794 



Ki;roiir — 1884. 



m 



Lake Tan{?iuiyika. Thos.' places .ire likely to become ihe first centres of tnulf at 

 which the native.-; have alreiidy learned to resj)ect the white man, where lliere are 

 residents who have niasteivd their lanf^uajre, and wliere native inter])reter.s are to 

 hi! found, Jielievinir, \h<n\, thai social problems oi' no cominou decree "fcompltxitv 

 are certain to ariM' in a lew years from the couiliet of many creeds and nationaliti'?,^^ 

 in a sort of ' no man's land,' the table I subjoin may assist those who desire to iiave 

 a delinite idea of the ])vo,iiress already made. I am bound 1o add that ' no man's 

 land ' is a ]ihrase which oidy expresses Euro])ean views. 'Die natives luive vtrv 

 definite territorial ideas. 



11. From Central Africa it is not an unnatural transition to Centml Asia, tli'r 

 res-ion next the most inaccessible, and pregnant, perliajis, with ^'■reater events. 

 The Russian project for diverting' the O.vus or Anui Darya from the Sea of Aral 

 into the Caspian, remains nnder iiivesti,L'ation. ^^'e learn from the lively account 

 of Mr. (leofiiT; Kennan, a recent American traveller, that there is more tluin one 

 motive for undertaking liiis great work, if it .^liall prove practicable. Iff .states 

 that the lowering of the level of the Ca.'»i)ian Sea, in consequence <if the irreat 

 evaporation from its .surface, is occasioning tiie liussian Govermneut great aiixietv, 

 that the level is .steadily but .slowly falling, notwitli.<tanding llie enormous qiiantitv 

 <if water poured in by tlie \'olga, tlie I'ral, and otlier rivers. In fact, Colom'l 

 Viinikof .says that tiie Ca.spian is diying up fast, and tliat tlie fresh-water seals, 

 which form so curious a feature of its fauna, are fast diminishing in number. At 

 first view there would not apjjcar great difliculty in restoring water communication, 

 the point where the river would be diverted Ijeing about -'10 ft. above the Caspian; 

 but accurate levelling has sliowu considerable depressions in the interveninir tiac. 

 As the question is one of great geographical interest we may devote a fewminutis 

 to it. It is not to be doubted that the ( )xus, or a branch of it, ouce flowed iiiio the 

 Caspian Sea. Professor K. Lenz, of tlie Russian Academic Imperiale des Sciences, 

 sums up his investigation of ancient authorities Ijy afHrming tliaf tliere is no .sati.s- 

 factorv evidence of its ever having done so before tlie year RJi'O; passages wliich 

 I'.ave been quoted from Arab writers of the ninth century only ju'ove in his opiniun 

 , tliat they did not discriminate between the Caspian Sea and the Sea nf Aral. 

 There is evidence that in tlie thirteenth and fourteenth centuries the river hifiiv- 

 cated, and one branch found its way to the Caspian, but ])robably cea.sed to do >o 

 in the sixteentli century. This agrees witii Turlconiaii traditions. 1'lven so lateas 

 1>^<)'.' the waters of the Oxus reached Lake Sara Kamysh, 8U or !?() miles frm 

 their channel, in u great flood, as happened also in IbOO, but Sara Kamysli is now 

 some 41) feet hnvertlian the Caspian, and Ijefore they couldproceed further an iiuiuense 

 basin must be filled. The dilliculties then of the restoration by artificial means ot' 

 a cnnimunication which natural causes have cut off, are (f/) The disappearance of 

 the old bed, which caimot be traced at all over part of the way : (V>) The possilnlity 

 that further natural changes, such as have taken place on the Syr-Daria, mav 

 defeat the object ; (c) The inimen.se expeniliture under any circumstances necessary, 

 the distance being about .joO miles, which avouM be out of all proportion tu any 

 ■immediate commercial benelit to be expected. We may very .safely conclude that 

 the thing will not be done, nor is it at all probable that Russian finaiict s will 

 permit the alternative propcjsal of cutting a purely artificial canal liy the slniriest 

 line, at an estimated expense of 15 to 20 million roubles. 



We have had, I think, no Ui'ws of tlie intrepid Russian traveller. Colonel 

 Prejevalsky, who started from Kiakhta on November 20, of later date than 

 January I'O, when he had reached Ala.shaii, mn-th of I lie (ireat Wall. He liadfor 

 tlie third lime crossed the great De.-ert of Cobi, wliere lie ex])erienced a teinpei'ii- 

 ture below the freezing point of mercury, and was to start for liake Kukii-nor 

 < + IO,;")O0ft.) the following day, thence to ]iroceed to Tsaidara, where he proiio.sel 

 to form a de])6t of stores and ])rovisions, and leaving some ot" his party here, t'l 

 <Mideavour to reach the sources of the Yang-tsekiang, or Yellow Ivi'er. 1',^^'" 

 his intention to devote the early part of the inv.sent summer to exjiloration of tli' 

 Sefani country, situated between Kuku-nor to the north and iSatan to the south— 

 a country likely to yield an abundant harvest of novelty in natural history— 

 afterwards to transfer his parly to Hast, in ^^'estern Tsaidam, which may he 



