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OXUS , or Aaru DARYA, one of the See also:great See also:rivers of Central See also:Asia. See also:Prior to the See also:meeting of the commissions appointed for the determination of the Russo-Afghan boundary in 1885, no very accurate See also:geographical knowledge of the upper Oxus regions existed, and the course of the See also:river itself was but roughly mapped. See also:Russian explorers and natives of See also:India trained for geographical See also:reconnaissance, and employed in connexion with the great trigonometrical survey of India, had done so much towards clearing away the mists which enveloped the actual course of the river, that all the See also:primary affluents were known, although their relative value was misunderstood, but the nature of the districts which bordered the river in Afghan See also:Turkestan was so imperfectly mapped as to give rise to considerable See also:political complication in framing the boundary agreement between Great See also:Britain and See also:Russia. From See also:Lake See also:Victoria (Sor-Kul) in the See also:Pamirs, which was originally reckoned as the true source of the river, to Khamiab, on the edge of the See also:Andkhui See also:district of Afghan Turkestan, for a distance of about 68o m., the Oxus forms the boundary between See also:Afghanistan and Russia. For another 550 M. below Khamiab it follows an open and sluggish course till it is lost in the See also:Sea of See also:Aral, being spanned at Charjui, 15o m. below Khamiab, by the wooden See also:bridge which carries the Russian railway from Mery to See also:Samarkand. The level of Lake Victoria is 13,400 ft. above sea. At Khamiab the river is probably rather less than 500 It. For many years a lively geographical controversy circled about the See also:sources of the Oxus, and the discussion derived some political sources. significance from the fact that the true source, wherever it might be found, was claimed as a point in the Russo-Afghan boundary. The final survey of the Pamir region (wherein the heads of all the See also:chief tributaries of the river See also:lay hidden), by the Pamir boundary See also:commission of 1895 established the following topographical facts in connexion with this question. The elevated See also:mountain See also:chain which is now called the See also:Nicolas range, which divides the Great from the Little Pamir is a region of vast glaciers and See also:snow-See also:fields, from which the lakes lying immediately See also:north and See also:south derive the greater See also:part of their See also:water-See also:supply. On the north the See also:principal glacial tributary of Lake Victoria forms, within the folds of the gigantic spurs of the Nicolas mountains, a See also:series of smaller lakes, or lakelets, before joining the great lake itself. On the south a similar stream starting farther See also:east, called Burgutai (denoting the position of a difficult and dangerous pass across the range) sweeps downwards towards Lake Chakmaktin, the lake of the Little Pamir, which is some 400 ft. See also:lower than Victoria. But at the See also:foot of the mountain this stream bifurcates in the swamps which See also:lie to the See also:west of Chakmaktin, and part of its See also:waters find their way eastwards into the lake, and part flow away westwards into the Ab-i-Panja, which joins the Pamir river from Lake Victoria at Kala Panja. This at any See also:rate is the See also:action of the Burgutai stream during certain seasons of the See also:year, so that the glaciers and snowfields of the Nicolas range may be regarded as the chief See also:fountain-See also:head of at least two of the upper tributaries of the Oxus, namely, the See also:Aksu (or See also:Murghab) and the Pamir river, and as contributing largely to a third, the Ab-i-Panja. Neither Lake Victoria nor Lake Chakmaktin derives any very large contributions from glacial sources other than those of the Nicolas range. It is possible that there may be warm springs on the See also:bed of Lake Victoria, as such springs are of frequent occurrence in the Pamirs; but there is no indication of them in the Chakmaktin See also:basin, and the latter lake must be regarded rather as an incident in the course of the Aksu—a widening of the river channel in the midst of this high-level, See also:glacier-formed valley—than as the fountain-head of the See also:infant