of Kwarizme being a mere basis surrounded by moving sands, and several steppes even occur here and there on both sides of the Syr and Oxus. The surface is very varied in the S. and S. E. parts, consisting of numerous valleys, vast mountains, and extensive plains. The eastern shores of the Caspian present nothing but a long and gloomy succession of rocks and arid downs.

MOUNTAINS.] The southern chain of the Hindookhoosh, that divides this region from Persia and Afghaunistaun, having been already described, we need not repeat it. A number of lateral ranges, enclosing extensive well-watered valleys, run N. toward the Amoo; and the descent is much greater on the N. side than on the S. of the Hindookhoosh. The other great ranges are the Beloor-Tagh, the Mooz-Tagh, the Asfera range, and the Kynder-Tagh, besides a vast number of subordinate ranges, running in various directions from these chains.

The Beloor-Tagh.] The Beloor-Tagh is the great range which on the E. divides this region from Central Asia. It is called Thsoung-ling, or "the Azure mountains,' by the Chinese, and has been long celebrated in the history of Tartary, as the great culminating point where the waters flow to the Aral Noor on the W., and towards the desert of Shamo on the E. The sources of these waters running in opposite directions are estimated by the Chinese geographers at 1000 li., or 300 geographical miles of elevation; and, according to the geographers of the Ming dynasty, this range is many thousand Chinese feet in height. This lofty range consists of massive quartz. Hence, in the Mongolian and Oigoorian languages, it is called the Bolour range; and, in the Persian, Bellor Koh, or the shining mountain,' from the transparency of the quartz, and sometimes the Beloot-Tagh, or 'the dark mountain,' from the perpetual clouds which overhang it. This chain is at least 500 B. miles from S.S.W. to N.N.E., or from E. long. 71° and N. lat. 34° 30', to where it meets the Mooz-Taghin, 41° N. lat. and 71° E. long. according to Waddington's map. From this point it passes N. to 42° N. lat. where it is intersected by the Alak-Tagh coming from the E. In this part of its course it is called Khashghar Divan. This chain is covered with everduring snow, and so lofty, abrupt, and precipitous, that the only known passes are those of Badakshaun and the source of the Syr.

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The Asfera Range.] The Asfera range, otherwise called the Pamer mountains, form the southern boundary of Ferghana, or Kokaun, running E. and W. Their nature, which is that of a very broad chain of mountains rising from an elevated land, leads to the conclusion that it is a continuation westward of the Mooz-Tagh as far as the vicinity of Khojund; and the fact that the only communicatiou between Kokaun and Bokhara is by the pass of Khojund, between the extremity of this range and the river Syr, is a strong evidence of its magnitude and impracticability.

The Ak-Tagh.] From the Asfera range, in 67° 30′ E. long., are detached the Ak-Tagh, or white mountains.' On approaching Uratippa, these are again subdivided into two branches, the most western of which terminates in 63° 30' long., and forms the northern boundary of the vale of Sogd, whilst the Ak-Tagh, properly so called, separates Bokhara from Yar-Ailak, and terminates in two branches at Jizzukh and Joupar.

The Kara-Tagh.] The Kara-Tagh, or 'black mountains,' are another lateral range, projected from the southern side of the Asfera range, and runs S. and S.W. for nigh 400 B. miles towards the Amoo river. Next to the Asfera, it is the most lofty, rugged, and precipitous range in Usbec Toor. kistaun.

Samarcand Mountains.] The Samarcand mountains, which form the southern boundary of the valley of Sogd, are a branch of this range, projected westward as far as 66° E. long. It separates the vale of the Sogd from the district of Kesh, where Tamerlane was born, and is called the hill of Kesh by Sherifeddin, his biographer, and the mountain of Zarkah by Ebn Hawkel. The Ak-Tau ridge is called Al-Botom by Abulfeda.

