed heaviest his mind. And
this is not Improbable for the great
interest which the Emperor of the North
had manifested in the enterprise was calculated TO