748 Meeting of the British Association. [Oct., 



fair commencement seems now to require a fresh stimulus. In the 

 interesting discussion which followed the reading of the paper, the 

 Rev. H. B. Tristram spoke of the much better chance of discovering 

 ancient Jewish remains, in retired country places than in the city of 

 Jerusalem, where the Society intended to commence operations. He 

 gave his own experience in Tunis as an example. Whilst there he 

 was for some time the companion of Dr. Davis in his excavations on 

 the site of Carthage. They had to dig through stratum after stratum 

 of Roman and more recent remains before they reached a single Punic 

 inscription ; whereas in an outlying place at a distance from Carthage 

 he discovered abundance of Punic remains by simply scratching the 

 ground. He thought it woidd be similar in Jerusalem, and moreover 

 the Romans used up old Jewish masonry in building their edifices. 

 The best course the travellers employed by the Association could 

 pursue would be to cultivate the good will of some semi-Fellahin 

 tribe, who retained by tradition the names of ancient places mentioned 

 in Exodus and Numbers, and set to work on the sites pointed out by 

 them, which would probably be often some mound hidden in a wood. 



Akin to the foregoing was a paper by Colonel Pelly, entitled 

 " Notes on Arabia," which contained some few details not included in 

 a former paper on his journey to the Wahabee capital, lately contri- 

 buted to the Royal Geographical Society. 



After an amusing anecdotical paper, " On City Life in Bokhara," 

 by the Hungarian Dervish, Dr. Vambery, Sir Henry Rawlinson 

 addressed the Section on the subject of the Russian Frontiers in 

 Central Asia. He said that some few years ago the Russian boundaries 

 extended from the northern shore of the Caspian Sea, by a long bend 

 to the north, towards the limit of Chinese Tartary, and were separated 

 on the south from the Khanats of Khiva, Bokhara, and Khokand — ■ 

 three countries which occupy the space between the Caspian and 

 Chinese Tartary — by a wide region of Steppes, peopled by various 

 tribes of Kirghises. A line of outposts, called the Orenburg and 

 Siberian line, marked the course of this frontier. For many years 

 their hold on the territory was but slight ; and in 1847 they con- 

 structed three forts in order to strengthen it. They penetrated to 

 the south of the Kirgkis Steppe by sending a force in armed steamers 

 up the Jaxartes river, which discharges itself into the Sea of Aral. 

 The Steppe is traversed by few roads, but one of these is of great 

 importance, extending from Orsk, north of the Aral, to the Jaxartes. 

 It is traversible nearly throughout by wheeled carriages. By dint of 

 gradual encroachments during the last few years, the Russians have 

 occupied the whole of the Kirghis territory, and now their frontier 

 extends along the Jaxartes to Fort Perofski, and thence through a 

 part of the Khokand territory to the south of Lake Issyk-kul. They 

 have thus advanced a thousand miles from north to south in the 

 direction of British India, during the time that our own possessions 

 have extended a thousand miles from south to north. The present 

 distance between Peshawar, our real northern boundary, and the 

 nearest point of the Russian frontier, had been ascertained lately by 



