292 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT. 



got on well enough, and made a grand appearance. 

 The men marched in a line with the camels, carrying 

 the women and children close in the rear ; and thus 

 we approached the Russian fortress. The worthy 

 commandant was overpowered by gratitude. His re- 

 ceiving charge of the prisoners would make a fine 

 picture, and was a scene which I can never forget. 

 The fortification here is small, but constructed on 

 scientific principles; it is on the edge of the high 

 shore of the Caspian sea. The garrison does not 

 exceed 500 men, who suffer much from scrofula, 

 though relieved twice in the year from Russia. At 

 Arbogue we ascended a cliff of about 300 feet : this 

 bears all the signs of having been, in former ages, the 

 sea-shore ; and I am disposed to think that originally 

 the Caspian and Aral seas were united, and that there 

 was a promontory jutting into this ocean, including 

 Mungishlauk and Arbogue. !N"ow a reef crossed this 

 cliff in two places, and it is traced in modern maps, 

 and designated the Chink : it was across this pro- 

 montory that our route lay from Arbogue to Nova 

 Alexandroff. I am unable to throw any light upon 

 the assertion which has been made, that in former 

 ages the river Oxus flowed into the Caspian sea. This 

 tradition is commonly mentioned and generally be- 

 lieved by the Turkomans and Cossacks ; and Beerdee 

 assured me that he had crossed the original bed of 

 the river, which was easily to be traced ; and he 

 mentioned as an indisputable proof that the trunks 



