74 Russian Mission from Orenbourg to Bokhara. 



his independence ; and, at liis death, in 1820, he recommended his two 

 sons to thp khan of Bokhara. 



In the following year, Kataghan, chief of the tribe of Ouzbeks of 

 Tchehlminar (forty towers), made incursion upon the territory of the 

 two youths, and drove them out. Upon this the khan of Bokhara 

 dispatched a force of 12,003 men against Kataghan, and forced him to 

 take shelter in the fort of Balkh, where they hoped soon to take him 

 prisoner ; affairs were in this state when I left Bokhara. 



In going from Balkh to Caboul, the first day's halt is at the tomb of 

 the shah Merdan ; where there is a small hillock. The second stage is to 

 Khoulm, an independent town ; when it belonged to the Afghans, a 

 duty of two and a half per cent was exacted upon all the merchandizes 

 belonging to the caravans that passed by j the same duty was also 

 levied at Balkh and at Bamian. 



After Kilitch-Ali, khan of Khoulm, had thrown off the yoke of the 

 Afghans, he no longer levied any tax upon travellers. A Matiomedan 

 law forbids all persons who cannot keep a standing force of 12,000 

 armed men to receive any other tributes than the zeknt and the 

 gJiarchour; and consequently does not permit them to tax travellers. 



The son of Kilitch-Ali, whose religious scruples were less than his 

 father's, re-established the duties. He died about three years since. 



It is said that five rivers unite at Khoulm and form a cascade. The 

 Khoulm river falls into the Amou. I have been assured that the city 

 of Khoulm, properly so called, has been entirely destroyed, and that the 

 town now bearing that name is the one formerly called Tachkourghan, 

 about sixty five verstes from Balkh. 



It is a day's journey from Klioulm to the fort of the Aibek. The 

 road lies along the river of Khoulm, which rises in the country of the 

 Douab, at the distance of about four day's journey. The banks of this 

 river are covered with fields and gardens. 



A river rises in the country of Feizabad, which falls into the Khoulm 

 near Ai'bek. 



The distance from Aibek to the Douab is reckoned at fifty-six verstes ; 

 from Ai'bek begins the magnificent valley of Arizandan, full of gardens; 

 and eleven, verstes farther is the town of Serbagh. 



After a journey of twelve verstes from Elba, we arrive in Ghourram ; 

 a country filled with villages, and very thickly peopled. By following 

 the source of the Khoulm river, the road lies through a valley, which 

 becomes very narrow at fifteen verstes from Ghourram, near Rouij 

 close to this village the road turns to the left, to Douab, at the distance 

 of about forty verstes. 



Here it is necessary to cross the mountain of Carakoutal, which 



