AFGHANISTAN

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THROUGH FIVE REPUBLICS (OF SOUTH AMERICA). A Critical Description of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, and Venezuela in 1905. By Percy F. Martin, F.R.G.S. With 128 Illustrations and 3 Maps. In one vol., demy 8vo, price 21s. net.

GRANADA. Memories, Adventures, Studies, and Impressions. By Leonard Williams. Post 8vo, illustrated, price 7s. 6d. net.

IN THE COUNTRY OF JESUS. By Matilde Serao. In one vol., crown 8vo, illustrated, price 6s. net.

CARTHAGE OF THE PHŒNICIANS. By Mabel Moore. With numerous illustrations and coloured frontispiece. One vol., crown 8vo, price 6s.

KOREA. By Angus Hamilton. With a map and many illustrations. In one vol., demy 8vo, price 15s. net.

London: WILLIAM HEINEMANN

LORD CURZON OF KEDLESTON

AFGHANISTAN
BY

ANGUS HAMILTON

FELLOW OF THE ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY
AUTHOR OF “KOREA,” “THE SIEGE OF
MAFEKING,” ETC.
WITH A MAP AND NUMEROUS
ILLUSTRATIONS

LONDON
WILLIAM HEINEMANN
1906

Copyright 1906 by William Heinemann
All rights reserved

PREFACE

Since 1871, when Sir Charles MacGregor drew up a very exhaustive précis of information on Afghanistan for the use of the Government of India, no book dealing with our buffer state in a general manner has been issued. The thirty-five years which have intervened have not been without important contributions to our knowledge of Afghanistan, but those works which have appeared cannot altogether be described as presenting a single comprehensive study of contemporary conditions in the country. In 1886 Lieutenant A. C. Yate, and in 1888 Major C. E. Yate, C.S.I., C.M.G., described in two very interesting volumes the proceedings of the Afghan Boundary Commission. Ten years elapsed before anything of importance appeared, when, by a rare coincidence, two books dealing with Afghanistan saw the light in 1895: Mr. Stephen Wheeler’s admirable account of The Amir Abdur Rahman, and that most entertaining and graphic volume, My Residence at the Court of the Amir, by the late Amir’s private physician, Dr. A. J. Gray. In 1900 Sultan Mahomed Khan, Mir Munshi to Abdur Rahman, presented to the public his remarkable production, The Life of Abdur Rahman, as well as a treatise on The Constitution and Laws of Afghanistan. In the following year, 1901, Colonel Sir Thomas Holdich embodied in The Indian Borderland many graceful descriptions of scenery and various centres in Afghanistan while, in 1905, in a series of articles in the Wide World Magazine, Mrs. Kate Daly, physician to Habib Ullah’s harem and the Government of Afghanistan, illustrated with many delightful touches a sojourn of Eight Years Among the Afghans. These few works practically exhaust contemporary literature on Afghanistan, and it is in an endeavour to provide a more complete record of the subject than has hitherto existed that the author of Korea has compiled this little book. Mistakes are those of his own making; reflections and criticisms arise from his own opinions; but, in hoping that his critics may find something of value in the results of two years’ toil, the author wishes to say that if good qualities exist in it, they are attributable to the encouragement and gracious assistance which he has received and here wishes to acknowledge.

With a view to the careful preparation of this volume the author, after returning to London from the war in Manchuria, visited Central Asia, his travels terminating abruptly in an attack of small-pox contracted from the natives, while he was wandering in the region of the Pamirs. Descending viâ Gilgit to India from the Taghdumbash, twelve months have been spent in the labour of writing, in the examination of a number of works, and in reference to those authorities who are so justly distinguished for their knowledge of the heart of Mid-Asia. In this direction it is perhaps of interest to point out that in order to establish a standard of accuracy, certain chapters have been submitted in page proof to the criticism of this little group of Central Asian experts, and their corrections embodied in its final form. The author very warmly appreciates the help which has in this way been given him, and to Colonel de la Poer Beresford and Captain Charles Bancroft in connection with chaps. [i.], [ii.], [iii.]; to Colonel Sir Thomas Holdich, K.C.I.E., K.C.M.G., C.B., in [chap. iv.]; to Colonel C. E. Yate, C.S.I., C.M.G., in chaps. [v.] and [vi.]; to Colonel Sir Henry McMahon, K.C.I.E., C.S.I., in [chap. ix.]; to Dr. A. J. Gray, Mrs. Kate Daly, and Major Cleveland, I.M.S., in chaps. [xiv.] and [xv.] he is very much indebted, as the indulgent manner in which his inquiries have been received has materially assisted the conclusion of his task.

In other quarters similar help has been given, and the author desires to express his deep obligation to the Secretary of State for India, Mr. Morley, to Mr. John E. Ellis, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for India, to Sir William Lee-Warner, and to Mr. Thomas, of the Political Department, India Office, for the considerate way in which services have been rendered him. The very pleasant hospitality bestowed upon the author by Mr. George Macartney, C.S.I., the representative of the Government of India in Kashgar, Chinese Turkestan; by Mr. L. G. Fraser, the editor of The Times of India; by Mr. C. F. Meyer, Standard Oil Company’s Agent in Bombay; by Major Cleveland, in Poona; and by Mr. Ivor Heron-Maxwell, late of Baku in that centre, has provided him with many haunting memories which, in a later volume, will be more suitably described. To Dr. Chalmers Mitchell, Secretary of the Zoological Society of London, and to Mr. J. Bryant Sowerby, Secretary of the Royal Botanic Society, the author is indebted for assistance in compiling the tables of species which illustrate [chap. xii.]; while to the Librarian of the India Office, and to the Librarian of the Royal Geographical Society, he would express his grateful thanks.

As correspondent to The Pall Mall Gazette, and to The Times of India from Central Asia, it is the pleasant duty of the author to acknowledge the permission of Sir Douglas Straight and Mr. L. G. Fraser to make use of certain articles which, although entirely altered and greatly amplified since their original appearance, were first presented in the respective columns of these organs. These extracts, a few brief paragraphs on various pages, are confined solely to the first six chapters of the book. Acknowledgments are also due to the proprietors of that esteemed Indian journal The Pioneer, whose London staff permitted the files of their well-known paper to be inspected; to the proprietors of The Daily Graphic for permission to reproduce the block of the Amir’s proclamation, and accompanying translation, appearing on pages [370], [371]; to Messrs. Macmillan for the right to reproduce their copper engraving of Dr. A. J. Gray’s painting of the Amir Abdur Rahman; to Baron Herbert de Reuter, Managing Director of Reuter’s Telegram Company, for courteous assistance; to Mr. J. D. Holmes, an Indian photographer of renown, whose unique photographs of the Khyber Pass illustrate chaps. [xvi.] and [xvii.]; to Lieutenant Stewart, whose photographs appear in [chap. ix.]; to Lieutenant Olufsen for the right to reproduce certain interesting photographs from that informative work Through the Unknown Pamirs; to Colonel Sir Thomas Holdich for authority to base upon his original sketches enlarged drawings of Herat and Kandahar, by Mr. Percy Home; to Major Cleveland, I.M.S., to whose great credit very many of the illustrations in this volume must be placed; to Major Molesworth Sykes, H.B.M. Consul at Meshed, for photographs appearing in [chap. vii.]; to Professor Victor Marsden, of Moscow University, for general courtesies; to Captain Charles Bancroft for assistance in translating extracts from papers placed at the author’s disposal by his Excellency Prince Khilkoff, Russian Minister of Railways; to that well-known military novelist, Mr. Horace Wyndham, who has been good enough to assist the author in the revision of his proofs; and to Mr. Thomas Bumpus, of Messrs. J. and E. Bumpus, Limited.

The final, but by no means the least gratifying, duty now remains to be fulfilled. It is concerned with the dedication of this volume which, by special permission, is inscribed:

TO HIM
WHO,
BY THE SPLENDOUR OF HIS GIFTS
AND
THE WISDOM OF HIS RULE,
HAS LEFT
AN INDELIBLE AND MEMORABLE
IMPRESSION
UPON INDIA:
LORD CURZON OF KEDLESTON,
G.C.S.I., G.C.I.E., P.C.
ETC. ETC. ETC.

AUTHORITIES CONSULTED

The works consulted in the preparation of this volume, including references to the Encyclopædia Britannica, embrace most of the well-known writers on Asiatic Russia, Persia, Afghanistan, and the Indian Frontier. Among those of less recent date are the books of Bellew, Connelly, Elphinstone, Ferrier, Lansdell, MacGregor, Marvin, Pottinger, Rawlinson, Vambéry, Wood and Yule.

Contemporary authorities, to which the author is more especially indebted, are as follows:

Together with scientific papers, lectures and articles by:

• Colonel de la Poer Beresford.
• Major Cleveland.
• Major-General Sir Edwin Collen.
• Mrs. Kate Daly.
• Major-General Sir Edmond Elles.
• Sir Lepel Griffin.
• Miss Lillias Hamilton.
• Colonel Sir Thomas Holdich.
• Colonel Sir Henry MacMahon.

And including all Parliamentary, Consular, and other official publications, the files of The Times, Morning Post, Standard, Daily Chronicle in England; and The Pioneer, Times of India, and Indian Daily News in India; besides the more prominent Continental organs.

Royal Societies Club, St. James’s
June 1, 1906.

CONTENTS

ILLUSTRATIONS

MARKET-CART, ORENBURG

CHAPTER I

THE ORENBURG-TASHKENT RAILWAY

By a coincidence of singular interest in Central Asian affairs the completion of the Orenburg-Tashkent railway occurred simultaneously with the evacuation of Lhassa by the troops of the Tibetan Mission, the two events measuring in a manner the character of the policies pursued by the respective Governments of Great Britain and Russia in Mid-Asia. Moreover, if consideration be given to them and the relation of each to contemporary affairs appreciated, it becomes no longer possible to question the causes which have determined the superior position now held in Asia by our great opponent. If this situation were the result of some sudden cataclysm of nature by which Russia had been violently projected from her territories in Europe across the lone wastes of the Kirghiz steppe into and beyond the region of the Pamirs or over the desert sands of the Kara Kum to the southern valleys of the Murghab river, our periodic lament at the mastery of Central Asia by Russia would be more comprehensible. But, unfortunately, the forward advance of Russia to the borders of Persia, along the frontiers of Afghanistan to the north-eastern slopes of the Hindu Kush, has been gradual; so gradual indeed that as each successive step became accomplished we have had time to register recognition of the fact in bursts of indignant chatter, accompanied as is not unusual with us by a frothy clamour of empty threats. Unluckily noisy outcry has been mistaken for action; but from the moment when Russia first moved into Trans-Caspian territory there appears to have been nothing but vague realisation of the acute possibilities with which the situation in Central Asia from that hour became impressed. As time passed and the several phases vanished our indifference and supineness have increased, until no chapter in the history of our Imperial affairs offers more melancholy reading than that which deals with the period covering the “peaceful” penetration of Asia by Russia.

