On arriving at Karshi, midway in the khanate, we
were about to turn westward into the plain; but,
before describing this part of our journey, a few
words must be said about the mountainous region
eastwards, which was wholly unknown to science
when the last Englishman before me travelled through
Karshi, and which had not been explored until within
the past ten years.* .
The district of Shahr-i -sabz and the adjoining bek-
ships of Hissar and Kulab were explored by Colonel
Maieff, who made two journeys in this direction to the
Oxus, and M. Oshanin, whom I met at Tashkend,
told me of his recent journey into Karategin. Dr.
Regel and his companions have been along the part
of the Upper Oxus that bounds the west of Darwaz,
but M. Oshanin t gave his intelligence concerning this
last-named district at second-hand.
Colonel Maieff, in 1875. took from Samarkand the
route I followed as far as Karshi, whence he went to
slopes towards the Amu-daria, the plains being broken onlyby dry clay
hillocks from 5 to 20 feet high, and from 6 to 200 yards broad. The
soil is almost entirely clay, infiltrated with salt, and covered more or
less bv shifting sand, sometimes overgrown by tamarisk and saxaul,
consequently eulti.atlpn is confined « the river banks. Thus the two
physical divisions of the country are the eastern'or mountainous, and
the western district, a great level plain. , HHh H
* The two great mountain ranges of Eastern Bokhara are those of
Hissar and Peter the Great, the latter being the higher, and having the
three-headed peak of Sar-i-Kandal, estimated by M. Oshanin at
24,000 feet-. This range is crossed by three passes, m that portiop
Ivins' east of the point where it is pierced by the River Khulias. These
passes are open only in summer. The Hissar and Petet ranges are
Sparated by the River Surkhab, an affluent of the Oxus ; other affluents
further west of the same river being the Kafirmhan and Surkhan.
V see “ Hissar and Kulab,” by N. Maieff, p. 326, G eog ra p hica l
M agazine 1876. “ Oshanin’s Travels in Karategin and Darwaz, /
P roceeding s o f R u ss ia n G eog ra p hica l Society f o r 1881, Vol. xvn.,
No 1. “ The Russian Pamir Expedition, of 1883;” with map, p. 1355
P r o c e e d in g s o f R o y a l G eog ra p h ica l ^ociety, 1884.
Derbent, passing through the famous “ Iron Gates.” *
He reached the Oxus at Chushka-Huzar, where it is
700 feet wide, with three passages near. From Chushka-
Huzar his party went on to Baisun, Deh-i-nau, and
Karatagh, on the sources of the Surkhan, to Hissar,
on the River Kafirnihan. Passing on from Hissar, the
expedition came to Kafirnihan, whence Karategin is
approached, and Baljuan, whither there was said to
be a route' of two or three days’ journey to Darwaz,
but the road is very difficult and across snow ranges.
Kulab /is situated on a small river o f that name,
and from this point Maieff’s party returned through
Kobadian and Baisun to Derbent.
Colonel Maieffs second journey t was through
Chirakchi, Huzar and Shirabad, to Kilif and Kara
Kamar ferry, both on the Oxus, and after this he
returned to Huzar by the direct road.t The people
would seem to be living in Eastern Bokhara in primi-
* This defile, in the days of Hiouen Thsang, the Buddhist missionary,
was closed by double gates, fixed with ironwork, and ornamented with
little tinkling bells. Eight centuries later, Clavijo passed through the
“ Iron Gates,” but the gates were gone, and now the defile is called
simply the Bnzgol-Khan pass. Jt is difficult to conceive anything
more solemn and magnificent than this huge cleft in the frowning rocks
hanging overhead—a gloomy, tortuous defile, a mile and a quarter long,
varying from 5 to 35 paces wide, and apparently liable to be choked at
any moment by a falling rock. Soon after emerging from this defile
Derjoent is reached. Another town of interest, within 35 miles of the
Oxus, is Shir-abad (or “ Lion Town” ), from whose walls the bookworms
say were seen the phalanxes of Alexander of Macedon. The town was
then called Shahr-i-Khyber, and was peopled by Tajik fire-worshippers.
t See “ Routes compiled by Colonel Maieff on the occasion of his
second journey in Bokhara,” fournal o f the Imperial Russian
Geological Society, 1878, Part iv. '
t Thus from Huzar to the Oxus at Kilif, there exist two principal
roads, one about 150, and the other 100 miles long; but the advantage
of the shorter road is cancelled by passing through 45 miles of a tract
devoid of fresh water. On comparing the quantity and difficulty of
work required for rendering the two roads practicable for wheeled