stream. There are indications that the bed of Lake Victoria, as well as that of Chakmaktin, is rapidly silting, and that the shores of the latter are gradually receding farther from the foot of the hills. The glacial origin of the Pamir valleys is everywhere apparent in their See also:terrace formations and the erratic blocks and boulders that lie scattered about their See also:surface. It is probable that the lakes themselves are See also:evidence of (geologically) a comparatively See also:recent deliverance from the thraldom of the See also:ice covering, which has worn and rounded the lower ridges into the smooth outlines of undulating See also:downs. Another important source of the river (considered by Curzon to be the chief source) is to be found in the enormous glaciers which lie about the upper or See also:main See also:branch of the Ab-i-Panja (called the Ab-i-Wakhjir or Wakhan), which rises under the mountains enclosing the head of the Taghdumbash Pamirs. Although the superficial See also:area of glacial ice from which the Ab-i-Wakhjir derives the greater part of its See also:volume is not equal to that found on the Nicolas range, it is quite impossible to See also:frame any estimate of See also:comparative See also:depth or bulk, or to See also:separate the volume of its contributions at any See also:time from those which, combined, derive their origin from the Nicolas range. If the Aksu (or Murghab) and the Pamir river from Lake Victoria are to be considered in the See also:light of See also:independent tributaries, it is probable that the. Ab-i-Panja contributes as large a volume of glacial See also:flood to the Oxus as either of them. From the point where the rivers of the Great and Little Pamirs join their forces at Kala Panja to Ishkashim, at the See also:elbow of the great See also:bend of the Oxus northwards, the river valley has surveys. been surveyed by Woodthorpe; and the See also:northern slopes of the See also:Hindu Kush, which near Ishkashim extend in slopes of barely ro m. in length from the main See also:watershed to the river See also:banks, have been carefully mapped. These slopes represent the extent of Afghan territory which exists north of the Hindu Kush between Kala Panja and Ishkashim. From Ishkashim northwards the river passes through the narrow See also:rock-See also:bound valleys of See also:Shignan and Roshan ere it sweeps north and west through the mountains and defiles of Darwaz. By the terms of the boundary agreement with Russia this part of the river now parts See also:Badakshan and Darwaz from the districts of Roshan, Shignan, and See also:Bokhara, which formerly maintained an uncertain claim over a part of the territory on the See also:left See also:bank of the river. All this part of the Oxus, until the river once again emerges from the Bokhara hills into the open plains bordering Badakshan on the north, falls within the area of Russian surveys, with which a junction from India has been effected both on the Pamirs and in Turkestan. At Langar Kisht, a little to the east of the Oxus bend, there is a small Russian See also:post of observation. About 50 m. north of the bend, where the Suchan or Ghund joins the Oxus from the Russian Alichur Pamir, there is another and larger post called posts on Charog. On the left bank of the river the Afghans main- the Oxus. See also:tain a frontier post at the fort of Kala See also:Bar Panja. A road will connect Charog with the Alichur Pamir, following the See also:general course of the Ghund stream, a road which will See also:form a valuable See also:link in the chajp of communications between Bokhara and Sarikol. Eighty-five See also:miles north of Ishkashim, at Kala Wamar, the river which rises in the Little Pamir, and which is called Aksu, Murghab, or Bartang, joins the Oxus from the east. It is on this river that the Russian outpost, Murghabi (or Pamirski), is situated, at an See also:elevation of 12,150 ft. above the sea. Fort Murghabi is connected by a See also:good military road with See also:Osh. At this point the measurement of the comparative lengths of the chief Pamir tributaries of the Oxus is as follows: To the head of the Aksu at Lake Chakmaktin . 26o miles. To the head of the most easterly tributary of Lake Victoria, in the Great Pamir, about . 230 To the glacial sources of the Ab-i-Wakhjir, about . 