119 CHAPTER Y. THE PRINCIPAL EOITTES FROM THE RUSSIAN FRONTIER TO INDIA. On no point is it more necessary that clear views should obtain in this country than upon the nature of the region which lies between the English and Russian frontiers, more particularly of the territory which ex- tends north of the Hindoo Koosh to the Aral, and the ranges of mountains known as Zarafshan and Alai Tau. Various books contain the necessary informa- tion with regard to different points, but even these have invariably placed the information in the Appen- dix ; and Appendices, however useful, are not read or studied as carefully as they should be. Although the necessary data lie at the disposal of any inquirer who will take the trouble to seek for them in some score of books of travel,* and innumerable official reports, it is very few who will have either the inclination or the opportunity of making the necessary research.
- "No book of travels is so valuable in tbis respect as Captain
Burnaby's " Eide to Kbiva."