In order to secure sufficient momentum for her descent railways were needed; and, while the line so lately completed between Orenburg and Tashkent is a more material factor in the situation than hitherto has been recognised, the laying of the permanent way between Samarkand and Termes, Askhabad and Meshed, approximately gauges the duration of the interval separating Russia from the day when she will have rounded off her position in Mid-Asia. Just now, therefore, and for ten years to come, strategic requirements should alone be permitted to influence the arrangement of our policy in High Asia. Commercial developments within the vexed sphere of the Russian and British territories in this region should be regulated by circumstances which, actually inherent in our Asiatic position, have been too long ignored. No question of sentiment, no considerations of trade influenced the creation of railway communication between Orenburg and Tashkent, the construction of the Murghab Valley line or the extension of the Trans-Caspian system from Samarkand to Osh. Strategy, steely and calculating, required Mid-Russia to be linked with Mid-Asia, the irresistible expansion of empire following not so much the line of least resistance as the direction from which it would be placed in position for the next move. Continents have been crossed, kingdoms annihilated and provinces absorbed by Russia in her steady, inimical progression towards the heart of Central Asia; until there is nothing so important nor so intimately associated with our position in Afghanistan to-day as the intricate perplexities which have emanated from this untoward approach. From time to time attempts have been made to effect an adjustment of the points at issue. The result has been unsatisfactory since the patchwork application of pen and paper has come, as a rule, in response to some accomplished coup upon the part of our astute opponent. Indeed, there is nothing in the result of any of these compromises which can be said to do credit to our knowledge of the existing situation. Indifference, coupled with a really lamentable ignorance, distinguishes the conditions, if not the atmosphere, under which these rectifications of frontier and modifications of clauses in previously accepted treaties have been carried out. But now that we have witnessed the joining of the rails between Orenburg and Tashkent let us put an end to our absurd philandering; and, appraising properly the true position of affairs, let us be content to regard all further extension of the Russian railway system in Mid-Asia as the climax of the situation. To do this we must understand the points at issue; and to-day in Central Asia there are many causes which of themselves are sufficient to direct attention to them.

TOMB IN THE MARKET-PLACE, SAMARKAND

Years have passed since the delimitation of the Russo-Afghan frontier and the definition of the Anglo-Russian spheres of influence in the Pamirs were made. In the interval, beginning with the acceptance of the findings of the Pamir Boundary Commission of 1896, Russia ostensibly has been engaged in evolving an especial position for herself in North China and providing railway communication between Port Arthur, Vladivostock and St. Petersburg. In this direction, too, war has intervened, coming as the culminating stroke to the policy of bold aggression and niggardly compromise which distinguished the diplomatic activities of Russia in Manchuria. Yet throughout these ten years the energies of Russia in Mid-Asia have not been dormant. Inaction ill becomes the Colossus of the North and schemes, which were en l’air in 1896, have been pushed to completion, others of equal enterprise taking their place. Roads now thread the high valleys of the Pamirs; forts crown the ranges and the military occupation of the region is established. Similarly, means of access between the interior of the Bokharan dominions and the Oxus have been formed; caravan routes have been converted into trunk roads and the services of the camel, as a mode of transport, have been supplemented by the waggons of the railway and military authorities.

The great importance attaching to the Orenburg-Tashkent railway and its especial significance at this moment will be appreciated more thoroughly when it is understood that hitherto the work of maintaining touch between European Russia and the military establishment of Russian Turkestan devolved upon a flotilla of fourteen steamers in the Caspian sea—an uncertain, treacherous water at best—and the long, circuitous railway route viâ Moscow and the Caucasus. This necessitated a break of twenty hours for the sea-passage between Baku and Krasnovodsk before connection with the Trans-Caspian railway could be secured. The military forces in Askhabad, Merv, Osh and Tashkent—including, one might add, the whole region lying between the south-eastern slopes of the Pamirs, Chinese Turkestan, the Russo-Afghan and the Russo-Persian frontiers—embracing the several Turkestan Army Corps, were dependent upon a single and interrupted line. Now, however, under the provision of this supplementary and more direct Orenburg-Tashkent route the entire military situation in Central Asia has been dislocated in favour of whatever future disposition Russia may see fit to adopt. All the great depôts of Southern and Central Russia—Odessa, Simpheropol, Kieff, Kharkoff and Moscow, in addition to the Caucasian bases as a possible reserve of reinforcements—are placed henceforth in immediate contact with Merv and Tashkent, this latter place at once becoming the principal military centre in these regions. Similarly, equal improvement will be manifested in the position along the Persian and Afghan borders, to which easy approach is now obtained over the metals of this new work and for which those military stations—Askhabad, Merv, Samarkand—standing upon the Trans-Caspian railway, and Osh, now serve as a line of advanced bases. It is, therefore, essential to consider in detail this fresh state of affairs; and as knowledge of the Orenburg-Tashkent railway is necessary to the proper understanding of the position of Afghanistan, the following study of that kingdom is prefaced with a complete description of the Orenburg-Tashkent work, together with the remaining sections of railway communication between Orenburg and Kushkinski Post.

PALACE OF THE GOVERNOR, BAKU

The journey between St. Petersburg and Orenburg covers 1230 miles and between Orenburg and Tashkent 1174 miles, the latter line having taken almost four years to lay. Work began on the northern section in the autumn of 1900 and many miles of permanent way had been constructed before, in the autumn of 1901, a start was made from the south. The two sections were united in September of 1904; but the northern was not opened to general traffic until July, nor the southern before November, 1905. Prior to the railway communications were maintained by means of tarantass along the post-road, which led from Aktiubinsk across the Kirghiz steppes viâ Orsk to Irghiz and thence through Kazalinsk to Perovski, where the road passed through Turkestan to run viâ Chimkent to Tashkent—a journey of nineteen days. In addition to the galloping patyorka and troika—teams of five and three horses respectively—which were wont to draw the vehicles along the post-road and the more lumbering Bactrian camels, harnessed three abreast and used in the stages across the Kara Kum, long, picturesque processions of camels, bound for Orenburg and carrying cotton and wool from Osh and Andijan, silks from Samarkand and Khiva, tapestries from Khokand, lambs’-wool, skins and carpets from Bokhara and dried fruits from Tashkent, annually passed between Tashkent and Orenburg from June to November.

THE PICTURESQUE CAMEL

Of late years, the Trans-Caspian railway, begun by Skobeleff in 1880 and gradually carried forward by Annenkoff to Samarkand, has supplanted the once flourishing traffic of the post-road, along which the passing of the mails is now the sole movement. The new railway, too, is destined to eliminate even these few links with the past, although in the end it may revive the prosperity of the towns which through lack of the former trade have shrunk in size and diminished in importance. The line does not exactly follow the postal route; but from Orenburg, which is the terminus of the railway from Samara on the Trans-Siberian system, it crosses the Ural river to Iletsk on the Ilek, a tributary of the Ural. From Iletsk the metals run viâ Aktiubinsk and Kazalinsk along the Syr Daria valley viâ Perovski to Turkestan and thence to the terminus at Tashkent.

THE SHIR DAR MEDRESSE, SAMARKAND

Originally one of three suggested routes the Orenburg-Tashkent road was the more desirable because the more direct. Alternative schemes in favour of connecting the Trans-Siberian with the Central Asian railway on one hand and the Saratoff-Uralsk railway with the Central Asian railway on the other were submitted to the commission appointed to select the route. Prudence and sentiment, as well as the absence of any physical difficulties in the way of prompt construction, tempered the resolution of the tribunal in favour of the old post-track. It was begun at once and pushed to completion within four years—a feat impossible to accomplish in the case of either of the two rival schemes. The former of these, costly, elaborate and ambitious, sought to connect Tashkent with Semipalatinsk, the head of the steamboat service on the Irtish river, 2000 miles away, viâ Aulie-ata, Verni and Kopal. Passing between the two lakes Issyk and Balkash alternative routes were suggested for its direction from Semipalatinsk: the one securing a connection with the Trans-Siberian system at Omsk, the other seeking to pass along the post-road to Barnaul, terminating at Obi where the Trans-Siberian railway bridges the Obi river. The supporters of the scheme, which aimed at uniting the Saratoff-Uralsk railway with the Central Asian railway, proposed to carry the line beyond Uralsk to Kungrad, a fishing village in close proximity to the efflux of the Amu Daria and the Aral sea. From Kungrad, passing east of Khiva, the line would have traversed the Black Sands following a straight line and breaking into the Central Asian system at Charjui, opposite which, at Farab, a line to Termes viâ Kelif has been projected; and where, too, an iron girder bridge, resting on nineteen granite piers, spans the Amu Daria. It is useless at this date to weigh the balance between the several schemes; one of which, the Orenburg-Tashkent route, has become an accomplished fact to provide, doubtless in the near future, matter for immediate concern.

From Orenburg, of which the population is 80,000, the line 4 versts[1] from the station crosses the Ural river by an iron bridge, 160 sagenes[2] in length, running from there south to Iletsk, formerly the fortress Iletskaya Zashchita and at present a sub-district town of the Orenburg government with a population of 12,000.

ON THE ROAD IN ASIA

From Iletsk a short branch line, rather more than three versts in length, proceeds to the Iletsk salt mines. Running eastwards and crossing the Ilek river from the right to the left bank by an iron bridge 105 sagenes in length it reaches Aktiubinsk, a district town in Turhai province. At this stage the railway traverses the main watershed of the Ural, Temir, Kubele and Embi rivers, arriving at the Kum Asu pass across the Mugodjarski range. The passage of the line through the mountains, extending 26 versts and a veritable triumph of engineering, imposed a severe test upon the constructive ability of the railway staff. Beyond the range the line turns southward following the valleys of the Bolshoi, Mali Karagandi and Kuljur rivers until, 600 versts from Orenburg, it arrives at Lake Tchelkar. The line now runs across the Bolshiye and Maliye Barsuki sands, where there is abundance of underground fresh water, to the northern extremity of the Sari Tchegonak inlet on the Aral sea, where it descends to sea-level moving along the north-eastern shore. The military depôt at Kazalinsk—sometimes called Fort No. 1—now approaches. This point founded in 1854 has lost its exclusive military character, ranking merely among the district centres of the Syr Daria province. Thirty-six versts from Kazalinsk, at the next station Mai Libash situated in a locality quite suitable for colonisation, a branch line, 4 versts in length, links up the important waterway of the Syr Daria with the Orenburg-Tashkent system, extending the facilities of the railway to shipping which may be delayed through stress of bad weather in the gulf or through inadequacy of the draught over the bar at the mouth of the river.