230 „ For 120 m. the two latter are See also:united in the main stream of the Oxus, the volume of which has been further increased by the united forces of the Ghund and Shakhdara draining the Alichur Pamir and the heights of Shignan. The narrow cramped valley of the river between Ishkashim and Kala Wamar is hedged in on the west by a See also:long See also:ridge flanking the See also:highlands of Badakshan; on the east the buttresses and Nature of spurs of the Shignan mountains (of which the strike is the Oxus transverse to the direction of the river a.nd more or less valley. parallel to that of the main Hindu Kush watershed) overhang its channel like a See also:wall, and afford but little See also:room either for cultivation or for the See also:maintenance of a practicable road. Yet the lower elevation (for this part of the Oxus stream is not more than about 7000 ft. above sea-level) and comparatively mild See also:climate give opportunities to the industrious See also:Tajik See also:population for successful See also:agriculture, of which they are not slow to avail them-selves, and a track exists on the left bank of the river to Kala Bar Panja opposite the Ghund (or Suchan) debouchment, which. is practicable for mules. There are no See also:bridges, and the transit of the river from bank to bank can only be effected by the use of inflated skins. Beyond the Bartang (or Murghab) confluence the valley narrows, and the difficulties of the river route increase. Between Kala Wamar (658o ft.) and Kala Khum (4400 ft.), where the Oxus again bends southwards, its course to the north-west is almost at right angles to the general strike of the Darwaz mountains, which is from north-east to south-west, following the usual conformation of all this part of high Asia. Thus its chief affluents from the north-east, the Wanj and the Yaz Ghulam, drain valleys which are comparatively open, and which are said to be splendidly fertile. At Kala Khum the river is 480 ft. wide, narrowing to 350 ft. in the narrowest See also:gorge. Its level varies with the obstructions formed by ice, falling as much as 28 ft. when its upper channels are blocked.
The climate of eastern Bokhara and Darwaz is delightful in summer, and Dr Regel writes of its Alpine scenery and See also:flora in terms
of enthusiastic admiration. In the valleys of the Waksh Climate and the Surkhab to the north of Darwaz, which form an and
Pr-
andPro' important part of the See also:province of Karategin, See also:maple, ash, ions.
See also:hawthorn, pistachio, and See also:juniper grow freely in the mountain forests, and beetroot, See also:kohl rabi, and other vegetables are widely cultivated. About the cliffs and precipices of the Panja valley near Kala Khum the See also:wild See also:vine, cerasus, and See also:pomegranate are to be found, and the See also:plane See also:tree and mulberry flourish in See also:groups near the villages. Here also, amongst other See also:plants, the See also:sunflower decorates See also:village gardens. The houses are built of See also: It now becomes a river of the plains from which the mountains on either See also:side stand back. The See also:topography of Darwaz south of the river is not accurately known, but at least one considerable stream of some 6o m. in length drains to the north-east, parallel to the general strike of Darwaz the mountain See also:system into the transverse course of the Affluents. Oxus, which it joins nearly opposite to the lateral valleys of Yaz Ghulam and Wanj. This stream is called Pangi-Shiwa, or Shiwa, but not much is known about it. Another of about equal length, starting from the same central water-parting of this mountain See also:block, and included within the Oxus bend, follows a trans-See also:verse direction at almost right angles to the Shiwa, and joins the Oxus valley near its debouchment into the more open Kolab plains, where the course of the Oxus has again assumed a direction parallel to the mountain strike. All that we know about this river (which is called the Ragh or Sadda) is that towards its junction with the Oxus it cuts through successive mountain ridges, which renders its course impracticable as a roadway. It is necessary to avoid the river, and to pass by mountain tracks which surmount a series of See also:local spurs or offshoots from the central See also:plateau, in See also:order to reach the Oxus. The existence of this route, which traverses the Darwaz mountains from east to west, cutting off the northern bend of the Oxus, and connecting those easterly routes which intersect the Pamirs