has expended capital upon his works, instruments,
and dues, he has paid away more than will recoup
him for the outlay. Gold has been found nowhere in
Turkistan in the vein, but only in very small grains, or
pieces not bigger than a pin’s head, most frequently in
the form of dust. The richness of the deposits varies
from o ‘o i to o -o i 7 grains to the ton of sand. In
certain places, however, in the Sungarian, Ala-Tau,
and the River Tentek, it rises to i -2 3 grains.
There are no silver mines, properly so called, in
Russian Turkistan, but silver is found allied with lead
in veins of galena. The silver contained in this ore,
whilst not exceeding 16’8 grains to the ton, admits
of extraction along with the lead. Others of the
minerals I shall have occasion to refer to hereafter ; but
having now treated of certain broad features of the
government-general of Turkistan, I shall proceed to
describe the most northerly of its four provinces.
C H A P T E R X X V I .
TH E S Y R -D A R IA P R O V IN C E .
Extent and boundaries of Syr-daria province.—-dts mountains and'
deserts.— The Aral depression, and its geological changes.-—Turkistan
rivers : their peculiarities and direction.— Sources of the
Syr-daria|8-Its characteristics at K h o jen d ; from Chinaz to
Perovsk ; and onwards to the A rah— Its affluents and banks.—
Communications of the province.— The road from Orenburg, and
towns thereon.— Caravan routes.—Turkistan population according
to races.— Russian inhabitants, and Kuramas.-—Population according
to creedsg-Progress and density of settled and nomad communities.
TH E Syr-daria province, so named after its principal
river, extends over the whole of the
northern portion of the present Turkistan. It
measures 636 miles on the 44th parallel from east
to west; and the post-road, entering at the northwest
corner and passing south-east to the border of
Semirechia, traverses 1,000 miles. The area, which
occupies two-thirds of the entire government-general,,
extends to 182,000 square miles, or the size of Norway,
Sweden, and Denmark. It is bounded on the north
by the districts of Irgiz and Turgai, and the government
of Akmolinsk; on the east by Semirechia and
Ferghana; on the south by the districts of Zarafshan
and Amu-daria; and on the west by the .Sea of
Aral. It includes, in fact, the basins of the middle.