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

BOAT OF THE OXUS.

Craft on the Oxus. Their build and number, &c.

The boats which are used on the Oxus are of a superior description, though they have neither masts nor sails. They are built in the shape of a ship, with a prow at both ends, and are generally about fifty feet long and eighteen broad. They would carry about twenty tons English; they are flat-bottomed, and about four feet deep: when afloat, the gunwale is about two and a half or three feet above the stream; for they do not draw much more than a foot of water when laden. They are constructed of squared logs of wood, each about six feet long, formed of a dwarf jungle-tree, called “pukee,” or “sheeshum,” which grows in great abundance throughout the banks of the river, and cannot be procured of greater dimensions. These trees are felled, their bark is peeled off, and they are chipped into a square shape, which makes them ready for the workmen. The logs are clamped with iron, and, though these boats have a rude appearance, there is a strength and solidity in their build that admirably fits them for the navigation of such a river. There are few boats in the higher part of the Oxus above Charjooee. From that place to where it becomes fordable, near Koondooz, there are about fifteen ferries, and as each is provided with two, we have only a tonnage of thirty vessels in a distance of three hundred miles. The reason is obvious, for the inhabitants make no use of the navigable facilities of the Oxus. Below Bokhara the supply increases, and there are about 150 boats between it and the Delta, chiefly belonging to Orgunje. Here they are not appropriated as ferry-boats, but used in the transport of merchandise to and from Bokhara. The embarkations take place at Eljeek, on the north bank of the river, about sixty-five miles from the city. Below the Delta there are no boats; and I am informed that the sea of Aral is without vessels of any other description than small canoes. In ascending, the boats are dragged against the stream; and in dropping down make for the middle, where the current is rapid, and float down with their broadsides to it. Neither rafts nor skins are used on the Oxus.

Mode of navigating the Oxus.

The manner of ferrying across is novel, and, I believe, peculiar to this river; the boats are dragged across by horses, as I have fully described in the narrative: nor should such a contrivance be lost sight of by those who may use the Oxus as a navigable river.

Wood of the Oxus.

Facilities in the navigation of a river rest much on the supplies of the country through which it flows; in particular, of the nature and quantity of wood which is there procurable. The number of boats on the Oxus is certainly small, since they do not amount to two hundred; but there is every facility for building a fleet, the supply of wood being abundant, and fortunately found in single trees along the valley of the river, and not growing in forests on any particular spot. There are no cedar or pine-trees brought down by the inundation, which I hold as conclusive proof that the mountains from which the Oxus and its tributaries flow are destitute of that wood. The only other trees which I saw on the river were mulberry and the white poplar; which last is floated down in quantities from Hissar to Charjooee, and applied to purposes of house-building. In any increase of the tonnage on this river, the immediate resources of the neighbouring country must therefore be called into action; but these are highly important. The nature of the build in the boats of the river requires no skill in naval architecture; the wood is not sawed, and it does not require seasoning, so that the utmost despatch might be used at all times in forming a flotilla, whether it were desired to navigate, cross, or bridge it. I believe that 150 men might be embarked on a boat of the size which I have described. The river could only be bridged by boats, for the wood is too small for an application of it in any other way, and the furze and tamarisk which grow in its banks would supply the place of planks, and make it at once complete and practicable. A bridge of boats was thrown across the Oxus by both Timour and Nadir, and the remains of some temporary buildings erected by the latter conqueror are still shown at the ferry of Kilef, north of Balkh. The river there presents facilities for such an operation, since it has hillocks on both sides, is narrow, and not always rapid. Passengers frequently swim across the river at this ferry. Below the mountains the Oxus has a firm and sandy bed, and boats may be anchored by branches of trees in all parts of its stream.

Political and commercial advantages of the Oxus.

The advantages of the Oxus, both in a political and commercial point of view, must, then, be regarded as very great: the many facilities which have been enumerated point it out either as the channel of merchandize, or the route of a military expedition; nor is it from the features of the river itself that we form such a conclusion. It is to be remembered that its banks are peopled and cultivated. It must therefore be viewed as a river which is navigable, and possessing great facilities for improving the extent of that navigation. This is a fact of great political and commercial importance, whether an hostile nation may turn it to the gratification of ambition, or a friendly power here seek for the extension and improvement of its trade. In either case, the Oxus presents many fair prospects, since it holds the most direct course, and connects, with the exception of a narrow desert, the nations of Europe with the remote regions of Central Asia.