GEOGRAPHICAL EXPLORATIOXS AND DISCOVERIES. 



401 



the Dohur Desert, an elevated plateau, an off- 

 shoot from the great Southern Desert, -which 

 they crossed in two days, and descending rapid- 

 ly entered Hasa, the richest and most populous 

 of the "Wahabite provinces, where -were work- 

 ers in metals of great repute, and large quan- 

 tities of textile fabrics were manufactured. 

 Early in December the party reached El Khatif, 

 a beautiful town on the Persian Gulf, surround- 

 ed with gardens, and having a network of 

 rivers in its vicinity. Here Mr. Palgrave took 

 boat, and, crossing the Persian Gulf twice, 

 reached Sohar, the ancient capital of Oman, on 

 the 3d of March, 1863. Coasting southeastward 

 from this point, he was shipwrecked just as his 

 voyage seemed at an end, and only nine out of 

 twenty-one persons on board the boat were 

 saved. Mr. Palgrave and his companions reach- 

 ed Watiejyeh on the 9th of March, where they 

 visited the king of Oman at his country palace, 

 in their forlorn condition, but were kindly re- 

 ceived, and the next day went on to Muscat, 

 crossing, with considerable difficulty, the Jebel 

 Akhdar, where they remained twelve days, and 

 proceeding np the Persian Gulf, arrived at Bag- 

 dad on the 19th of April after a severe access 

 of fever and delirium, and on the llth of July 

 reached Beirut. Mr. Palgrave ascertained that 

 the TVadi Aftan, which Jomard and some other 

 geographers have regarded as a river, did not 

 exist either as a river or a valley ; and he states 

 further, in all the Kejed (the mountainous pla- 

 teau of Central Arabia) he saw but one running 

 stream during the summer, and that flowed not 

 more than thirty or thirty-five miles. 



The progress of the telegraph lines to India 

 by way of the Persian Gulf, has led to investi- 

 gation of the capabilities of that gulf as an area 

 the trade. The coast of the Persian Gulf is 

 stated to be one of the best cotton-growing 

 regions in the world. The Sea Island cotton 

 can be produced there in great perfection. 



Proceeding eastward, we find most worthy 

 of note the expedition of Mr. Arminius Vam- 

 bery, a Hungarian geographer and philologist, 

 through Turkestan to Bokhara, Khiva, Samar- 

 cand, and Herat. This journey was made in 

 1863-'4, and Mr. Vambery's narrative was pub- 

 blished in England in the" autumn of 1864, and 

 in the United States by Messrs. Harper and 

 Brothers in April, 1865. Though a young 

 man, being but 31 years of age when he set out 

 upon this journey, Mr. Vambery had already 

 attained a high reputation as a man of science, 

 and especially as a philologist. He was espe- 

 cially familiar with Turkish and Arabic, and was 

 desirous of investigating among the Turanian 

 tribes the origin of his native tongue (the Mag- 

 yar). The fate of Conolly and Stodart, and the 

 narrow escape of Dr. Wolff, warned him that 

 there was great peril to a European in penetrat- 

 ing among the savage and fanatical inhabitants 

 of Bokhara, Khiva, and Herat, and he therefore 

 determined to qualify himself to pass as a der- 

 vish through that region. He accordingly spent 

 a considerable period in Constantinople instudy- 

 VOL. iv. 26 A 



ing the character and customs of the dervishes, 

 and after spending a little time at Teheran 

 joined a company of them, and assuming the 

 appearance of the most extreme poverty, took 

 his place in a caravan going from Teheran 

 to Khiva. Their first stage was to Asterabad, 

 from whence they crossed the Caspian Sea in a 

 Turcoman corsair's vessel, landing at Gomush- 

 Tepe. Having followed for a little distance the 

 river Attreh, the caravan plunged into the 

 Hyrcanian Desert, and after twenty-two days 

 of terrible suffering from the want of water 

 they reached Khha, a smaller city than he had 

 supposed, and hi a miserable condition, as in- 

 deed was the entire Khanat of which it was the 

 capital. The reigning prince, Said Mohammed, 

 a bigoted and fanatical tyrant, takes great de- 

 light in the murder of hundreds of his subjects 

 for the slightest departure from what he assumes 

 to be the laws of Mohammed. Here a malicious 

 Affghan who had accompanied the caravan, 

 endeavored to excite suspicion against Mr. Vam- 

 bery as a spy ; but by a bold and politic stroke, 

 the traveller succeeded in winning to his pro- 

 tection the prime minister of the Khan, who 

 had resided long in Constantinople, and who 

 pronounced him an eminent Mollah of that city. 

 Remaining a month in Khiva, Mr. Vambery 

 explored the adjacent country as far as Kon- 

 grad, which he represents as a region of great 

 fertility, surpassing in this respect any portion 

 of Central Asia. Prom Khiva, the soi-disant 

 dervish and his companions followed the left 

 bank of the Amoo Daria (the ancient Oxus), 

 toward Bokhara, ten or twelve days' journej 

 distant ; but to escape a band of Turcoman rob- 

 bers, were obliged to take refuge in the desert 

 of Djan Batiran (the destroyer of life), where, 

 not having been able to provide a sufficiency of 

 water, they suffered horribly with thirst for six 

 days, and two of their number died. The city 

 of Bokhara, though larger in extent than Te- 

 heran, has not so many inhabitants. From a 

 distance it has a fine appearance, but is. like 

 most oriental cities, very filthy. The population 

 of the Khanat is about two millions, a large 

 number of whom are Persian slaves. The 

 reigning Khan, Muzaifar ed-ed-Din, is the son of 

 the murderer of Conolly and Stodart, a man 

 naturally amiable, but compelled by the policy 

 of his Government to commit barbarous and 

 tyrannical acts. The dervishes were well re- 

 ceived, but Vambery was suspected of being a 

 spy. and compelled to exercise great adroitness 

 to repel the suspicion. After remaining here a 

 month, he went with his companions to Samar- 

 cand, traversing a populous and well-cultivated 

 region. Samarcand, the ancient capital of Ti- 

 mour, is a decaying city, and Mr. Vambery 

 believes that its past renown was greatly exag- 

 gerated. From Samarcand, Vambery turned 

 to the southwest and visited first Karshi, and 

 afterward Herat, where he was again in peril 

 of discovery from the young prince, who de- 

 clared he was an Englishman. Evading this 

 danger he returned to Teheran, and after suf- 



