some bowing, and others dismounting ; and so it continued
till we had reached the outskirts of the town,
when the Colonel bade us adieu, and asked us to call
in returning. We pursued our way past the village of
Ispsar, 840 feet above the sea, and in the evening
reached Kostakoz, where we could have no horses,
we were told, until 11 o’clock. Whether this was
unavoidable I am not sure, but the Colonel had told
us beforehand that this post-master had received notice
to quit, and so was not in an amiable mood, on which
account, I suppose, a djiguitt had accompanied us, but
who vainly asked for horses immediately.
Towards midnight we started for the remainder of
our little journey to Khokand,* and midway to the next
station crossed the boundary into Ferghana. By daylight
we had passed Kara-chukum, and once more
approached the Syr-daria, on the bank of which is
situated the Khokandian frontier fortress of Makhram,
a large square building for 500 Khokandians, with
high crenelated mud walls, and protected on three
sides by a deep moat.
W e were now about 1,300 feet above the sea, and in
the distance had mountains before us in every direction.
On the left was the Kurama-Tau, separating Ferghana
from the Kurama district, through which we had just
passed. Over this range, by the Kendir Davan pass,
is a direct but difficult caravan route, open the whole
year, from Tashkend to Khokand, and there are three
other second-rate passes in the range, but not very
* Stations from Khojend to Khokand, with distances in versts :—
Khojend— V_ •. , Chuchai . . . . 2 1
Kostakoz . , . . 18 : Khokand . . . . 1 1
Kara-chukum . . . 22 ; ___
Patar . . . . 28 Total . . . 124
Bish-aryk . . . . 24 , ------
practicable. In the same mountains are some rich
deposits of argentiferous lead.* In one locality the
mineral contains 60 per cent, of lead, the latter
yielding nearly an ounce of silver to the ton. On
our right, but further off, was the Turkistan range
separating Ferghana from the Zarafshan valley, and
having some coal mines at Kokine-Sai, 25 miles
south of Khojend.
Immediately in front of us was a prospect not so
pleasing, for we had to cross a stony waste of reddish
sand for 20 miles, on which there was little vegetation
but camels’ food. As we returned, our driver informed
us that he had already driven the journey and back
with his horses once, so that when he reached home
with our steeds, he would have had that day 75 miles
of desert travel. A t Patar we found a good station,
and reached an oasis with vegetation. Beyond this
the country was interspersed by desert patches of
shifting sand, which encroaches like a flood, destroying
houses and cultivated fields, and so driving away the
population.f The road from Patar was atrocious. Here
* The deposit in the Karamazar mountains, 25 miles north-east o f
Khojend, is the richest of its kind in Turkistan. It is composed of
several lodes of compact argentiferous galena associated with blende,
copper pyrites, cryolite, and azurite. The thickness of the principal
lode reaches 7 feet. The lodes all run in a north-eas'terly direction
with a dip of 8o° towards S.E. Some of them are located in the
metamorphosed limestone, near spots where diorite crops out. The
largest are found where the diorite and limestone are in contact.
Judging from ancient workings, the metalliferous lodes occupy a vast
area The principal gallery is situated at an altitude of 5,000 feet, and
a road, available for carriages, runs to within 6 miles of the mine.
From this point the road remains practicable for sumpter animals, but
in the immediate neighbourhood there is a la ck of w ater.
t Of 85 acres of cultivated land at Patar, no less than 33 have been
overwhelmed. Here they reckon the annual progress of the sand at 50
feet. In the case of Anderkhan, also in Ferghana, the whole village
had to be transplanted to a spot more than a mile distant. The sand