Page:England & Russia in Central Asia,Vol-I.djvu/34

mountainous region ; but the former is preferable to the second, which crosses uninhabited regions without sweet water and wood. Both led to passages across the Amou Darya river to those of Shur-oba and of Kilif. The former is most important, as it is on the route to Balkh, Mazar-i-sherif , and to the great highway of Cabul ; but it is rather difl&cult, the Amou Darya having here a width of about two thousand yards. The crossing at Kilif is far better, the river being only four hundred yards wide, steamers going as far up the river as that town, and the environs of Kilif affording very favourable conditions for a larger settlement. The distance from Kilif to the next Afghan town, Akche, is estimated to be only five tashes (twenty- seven miles) long ; twenty-seven miles more would lead them to Shiborgan ; and a further eighty- five miles to Maimene, from which there remains only a ten- days' travel to Herat. M. Maieff observes, however, that all these distances must be estimated somewhat greater than the true ones. The results of M. Maieff' s tour have been supplemented by another Russian traveller, M. Otshanin. This gentleman may be said to have explored Karategin more completely than any- one else, visiting the capital, Gharm, and the winter settlement of Zaiglan, between which places he found an admirable road. The distance is sixty-five miles. Zaiglan is situated close to the junction of the Muksu and Surkhab rivers. The mountains here are very elevated, and M. Otshanin had to abandon his intention of proceeding through the Muksu Yalley, and follow the better-known route through the Zir-