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APPLETON 8cC? **? ? 3 '1\ ft |||liini"':;s»i|||i'i| [H "^ ,||.'Niliiii|i"' A>^H ji/-Xrti«.-> «i 1^ CONTENTS. 'h ASIATIC RUSSIA. rAoa Chap. I. Oineral Remarks ok Asia . 1 Plateaux : Highliinds and Lowlitnds, p. 3. Qeological Formation : Igneous Forces, p. 6. Climate: Diminution of Moisture, p. 8. Areas of Inland Drainage, p. 9. Rivers flowing iSeawards, p. 12. Temperature, Rainfall, Vegetsition, p. 14. Peninsulas, p. 16. Inhabitants, Culture, p. 18. Religions, p. 21. Historical Retrospect, Migrations, p. 23. European Influences, p. 24. Progress of Discovery, p. 25. Political Rivalries, p. 28. Chap. II. Caccasia 33 I. Cauuasia: The Ponto>Caspian Mountuin System, p. 33. The Great Caucasus, p. 34. Geological Formation, Volcanic Action, p. 38. Water Systems, Snow-line, Rainfall, Glaciers, p. 40. Vegetation, Fauna, p. 43. Inhabitants ; Varied Ethnical and Linguistic Elementx, p. 46. Russian Conquests : Main Physical Divisions, p. 48. II. Wi stern Cavcamia : Kuban Basin, p. 60. River Systems : Kuban Basin, p. 60. 'I'aman Peninsula, p. 63. Inhabitants : . the Cherkesses, p. 64. The Abkhasians and Cossacks, p. 67. Toiiography, p. GO. III. Central Cavcasvs : Koma anu Terek Basins, p. 64. River Systems : Kuma Basin, p. 66. The Terek, p. 68. Inhabitants: the Kabards, p. 70. The Osses and Nogai Tatars, p. 71. Topogmphy, p. 73. IV. Eastriin Caucasia : Daohestam, p. 78. River Systems, p. 79. Inhabitants : the Cliechenzes, p. 79. llie LoEghians, Tats, and Tatars, p. 83. Topography, p. 86. V. Inour, Rion, and Chohi'kh Bamnb: Minorelia, Imeritia, Svania, Lazibtan, p. 88. Climate, Flora and Fauna, p. 91. Inhabitants: the Svans and Ttachians, p. 92. The Imeritians, Mingrelinns, and Lazes, p. 94. Topography, p. 96. ^ ( The Kura Bakin: (iBOHOiA, Transcaicabiin Tataht, p. 100. River Systems: thel. >;•: p. 100. Agriculture, Irrigation Works, Climate, p. 1U4. Lower Kura Busin : Apsheron Pen-' ula, p. 106. Inhabit- ants: the Georgians, p. 111. The Khevsurs, Pshavs, and 'J'dshes, p. 116. The Tatars, Talishes, Slavs, pnd Germans, p. 119. Topography, p. 120. VII. Bissian Armenia : Ararat, Ala ooz. Plateau op Lake Gok-chai, and Araeis Basin, p. 13(i. Orography: Ararat. Ala-giiz, p. 130. Lake Gok-chai, the Karabagh, Flora and Fauna, p. 136. The Araxis Basin, p. 139. Inhabitants: the Armenians, p. 140. Topography, p. 146. YIII. General Con- dition AND Administration of the Caucasus, p. 160. Land Tenure, Agriculture, p. 162. Population, Industries, Trade, Education, p. 164. Religions, Finance, Administration, p. Iu8. Chap. III. The Aralo-Oaspun Basin: Russian Turkestan, the Turkoman Country, Khiva, Bokhara, Region op the Upper Gxus 161 T. General Survey, p. 161. II. The Pamir and'AlaI, p. 166. Flora, Fauna, Lnkesof the Pamir, p. 170. The Ala'i Highland, p. 171. III. The Tian-bhan, p. 176. Orographic System, p. 176. Katdn and Yulduz Highlands, p. 179. Semirechinsk Region, p. 182. Ala- tau Highland, p. 183. I.Ake Issik-kul and Western Tian-shan Highlands, p. 184. IV. Tar- BAUATAi Hiohlands AND Bai.khash Basin, p. 189. Lake Balkhash, p. 191. Semirechinsk River System : the Hi, p. 192. V. The Ahalo-Cahpian Hyouookapkir System, p. 193. The Turkestan Deserts, p. 194. Flora and Fauna of Turkestan, p. 196. Water System: the Sir, p. 108. The Oxns River System, p 201. The Aral Sea, p. 208. The Turkoman Deserts and CONTENTS. r*aa Highlandi, p. 213. The Atrek and Ourgsn Wven. p. 214. Tho U«t-urt PlatMU, p. 216. KHrt ConBt of tho Caipian, p. 217. VI. Inhaiiitanth or tub Aralo-Cakpiam Uboiumk, p. 219. The Turkomani, p. 220. Tho Kara-Kulpak» and Kirghiz, p. 225. Tho Taranchii and Dunurnna, p. 231. 'JTio Uzbogs, p. 233. Tho Hurti)», Tajik*, and Oulchus, p. 234. VII. Statu ok tub Aualo-Cahi>ian lUiiN : I. Haktriana, or Afghan Turkestan, p. 237. Wakhan, p. 238. Dadak- Khan, p. 240. Kundui and Uamian, p. 244. Khulm, Balkh, Andkhoi, p. 247. II. Merv : the Houthom Turkoman*, p. 260. III. Bokhara, p. 262. Bhignan and Itoahan, p. 263. Darvas and Karatoghin, p. 263. Hiasar : the Iron Oate, p. 366. Topography : Bokhara, p. 267. IV. Khiva, p. 2U3. V. Uuiaian Tuikoatan, p. 268. Ferghana Baain : Topography, p. 372. humarkaiid, p. 2! 2. Kulja Basin : Topography, 284. Administration of Turkestan, 287. Chap. IV. 8iiiekia 292 I. SiBBKiA, p. 202. Progress of Conquest and Discovery, p. 193. Water Highways, Portage*, Highlands, p. 297. Iliver Bystenu, p. 300. Northern Heuboard, p. 30). Pacific Seabuard : Transbaikalia, p. 304. Climate, p. 306. Flora, p< 310. Fauna, p. 314. Inhabitants : the Chddes, p. 317. II. Thb Altai Uiohlands, p. 319. Flora and Fauna of tho Altai, p. 323. Inhabitants: the Kalmuks, Tatars, and llussians, p. 324. Topography, p. 327. III. Tub On Basin : Oovbhnmbnts of Akholinsk, Bxmipalatinsx, Tomsk, Tobolsk, Eastbhn Disthicts OF THB Oovbhnmbnts of Pchm and Ohbnbuko, p. 320. Tho Irtish Basin, p. 33). Course of tho Ob, p. 334. Inhabitants of the Ob Basin : the Voguls, p. 338. The Ostiaks, p. 340. Tho Urol Mining Districts, p. 344. Topography of West Siberia, p. 346. IV. Ybnbbei-Baikal Basin, p. 3)2. Basin of the Western Yenesei, p. 362. Inhabitants : the Chddes, p. 366. The Boyots and Karagaases, p. 366. The Tunguses, p. 368. Topography, p. 361. The Baikal- Angara Boain, p. 364. The Tunka Highlands, p. 366. Lake Baikal, p. 868. Tho Angara Water System, p. 373. Inhabitants : the Buriats, p. 376. Topography, p. 378. V. Ba»in of thb Lbna : Shobbh of thb Arctic Ocian, p. 382. The Lena and its Inhabitants, p. 384. The Yana, Kolima, and Indigirka Itivers, the .A rctic Islands, New Siberia, p. 3M8. Inhabilanta: tlio Yakuts, Yukaghirs, and Chuvantzes, p. 303. Topography, p. 398. VI. Bkuino Pekinscla. Basik of thb Anadir, and Kamchatka, p. 899. Bering Strait and Sea, p. 402. Climate: Fauna and Flora, p. 406. Inhabitants : the Chnkchis, p. 408. The Koriaks and Kamchadales, p. 413. Topography, p. 416. VII. Thb Stanovoi Highlands, Amur Basin, Rvmian Manchuria, p. 417. The Stanovoi Uplanda: the Yablonoi Range, p. 410. The Dailrian Plateau, p. 420. The Amur River System, p. 423. Tho Sungari ond Usuri Rivers, p. 426. The Lower Amur and its Delta, p. 428. The Manchurian Seaboard, p. 43\. Climate of Manchuria, p. 432. Manohurian Fauna and Flora, p. 434. Inhabitants : the Golds and other Tungus Tribes, p. 436. The TazI, Mandzi, Gilibks, and Russians, p. 437. The Kamensh>ki, p. 440. Topography, p. 442. VIII. Sakhalin, p. 448. HigUands, p. 462. Climate, Fauna, Flora, p. 463. Inhabitants : the Ainos and Oroks, p. 466. Topography, p. 467. IX. MATsitiAi Condition and Administration or Siberia, p. 469. Social Elements : the Exiles and Outlaws, p. 460. The Siberian Bussians : the Commune, p. 463. Religious Sects : the Stranniki, p. 466. Agriculture, the Chase and Fisheries, p. 466. Mining Industries, p. 467. Manufactures, Trade, p. 469. Highwayi* of Communication, the Trakt, Railway Projects, p. 471. Educa- tion, Administration, p. 472. Siberian Political Life, p. 474. Growth of tub Russian Empire, p. 476. Merv, p. 478. The Dera-g&z,4Sl. The Akhal Tekke Country, 483. Racbs of Asiatic Russia oroupxd aooobdino to thbir Affinitibs and Rblioioxh, p. 486. ApPBNDIX : STATISriCAL Tables . . . / . f Index 480 497 ^-*^«-. ■MPP .... . ■4.1, i My i i m' .. .t ipp— .■ . ! iiii im . , . M l iii>ii I I I imm mm 20'i LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. MAPS PRINTED IN COLOUES. 1. Hypsographical Map of Ana. Frontiipieec. 2. EthnographicRl Map of tho Caucasus . 3. Lakes Balkhnsh and Issik-kul . 4. The Delta of the Amu-daria 6. Ethnographical Map of Northern Asia 6. Victoria Bay, or Gulf of Peter the Great PLATES. Clillk in the " Yellow Earth," north of Tai- yuen, Shau-si . . To fact page 11 The Upper Yangtse-kiang .... 13 The Darial Defile . . . . . .42 Jews of the Caucasus . - . .66 Patigorak— View taken irom the Mnshuka Slopes 73 Svan Types 92 Mingrelian Types and Costumes ... 05 Georgian Types and Costumes . .111 ImerianTypeiand Costumes— Gronpof Dancers 116 KheTsnr in Armour 118 A Street in Tiflis . . . . .124 Armenian Types and Costumes . . . 140 TownofQirOsi 149 ShchuroTskiy Glacier . ■ . . . .173 Kizil-kum Desert— Dossihai W'ellii . . .194 Ijako Iskander-kul . . . . '202 Shores ot the Casnian 208 Turkoman Customs— Pursuit of the Bride . 222 Kirghiz Horsemen . . . To fact page 226 Kirghiz crossiug a River . . . . . 229 Tajiks of Bokhara '234 Colossal Idols, Upper Bamian Valley . .245 The Iron Gate Defile on the Kanhi-Derbent Route 267 Bokhara — Assembly in front of tho Monqne . 268 Khiva , 266 Itukhtarma Valley— Altai highlands . .319 Ostiak Types and Costumes . . . . 841 Yekaterinburg 348 General View of Tobolsk . . .360 General View of Omsk . . . . . 851 Tungus Types and Costumes .... 360 Irkutsk— View taken before the Fire of 1878 . 380 Chukchi T3rpe8 and Costumes . . . .408 General view of Petropavlovsk . . .416 Gold Types and' Costumes .... 436 Port of Ayan, Sea of Okhotsk .... 442 • T» LlaX OF ILLUSTUATlONa. ILLUSTRATIONS IN TEXT. no. 1. ■J. a. 4. li. 6. 7. 8. 0. 10. 11. \i. 13. 14. 16. 10. 17. 18. 10. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 36. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 4.5. 46. A8UTIC RTTHHIA. Plntmiux nnil I'lninn of Cnntnil A»iii I'linillnliNtn oi' tliii Main Aiitttic Itaiigei Mount KvKiirNi' .... 'I'hti llitn-lmi : u ilrinj-iip 8t«-V)«d Arid KoKionit mid Cluwd lluaini of Aaia iNoliiini in •liinuury . . < • iMotHirii in July Ciirvnaof th« Ka»t< rn Aiintii; Huuboard and Inlnndii Doniiity of thn Aiiiittic I'opuliitions . PlNtritiiitioii of thn Aitiiitic lliicua ('liii)f Uoligiona of Central Asia ( 'hiof Itinttnirioi of ('ontnil Anil EurupottQ Inttuunco in Asia 3 4 6 H 11 13 14 16 17 lU 22 27 29 CAUCASIA. Dcd ol tho Canpian 35 Ui'olo)ificuL Konnutions of tho Cuntral C'llllUHHIlll 27 Hot HpringR und Kuphtha Rogioni in tho CuucHsiia 30 Profile of tho Caucosua as aoon from Pati- gorak 40 Kninfall of tho Cnucaius . . . .41 TiiK Kaziikk : View taken rnuu Tin Kaziikk Station .... 43 Knzbuk and Devdoraki Olacion . . 44 Forest* of tho CaiicasiiB .... 46 Tho Weatem Caucasus aoon from ofT Capo Kodor 60 Tho Akhtari I.iman 62 Tho Kuku-Uba Mud Volcano ... 64 AltKIIAHIAN TVI'E 68 COHBACK KbNTINKI, 60 Valley of the B/,ib 01 The Tamau Peninsula . . .62 Valleya of Erosion in the Kuban Baain 63 Passanauh, on the Tiflih-VlaiiiKavkaz Wot'TB 66 The f:ibruz Oroup 66 Uamification of tho KalnOs ... 67 Delta and flooded Districts of the L )wer Terek . . ... .68 The Terek Floods of 1863 . ... 69 Patigorak and the Begion of Thermal Waters 74 The Vladikavkiiz-Ananur Route through the Torek Valley .... 76 The Tebulog-mta Oroup .... 77 Moutha of the Terek and Lower Sulak . 80 The Kuba District 81 NooAi Yoi'TH 84 Mount GCnib .86 Derbent .87 Mouth of the Rion . . . . . 89 Upper Ingiir Valley 03 MiNOHBLiAN Lady 96 Kulaiia and tho Rion and Kvirila Junction 97 rii. 47. POTI 48. IIati^m .... 41). Akhiilkalnki Plntnau . 60. Tatah 'I'vi-R 61. The Kiini nnd Atnxiit Confluonuo 62. Mouths of tho Kuril . 63. Chiiif Region* of l'liirth(|ii>tkcN in (!ituciwiii 64. Usi'illatioMa of the Huku Coast during tho last 1,600 Vtiiirs 66. Thit Apiihor.in Puninaula .... 60. Mt/!kiirt, Ancunt Caimtal or Oeoroia 67. Tho KhevBur, Ti^sh Hnd I'ahav Ijanda 68. Tho Huram Pass nnd Musk Mountains 69. The Kura Valley bvtwnoii Uori and Mtzkhut 60. Tiflis 01. Yelizavotpol and Vicinity . . . . 02. Tho Telav Rosin 03. Baku and (.'aph Bail-Buuni . 04. Lenkoran 06. Recent Russian Conquent* 00. Ararat 07. MoVNV AuAiitT 08. Alu-giiz ....... 00. Lake Qok-chai 70. llie Alapolarim I-4iva Htreams . 71. Araxis and Zuiign Basin . . . . 72. Ahminian Woman 73. The Kara chui Valley: Kara and Alox- andrapol 74. Xakiiiciibvan T6. Progreaa of Ruaaian Conquoat . 76. Fever Districta in Caucaxia 77. Density of tho Population of the Caucasus in 1873 per Square Mile . . 78. Highways in Caucasia .... 79. Section of the Route from Vladikavkaz to Jufa 80. Shiahs and Sunnitoi in Eastern Caucasia . 81. Baku Harbour H2. Stavropol FAON 0» OC lot 1(13 1U3 100 lUH 109 110 112 117 121 122 136 126 127 128 129 131 132 133 136 136 137 143 144 146 148 160 161 163 164 156 166 167 160 THE AKALO-CASPIAN BASIN. 83. Routeaof Explorera in the Aralo- Caapia>. Baain . . . .163 84. Ruaaian Encroachments iu Turkestan 164 85. Routea of Explorera in the Eoatem Pamir 166 80. Thk Alai and Thann-Alai Ranob . . 168 Beli<^f of the Highlanda and Plateaux between the Uindu-Kuah and Tian- shan . .... . . .170 The Alai Plat<>att 173 The Shchurovakiy Glacier . . .173 Routea of Explorera in the Weatem Pamir 174 91. Relative Area of the Tian-ahaii, Alps, and PjTeneea 176 92. Relative Relief of the Tian-ahan, Alps, and Pyreneea 176 93. Chief CreaU of the Tian-ohan . . '.177 87 8S 89. 90, ■■:^4" LIST OF ILLUsmATIONfl. fio. 04. SA. 98 W lot ii>a 103 11)0 108 I OB UO 113 117 121 1-22 126 12« lar IM 139 131 132 133 13A 138 137 143 144 146 148 160 I«l 153 164 li6 166 167 169 163 164 166 168 170 179 178 174 176 176 177 KiMtnm (-'hnini nf tho Tinn-ahnn Uiiiili'it of Kxplonm in tbit F^mtcm Tinn- rIiiiii 06. Ovia Kahkmni, AhoaM, ()vi« I'iili Thi) AktoRni I).>Hli< WfRttTii ('huiim Iff thii Tiiin-ahan . KmitcH of Kxploniri in the Wtntorn Tian- "hiin ....... 100. SiiOrii iiikI TiirbH)(nlai . . . , 101, VltlllCTATIO.lf OK Tim Kr/ll.-KI'M lU'i. idinKii of Vi'Ki'tutioii in TurkcHtun . I'litrov Oliicii^r F-owcr I'lirt of tho lir-taah Ulutli r . The Hir Didtn I.AKM ViLTUKIA, OH SaHNKIJI. Map in thu Cutiilonian Attn* of 1374 , Viill(hunting from 1860 to 1866 . . .466 232. Oold-washings in the Amor Basin . . 468 233. Vladivostok and the Eastern Bosporaa . 473 «*w»- pAoa • • 433 IB Islands , , 435 Imuh 444 , ^ 446 • • 446 • • 447 , ' 449 as . 460 ■ • • 461 ■ • • 463 • • 464 • • • 466 467 ition . 460 I>le-hiinting • • • 466 asin . 468 BospoTOS . 473 «i i .«fiMAim«Mki. ^^^«^^j^^ ^HH^ iRPP^Qn^^^^^ 'i^^r'.