The main line keeps to the Syr Daria, running through the steppe along the post-road to Karmakchi or Fort No. 2. On leaving Karmakchi it diverges from the post-road to wind round a succession of lakes and marshes which lie at a distance of 50 versts from the river. The railway continuing its original direction now runs along the basins of the Syr Daria and the Karauzyak, a tributary which it crosses twice by small bridges, each constructed with two spans 60 sagenes in length. The character of the country from Karmakchi to Perovski, a distance of 138 versts, differs considerably from the region preceding it. The low-lying ground, broken by swamps, is everywhere covered with a thick overgrowth of reeds; while the more elevated parts, watered by ariks, are devoted to the cultivation of crops. The town of Perovski is situated in flat country 1½ versts from the station. From there to Djulek the line returns to the post-road and some distance from the Syr Daria passes between the river and the Ber Kazan lakes to Ber Kazan. At Djulek, the name being adopted from a small adjacent hamlet, it diverges from the post-road to run direct to the village of Skobelevski, one of those curious peasant settlements which located in the uttermost parts of Central Asia preserve in their smallest detail every characteristic of remote Russia. At such a place life savours so strongly of the middle ages that one scarcely heeds the purely modern significance which attaches to the Iron Horse.

Barely 30 versts from Skobelevski and situated close to the Syr Daria there is the station of Tumen Arik, which gives place to Turkestan, beyond which for 120 versts the line runs parallel with the post-road. The station is 2½ versts to the north of the town of Turkestan, one of the most important towns in the Syr Daria province and only 40 versts from the Syr Daria. The next station Ikan is associated with the conquest of Turkestan, a famous battle having been fought about the scene where the station buildings now stand. Twenty versts to the north of the station, close to the post-road, there is a memorial to Ural Cossacks who fell during the fight. Otrar the following station is identified with the tradition, derived from the existence of an enormous mound standing amid the ruins of the old-time city of Otrar, that Timur when his army crossed the Syr Daria ordered each of his soldiers to throw a handful of earth upon the ground at the point where the river was crossed in safety. Beyond Otrar the line runs along the right bank of the Aris river, crossing it at 1570 versts from Orenburg by a bridge of 90 sagenes in three spans of 30 sagenes each. Aris station is placed further along the river bank at a point where at some future date branch lines between it and the town of Verni, as well as to a junction with the Trans-Siberian system, will be laid. After leaving it the railway, still ascending, ultimately crosses the pass of Sari Agatch in the Kizi Kurt range, 267 sagenes above the sea.

The descent from the pass leads to Djilgi valley where the line crosses three bridges; passing over the Keless river by a single span bridge of 25 sagenes, over the Bos-su arik by a bridge of 18 sagenes, and over the Salar river by a bridge of 12 sagenes. Seventy-two versts further the line runs into its terminus at Tashkent which is now classed as a station of the first degree, although commercially it stands only sixth among the stations of the Central Asian railway ranking with Andijan and yielding priority of place to Krasnovodsk, Samarkand, Khokand, Askhabad and Bokhara. It is proposed at Tashkent, which lies 1762 versts from Orenburg, 1747 versts from Krasnovodsk and 905 versts from Merv and where it is evident that the needs of the railway have been carefully studied, to double the track between Orenburg and Tashkent. Large stocks of spare rails and railway plant are held in reserve in sheds, one important feature of this very efficient preparation being the possession of 20 versts of light military railway. The erection of engine-sheds, waggon-sheds, workshops, supply stores and quarters for the staff has followed a most elaborate scale, these buildings being arranged in three groups around the station. The railway medical staff and the subordinate traffic and traction officials occupy the first; the chiefs of the traffic, telegraph and traction departments are in possession of the second; the remaining employés securing accommodation in the third set of buildings placed at the end of the Station Square. Along the opposite face are the spacious workshops where between five and six hundred men find daily employment; in juxtaposition with the general depôt are the railway hospital, where there is accommodation for 10 beds, the main supply stores and a naphtha reservoir with a capacity of 50,000 poods.[3]

The country in the neighbourhood of Tashkent as seen from the railway presents the picture of a bountiful oasis. For 20 versts there is no interruption to a scene of wonderful fertility. Market gardens, smiling vineyards and fruitful orchards, not to mention cotton-fields and corn-lands, cover the landscape. This abundance in a measure is due to careful irrigation and to the excellent system of conserving water which has been introduced. In support of this 113 specific works have been completed, each of which—and the giant total includes water-pipes by the mile and innumerable aqueducts—was a component part of that scheme of irrigation by which life in Central Asia alone can be made possible.

Although work upon the Orenburg-Tashkent line began in 1900 immediately after the completion of the original survey, wherever more careful examination has shown an advantage to be possible alterations have been made. The cost of construction, estimated at 70,000 roubles[4] per verst, has been materially lessened by these means—a reduction of 24 versts equally divided between the Orenburg and Kazalinsk, Kazalinsk and Tashkent sections having been effected. By comparison with the old post-road the railway is much the shorter of the two lines of communication, the advantage in its favour amounting to 134 versts on one section of the road alone; the actual length between Tashkent and Kazalinsk being by post-road 953¼ versts and by railway 819¼.

In its local administration the railway is divided into four sections:

No. 1. From Orenburg to the Mugodjarski mountains about 400 versts.

No. 2. From Mugodjarski mountains to the sands of Bolshiye Barsuki, 400 to 560 versts.

No. 3. From the sands of Bolshiye Barsuki to Kazalinsk, 560 to 845 versts.

No. 4. From Kazalinsk to Tashkent, 845 to 1762 versts.

In the northern section the line is supplied everywhere with fresh water—in the first instance from the Ural river and then by the smaller rivers Donguz, Elshanka, Ilek, Kulden, Kubele, Temir and Embi; Koss lake and finally from wells.

Here are the Iletsk mines, famous for their rock salt. They despatch annually to Orenburg more than 1,500,000 poods of salt. The deposits cover a field 4 versts in extent with an unvarying thickness of more than 85 sagenes. The section now in working contains 100 milliard poods of salt. The annual yield may be reckoned at 7,000,000 poods. At the present time considerably less than this output is obtained, the high freight charges upon land-carried goods and the insufficiency of the labour available being responsible for the disproportion.

In another direction the Iletsk district is of importance; the veterinary station Temir Utkul, through which pass large herds of cattle on their way to Orenburg from the Ural province, having been established there. In the course of the year many thousands of cattle are examined by the surgeons of the Veterinary Board—the existence of the numerous cattle-sheds and the constant arrival of the droves adding to the noise and bustle of Iletsk, if not exactly increasing its gaiety. Further on, in the Aktiubinsk district of the Turgai province and along the whole valley of the Ilek river, where much of the land is under cultivation, wide belts are given over to the pasturage of these travelling mobs of cattle. Upon both banks of the river, too, there are Kirghiz villages. The area of the Aktiubinsk district is:

From an agricultural point of view this locality, on account of its paucity of population and fertile soil, is regarded with high favour by the immigration authorities. In the town of Aktiubinsk itself there is a yearly market of cattle, corn, manufactures and agricultural implements. This as a rule returns a quarter of a million roubles. Now that the railway has been completed and opened to passenger and commercial traffic, it is expected that it will give an immediate impetus to this region and that it will be possible to carry out a more careful examination of its mining resources, of which at the present time there are only indications. Copper has been traced along the Burt, Burl, Khabd and Kutchuk Sai rivers; deposits of coal have been found near the Maloi Khabd, Teress Butak and Yakshi Kargach rivers; iron has been located by the Burt river and naphtha on the Djus river; while there is reason to believe that gold exists in the vicinity.

On the second section, the line derives its water from springs in the Djaksi mountains, the basin of the Kuljur river, the Khoja and Tchelkar lakes. It abounds with Kirghiz villages but minerals do not play an important part in it. A few seams of coal are believed to exist in the ravine of the Alabass stream; and there are lodestone mines in the Djaman mountains and in the Kin Asu defile. Cattle-farming is more remunerative to the local settlers than cereal production; as a consequence there is very little cultivation. The district, which is 160 versts in length, occupies:

On the third section, which extends from the sands of Bolshiye Barsuki to Kazalinsk covering an area of 285 versts, the water-supply is obtained at first from shallow surface wells; but 45 versts from Kazalinsk the railway enters the Syr Daria valley, where water is abundant. The southern areas of this belt alone possess any commercial importance, owing to Kirghiz from the northern part of the Irgiz district who, to the number of some 10,000 kibitkas, winter there. The northern part is largely the continuation of a sparse steppe. The Kazalinsk district, beyond which the Orenburg-Tashkent railway enters Turkestan, is one of the least important divisions of the Syr Daria province. It embraces:

Around Kazalinsk itself, however, there has been but little agricultural activity. In the main, development is confined to the fertile Agerskski valley and along the Kuban Daria, a tributary of the Syr Daria. The return is meagre and the population has not sufficient corn for its own needs. Large quantities of grain are annually imported into the neighbourhood from the Amu Daria district by boat across the Aral sea or by camel caravan. Railway traffic in this section nevertheless will not rely upon the carriage of cereal produce—live stock, which until the advent of the railway was sent to Orenburg by boat along the Syr Daria and then by caravan-road to the city, representing the prospective return which the district will bring to the line. The population is composed of:

In the town there are:

The revenue of Kazalinsk is 21,880 roubles. The town contains the residences of a district governor and an inspector of fisheries, together with district military headquarters, the administrative offices of the treasury and the district court, besides a district hospital and a public library. There are no hotels. In early days in the conquest of Turkestan, when the Kazalinsk road served as the only line of communication with European Russia, the town became a busy mart for Orenburg, Tashkent, Khiva and Bokhara; even now the Kirghiz in the district possess 770,000 head of cattle. Trade was obliterated by the advent of the Central Asian railway; but it is hoped that now the Orenburg-Tashkent line has been opened to traffic it may revive.

