144 



NATURE 



\yune 2 1, 1877 



Ohio, and a fragment weighing about twelve ounces, fell 

 upon a farm near Rochester, Indiana, a part of it being 

 secured by Prof. Kirkwood. The body is described as 

 " peculiar in its structure ; being pisolitic and remarkably 

 friable." It is inferred that no part of the mass could 

 have escaped out of the atmosphere. The aerolite of 

 January 23, or rather a portion of it, after the final 

 explosion, reached the earth in Kentucky, and is now in 

 the collection of Dr. J. Lawrence Smith, of Louisville. 

 The report is stated to have resembled discharges of heavy 

 ordnance, in such close succession, that the different dis- 

 charges were barely distinguishable ; . height at first 

 appearance about seventy miles. 



The Transit of Venus, 1882.— In Aslroii. Nac/i., 

 Nos 2133-4, we have another calculation of the elements 

 of this transit from M. Leverrier's Tables ; it is by Dr. 

 Dei. hmijiler, of ihe Observatory at Bonn, who has fol- 

 lowed Prof Oppolzer's method for the necessary data for 

 reduction of Che observations which are interpolate! down 

 to short intervals in Paris time. There are special calcu- 

 lations for certain principal stations. 



THE LAND OF HISS A R AND KOLAB 

 'TPHE eastern part of the dominions of the Emir of 



-*■ Bokhara is the belt of land between 37° 30' .ind 39° 

 N.L , and 67° and 71° E.L., bordered on the north by the 

 now Kussian province of Saraarknnd and the Karategin, 

 and on the south by Afghanistan (the Balkh, Kunduz, and 

 the Badakshan di>tricts). It has hitherto been all but 

 totally unknown. M. Maieff, after having, together with 

 Lieut. Vishnevsky and M. F. Schwarz, thoroughly ex- 

 plored it m 1875, gives us a description of the land of 

 Hissar and partly that of Kolab {Isvcstia of the Russ. 

 Geog. Soc, 1876, 4th fasc), with an elaborate map, based 

 on numerous determinations of latitudes and longitudes, 

 surveys, and barometrical measurements of heights. 



Two great rivers running east and west, the upper 

 Zerafshan on the north, and the Pandsh, or Upper Oxus, 

 on the sou h, are the natural boundaries of the country. 

 A third liver, the Shehrsebz, running in the same direc- 

 tum unoei 39° N.L., borders its north-western corner, and 

 a mass ot high t ible-land'^, the Pamir, rises to the east 

 of the Ko'.ib district. The wl ole land is filled with 

 mountain,-. (jel.njJing to the Tian Sh^n system. Two 

 mam ndges, whi.h boih run north-east to south-west, and 

 are divid. d b the broad v.illey of ihe Surl an,' form the 

 backbones 01 tnis holy tr ct. Secondary ri.'ges. either 

 p<?.rdll i to the mam oues, or spreading out of them rill 

 iheLO niry. But at tr.eir western e.Ktremities. th- mountain 

 r dge are f^r lower than we know them to be in the east. 

 I'hus, the ridf;e brtw-en the Shchrs bz and the Surhan, 

 now Called t c Hissar Ridge,^ rising above the snow-line 

 in its eastern put-, is tar lower in the western ; and its 

 highest pass, Ak-rabau is but 4 590 feet high, whilst other 

 passes are as low s from 2,200 to 3,600 Icet above the 

 sea-level. The second main rnlfje, lymg to the east of 

 the broad Surhan valley and running between it and that 

 of the Vaksh, -eems to be higher, hut yet fir below the 

 highlands o( Kokand or of Eastern Turkestan. Besides, 

 tne oighlandb are deeply cut into by larye and broad valleys 

 whicn have in their lower parts a prevailing direction 

 souih by west, running thus to the Oxus. The north- 

 western slope of the Hissar ridge is drained by only one 

 river, the Guzar-daria, an affluent of the Shehrsebz ; but, 

 instead of being an insigniricant stream, as on our present 

 maps, it appears as a mighty river fed by the perpetual 

 snows of the Sengri-dai;, and its up xix shores are occu- 

 pied b) a numerous population. Kasi of the Hissar ridge 

 we see a series uf r.road »ell-pco, led valleys. First, 

 that of the Snir-abid, from about 2,500 to 900 feel high, 

 with the towns Derbent, Baisun, and Shir-abad. Next, 



' Tupalik on Mr. Arrowsmith's map in the Jatirn. Roy. Gecg. Soc, 1875. 

