308 



GEOGRAPHICAL PROGRESS AND DISCOVERY. 



pebbles, pebbly sand, the washing away of 

 banks and the like, are scarcely to be found. 

 Another proof is afforded by the discovery of 

 important traces of the action of marine ice in 

 this depression a very rare phenomenon in 

 Central Asia. 



As to the practical question involved, M. 

 Konschin says : " In order to pass around the 

 Sarakamysh basin from the Arau-darja toward 

 Bala-ischem to the Ust-Urt it would be neces- 

 sary to construct a canal of at least 300 kilo- 

 metres through a region of large sand-hills and 

 partly through rock. But to fill the basin 

 again with water seems to me an undertaking 

 not to be thought of, as it would be to form a 

 sea in a place where it would be subjected to 

 the powerful geological agencies there active. 

 Neither would the western Usboi in its present 

 condition, even at high water, afford ship-pas- 

 sage to it. A series of canals would have to 

 be constructed through the Balkan plain, as 

 well as through the swampy tract at Baba- 

 chodsha, and at other points costly hydrotech- 

 nic machinery would be needed. The cost of 

 the undertaking would be out of proportion to 

 the advantages Russia would be likely to gain 

 by this connection with Central Asia. 



" In conclusion, it remains to devote a few 

 words to the question : What causes effected the 

 drying up of the Turkomanian plain? In my 

 opinion two causes contributed: first, the ac- 

 tion of polar winds ; and, second, the upheaval 

 of the earth. 



" The latter is evidenced by, first, the high 

 altitude of the more recent Pliocene strata in 

 the ravines of the Kioren-dagh ; second, the 

 hooked form of the peninsulas of Krasnovolsk 

 and Darshe, of the island of Cheleken, which 

 is on the way to becoming a peninsula, and of 

 the Great Balkan, which was a peninsula ; 

 third, the hooked and finger-form of numerous 

 tongues of land on the northern and western 

 shores of the peninsula Darshe, as on the 

 neighboring shore of the Caspian ; fourth, the 

 long, narrosv coast-lakes that line the shore ot 

 the Caspian between the Khiva and Chikishliar 

 bays; fifth, the many narrow lagoon-beds run- 

 ning parallel to the length of the oasis of 

 Akaltekke and to the Kioren and Kopet-dagh 

 ranges ; sixth, the peculiarity of the mouths 

 of the Atrek and Gurgan rivers, showing great 

 marshy stretches, bays, and numerous chan- 

 nels; seventh, the many remains of marine or- 

 ganisms and traces of the dynamic and static 

 action of the sea at elevations considerably 

 above the present sea-level. 



" As to the action of polar winds, the effect 

 of the north and northeast winds in Turko- 

 mania is well known. They are like powerful 

 pumps continually acting to draw the moisture 

 from the soil and carrying it from east to west. 

 So few showers fall during the warm season 

 that constant diminution of the water would 

 be inevitable. 



"From all these considerations it appears 

 that the country is condemned to bear the 



character of a desolate waste. Nature has 

 given to it only a cloudless sky, barren mount- 

 ains, rivers without water, clouds of dust and 

 sand, and dead plains of salt." 



The boundary between the Russian posses- 

 sions in Asia and Afghanistan has been settled 

 after three years of negotiation, by a treaty 

 concluded July 22 at St. Petersburg and rati- 

 fied August 3. Herr H. Wichmann gives an 

 account of the difficulties and the progress of 

 the agreement substantially as follows: As long 

 ago as 1873, England and Russia, whose lead- 

 ing statesmen were convinced of the undesira- 

 bility of having their possessions meet in Asia, 

 made provisional agreement to maintain the 

 territory of Afghanistan as it then stood, giv- 

 ing that state the position of a bulwark be- 

 tween the two powers. The Amu-darja from 

 the mouth of the Koktsha to Khodsba-Salih 

 was designated as the northern boundary of 

 Afghanistan ; the line from there to the Per- 

 sian borders was not settled, but the districts 

 of Aktsha, Seripul, Maimeneh, Shibagan, and 

 Andkhoi were recognized as belonging to Af- 

 ghanistan. The western boundary also was 

 left undefined, as this was premised to be al- 

 ready known. There was no anxiety in Eng- 

 land about the northwestern boundary, as at 

 that time there was no indication that Russia 

 would advance from that side through the ter- 

 ritory of the Turkoman tribes and the Desert 

 of Karakum. 



It was not till after the lapse of ten years 

 and more that it became apparent that very 

 little was known of the real extent of the Af- 

 ghan empire, and that the boundaries laid 

 down so long on the maps between Sarakhs 

 and the Oxus had been drawn at random, 

 without any credible information about the 

 tribes subject to Afghanistan and those that 

 were independent. The question was again 

 agitated in 1881, but nothing came of it. It 

 became more pressing after the surrender of 

 Merv in March, 1885, when the Turkoman 

 tribes, even those most remote, the Sarik Tur- 

 komans, who had their pasture-grounds along 

 the middle course of the Murghab and on the 

 lower Kushk, voluntarily subjected themselves 

 to Russia; for this made it evident that Af- 

 ghan sovereignty did not extend over the ter- 

 ritory between the rivers Tejend and Mnrghab. 



The negotiations, taken up again in March, 

 1884, were delayed, after the appointment of 

 a mixed commission, by the demand on the 

 part of Russia that an understanding should 

 first be had as to the starting-place of the Af- 

 ghan boundary from Persia, the place of cross- 

 ing the Murghab, and the direction it should 

 take to the Amu-darja. These questions were 

 settled Sept. 10, 1885, and the commission be- 

 gan its work in November at Zulfikar on the 

 Heri-Rnd, the upper course of the Tejend, 

 which forms the boundary between Persia and 

 Russian Turkistan to a little north of Sarakhs. 

 No difficulties were experienced until the ques- 

 tion arose as to the ending of the line at the 