^^'^^j:*^^-ly'"i^}!i^^^^^^^ '^'^ ' -'"S'v^/^ THE EARTH AND ITS INHABITANTS. ASIATIC RUSSIA. CHAPTER I. GENERAL REMABKS ON ASIA. F the great diyisions of the globe Asia is by far the largest, com- prising almost exactly one-third of. all the dry land, and exceeding in area even the double continent of the New World. It is one- third larger than Africa, and five times more extensive than Europe, which may in some respects be regarded as one of its peninsular appendages. Excluding the Caspian Sea and the eastern districts of the government of Perm, it has a total area of 16,776,000 square miles, and including Japan, the Philippines, and Malaysia, 17,930,000 square miles. But if it takes the foremost rank in size, it is far inferior even to Europe in the variety of its peninsular forms, in the development of its coast-line, in the extent to which the ocean inlets, and with them the marine climate, penetrate into the heart of the land ; nor does it, like Europe, present the great advantage of geographical imity. Divided by lofty tablelands and old sea-beds into absolutely distinct regions, it embraces vast rainless tracts, where the dryness of the atmosphere, the cold, and even the rarbfaotion of the air o£Per great di£Bculties to the migrations of its inhabitants, the more so that the opposite slopes are not connected together by natural valley routes like those of the Alps. Asia may thus have given birth to many local civilisations, but Europe alone could have inherited them, by their ftision raising them to a higher culture, in which all the peoples of the earth may one day take a part. Plateaux — Highlands and Lowlands. Compared with the other continents, Asia is essentially the region of table- lands. Were the dry land to subside uniformly, All the other regions of the 1 I ^ ' ', -■ f % ASIiTIO BUS8IA. globe would have long disappeared, or would be indicated at most by narrow islands and peaks, while the lofty uplands of Central Asia, with the ranges skirting them, still rose above the surrounding waters. The plateaux of Asia, with the regions enclosed by them, form, so to say, a continent within a continent, differing in its climate, its flora, fauna, and inhabitants from the surrounding species. Rising in some places to a height of 20,000 feet und upwards, these plateaux give to the whole of Asia a mean altitude greater than that of the other quarters of the globe. Humboldt calculated the mean of the Asiatic continent at 1,165 feet, which on more recent information Kriimmel raises to 1,650 feet, or one-third more than that of Europe. The Asiatic coast-line is more diversified than that of Africa or South America, especially on the south side, which is varied with large peninsulas, gulfs, and islands. But the central mass, including the plateaux and deserts, presents a great uniformity of outline. This region, limited southwards by the Himalayas, Dapsang, and Earakortim, almost everywhere presents other lofty ranges — in the west the numerous crests of the Pumir, in the north-west the Tian-shan, in the north the Altai, in the north-east and east the several chains separated by intervening river valleys. This upland tract, which includes Tibet, Kushgaria, and the Gobi. Desert, presents the form of a vast trapeze gradually narrowing towards the west. Near its south-west angle there rises a lofty mountain nucleus formed by the junction of the Himalayas and Earakor&m, and marking the centre of gravity of the whole continent. From this central mass, which is otherwise less elevated than many other Asiatic mountain systems, there radiate three vast plains and as many tablelands, disposed like the spokes of a wheel. The lowlands are the plain of Tatary in the north-west, the Tarim basin in the east, and iq the south and south-east the depression furrowed by the Indus and Ganges; the highlands are the Pamir, Tibet, and Iran. The last named doubtless begins with the Hindu-Eusb, a mountain range separating the Indus and Oxus valleys ; but this mass is of very small extent, and the uplands attached to it, while less extensive and less elevated, are more geometrical in their outlines than those of Tibet. The Iranian tableland, comprising most of Afghanistan, Baluchistan, and Persia, forms a trapeze whose northern and southern sides are almost perfectly parallel. In the north-west this plateau is continued through Kurdistan, Armenia, and Asia Minor, by other lofty upbnds overlooking the waters of the Euxine and Mediterranean. Thus nearly the whole of the continent is intersected by an elevated mass, forming in the west a single, in the east a double line, separating the northern and southern slopes, and leaving between them a few gateways only, through which passed the great historical routes of migration. In the centre of East Asia the Euen-lun forms a continuation of the Hindu-Eush and more westerly systems. Though its crests fall short of the extreme height attained by those of the Himalayas, this rang^e is on the whole the most elevated on the globe, and probably stretches eastwards across 42° of the meridian, or for a distance of 2,300 miles. It thus forms the eastern half of the continental axis, and is much » *» M ii V wmmmmmmmmmim HMMi PLATEAUX-HIGHLANDS AND LOWLANDS. 8 more regular in outline than the western, running in the direction of Europe. The term " Diaphragm," restricted by the Greeks to the mountains on the north Iranian frontier, might equally well be extended to the whole parting line from the Eastern Euen-lun to the Anatolian Taurus. This would thus correspond with the European diaphragm formed by the Pyrenees, Cevennes, Alps, and Balkans, and roughly continuing the line of the Asiatic " Great Divide." But in the European section, with its rare tablelands and convenient passes, how much more numerous are the gaps and breaks of continuity, facilitating the movements of migration from slope to slope ! The ranges skirting or towering above the Asiatic tablelands are mostly of striking regularity in their line of direction, and several consist of distinct ridges, Fig. I.— Plateaux txm Plainu of Gintbau Ahia. Sesle 1 : 91,000,000. 70- 60* ErerSr. Begioiia abore «;^M» XM. ItegioiM Iwiow 6,600 UNt .800 MOm. all running parallel to each other. The Himalayas, cnlminating with Mount Everest, or Ghrarisankar, " the Radiant," tlie highest pcdnt on the globe, develop along the northern f^ntier of India a perfect arc, whose focus might be in the very heart of Central Asia. The whole system, including both the Terai Hills of Hindustan, and the Dapsang, Earakordm, and other ranges of South Tibet, also runs in parallel curves north and south of the main range. In the same way the Kuen-lnn comprises a great many ridges, all developing uniformly parallel lines. This well>marked parallelism recurs in m6st of the systems of Siberia, China, Cis and Transgangetic India, Irania, and Western Asia. Speiiking generally, the main continental ranges may be sidd to run chiefly in two directions — east- south-east to west-north-west (Altai, TarbagataX, Western Himalayas, Iranian n I km ■s:^\ 4 ASIATIC BUSSIA. Mountains, and Caucasus), and east to west, or rather east-north-east to west- south-west (Tian-shan, most of the Siberian chains, and those converging on the Pamir tableland). In many places the ranges forming curves with their convex sides facing southwards, by their intersections, give rise to entanglements and overlappings which disturb the general uniformity of the mountain systems. Thus the ridges forming a continuation of the Himalayas and Dapsang intersect, east of the Pamir, the reg^ular chains running parallel to the Tian-shan and Altai. To these crossings are probably due the elevated masses of Eizil-yart and Tagharraa, rising above the eastern edge of the Pamir, and from remote times Fig. 2. — Fahallklibm of thi Vain Asiatic Ranobs. Aeoordinv to BlohUiafeii for the Central Aiiatio Bangs*. Scale 1 : 180,000,000. . SilOOOXiiN. known to the Chinese as the Tsung-ling, or " Onion Mount«ins," from the wild garlic covering all their slopes. Out of these groups has been created the imaginary Bolor range, to which Humboldt had assigned a paramount importance in the orographic structure of Asia. Asia, like Surope, runs mainly east and west, a geographical fact which has had enormous influence on the development of mankind. While Europe and Asia occupy over half of the earth's circumference east and west, but a fourth part only taken north and south, the New World, confined between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, stretches precisely in the inverse direction, across more than a third of the periphery from the Arctic nearly to the Antazotio Circle. The ■aMMMMMMMHIHMPM PLATEAUX-HIGHLANDS AND LOWLANDS. 5 contrast is complete in the general disposition of the two continental groups, so that 1. .ra, fauna, and races all present analogous contrasts. In Asia the species are easily diffused from one extremity of the continent to the other by following the parallels of latitude, and taking advantage of the breaks of continuity, wherever the upland plateaux present an obstocle to their progress. From the pkins of the Oxus to the Atlantic seaboard races have Laa variously displaced without meeting with chmates greatly differing from their own. Hence the mutual influences Vig. 3. — MovMT Etubst. and tiie elements of a common civilisation spread over vast spaces. The same oauae secured the inevitable intermingling of all the European and Asiatic races, generally producing, in these two divisions of the Old World, a certain unity contrasting forcibly with the diversity characteristic of the western hemisphere. Here the migrations from north to south, or from south to north, were necessarily confined to much narrower limits, the ordinary obstacles presented by plateaux and highlands being intensified by thoae flowing from differences of latitude. Special MMi RMM 6 ASIATIC BUS8IA. civilisations were thus developed in favoured regions, which had no more than a distant influence on each other, and the peoples remained almost everywhere without coherence or any common bonds of union. For how could the Eskimo share in a common culture with the Prairie Indians, or these with the Mexicans, Mayas, Muiscas, Quichuas, Aymarns, Quaranis, PatagnniansP It was even through the interference of Europe that the American aborigines were destined to receive the first impulse which caused them to become members of the common human family. Thanks to the position of the two continents stretching across the northern and southern hemispheres, Europeans of difierent climates — Portuguese, Spaniards, Italians, French, English, Scotch, Scandinavians — have been able to settle north and south of the equator in regions whose climates resembled their own, thus founding in the two zones a new England, a new Spain, and for a time a now France. Geological FoRMAnoNS — Ionbovs Forces. Still but partially explored as a whole, Asia remains even now to a large extent an imperfectly known region. The western section, Siberia, with some of the highlands separating it from the central plateau, India, and various tracts of Further India and Ohina are the parts whose iormations, disposed in the same order as in Europe, have already been studied and. classed by the geologist. Crystalline rooks, old schists, paleeozoic strata, are the chief constituents of the Siberian highlands. The Euen-lun and the £arakorilm seem also to belong to the primitive structure of the continent, whereas the Himalayas, while resting on crystalline masses, have been more recently upheaved during the secondary and tertiary periods. An idea of the tremendous disturbances that have here taken place may be had from the fact that the eocene strata near Leh have been raised to a height of 11,650 feet. The tracts covered with molten lava occupy a great part of the periphery of the continent. Yoloanio eminences occur in Siam and Pegu; half of the Ganges peninsula is strewn with igneous rooks ; hot springy and mud volcanoes bubble up on the crests of argillaceous cones on the Mekran coast, and near the Helmand ; extinct craters are met in South-west Arabia and the Strait of Bab-el- Mandeb, as well as in Abyssinia, on the opposite coast ; the Hejaz also, and the Sinai peninsula, have their ancient lava streams ; in Asia Minor we meet with the burnt plains of Oappadocia, " Phlegrsean Fields" like those of Italy, the Hassan Dagh, Arg^us, and other mountains of igneous origin ; in Armenia, Mounts Ararat, Alagoz, and Abul are of the same character ; and Elbiirz, giant of the Caucasus, is also an old volcano, while the two extremities of this range are marked by boiling mud and naphtha wells. Laistly, Demavend, rising majesti- cally above the southern shores of the Caspian, is a burning mountain, whose crater is not yet quite extinct. The northern ranges, which under various names separate Russian Turkestan and Siberia from the Chinese Empire, must be regarded as forming a section of u l iuw u ii ltw i* 9'*mM^m ■^■■■itMMn GEOLOGICAL FOEMATIONS— IGNEOUS F0BCE8. the vast, though frequently interrupted, ridge stretching from the southern extremity of Africa to that of the New World, and forming un immense crescent round the Indian and Pacific Oceans. But within this is another crescent, the "fiery circle" already traced by Leopold von Buch. Starting from the volcanoes of New Zealand, it runs through the Philippines and along the Asiatic seaboard northwards, through Japan and the Kuriles, to the Aleutian archipelago and Alaska, whence it is continued in a south-easterly direction to the neighbourhood of Magellan Strait. In the Asiatic section of this crescent the active or barely quiescent volcanoes are reckoned by the hundred, though the only fiery cones still active on the mainland are those of Kamchatka, which counert the Euriles with the Aleutian group. In some regions of the interior there also occur masses of scoria and lava streums, but the craters whence they flowed have been extinct either since the second half of the tertiary period, or at least for some centuries. The doubts formerly thrown on the reality of the active volcanoes mentioned in the Chinese records, and often referred to by Humboldt, have not yet been finally disposed of. The observations made by Stoliezka, who fancied he had traversed a volcanic district with basalt rooks in the distance, have been called in question. But west of Irkutsk the valley of a tributary of the Oka is filled by a vast lava stream, above which rise two craters. Other craters occur in the valley of the Irkut, and other lava streams farther east, in the basin of the Jida, near Selenghinsk, and on the Yitim plateau, near the north-east angle of Lake Baikal. Lavas and basalts have also flown from the neighbouring Okhotsk Mountains, while vestiges of recent eruptions occur in most of the terraced mountains of Siberia flanking the north-west side of the Mongolian plateaux. The suspension of the lava streams arises firam the almost total disappearance of the saline lakes formerly filling tbe great depressions of Oentral Asia. Never- theless there is a volcanic tract in the east of the continent south of A'igun, and 540 miles from the coast, where eruptions certainly took place in 1721 and 1722. The detailed reports of the Chinese savants brought to light by Yasilyev leave no doubt as to this fact, which should perhaps be explained by the number of lakes and swamps still found on the plateau. The oscillations which have given its prMent form to the continent are still going on with sufficient rapidity to enable observers to detect them along a great extent of the seaboard. Thus there can be scarcely any doubt that the northern shores of Siberia are slowly rising above the Arctic Ocean, for islands in the middle of the last century standing at some distance from the coast are now connected with it, not by sand-banks, but by the rooky bed of the sea. Similar phenomena have been observed in the ^gean and Black Seas, as well as along the east side of the Red Sea, as shown by the upheaved coral banks fringing the coast of Arabia. Traces of recent upheaval have likewise been noted on the shores of Baluchistan and Malabar, in Ceylon, British Burmah, East China, about the Amur delta, and in Kamchatka. Symptoms of subsidence, so much more easily recognised than the upward m ftt^'ssa^^- i>f-,M^*!r • ■«- X' ■'fl^'iv r 8 ASIATIC BUSSIA. motion, huve hitherto been detected only at a very few points along the Aaiatio ■eabourd. A part of the ooaat of Syria, the Great Western Runn between the Indus delta and Eatch, the shores of Fo-kien, Ton-kin, and Coohin Ohina, are at present subsiding. But the movement is most perceptible in the Laooadives and Maldives, where the atolls, or circular coral reefs, are slowly disappearing, notwithstanding the efforts of the busy polyps to keep them above the surface. The Chagos Bank has already been entirely engulfed. • > CuMATE — Diminution of Moisture. The great elevation of the Asiatic plateaux, with an atmosphere twice as rarefied as that of the lowlands, modifies to a remarkable extent the normal climate of the continent. Already as a whole far more extensive than Europe, Fig. 4. — ^TuB Han-haK : a ouid-vf 8ba-bid. Aeeording to Biohthoftn. Betlt 1 : 81,000,000. 