C H A P T E R IV.
TH E G O V E R N M E N T G E N E R A T O F TH E S T E P P E A N D
TH E P R O V IN C E O F A KM O L IN S K .
“ Russian Central A s i a ” defined.— Its dimensions, boundaries, and
divisions.— The government general of the Steppe : its dimensions,
hydrography, surface, and vegetation ; its population and communications.—
Province of Akmolinsk : its surface, rivers, climate,
and administrative divisions ; its minerals, agricultural produce,
and cattle.— The Russian population and medical staff.— Towns of
the province, their industries, and houses. — Conflagrations.—
Distillation of ardent spirits.— Crime.
BY “ Russian Central Asia,” as read in the title of
this book, is meant the Tsar’s dominions lying
between the Oxus and the Irtish, and between Omsk
and Samarkand. This territory measures from west
to east 1,250 miles, or the distance from London to
Petersburg, and from north to south 1,100 miles, or
the distance from Petersburg to the Crimea.* On the
* Its area exceeds half a million square miles, or as much as that of
England, France, Prussia, and Spain toge th er:—
P r o v in c e . Extent in square miles. Population. Persons to square
mile.
Akmolinsk 213,301 459.319 2*1
Semipolatinsk 190,456 538,385 2 ‘8
Semirechia 134,410 551,679 4 ' 1
Syr-daria 182,000 1,094,557 6
Ferghana 28,000 729,690 26
Zarafshan 10,000 348,4 J3 35
Amu-daria 36,000 107,209 3
794,167 3 >829,252 Average 5
THE S T E P P E A N D TH E P R O V IN C E O F A KM O L IN S K . 43
north it is bounded by the government of Tobolsk, on
the west by one of the Ural provinces, the Sea of Aral,
and Khiva ; on the east by the government of Tomsk
and what was Sungaria; and on the south by Bokhara
and Chinese Turkistan. Russian Central Asia has a
population of nearly four millions, or five to the square
mile. For administrative purposes it is divided into
the governments general or vice-royalties of Turkistan
and the Steppe.*
The general government of the Steppe forms the
eastern portion of Russian Central Asia, and the
boundaries of the two on the north and east coincide ;
whilst the vice-royalty has on its west the province
of Togai, and, on the south, Russian and Chinese
Turkistan. Its extreme length from Omsk to the
Thian-Shan mountains is 1,000 miles, and its extreme
width on the 49th parallel 900 miles, with an area of
538,167 square miles— that is, as large as France,
Prussia, Spain, and Portugal. Its entire population
is 1,549,383, or 3 to the square mile. In the north
the plains do not rise to a thousand feet, though there
is a range of hills attaining to that height, commencing
160 miles west of the town of Semipolatinsk,
and running across the territory in a north-westerly
direction. Further south, on the 49th parallel, stretch
westward across the vice-royalty from the Chingiz-
Tau, the Suk-bash-Tau mountains, less than 5,000
* Russia has possessions in Asia south of the Caucasus and east of
the Caspian, including Merv; also part of the provinces of Perm,
Orenburg, and Turgai extend east of the U r a ls ; but all these possessions
are governed from European centres, so that, fpr administrative
purposes, Siberia and what I have called Russian Central A s ia make
up the whole of A siatic Russia. I did not enter Yakutsk in 1879 ; but
with this exception I have travelled in all the other provinces, so that
“ Through Siberia ” and the present work describe with more or less
completeness the whole.