The village of Karmakchi which is situated on the banks of the Syr Daria is another point in this district. It boasts only a small population, in all some 300 odd, an Orthodox church, post and telegraph office, two schools, hospital and military base office. Importance attaches to the post as it is upon the high road along which is conducted the winter trek of the Kirghiz.

The value of the annual export trade of the region is:

Exports.

The value of the annual import trade amounts to:

Imports.

With the opening of the line to traffic the transportation of fish by the railway has shown a tendency to increase. It is believed that the development of the fishing industry throughout the Aral basin is only a matter of time. At present the yearly catch of fish there reaches a total of 300,000 poods of which not less than one half is sent to Orenburg, the trade realising about 1,000,000 roubles. Hitherto little has been attempted. With the assistance of the railway a speedy expansion of the trade is assured—the interests of the fishing population and the general welfare of the river traffic having been advanced through the construction of a harbour upon the gulf of Sari Cheganak, in connection with the railway and only 5 versts distant. Aral sea, the station at this point, is 790 versts from Orenburg.

The fourth and last division, from Kazalinsk to Tashkent, runs along the valley of the Syr Daria. It is fully supplied with good water and possesses a larger population than either the second or the third sections. In it the line traverses the following districts of the Syr Daria province:

The Perovski district notwithstanding the good qualities of its soil produces very little corn; its chief population consists of nomadic Kirghiz who together own 990,000 head of cattle, the export cattle trade for the district amounting to 2,000,000 roubles annually. Small tracts of wheat and millet are cultivated here and there with the aid of tchigirs, native watering-pumps. The water is brought up from the river by means of a wheel, along the rim of which are fixed earthenware jugs or cylindrical vessels of sheet iron. These vessels raise the water to the height of the bank, whence it is very readily distributed. The best corn-lands are situated in the Djulek sub-district; but the primitive methods of agriculture existing amongst the nomads, in conjunction with the deficiencies in the irrigation system, explain at once the lack of cereal development in these areas.

KIRGHIZ ELDERS

Perovski was taken by Count Perovski on July 28, 1853, and in honour of the occasion by Imperial order the fortress was renamed Fort Perovski. Close to the town there is a memorial to the Russian soldiers who fell during that engagement.

The present population comprises:

The town contains:

together with district administrative offices similar to those established at Kazalinsk. The water-supply is drawn from the Syr Daria by means of wells. There are no hotels. The town revenue is only 12,350 roubles; although the importation of various goods from Russia into the Perovski district represents an annual sum of 2,900,000 roubles. With the advent of the Central Asian railway the commercial importance of Perovski, once a point through which caravans destined for Orenburg or Tashkent passed, waned. Now its trade is dependent upon the numerous Tartars and Ural Cossacks who have settled there. The place is unhealthy, and the settlement is affected by the malaria arising from the marshes which surround it. In spring and summer the lagoons swarm with myriads of mosquitoes and horse-flies; so great is the plague that the Kirghiz together with their flocks and herds after wintering along the Syr Daria beat a hurried retreat into the steppe, driven off by the tiresome insects. Many months elapse before the nomads return; it is not until the cold weather has set in that they appear in any numbers. Quite close to Perovski there are two immigrant villages—Alexandrovski and Novo Astrakhanski—erected in 1895, where the inhabitants are occupied with cattle-farming and the sale of hay in winter time to the Kirghiz. The district possesses nothing save a pastoral population and a small settlement of 200 souls at Djulek. This place, formerly a fortress founded in 1861 and now half destroyed by the floods of the Syr Daria, contains the administrative offices of the commissioner of the section, with a postal and telegraphic bureau and a native school. To the south of Djulek there is Skobelevski, another small village founded by immigrants in 1895 and containing some fifty-six houses. It is watered by the Tchilli arik. Skobelevski is rapidly developing into a trade-mart, the source of its good fortune being contained in the advantageous position which it fills in the steppe. Throughout this region, plots of land with a good quality soil and well watered have been granted to colonists.

The Chimkent district similarly possesses a rich and fertile soil, derived in the main from its network of irrigating canals. Its population is more numerous than other adjacent settlements and it supports altogether seventeen immigrant villages with a population of 5135. Chimkent contains in itself all the features necessary to the development of a wide belt of agriculture; but at the present time the most extensive tracts of wheat land are along the systems of the Aris, Aksu, Badam, Buraldai, Burdjar, Tchayan and Bugun rivers. In the valley of the Arisi, along the middle reaches, there are rice-fields; and in the country round Chimkent the cotton industry has begun to develop. Experiments are being tried in the cultivation of beetroot as the soil and climatic conditions of the district are especially favourable to its growth. The present quality of the Chimkent beetroot is not inferior to that grown in the Kharkoff Government; so that Chimkent may well become, in the near future, the centre of a sugar-producing industry not only for Turkestan but for the whole of Central Asia, which so far has imported its sugar exclusively from European Russia.

KIRGHIZ WOMEN

The district town of Chimkent, formerly a Khokand fortress taken by the Russian forces under the command of General Chernaieff September 22, 1864, lies upon the eastern side of the railway. Its population comprises:

There are in the

Government offices similar to those in other towns are also found.

The town revenue is 11,760 roubles.

The trade returns of the Chimkent district amount to 5,000,000 roubles.

Through Chimkent passes a road from Tashkent to Verni. In the northern part of the district the line runs close to the ruins of the ancient town of Sauran and the fortress of Vani Kurgan, from where it proceeds to Turkestan. This was occupied in 1864 by the Russian forces under the command of General Verevkin.

Turkestan is situated 40 versts to the east of the right bank of the Syr Daria, at a height of 102 sagenes above sea level. It is watered by canals diverted from springs and small rivers which flow from the southern slopes of the Kara mountains. The combined population of the place comprises:

The outward appearance of the town is extremely handsome. There is much vegetation, many wide streets and large open spaces.

NATIVE QUARTER, TASHKENT

There are:

together with the administrative bureau of the sectional commissioner, besides district military headquarters, a district court and a post and telegraph office.

In respect of trade Turkestan occupies a prominent place. The great bulk of the raw products of the nomad cattle-farming industry is brought to it for the purpose of exchanging with articles of Russian manufacture. The yearly returns of the bazaars amount to 4,000,000 roubles; an increase upon this sum is expected now that in the Karatavski mountains, which are close at hand, lead mines have been discovered. The town revenue is 19,350 roubles.

The Tashkent district is more densely populated and possesses a more productive soil than Chimkent. The mineral resources, too, present greater promise while the trade returns reach a total of 50,000,000 roubles a year. Merchandise comes from Siberia into Orenburg and Tashkent; while, in addition, there are the local products and those from the interior of European Russia. The line serves, also, as the shortest route between Tashkent and the rich corn region at Chelyabinsk and Kurgan. Undoubtedly it will assist to supply the whole of Turkestan with Siberian corn, thereby setting free some of the land now under corn for the cultivation of cotton. Further, it connects Tashkent with the centre of the mining industry in the Ural mountains; and dense streams of Russian colonisation and trade pass by it into the heart of Central Asia.

The prosperity introduced both into Orenburg and Tashkent by the creation of railway communication between these two centres will exercise a very beneficial effect upon the capacity of their markets. Already improvement has been marked, the flow of fresh trade through these new channels following closely upon the advance of the construction parties. The period available for statistics does not represent the effect of the new railway upon local trade. The work of construction had not begun at the time the returns, which are given below, were drawn up. At that moment the commercial activity of Tashkent was shown by the following table:

The passenger traffic into Tashkent over the Central Asian line was:

During the few years which have elapsed since the figures were compiled the Orenburg-Tashkent railway has been opened, this happy accomplishment at once becoming a factor of the greatest economic importance in the commerce of Central Asia.

[1] 1 Verst = ⅔ mile English.

[2] 1 Sagene = 7 feet English.

[3] 1 pood = 36 lbs.

[4] 1 rouble = two shillings.

CHAPTER II

THE KHANATE OF BOKHARA, THE PROVINCE OF SAMARKAND, THE DISTRICTS OF TASHKENT AND MERV

SHIR DAR, SAMARKAND

The Khanate of Bokhara, across which lies the direct line of any advance upon Afghanistan, is the most important of the Russian protected states in Central Asia. It is situated in the basin of the Amu Daria between the provinces of Trans-Caspia on the west, of Samarkand and Ferghana on the north and east; while, in the south, the course of the Oxus separates, along 500 versts of the frontier, the dominions of Bokhara from those of Afghanistan.

The area occupied by Bokhara, including the sub-territories Darwaz, Roshan and Shignan situated upon the western slopes of the Pamirs, amounts to 80,000 square miles, over which in the western part certain salt marshes and desolate stretches of sandy desert extend. The eastern area is confined by the rugged chains of the Alai and Trans-Alai systems, the Hissar mountains, the immediate prolongation of the Alai range and crowned with perpetual snow, attaining considerable altitude. This group divides the basins of the Zerafshan and Kashka Daria from the basin of the Amu Daria. The rivers of Bokhara belong to the Amu Daria system, the Oxus flowing for 490 versts through the Khanate itself. Constant demands for purposes of irrigation are made upon its waters as well as upon the waters of its many tributaries, a fact which rapidly exhausts the lesser streams. In the western portion of the Khanate the Zerafshan river is the great artery; and although it possesses a direct stream only 214 versts in length it supplies a system of canals, the aggregate length of which amounts to more than 1000 versts. These again are divided to supply a further thousand channels, from which the water actually used for irrigating the various settlements and fields is finally drawn. The second most important river in the western part of the Khanate is the Kashka Daria, which waters the vast oases of Shakhri, Syabz and Karshine. In the eastern areas numerous streams are fed by the snows and glaciers of the Alai mountain system.

The western region of Bokhara possesses an extremely dry climate which, while hot in summer, tends to emphasise the severe cold of the winter months. Occasionally at that time the Amu Daria freezes, when the ice remains about the river for two or three weeks. The break-up of winter is manifested by heavy rains which, falling in February, continue until the middle of March when, after a short month of spring, a hot sun burns up the vegetation. At this period the nomadic tribes abandon the plains for the mountains, large areas of the Khanate now presenting the appearance of a sparsely populated desert in which the sole vegetation is found along the banks of the rivers or in oases watered by the canals. With the advent of autumn, the steppe once more reflects the movements of these people.