by means of the Ghund and Shakhdara (and which concentrate about Lake Shiwa) with Kolab in eastern Bokhara, is important. (See BADAKSHAN.) From about the point where the Oxus commences to separate the Bokharan province of Kolab from the comparatively open Afghan Kdistricts of Rustak and Kataghan, the channel of the Karate- a . river is no longer confined within walls of mountains ghin Atiluents. of volcanic and schistose formation. The Kolab and the Surkhab (or Waksh) flow into it in broad muddy streams from the highlands of See also:Karateghin, and the river at once commences to adopt an uncertain channel wherever the out-stretched arms of the hills fail to confine it within definite limits. It divides its waters, splitting into many channels, leaving broad central islands; and as the width increases, and the depth during dry seasons diminishes, opportunities for fords become comparatively frequent. Between Kolab and Pata Kesar, immediately north of the Turkestan See also:capital of Mazar-i-Sharif, there are at least three well-known " guzars " or fords, and there are probably more. Besides the great muddy affluents from Karateghin on the north, the Kabadian, the Surkhan, and the Darbant are all of them very considerable tributaries from Bokhara. The last of the three is the river on which the well-known See also:trade centre of Shirabad is built, some 20 m. north of the river. Near the junction of the Surkhan with the Oxus are the ruins of the See also:ancient See also:city of Termez, on the northern or Bokharan bank, and the See also:ferry at Pata Kesar (not far from the ruins of an old bridge) is the connecting link between Bokhara and Mazar hereabouts. A Russian branch railway is said to have been recently built from Samarkand to Termez. From the south two very remarkable affluents of the Oxus join their streams to the main river between Kolab and the Mazar Badak- crossings. The Kokcha and the Khanabad (or See also:Kunduz) Shan are the two great rivers of Badakshan. The valley of Affauenis. the Kokcha leads directly from the Oxus to See also:Faizabad, the capital of Badakshan, and its head is close above Ishkashim at the See also:southern elbow of the great Oxus bend, a See also:low pass of only 9500 ft. dividing its waters from those of the main river. This undoubtedly was a section of the great central trade route of Asia,which once connected See also:Ferghana and See also:Herat with See also:Kashgar and See also:China. (See BADAKSHAN.) Both these rivers tap the northern slopes of the Hindu Kush, and claim their sources in the unmapped mountain See also:wilderness of See also:Kafiristan. The Khanabad, or Kunduz, is also called locally the Aksarai. All the rivers of Central Asia are known by several names. To the west of the Kunduz no rivers find their way through the southern banks of the Oxus. Throughout the plains of Afghan Turkestan the drainage from the southern hills is arrested and lost in the See also:desert sands. The only See also:island of any See also:size in the bed of the river is the island of Paighambar, a little below the ruins of Termez. The inhabitants of this island, and of a smaller one in the neighbourhood called Zarshoi, See also:wash for See also:gold in the bed of the river. At Airatan, a little above the Pata Kesar ferry, there are ruins, as also at Khisht Tapa (where the road from Kabadian to See also:Tashkurghan leaves the river) and at Kalukh Tapa. At Khisht Tapa there is a tradition of a bridge having once existed. The Oxus river, as seen in flood at this part of its course, is an imposing stream. It is rarely less than moo yards wide, and in some places it is fully a mile across. Its See also:winter channel channel may be estimated at from two-thirds to three-fourths of C the its flood channel, except where it is confined within Oxus. narrow limits by a rocky bed, as at Kilif, where its un- varying width is only 540 yards. The See also:average strength of the current in flcod is about 4 m. per See also:hour, varying from 21- to 5 M. The left bank of the Oxus above Kilif is, as a See also:rule, low and See also:flat, with See also:reed swamps bordering the stream and a See also:strip of See also:jungle between the reeds and the edge of the elevated sandy desert. The jungle is chiefly See also:tamarisk and padah (See also:willow). Swamp See also:deer, pheasants, and occasionally tigers are found in it. The right bank is generally higher, drier, more fertile and