6aaAy or Stonr DcMtt. UphMvad IdamU. Beoent LaeaifaiM Depnatau. and consequently less exposed to oceanic influences, it everywhere receives a proportionately less amount of moisture. But the central portions, being almost completely encircled by mountains which arrest the course of wet or snowy winds, receive far less humidity than the average rain&Il of the rest of the continent. Still the maritime slopes of the plateaux and highlands do not retain all the moisture brought by the winds, so that torrents and even rivers furrow the slopes facing inland. Some of these streams ultimately find their way to the ocean, but most of them run dry either in the "cirques " where they rise, or at a lower elevation, or else in the deep and binding depression stretching south-west and north-east, between the Euen-lun and the Tian-shan and Altai mountam vjrstems. At a time when these waters were more abundant the whole of the lower part of the great Asiatic depression was filled by a vast sea nearly as long, east and west, mMiiiiimmmiiam 45- 35* AREAS OF INLAND DRAINAGE. as the Mediterranoan, but somewhat narrower. This dried-up soa, the Han-hai of the Chinese, seems to have stood about 5,000 feet above the actual sea-level, roJt: a depth in some places of 3,000 feet. It occupied between Tibet and the Tian-shan range all the present Tarim basin, forming between the Tian-shan and Altai a ramifying gulf, which Richthofen has called the " Zungariun Basin." Eastwards it joined the Chamo basin through a strait studded with islands, all running in the same direction us the Tian-shan. At present this depression is divided by slight elevations into secondary cavities, each with its dried-up river beds and marshes, or saline incrustations, last remnants of what was once the Asiatic Mediterranean. In spite of the different elevations and latitudes, a singular uniformity is imparted to all these inland regions by the general sterility of the soil, the dryness of the atmosphere, and the sudden vicissitudes of temperature. The rolling steppes of red earth in the Altai region ; the argillaceous plateaux, heavy and grey like a sea of congealed mud ; the less monotonous districts, varied here and there by a few protruding rocks ; the deserts where orescent sandy dunes drive like mighty billows before the wind ; lastly, the stony plains strewn with frag- ments of quartz, chalcedony, jasper, camelians, amethysts, released from their less solid and vanished matrices, weathered to dust and dispersed by the winds — all these regions form a monotonous whole sublime in the very simplicity of their lines. On these vast tablelands, crossed from horizon to horizon by long furrows like the ground-swell produced by the trade winds, caravans wind their way for days and weeks through a changeless scene of dreary majesty. Even the descent from the plateaux towards the deep depressions produces little change. The upland steppe, 3 miles above sea-level, the bed of the dried-up Mediterranean, the naked lands of Tibet and the Northern Gobi, separated from each other by 18° of latitude, present everywhere the same uniform aspect, broken only by a few oasecf, whose fresh-water streams, with their fringe of rich herbage, contrast forcibly with the bare mountain crags and steppes of the surrounding plateaux. The species of indigenous plants are nowhere numerous, and even by the running waters few trees are met except the poplar and willow. The nomad shep- herds, who drive their flocks from the lowlands to the uplands, 13,000 to 20,000 feet above sea-level, are little affected by -the change. How different all this from the contrast presented in Europe by the luxuriant plains of Lombardy with the rug;ged Alpine heights I ■■ ' Areas of Inland Drainaob. The expression "Central Asia" is by the Russians wrongly applied to the part of the continent bordering on Europe, and lying within the same Aralo-Caspian depression as the portion of Russia watered by the Volga and its tributaries. Richthofen more correctly restricts this term to the Han-hai' depression, and the Tibetan tablelands whose waters evaporate without forming streams. This part of the continent is, in fact, distinguished from all the surrounding regions by the 10 ASIATIC EU88IA. ciroumstunoo that the detritua of the plateaux and highlands caused by weathering and erosion remains in the basin itself, whereas it is elsewhere regularly carried u\^ay to the sea. The general movement of Oentrul Asia proper is centripetal, that of the periphery centrifugal. But on the Pamir, forming the wuter-parting between China and the Caspian, there also occur closed cirques, whose waters do not reach the lowlands. Afghanistan and the Persian tableland have also their isolated basinn, their land-locked takes and marshes; and Asia Minor itself presents saline lakes cut off from all communication with the sea, notwithstanding the greater relative abundance of the rainfall in this sea-girt region. The plains of Syria, Arabia, and even India, also comprise vast spaces whose waters have no outlet towards the sea. Lastly, the Aralo-Caspian depression is now a laud- locked basin, or rather forms a group of distinct basins like that of the Chinese Mediterranean, with which they seem to have formerly communicated through the Straits of Zungaria. Before the present geological epoch the Caspian, Aral, Balkash, and countless other lakes of smaller size were successively isolated like those of the Han-haK. But the two depressions of Western and Central Asia present a complete contrast, the one in the generally horizontal direction of its plains, the other in the great relief of the surrounding highlands. Taken collectively, all the Asiatic regions with no outlets seawards have an area of perhaps 4,000,000 square miles, equal to that of the whole of Europe. This arid tract is connected through the Arabian peninsula with the zone of waterless deserts occupying nearly the whole of Africa between the Mediterranean seaboard and Sudan. Thus all the eastern hemisphere is crossed obliquely by a belt of arid regions, which barely fringes the south-east corner of Europe, and is divided in nearly equal proportions between Asia and Africa. Historic evidence shows that for the last four thousand years a large portion of Central Asia has been dried up. At one time the region of Lake Lob was occupied by a vast inland sea, the Li-ha'i, or " Western Sea," forming a con- siderable section of the ancient Han-ha'i. But as the process of desiccation progressed this term had to be transferred from the Turim basin to the Caspian. Skilfully planned works of irrigation may have here and there created a few small oases, but the loss of habitable land has been enormous. Whole kingdoms have disappeared, many cities have been swallowed up in the sands, and certain tracts, formerly accessible to travellers, can no longer be visited, owing to the total absence of water and vegetation. Inhabited districts south of the Lob-nor, traversed by Marco Polo, are now inaccessible. Even beyond the larg^ Asiutic basins on the South Siberian and Mongolian plateaux the same phenomenon of gradual absorption is perceptible, especially in the west. East of Lake Baikal the ancient sheets of water filling the cavities and terraces have been replaced by countless lakelets, tarns, marshes, forming an ever-changing watery labyrinth. From the Baikal to the Amur, fW)m the Argun to the Khingan Mountains, the land is studded with these lacustrine bodies, recalling a time when the country exhibited the same aspect as the present Finland. East of the western Chinese closed basin the erosive action of running waters mmi wouthoring irly carried oontri petal, ter-parting B waters do e also their [inor itself ithstanding The plains »ra have no [)w a laud- bhe Chinese 3d through ipian, Aral, solated like entral Asia otion of its nrards have e whole of la with the )etween the e is crossed At corner of md Africa. :e portion of :e Lob was ting a con- desiccation the Caspian. )ated a few le kingdoms and certain ring to the he Lob-nor, irg^ Asiatic iuomenon of L l WWM i J! iB«^^ ARKA8 OF INLAND DUAINAOK. 11 han exoavutiHl vuHt oailona, ruvcaliiig the (^lof^icul Htruoturu of tho uld hod of the •teppoi. Fur u Hpuuo fur hir^vr than the whole of Frunco, North Chiiiii is ooinp«>iod of a yellow clay, in «ume places 1,600 to 2,000 foot thick. In the prurince of Shuu-ni the atinoaphoro ii nearly alwuya churned with thia dunt, which gives a yellow hu« to roudu, houses, tree*, fields, way furors. This "Yellow I^nd " (IIoangho and Yang-tze-kiang, rising in close proximity, flow first in opposite directions, and after describing vast curves, again approach each other so closely that their deltas have often been nearly united in the Shan-tung peninsula. The Me-khong, the chief river of Indo-China, and, according to Francis Gamier, Hg. 6. — Ibobab* :n JamuaIit. Baale 1 : lao.OOCMWO. ■M . S,000 UilML the largest in volume in Asia, rises in the same highlands, as do likewise the Salwen and Irawady. The Brahmaputra and Ganges also have their sources near each other, but on opposite slopes of the Himalayas, reuniting only in the common delta formed by their own alluvia. The Indus and Satlaj may likewise be regarded as twin streams, in their upper courses resembling the two last mentioned. Collectively these four rivers represent the four animals of the Hindu legend — elephant, stag, cow, and tiger — which descend to the plains of India from the orest of the sacred moun- tain. - The two streams flovring to tbe Persian Gulf, the Tigris and the Euphrates, also form an analogous group famous in legend and history. Lastly, 14 ASIATIC BUSSIA. the Sea of Arali ov inland basin of Turkestan, offers a like phenomenon in the Oxus and Sir-darya, flowing parallel to each other, and at one time apparently united in a common delta. Temperature — Rainfall — Vegetation. The work of geographical exploration being still unflnished, pluviometrioal observations are also necessarily incomplete, the direction and force of the winds and the amount of humidity having been gauged only in the regions accessible to European science, so that tracts as large as all Europe are still almost unknown Rg. 7. — Ibobabs IK JULT. Sad* t : xaajooafloo. tfiOOi lands for the meteorologist. Not even a proximate estimate can be formed of the rainfall in the various Asiatic countries, though we know that in the aggregate the climate of Asia contrasts sharply with that of Europe. The latter, almost everywhere sea-girt, receives moisture at all seasons, the mean difference between the driest and wettest months oscillating between 1 and 3, whereas the great bulk of the Asiatic mainland is exposed to atmospheric strata far more regular in their action. East of the transitional zone bordering on Europe, the course of the winds and rains is marked by extreme uniformity. On all the southern and eastern seaboards the driest month yields fifty to sixty times lew moisture than the rainy season. In winter the cold atmospheric strata become PENINSULAS. 16 in the rently etrioal winds easible known 50 lO* ad of the ggregate r, almost between treas the far more rope, the aU the imefl lew become concentrated in Eastern Siberia in the basin of the Lena and its tributaries. The maximum point of cold oscillates about Verkhojansk, where the sky is always clear, the air bright. On some places snow falls so rarely that sleighs are unavailable for a great part of the winter. Then this cold air sets eastwards and southwards* bringing in its wake fine weather and dryness. Tn summer the reverse process takes place, as shown in Yoye'ikov's tentative chart. Siberia, where the barometer in winter marked the greatest pressure, is then exposed to the least atmospheric weight. The sea air is here concentrated from the Pacific and Indian Oceans, filling up the vacuum and bearing with it clouds and rain. Along all the sea- board from the Arabian Sea to the Oulf of Okhotzk the wet monsoon prevails during this period of atmospheric reflux to Eastern Siberia. Cis and Transgangetio India, with the neighbouring archipelagos cf Malaysia and the Philippines, probably receive more than half of the whole continental rainfall. In this region, exposed by the barrier of the Himalayas and its eastern extensions to the full play of the tropical currents, the sea air arrives charged with vapours, which are precipitated at the slightest contact with the upland slopes. In summer the southern portion of the contineut, having a much higher temperature than the sea, attracts the aerial masses resting on the Indinn Ocean, thus producing the southern monsoon. Saturated with the moisture arising from the sea as from a seething caldron, this monsoon discharges torrential downpours on the Malabar and Transgangetio coasts, after which it strikes against the advanced Himalayan spurs and other ranges flanking the southern border of the Chinese tablelands. The moist clouds, thus arrested by the lower chains, show that the marine breezes seldom rise higher than from 5,000 to 6,500 feet. But here the tropical rains, real deluges, exceed anything that the inhabitants of the temperate zone have any experience of. Annual rainfalls of 20, 30, and 40 feet' are by no means rare in various parts of India, and in the Eassia Hills, overlooking the course of the Lower Brahmaputra, it amounts to 52 feet. Certain Indian valleys have received in one downpour as much water as many Frraich valleys in a twelvemonth. Peninsulas. Thanks to their varied ooast-Iine ond reliefs, the regions of Southern Asia, Irania and Arabia alone excepted, present a greater diversity of aspects than the other parts of the continent. The two great peninsulas of India and Indo- China, with the neighbouring archipelagos, are probably unequalled in the richness of their vegetation, the splendour of flower and foliage, end the beauty of the animal species. These are the enchanted isles of the Arab legends, where the sands sparkle with rubies and sapphires, where the trees shed strength and health-giving perfumes, where the birds with their diiunond plumage speak with a wisdom unknown to the inhabitants. Many of these islands, gems set in a blue sea, lie nevertheless within the zones of typhoons, earthquakes, and fierce volcanic action. But the vapour- charged sea breezes soon repair the disasters of these agendea, quickly reviving the magnificence of their tropical vegetation. /•j •• 10 ASIATIC EUSSU. Oomparing continents with continents, the Swede Turbern Bergmann remarked in the last century that the large peninsulas, such as Arabia, Hindostan, and Indo-China, nearly oil face southwards. These correspond exactly with the Hellenic, Italic, and Iberian peninsulas in Europe, and to a less degree with those of Lower California and Florida in the New World, where the intermediate peninsula has been transformed to an isthmus by the upheaval of the land in Central America. Fig. 8. — OvKTKS OF THR Eastbhn Asiatic Siaboabu and IsLANUt. SnOe 1 : aO;000.000. OtoSlO IWthanu. 