Travels Into Bokhara (Volume 2 of 3) / Being the Account of A Journey from India to Cabool, Tartary, and Persia; Also, Narrative of a Voyage on the Indus, From the Sea to Lahore, With Presents From the King of Great Britain; Performed Under the Orders of the Supreme Government of India, in the Years 1831, 1832, and 1833

by Sir Alexander Burnes

GENERAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL
MEMOIR.

BOOK I.

CHAPTER I.
AN ACCOUNT of THE KINGDOM OF BOKHARA.

Limits and extent of the kingdom.

Samarcand and Bokhara have afforded a theme for glowing description to the historians, and poets of all ages. The country in which they lie forms a portion of Toorkistan, or the land of the Toorks, and is so denominated by the people themselves. Bokhara is an isolated kingdom, of small extent, surrounded by a desert. It is an open champaign country, of unequal fertility. In the vicinity of its few rivers the soil is rich; beyond, barren and unproductive. It owes its importance to its central position, since it is placed between Europe and the richest regions of Asia. On the north, it is bounded by the Sea of Aral, the Sir or Jaxartes of the ancients, and the country of Kokan or Ferghana. On the east, it extends to the mountains which branch from the high lands of Pamere. On the south it has the Oxus, which it however crosses on the south-eastern limit, and holds a supremacy over Balkh and the cantons of Andkho and Maimuna. On the west it is separated from Orgunje or Khiva by the desert of Kharasm, which commences within a march of the city of Bokhara. In this enumeration I have assigned the widest limits to the kingdom; for there are provinces within this boundary which owe but a doubtful allegiance. The great feature of the country is the Oxus, which bisects the desert, and renders it inhabitable. The river of Samarcand, in its lower course, flows at right angles to it, but expends its water before paying its tribute to the greater stream. Another rivulet below that of Samarcand shares a like fate, after it has watered the province of Kurshee. On the banks of these different streams lies the whole cultivable soil of the kingdom. The entire country is comprised between the parallels of 36° and 45° of north latitude, and the meridians of 61° and 67° east longitude. A very small portion of this extensive tract is peopled. From Eljeek on the Oxus, and on the western frontier, to Juzzak on the east, which is the line of cultivation across the country, the distance is 240 miles. From Balkh to Bokhara it is but 260, almost altogether waste; and the desert commences about fifteen miles beyond the capital.

Natural and political divisions.

The natural and political divisions of the kingdom, according to the natives, are as follows:—1. Karakool; 2. Bokhara, and seven tomuns or districts around; 3. Kermina; 4. Meeankal, or Kutta Koorghan; 5. Samarcand, which has five tomuns; 6. Juzzak; 7. Kurshee; 8. Lubiab, or banks of the Oxus; and, 9. Balkh, and the provinces south of that river. The first six of these divisions occupy the valley of the river of Samarcand, known by the name of Kohik and Zurufshan, the gold-shedding river. This is the ancient valley of the Sogd, which has elicited the praises of all ages, from the time of Alexander. It was considered a paradise on earth by the Arabian conquerors; but much of its fame must be attributed to the surrounding desolation, its beauty captivating the eyes of those who had long travelled in oceans of sand. It is, however, a beautiful valley. Kurshee, which lies sixty miles to the south of Samarcand, is an oasis, formed by a river from the neighbouring province of Shuhr Subz, which exhausts itself in fertilising the district. The territory on the banks of the Oxus is also highly favoured by nature; but the strip of cultivation is narrow, and much of it lies neglected. Balkh, and the countries south of the Oxus, likewise owe their fertility to the abundant supply of water, which was once divided among a multiplicity of villages; but rapine has desolated this fruitful land. These cantons, though considered tributary to Bokhara, render but nominal allegiance; which consists in sending a few horses yearly to the king. Their names are as follows:—Akchu, Shibbergaum, Andkhoee, Maimuna, and Sirepool; all, except the last, to the north of the mountains.

Physical geography.

The geological structure and general conformation of an extended plain is not less interesting than the features of a lofty range of mountains; but we have here fewer opportunities to observe and describe. The great plain of Toorkistan has an elevation of 2000 feet, and gradually declines westward from Balkh, as the slope and direction of the rivers testify, till it meets the Sea of Aral and the Caspian. With the country north of the Oxus, and from the base of the mountains to Bokhara, I am best acquainted. We have a succession of low rounded ridges of limestone, oolite, and gravel, thinly overgrown with verdure, alternating with vast and hardened plains of argillaceous clay, which offer in this dry climate the finest roads to the heaviest artillery. On these there occur some fields of sand-hills, of no great extent, but sufficient to absorb the waters of all the rivulets flowing towards the Oxus. They seem to extend in a narrow line parallel to that river; and between it and Karakool have their greatest breadth, which is about twelve miles. Further to the eastward, they do not exceed half that width; and there are only a few scattered hillocks between Kurshee and the Oxus. Westward of Bokhara, the sand-hills increase in volume, and approach close on either side of the river of Kohik, leaving but a small space for cultivation; they then run north and west into the deserts of Kipchak and Kharasm. On their extent and continuance south of the Oxus I have spoken in my narrative, as well as in a subsequent chapter on Toorkmania. These sand-hills are based on the firmest land; and it can at once be discerned that they have been blown by the wind from some other soil. In the valleys there occasionally occur deposits of salt and saline rivulets; and nearly all the wells of this tract are either bitter or brackish. The depth of these never exceeds thirty-six feet, and many of them have water at half that distance from the surface. Between Bokhara and the Oxus the water exudes through sand, and in August had a temperature of 60°, while the air exceeded that of 100°. It was as grateful to the palate as if cooled in ice. In the cold season, these wells are described as warm; so it is evident that they retain an equality of temperature during the year. The tract north of the Oxus is thinly peopled by pastoral tribes, and uncultivated; but the remains of aqueducts and buildings, in particular between Kurshee and Bokhara, denote a more prosperous age in these now neglected lands.