The Kynder-Tagh.] The Kynder-Tau is the range which bounds the country of Kokaun and the vale of the Syr on the N. all the way west as far as 65° E. long., when it expires in the desert of Aral. It is another offset from the great range of the Beloor, and has a longitudinal extent of eight degrees, or 400 B. miles. It is of prodigious elevation, as we are informed by Nazaroff, and is covered with garments of perpetual snow. It is also called the Ming Bulak mountains, and corresponds to the Arga Tau, or Argjun, or Arka-oola, of Strahlenberg. From this range a lateral one runs S. to the Syr, and to the W. of Akhsikat, and divides the district of Kokun from that of Tashkunt. It appears to be of no great elevation. To the N. of the Kynder Tau the country is very little known, but seems not to be so mountainous as the territory of Usbec Toorkistaun. It is said that, at the N.E. angle of the Kynder Tau, it is joined to a range of mountains running far to the E. and thus connecting it with the Ulugh Taugh. This is probably the Kichuck Taugh, or 'little mountain.' But we are comparatively ignorant of the directions of the numerous mountain ridges which traverse the country of the great Kirghisian horde. The fact is, the whole of Eastern Usbec Toorkistaun is full of mountains, and difficult both of access and description.

RIVERS.] The whole of Usbec Toorkistaun may be considered as a large basin hollowed out by the waters descending from the Paropamisan and Hindookhoosh mountains on the S. and those of the Beloor and Kynder Tau on the E. and N.; but formed into two divisions by the Asfera mountains, thus making the two great valleys of the Syr and Amoo.

The Syr.] The Syr has two sources, one in the Kynder-Tau and another in the Beloor. The first or N.E. source rises on the S. flank of the Kynder-Tau (the western continuation of the Alak Tagh) in 42° 31′ N. lat. and 70° E. long in Waddington's map. The other, or S. source, is in 41o 31' N. lat. and 71° E. long. (according to the same map), on the crest of the Beloor, where it is separated by an intervening ridge from the source of the river of Kashghar. These two branches meet below, or W. of Uskent, and the combined stream runs S.W. to Kojund, its most southern point, passing by Kokaun to the left. From Kojund the stream turns to the N.W. passing by the cities of Fenakunt, Tonkat, Tashkunt, Sairam, Otrar, and others which once existed, till at length it falls into the N.E. angle of the Aral Noor, after a comparative course of nigh 700 B. miles. It receives a great number of streams on both sides from the Asfera and Kynder mountains before it enters the desert of Aral. This stream seems to be diminishing towards its mouth, and its banks, where the Russian embassy crossed it, in 1820, in their journey to Bokhara, 50 versts above its mouth, are bare, treeless, sandy, like the desert, and overgrown for several miles in breadth with thickets of tall reeds thrice the height of a man. The banks are alternately steep and level. Near the shore are several small and larger lakes. The river was frozen, and the passage occupied two hours across the ice, the stream being 400 paces broad. The Kooban, which falls into it near this place, is a small stream, only 30 paces wide, and shallow. The whole tract in the vicinity of the Aral is

overgrown with tall reeds, and the ground so flat that not a single eminence can be seen whence a view of the Aral can be taken. The Syr has no connection with the Amoo near its mouth, as formerly supposed, but enters the Aral by separate channels of its own. The Russian embassy to

Kaukaun crossed it above Kojund, where it was 500 toises broad. This river is the ancient Iaxartes, and is also called the Iksert, the Sihoon, and the Syr Daria. It was the northern limit of Alexander's marches.