In its eastern part the altitude varies between 2500 and 8500 feet above sea-level. The climate, warm and mild in summer, is of undue severity in winter, the period of extreme cold lasting some four months. Snow, commencing to fall in October, remains upon the ground until April, the frosts always being severe. At such a season the winds, blowing from the north-east, possess an unusual keenness in contradistinction to the strong south-south-westerly winds which, prevailing in summer, are the precursor to burning sand-storms.

THE AMIR OF BOKHARA ON PALACE STEPS

The total population of the Khanate amounts approximately to 2,500,000; the well-watered, flourishing oases bear in some places as many as 4000 people to the square mile. The steppe and mountainous regions are sparsely populated. The most important inhabited centres of the Khanate are as follows:

Distribution of Population.

According to ethnographic distribution the population falls into two divisions. To the first belong those of Turki extraction and to the second the Iranian group. Amongst those of Turki descent the Uzbegs take the most prominent place, constituting not only a racial preponderance but the ruling power in the Khanate. Among the remaining constituents of the Turki division are the Turcomans (chiefly Ersaris) and the Kirghiz. To the Iranian category belong the Tajiks—the original inhabitants of the country, even now constituting the principal section of the population throughout its eastern and southern portions; the Sarts, a conglomeration of Turki and Iranian nationalities, comprise a considerable proportion of the urban and rural population. In smaller numbers are the various colonies of Jews, Afghans, Persians, Arabs, Armenians, Hindus and others. With the exception of the Jews and the Hindus the entire population is Mahommedan.

It will be seen that the population is represented by sedentary, semi-nomadic and nomadic classes. The first, constituting about 65 per cent. of the whole population, is distributed principally in the plains, a considerable proportion comprising Tajiks, Sarts, Jews, Persians, Afghans and Hindus. The semi-nomadic population forms about 15 per cent., consisting partly of Uzbegs, Turcomans and Tajiks dwelling in the hills. The nomads, who make up 20 per cent. of the population, live in the steppes of the western portion of the Khanate, in Darwaz and along the slopes of the Hissar mountains. They comprise Uzbegs, Turcomans and Kirghiz.

The soil, in general adapted to agriculture, yields with irrigation excellent harvests. The amount of cultivated land in the Khanate is little in excess of 8000 square miles; but, in order to make full use of the waters of the Amu Daria, Surkan, Kafirnigan and Waksh rivers, a large expenditure would be required, the present system of irrigation being very inadequate. Apart from cotton which is exported in the raw state to the value of several million poods annually and the silk industry which, owing to disease among the worms, has deteriorated, the chief agricultural interest lies in the production of fruit, the produce of the orchards forming a staple food during the summer months. As a consequence, many different varieties of grapes, peaches, apricots, melons, water-melons, plums, apples, and pears are cultivated in the several gardens and orchards. Cattle-farming is conducted extensively in the valleys of the Hissar and Alai ranges and in Darwaz; in Kara Kul, situated in the vast Urta Chul steppe between the towns of Bokhara and Karsi, is the home of the famous caracal sheep. Other industries are the manufacture of leathern goods: shoes, saddles, saddle-cloths, metal and pottery ware; while a staple product, employed in the manufacture of felts, carpets and the clothes of the people, is cotton wool.

The yearly budget of the Khanate amounts to 8,000,000 roubles, 1,005,000 roubles of which are spent upon the army. The standing army, comprising Guards, battalions of the line, cavalry regiments, a brigade of mounted rifles and a small corps of artillerists, possesses a strength of 15,000 men with twenty guns. In addition there is a militia liable for duty in case of necessity but, equally with its more imposing sister service, of little practical utility.

THE GATES OF BOKHARA

The city of Bokhara is surrounded by massive walls which were built in the ninth century, 28 feet in height, 14 feet in thickness at the base, with 131 towers and pierced at irregular intervals by eleven gates. These ramparts contain, within a circuit of 7½ miles, an area of 1760 acres. The population numbers some hundred thousand and the variety of types included in this estimate is immense. The Tajiks, who predominate, are well favoured in their appearance; they have clear, olive complexions with black eyes and hair. Polite, hard-working and intelligent, they possess considerable aptitude for business. Against these excellent traits, however, must be noted the fact that they are inclined to cowardice and dishonesty. On this account they are regarded with contempt by the Uzbegs, a race whose physical characteristics cause them to resemble the rude warriors of the Osmanlis who supplanted the Cross by the Crescent in the fifteenth century. Independent in their bearing, the Uzbegs possess high courage together with something of the inborn dignity of the Turk; but they are distinguished from that nation by a greater grossness of manner and less individuality. Equally with the Kirghiz and the Turcomans, the Uzbegs are divided in their classes between sedentary people and nomads. Then, also, in this dædalus there is the Jewish community, which is traditionally believed to have migrated hither from Baghdad. The Jews in Bokhara are forbidden to ride in the streets; while they must wear a distinctive costume, the main features of which include a small black cap, a dressing-gown of camel’s hair and a rope girdle. They are relegated to a filthy ghetto; and, although they may not be killed with impunity by a good believer, they are subjected to such grinding persecution that their numbers have been reduced in the course of half a century to something less than 75 per cent. of the 10,000 who originally composed the colony. The Jew in Bokhara shares with the Hindu settler there the profits of money-lending and the two classes are keen hands at a bargain. In addition to the Hindus there are a few Mahommedan merchants from Peshawar who are concerned in the tea trade. Other races among the moving mass comprise Afghans, Persians and Arabs, the variety of features shown by a Bokharan crowd suggesting so many different quarters as their place of origin that one would need to recite the map of High Asia to describe them.

The town of Bokhara is supplied with water from the Shari Rud canal, which, in turn, is fed by the Zerafshan river. A considerable amount is stored locally in special reservoirs, of which there are eighty-five. As their contents are seldom changed the supply soon assumes a thick, greenish consistency, the use of which is extremely detrimental to the health of the inhabitants. The deficiency of fresh water for drinking purposes, the oppressiveness of the summer heat and the propinquity of numerous cemeteries, together with the dust and dirt of the crowded streets, make life in Bokhara almost intolerable. The city, too, is a hot-bed of disease, malaria being specially prominent at certain seasons. The filaria medinesis, a worm of burrowing propensity, is endemic.

In Bokhara, as in most Eastern cities, the feminine element is entirely excluded from the street. The emancipation of women has not begun in the Middle East; should any have to venture forth they are muffled up so carefully that not even a suggestion of their personal appearance can be gathered. Yet there is a certain charm and mystery in the flitting of the veiled Beauty and one would fain linger to speculate further, if such dallying with fortune were not eminently injudicious. If there is no revelation of the female form divine in the bazaar there is, at least, a wonderful wealth of gorgeous colouring. In time of festival the scene, welling up to break away in endless ripples, suggests the myriad beauties of a rainbow splintered into a million fragments.

There is relief, too, from the burning sunshine in the cool, lofty passages: shady, thronged and tortuous they extend in endless succession for mile after mile. The roof of the bazaar is a rude contrivance of undressed beams upon which there is a covering of beaten clay. Behind each stall is an alcove in the wall serving as home and office to the keen-visaged merchant who presides. In this little recess, piled upon innumerable shelves, rammed into little niches or strewn upon the floor, are the different articles which his trade requires. Carpets and rugs of harmonious hues, a wealth of parti-coloured shawls, innumerable lengths of dress pieces, cutlery, trinkets, snuff-boxes, gorgeous velvets and brilliant silks, the shimmer of satin and the coarse tracing of gold-wire embroidery, are here all displayed in prodigal confusion. As to the sources of supply, a good deal of the merchandise is the produce of Russian markets. For the rest, a certain proportion comes from Germany and a small amount is imported from France. England, it may be noted, is not represented at all.

The money-changers have a quarter to themselves, as have also the metal-workers and the vendors of silks and velvets. At every corner and odd twist of the passages there are the sweet-sellers, the tea merchants and the booths for food. China is the principal source of the tea supply, but of late a certain amount has found its way into Bokhara from the gardens of India and Ceylon. It is before the steaming samovars that the crowd of prospective purchasers is apt to be thickest. Beyond the bazaar boundaries are the wonderful relics of a bygone grandeur—imposing buildings and mosques, touched with the glory of the sunlight and capacious enough to contain within their courtyards 10,000 people at one time.

Although the chief interest of Bokhara centres in the portion just described, its public buildings well repay leisurely examination. The Registan, the market-place of the north-west quarter, acts as a central zone. On one side standing upon a vast artificial mound is the citadel or Ark, its mighty walls forming a square of 450 yards, its parapet crenellated and its corners set with towers. The building dates from the era of the Samanides. In addition to the Amir’s palace the walls of the Ark enclose the houses of the chief ministers, the treasury, the State prison and various offices. The entrance to the citadel, which is defended by two imposing towers, is closed by massive gates above which there is a clock. None save the highest officials are permitted to enter the Ark; visitors, irrespective of rank, are compelled to dismount at its doors and to proceed on foot to the Amir’s quarters. Opposite the Ark stands the largest mosque in Bokhara, the Medjidi Kalan or Kok Gumbaz—the Mosque of the Green Cupola—which the Amir attends every Friday when he is in residence.

THE PRISON, BOKHARA

THE MINAR KALAN, BOKHARA

A smaller market-place, where transactions in cotton are carried out, is surrounded by several imposing edifices that rise with infinite grace to the sky, besides countless minarets of prayer acting as landmarks to the faithful. Here is the Great Mosque, the Masjid-i-Jama, while facing it is the Medresse Mir-i-Arab. This latter building ranks first among the many stately colleges of Bokhara. Near at hand is the Minar Kalan, 36 feet at the base and tapering to a height of over 200 feet. From a small platform just below the lofty pinnacle, miscreants were hurled to destruction in bygone days. With the exception of these buildings the city contains little of antiquity.

For its size the native quarter is a centre of the greatest importance; and its streets, although mean and sinuous, are filled by a crowd most typical of Asia. Ten thousand students receive instruction in its schools. It contains:

THE ARK, BOKHARA

The houses, which are set in small compounds approached by narrow alleys, are composed of clay with low roofs and without windows. A hole in the roof suffices for a chimney, and the open door affords light.

