AFGHANISTAN". 



the road passes through a level country, which, 

 notwithstanding some strips of desert, pre- 

 sented no serious engineering difficulties ; hut 

 between Merv and Chardjni it had to be laid 

 across a waterless desert, a length of 232 

 versts. At Dushakh, where the line turns 

 eastward toward the river Tejend, a branch 

 line to Herat, by way of Sarakhs, will be con- 

 structed some day. The Oxus at Chardjni is 

 one and a half verst wide, and is crossed by a 

 steam ferry-boat. 



Beyond Chardjui a steppe, twenty versts 

 across, required large quantities of water, taken 

 from the Oxus, to fix the deep, shifting sands. 

 Through Bokhara the line is traced along the 

 edge of the cultivated country, so as not to in- 

 terfere with the irrigation-works. The time 

 required for the journey from Tiflis to Samar- 

 cand will be about three days and a quarter. 

 The railroad already constructed enables the 

 Russians to transport troops and war material 

 from Odessa or any other point in Southern 

 Russia to the Tejend in five days, and thus 

 reach Herat sooner than could the English, 

 even after extending the Indus Railroad to 

 Candahar. 



The Council of the Empire appropriated the 

 money for the extension of the railroad to 

 Samarcind. Gen. Annenkoff went to Asia in 

 July, 1887, to prepare for the construction ot 

 the last part of the line, which could not be 

 begun before autumn, but will be completed 

 before the summer of 1888. The portion of 

 the line running through Bokharan territory is 

 300 versts ; and that in Russian Turkistan be- 

 yond, eighty-five versts. Before this last sec- 

 tion of the railroad was begun, the military 

 center of Asiatic Russia was transferred from 

 Tashkend to Samarcand. 



Russian Occupation of Eerkl. The town of 

 Kerki, situated on the left bank of the Oxus, 

 on the main road between Bokhara and Herat, 

 was occupied by a Russian detachment under 

 Gen. Ozan Tora, commander of the Samarcand 

 army in May, 1887. This fresh advance of the 

 Russians caused much disquiet in England, and 

 increased the difficulties of the Ameer's position 

 in Afghanistan. Yet no question of an en- 

 croachment on Afghan territory could be 

 raised, because the Afghans, who succeeded in 

 extending their sway over Maimena and And- 

 khoi, never held Kerki, nor brought under their 

 rule the Ersari Turkomans inhabiting the dis- 

 trict, which formed a part of the outlying do- 

 minions of the Emir of Bokhara. The Rus- 

 sians did not proceed to occupy the place with- 

 out the latter's consent. Kerki is an important 

 strategical position, and brings the Russians in 

 contact with the discontented Turkoman and 

 Uzbeck subjects of the Ameer. The British 

 Government was informed of the intended oc- 

 cupation a month before it was carried out, 

 the Russian Foreign Office declaring that it 

 was done in order to protect the flank of the 

 Asiatic Railroad. 



Aynb Khan. When Yakub Khan, the son and 



successor of Shere AH, abdicated in 1879, after 

 the murder of Sir Louis Cavagnari, his brother 

 Ayub declared himself the enemy of the Eng- 

 lish and of his cousin Abdurrahman whom 

 they set upon the throne. He led the Afghans, 

 defeated Gen. Burrows on July 27, 1880, and 

 besieged his forces in Candahar until, on Sept. 

 1, he was in turn defeated by Gen. Roberts. 

 For a year thereafter he kept up a rival gov- 

 ernment at Herat, but was finally driven out 

 by Abdurrahman, and fled to Persia, where he 

 was arrested at the instance of the English, 

 and kept interned at Teheran, the British Gov- 

 ernment paying $60,000 a year for his mainte- 

 nance. The surveillance grew less strict, as 

 Russian influence gained the upper hand in 

 Persia. He has kept himself in communication 

 with the exiles from Afghanistan and the dis- 

 contented sections of Abdurrahman's subjects. 

 In August, 1887, Ayub made his escape from 

 Teheran. The Shah issued orders for his ap- 

 prehension to the local officials between the 

 capital and Afghanistan, but he fled in another 

 direction, and arrived in safety within Russian 

 dominions. In October he was heard of in 

 the neighborhood of the Russo- Afghan frontier, 

 and was supposed to be engaged in fomenting 

 a revolt against his cousin in the Herat prov- 

 ince and Afghan-Turkistan. Another influen- 

 tial agent for stirring up rebellion in Herat is 

 Iskender Khan, who was appointed governor 

 of Penjdeh in the spring of 1887. 



Dhnleep Singh. The Russians found a new 

 ally, who may be put forward at a convenient 

 juncture as an Indo- Afghan pretender, in the 

 person of the mediatized hereditary Maharajah 

 of Lahore, whose ancient dominions embraced 

 a large part of Afghanistan as well as the 

 entire Punjaub. "When the Punjaub was an- 

 nexed to British India in 1849, the enormous 

 private treasure of the Maharajah was confis- 

 cated. Dhuleep Singh, who was an infant at 

 that time, has several times appealed to the 

 British Government to make restitution of the 

 fortune, but has been told that the allowance 

 of 40,000 a year on which he was induced to 

 live in England was sufficient for the wants of 

 a private individual. He settled on an estate 

 in Norfolk, abandoned the customs and religion 

 of his forefathers, and became thoroughly 

 Anglicized and a popular country squire; but 

 his expenses exceeded his income, and, when 

 he had run deeply in debt, he petitioned to 

 have his allowance increased. The rejection 

 of his suit impelled him to assume a political 

 role and become an instrument of Russia in 

 stirring up disaffection among the Sikhs in 

 Northern India. He left England in 1885, for 

 India, but was not permitted to land. Return- 

 ing to Europe, he was joined in Paris by an 

 Irish revolutionist named Patrick Casey, passed 

 through Berlin under the latter's name, lest 

 English machinations should thwart his pur- 

 pose, and arrived in June at Moscow, where 

 he took counsel with the editor Katkoff, and 

 was warmly received by the Panslavists. 