The Oxus.] The Oxus, Jehoon, or Amoo, is a much larger and longer river than the Syr, and has a much more expanded basin. Its source, according to modern information, is in a narrow valley surrounded on the S.E. and W. by the lofty snowy mountain of Pooshtukhur, where it is seen issuing from beneath a bed of snow, 600 feet deep, in the high district of Wukkhan, E. long. 73° of Greenwich, and N. lat. 38°. The name of the stream at its source, and for a considerable distance farther down, is Punj. It runs first N. five coss through the valley, and then N.W., where, at 25 coss from its source, it joins the Shiber, or Adum Khoosh, coming still farther from the N.E. The junction of these two branches composes the main stream, the one being the larger branch, and the other having a more distant source. From this junction it runs 120 miles S. W. till meeting with a mountain range in that direction, its course is turned to the N.W. along the northern side of this range, passing, on the N., the countries of Shoognan, Derwauz, and Karategun, where it finds a vent through this chain. From this most N.W. point of its mountain course it runs S.W. till it is again turned to a W.N.W. course by the subalpine ridge, extending from the Hindookhoosh to Huzrutimam. From thence it runs W.N.W. till it finally enters the sea of Aral, after a course of 1100 B. miles, nigh 500 of which are through a mountainous region, and the last 300 through a desert. It receives a vast number of streams on both sides, from the S. side of the Asfera or Pamer ridge, and from the northern sides of the Hindookhoosh and the Paropamisus, as the Kokcha or river of Badakshaun, the Auksurrai, the river of Balkh from the latter, and the Soorkhaub, the Kaufernihan, and the Sogd from the former. It appears that it once received the Morghaub, or river of Margiana, three days' journey to the W. of Bokhara, but, according to later accounts, that stream is now lost in the sands. It is a large, broad, and deep stream. Near Balkh, in the summer season, when at the lowest, it is fully equal to the Jumnah when at its highest state; and near Bokhara it is 1,000 yards broad, and when the snows are melting it spreads to a breadth of four miles. This harmonizes with Arrian, who states the Oxus, where his hero crossed it, to be three-fourths of a mile broad, and unfordable. Mention is made of a large river nearly equal to the Oxus, and called the Khizil Daria, or 'red river,' as joining it below the cultivated delta of Khowarasm, and having its source in the hills of Ooratuppeh. We have not facts to confirm it, and the matter is uncertain. The Oxus has a large

delta in the lowest part of its course, all the branches of which have different names, like those of the Ganges in Bengal. This circumstance, of course, renders the hydrography intricate and perplexed. In this case, a great river being found by some traveller, and its connection with the main stream at the same time unknown, it might easily be taken for a separate and unconnected stream.

Of the other mountains and rivers belonging to Northern Toorkistaun, we shall speak briefly when treating of the Kirghis. In the mean time we shall commence our account of the Usbec states with Southern Toorkistaun.

CHAP. II-TURKMAN DESERT AND KARAZM.

THIS comprehends all the tract N. of the Attruck river and the Elboorz to the sea of Aral, and all the eastern coast of the Caspian sea, and the desert thence extending eastward to the mouth of the Amoo, including the fertile Oasis of Karazm. The whole of this region has been usually denominated Karazm, from the Oasis above-mentioned, and corresponds to the ancient Margiana Deserta and Chorasmia. The modern political name of this tract is Kheewah, from the city of that name, the seat of the Usbec Khaun. It may, however, be as well denominated Turkomania, from the great number of Turkman tribes which roam about in the desert; and Jenkinson, who travelled all the way from Astracan to Bokhara and Oorgunge, in 1558, says that all the country E. of the Caspian sea to Oorgunge, was then called the land of Turkman.' As the country is for the most part a barren waste, little description is necessary. If native accounts may be credited, it is made up of sandy wastes, occasionally raised into hillocks, quite void of vegetation, but interspersed with small patches of vegetation, which afford water and some grass for the flocks of the Turkmauns who frequent it. But it is quite evident that these fertile spots are neither so rare nor so small in extent, if the number of families, of which the different tribes consist and who find subsistence here, be considered. But it is the policy of these nomadic tribes to keep them as little known as possible, and the tract of caravans accordingly leads through deserts hardly affording water for the living beings that traverse them, and the wells of which are only known to the guides by particular marks.

