CHAP. XXI. ROUTES IN THE THREE KHANATS. 465 2. From Bokhara to Merv. The traveler must here first go to Tchardjuy, from which city there are three different routes: (a) By Rafatak. tance is 45 farszakhs. (b) By Ütchhadji. farszakhs. There is one well, and its dis Two wells, and distance 40 (c) By Yolkuyu. This is the route most to the east; the distance is 50 farszakhs. 3. From Bokhara to Samarcand (usual road). This journey is performed by two-wheeled loaded carts in six days. Mounted on a good horse, one may accomplish it in three: the couriers take but two days, but they travel night and day. This journey takes eight days in a cart (two-wheeled), and may be much shortened by going straight from Oratepe to Mehrem, which requires only eight hours, so that there is a gain of six tash. Five days' journey farther on from here is, as I learned from the accounts of many different persons, the first Russian fort and post of the Cossacks. CHAP. XXI. ROUTES IN THE THREE KHANATS. C. ROUTES IN THE KHANAT OF KHOKAND. 1. From Khokand to Oosh (a straight road). 167 The journey can be performed in two-wheeled carts in four days. 2. From Khokand to Oosh (by Namengan). Besides these two principal roads, there is a mountainous route from Tashkend to Namengan, offering, however, many perilous places, which entail the necessity of much laborious exertion. Although the distance is only 45 miles, one requires ten days to traverse it. It passes by the following places: Toy Tepe, Karakhitaï Tilav, Koshrobat, Mollamir, Babatarkhan, Shehidan (where the Russians were defeated by Mehemmed Ali Khan), Kamishkurgan, Pungan, Haremseray, Uygur, Pop, Seng, Djust, Törekurgan, Namengan. D. ROUTES IN CHINESE TARTARY. The distance from Kashgar to Yarkend is reckoned 36 miles (tash), journeyed over by caravans and carts in seven days. On the third day from Kashgar the traveler reaches a place called Yenghi Hissar, which is occupied by a strong garrison of soldiers. From Kashgar to Aksu the distance is 70 miles; a caravan takes to perform it twelve days. From Aksu to Ushturban, lying to the south, the traveler requires two days. Proceeding still farther to the east, we reach Komul in twenty-eight days, as follows: Adding twelve days for the journey from Kashgar to Aksu, this makes, for the whole distance from the latter city, forty days. CHAP. XXII. AGRICULTURE. 469 CHAPTER XXII. GENERAL VIEW OF AGRICULTURE, MANUFACTURES, AND TRADE. AGRICULTURE.-DIFFERENT KINDS OF HORSES.-SHEEP.-CAMELS.-ASSES.MANUFACTURES.-PRINCIPAL SEATS OF TRADE.-COMMERCIAL ASCENDENCY OF RUSSIA IN CENTRAL ASIA. (a.) Agriculture. TAKEN altogether, it is incredible how fertile all the cultivable land is in these three khanats, which rise like oases out of the monstrous deserts of Central Asia. In spite of the primitive system of culture adopted, fruit and corn are luxuriantly abundant— one might even say, in many places, superabundant. The excellence of the fruit in Khiva has been already mentioned; and although Bokhara and Khokand can not be placed, in this respect, in the same rank with Khiva, the following produce of those khanats deserve, nevertheless, mention: e. g., the grapes, of extraordinary excellence (of which there are ten kinds), the "magnificent pomegranates," and particularly the apricots, which are exported in immense quantities to Persia, Russia, and Afghanistan. Corn is met with every where in the three khanats, and is of five kinds: wheat, barley, djugheri (Holcus saccharatus), millet (tarik), and rice. The best wheat and djugheri are said to be found in Bokhara and Khiva, a genial soil; whereas Khokand is in high repute |