did not, however, atone for the long time he kept us
waiting, so that our two stoppages had been a decided
hindrance, and, to make matters a little worse, wTe ran
aground towards evening on a mud bank. Upon this
the men first got out and waded about the river to
find the channel, and then the horses were taken out.
After this, the boat being floated, all were reshipped,
and we went on till 2 o’clock. The temperature
during the preceding night had sunk to 36°, and rose
during the Wednesday to 87° ; but a change of weather
was coming, and on the Thursday morning a strong wind
blew, rendering our progress slow. The temperature
o f the air did not rise above 65°, and of the water
50°, the specific gravity when I tried it being 96.
We were now approaching a remarkable portion of
the river, termed by the natives “ Touja-moujoun,” or
Camel’s Hump, and by the Russians Pitniaksy-louka,
or the “ Pitniak bend.” It is perhaps the sharpest
curve of the Amu throughout its course— certainly so
after leaving the mountains. The arc measures 13
miles round, and 4 miles across.*
We passed the sand barkhans on the right bank, and
* The stream, continuing in its normal direction to a point 75 versts
from Petro-Alexandrovsk, trends during the next 5 versts to the left, till,
between the three hills called Uch-Tiube on the left, and the sand
barkhan of Ak-pash, or white mouth, on the right, its course is interrupted
by a perpendicular eminence rising above the water to a considerable
height. In consequence the river turns sharply to the south,
almost at a right angle, and for 6 versts from the turn, the right
bank is a perpendicular wall. After this the wall is replaced on both
banks for some scores of yards by high and almost perpendicular rocky
cliffs, and the bed at Piuia Muiun is narrowed to from 1,400 to 1,700
feet. This is the Dahan-i-shir, or Lion’s Mouth, through which the
river rushes as if enraged by the obstacle. On getting clear of the
cliffs it expands to its normal width, and opposite Pitniak makes, a
détour to the right for 12 versts, finishing the curve at Sheikh-aryk.
Subsequently sending off, on the left bank, 5 versts distant, the great
Luc Lomu oj u d ic iv id K u p p o s ite ucn-uuDe,
2 o’ clock were approaching Pitniak, and, just beyond,
on the right bank, the fort Kurtli (built by the
Khivans to oppose the Russians in 1873, and from
whence the natives fled on the enemy’s approach),
when our men told us that we were only 9 miles distant
by land (though much further by water) from
Petro-Alexandrovsk. It occurred to me to escape the
slow journeying by boat, and proceed on horseback, the
Palvan Ata canal, the river curves again, and resumes its normal
direction to the ferry that connects Hazarasp and Petro-Alexandrovsk.
In the neighbourhood of the “ Camel’ s Hump” are cliffs of millstone
grit and conglomerate, as also fossiliferous deposits. On the right
bank, from the Lion’s Mouth to Sheikh-aryk, are sand barkhans, and on
the left, opposite Pitniak, the flat bank is cut by many aryks. In the
stream is the small island of Airangi-baba, covered with pyramidal
poplars, and almost the only island in the river with long-stemmed trees.
Five versts beyond is a rocky cliff, 3,500 feet long, near Ike-gugurdi,
and beyond that a clay clifF to Sheikh-aryk, both banks being flat
down to the ferry just named. The width of the stream in the great
bend varies from 4,000 to 7,000 feet, and, opposite Pitniak, nearly 10,000
feet, whilst at the diversion of the Sheikh-aryk it is 2,800 feet. The
depth of the Amu in Russian territory between Meshekly and Uch-
Tiube is in some places as much as 12 feet. Near Zenke Kurgan, the
line sounded from 1J to 7 feet. At the commencement of the Pitniak
bend it is about 10 feet. Beyond the gardens of Pitniak it diminishes
in the middle of the stream to 6 and 7 feet. The bed of the Sheikh-
aryk is 10 feet deep.
To the foregoing concerning the Amu I may add that Colonel Yule,
from observations taken at Khoja- Saleh and Chaijui by Bumes,
computes roughly that the summer discharge of the Oxus is 70,000
cubic feet per second, that is (according to statistics kindly supplied
me by the Engineer of the Thames Conservancy), rather more than
double the discharge per second of the Thames at London Bridge
during the spring ebb, and four times the volume of the same river at
Kingston Bridge at the highest flood of 1882, which happened on
October 3°th. Again, I have the following Russian figures, by Mr.
F. B. Dorand, of the dimensions of the Oxus, as measured on July
7-i9th, 1875, 2 versts above Pitniak:—
Width of stream . . . 1,963 ft.
Average depth . . . 12 ft.
Average rapidity . . 5 ft. 6 in. per second.
Discharge . . . . 126,140 cubic ft. per second.
VOL. II. • j *