Samarkand, the administrative centre of the province of the same name and founded in 1871, is a close reproduction of a large Indian cantonment. The streets are wide, well paved, fringed with tall poplars and set with shops which are kept by Europeans. For the Russians, as the centre of the province and the location of army headquarters, it has special importance. Although without any architectural pretensions—the buildings are all one-storey structures on account of frequent visitations from earthquakes—its comparatively lofty position makes it an agreeable station and one of the most attractive gathering-places for Europeans in Asiatic Russia. The city is situated upon the south-western slopes of the Chupan Ata range, 7 versts from the Zerafshan river. The close proximity of the hills naturally influences its rainfall, which is greatest in March and April. The period from June to September is dry; and by February or March the trees are in bloom. By a happy choice in construction it has been planned upon exceptionally generous lines which, although imparting to the outskirts a desolate aspect, have been the cause of securing to the community a number of spacious squares, around which are placed the barracks and certain parks. The principal square, named after General Ivanoff, a former Governor of the province, is Ivanovski Square. Another interesting memento of the Russian conquest of Turkestan is situated between the military quarter and the green avenues of the Russian town, in a spot where the heroes who fell in the defence of the citadel in 1868 were buried. At the same place, too, a memorial has been erected to Colonel Sokovnin and Staff-Captain Konevski, who were killed in 1869.

The population of Samarkand at the census of 1897 was 54,900:

According to the statistics of 1901, which are the most recently available, these figures had increased by a few thousands; they were then 58,194:

In the town itself there are:

and various medical, charitable and other institutions.

The native quarter, which is separated from the Russian town by the Abramovski Boulevard—so named in honour of General Abramoff, another military Governor of the province—covers an area of 4629 dessiatines. It was built by Timur the Lame. The streets with few exceptions are narrow, winding and unpaved; the houses are of baked mud, mean and cramped, with flat earthen roofs and no windows. In this division there are:

The value of Government property in the Russian and native areas of the city is estimated at 4,077,681 roubles. The city revenue approximates 147,616 roubles. The native quarter is the great commercial centre of the province and the trade returns for the city and its surrounding district amount to 17,858,900 roubles out of 24,951,320 roubles for the entire province. Of the squares the most celebrated is the Registan, with a length of 35 sagenes and width of 30 sagenes. It is bounded by three large mosques: the Tillah Kori—the Gold Covered; Ulug Beg; and Shir Dar—the Lion Bearing.

THE TOMB OF TAMERLANE, SAMARKAND

The Registan is the heart of ancient Samarkand. Prior to the advent of the Russians pardon and punishment were dealt from it to the people by their rulers, executions performed and wars declared, as the authorities pleased. Even up to the present day the Registan has preserved in some degree its importance as a popular tribune. From it self-constituted orators, holy men and politicians, expound their doctrines before a people gathered together from the most distant corners of the Continent of Asia. The Registan is only one feature of this delightful city; for here, too, are the stately ruins of the Bibi Khanum, tomb of the wife of Timur, and the Gur Amir where Timur’s remains lie amid a scene eloquent in its simple grandeur. Although, unfortunately, this building has been spoilt by attempts at restoration, its encrusted tiles are as beautiful as when they were made, 400 years ago. Here, too, is the resting-place of the Shah Zindeh; and in its Urda or ancient citadel, now a weak, bastioned fort, is the Kok Tash—the coronation-stone of the descendants of Timur. The charm of the Gur Amir is supreme. Within its dome, before the horse-hair standard, the sheer force of association and the infinite suggestion of the spot make one feel the great presence of this renowned soldier. Beneath the cupola there is a nephrite cenotaph; perhaps, as Colonel C. E. de la Poer Beresford has said, the largest block of green jade in the world.[5] Close to it other tombs, lighter in colour, are erected to the memory of Ulug Beg and Mir Sayid, Timur’s grandson and tutor. Around these is a carved gypsum balustrade and in the crypt below, under a simple brick-tomb, lies the vanquisher of Toktamish Khan, of Sultan Bayazid, of Persia, the Caucasus and India—Timur himself.

SAMARKAND—THE HOUR OF PRAYER

In its economic aspect Samarkand occupies a very important position. Although scarcely serving as a mart to the produce of British India and Afghanistan, it is nevertheless a great emporium of trade. The roads, leading to the town or from it, as the case may be, are an index of its wide-reaching commercial influence. They run from Samarkand to Karki on the Amu Daria; and to Tashkent viâ Jizak; while Khojand, Khokand, Namangan, Andijan, Margelan and Osh are all in direct communication with it. Caravans from the east and north, from Persia and from China, carts perched on two gigantic wheels or transport bullocks laden with skins, even sheep carrying small packages—all are impressed into service and seem to be revolving in a constant stream round Samarkand. There is a steady traffic and the numerous bazaars are the centre of a brisk trade in skins and pelts. Unlike the bazaars of Bokhara, along the sides of which the merchants have their stalls, the passage-ways are open to the heavens. After the wonderful picture of Asiatic life presented by Bokhara, there are those who complain of a feeling of disappointment at the more subdued current which flows through Samarkand. Nevertheless the town has a charming setting. The snow-peaks of the Hissar chain and the curtain of enchanting fields and spreading vineyards, which hides the hideous aspect of the Kara Kum, add to the pleasure which is derived from the delicate mingling of the colours of the street life. There is, indeed, a very special type found in the bazaars of Bokhara and Samarkand. Dressed in the choicest of silks, so soft that it suggests the rustle of the wind through the peach-trees and dyed in tones of yellow, green and brown, in shades of magenta and purple, in a note of blue reflecting the sky or touched with the blush of a red rose, are men of fine stature. They move with their long-skirted gowns clasped at the waist and their silken trousers tucked into brown, untanned boots, the seams of which are delicately embroidered. Every individual reserves to himself a most exclusive manner, representing the embodiment of dignity. There is such an air of contentment about the gaily-clad crowd as it passes from stall to stall; such perfect self-possession, suggested humility and independence that the difference in size between Bokhara and Samarkand goes unnoticed; the atmosphere being no less pleasing, the picture no less acceptable, in the smaller city than in the capital.

SAMARKAND—A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW

As the administrative focus of the Syr Daria province Tashkent is the principal city of Russian Turkestan and the seat of the Governor-General. The Russian quarter at once recalls memories of other spheres of Central Asia. The streets are wide and long. Dusty but much frequented, they are bordered by high, white poplars set in double rows, while upon each side there run the gurgling waters of the irrigation canals. The city is laid out in a sector of a circle, three great boulevards radiating from the cathedral, a handsome, octagonal building in freestone. Surmounted by the dome and golden cross, which mark in Russia all Orthodox places of worship, it occupies the centre of Konstantinovski Square. It contains the remains of General von Kauffman, Governor-General of Russian Turkestan between 1867 and 1882 and, incidentally, conqueror of Khiva in 1873 and of Samarkand in 1868. He died May 4, 1882.

SOBORNAYA BOULEVARD IN TASHKENT

Tashkent, situated upon the slopes of the Tian Shan 172 sagenes above sea-level, lies in the midst of an extensive oasis whose fertile acres are watered by the river Chirchik and its tributaries. January is the coldest month, while July is the hottest. The prevailing breezes are north and north-east; but the characteristic peculiarity of the climate is the absence of wind, which makes the high temperature in the summer particularly oppressive. Spring weather begins in March; the hot season, commencing in May, continues until the middle of August. Speaking generally the place possesses the attributes of the climate in the plains of Central Asia while distinguished by its greater yearly rain-fall—384 millimètres—in consequence of the proximity of the mountains. The drinking water question, an ever-attendant difficulty in Central Asia, is no less acute in Tashkent, constituting a serious drawback to conditions of life there. An ample supply of water is available for irrigation, the Chirchik river, as well as numerous wells and springs, being diverted for this purpose.

The Russian quarter, founded in 1865 after the capture of the native town from the Khan of Khokand upon June 15 by the Russian forces under General Chernaieff, is separated from the native by the Angar canal. It is divided into official and residential areas, and contains many large streets. The Sobornaya, in which are situated the best shops, is perhaps more animated than any other thoroughfare in the town, while the Romanovski Street, which crosses the official quarter, is devoted principally to the Government offices. Three wide streets—the Gospitalnaya, Dukhovskaya, and the Kailuski Prospekt—along which it is proposed to erect business premises, also run from this quarter to the station. The residential part is of much later construction; its population is more scattered, the houses are surrounded with dense gardens and the streets are wider. The houses in each section are, for the most part, single storeyed. The chief public works are the Alexandrovski Park, Konstantinovski Square, Gorodskoi Garden and the gardens surrounding the residence of the Governor-General. The Turkestan Public Library, founded by General von Kauffman with the object of furthering the education of the country, now contains more than 40,000 volumes.

The following table shows the existing statistics of the Russian quarter:

The town revenues for 1902 were as follows:

The permanent garrison is never less than 10,000 men. Barracks and store-house accommodation for military supplies abound in the place. Between the spacious station and the Russian city, a distance of one verst, there are very commodious infantry quarters. A long row of buildings, somewhat more remote and erected upon slightly rising ground, contains the lines of the Cossack establishment. The climate of Tashkent is too unhealthy to be endured in the hot weather. In summer the garrison moves to Chigman, a defile 671 sagenes above sea-level, situated 80 or 90 versts beyond the town on the river Chirchik, where there is a sanatorium for the troops. The families of the officers usually pass the season at the village of Troitzki, 25 versts from Tashkent. Five versts from the city is Nikolski, the first Russian settlement founded in the Syr Daria province. Lying between it and the Russian town is the native quarter. Recalling Andijan, Margelan, Khokand and Osh, it lacks the animation of the streets of Bokhara and is destitute of the architectural beauties of Samarkand. Surrounded on three sides by gardens, the fourth side touches the Russian town with which it is connected, as also with the station, by means of a horse tramway. It is divided into four parts called respectively Kukchinski, Sibzyarski, Shaikhantaurski and Bish Agatchski. Each is separated into districts, these sub-divisions totalling 206 in all.

