ENGLAND AND RUSSIA
IN
CENTRAL ASIA.
CHAPTER I.
RECENT RUSSIAN EXPLORATIONS IN CENTRAL ASIA.
In commencing a work of this character, which aspires above everything to place the intricate phases of the Central Asian Question in a clear light before the English reader, it is necessary to state concisely what meaning we attach to the definition Central Asia. No term has been more abused in its use than that of Central Asia, for, geographically speaking, it has never been applied with accuracy; and those events which have attracted so much notice in Turkestan, and have become known as the Central Asian Question, have really taken place in Western Asia. Yet it would be perfectly useless for anyone to attempt to revolutionise the phraseology of the subject by seeking to apply to that burning Central Asian topic any new title. It only remains to fix some limit, some pre-
