GEOGRAPHICAL PROGRESS AND DISCOVERY. 



307 



Dr.G. J. Radde, Director of the Caucasus Mu- 

 seum and the public library at Tiflis, has pub- 

 lished this year his report of the expedition 

 undertaken last year (1886) for the explora- 

 tion of the Trans-Caspian lands recently ac- 

 quired by Russia, and the adjoining territory 

 of northern Khorassan, under the auspices of 

 the Russian authorities. The objects of the 

 expedition, which lasted eight months, were: 

 the study of the general physico-geographical 

 conditions of the southwestern part of the 

 former Aral-Caspian basin and the isolated 

 mountains rising from it and connected mount- 

 ain chains; the study of the geological forma- 

 tions in their general character and in the 

 special features that may be of use in future 

 mining undertakings, such as deposits of salt, 

 sulphur, and naphtha; and the study of the 

 fauna and flora with the gathering of collec- 

 tions for future study. The principal mem- 

 bers of the expedition were Dr. Radde, Dr. A. 

 Walker, and A. M. Konschin, an engineer who 

 is well acquainted with the country, having 

 been engaged in mining operations there since 

 1881, and who has given considerable study to 

 the Oxus question. Many deposits of naph- 

 tha, saltpetre, common salt, sulphur, gypsum, 

 Glauber's-salt,and the like have been discovered 

 by him in his various tours, in which he esti- 

 mates that he has traveled in all about 8,500 

 kilometres. The Trans-Caspian naphtha-fields 

 lie in the sandy depression at the foot of the 

 Balkan mountains, 30 kilometres west of the 

 stations Bala-ischem and Aidin on the Trans- 

 Caspian railway. The naphtha-bearing hills, 

 of which there are two groups, the Naphtha- 

 dagh and the Buja-dagh, are made up of salty, 

 parti-colored clays and marls, saturated with 

 the naphtha and covered with coarse and fine 

 sand, having a stratified form and also filled 

 with naphtha. As to the value of this product 

 in future, Herr Konschin does not think that 

 its export in either crude or distilled form will 

 ever be profitable. But he thinks it promises 

 to be of great service as fuel for the railroad 

 and the country, which is wholly destitute of 

 forests and of coal. Naphtha is also found on 

 the island of Cheleken, and traces of it have 

 been noticed at Chikishljur and on the moun- 

 tains of Kelat. 



A rich deposit of sulphur was found in the 

 midst of the Desert of Karakum in numerous 

 groups of rounded hills. The place is called 

 by the natives Kyrk-dsuhulba, meaning "forty 

 hills." The sulphur, which is in -masses and 

 veins amid strata of marl, clay, and sand, is of 

 excellent quality, and in spite of its remote 

 position is worthy the attention of those inter- 

 ested in the sulphur-trade. The railway is at 

 least 200 kilometres distant. The other min- 

 erals named exist in good quality and abun- 

 dance. Great quantities of salt are found along 

 the Caspian on its ancient bed ; and the depos- 

 its near Akrabad, not far from the Afghan 

 border, supply the inhabitants of the oases 

 of Merv, Pende. and Tejend, as well as those 



of the neighboring parts of Afghanistan and 

 Khorassan. 



As to the adaptability of the country to 

 agriculture, M. Konschin says scarcely the 

 hundredth part of the surface is fit for culti- 

 vation. " All of the remainder bears the typi- 

 cal desolate character of the central Asiatic 

 desert. The greater part of it is covered with 

 vast masses of sand in monotonous wave-like 

 forms. Here and there the sand-hills alternate 

 with bare clay -fields or barren, salt- bearing 

 basins and dried-up lagoon-beds. These three, 

 the salt hills, clay-beds, and dry valleys of salt 

 and gypsum, are the typical features of the 

 physiognomy of Turkomania. Unattractive 

 as the country is, it is of great interest to the 

 geologist. Here must be decided the questions 

 raised by Pallas and Humboldt regarding the 

 history of the ancient Pontic- Aral-Caspian Sea 

 and its division into three great basins, now 

 represented by the Caspian, the Aral, and the 

 Black seas. Was the change made gradually 

 under the influence of dry polar winds, or by 

 an upheaval of the earth's surface causing a 

 sudden outflow of the waters, according to 

 Baer's theory, or were there upheavals at 

 some points with corresponding simultaneous 

 depressions at others, causing the water to 

 settle in the smaller and deeper basins ? Here 

 also is the question as to what is called the 

 old beds of the Amu-Darja, known as the 

 Usboi, Ungus, Aktama, etc., all of which trav- 

 erse the plain between the present Amu and 

 the Caspian Sea. This question is not only of 

 interest to scientists, but its practical impor- 

 tance was recognized even by Peter the Great, 

 and is seen by the Russian Government to-day. 

 The question is whether the Amu-Darja can 

 again be connected with the Caspian, a ques- 

 tion of great moment to Russia, politically as 

 well as commercially." 



M. Konschin's conclusion is that the dried- 

 up lakes, gulfs, etc., the principal series of 

 which intersects the Karakum steppe from 

 northwest to southeast, are only an ancient 

 shore-line of the Caspian, and not an old bed 

 of the Amu-darja. The Sarakamysh basin 

 when filled with water was in connection with 

 the Aral by means of the Gulf of Abougir and 

 with the Caspian by the Balkan Gulf, and into 

 the basin flowed the Amu-darja from the 

 southeast. The final connection between the 

 Aral and the Caspian was by means of the de- 

 pression of the western Usboi extending along 

 the Ust-Urt and the Great Balkan. The Usboi, 

 therefore, was not a continuation of the Amu- 

 darja or an old bed of the Oxus. The clear 

 salt water of the Usboi can not be traced to 

 the muddy fresh water of the Amu-darja, and 

 the lack of cut-offs from the latter in the de- 

 pressed plain of Turkomania and of every 

 trace of life forbids the supposition that it was 

 ever connected with the Caspian in its present 

 limits. The presence of salt in large quanti- 

 ties is a further proof of this view, and traces 

 of the action of flowing water, such as rounded 