The two quarters of Tashkent occupy to-day an area of 20 square versts. Forty years ago the site of the Russian settlement covered no more ground than that required by the village which contained the garrison. This original section has now disappeared, becoming merged as time passed and the colony expanded with the Fortress Esplanade, while the population has similarly increased. In May 1871 the combined figures of the native and Russian colony gave only 2701 inhabitants. In 1897 the census returns showed the population to be:

These figures, particularly in connection with the Russian colony, exhibit a gradual increase throughout the period intervening between the census of 1897 and that in 1901, when the returns were as follows:

In greater detail the population of the native quarter was composed as follows:

In the native area there were:

Although the importance of Merv, as a military district, has increased since the Orenburg-Tashkent railway was opened the numbers of the resident population continue to decline. This proceeds from the unhealthy conditions that obtain locally. Malaria, the most prevalent complaint, runs a very level course throughout the year. Between July and November it becomes exceptionally virulent; and a recent Medical Commission returned the causes of the sickness in Merv as due solely to the presence of a specific organism which, passing from the soil into the water, was absorbed by the inhabitants. So rife is the disease that it is estimated that not one person escapes its attacks in the course of the year. The highest sick-rate occurs between the months of July and November, when it is responsible for 80 per cent. of the “Daily State” in the garrison and district hospitals. Merv malaria generally attacks the liver and kidneys, rapidly affecting the spleen. Every effort has been made to cope with its ravages. Among the attempts was a scheme for the introduction of a new system of irrigation and the purification of the water system, to which the Minister of War assigned 63,000 roubles. Hitherto the drinking-water, derived from the Murghab, has been altogether unfit for consumption. Apart from possible contamination in the sources of the water-supply, there is no doubt that much of the malaria in Merv arises from constant displacement of soil in the oasis; similar conditions prevail, usually for three or four years, in all tropical and semi-tropical countries whenever agricultural or other development requires the breaking of ground.

BAZAAR SCENE

Certain features encountered in Merv—such as groups of chaffering natives, clusters of small, open shops, dusty trees, open drains and sweltering heat—are strangely reminiscent of India, but the absence of punkahs and the high price of ice prove that the Russians in Central Asia are indifferent to comfort. Even the hotels make no attempt to relieve the effect of the temperature; while, in general, the houses are built without verandahs and the windows are unfitted with jalousies. Within the houses, too, conditions are most trying, the policy of every one being to admit the flies and exclude the air. Trade manages to thrive; and a weekly market is held on Mondays upon a plain to the east of the town. Thither all roads converge; thronged with two-wheeled Persian carts, ill-fed baggage horses burdened with goods, and gurgling camels. Standing solitary and forlorn is the patient ass whose lament is so eloquently described by Mr. Shoemaker, where that author says:

Oh, my brother from that far western land where even a little ass like me has some chance to sleep in quiet, blame me not, I beseech you, that I weep. You have seen how dignified and self-contained my brethren are in Egypt; but there we never carry more than two of the heathen at the most, whereas here, you see, it is always three and sometimes four; therefore I weep, oh my brother, and will not be comforted.

Fair days in the town bazaars are held upon Sundays and Thursdays, when the Hebrew, Persian and Armenian merchants are surrounded by crowds of Tekkes from neighbouring villages. Disposed for sale are the innumerable commodities of the Middle East—rice from Meshed; fruits from Samarkand; silk, sweetmeats and velvet from Bokhara; cheap cutlery, trinkets, leather goods and samovars from Russia; beautiful embroidery and shawls from the stores of the wealthier merchants; carpets from Herat; sheepskins from the country-side; plough-shares and knives from local forges; and relics of Old Merv. Prices are high; but the Turcomans make their purchases very willingly, unconscious of the contrast between their present peaceful demeanour and the attitude which distinguished them when they were robbers of the countryside.

Apart from the garrison the population numbers less than 5000, including:

The revenues derived from the native town amount to 42,000 roubles a year and the volume of business annually turned over is a little short of 100,000 roubles. The prosperity of the place is attested by the individual wealth of merchants attending the bazaars. Many of these men live in spacious houses, the majority of the natives frequenting the bazaar being well-to-do and apparently contented. Trade is brisk and, as the Russians have imposed but a few taxes and the Turcomans are exempt from military service, no particular difficulty attends the earning of the daily wage.

BREAKING CAMP ON MANŒUVRES, TASHKENT

It is said occasionally that the disasters which attended Russia in Manchuria have stimulated the ambitions and desires of the Mahommedan population of Asiatic Russia to throw off the yoke of Muscovite rule. Hence it is possible that the reading of the existing situation in Central Asia, which is here presented, may not be accepted. In point of fact, the Mahommedan attitude towards Russian rule in Mid-Asia has no relation whatever to the outcome of the late war in Manchuria; nor was it influenced in any way by the developments of that unfortunate struggle. Contrary belief is based upon the impression that the animus entertained against the Russians by the races of British India, where it is now assumed by the ignorant and very foolish that Russian arms would be at once defeated in any Indo-Russian conflict, exists equally among the Mahommedan population of Asiatic Russia. The comfortable acceptance of this doctrine of Indian superiority—one of the most amusing and dangerous fallacies of public opinion—shows the need of more discriminating criticism, upon the character of Russian administration of native races in Central Asia, to distinguish all shades of public and Indian opinion. The Russians are no less careful of the several peoples that find refuge under their rule than our own authorities, a fact which, unfortunately, we are inclined to ignore in our estimate of their present position through a conceit which inspires Anglo-Indians to regard British administration of native races as heaven-born. The opinion in reference to the Russo-Japanese War is equally erroneous; because, while it is known that our Indian subjects had recourse to all reports upon it and thus were at liberty to arrive at their preposterous conclusions, native opinion in Central Asia knew almost nothing of its course, character and result. Even if suspicions of the actual results were entertained, the constant display of troops, which was made in all Central Asiatic centres of importance during the progress of the campaign, would have dispelled the belief that the Russian military resources were straitened. Apart from this fact, the public in Central Asia were supplied only with those versions of the truth which were most acceptable—and useful—to the Russian amour propre. It will be seen, therefore, that wherever Mahommedan feeling may be opposed in the Tsar’s Asiatic dominions to Russian domination, such sentiment is spontaneous and as deeply rooted or easily appeased as the circumstances, which may have excited it, dictate. It is well to understand this phase of the situation in Central Asia since, in itself, it is very significant.

Merv, perhaps, is a case in point. On the surface the aspect of affairs there is placid enough; but the Russians in Central Asia have read so many effective lessons to their subject races that at best opinion upon the possible chances of an outbreak is a blind hazard. Doubtless religious and racial prejudices are smouldering; yet, if there is any feeling of discontent, it must arise from an animosity born of pure fanaticism. Certainly the Russian rule in Mid-Asia is tolerant—now that the lesson has been taught—and there is neither religious nor educational interference. Moreover trade, fostered by very careful protection, prospers; and at least one secret of success in any Central Asian system of government is to let well alone and appeal to the vulgar through their pocket. This principle the Russians support with admirable patience, taking precautions at the same time that their benevolent administration shall not be endangered by too much licence in the matter of importing or possessing arms. A native rising would be difficult upon this account alone; while it should be remembered, too, that many years of leisured ease have brought about considerable deterioration in the instinctive passion for rape, bloodshed and plunder, which distinguished, only a few years ago, the inhabitants of these Central Asian Khanates.

Again, always pre-supposing the steady loyalty of the great bulk of the European troops, Russia has not enrolled any large number of native recruits in regions beyond the Caspian Sea; although her policy in the Caucasus has not been quite so exclusive. The success of any native insurrectionary movement in Trans-Caspia would depend, therefore, upon the precise amount of support that it received from any disaffected sections of the Caucasian establishment that might be incorporated with the Russo-European army on service in the Khanates. No doubt the wide area covered by the rebellion in the Caucasus will encourage the Caucasian element in the Trans-Caspian army to be troublesome; and, since the Caucasian races in a measure are akin with the Central Asian peoples, mutual sympathy may give rise to positive revolt in Central Asia. Between the European soldiers and the native races, however, there is little in common; and unless revolutionary agents from St. Petersburg, Moscow or the larger centres of disturbance contaminate the adherence of the men, there is really nothing to cause them to listen to any seditious overtures which might emanate from native sources. It is very easy in Central Asia to remove the rails of the permanent way or to interrupt telegraphic communication, since the railway and the wires run for hundreds of miles unguarded and at the mercy of any wandering, discontented miscreant. Such instances of disaffection would be sporadic. Difficulties of combination—if the great distances separating Khiva, Merv, Bokhara and Tashkent were ignored, which they cannot be if the position of affairs is to be appraised properly—would alone prevent any simultaneous co-operation; while whatever unanimity might be disclosed by actively hostile parties of native or European revolutionaries, the forces at the disposal of the military authorities must enable them to suppress the movement rapidly and at once.

Of course the agitation in European Russia cannot leave Russians in Central Asia unaffected; continuation of the widespread irruptions of disorder in European Russia obviously imparts a new and most serious complexion to affairs in Asiatic Russia. Moreover signs of unrest, in consequence of interference by revolutionary agents from St. Petersburg, have already been displayed. At Askhabad the officers were locked in their quarters; at Kushkinski Post 200 soldiers joined in a strike of railway and telegraph officials. Further, at the instigation of Sokoloff an engineer and Simonoff an engine-fitter, a variety of farcical intentions were proclaimed, the main outcome of this signal act of rebellion culminating in a little temporary dislocation of the railway and telegraph services and the arrest of the ringleaders. None the less, the activity of these revolutionary agents does constitute a possible menace to the peace of Mid-Asia; for, while the native population recks little of the wiles of European agitators and can be overawed by the authorities, the situation, where it concerns the ultimate effect of the revolutionary propaganda upon the Russo-European army, rests upon the knees of the gods. There, unfortunately, it must remain; emphasising the fact that, on account of the means of checking the dissemination of revolutionary heresies and the growth of the operations of the agitators in Central Asia which the Russian authorities have at hand, the chances are much against any violent or widespread upheaval of the peace in these territories.

[5] Lecture before the Central Asian Society, December 1905.

NATIVE QUARTER, TASHKENT

CHAPTER III

FROM TASHKENT TO MERV

KORAN STAND, SAMARKAND

The first station beyond Tashkent, travelling towards Merv, is Kauffmanskaya, where begins the practice of associating with the scenes of their conquests the names of officers who have achieved distinction in Turkestan. It is a pleasant custom and serves to perpetuate history in a manner which might be copied with advantage in India. In this instance General von Kauffman, who became eventually an aide-de-camp to the Tsar, was the first Governor-General of Russian Turkestan.

Between Tashkent and Kauffmanskaya which, although insignificant, is equipped with hospital accommodation for six patients, the railway crosses by an iron bridge of 8 sagenes the Salar river, itself a tributary of the more important Chirchik. The line then passes Zangi-ata and the post station of Nialbash, crossing the Kur Kulduk arik by an iron bridge 3 sagenes in length and running near Vrevskaya through the Chirchik Valley, a region of special interest to archæologists. Stari Tashkent or Old Tashkent, rich in historical associations, is in this neighbourhood. It was inhabited at one time by the Sakis who, in bygone centuries, offered a stubborn resistance to Alexander of Macedon. Now it is only an insignificant hamlet, mere flotsam which has been thrown up and left by the advancing tide of Russian conquest. Lying to the east of Stari Tashkent and opposite Kirshul upon the left bank of the Chirchik river are the ruins of Shuturket or Ushturket—the Town of Camels; in the country between it and Binket, by which name Tashkent is known among the natives, there are other ruins.

