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lying principally to the south of the Hindoo Koosh range. The chief towns are Herat, Cabul, Ghuznee, and Candahar. There are also outlying provinces, namely Badakshan and Wakhan, to the north of the mountain range, which owing to the diplomatic correspondence which has passed respecting them between the Russian and British Governments have recently attracted much public attention, and now claim more than a transient comment. For a long time these countries were in a state of uncertain dependency between the Usbegs and the Afghans, but in 1869 Dost Mahommend Khan fairly overran the districts and incorporated them in his empire: and there could be no doubt that from that time they had been bona fide Afghan dependencies. The settlement of the question, then, as to what were the limits of this territory in tracing the frontier of Afghanistan, would at first sight appear to be easy of solution, but for the existence of certain geographical irregularities which seemed somewhat difficult of adjustment. For instance, the districts of Roshan and Shignan and the Ruby Mines, though belonging to Afghanistan were to the north of the Oxus, while, on the other hand, a portion of Darwaz belonging either to Khokan or Bokara stretched across the river to the south. One irregularity, however, balanced the other, and the due distribution of the territory was not greatly affected by the adoption of the course of the river Oxus as the boundary of the Afghan kingdom. To this view of the question the Russian government did not at first assent; but on considering the difficulty of establishing facts in all their details in such distant parts, and also considering the great facilities which the British government possesses for collecting precise data with respect to Badakshan and Wakhan, Prince Gortchakoff did not refuse to accept the boundary laid down by England, and in a despatch on this subject of the 31st January last, says: "We are the more inclined "to this act of courtesy as the English government engages to use "all her influence with Shere Ali, in order to induce him to main"tain a peaceful attitude, as well as to insist on his giving up all "measures of aggression or further conquest. This influence is "indisputable. It is based not only on the material and moral "ascendency of England, but also on the subsidies for which "Shere Ali is indebted to her. Such being the case we see in this assurance a real guarantee for the maintenance of peace." It is therefore now agreed that the northern boundary of the Afghan

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frontier shall extend from Shari-kullaki, the source of the Oxus, to Khofa Saleh.

The south-western section of that portion of Central Asia, more immediately connected with the subject under discussion, is Turkistan proper, in which may be included Russian Turkistan and the three nominally independent Usbeg Khanates of Khiva, Bokara and Kohand. This territory, as distinguished from Eastern Turkistan, comprises a vast area, which in general terms may be described as stretching from the Caspian Sea on the west, to Eastern Turkistan, or Chinese Tartary, on the east. The western portion of these regions appears to consist of vast sandy deserts and barren steppes, such as the deserts of Kizil Kum and Balak Kum. Yet the eastern part, which is intersected by numerous mountain ranges, and which includes portions of the area of the three Khanates, yields to none in fertility, and in the general wealth and variety of its productions. M. Vambery, in speaking of it, says: "It might be difficult to find in Europe, flourish"ing as it is in every blessing, territories that would rival the more fertile portions of the three Khanates."

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Until lately little has been known respecting Eastern Turkistan. This great south-western province of China, lying between the Kuenlun mountains to the south, the Tian Shan range to the north, and the Pamir steppe to the west, contains several large and important cities, viz., Kashgar, Aksu, Yarkund and Khotea. The people are mostly Turkish in nationality, and Mahommedans in creed, but, owing to the distracted state of the country, caused by the cruelty and fanaticism of the chiefs, this region has been until recently quite impossible of approach. A Mahommedan named Yakoob Kushbegi, formerly an officer of the Kohan army, who has established himself in Kashgar and Yarkund, seized Khoten in 1867 by treachery, and having massacred the greater portion of the males, marched during 1868 on Aksu, which yielded to his forces. This man, although unscrupulous, is energetic and possessed of talent, and pressed by the Chinese and Russians on the east and north respectively, has recently sought our countenance, and is desirous of encouraging trade with India. Several English officials have lately visited Yarkund, and been well received, and an Envoy in 1871 passed through Ladak, with complimentary letters for the Viceroy and the Queen, and having visited Calcutta and Delhi, where he had several interviews with

the late Lord Mayo, and where he was impressed at the sight of our European and Native troops assembled at the Camp of Exercise. The reader cannot fail to glean that it is important to the peace of our frontier in India to preserve cordial relations with the Atalik-Ghazi in order to quiet the Mussulman population of Hindostan, and that the sight of these neighbouring Mussulman powers, Afghanistan, Bokara and Yarkund, whose orthodoxy is unquestioned, voluntarily seeking our friendship, and sending periodical embassies to the Court of the Viceroy, cannot fail to strengthen our influence among our Indian subjects of the same religion, and to counteract the preaching of the Wahabi fanatics, by showing that England is a friend to Islam all over Asia.

