368 



SCIENCE 



[Vol. V., No. 117. 



order of the emir, who sent word that he would 

 be happ}' to receive them. The day following 

 the friendly reception, the Russian ambassador 

 examined the presents sent by the governor- 

 general of Turkestan to be delivered to the 

 chieftain, and found to his great disma} T that 

 they consisted of almost worthless things. 

 According to the author, they were shabby to 

 behold, and bej'ond the most indulgent criti- 

 cism. Gen. Stolettoff, anxious to prevent the 

 reputation of his countiy from being dam- 

 aged by a fraudulent governor, selected three 

 of his best horses given him hy the emir of 

 Bokhara. He had them provided with richly 

 ornamented Bokharian saddles, with brocade 

 blankets, and the officers cheerfully added 

 their silver tea-set, most of their plate, some 

 costly fire-arms, and various other valuable 

 objects. The emir graciously accepted these 

 gifts, sending in return 11,000 rupees, which, 

 after some remonstrance, had to be accepted 

 by the Russians in order not to offend the 

 princely donor. 



During their sojourn at Kabul, two events of 

 importance took place. The heir to the throne 

 of Afghanistan died after an illness of only a 

 few days. In consequence thereof, the para- 

 graph in the projected Afghano-Russian con- 

 vention, that "the imperial Russian govern- 

 ment recognizes Abdullah-Dshan as heir to 

 the throne of Afghanistan," was changed as 

 follows : "The Russian government is ready to 

 recognize as heirs such persons as may be 

 nominated by Emir Shir-Ali-Khan." 



Shortly afterwards the emir received the 

 unexpected message that an English embassy 

 was under way to pay their respects to him, 

 and that he should receive them " according to 

 the usage of hospitality becoming to a good 

 neighbor of India." This piece of news was 

 surprising, for two years previous the emir 

 had entirely fallen out with the English. 

 Under these conditions, he could by no means 

 receive the embassj'. Like a good diplomate, 

 he used the recent death of his son as a pre- 

 text, and informed them that he was in mourn- 

 ing ; but to no effect. The English insisted 

 upon being received. After holding a con- 

 sultation with the Russian general, he sent 

 them the only possible answer : he emphatically 

 declined to receive them. 



On the 11th of August, Gen. Stolettoff, ac- 

 companied only by the author and a number of 

 Cossacks, suddenly left Kabul. Twenty days 

 later, the}' again reached Samarkand, after an 

 absence of almost fifteen months. The rest of 

 his staff had been directed to remain at Kabul 

 to await further orders. 



We regret that we can dwell no longer upon 

 this interesting and timely work, but we hope 

 that we shall soon have an opportunity of 

 reviewing the second volume, which has not 

 reached us. We wish the translator might 

 have displayed a little more artistic taste. 

 That he has performed his work with minute 

 correctness, cannot be denied ; but his Ger- 

 man style is by no means elegant. Sentences 

 like the following, — ' Ich wollte furclitbar 

 schlafen,' or ' Sie iverclen sich zerschlagen ' 

 (p. 137) , — remind us too vividly of the idiom 

 used by Senor Pedro Carolino in his ' English 

 as she is spoke.' It is true that he states in 

 his preface that he had attempted to render- 

 his translation as correct as possible ; but we 

 are far from even admiring the language of his 

 introduction. We are, however, indebted to 

 him for a better track-map than the one in the 

 original, though the orthography of the names 

 in the text does not always agree with that on 

 the map. 



THE RUSSIANS AT THE GATES OF 

 HERA T. 



No higher compliment could be paid to Mr. 

 Marvin's little book than the fact, that, within 

 ten da} T s after it appeared, it formed the basis 

 of leading articles on the Afghan dispute in 

 nearly all the principal papers in the country, 

 and in most of them without any acknowledg- 

 ment. No one but a man who had made a 

 most careful stud}' of the subject could have 

 condensed so much, and such timely, infor- 

 mation in such small space and on such short 

 notice. The preface bears the date of March 

 23 ; and the book gives the clearest possible 

 insight into the progress of Russia's advance 

 from the Caspian during the last few years, 

 the purpose and aim of her movements, the 

 origin of the boundary dispute, and its con- 

 dition on the date named. With the aid of 

 this book, the telegrams in the daily papers 

 become clear and intelligible, and an} T one can 

 follow the development of events hereafter 

 with a clear understanding of them. 



Mr. Marvin has passed a considerable part 

 of his life among the Russians, and under- 

 stands their language. While he is naturally 

 alarmed at Russia's progress, and opposed to 

 her intentions, }~et he writes in a calm and 

 moderate tone. He always strives to be just, 

 and comes as near being so as is possible when 

 one is a party to a controversy. In his inter- 



The Russians at the gates of Herat. By Charles Marvin. 

 New York, Charles Scribner's so?is, 1885. 10+185 p., illustr. 

 16°. 