After skirting Bodorodski and Kaunchi the station of Syr Darinskaya, lying about 1 verst from the hill and lake of Utch Tubeh, follows, the line crossing the Bos-su arik by a second bridge of 5 sagenes. Until this point the general direction has been south-west. Ten versts from Syr Darinskaya station, at a point where it crosses the Syr Daria by a four-span iron bridge 160 sagenes in length, the railway runs by the ancient fortress and lake of Urumbai and turns to the east to thread the hills which surround Utch Tubeh lake.

The point now arrives where the train enters the region distinguished by the Emperor Nicholas I. Canal, an extensive system of irrigation from the waters of the Syr Daria. These works, which the Ministry of Agriculture introduced, have brought more than 100,000 acres of the Golodnaya steppe under colonisation. It is due to the initiative and generosity of the Grand Duke Nicholas Konstantinovitch that the scheme was executed and its success is illustrated by the fact that seven villages—Nikolaievski, Nadejdinski, Verkhni, Nijni Volinski, Konnogvardeiski, Obyetovanni and Romanovski—have been established upon the reclaimed areas. In the main they are devoted to the cultivation of the smaller crops, although one or two are given up to the growing of cotton. The prosperity of the undertaking entails elaborate precautions; in order that the works should be unobstructed the head waters of the system are watched continuously by relays of guards.

The Golodnaya zone of cultivation extends only a verst or so beyond Golodnaya station; between this little oasis and Chernaievo, the next station, there is a barren wilderness. After leaving Golodnaya and crossing the Emperor Nicholas I. Canal by an iron bridge, 8 sagenes in length, the line proceeds north-east beyond the Syr Daria, where it turns sharply to the east in order to make the junction with the main line from Krasnovodsk to Andijan. Owing to the lack of cultivation and the scarcity of population no commercial importance can be ascribed to Chernaievo. Attached to the little station is a small hospital with a capacity of ten beds, while the railway workshops employ a permanent staff of 100 workmen. The depôt at this point, on account of the junction between the line from Tashkent and the extension to Andijan, is out of proportion with the requirements of the neighbourhood. Of course here, as at every station on the line, there is a large store of naphtha, 50,000 poods being held against emergency in the naphtha reservoir.

PEASANTS FROM THE GOLODNAYA STEPPE

In relation to Chernaievo, it would be a pity to avoid mention of the distinguished soldier who, subsequently Governor-General of Turkestan and dying in disgrace in August of 1898, gave his name to the place. Under happier circumstances Chernaieff might have become the Clive of Central Asia. It was he who, suffering defeat before Tashkent on October 2, 1854, and determining to remove so signal a stain from the prestige of the Russian forces, repeated his attack at a moment when he had received explicit orders from Alexander II. to refrain from doing so. With the Imperial despatches in his pocket he led his small forces to the onslaught and it was only when victory had been secured that he made himself acquainted with his instructions. The reply he despatched to his august sovereign is as historical as the famous signal which Nelson displayed at Trafalgar. “Sire,” he wrote,[6] “Your Majesty’s order, forbidding me to take Tashkent, has reached me only in the city itself which I have taken and place at your Majesty’s feet.” The Tsar was angry at the breach of discipline and, although he accepted the fruits of General Chernaieff’s daring, he never restored his officer to favour. Superseded by General Romanovski and stung to the quick by this treatment, Chernaieff retired from the service, a broken-hearted man.

Beyond Chernaievo, situated amid most arid surroundings and in a locality where the water is salt, is Obrutchevo, so called in honour of the former Chief of the General Staff, General Obrutcheff. Nine versts further is Lomakino, which derives its name from General Lomakin, an officer of repute in the Turcoman Expedition of 1879. Between Lomakino and Jizak the line enters the province of Samarkand.

Jizak station, named after a district town in the province of Samarkand, is situated in the valley of the Sanzar river in a locality which is both thickly populated and well cultivated. At the workshops there is only a staff of nine workmen, while the railway depôt possesses little more than engine sheds and a naphtha reservoir of 10,000 poods. The water-supply of the station is drawn from the Sanzar river. Water for the consumption of the Russian quarter of the town, which lies at the foot of the northern slope of the Nura mountains, two versts from the railway, comes from the Russki arik.

The district supplied by the station is small and in the year under review there were:

Goods traffic reveals a steady demand for articles of Russian manufacture, the combined bulk of this trade being:

The export trade was comprised as follows:

In consequence of the deficiency of fresh water Jizak is an unhealthy town, more malaria prevailing in the locality than in any other part of Turkestan, with the exception of the Murghab and Kushk valleys. The Russian quarter, which was formerly the Kluchevi fortress, possesses a number of public gardens. There are only thirty-six private houses in the settlement and these, in the main, are occupied by officials. The public buildings include two schools, a military hospital, a military Orthodox Church, the Chancellery of the District Governor, the District Treasury and other offices. The population at the last census was 17,000.

The native quarter is of far greater commercial importance than the Russian town and is situated 3 versts from it. Indeed, the latter is almost solely a cantonment. The native town possesses:

The town revenue is 22,842 roubles and the value of Government property rather less than 600,000 roubles. There are no hotels in either quarter.

The native bazaars are supposed to be identical with the town of Gaza through which the armies of Alexander passed in the fourth century B.C. More recently the Russians converted it into a strong military post. At the time when it was assaulted by the Russian forces under General Romanovski, upon October 18, 1856, it was regarded as one of the most powerful fortresses in Central Asia. In those days the town was surmounted by a triple wall, 4 sagenes in thickness and 3½ sagenes in height. High towers defended the interior walls, while upon the outer wall were mounted fifty-three pieces of artillery. At that time the strength of the garrison under the command of Alayar Khan was returned at 10,000 men.

THE COLUMN OF TAMERLANE, SAMARKAND

A few versts before Jizak the line, running in a westerly direction along the southern border of the Golodnaya desert, crosses by an iron bridge, 8 sagenes in length, the Sais Khaneh ravine. Beyond Jizak and after passing through Milyautinskaya it enters the Ilyan Uta defile, through which flows the Sanzar river. This defile is the only existing pass in the Nuratinski range and contains the famous Gates of Tamerlane. Beyond the gates there is the station of Kuropatkino, named after General Kuropatkin who so long presided over the destinies of Russia in Central Asia. From here, the line proceeds to cross the eastern slope of the Nura range; barely thirty versts further on it arrives at Rostovtsevo which takes its name from a former Military Governor of the Ferghana province, Count Rostovtseff. Between Kuropatkino and this station the line crosses at the foot of the ascent of the Golun mountains a bridge, 5 sagenes in length, over the Balungur arik. From the slopes of the Golun Tau the railway traverses the watershed of the Zerafshan and Sanzar rivers, reaching at 10 versts from Kuropatkino the highest elevation on the whole line, 403 sagenes above sea-level. From this point the line then descends to Rostovtsevo from where, after a short run of 30 versts, it arrives at Samarkand.

THE REGISTAN, SAMARKAND

With Rostovtsevo there commences without doubt the most interesting section of the journey between Tashkent and Samarkand. The market of Samarkand has spread its influence for many miles along the line; and, as a consequence, there is a welcome note of freshness in the scene. In addition to the prosperity naturally suggested by the spectacle of a flourishing oasis, the railway affords a fleeting inspection of two important bridges. The first, an iron bridge of seven spans and 56 sagenes in length, crosses the Zerafshan river, leaving on the right the Ark of Tamerlane and on the left a bold, lofty mountain crag. It rises from two stone buttresses and is supported by six iron pillars. The spans are 8 sagenes in length and composed of four sections, the whole work reflecting the cantilever principle. It has been adapted to traffic, vehicles passing along either side of the permanent way. Beyond these landmarks the railway picks its way down the rocky declivity of the Zerafshan watershed towards the undulating, cultivated lands which extend between Chupan Ata ridge and the second bridge, which, thrown across the deep Obi Siab ravine 2 versts outside Samarkand, possesses a length of 30 sagenes. It is constructed in iron of three spans, supported by stone abutments upon two stone buttresses.

The station of Samarkand, second in importance to Krasnovodsk, is 1415 versts from Krasnovodsk and 332 versts from Tashkent. In the station square there are a church, an hospital of twenty-five beds, two second-class schools, workshops and railway yards affording daily employment for 160 men. Like most stations of the first class it acts as a medium of distribution to a wide area, stimulating not only the industrial interests throughout the province but imparting also an impetus to the agricultural activities of the neighbourhood.

The table of traffic for this important point, illustrating the volume of trade which passes through Samarkand, is as follows:

Djuma, the first station beyond Samarkand, is situated in a level, densely populated country. Barely 30 miles distant and with it equally a station of the fourth class, is Nagornaya, which in turn gives place to Katta Kurgan. This town, an important district centre in the Samarkand province, lies close to the railway in the midst of much luxuriant vegetation. Its altitude above sea-level is rather more than 222 sagenes. The population numbers 10,219:

Its streets are very wide and charmingly planted with high trees—poplars, acacias, willows and white ash—watered by ariks supplied from the Narpai stream, itself a tributary of the Zerafshan river. Quite the most prominent feature is a large public garden surrounding the house of the Governor, while in connection with the public buildings there is a military church, a military hospital, a general hospital of twenty-five beds and a Russian native school. There are, of course, the usual district offices. Military headquarters occupies a building to itself, a second affording domicile to the base staff of the Eighth Turkestan Rifle Battalion.

The native bazaar, an imposing centre, contains:

In the main bazaar there are some 300 shops, the business transacted at them being concerned with the cotton industry and the production of vegetable oils. There is no hotel in either part of the town but there is an officers’ club in the Russian quarter. The general revenue from all sources is about 38,000 roubles and the largest industrial concern associated with the trade of the district is the Turkestan Cotton Company, of which the annual trading balance is considerably in excess of half a million roubles. The development of cotton in the neighbourhood, to which the Turcoman villages Mitana Pefshanba and Chardar devote their energies, promises to become a highly valuable venture.

The goods traffic, indicated by the subjoined table, maintains a steady volume.