more populated than the left. A wide See also:belt of blown See also:sand (or Chul), sprinkled with saxaul jungle, separates the swamps on the south side of the river from the cultivated plains of Afghan Turkestan; but in places, notably for Cultivaabout 12 m. above Khamiab, where the Russo-Afghan C boundary touches the river, through the districts which are ult. best known by the name of Khwaja Salar, and again in a less degree for 50 M. above the ferry at Kilif, a very successful See also:war has been waged by the agricultural Turkman (of the Ersari tribes) against the encroaching sand-waves of the desert; and a strip of riverain See also:soil averaging about a mile in width has been reclaimed and cultivated by irrigation. The cultivation, supported by canals See also:drawn from the Oxus, the heads of which are constantly being destroyed by flood and again renewed, is of a very high order. See also:Wheat and See also:barley spread in broad crops over many square miles of See also:rich soil; the fields are intersected by narrow little stone-walled lanes, See also:bright with way-side See also:flowers, amongst which the See also:poppy and the See also:purple See also:thistle of See also:Badghis are predominant; the houses are neatly built of stone, and stand scattered about the landscape in single homesteads, substantial and comfortable; and the spreading willow and the mulberry offer a most grateful shade to the wayfarer in summer time, when the See also:heat is often insupportable. The fiery blasts of summer, See also:furnace-heated over the red-hot Kizil See also:Kum, are hardly less to be feared than the ice-See also:cold shamshir (or north-western See also:blizzard) of winter, which freezes men when it finds them in the open desert, and frequently destroys whole caravans. The principle on which the Oxus ferries are worked is See also:peculiar to those regions. Large flat-bottomed boats are towed across the river by small horses attached to an outrigger projecting Oxus beyond the gunwale by means of a surcingle or bellyband. Ferries. They are thus partially supported in the water whilst they swim. The horses are guided from the See also:boat, and a twenty- or See also:thirty-foot See also:barge with a heavy load of men and goods will be towed across the river at Kilif (wherq, as already stated, the width of the river is between 50o and 600 yards only) with ease by two of these animals. The Kilif ferry is on the See also:direct high-road between Samarkand and See also:Akcha. It is perhaps the best-used ferry on the Oxus. Khwaja Salar derives some See also:historical significance from the fact that it presented a substantial difficulty to the See also:settlement of the Russo-Afghan boundary, in which it was assigned by agreement as the point of junction between that boundary and the KhwaJa Oxus. It had been defined in the agreement as a " post " See also:Sala'' on the river banks, and had been so described by See also:Burnes in his writings some fifty years previously. But no post such as that indicated could be discovered. There was a district of that name extending from Khamiab to the neighbourhood of Kilif, and at the Kilif end of the district was a See also:ziarat sacred to the Khwaja who See also:bore the name. It was only after long inquiry amongst local cultivators and landowners that, about 2 M. below the ziarat, and nearly opposite to the site of the See also:present Karkin See also:bazaar, the position of a lost ferry was identified, which had once been marked by a See also:riverside See also:hamlet called by the name of the See also:saint. The ferry had long disappeared, and with it a considerable slice of the riverside alluvial soil, which had been washed into the stream by the action of floods. The post had, in fact, subsided to the bottom of the river, but the consequences of its disappearance had been both far-reaching and expensive. Below Khamiab, to its final disappearance in the Aral Sea, the great river rolls in silent See also:majesty through a vast expanse of sand and desert. Under Russian auspices a considerable strip of alluvial soil on the left bank has been brought under cultivation, measuring Lower 4 or 5 M. in width, and there is more cultivation on Oxus. the banks of the Oxus now than there is in the Mery See also:oasis itself, but it is confined to the immediate neighbourhood of the river, for no affluents of any considerable size exist. The river is navigable below Charjui, and takes its See also:place as an important unit in the general See also:scheme of Russian frontier communications. There is now a See also:regular steamer service, twice a See also:week in summer and once a week in winter, as far as Pata Kasar. The steamers are flat-bottomed See also:paddle boats See also:drawing 3 ft. An important feature in connexion with the course of the Oxus