The three Khanates or principalities, Khiva, Bokara and Kokan, which together form the chief portion of the centre of Asia, next claim our attention. As before stated, many portions of this vast country are fertile and beautiful, especially the valleys, which lie about the upper parts of the rivers Oxus and Jaxartes, and being well adapted for cultivation are comparatively prosperous in spite of tyranny and mis-government. The inhabitants of the hill

sides devote themselves to pastoral pursuits, while those of the valleys engage in agriculture and commerce. Many flourishing cities exist in the upper parts of Bokara and Kokan, but the parts of the country towards the Caspian and the Aral, sparsely inhabited by wild nomadic Turcoman tribes, consists principally of arid and almost pathless deserts, of which some idea may be gathered from the following extract from the Moscow Gazette which, in alluding to the advance of the Russian northern column, under the command of Colonel Lomakine, thus speaks of the details of the march from Kinderli to Bisch Akty en route to Khiva: “The "heat was intense, the thermometer showing in the sun 37° "Reaumer and 42° when buried in the sand. The atmosphere, "loaded with hot dust, produced distress and weakness; men and “beasts, weakened by the fierce rays of the sun, fell on the sand, "the heat of which compelled them to rise again speedily. At "night the soldiers threw off their covering to obtain some rela"tive coolness, but even then could scarcely sleep from heat. "Some cases of sun-stroke occurred. The water which the "detachment had brought with them being exhausted, they "drained the last drop of Seltzer water, and were for some time "parched with thirst. Cossacks were sent forward to sink wells

"and bring water to the troops, by which they could get over "their last march. The veterans marched steadily and even "jested at the distant mirages, but the young soldiers showed "some signs of discouragement. One of the young soldiers cried "out to his comrades, are we not soldiers as well as the others? "Are we going to yield to the old men of the regiments of Schirvan and Apschron? This young fellow had the good luck to be "overheard and the Commandant promoted him at once."

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These three principalities, independent of each other and frequently at war, are now being gradually overwhelmed by that great wave of Russian invasion, which, slowly but surely, is approaching from the north, and which must ultimately absorb them into one kingdom. Speaking of this advance of the Russians, Brigadier-General John Adyr, R. A., in a recent lecture, says: "Whatever changes the advance of Russia may make, and "however much or little it may ultimately affect our position in "the East, one can hardly regret that an end should be put to "these governments, which for a long period of time, by their "tyranny, fanaticism and depravity have been a curse to the people placed under their rule."

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But however much the rulers of these countries may abuse the power, which, as a rule, they arrogate to themselves, in a semibarbarous country like Khiva, orderly government is, of course, out of the question, for the Khan, though a despotic chief in every sense of the word, is ever exposed to the poniard and the poison of his subjects.

It may not be out of place to dwell somewhat longer on Khiva than on the other two principalities, as the present advance of Russia towards that territory has attracted towards it more than ordinary attention. The towns and villages of this country are, as in all Central Asia, composed of mud huts, disposed in irregular, dirty, and dusty streets, surrounded by walls in ruins, in and outside of which are gardens and fields.

Khiva, the principal town, lies on two water courses belonging to the net work of the Palban Ata canal, and is protected by a clay wall, about five miles in circumference and ten feet high. Within this wall is another about two or three miles in circumference and twenty-two feet high, the foundations and tower portions of which are twenty-eight feet thick. This interior wall protects the palaces of the Khan, the houses of the most important

dignitaries and some ecclesiastical schools, of which there are no less than twenty-two in the place. The better to defend the inner town, which serves as a citadel, twenty guns are placed on the walls. The space between the outer and inner wall is to a great extent planted with gardens, and contains the summer residence of the Khan. The population of the town, which contains seventeen mosques, and three hundred shops, is twenty thousand.

Kungrad is a town of about eight thousand inhabitants, is situated on the Taldik branch of the Amou, and surrounded by a wall and moat, part of the wall being protected by water. The people live in tents, the houses being in ruins. There is not any artillery at this place.

Khadsheilli, fifty miles south-east of Kungrad, on the canal Suvali, has poor fortifications, intended to protect the town from the Turcoman tribes. It contains eight thousand inhabitants, with a garrison of thirty men.

There are some other towns, the principal of which is Khasar Asp, thirty-five miles east of Khiva, and considered, next to the capital, the best fortified town of the state, the wall being both high and solid. The condition of the artillery equipment is not well known; population about four thousand. The other places of Khiva, though mostly fortified according to the custom of the country, hardly deserve the name of towns.

In a military point of view Khiva is the weakest of all Central Asia states. The small force of five hundred infantry, and one thousand cavalry, armed with muskets, swords and bayonets, which the Khan keeps as a permanent guard, will be of little, if any, use in the field. They might, however, be turned to account by sending them to garrison the principal towns, all Asiatics fighting much more courageously behind walls than in the open field. With respect to cannon, although but twenty guns are mounted on the citadel of Khiva, it is known that in 1869 there were sixty guns in the arsenal. The irregular forces, enlisted on extraordinary occasions, chiefly consist of cavalry of little value. It is said that twenty thousand horsemen can be collected on an emergency, mostly Turcomans, a dangerous race to entrust with the defence of any community.

Of the several principal roads by which Russian troops may be marched against Khiva, the shortest is that from Kasalnisk to

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