810 Frtho iM iu»A npwaida. The peninsulas of the two continents of the eastern hemisphere, taken in their g^graphical order, are also distinguished by special and analogous features. Thus Arabia, nearly quadrangular in form, is another Spain in the solidity of iU contour and the monotony of its coast-line. India, like Italy, presents more varied outlines, and has a large island at its southern extremity. Lastly, Indo> China and Greece are both alike washed by seas studded with countless islands and islets. These European and Asiatic archipelagos, like the corresponding Antilles in America, mam mmtm PENINSULA8. 17 have all their igneous phenomena, their craters of molten lava — more numeroVs, however, in Asia than elsewhere. Important geological changes are now taking place in this partially upheaved region, which may in its aggregate he regarded as a sort of isthmus between Asia and Australia. Nevertheless Wallace has noted a sharp line of separation between these two worlds, easily recognised by the di£ference in the vegetable and animal species peopling the lands situated on either side of this line. In the volcanic chain of the Southern Sundas, Bali belongs to Fig. 0. — Density of thi Ahiatio Popvlations. ▲oooiding to B«hm uid Hanemann.— Coatpont ProjeoUon. Soda 1 : 190.000,000 Par SqoaM mk. Uninhabited. Undw*. StolS. 18toS6. aStoTI. ntol«4. 144tof88. SSBand npwaids. 8,ooomi«a. the Asiatic, while Lombok, only 24 miles distant, already forms part of the Australian group. Like the southern, the eastern Asiatic seaboa^ has also its three peninsulas stretching southwards — Kamchatka, Corea, and Sakhalin — the last apparently an island, but really a peninsula, being connected with the Siberian coast by a bank inaccessible to large vessels. Though possibly mere coincidences, these facts are more probably the result of a law reg^ulating the distribution of dry land, the existence of which can scarcely be questioned, if its explanation must still remain an unsolved problem. • .n 18 ASUTIO BUSSIA. No less reiniirkable geographical analogies occur in the south-eastern archi- pelago. Thus Sumatra is obviously a peninsula of Malacca, connected with the mainland by the partly submerged isthmus of the Nioohar and Andaman groups. Several of the Malay Islands, Sumatra itself included, are disposed in regular order on openings in the crust of the earth, through which they communicate with an underground lava sea. But the distinctive feature presented by all these insular groups consists in their coast- lines forming a succession of segments of circles. From the north-west extremity of Sumatra to Flores the shores facing the Indian Ocean are developed in the form of a regular arc, and the same is true of Borneo, Paliivan, Luzon, and Formosa. The east coast of Corea begins a third curve, which is continued towards the Liu-khieu Islands, while Japan and Sakhalin form a fourth, which in the island of Yesso intersects a fifth, sweeping through the Euriles along the east side of Kamchatka. Lastly, the chain of the Aleutians, resting on a Kamchatka headland, stretches like a barrier across Bering Strait to Alaska. The radii of these insular curves vary in mean length from 1,100 to 1,200 miles, and the continental seaboard facing them is also disposed in large circular lines. The coasts of Siberia beyond the Amur, the Chinese seaboard between the Yellow Sea and Qulf of Ton-kin, that of Cochin China as far as the Me-khong delta, are all traced as if by the compass. Were the level of the Pacific to be raised from 1,600 to 2,000 feet, the Sikhuta-Alin coast range, Russian Manchuria, would be changed to an archipelago like that of Japan, and the lower valley of the Amur and Sungari would be transformed to a sea, in its outlines resembling that of the Euriles. In the west the Khingan range also develops a curve parallel to the sweep of the Euriles, though composed of older rooks. Inhabitants — Cultuiie, About two- thirds of the whole population of the globe are probably concen- trated in Asia ; but thesef multitudes are far from being evenly distributed over its surface. They are disposed according to the conditions of soil and climate, and, speaking generally, their density may be said to be in proportion to the abundance of the rainfall. Over one- tenth of the land, consisting of sands, rocks, or frozen tablelands, is absolutely uninhabited, and some of these tracts are never even traversed by caravans. In four-fifths of the surface the number of inhabitants scarcely reaches 40 per square mile. But in the remaining fifth, comprising India, pirts of Indo-China, the Yang-tze-kiang and Hoang-ho basins, Japan, Luzon, and China, the population is dense enough to give Asia a decided numerical preponderance over the other continents. More than half of mankind are grouped in Southern and Eastern Asia within a space less than one-sixth of the dry land. Thus one of the extremities of Asia presents in this respect a phenomenon analogous to what is witnessed in Western Europe at the other extremity of the Old World. Isolated from each other by plateaux, lofty ranges, or waterless wastes, the Asiatic populations have naturally remained far more distinct than those of Europe. Whatever be the origins, rivalries, or antagonisms of the European H.l«Ii l W INHABITANTS— CULTURE. 19 nutiona, they have none the less the full oonsciousness of belonging to the same human family, and in many places the interminglings of Iberians and Celts, of Slavs and Finns, of Turks and Albanians, have effaced all primitive differences. But crossings are far from having produced a similar racial uniformity in Asia. Doubtless in the north an ethnical fusion has taken place between many T(^rki and Mongolian tribes, in the west between Semites and Iranians. Nv re there any concen- «d over climate, ►n to the rocks, or ever even labitants uprising is, Japan, numerical grouped dry land. analogous d World. rastes, the those of European e Fig. 10. — DlBTHIHVTION OP THB ArIATIO RaOSS. Boole 1 : 110.000,000. 50' F "m Harlh JO L^ 30* 110' E.of 6r ES AiyaiM. KnngoUuiii. Tatan. Finno- Tibetann. ChincM, SemitM. UnTidiua ■ li'silana Jfipanaw, ke. CuoeaaiMia. EfUmn. AMcaiu. UalaTi. Pdi)taiia. __^i__i_ii-n— _• .— i— — a,000 MilM. longer to be found completely homogeneous races, except, perhaps, in the Anda- man Islands and Tesso. Tet what striking contrasts are still to be seen in the greater part of the continent ! The various so-called " Turanian " or Finnn-Tataric races mostly form distinct groups, completely separated from the other races in their mental qualities and social habits. In the north the Samoyedes, Ostyaks, and other Siberian tribes form one of the most easily recognised subdivisions. In the east Manohus and Tunguses, in the west Kirghiz and Tatars, represent the 80 ASIATIC RUSSIA. '.' , :''^1 ^.^ TArki stnck. The Mongolians and Duriuts of the centre are regarded as the typical brunch of the Mongol, or Yellow family. On the southern plateaux the Tibetans also form a distinct group, while the basins of the eastern rivers are occupied by the more or less mixed Chinese nation, surpasding all others in numbers, and distinguished itoxii them by well-marked moral and mental features. In the south-east the Malays constitute another division of mankind, which in some of the Sunda Islands and Malacca exhibits characteristics contrasting with those of all the Asiatic peoples. The Arabs also, who with the Jews form the Semitic family, have maintained the primitive purity of their type in the interior of the south-western peninsida. Lastly, the races of India have, so to say, followed each other in successive layers. Although living in the same land, the various ethnical groupn, divided into hostile castes, have been developed side by side, while keoping aloof from nil physical or social intermixture. The sacred poems of the Hindus relate how the noble races had to struggle with the low-caste tribes, people of black complexion and flat nose, and even withthe Ana«ika», demons and monkeys. The struggle has ceased, but the law of caste has raised a brazen barrier between these prim ^val conflicting elements. Speaking generally, the thickly peopled southern and eastern regions may be said to be occupied by cultured races, while the more desert northern tracts were till recently the exclusive domain of savage tribes, the intervening plains and plateaux being held by nomad peoples at the transitional or barbarous stage of civilisation. Yet through a strange, though by no means solitary delusion, the lofty Central Asiatic highlands have often been described in legends as the cradle of mankind, and the influence of these childlike traditions has been felt in many grave scientifio works. It seemed natural that these cloud-capped peaks — abode of the gods and immortals — should also be the first home of man orrylonia, A ibiu, tVom what has heen devolopod on the spot, most of its elero<'rit the Nile basin, to the Asiatic coast hinds, Asia Minor, Svri<-i, Persia, India, and China. All the languages of Europe, except Basque, are of Asiatic origin, and .dl, whether introduced by the Aryans, Finns, or Tatars, bear witness in thcir vocabularies to the multiplicity of objects derived from the Eastern civilisations. In prehistoric times especially Asiatic influences must have been most felt by the still barbarous tribes of Europe. Previous to the national and spontaneous development of independent Hellenic culture, the first impulses had come from Asia, where the more advanced peoples had already worked out complete systems of culture. Here were invented the arts of copper casting, of blending the metals into useful alloys, of smelting iron, working in gold and silver. Languages, religions, customs, implements, domestic animals, all came from the East. But after Europe had achieved its first triumph over Asia by the overthrow of Troy, Hellenic culture made rapid progress in the western peninsulas of Asia Minor as well as in Greece itself. Europe began, so to say, east of the ^gean Sea, where the Ionian cities received and transmitted to posterity the inheritance of knowledge bequeathed to them by the Ohaldeans, Assyrians, Medes, and Persians. The very name of Asia seems to be of Hellenic origin, restricted at first to a small, portion of the Ionian seaboard, and afterwards spread to the Anatolian peninsula and the whole continent. By an analogous phenomenon the name of a small tribe dwelling on the south coast of the Mediterranean was first extended to a Libyan province, and then to all Africa. Beligions, But even long after the great centres of civilisation had been shifted from the Mesopotamian regions westwards to Athens and Rome, the religion destined gradually to spread over the West took its rise in an obscure hamlet by the shores of Lake Tiberias. The Arab writers had already observed in mediaeval times that all the great religions, except Buddhism, had their origin in Western Asia, which has given birth to Judaism, the Zoroastrian, Christian, and Mohammedan worships, which, like rhythmical waves of thought, here succeeded each othei; at regular intervals of about six hundred years. All these systems have otherwise a strong family likeness ; all have been alike influenced by outward surroundings, which in their essential features present striking analogies from the shores of the Caspian to those of the Red Sea. Notwithstanding minor differences, the wilder- nesses of Arabia, Palestine, Chaldna, and Persia have the same aspect of monotonous g^ndeur. Buddhism also attempted to penetrate westwards, and traces of its passage are still preserved in the upland valley of Bamian, the main highway of intercourse in former times between India and Western Asia. On this historic spot, 8,600 feet above the sea, in the Hindu-Kush, a Buddhist king ruling over the Upper Oxus basin caused two colossal statues to be hewn in the solid rock, pierced with niches giving access to pilgrims. Other religious monuments mark the track of Buddhism ifiai«««w?^frmm'#^rgffif^ 22 ASIATIC RUSSIA. towurda tho north and north-woat. But it failed to secure u pormaaont footing anywhere wefit of the Pamir and Tian*Bhan. But Mongola, Chinese, and Tibetans received the Indian raisaionarius, and, though misunderstanding their doctrine, they at least accepted its name, repeated its formula), and practised its rites. At present Buddhism, mingled with divers superstitions, prevails in China, Tibet, Japan, Mongolia, amongst numerous tribes about Lake Baikal, and oven in Europe on the short'8 of tho Caspian. In point of numbers it takes the foremost rank amongst the religions of the earth, while geographically Christianity has become the most Fig. U.— Chibf RauoioNa or C'intkal Asia. B«aU I : 68.000.000 m ao ChiitUuU' Moh»i»nnd»ni. BnUunani. Bnddlitota. 1400 Vagonik widely diffused. In Asia the influence of the latter is limited to the Armenians, Georgians, Nestorians, Maronites, Greeks of Asia Minor, the evangelized tribes of Asiatic Bussia, a few Chinese, Japanese, a^d Indians, besides European immi~ gprants a&d Eurasians. But elsewhere it has become the creed of all the civilised nations of Europe, America, South Africa, and Australasia. Mohammedanism also has spread over a vast domain, stretching mainly south and east of the Christian area. Arabia, its original home, Palestine, nearly all Western Asia as far as the Hindu-Eush, belong to the various Moslem sects. In India the followers of the Prophet are more numerous and influential than elsewhere, while their domain has mAWIHSTm "fi^>! UIHTOKIO BETUObi'ECr— MIORATIONH. 