758 Lieut. Irwin's Memoir of Afghanistan. CSept. 



but little elucidated them. In future they will be but seldom men- 

 tioned. 



18. We have already seen that the Belur and Alak chains divide 

 the Chinese from the independent Toorkistan, which stretches thence 

 west to the Caspian, and its three natural divisions into Toorkistan ; 

 this side the Ox us. Toorkistan, between the Oxus and Jaxartes, has 

 been mentioned. The boundaries of the last division to the north, 

 where it touches the Russian empire, are supposed to be denned 

 by no great river or mountainous chain or other natural line. Geogra- 

 phers name minor ranges of hills in this division, but it is certain 

 the far greater part is occupied by plains. This is still more true 

 of its western than its eastern parts, and the former in consequence 

 is scarcely an agricultural country, while in the latter we find the 

 greater part of the dominions of the civilized state of Tashkund, and 

 part of that of Kokun, but the capital of that principality and the 

 greater part of the dominions lie in the middle division of Toorkistan. 

 The east of this division contains in addition to Kokun, Keerategen, 

 Wukheet a part of Durwaz, and nearly the whole of Hissar, with some 

 other petty states. All these are hilly countries, and with the excep- 

 tion of the last, they may all be called mountainous ; the valleys are 

 of various widths, but generally narrow, and the road from one to 

 another difficult. Durwaz is particularly narrow and impracticable; 

 it lies on the Punj or Upper Oxus, and its princes were of a race 

 which claimed descent from Alexander the Great. By late accounts, 

 the living representative has been expelled by the Keerategenees.* In 

 the west of this middle division we find Shuhr Subz, an inconsiderable 

 state, and the dominions of Bokhara, which is the most powerful 

 state in Toorkistan. The mountains of the east enter this tract, but 

 diminish in their progress, and at length disappear. The west is 

 therefore an open plain with the exception of the district of Nooruta, 

 in which we find the Akhtan hills. These are of moderate height, 

 although the name would lead us to judge otherwise. The highest 

 of the whole has no snow beyond the middle of April. The extent 

 of the range is not great, and no stream originates in it. The parts of 

 this division of Toorkistan which border on the Aral lake, or sea to 

 the west, are flat, sandy, and uncultivated ; and the like is true of 

 the opposite tracts beyond the Jaxartes and of those beyond the Oxus, 

 with the exception of Khwaruzm. This was in ancient times the 

 centre of a powerful kingdom, but now its weight is but small ; its 



* Not expelled, but deprived of part of his dominions (December 12th), 