 Tupalan is the name of one of the upper affluents of the Surhan. I 



' Its local names are ^ash-hurd. Bainm-tan, Meshai-kenteli, &c. 



the valley of the Surhan river which, as well as the Guzar 

 and the Shir-abad, rises in the snow-covered ridge Meshai- 

 Kentely, and receives many affluents. Some time before 

 its annexation to Bokhara, this valley was a centre of the 

 political life of the country, and, going back in its history, 

 we come to a time when — a local tradition says — the 

 population was so dense that a cat could travel upon the 

 roofs of the dwellings from Denau to the Amu. Now. 

 the population is concentrated in the upper, better- watered 

 parts of the valley, where we find the towns Kara-tag, 

 Sary-djui, Yourchi, and Denau. Further east we have 

 the valley of the Kafirnagan (the Ramid of Ibis-Dast), the 

 source of which is about Paldorak, this river being second 

 in size to the Surhan. An enlargement in the upper parts 

 of its valley, running east and west, is well peopled, and 

 contains the towns Hissar, Fyzabad, Kafirnagan, and 

 Doshambe. Then, below Hissar, the river enters a deep 

 ravine, Pavi-Duldul (the foot of the Duldul, the mythic 

 horse of Ali), at the issue of which is the town Kahadian 

 (460 feet high), close to the Amu-daria. 



Further east, beyond the second main ridge alluded to 

 above (its local names are — By-katyn, Mazi-melek, Avan- 

 tau, &c.), we have the basins of the Upper Oxus, /.(•., of 

 the Vaksh (or Surhab) and the Pandsh, which both, M. 

 Maieff observes, must be considered as the sources of the 

 Oxus. The former ri>es in the glaciers of the Alai-ridge 

 and runs, under the name of Kyzyl-soo, on the Pamir 

 table-land. After having received a great affluent, the 

 Muk-soo, the river bears the name of Surhab and enters 

 the Bokhara dominions through an impracticable deep 

 ravine, at the well-known bridge Pooli-sengui. After a 

 short course among mountains it soon emerges on a 

 plain some 500 feet high. Divided into many branches, 

 the main one about iSo yards broad, it runs to its junc- 

 tion with the Pandj near Kurtjan-tube. Only one of the 

 affluents of the Pandj, the Kchi-Surhab (little Surhab), 

 was explored by M. Maieff; it is formed by two rivers, 

 the Baldshoan and KoUb, the valley of the latter being 

 well peopled and cultivated, notwithstanding the exten- 

 sive marshes which have given their name to the town, 

 Kol lb. 



The population of the country consists of Usbecks and 

 Tadjicks, the former occupying mostly the lower and 

 better parts of the valleys, having driven the Tadjicks back 

 to the upper parts. The banks of the Amu-daria, and 

 especially the western parts of the country, are mostly 

 peopled with Kungrad-Usbecks, the Tadjicks appearing 

 more numerous to the east. The towns contain, as usual, 

 a very mixed population. The lower parts of the Vaksh 

 and the Kolab valley are mostly peopled by Usbecks of 

 the Katagan tribe. Some Kirgises have begun to found 

 settlements in the lower parts of the Vaksh and Pandsh 

 valleys ; and some miserable Turkomans are strewn 

 among the Usbecks on the shores of the Amu. Jews, 

 Hindoos, and Afghans form a very small percentage of 

 the populrtion. 



As to the climate of the country, it is easy to perceive 

 that it must be comparatively mild. In the higher 

 parts of the Kafirnagan valley there are occasionally falls 

 of snow about two feet deep, but the lower parts of the 

 valleys have a mild, rainy winter. Figs grow at Shir- 

 abad unsheltered during the winter. All kinds of corn 

 and fruits common to Central Asia are produced in 

 abundance. Cotton, however, is cultivated only in Shir- 

 abad, owing to facility of export to Karshi (on the 

 Shehrsebz). Rock-salt is worked in the neighbourhoods 

 of Guzar and on the Upper Vaksh, but it must be found 

 also eUcAihere, the salt springs being numerous. Two 

 gold mines are known on the shores of the Vaksh, and 

 richer ones arc rt^ported to exist in the Darvaz. 



The country is under the dominion of the Emir of 

 Bokhara, being administered by nine bicks, vassals to 

 the emir, seven in the Hissar district, and two in that of 

 Kolab. 