88 ttlw) been extondcHl to Ohinu and MulayBin. North Africa has aim been converted by thu ArubH, and Iiilaip in rapidly developing in Sudan, and even uppruach< ing the Guinea ouust. In Kurope it in praotiaed onlj' by the OBmunli, AniuutH, Pomaki, and Hoiiniuna of the Balkan peniniula, and by tho Tiitara and other non- Aryan races of llusiiia. In the huuIH it has been extirpated by fire and sword, though not before it had exeroinod a considerable influence on European civilisa- tion. Tho Hponish Moors were for some time the teachers of the Western nations, nor were the urta and sciences unaifeotod by tbe warfare carried on for two centuries by the Crusaders against the Saracens and Turks for the |)08ac'Msion of the Holy Laud. HlSTORKJ RkTKOSPIXT MlORATIONM. Sekn from an elevated standpoint, the great drama of universal history resolves itself into endless struggles, with varying issues, between Kuropo and Asia. After the initial Asiatic movement a European reaction began in the legendi'.ry tines which are recalled by the myths of the Argonautio expedition. But the ICuropean period begins probably with the first great defeat of Asia, when the free citiisens of Athens triumphed over tho hosts of Dariua and Xerxes. Henceforth the spirit of Western civilisation stood out in bold contrast with that of the Eatit. Greece and the heirs of her greatness understood that the true object of life is to uphold and expand freedom, even at the cost of life itself. But after the glorious Htruggle ending with tho memorable victories of Marathon and Salamis, Europe failed to maintain her rising superiority. Alexander no doubt in a few yearn overran Aaia to the Indus; but his Macedonian followers ended by beconi og Asiatics themselves, leaving successors who sought to continue the work of Darius and Xerxes by attaching Greeoe to Asia. Evon Rome accepted her religion from Palestine, and tbe seat of empire was shifted to the Bosporus. And while the cultured peoples of tho South, the Aryans and Semites, were thus exercising a moral influence on the West, the barbarous tribes, of Eastern Europe and of Asia contributed by wholesale migrations to modify the races, if not of the West, at least those of the Sarmatian plains. After the fall of the Roman Empire the eastern continent again acquired an a.tcondancy, which lasted for a period of a thousand years. In the north the Alanf. Avars, Huns, Pecheneghs, Kumans, Magyars, and other Finns, followed later on by T itars and Mongolians, penetrated at^ross the steppe lands westwards, and one of thow) nations founded a state within the circuit of the Carpathians which still flourishes. In the south the Arabs, following the southern shores of the Mediterranean, reached the very heart of Gaul, whilo between these two great movements the Turks seized the Balkan peninsula, and made the second Rome, the city of Constantine, the capital of their empire. For a time the European world threatened to be swallowed up in the advancing tide of Eastern supremacy. One of the most astounding phenomena of history is the sudden rise in the thirteenth century of the Mongolian Empire, the largest that ever existed. The strictly nomadic population of tho E^t can scarcely be estimated at more than four or five millions, and tbe fighting element oan at no time have exceeded half a mmm wm W' 24 ASIATIC BUSSIA. million in these regiona. The Mongolian hordes could never of themselves alone have made up those vast hosts spoken of in the mediaaval chronicles. The alarm and terror of the vanquished multiplied in imagination the number of the conquerors, and in the popular fancy the East seemed to be an offlcina gentium peopled by vast multitudes, whereas the more favoured regions of the West were really far more populous. The Mongolian conquests were, in fact, achieved by small armies moving quickly from place to place with a unity of purpose, and fulling suddenly on enemies too scattered or dismayed to offer an effectual resistance. The detachment sent by Jenghis Ehan to Samarkand in pursuit of Sultan Ala- ed-din consisted of no more than 20,000 men, and for three years these warriors triumphantly overran Persia, Ehorassan, Armenia, Qeorgia, the Caucasus, the Crimea, and the plains of the Volga before returning to their master. The Mongols easily reached China by descending from their barren tablelands through the many valleys watered by the tributaries of the Hoang-ho. But towards the west there was but one route, which all could not reach. During the great displacements of populations vast numbers were crowded into Eashgaria, where they found themselves enclosed by lofty ranges inaccessible to armies. But the bulk of the migratory tribes followed the traditional route along the southern slopes of the Alt^'i, whence they swept over Western Siberia in two streams, one proceeding westwards to Europe, the other southwards to Persia and India. None of these hordes ever returned to their native pastures, except a few of the Astrakhan Kalmuks, who attempted in 1770 to escape from Russian rule to their ancestral homes at the foot of the Alta'i. And now silence reigns in the restless regions which were once the centre of the Mongolian Empire, and the highway of the Alta'i is a solitude. The turbulent populations formerly dwelling on the northern frontier of China have been pacified largely through the policy which, by the propagation of Lamaism in Mongolia, has changed a population of waiTiors into a community of monks. But the traces of the old migrations have not been e£faced. The flora and fauna of the two continents have become intermingled, while the peoples them> selves overlap anj encroach on each other at various points. Samoyedes and Lapps may still te regarded as Asiatics, and many even of the Mordvinianb, Chuvashes, and Cheremissians in Central Russia are more akin in their habits to the remote Si^jerian Ostyaks than to the surrounding Russian populations. Many Bashkirs, Tatars, Kirghiz, and Kalmuks are also settled in Burope, while, on the other hand, European nations have penetrated far into Asia. Compact Slav communities are settled in Transcaucasia, and even on the Pacific seaboard, while the Hellenes are more numerovs in Anatolia than the Osmanli in the Balkan peninsula. EuROFKAN Influences. Formerly the civQising, the Asiatics now represent the barbarous element in the presence of the Europeans, whose culture, with all its shortcomings, may still be regarded as the focus of education for the Eastern world. The general move- ^^mmm .ves alone he alarm ir of the 3 gentium Vest were i by Btnall id fulling resistance, iltan Ala- e warriors casus, the tablelands lit towards the great iria, where . But the e southern reams, one iia. None Astrakhan T ancestral jions which e Altai is a )m frontier iropagation community e flora and oplfis themo oyedes and ordvtnianb, ir habits to ms. Many while, on impact Slav )oard, while the Balkan I PEOOEESS OP DISCOVEEY. 25 ment of civilisation has thus been reversed, and intellectual life now radiates from Europe to the remotest comers of the earth. Wherever the European explorers first settled they doubtless ?egan their civilising work by massacring, enslaving, or otherwise debasing the natives. But the beneficial influences of superior races have ever commenced by mutual hatred, mistrust, and antagonism. The conflicting elements everywhere contend for the mastery before they awaken to the conviction that all alike are members of the same hum&n family. Like the civilising action of Asia in former times, that of Europe spread eastwards first from the seaboard. The Portuguese led the way by establishing themselves on the shores of both India and Malaysia ; and these were followed successively by the Spaniards, Dutch, English, and French, who founded factories or forts on the islands and coasts of the same regions. At present Cyprus is an English island, while Asia Minor is at least in theory under the protectorate of Great Britain, whose agents are also establishing her supremacy over Baluchistan, Afghanistan, end possibly even over Persia. Several points on the Arabian and Persian seaboards belong, directly or indirectly, to England, which guards the waters of the Persian Gulf, and reigns as undisputed mistress over India, Ceylon, and part of Indo-Ghina. A large portion of Further India is imder French rule, while Holland, England, and Spain, share with a few native sultans the possession of the Eastern Archipelago. Of all the Asiadc nations Japan has been most rapidly transformed under European influences, and in the Chinese seaports whole quarters are already occupied by European or American trading communities. Lastly, all the northern division of the continent owns the sway of Russia, whose Cossack pioneers have since the close of the sixteenth century brought the whole of Siberia under the sceptre of the Czar. Thus about one-half the area and one-third the population of Asia belong henceforth politically to Europe, as appears from the subjoined table of the direct and indirect Asiatic posaeasions of the various European states : — Ana in Sq llllt*. Fopnlatloo. Asiatic Buisis and DependenoieB 6,736,000 17,000,000 British Poas-^Miona and Dependflnoies in Alia . 2,772,000 248,600,000 Dutch ........... 696,000 26,600,000 French 66,200 2,760,000 Spanish 118,200 7,460,000 Portugoeao 7.200 770,000 Total Asia subject to Europe .... 10,386,600 313,080,000 From the settlements on the seaboard the political conquests and commercial relations of the West have advanced with ever-increasing rapidity towards the interior, although the work of scientific discovery is still far from complete. There are extensive regions of Central Asia scarcely visited except by solitary explorers, while even in the parts already surveyed many obscure problems remain still to be solved. element in fs, may still neral move- pRooRESs OF Discovert. The ancients, whose navigators never ventured to sail beyond the Indian waters to China, carried on a tedious overland tra£Bic with that country by caravan mm ae ASIATIC BUSSIA. IX kl '«i routes, which remained unknown to the Western conquerors. It will be scarcely possible to discover the exact highway followed by the Greek traders ; but Bactra being at that time the great emporium, the route indicated by Ptolemy most probably penetrated eastwards through the Upper Oxus valley across the southern portion of the Pamir, thence descending by one of the head-streams of the (Echardes (Turim) to the present basin of Kashgaria. Attempts have even been made to identify the Tash-Edrgan, which lies on a tributary of the Yarkand in Sarikol, with the " Stone Tower " spoken of by the old traders. At the beginning of the Christian era, when their military power was most flourishing, the Chinese subdued Western Tutary, and while their armies were crossing the Tian-shan passes, their merchunts and pilgrims were traversing the rougher routes over the " Roof of the World." Hwen-T'sang, the most famous of these pilg^ms, describes his journeys with sufficient minuteness to enable us to follow his footsteps ucross the Pamir and the Upper Oxus valley. Marco Polo also, after leaving Bactra (Balkh), followed a route diffiaring little from that of his Oreek predecessors, and running north-east across " the plain of the Famier, which they say is the highest place in the world." Beyond Yarkand he skirted the Gobi district on the south, entering China proper about the souroea of tbe Hoang-ho. This journey of Marco Polo across the continent from west to east still remains unrivalled after a lapse of six hundred years. As an imperial functionary he also visited most of the Chinese provinces and East Tibet, penetrating into Burmah through the still little- known itigions separating Yun-nan from Indo-China. By his enthusiastic account of China, it« great cities and eastern islands, he contributed more than any other traveller to stimulate the love of enterprise, and by him was conjured up the phantom pursued by Columbus across the western waters to the goal of a new world. When Marco Polo was making his way over the Pamir, another more northern route to Mongolia had already boon traversed by numerous merchants, missionaries, and envoys. In the middle of the thirteenth century the centre of gravity of the Mongol Empire lay about the neighbourhood of the Altai. Hence the main commercial highway naturally converged on Earakordm, capital of the state, and this was the road already followed by the Mongol and Tatar hordes north of the Tian-shan, and along the valley of the Sir-darya. It was also traversed by Plan de Carpin and Rubruk, envoy of Louis IX. Western adventurers now crowded round the imperial tent, and so numerous were the relations of the West with the great Eastern potentate that there was question of founding a chair of the Mongolian language in the Paris Sorbonne. But the empire was soon broken up ; Earakordm ceased to be a capital, and its ruins were forgotten in the sands. Still the route to China along the northern slopes of the Tian-shan, and through Zungaria, remained open to trade. Pegolotti and others followed it in the fourteenth century, and it might have ultimately acquired real commercial importance, had the attention of the Western nations not been diverted to the great oceanic discoveries round the Cape of Gbod Hope to India, and across the Atlantic to the New World. The long and dangerous highways of Tatary, Zungaria, and Mongolia were now forsaken, and the work of MM mmm PROGRESS OF DISCOVERT. 27 scarcely t Bactra ay moat louthern I of the ren been rkand in Bginning Chinese 'ian-shan over the describes >pa across g Bactra isors, and e highest ihe south, mmey of sd after a lost of the itill little- ic account any other ) phantom rid. her more uerohants, I centre of i. Hence >ital of the tar hordes ) was also Wefltem were the question of lapital, and e northern Pegolotti ultimately nations not 9d Hope to dangerous the work of Marco Polo ha& been resumed only in our days. But it is being now prosecuted by many explorers armed with 'le resources of science, and protected by the respect with which the natives have learnt to regard the Western nations. From year to year the space still remaining to be explored becomes narrower ; the main features of the mysterious Pamir are already determined ; Northern and Western China have been traversed in every direction. But certain Tibetan districts still remain a ierra incognita, pending the exploration of which many important geographical problems must remain unsolved. Asia may still be said to lack Fig. 12.— Chup Itinibariu op Centuai. Asia. ■ Boale 1 : l«O,O0O,00O. __ BOkBootB. Hoaaa CUiieM in fifth omtmy. »_ Hmn-T'MDy. >~-~. Aikbs. ,__- Nicolo and KcJTeo P«do. — — Marco Polo. • Pimdita. Oabet. .-~_ XVaaobOMnicr. — ~-. VoCwUqr. •» Bicfatbofsii. ,«»— ^ eum, isrs. w Main ThKte Route aomrdiDg to Tegoletti, IWO. —• •♦- Soanowkl. Forqrth, 1870. ^. — Cooper. PrjeraUkL .».>.- Amurnd David. — — ftAlagiatwrit. ————<——«— —I 8,00OSIflei. geographical unity in its relations with the history of man ; for the interior remains but partially known, while the movements of population and commerce continue still to be made by the seaward routes and coast regions. The progress of trade and discovery must ultimately give to Asia the unity it now lacks, and the result must be a general shifting of equilibrium throughout the whole world. At no distant day the European railway system will be continued eastwards, connecting the dties of the Bosporus with those of India, and enabling goods to be forwarded without break from the Yistula to the Indus basin. Travellers will then flock to those still unknown regions of Eastern Tibet, '^h'-' fo': It - 28 ASIATIC BUSSIA. the scene of some of the grandest phenomena on the globe. The teeming populations of India and China will then also enter into direct relations with each other, and the trade routes of Calcutta and Shanghai will meet midway between those emporiums. All these economic revolutions must revive many cities decayed, or even vanished, since the overland routes were abandoned for the safer and easier oceanic highways. Large cities cannot fail again to spring up in Bactriana and Sogdiana, where the main road between Central Europe and India will cross that leading to Mesopotamia, Syria, and Egypt. But besides the new centres of population that must arise in the West, others will be founded in Central Asia, the rallying-points of Chinese and Russians, of the Hindu and European traders. But the precise locality of these new marts must be determined by political as well as by climatic and other physical considerations, for Asia is a battle-field which is destined soon to witness a decisive struggle in the history of mankind. Political Rivalries. The influence of Europe on the Asiatic populations is steadily increasing, so that the vast eastern continent would seem in some respects to be becoming more and more a simple dependency of its little western peninsula. The power of Europe is represented in Asia mainly by the two rival states, England and Russia, differing profoundly from each other in their traditions, political situation, and interests. Russia rules in the northern, England in the southern zone, and many small intermediate peoples struggling to maintain their independence gravitate necessarily to the orbits of these great states.' In the extreme east, Japan, while preserving its political autonomy, is striving to rival the European peoples in the form of its administrative system. But the Chinese still cling to their individual nationality. Their power has been but little affected by the recent invasions and treaties with foreign states, and the empire is already beginning to resist further aggression by the inert force of its teeming populations. But these countless masses have also the strength imparted by industry, toil, and patience, while common sense, methodic habits, unflagging tenacity, render them formidable competitors in the race. Compared with the Hindus, the Chinese have the paramount advantage derived from a thorough mixture of races and national cohesion. Their temperate habits also enable them to become acclimatized under the most varied climes. They are an enduring race, which acquires fresh vitality from oppression and defeat. Hence England and Russia are not the only rivals for supremacy in Asia. Nay, more, the Chinese race cannot fail to clash with the peoples of Europe and North America on the fundamental questions of culture and social habits, before taking an active and intelligent part with them in the work of human progress. This conflict mtist needs retard the development of mankind until its course be again resumed by a final reconciliation of the ideas common to both elements. The ineviiable struggle between these three rival states is still retarded by %'-ij-s?,v??'