172 KEPORT— 1869. 



the wish and the strength to oppose and to baffle the criminal designs of reckless in- 

 truders ? Therefore, instead of fearing the consequences of the development of the na- 

 tural thoroughfares spread out through Central Asia, it is the interest of England to 

 see them established — the sooner the better ; and as such a happy revolution can never 

 take place as long as the countries of Central Asia are not submitted to a regidar 

 European government, nothing can be more satisfactory for the sake of humanity in 

 general (but particularly for the material interests of British India) than the recent 

 political events which tend to convert the whole Turkestan into a Russian province, 

 and in this way to throw a bridge over the abyss of Central Asia, in order to unite 

 the valley of the Indus with the valleys of the Jaxartes and the Oxus. I dare say 

 that, if we consider the settlement of Russians in those remote barbarious countries 

 from the point of view revealed recently by science, it must be hailed by the whole 

 of Europe (and by England more than by any other coimtry) as one of the most im- 

 portant and beneficial facts of modern history, and, at the same time, as one of the 

 most astonishing accomplishments of long-postponed providential schemes ; for let 

 us not forget that the high political and commercial significance of the valley of 

 the Jaxartes did not escape the genius of Alexander the Great, who founded on 

 that river a city imder the name of Alexandria, which was perfectly known in the 

 time of Plinius, who mentions, "Alexandria in ultimis Sogdianorum tinibus." 

 Now this city, like many other creations of the great Macedonian conqueror, not 

 sufficiently imderstood by posterity, did never play the important part to which, 

 imdoubtedly, it was destined by its founder ; for the Alexandria of the iSogdiani is 

 nothing else than the miserable muddy Khodjeud, now in the possession of Russia, 

 a name as little known to the European public as it is difficult to be properly pro- 

 nounced by European tongues; and still it is not improbable that (thanks to its posi- 

 tion in the midst of Tm-kestan on the border of an important river, the classic Jaxar- 

 tes) the humble Khodjend may be some day raised to the rank of one of the chief 

 thoroughfares between Europe, Central Asia, and India : in this way the successors 

 of Peter the Great may become the executors of a legacy bequeathed to them by 

 Alexander the Great, whose mysterious testament has remained sealed up during 

 more than 2000 years ! 



Such are the considerations naturally suggested by the wonderful recent ex- 

 plorations in Central Asia; and I hope they convey a sufficient idea of the high 

 .nterest which must inspire all enlightened persons (but particidarly English and 

 Russian) when they hear of the publication of a new, completed, and corrected 

 edition of Baron von Humboldt's ' Asie centrale.' If the diffusion of geographical 

 information about countries little known may in itself be considered as a service 

 rendered to society, what must not be the importance of such information which 

 relieves two powerful nations of a long-expected and seemingly quite unavoidable 

 struggle, and which proves once more that for the promotion of the sacred cause 

 of Christianity and civilization there is on our globe sufficient place for all ; and that, 

 moreover, England and Russia are charged by Providence to accomplish this great 

 task in the vast continent of Asia, where each of them has a peculiar mission, 

 which can only successfully be carried out if both combine in their exertions and 

 place their moral and material interest under the mighty safeguard of peace, mutual 

 sympathy, religious toleration, and justice. 



Notice of a Bifurcate Stream at Glen Lednocli Head, in PerthsMre. 

 By Capt. T. P. White, E.A. 



A small rivulet rises under a craggy hill which separates the drainage systems of 

 the Tay and Earn ; for a short distance it takes the course of a well-defined gully, 

 till it is met and divided into two by a slight but immediate rise in the ground, 

 which forms, as it were, the nan-ow end of a pear-shaped elevation. This is the 

 extremity of a new ridge which, starting from the Forth, carries on the main 

 watershed, hitherto coincident with the direction of the stream. One of the two 

 divergent waters becomes the Finglen Biu'n, descending into the valley of the Tay ; 

 the other, passing into Glen Lednoch, is a feeder of the river Earn, reunion 

 being ultimately established in the Firth of Tay. A loop is thus formed which 

 insulates a large area of the county of Perth. 



I 