is the discussion that has arisen with regard to its former debouch-
ment ment into the See also:Caspian Sea. On this point much recent
the evidence has been collected, and it appears certain that
with
Aral See also:tea. there was a time in the post-See also:Pliocene See also:Age when a long
gulf of the Caspian Sea protruded eastwards nearly as far as the See also:longitude of See also:Merv, covering the Kara Kum sands, but not the Kara Kum plateau to the north of the sands, which is separated from the sands by a distinct sea See also:beach. At the same time another branch of the same gulf protruded northwards in the direction of the Aral, probably as far as the Sary Kamish depression, which lies to the west of the Khivan See also:delta of the Oxus, separated from it by wide beds of See also:loess, See also:clays and See also:gravel, covering rocks of an unknown age. The Murghab river and the Hari Rud, which terminate in the oases of Mery and Sarakhs, almost certainly penetrated to the gulf of the Kara Kum, but the question whether the Oxus was ever deflected so as to enter the gulf with the Murghab cannot be said to be answered decisively at present. The former connexion between the Caspian and Aral by means of the gulf now represented by the Sary Kamish depression seems to be admitted by Russian scientists, nor would there appear to be much doubt about the connexion between the Khivan oasis and the northern extremity of the Sary Kamish. In this discussion the names of Kaulbars, Lessar, Annenkov, Konshin and other Russian geographers are conspicuous. The general conclusions are ably summed up by P. See also:Kropotkin in the See also:September number of the See also:Journal of the Royal Geographical Society for 1898.
See also:History.—In the most remote ages to which written history carries us, the regions on both sides of the Oxus were subject to the See also:Persian See also:monarchy. Of their populations See also:Herodotus mentions the Bactrians, Chorasmians, Sogdians and Sacae as contributing their contingents to the armies of the great See also: See also:Buddhism eventually spread widely over the Oxus countries, and almost entirely displaced the See also:religion of Zoroaster in its very See also:cradle. The See also:Chinese traveller Hsuen Tsang, who passed through the See also:country in A.D. 630-644, found Termez, Khulm, Balkh, and above all See also:Bamian, amply provided with monasteries, stupas and See also:colossal images, which are the striking characteristics of prevalent Buddhism; even the Pamir highlands had their monasteries.
See also:Christianity penetrated to See also:Khorasan and See also:Bactria at an early date; episcopal See also:sees are said to have existed at Mery and Samarkand in the 4th and 5th centuries, and See also:Cosmas (c. 545) testifies to the spread of Christianity among the Bactrians and See also:Huns.
Bactria was long a province of the See also:empire which See also: The whole See also:group of states he calls Tukhara, by which name in the form Tokharistan, or by that of Haiathalah, the country continued for centuries to be known to the Mahommedans. At the time of his See also:pilgrimage Chinese See also:influence had passed into Tokharistan and Transoxiana. Yazdeged, the last of the See also:Sassanid See also:kings of See also:Persia, who died in 651, when defeated and hard pressed by the Moslems, invoked the aid of China; the Chinese See also:emperor, Taitsung, issued an See also:edict organizing the whole country from Ferghana to the borders of Persia into three Chinese administrative districts, with 126 military cantonments, an organization which, however, probably only existed on See also:paper. In 711–712 See also:Mahommedan troops were conducted by Kotaiba, the governor of Khorasan, into the province of Khwarizm (See also:Khiva), after subjugating which they advanced on Bokhara and Samarkand, the ancient See also:Sogdiana, and are said to have even reached Ferghana and Kashgar, but no occupation then ensued. In 1016–1025 the See also:government of Khwarizm was