&ia!rm?*'<'«f*'ffl>??w^^^ tooming ith each between or even 1 easier lana and rose that intres of ral Asia, 1 traders, litical as ittle-iield akiud. lasing, so ing more power of id Russia, ition, and ind many gravitate »n, while les in the ndividual isions and st further countless ice, while ormidable have the national zed under ih vitality •nly rivals I with the ilture and the work mankind ommon to POLITICAL RIVALBIES. S» the vast extent of the partly desert lands separating them. If China is easily acoBHsible by sea, she is at least completely enclosed landwards. Towards Russian Siberia she has far more solitudes than peopled regions, and here also Russia, having but few colonies, is incapable of exercising any political pressure on China. Between the " Flowery Land " and British India the zone of separation is formed not by solitudes, but by highlands still scarcely explored. In the west there is still a considerable tract intervening between Russian territory and India, and here the native element has hitherto maintained a certain political independence. In both Fig. 18. — EvBopxAir Imfldbho ut Aau. Scale 1 : 130,000,000. Salijeet to RuMlaii Inflnenoe. Britidi SnUMt to Britiah PoMeMtoos. Tnfl ne n ce. , 8,000 XilM. directions the Turkomans and Afghans have till recently presented a bold front to the Russian and English invaders, who are endeavouring to seize the strategic points of their territory. Influential statesmen have even declared, whether sincerely or not, that this intermediate zone should be permanently respected by the two rival powers, and that the advanced sentinels of British India and Russian Turkestan run little risk of soon meeting on some pass of the Hindu-Eush, or about the sources of the Murghab. From the military point of view China is still far inferior to the two other BiliMiiiBllllM W M i fwrnm^mrng-y-M^^m'^mmrwmw^^mmf^^'^v 80 ASIATIC RUSSIA. great Asiatic powers. Although she has had the foresight to utilise the lost twenty years of peace to reorganize her arnty, replenish her arsenals, oast guns, build ironclads, slie is scarcely yet strong enough to contend with any European power beyond her own limits. She is also still largely enslaved to official etiquette and deep-rooted traditions, preventing her from /reely entering on the new career towards which ahe is impelled by the course of events. Nevertheless both Government and people are at one in the determination to prevent foreigners from monopolizing the wealth and trade of the country. While receiving thetti in compliance with the terms of the treaties, the Chinese have contrived to protect their own interests, and while slowly, accepting new ideas, they prefer to be their own teachers in applying them to economical purposes. From the material point of view they also possess the strength inherent in numbers. In Manchuria, in Formosa, and in the central regions they are gradually acquiring the land by cultivation, and even in many foreign countries they have attained a decided preponderance. From their over-peopled native laudlhey are already overflowing into Further India, Malaysia, Auistralia, the Sandwich Islands, and the United States. On the othex' hand, England is unable to contend by means of compact masses for the supremacy in Asia. In the very centre of her power she has nothing to depend upon beyond her European troops and native mercenaries. Still the territory already acquired gives her a tremendous defensive and aggressive power. She not only raises formidable armies in an empire containing one-sixth of the population of the globe, but also a sufficient revenue to be independent of the resources of the home country, The English cannot, of course, rely on the sympathy of their subjects, whom they probably despise too much to expect it of them. The time must also doubtless come, though it may be still remote, when the Hindus will develop a national life and get rid of their foreign masters. Meanwhile the English tenure is far more secure than before the mutiny of 1857, although the majority of the army is composed of sepoys, and all the lower functions of the administration are in the hands either of natives or of" Eurasians ; " that is, half-caste Hindus and Europeans. The secret of England's strength lies in the fact that no national spirit has yet been evolved, no public opinion formed, except here and there, and even then deprived of all efficacy in a country which is divided into a multitude of distinct societies by the institution of caste. The English, belonging almost exclusively to the wealthy and influential classes, and unattended by servants of their own nationality, whose menial status might diminish British prestige, are enabled to live like gods and move in a higher world, fur above their multitudinous subjects, by whom they are hated, yet feared. Apart from the various qiiestions of internal policy, the main point for England is not only to uphold her sway in Oisgangetic India, but also to con- nect by easy and rapid routes the two centres of her vast empire on which " the sun never sets." She requires the geographical unity of a powerful state, for there are still great gaps in her boundless domain. The London and Oalcutta highway is not absolutely secured to her fleets and armies, and would be exposed t ■^ ». POLITICAL EIVALBIES. 81 t twenty as, build An power lette and iw career [ess both aers from thetn in protect ) bo their 1 material [anchuria, ) land by a decided rerflowing le United act masses nothing to Still the Ave power. Ixth of the lendent of ely on the ixpect it of aote, when n masters, ly of 1867, the lower urasians ; " irength lies ion formed, •y which is aste. The classes, and atus might n a higher yet feared. point for Iso to con- nrhioh " the 1 state, for id Calcutta be exposed on the flank were Russia to seize the Dardanelles and upper basin of the Euphrates, or place Cossack garrisons in the strongholds of Afghanistan. Thanks to her fust-sailing fleets, England has hitherto enjoyed a great advantage over her rival for empire ; for British armies are moved from the Thames to the Indus far more expeditiously than feeble Kussian columns from the Caspian to the oasis of Morv. Hence, in spite of the maps, England is in reality much nearer to India than are the advanced Muscovite outposts on the Upper Oxus. The Mediter« ranean belongs to the fleets of England, which is thus enabled to close the Suez Canal at pleasure. She also rules supreme in the Red Sea, on the Arabian sea- board, in the Persian Gulf, and along the coasts of Persia and Baluchistan. But the water highways are insufficient, and she will also have to hold the overland routes beyond Europe. With this object she has already secured the virtual pos- session of Asia Minor and occupied Cyprus, at the extreme comer of the Mediter- ranean, over against the great bend of the Euphrates ; she also holds strong posi- tions in Makran and Baluchistan, and must either now or ultimately annex Kandahar permanently to British India. She is on friendly terms with the Western Asiatic sovereigns, by means of pensions g^dually transforming them into vassals, thus avoiding the risk and expense of ruling them directly, for she also enjoys over Russia the great advantage derived from the possession of accu- mulated capital. Her military routes are being rapidly developed, and a line 600 miles long will soon connect the Indian railway system with £andahar, the true key to Afghanistan. Half the distance separating Alexandretta from Calcutta will thus be traversed by English locomotives. But is it nc« evident from such efibrts that the struggle for supremacy in Asia is approaching P Slower in their movements, because opposed by still unsurmounted physical obstacles, the Russians have, as a military power, advantages of another description over their English rivals. Their territory is not composed of scattered frag- ments, but forms from the shores of Lapland to the Pumir a perfect geogra- phical unity. A large portion of the inhabitants are, moreover, of Russian stock, and this ethnical element is yearly increasing by colonisation. Nor are the native tribes anywhere numerous enough to cause serious alarm to thr Slav settlers, who have become diversely intermingled with them, and who do not maintain a haughty reserve towards the former owners of the land. Perfect fusion is prevented by differences of social habits, and amongst the Moham- medans by religious prejudice. Still the Orthodox Russians and the Moslems of Turkestan do not, like the English and Hindus, hold aloof from each other, as if they belonged to two distinct orders of humanity. Hence national cohesion may be ultimately realised in Asiatic as easily as it has been in European Russia. The Russians will also, like the English, soon doubtless succeed in giving greater material cohesion to their Asiatic Empire by means of military routes, lines of wells, and even railways across the intervening wastes. The railway system, now reaching no farther than the Caucasus, Atrek valley, and river Ural, will bo continued to the foot of the Hindu-Kush, and then formidable armies may in a few weeks be massed on the frontiers of the lands hitherto swayed by British influence. 8fl ASIATIC RUSSIA. But theae frontiers still present many weak points, especially on the Iranian table- land and in the upland valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates. Whether the two rivals wish it or not, whether they seek to precipitate or avoid the conflict, it must sooner or later inevitably come. All the petty intermediate states are already being disintegrated under the pressure of the twofold attraction, and on both sides the intrigues, rivalries, political, commercial, and religious jealousies have silently begun the mighty struggle which must one day burst into open warfare. Thus are being prepared revolutions of a vital character in the heart of the Old World. The Asiatic lands, where, rightly or wrorgly, the cultured races seek their primeval origins, are becoming the scene of a supreme political struggle between the two most powerful nations in Europe. Whatever be the issue, the hope may be entertained that Western Asia and tbe Indian world will definitely belong to the domain of Western civilisation, and that thenceforth all the European and Asiatic peoples will accomplish their evolution harmoniously together, so that all may benefit by the progress of each. Thanks to the reaction of Western culture on the Eastern world, mankind, conscious of its unity, has already been enlarged, and political revolutions are preparing for the world a common destiny and solution of the problems affecting the life of nations. \ CHAPTER U. CAUCASIA. I.— THE PONTO-CASPIAN MOUNTAIN SYSTEM. I HE Gauoasion mountain syatem is often regarded as belonging to Europe. Rising like a barrier north of the eastern extremity of the Black Sea, it must have seemed to the Greek navigators dis- tinctly eevered from Asia, whereas to the traders settled on the northern shores of the Euxine it appeared to form the southern limits of the great Scythian plains. Since that time geog^phers have discussed the question whether the natural confines of the two continents were indicated by the bed and marsh lands of the Phasis in Colchis; or by the Kimmerian Strait and course of the Tanais. Apart from this question, Hellenic tradition constantly kept in view these mountains, loftier than either Olympus, Etna, Hemus, or the Alps. The history of Greece itself was associated in legend with this distant range, where the firtit germs of oiviliftation were sought. Towards the shores of Colchis was directed the famous Argonautio expedition in search of the Golden Fleece, symbolizing the wealth of every sort flowing both from science, trade, and industry. Here, also, the Hellenes endeavoured to find the origin of their race. Deucalion, who peopled Greece, was son of Prometheus, and it was to a rock in the Caucasus that this Titan was -bound for having stolen the fire from heaven. A sort of superstition, perhaps associated with the Promethean myth, formerly induced savants to apply the term Caucasian to all the fair European and Asiatic races, thus testifying to the instinctive reverence with which the nations have ever regarded these mountains forming the barrier between two worlds. This border-land was supposed to be still inhabited by the purest representatives of the race, whose beauty, symmetry, and graceful carriage were spoken of as physical advantages peculiar to all the white peoples. Nor has this term Caucasian yet quite disappeared from ordinary language as the synonym of the White, Aryan, or Indo-European stock. Since the true relief of the land has been determined by Pallas and other explorers, there can be no longer any doubt that the Caucasus belong^ to Asia. It is sharply separated from Europe by the deep depressioi^ now traversed by the A8IATI0 BUSdIA. '-. Manlch, and formerly filled by the waters of the Ponto-Oiupirtn Strait. In the aouth the ayatetn, while preHerving its ohari'oter of a distinct chain, is connected by spurs and a lofty transverse ridge with the Auutolir.n mountains, so that it forms the advanced moss of the whole continent. Historically, also, the inhabitants of the Caucasus belong to the Asiatic woriii. Before the intervention of Russia the Georgians, Mingrelians, Armenians, Kurds, Tatars, and other Transcaucasian peoples maintained relations, whether friendly or hostile, chiefly with the inha- bitants of Anatolia and Persia. The southern slopes facing the sun are also much more densely peopled than those turned towards the arid steppes of Europe. Hence, even after their annexation to Russia, the centre of gravity of these Asiatic lands was naturally found at the southern foot of the Caucasus, where is conoen* trated the aggressive force of the empire against the other regions of Western Asia. Recently a considerable strip of Turkish territory has been forcibly added to Transcaucasia, so that this division of the Caucasus, already the most populous, has become nearly as extenfiive as the northern. It is even larger, if in it be included the province of Daghestan, which, though lying north of the main range, is administratively regarded as part of Transcauoasia.