878 Lieut. Irwin's Memoir of Afghanistan. QNov. 



visible in those parts which are neither near to the hills nor the Oxus ; 

 for towards the former, the matter brought down by the rains has often 

 changed the soil to stony, gritty, or gravelly, sometimes to sandy ; to- 

 wards the Oxus the soil becomes a loose unfertile sand. The sands 

 begin at Huzrut Iman, and continue to the lake of Aral, their breadth 

 continually increasing. In the space intercepted between Huzrut 

 Iman and the common road from Bulkh to Bokhara, through Kilif, the 

 average breadth of these sands, which are nearly waste, is more than 

 thirty miles; the sandy tract opposite, on the right of the river, is 

 not so broad. The soil of Bulk is a clayey loam, sufficiently friable, 

 and of a good quality. That of Koonduz is very similar, and in colour 

 black. Khoollum, and generally that under the hills is a hard gra- 

 velly clay. Talikan is a loam inclining to clay, of a good quality. 

 Undkho has a good deal of sand, but Mymuna is a strong clay, and 

 abounds in ravines and broken ground. About half way between 

 Undkho and Mymuna the traveller begins to see numerous hillocks in 

 the plain, and they continue as far as Muro, and almost to Hirat. 

 They are composed of a good soil, without stone, and bear good 

 grass; they are sometimes under crop, but the chief cultivation in 

 this space is near the moist banks of streams constant or temporary. 

 Budukhshan has a stony soil, but otherwise it is very various in con- 

 sistency, colour, and excellence. Fyzabad is a sandy loam of a reddish 

 colour, as is found in many other places. Durwaz, and the Shooghnan 

 and Wukhan vallies have a blackish soil. The same observations 

 are probably as applicable to Wukeeha and Keerategin as to Budukh- 

 shan. 



105. The west of Toorkistan is sandy, and without artificial water- 

 ing yields poor crops; hence the chief cultivation is near the banks 

 of rivers and streams. Between Kilat and Bokhara the water of wells 

 is usually brackish, but is found at moderate depths. The hillocks near 

 this road are of sand, not of a good soil as those of Bactria. To the 

 west of Bokhara is the Kurakol, an uncultivated space which extends 

 to the lake of Aral ; but it is not considered as crossing to the left of the 

 Oxus, where begins the great desert of Margiana, so called by the anci- 

 ents. The principality of K hwaruzm is thus encircled by deserts. It is 

 however to be remarked, that the Toorkmuns who live on the edge of 

 the river, generally avail themselves of the facilities it affords for irri- 

 gation in its flood season, and raise some crops on the low grounds near 

 it. Water is here so near the surface, that the inhabitants often dig wells, 

 where they pitch their tents, to serve for their use during the time they 

 may halt. In the interior of the deserts there are wells, which have 



