May 1, 1885. J 



SCIENCE. 



367 



It is not difficult to comprehend the motives 

 by which, in 1869, Russia was prompted to 

 send her troops across the Caspian Sea ; 

 and it is likewise easy to perceive why, nine 

 years later, she sent an embassy to Afghanis- 

 tan, whose voyage is parti}' described in the 

 volume now before us. The person intrusted 

 with this mission was Major-Gen. N. G. Stol- 

 ettoff of the imperial arm}'. His command 

 consisted of twenty-two Cossacks, a colonel, 

 a topographer, three interpreters, and a physi- 

 cian. The latter, Dr. Jaworskij, who also per- 

 formed the duty of historian, some time ago 

 published two short volumes in Russian, con- 

 taining the results of his observations. The 

 first volume of this work has just been issued 

 in a German translation. 



Similar to other previous travellers, who have 

 been visitors rather than explorers, the mem- 

 bers of the embassy followed a single track, 

 the shortest from one important point to the 

 next, leaving the country to right and left un- 

 visited. At the time the voyage was under- 

 taken, the existing maps of the country had 

 been mostly compiled from rough and unsci- 

 entific observations. The}' were necessarily 

 incomplete : places were located miles from 

 their true position, rivers were running up hills, 

 and mountains were set upon plains. Unlike 

 most of his predecessors, Dr. Jaworskij, evi- 

 dently accustomed to observing, had eyes to 

 see, and ears to hear ; and his descriptive power 

 is certainly not of an inferior order. As a 

 physician, he had rare opportunities to observe 

 the family life of the various tribes through 

 whose dominions the track of the embassy 

 passed, and to study habits and customs which 

 would probably escape the notice of the ordi- 

 nary traveller. We watch him with true 

 pleasure, making his preparations at Tashkend, 

 the place from which the embassy started. 

 We follow him to Samarkand, and thence to 

 Dsham. We get acquainted with the genuine 

 hospitality of the Bokharians, with the mode 

 of life of the members of the embassy while 

 at Karshi, and the ceremonies accompanying 

 the receptions given by the emir of Bokhara. 

 Leaving Karshi, the travellers wended their 

 way across the steppe, to Amu Daria. While 

 attempting to cross the river bearing the same 

 name, they met with serious difficulties, as the 

 Afghans would not permit them to land on 

 their native soil. This obstacle, however, was 

 soon overcome : they were made at home by 

 the officials of Amu Daria, and received a 

 military escort of three hundred men to take 

 them across the desert to Mazar-i- Sharif, where 

 they were welcomed by the serdar, at the head 



of several regiments of soldiers. Notwith- 

 standing all the precautions taken, most of 

 the Russians suffered severely from the local 

 malarial fever, which induced them to leave 

 their quarters sooner than their suspicious 

 hosts had originally anticipated. Accepting an 

 invitation, tendered them by the emir Shir- 

 Ali-Khan, to come to Kabul, they set out for 

 that place after a fortnight's sojourn. Kabul 

 was to be the terminus of their voyage. 



Passing the valley of the Amu Daria, of 

 which the author gives a graphic description, 

 which may be considered a brief monograph, 

 the travellers followed the banks of the Khulm. 

 They then moved through Dere-i-Sendan, 

 termed a glen in the narrative, but which, ac- 

 cording to the account (p. 231), appears to be 

 a regular extensive canon, with perpendicular 

 walls of an average height of about five hun- 

 dred feet. Unfortunately, Dr. Jaworskij does 

 not seem to have paid much attention to the 

 geological features of the country traversed, for 

 his observations in this respect are more than 

 meagre. To go into the interesting details of 

 the voyage to Kabul, would exceed the limits 

 of these columns, and we therefore have to refer 

 the reader to the volume itself. It may suffice 

 here to state that the first mountain pass 

 crossed on the way to Bamian was that of 

 Tshembarak ; but we cannot omit mentioning 

 the description of the vast caves in the Bami- 

 an valley, and the colossal stone images, rep- 

 resenting human figures, which adorn their 

 entrances. These rude statues, hewn out of 

 the native rock (a conglomerate, according to 

 the author) , with which they are still connected 

 by their backs, vividly remind us of the sculp- 

 tures of Easter Island. They are represented 

 on the plate facing p. 280. The entrances to 

 the caves open between the legs of these 

 images, which are loosely draped, and whose 

 sex remains doubtful. It would be of interest 

 and importance to unveil the true character of 

 the dark round spots scattered over the appar- 

 ently perpendicular and projecting narrow sur- 

 face, which reaches from the ground almost to 

 the broken-off elbow of the largest figure on 

 the above-named plate. Until better informed. 

 we should feel inclined to consider them as so- 

 called cup-cuttings. 



Having traversed the Sefid Khak, the last 

 mountain pass to be crossed, the embassy, on 

 approaching the goal of their voyage, were 

 met by a vesir, who gave them a warm, broth- 

 erly welcome. He embraced the general and 

 his officers, placed his saddle-elephants at their 

 disposal, and escorted them to Kabul, where spa- 

 cious quarters had been provided for them by 