* The Great Caucasus. Few ranges are characterized by a more striking unity than the Caucasus, the Eok-kaf or Eaf-dagh of the Turks and Tatars, a section of " the chain that girdles the world," according to the Oriental mythologies. Seen from the distant steppes of Muzdok or Yekaterinogradsk, k>i.retohing from horizon to horizon, it seems like a rampart with a thousand sparkling battlements. The poets call it simply the Caucasus, as if it were but one frowning mass reaching; 'rom sea to sea for a distance of 720 miles. It is also called the " Great Caucasus," in contradis- tinction to tba irregular spurs of the " Little," or rather " Anti-Caucasus " beyond the Eura basin. Approached from the Euxine or the Russian steppes, it seems at first an impalpable vapour, a hazy cloud mingling with the fogs of the sur* rounding swamps ; then it assumes more distinct outlines, breaking into snowy or wooded crests and deep goiges, the whole soon bounding tbe horizon, towering above the ssone of cloud, wind, and storm, eclipsing the sun midway in its course, threatening the lowlands with avalanches and widespread ruin, hurling the foaming torrents in cascades and rapids down to the plains. Accustomed to the sight of boundless steppes or slight eit.inencee, the Russians could not fail to be struck by these lofty sumroit« which seemed to belong to another nature, whose charm was enhanced by the valour and beauty of its inhabitants. * Area and population of Rusaian Caucasia : — Aim in Sqnara Eitimated PopnUtioa Mile*. (1880). CiKaucasia . . . ^ . . 88,000 1,020,000 Daghestan 11,436 600,000 TranMaucaaia with Kuba . . 76,844 8,260,000 Becent conqueeta 10,636 200,000 Total 186^ 6,870.000 mr ■MH .1 THE OBEAT 0AUCA8U8. W Rusrian literaturo reflects the deep improMion produced on the imagination by the sight of the CaucanuR, and by the warfare wug^d against its numerous tribes. Pushkin det4cribed in song the romantic scenery of Oircassia ; I^ermontov inter- preted the traditions of the inhabitants, and made the Cauriisus the scene of his novel the " Hero of the Day," which had such a large share in the intellectual development of the rising generation. How many noble spirits have perished, ' like Lermontov himself, in this region, persecuted during life, all the more honoured in death I The general south-east and north-west direction of the range suffers but slight deviations. It thus follows the same line us the mountains of Persia, Asia Minor, and so many other Asiatic systems. Its origin is therefore associated with the laws by which a large portion of the crust of the Old World has been modified. « Fig. U.— Bso OP TMi Caspian. AoBoidla* to A. Orinmuk BoO* 1 ; S,mo,oeo. I / i I m to e I!»tiiomi. toaix ectoiao. laotoiao. iSOMidtiinnmlii. WICOm. In the formation of the surrounding lands the Ouuoasvs has even played a more important part than is evident from its apparent relief. W'th a regularity sur- passing that of all other systems, it is continued beyond the main ridge by argil- laceous hills thrown up by igneous agencies. At either/ extremity low peninsulas heaving with the pressure of pent-up forces are projected seawards — those of Taman on the west, and Apsheron on the east. The first is scarcely separated from another peninsula, that of Kertch, advancing from the Crimean mountains, while the second stretches across the Caspian in a line marked first by volcanic islets, and then by a submerged bank separating the two g^reat northern and southern marine depressions. On both sides of this bank the lead sinks 1,300 feet deeper than the line of projection of the Caucasus. On the east coast the cape north of the Erasnovodsk peninsula is the starting-point of a chain of M ARIATIO BUSfllA. heigbtfl, bills or aingle eaoarpmpntN continuing the lino of the OauoaauH direotly to the Murghub valley between Morv and Herat. Through these eminences and those of North Afghanistan the Oauoasian syNtein ia connected with that of the Hindu*Kush. The Caucasus resembles the Pyrenees in its direction, in the serrated form of the main range, in its position between two murine basins, and like them uIho it may be considert^d as consisting of two sections of unequal length. But if the gap forming the natural limit between the western and eastern sections is not situated in the middle of the range, it lies at all events almost exactly midway between the two seas. Through this depression pusses the grout military highf way betwi an Russia and Tiilis. On the meridian of this pass the main range contracts on either side to a width of about 60 miles between the two opposite plains, while east and west the highlands spread much further north and south. The western section, though the narrower, is the higher of the two, for here rise the loftiest summits, six at least of which surpass Mont Blanc, culminating point of Europe.* Daghestan, i.e. " the Highlands," comprising the most important region of the Eastern Ouucasus, is lower, but more irregular and rugged, than the western section. The old geographers supposed that the system consisted of a simple unbroken ridge ; but the investigations of Abish and others show that the general relief is much more intricate. The chain is almost everywhere formed by two ridges, and in many places even by three or four running parallel, or nearly so, with each other, and connected at intervals by nuclei, thus presenting a formation analogous to that of the Andes. The upper valleys of the Caucasus generally take the form of cirques, or elongated craters, in which are collected the head-streams, and from which they escape through a deep lateral gorge. From the orographic point of view the Eoshtan-tau may be considered the culminating point of the system ; for this peak, which has never been scaled, rises on the parting-line between the two slopes. Between the sources of the Kuban and of the Adai- kokh, 100 miles further east, the watershed presents no passes lower than 10,000 feet. The first breach below this eluvation is the Mamisson Pass (9,540 feet), situated at one of the sudden breaks in the main range, on a transverse ridge branching off at the Zikari Mountains. East of this pass numerous gaps ooour at altitudes ranging from 6,500 to 10,000 feet. Although the triangular survey of the Caucasus has long been finished, the work of exploration is still far from complete. Since 1868 the Kazbek and Elbruz have been ascended by Freshfield, Moore, and Tucker, accompanied by the Chamonix guide Devouassoud, and several other peaks have also been scaled ; yet the Alpine Clubs have still plenty of work before them, especially in the Western Caucasus. The northern and southern slopes of the rang^ differ greatly in their general * Chief summitH of the Caucasus : — Elbrus . Kashtan-tau Dikh-tau Feat. 18,820 17,370 17,190 Kaisbek . . . . Tshba (Resoch-mta) Aghiih-tau, or Adiah-tau . F... w erul relief, turea of its 'esting here ftrdfl. The icasus, also than on the ninences on various ages are covered aracteristics Here the Is and sandy they enter . woodlands, a the Terek, rn Caucasus, rhere a vast ae surround- deviation of ight seconds range, its ahove the through the culminating re when the irds the close rmiuates in a The Eazhek south, are all of columnar Lhe Caucasus, mt numerous disposed in ) amongst the ated with the ;erval8 in the id have taken little harhour by the former 5 present level , evidences of GEOLOGICAL FOBMATION— VOLCANIC ACTION. 89 changes of level, and as high as 600 feet there are visible old marine shores in every respect resembling those still washed by the waves of the Black Sea. The marshy springs oozing from the ground at this elevation contain shell-Bsh, such as the mi/m and gammarm, of the same species as those now inhabiting the Euxine, though their presence has been attributed either to a former communication with that sea, or to the action of water-fowl carrying the spat backwards and forwards in their plumage. Lake Abra(k, near Novo-Rossusk, also contains a semi-marine fauna, which has gradually adapted itself to the fresh water. The remains of buildings in the alluvia near Sukhum-Kaleh, both above and below the surface, show that even in historic times the land has first subsided and then been Fig. 16.— Hot Sviunoh and Naphtha Rsgionb in the Cavgasub. Soda 1 : 11,000,000. NiVliUiaBegiain. Hot Springs. Nq^UteWelK . ISOHilw. upheaved, and that it is now again subsiding. The ruins of a fort are at present 16 to 18 feet under water, und a large wall has been found even at a depth of 32 fTOt. After every storm, coins, rings, and other antique objects are constantly thrown up, and in one instance a gold coronet was discovered in the sands. Similar oscillations have occurred on the Baku coast of the Caspian, where the remains of a building are still visible near the shore. The advanced spurs of the Caucasus are not high enough to conceal the oratral chain from the inhabitants of the plains. From the steppes of Stavropol, a distance of 120 miles, the snowy Elbrus I? distinctly visible, rising in solitary majesty on the horizon. Travellers approaching from the north see it for miles *,!■ ■Mk. 40 ASIATIC EUSSU. and miles along the route, constantly increasing in size long before the presence of the range is betrayed by any other peaks to the right or left. But when it suddenly comes in sight it presents a stern, almost a terrible aspect, snow-clad only on the highest crests, here and there furrowed by avalanches, but lacking the charm and variety of the Alpine masses. Being much narrower and simpler in its structure, it is necessarily more uniform than the Alpine system. It is aUo deficient in grand cascades, its hills having already been furrowed by the action of water into regular river beds. Water Systems — Snow-line — Rainfall — Glaciers. The absence of detached masses and of broad intervening valleys deprives the Caucasus of great lakes like those of the Alps. No such lacustrine tarns even occur as are so frequently met in the Swiss and Tyrolese highlands. The fresh- water lakes, formerly stretching along the plains at both sides of the range, have been drained since the glacial period. One of these old lakes, contemporary with Fig. 17. — Pkofilb of the Caucasus as sben from Patioobbk. According to Fresbfl«ld. the volcanic eruptions, is now replaced by the cultivated fields of Vladikavkaz and Alagir in the Terek valley. Another of equal extent on the south filled the Karthalian basin between Suram and Mtzkhet, disappearing with the bursting of the embankments that confined the waters of the Eura. The whole of the Alazan valley, with that of its tributary the Aliri>chai, was also flooded by a lake, which ultimately escaped through a gorge in the advanced spurs of the Caucasus. In fact, all the river valleys, those of the Euban and its tributaries the Zelenchuck, the Laba, and the Belaya, no less than those of the Eura system, formerly served as lacustrine reservoirs, so that the Caucasian streams, like so many others, may be regarded as rediiced lakes or contracted fiords. But the Anti-Caucasus, a vast hilly plateau, or rather an aggregate of irregular masses ' with axes at various angles, thus presents far more numerous land-locked depres- sions, and this system accordingly offers in its lakes a marked contrast to the Ponto-Caspian chain. Although with a greater mean elevation than those of the Alps, the Caucasian peaks are far less covered with snow and ice, not only in consequence of their more southerly latitude and other climatic conditions, but also owing to the WATEE SYSTEMS— SNOW-LINE— EAINFALL—GLACIEBS. 41 presence when it low-olad lacking . simpler it is ako ae action irives the .ms even 'he fresh- age, have rary with avkaz and filled tiie ursting of le of the Dded hy a lira of the tributaries ira system, ns, like so But the liar masses :ed depres- rast to the ) Oauoasian ce of iheir Lng to the narrowness of the upper crests, and the absence of cirques where the accumulated snows might serve as reservoirs of glaciers. The snow-line varies considerably with the latitude, exposure, amount of snow or rainfall, direction and force of the winds, and relative position of the several mountain masses. The extreme limits would appear to differ as much as 6,100 feet, for, according to Radde, the line falls to 8,460 feet on the western slopes of the Qaribolo, whereas Parrot fixes it at 14,560 feet on the north-west side of the Great Ararat. Mount Alagoz, rising to a height of 13,660 feet in the Anti-Oaucasus, is entirely free of snow in summer, and even in the Great Caucasus Rupreoht ascended to an elevation of 12,600 feet on the south side without meeting a single snow-field ; but this was in the eastern section facing the Caspian. Farther west the moist winds from Fig. 18. — BAHfrALL or nn Cavoaius. .Stale 1 : 10JSOO,000 Undmr 10 Inebts. lotoao. MtoM MtoSO. 80 and opwudi. the Euxine often cover the southern slopes with snow. In some of the upper valleys of the Rion basin ihe snowfall is said to amount to firom 16 to 23 feet. On the whole, and apart from local differences, the line of perpetual snow would seem to oscillate on the southern slopes between 9,600 and 11,600 feet, and on the northern between 11,000 and 13,000 feet. Thus the mean limit is about 2,000 feet higher than in the Pjrrenees, though they lie in the same latitude. This contrast must be attributed to the greater general dryness of the climate, at least on the northern slopes, and to the greater summer heats of the Caucasus. The portion under perpetual snow begins at the Oshtek, or Oshten, in the west, and extends eastwards to the Kazbek, beyond which the mow rests throughout the year only on isolated peaks. 