1'fiO 



Russia?i Mission from Orenbourg to Bokhara. 



[July 



Chatter VI. 



Gold Mines— Aghatma — Fine country — Reception by the inhabitants — 

 European prisoners — Interview with the Couch-bcghi — Entry into 

 Bokhara. 



After passing the Kizil-coum, we crossed a plain covered with absin- 

 the, bounded on the right by the mountains of Bokhara. The Bokha- 

 rians, who accompanied us, dreaded a surprize from the Khivians ; as 

 they said it was to take the nearest road to Iouz-koudouk ; this pre- 

 venled our examining the mountains of Boukhan, which I was not able 

 to do till our return the next spring; like the mountains of Moughodjar, 

 they rise to the height of about 600 feet above the plain, very much 

 scarified, rocky, composed of quartz, mixed with sienite and diabase, 

 forming numerous, but very narrow glens. Near the wells of Boukhan 

 a small spring runs from the mountains, which disappears a few hun- 

 dred toises in the plain. The best road, and the shortest, is however 

 that which runs from the Kizil-coum, near the mountains, to Iouz- 

 koudouk. 



After passing the plain, I have just mentioned, we entered an elevated 

 district, through which runs the mountains of Baukhan, Iouz-koudouk 

 Kapkantach ; which are ramifications of the great range situated to 

 the south of Khokhan and east of Bokhara, 



Near the wells of Boukhan, this chain turns to the west, extending 

 to the Amou-deria, separating near its banks into the hills ofTchavas- 

 wali and Vasilkara, famous for their rich veins of gold. It is said, this 

 induced Peter the Great to send the expedition of Bekevitch. At pre- 

 sent the khan of Khiva forbids the working of the gold mines of Vasil- 

 kara, not to attract the cupidity of the Russians. There is perhaps 

 exaggeration in these stories, as I saw at Orenbourg a piece of sulphu- 

 reous pyrites, found at Vasilkara, which might have deceived people, 

 who take every shining yellow substance for gold. 



The mountains which we had just passed are composed of sienite and 

 diabase, or greatly mixed with calcareous matter, they were generally 

 of a dark green. These stones split into their flakes like slate, and the 

 hills have a much more rounded appearance, and less conical than those 

 of Moughodjar. The soil and the valleys are also more sterile, even ths 

 absinthe is very rare. 



In some places, the road is rugged, in others open, and easy for car- 

 riages. Iouz-koudouk, or the hundred wells, is a valley, where there 

 are two wells about 18 feet deep, affording abundance of excellent 

 water ; besides thirty others, small, and generally dry. 



The mountainous region commences at seven verstes, below Iouz- 



