GEOGRAPHICAL PROGRESS AND DISCOVERY 



1875. 



337 



tions of the ancient church built over Jacob's 

 Well were found still existing under modern 

 vaults. A fine tomb with rich ornamentations 

 was discovered at Shefa Amr, and another 

 tomb and cave at Khirbet Rumeh, where an 

 early Jewish traveler says was the tomb of 

 Benjamin, and a cave from out of which the 

 Messiah was expected to come forth. 



CENTBAL AND EASTERN ASIA. The Prussian 

 Government has commissioned Dr. Andreas 

 to conduct a series of researches into the 

 geography, ethnology, geology, and antiquities 

 of Persia. He will seek to identify the geo- 

 graphical names given by Istakhri and other 

 Arab writers, to explore the mounds and an- 

 tiquities particularly of the ancient empire of 

 Elam; on the sites of Susa and Ecbatana he 

 expects still to find the remains of the palaces 

 of the Median monarchs ; in the Zagros range 

 of mountains he thinks there may survive some 

 tribe speaking an idiom of the Turanian tongue 

 of Elam. 



The Russian Expedition to Hissar, composed 

 of MM. Vishnieffski-, Mayef, and Schwartz, 

 ended its labors in August. This country, 

 lying in the western part of the upper basin 

 of the Oxus, and now subject to the Amir of 

 Bokhara, they explored its western hill-country 

 in two directions, from Karshi, by Khuzar, to 

 Shirabad, and from Ohushka-Khuzar to Baisun. 

 The rivers Khuzar-Darya and Shirabad-Darya 

 they found to be considerable streams, fertiliz- 

 ing the large oases of Khuzar and Shirabad. 

 The banks of the Katta TJru-Darya are, it 

 seems, very thickly peopled, and among these 

 hill-people are individuals who possess flocks 

 of 3,000 sheep, and herds of 1,000 camels. 

 In summer these Uzbeks leave their abodes 

 in the valleys and drive their herds upon the 

 mountains, where on the edge of the snows 

 they find rich pasturage. In winter, in the 

 barren steppe of Karshi, they find a cheap 

 fodder for their beasts in the salsolacecs. On 

 the road to Baisun they came, after passing 

 through the Chakeha Valley, not far from Dar- 

 band, to the famous "Iron Gate," now called 

 by the natives the Buzgola-Khana, or " Goat- 

 House." All that has been known of this spot 

 is the account of the Chinese missionary of the 

 seventh century, Hwen Thsang, who describes 

 a folding iron gate hung with bells ; and that of 

 the Spaniard Clavijo, who passed through it in 

 the beginning of the fifteenth century and speaks 

 of it as an impregnable position. They found 

 the Surkhan, a river whose very existence has 

 often been denied, to be one of the most im- 

 portant tributaries of the Oxus, and a large 

 river, forming the most westerly affluent of the 

 Amu-Darya. All the towns of the province 

 of Hissar lie in the valleys of the Surkhan and 

 Kafirnihan, with the exceptions of 'Baisun, 

 which lies in a high valley, shut in with its 

 villages by mountains, and Shirabad, which is 

 situated away to the south, behind a group of 

 hills. Visiting the valley of the Surkhab or 

 Wakhsh River, passing up the river through a 

 VOL. XT. 22 A 



wild and narrow gorge, and crossing the famed 

 Pul-i-sangin, or "Stone Bridge," they then 

 entered the valleys of Buljuwan and Kulab, and 

 proceeded to Kobadian and Baisun, returning 

 to Shaar, after forty days' absence, on the 13th 

 of June. The result of the expedition will be 

 an accurate map of all the country lying be- 

 tween the Zerafshan and the Oxus, based upon 

 fourteen astronomical positions and a number 

 of charts plotted from numerous route-surveys. 



The Russians, in a reconnaissance of newly- 

 occupied territory in the Atrek, have come 

 upon the half-buried ruins of an ancient Mo- 

 hammedan city. Minarets and remains of dis- 

 tinctly Saracenic architecture are found pre- 

 served. The ruins are on a steppe east of the 

 Caspian, which, after a tradition of the Toorko- 

 mans, was once extremely fertile and irrigated 

 by a canal conducting into the Atrek. The ruins 

 are of great extent, and indicate a numerous 

 settled population. The remains of large tanks 

 and water-pipes were discovered. Inscriptions 

 found are in decipherable characters, and have 

 been sent to St. Petersburg for interpretation. 



Dr. Bretschschneider, physician to the Rus- 

 sian embassy at Peking, visited an interesting 

 mountain, the Pei-hwa-shan, or "Mountain of 

 a Hundred Flowers," three or four days' jour- 

 ney from Peking. This mountain is down on 

 none of the maps ; it rises to the hight of 8,000 

 feet, and is covered with an exceedingly brill- 

 iant flora ; its summit is a plateau 8,000 paces 

 by 200, upon which is an old monastery, dedi- 

 cated to the mountain-god. Although it was 

 in the spring, Dr. Bretschschneider collected 

 fifty blossoming plants, among which were 

 eight new species. 



AFEIOA. Stanley started forth upon his 

 second exploring expedition amply provided 

 for by the New York Herald and London Tele- 

 graph companies, with extensive accoutre- 

 ments and a band of 300 soldiers and bearers. 

 He set out, in October, 1874, from Bagamoyo, 

 the point of departure of the various caravan 

 routes, opposite Zanzibar ; following his former 

 course as far as the district of Ogogo, he then 

 struck out upon a new, more northerly way, 

 and passing through unexplored tracts, he came 

 in sight of the Victoria Nyanza, February 27, 

 1875, and marched into the village of Kagehyi, 

 latitude 2 31' south, longitude 33 13' east, 

 situate on the southern shore. The journey 

 took 103 days, the lake being 730 miles distant 

 from Bagamoyo. The progress of the expedi- 

 tion was impeded by the most serious hard- 

 ships. The climate was so unwholesome that 

 many of the men were taken sick with fevers 

 and dysentery ; owing to the barrenness of the 

 country traversed, or in the more fertile por- 

 tions to the inhospitality of the natives, the 

 company were more than once upon the point 

 of famishing; some died from fatigue and 

 hunger, others deserted ; the native tribes en- 

 countered were shy and unfriendly, in some 

 cases hostile and predatory ; twice they were 

 deserted by their guides, and lost their way in 



