344 



GEOGRAPHICAL EXPLORATIONS AND DISCOVERIES IN 1871. 



Moabite country, which, though apparently of 

 Nahathsean origin, and so much later than the 

 original Moabite stone, which was Semitic, yet 

 possess considerable importance and value. 

 Count Ganneau, a French nobleman, who has 

 entered very earnestly into the investigation 

 of these antiquities, writes from Jerusalem, 

 May 30, 1871, that he has discovered, on the 

 site of the temple built by Herod, a stela, or 

 notice, in Greek and Latin, of the kind de- 

 scribed by Josephus, intended to warn stran- 

 gers against intruding into the " holy place " 

 under penalty of death. This holy place was 

 surrounded by a wrought balustrade of stone, 

 about three cubits in height, above which, at 

 suitable intervals, these stelas, or notices, were 

 posted. Count Ganneau thinks, and probably 

 truly, that it was the law whose penalty was 

 death, referred to in these stelas, that the Jews 

 accused Paul (untruly, as appeared in the 

 sequel) of having violated (Acts xxi. 26, etc.), 

 and that they wished to put him to death in 

 consequence. Further explorations in the 

 Sinaitic peninsula confirm the views advanced 

 of late in regard to the true Mount Sinai. 

 The new (fourth) volume of the "Cyclopaedia 

 of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Lit- 

 erature," extending from H to J, has em- 

 bodied many of the most recent results of the 

 Palestine explorations. 



Omitting many particulars of minor interest 

 in regard to the stone towers of ancient Syria, 

 the late discoveries in the Caucasus, and the 

 extensive petroleum-wells of the Caspian and 

 Aral Seas, we must devote a portion of our 

 remaining space to the discoveries made in 

 Eastern Toorkistan, and especially in the vicin- 

 ity of the Pamir Steppe, and the cities of Kash- 

 gar, Yarkand, Yassin, and Gilgit. We have 

 already spoken of the murder of Mr. Hayward, 

 one of the most gallant of the Asiatic explorers 

 sent out by the Royal Geographical Society, 

 which occurred in July, 1870. The Maharajah 

 of Cashmere exerted himself to obtain the 

 body of Mr. Hayward, and succeeded in driv- 

 ing his murderer from Yassin, but had not been 

 able to secure his punishment. Two other ex- 

 plorers, Mr. Forsyth and Mr. R. B. Shaw, who 

 had previously penetrated into Eastern Toor- 

 kistan, re visited it subsequent to Mr. Hay ward's 

 murder, and reached Yarkand and Kashgar, 

 though the point at which they passed the Pa- 

 mir Steppe, or their experiences in that some- 

 what perilous journey in winter, are not fully 

 related. Mr. Shaw, who was appointed, soon t 

 after his journey, British commissioner in 

 Ladak, sent home a very interesting account 

 of his journey, and numerous valuable speci- 

 mens and papers. He described very minutely 

 the course of the Shayok, a large river, a trib- 

 utary of the Indus, which, in its course through 

 the mountain -gorges and the borders of the 

 Pamir Steppe, flows through cafions almost as 

 formidable as those of the Colorado of the 

 "West. He returned over the Karakorum Pass. 

 From his observations the latitude of Yarkand 



has been found to be 38 24' 30" north, and the 

 longitude, which has been a somewhat dis- 

 puted question, 77 14' 45" east of Greenwich. 

 Mr. Shaw has, since the beginning of 1872, 

 published a narrative of his journey to High 

 Tartary, which is full of interest. The most 

 important journey of exploration, however, 

 which has been made into this interesting re- 

 gion is that of one of Captain Montgomerie's 

 Mohammedan pundits, known as "theMirza," 

 who, after careful training, set out from Cabul 

 in 1869, and, taking the same route which 

 Marco Polo followed six centuries ago, and 

 which no traveller, except Lieutenant Wood, 

 in 1841, had since attempted, followed the 

 valley of. the Upper Oxus from the junction of 

 the two arms of the river at the foot of Penga, 

 to the source of the left branch in the Pamir 

 Lake, crossing the province of Sarik-kul to 

 Tash-kurgan, and thence mounting to the 

 water-shed of the Pamir Steppe, 13,300 feet 

 above the level of the sea. Soon after pass- 

 ing the water-shed, he came upon one of the 

 affluents of the Yarkand River, which he fol- 

 lowed in its precipitous course to the vicinity 

 of Kashgar. He was detained for some time at 

 Kashgar by the jealousy of the Atalik Ghazi, 

 but was finally permitted to go to Yarkand, 

 whence he made his way to Leh, the capital 

 of Ladak, and thence to Cashmere and British 

 India. 



Below we give the latitude, longitude, and 

 elevation above the sea of the most important 

 points in East Toorkistan, as ascertained by the 

 observations of Mr. Hayward, Mr. Shaw, and 

 the Mirza. 



PLACE. N. Lat. 



Kashgar 3920' 



Janghissar 38 52 



Kisil 38 40 



Karghalik 37 55 



Ortogrok 37 31 



Sandshu 37 15 



E. Long, from 

 Greenwich. 



76 '11' 

 76 18 



76 46 



77 42 



78 05 



47 



Elevation, 

 feet. 

 4.536 



4,690 

 4,391 

 5,118 

 6,403 

 0,868 



Valley of the Sandshu and Arpalak Rivers. 



Kibris 37'09' 78 41' 8,129 



KisilAghil 37 06 78 52 7,255 



Tarn 36 56 78 34 8,^55 



Kitchik-julak 36 46 78 35 11,852 



Valley of the Karakash River. 



Southern Slope of Sand- 



ehu Pass 36'43' 78'34' 14,666 



Shadula. 36 21 78 IS 11,946 



Mulbash 36 19 78 50 1-3.002 



Mandalik 35 55 79 26 14,247 



Sintshin 35 43 78 55 15.647 



Kisil-shilga 35 17 79 01 16,546 



Source of the Yarkand 



River 35 39 77 54 16,730 



Kufelong 36 06 77 58 14,651 



Between the Upper Yarkand and the Karakash Rivers. 



Kiitshishkun. 



Suget 



Suget Pass.... 



Aktagh 



Oglok 



36 25' 



35 17 



36 07 

 35 55 

 35 39 



05' 



15 



16 



15 



18 



From Leh to the Karalcash Rii 



14,147 

 13.1)29 

 17,835 

 15.4 



11,532 

 13.228- 

 18,724 

 17.901 

 ltf.747 

 17.950 

 16,965 