Population, &c.] The inhabitants of this barbarous state are a very mixed mass of Turkmauns, Usbecs, and Bukhars. The last of these are divided into two classes: Sarts, or 'traders,' and Taujiks, or 'the common mechanics and labourers.' The settled population is but trifling, compared to that of the wandering tribes here, as in Persia, called Eels; but it is impossible to state the proportion, whether of the latter to the former, or of the Turkmauns to the Usbecs. The population of the oasis of Kheewauh itself, on a superficies of 4600 miles, has been stated at 250,000 persons; and that of the Aralians, including Turkmauns and Karakalpaks, at 100,000; whilst by Balbi, the whole population, fixed and nomadic, has been estimated at only 800,000,-taken, we presume, from Russian information. Mr Fraser, on the contrary, was informed that the population, including the Eels, amounted to 300,000 families, or 1,500,000 persons. This came from the official authority of the vizier of Mohammed Rahee Khaun of Kheewauh. And on the authority of a resident merchant of Kheewauh, then at Mesched, the numbers of the Eels, or tributary tribes, were the following:

Mr Fraser was also informed, that from each of the 300,000 families, comprising the whole of his subjects, the khaun receives 2 tomauns annually, or 600,000 yearly, or £360,000 sterling, valuing the Irakian to

maun at 12s., the impost being 1-10th of agricultural and pastoral produce, and 24 per cent. of customs. The military force of Kheewauh is differently stated; the standing force is reckoned at from 15,000 to 30,000 cavalry; and it is supposed, that, in case of necessity, he can raise 40,000 horse. The town of Kheewauh is situated on a canal of the Jihoon or Amoo. It is surrounded with a ditch, a clay wall, and a rampart. It has three gates, thirty mosques, and a college. The houses amount to 3000; but, by Fraser's information, the population of the place is 5000 families; whilst, according to others, the inhabitants do not exceed 10,000 persons. The present sovereign of Kheewauh is Rahmaun Koolee Khaun, who succeeded his father, Mohammed Rahim Khaun in 1826. The usual title of these princes is Takser Khaun. The Russians have of late years built three forts on the eastern coast of the Caspian sea; one at Okh-Trappeh, not far from Astrabad, and some miles to the N. of the Attruck, in the country of the Yamoot Turkmauns; a port in the bay of Balkan, called Krasnovodsk; and an island in the bay of Mangishlak; and are using every endeavour to conciliate the favour of the numerous Turkmaun tribes on the coast, with the ulterior view of conquering Kheewauh. If they should, at some future period, succeed in their design, no friend of humanity can deplore the result, however much, on political grounds, he may regret the enormous increase of the Russian power.

CHAP. III.-BAULKH.

Tuis large region lies to the S.E. of the Turkmaun deserts, and corresponds to the western and larger division of the ancient Bactria. It extends from 63° to 70° E. long., and from 35° and 36" to 37° and 38° N. lat.; but it is impossible, for want of proper data, to arrive at precision in describing its extent and boundaries. But it may in a general way be stated at 400 B. miles from E. to W., by 150 of general breadth-thus comprising a surface of 60,000 square miles. It has the district of Badakshaun on the E., the Oxus on the N., the desert of Margiana on the N.W., the district of Heraut on the S.W., and on the S. the Paropamisan mountains, with the western projection of the Hindookhoosh. This is a highly diversified region of mountains, hills, glens, valleys, and plains. The subalpine ridges, below the Paropamisus and the Hindookhoosh, take up half its surface, and several of the lateral ridges in the eastern division approach the Oxus. To the W. the country expands into wide and continuous plains, increasing as they proceed in that direction, in similarity to the deserts of the Toorkmaun tribes, till they become completely identified with them. The whole district was subject in 1825 to Meer Morad Khaun, son of Khaldaud Khaun of Koondooz, who, on the death of Meer Killich Alee, chief of Khooloom, and his uncle, seized on his territory and that of Baulkh, and is at present (1830) master of the whole country S. to the pass of Baumeeaun and border of the Hazaurehs. The Usbecs are the ruling people in all this region, and are divided into many tribes. They are all rigid Soonnees, and are very much influenced by the moollahs, who have a predominant sway in all their councils, and exercise a kind of theocratical power over them, and that of the very worst sort, as they teach them to believe, that murder or robbery, or taking captives for sale or slavery, are no crimes, when committed on the persons or property of