1836.] 



Tartary and Afghanistan. 



points, and never through the fertile districts, which are all in the 

 Tallies of the high mountains, or at their feet. The cultivation 

 generally depends on irrigation, and, in the plains, water is seldom 

 to be met with, and the rain is insufficient for vegetation. You 

 may march for days and not see a single village ; at the same time be 

 able to procure every supply from the keeper of the Caravanserai ; 

 40 lbs. of bread for a Rupee is considered high, and 10 lbs. of excel- 

 lent mutton may be had for the same price. The villages which supply 

 these things are probably 10 miles to the right or left. An army, under 

 the Persian governments, would be directed to assemble at a certain 

 point in some fertile district, and but a small part would follow 

 the high road. The Khorasan troops annually come to the camp 

 at Sultania, and 30,000 pilgrims pass the same way ; they all 

 purchase provisions without difficulty. An invading army could be 

 deprived of this advantage, and it would be necessary to march by 

 several parallel columns, joining at certain towns, where a large 

 stock of provisions is always kept. An army should therefore have 

 one month's supply of provisions j (biscuit is better than grain or flour)* 

 When the crops are on the ground, forage for the cavalry will be pro- 

 curable, and the country ruined, and a famine generally follows the 

 passage of a large army, if arrangements have not been made for at 

 least one year before, and the meadows strictly preserved in the line the 

 troops take. 



The country between Russia and Persia, to the east of the Caspian 

 and sea of Aral, is generally considered a desert, though formerly it 

 comprised the powerful kingdom of Khorasm, and several parts of it, 

 as Bokhara, Sameraud, Ko-Khan, &c. are described as the most agree- 

 able residencies in the vast empire of Timur, abounding in great and 

 flourishing towns, and frequented by merchants from every part of the 

 world. It is at present much more thickly inhabited than is generally 

 supposed, but, the population being principally migratory, it presents a 

 very different appearance, according to the season of the year. In 

 winter the low lands are covered with tents, where in summer not a 

 soul will be seen, all having gone to the mountains or upper part of 

 the rivers near Ala Taug. 



Russia first settled the present government of Orenburg, and esta« 

 blished the line of the Yaik, or Oral, in 1730. It was at that time 

 infested by the Cossack pirates who had fled from the Volga, and join- 

 ing the Baschiers and other Tartars, made irruptions into the neigh- 

 bouring provinces. The town of Orenburg was then founded, and a 

 line of forts drawn from the Caspian to the great chain of the Aral 

 mountains. The Cossacks and Baschiers were taken into theservice of 

 Russia, and formed into 12 regiments of 500 men each, to whom were 

 granted lands, a small pay and freedom from taxes. 



