Page:England & Russia in Central Asia,Vol-I.djvu/141

RUSSIAN ROADS TO INDIA. 121 With matters arranged, however, with the Chinese, either by force or by some form of alHance, we find that there is an easy road from Osh in Russian terri- tory by the Terek pass to Kashgar, Yarkand, and Sanju. From Tashkent itself to Osh is a journey of some days — the distance being two hundred and fifty miles — and from Osh to the head of the Terek pass is sixty- five miles. The city of Kashgar is one hundred and twenty miles away from Sufi-Kurgan at the head of the Terek, so that that city is separated by a distance of four hundred and thirty-five miles from the centre of Russian power in Central Asia, and is at least three hundred miles away from the main garrison of the province of Ferghana. It is not possible as yet to estimate accurately what change in this respect the exploration of a portion of the Pamir and the annexation of that plateau so far to the south as Lake Kara Kul have made. It seems probable, however, that a Russian column has been despatched from Margilan somewhere into this region, and that it is stationed close in on the Kashgarian frontier. The heights are by no means so extreme in this corner of the Pamir as might be supposed ; and there would be no difficulty in following the course of the Kizil-su up to the immediate vicinity of the town of Kashgar. Farther to the south there is said to be a route to Tagharma and Sirikul, which is in com- mon use by the Kirghiz from the Khargosh Pamir. If these routes do exist Russia could undoubtedly push her frontier not only to within fifty miles of Kashgar