bestowed by See also:Sultan Mahmud of See also:Ghazni upon Altuntash, one of his most distinguished generals. Tokharistan in general formed a part successively of the empires of the Sassanid See also:dynasty (terminated A.D. 999), of the Ghaznevid dynasty, of the Seljuk princes of Persia and of Khorasan, of the Ghori or Shansabanya kings, and of the sultans of Khwarizm. The last dynasty ended with Sultan Jalal-ud-din, during whose reign (1221–1231) a See also:division of the See also:Mogul See also:army of Jenghiz See also:Khan first invaded Khwarizm, while the khan himself was besieging Bamian; Jalal-ud-din, deserted by most of his troops, retired to Ghazni, where he was pursued by Jenghiz Khan, and again retreating towards Hindustan was overtaken and driven across the See also:Indus. The commencement of the 16th century was marked by the rise of the Uzbeg rule in Turkestan. The Uzbegs were no one See also:race, but an See also:aggregation of fragments from See also:Turks, See also:Mongols and all the great tribes constituting the hosts of Jenghiz and See also:Batu. They held Kunduz, Balkh, Khwarizm and Khorasan, and for a time Badakshan also; but Badakshan was soon won by the emperor See also:Baber, and in 152g was bestowed on his See also:cousin See also:Suleiman, who by 1555 had established his rule over much of the region between the Oxus and the Hindu Kush. The Mogul emperors of India occasionally interfered in these provinces, notably Shah Jahan in 1646; but, finding the difficulty of maintaining so distant a frontier, they abandoned it to the Uzbeg princes. About 1765 the See also:wazir of Ahmad Shah Abdali of See also:Kabul invaded Badakshan, and from that time until now the domination of the countries on the south bank of the Oxus from Wakhan to Balkh has been a See also:matter of frequent struggles between Afghans and Uzbegs. The Uzbeg rule in Turkestan has during the last fifty years been rapidly dwindling before the growth of Russian See also:power. In 1863 Russia invaded the See also:Khokand territory, taking in rapid See also:succession the cities of Turkestan, See also:Chimkent and Tashkend. In 1866 Khojend was taken, the power of Khokand was completely crushed, a portion was incorporated in the new Russian province of Turkestan, while the See also:remainder was left to be administered by a native chief almost as a Russian feudatory; the same year the Bokharians were defeated at Irdjar. In 1867 an army assembled by the See also:amir of Bokhara was attacked and dispersed by the Russians, who in 1868 entered Samarkand, and became virtually rulers of Bokhara. In 1893 Khiva was invaded, and as much of the khanate as lay on the right bank of the Oxus was incorporated into the Russian empire, a portion being afterwards made over to Bokhara. Russia acquired the right of the See also:free See also:navigation of the Oxus throughout its entire course, on the borders of both Khiva and Bokhara. The ad-ministration of the whole of the states on the right bank of the Oxus, down to the Russian boundary See also:line at Ichka Yar, is now in the hands of Bokhara, including Karateghin—which the Russians have transferred to it from Khokand—and Darwaz at the entrance to the Pamir highlands. AU'raoRrr,Es.—Although much has been written of See also:late years about the sources of- the Oxus within the region of the Pamirs, there is very little to be found in the writings of geographers of See also:modern date descriptive of that part of its course which separates Darwaz and Afghan Turkestan from Bokhara, and that little is chiefly in the pages of reports and gazettes, &c., which are not avail-able to the public. The following authorities may be consulted: The See also:Report of the Pamir Boundary Commission of 1895, published at See also:Calcutta (1897); Dr A. Regel, " See also:Journey in Karateghin and Darwaz," Investia, Russian Geog. See also:Soc., vol. xiii. (1882) ; See also:translation, vol. iv. Proc. R.G.S.; See also:Michell, " Regions of the Upper Oxus," vol. vi. Proc. R.G.S. (1884) ; See also:Griesbach, " See also:Geological See also: (September 1898) ; See also:Cobbold, Innermost Asia (London, 1900). To the above may be added the Reports of the Russo-Afghan Boundary Commission of 1884–1885, and that of See also:Lockhart's See also:Mission in 1885, and the See also:Indian Survey Reperts. (T. H. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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