48 ASIATIC EU8SIA. m The various meteorological statioLd established along the range have approxi- mately determined the diminution of humidity, owing to which the snow-line rises gradually eastwards, according as the moist winds recede from the Euxine and approach the Eastern Caucasus, where the continental winds prevail. On the slopes facing the Black Sea the snow or rain fall is three times more abundant than in the centre, and six, eight, or even ten times more so than in the Eura basin and the Apsheron peninsula. At times not a drop of water falls for six months along the lower course of the Eura, for the influence of the west winds from the Euxine reaches no farther than the Suram Mountains, which connect the main range with the Anti-Cuucasus, east of Euta'is. The Caspian itself supplitsa very little moisture to the Eastern Caucasus, because the limited amount of humidity brought by north-east winds is mostly discharged on the advanced spurs at the foot of the .Daghestan highlands. Notwithstanding the excessive summer heats of this region and its higher snow- line, the mean annual temperature does not exceed that of the Pyrenees, or even of the Alps. For the cold north-east winds, being untempered by the warm south-westerly breezes, which are arrested by the Anatolian plateaux, lower the normal temperature of the Caucasus. The climates of Caucasia and Switzerland have a common mean, but the extremes are much greater in the Ponto-Caspiau region than in Central Europe. The temperature in summer and winter varies in Switzer- land about 18° or 19°, whereas there was a difference of 27° at Patigorsk in 1876. The absence of snow produces a corresponding scarcity of glaciers. Tet they are numerous enough, especially about the Elbruz, and there is almost continuous ice for a distance of 120 miles between the Juman-tau and the Ealtber, above the Ar-dun valley. The lowest glacier is that of Ealchi-don, or Earagan, which drains from the Adai-kokh into the Upper Urukh valley. According to Fresbfield the only Swiss glacier of equal length is that of Alech. But as a rule the frozen streams of the Caucasus descend no farther than 7,000 feet above the sea ; that is, several hundred feet above the corresponding limits in the Swiss Alps. Unlike the snow, they reach a lower point on the northern than on the southern slopes, a fact due to the general relief of the mountains, which are much more abrupt on the south than on the opposite side, where they slope northwards in long valleys. Unmistakable evidences of the passage of former glaciers show that in the Caucasian, as in the European mouucain i^stems, the frozen streams reached a much lower depth formerly than at present. About the outlets of the Malka, Baksan, and Terek valleys there occur erratic boulders suspended at a slight elevation along the slopes of the bluffs overlooking the plains. The Termolov stone, near the northern entrance of the Oarial Gorge, is 96 feet long, with a bulk of 197,900 cubic feet, and similar blocks 26 feet long are met at Vladikavkaz, and even 5 miles farther north. In Svania the upland villages now standing over a mile from the extremity of the glaciers are built with the detritus of the moraines here stranded from former glaciers. At present the best known and most frequently visited glacier in the Caucasus is the Devdoraki, or Devdoravki, one of the eight that descend from the Eazbek. 1 approxi- mow-line e Euxine On the abundant the Eura Is for six est winds 1 connect ian itself 1 amount advanced ■her snow- 18, or even the warm lower the iand have iau region a Switzer- L in 1876. Yet they sontinuous above the an, which ording to b as a rule feet above . the Swiss lan on the L are much th wards in show that ns reached the Malka, it a slight I Yermolov irith a bulk avkaz, and ading over tus of the ^-\ ^Stob^ ^'5 'V-.-t- PC f. ^>^>>.vi cs^^ I V e Caucasus be Kazbek. ' which might remind them of their distant fatherland, nowhere acquires a vigorous growth. The cultivated no less than the wild plants reach a much higher elevation on the slopes of the Caucasus than in the Alps, a fact due to the greater summer heats of the former region. In the district destined some day, perhaps, to be pierced by the tunnel of the future Caucasian trunk line betwoon the Ar-don and Lakhva basins, all the upland villages are surrounded by barley- fields to an alti- tude of over 6,500 feet. In Oasetia this cereal reaches the village of Eolotu (8,230 feet), and farther south it ripens on the fi*..ipes of the Alagoz at an elevation of 8,300 feet. Wheat also is grown as high as 6,700 feet, or 3,300 feet higher than in the Alps ; maize reaches 3,000 feet, and the vine 3,630 feet, near the village of 1 ■4 •V -:3. M ASIATIC RUSSIA. Kurtu, in Oasetia ; but the best vintages of Kakbetia are those of the Alaxan valley, 2,i)00 feet above seu-lovul. Many Oaucusian forests have been cleared for agricultural purposes, but many more have btun wantonly destroyed, and the destruction is still going on in the most reckless manner where timber rno^t abounds. To save the labour of felling the trees, they are burnt down at the risk of setting fire to whole forests. When fodder fails, the trees are dextruyed, and the cattle fed with their leaves and sprouts. Ilence many regions formerly densely wooded ure now bare, and even on the upland slopes the woodlands are rapidly disappearing. In spite of the ravages of man, most of the original wild animals of the Caucasus are still found there. The chamois and the (our, a species of wild goat, it- lent the upper valleys, and some herds of the ^ison or wisant, wrongly described as the auroc/is, roam over tbe forests watered by tributaries of the Kuban at the foot of Mount Elbruz. The Caucasian bear, less formidable than the Russian, is found no higher than 5,000 feet, the limit of fruit trees. Like the wolf and lynx, he inhabits the Abkhusian forests, and Prendel ro.et one wi( Min 6 miles of Sukhum-Kaleh. The wild boar haunts the thickets of the lowlands, especially along the banks of tarns and rivers. The tiger, said to have come from the plateaux of Persia, rarely ventures to show himself on the plains of Transcaucasia, and never penetrates into the upland valleys. The leopard, hyena, and juckal are not unfrequently met about the Lower Eura, and the jackal occasionally finds his way across the main range to the forests of the northern slopes. In its fauna and flora Trarscaucasia already belongs to the sub-tropical Asiatic world, whereas in this respect Cis- caucasia must still be included in the European xone. Inhabitani-s — Varied Ethnical and Lingcistic Elements. The well-watered Transcaucasian plains might support as g^at a population as France, and two thousand years ago were probably abundantly peopled. The northern valleys are also fertile enough to supply the wants of mill ons ; yet Caucasia is on the whole less densely peopled than Russia itself. In tbe north the steppe prevails, and here the population is restricted to the river banks. In the south also the plains of the Araxis and Lower Kura have remained unpeopled, owing to their extremely unhealthy climate, while in the highlands nearly all the region above the forest zone is a solitude of pasture, rooks, or snows, frequented only by a few herdsmen and hunters. The highest Caucasian village, Eurush, in the Daghestan highlands, about the source of a head-stream of the Siunur, is 8,200 feet above sea- level, an elevation nearly equal to that of the Hospice of the Great St. Bernard in the Swiss Alps. But the summits of the chain rise from 6,000 to 9,000 feet above this last inhabited spot of the Caucasus. The most healthy zone lies between 2,500 and 6,650 feet, and here are situated the sanitary stations wh3re most of the officials of Tiflis, Erivan, and Telisabetpol spend the summer months The most favourite elevation is 4,000 feet, where the vine, mulberry, and southern cereals still flourish, and where the pure and cool air ^ -WW^Wf^ e Alaxan but laany on in the of felling When >ayei and and even 3 Caucasus ;, fr- lent bed as the the foot of I found no le inhabits aleb. The C8 of tarns sia, rarely )trateB into lently met B the main irscaucasia jspect Cis- pulation as pled. The et Caucasia the steppe B south also ing to their Bgion above ly by a few ) Daghestan t above sea- Bernard in feet above are situated Felisabetpol ;, where the and cool air 1 i ! i ■LidH'IIMUJiiiiij I . ■" ■I J I 'I ! »l . l ILWHWI II HWUM i f iip fc -'W >- t t ^mmmfjftmitm i f ' ' mjm mmmm9 ''m ' V' " ** ■**< CTHNOORAPHICAL MAP Of MusHmns Ae. CI .0»»ttmm 0A00A8XA>S. JSm»ti?'MaiTHb»0 HID atOirooiiS. AjyAur ArdW [T] Sa^ 1 t.AOO.OOO. NEW TrOHK. D APPLETC I mMH** APHICAL MAP or THE CAUCASUS NEW -yOHK, D APPLETON &C? '-sf'-""- "'■i ' i rf«li l Biiw i i,» !^: ■-,. ■ ..1 ■- ^ij'l;'^'*S*'a'"'»' BIVEB SYSTEMS— KUBAN BASIN. 51 ecomes a slope is liore tbe the coast wy crests ftin ridge g depres- lin, their le valleys ts. Near a-tau, the which the tint taking iRoasiisk, ivia of the rafiks, and st strategic le carriage shingly Euxine are irry off the 9,774 6,360 2,460 rain-water falling od the uplands, fiut a few rivers in the southern valleys, such as the Kodar, Bzib, and Mzimta, acquire a certain importance, thanks to the paral- lelism of the main chain and side ridges enclosing their upper courses. Most of these upland valleys bear the traces of old lakes, which have been drained either by the torrents or by underground streams making their way through caverns excavated in the Jurassic limestone rocks. Thus the Michish, represented on most maps as an independent river, is really a branch of the Bzib, passing for 2 miles under the Fskhuv Mountain, and escaping through an outlet near the coast. The Pitzunda River, running close to the Bzib, presents a phenomenon of a different order, for it seems to have changed its course within the historic period from the south to the north of Pitzunda. The Abkhasian streams are of little importance except for irrigation purposes in the lovely gardens and orchards on the coast. Here the palm is associated with European plants, beneath whose shade wind avenues of the rose and jasmine. But most of the streams flowing from the hills now form swumps at the outlet of their valleys, where they poison the atmosphere and decimate the people. Hence the natives generally fix their homes far from the unhealthy coast lands, either in the forests or on the bare plateaux. As soon as the climate has been improved by drainage and clearing the ground of its rank vegetation, this part of the Euxine seaboard, some 240 miles long, will become a second Crimea for the Russians. Still the Abkhasian coast, while warmer and less subject to fogs than the Crimean, has the disadvantage of being less sheltered except on the south side of the lateral 3. The average high temperature of the water contributes greatly to raise Tl that of the land, which till the end of November stands as high as 58° or 59° Fahr., varying at Sukhum-Ealeh in winter from 45° to 46° Fahr. The south-west gales blow with great violence in spring and autumn, and during their prevalence navigation is very dangerous on a coast destitute of good harbours of refuge. The Abkhasian seaboard is completely sheltered from the cold north-east blasts which sweep the Caspian and Euma steppes. But at its northern extremity Western Caucasia is not sufficiently elevated to arrest this bora of the Euxine, as it has been called by the Italian and Greek sailors frequenting these waters. On January 12th, 1848, the vessels riding at anchor off Novo-Rossiisk were driven seawards or stranded, and one of them sank with all its crew, borne down by the weight of the dense spray suddenly freezing in the rigging and on deck. The northern slope of the coast range belongs to the Kuban basin. This river, the Euman of the Nogai Tatars, and Eubin of the Abkhasians, is fed by the Elbruz glaciers, and receives all the torrents and streams of the Western Caucasian valleys, except a few rivulets lost in the steppe before reaching the main stream. Swollen three times during the year by the spring rains, the melting of the snows in summer, and the autumn downpours, it often assumes the proportions of a large river from 700 to over 1,200 feet wide, and upwards of 10 feet deep. But ut low water in August and September it is nowhere more than 4 feet deep, and in some years the northern arm of its delta runs dry. All attempts have hitherto failed to render it permanently navigable, although since 1873 the steamers from Eertch ^ I ^.^ w> iM >m aij ii*it aumiii m m i mK I TAMAN PENINSULA. 68 consists of alluvial deposits made in the inner busin of a " limun," or lagoon, separated by an older strip of sand from the Sea of Azov. The soil held in solution by the Kuban being in the proportion of 1 to 480, these deposits would have rapidly filled the liman were they not carried away by the current partly to the Sea of Azov, aud partly directly to the Euxino. Taman Peninsula. The lower stream has often shifted its bed, land islands and channels have so frequently changed place that the descriptions of the old writers are no longer intelligible. So recently as the fifteenth century the chief discharge was into the Sea of Azov, and since that time it has oscillated between the two branches, every fresh inundation modifying the currents. The Taman peninsula is everywhere studded with marshes and eriks, or false rivers, the remains of former freshets, and with river beds and banks showing in their alluvial strata the successive levels of the stream. Although about 24 miles broad, the whole peninsula is frequently transformed to its former insular condition by the lukes and side channels of the main branch. But though thus surrounded by water, this is not a lowland district, for it consists of five parallel chains of hills, occasionally rising 480 feet above sea-level, and separated one from the other by alluvial tracts, which were formerly inlets, and are still partly covered with lakes. The mud volcanoes of the Taman peninsula seem to have been at one time far more active than at present. They run exactly in the line of the axis or con- tinuation of the parallel ridges, and it was in the same line that a volcanic islet was erupted in 1799 near the town of TemrCkk. This mud islet, which was about 1,330 feet in circumference, with an elevation of 13 feet above the sea, soon disappeared, but was replaced in 1814 by a second cone, which remained some time above the surface. These mud hills of the Taman peninsula are amongst the most remarkable on the globe, for they present the complete succes- sion of phenomena from the simple oozing of mud to distinct volcanic eruptions. The TemrCkk islet is said to have vomited smoke and flames in 1799, and the Euku-Oba, or " Blue Fill," 7 milea north-west of Taman, opened its crater in 1794, ejecting flames aid fragments of frozen earth to a distance of over half a mile. Other volcanic cones oast up stones, accompanied by argillaceous muds, seaweed, roots of rushes and other aquatic plants, showing that they evidently communicated with the bed of the limans and sea. Formerly numerous frag- ments of Greek and Scythian pottery were found amongst the erupted matter, and in the immediate vicinity of the cones. In explanation of this fact Pallas suggests that the ancients may have been accustomed to throw in vases and other objects as offerings to the volcanoes. The naphtha springs of the peninsula and north side of Western Caucasia also run in the line of the mud cones. The tertiary lands whose clays and marls contain this valuable substance occupy an upheaved area of at least 620 square miles, and are also continued under the limans. Lake Temr(lk itself contains a mirrii'ii iinrti 54 ASIATIC BUSSIA. small quantity, which, however, does not prevent the pike, perch, prawns, and other Hsh from living in its waters. Although wells have been sunk only in the most promising sites, the results have been so far quite as satisfactory as might be expected. The works were begun in 1 66 in the Euda-ko, or "Naphtha Volley," on a piece of ground presented by the Czar to one of his generals. The first well yielded about 2,400 gallons daily, but most of this mineral oil was lost, the reservoir having been swept away by sudden rains. The well itself soon ran dry, but six others were opened in 1870, which jointly yielded 62,000 tons a year. After the boring the jets of naphtha often rose to a height of 50 feet above the ground. Were the district properly worked and con- nected by rail with the Anapa coast and Kuban basin, it might produce 700,000,000 gallons of distilled oil yearly. Fig. 24.— Thb Kuku>Oba Mud Voloako. Acoording to PkIIiui. Bode 1 : 8a,0(ia ..v^i Inhauitants — The Cherkgsses. Few regions of the Old World have shifted their populations more fre- quently than Western Caucasia and the Euban basin. Since the middle of the century war«, massacres, and exile have caused the disappearance of tribes and whole nations from the valleya limited eastwards by the Elbruz, where they have been replaced by other races. The course of history has been abruptly arrested ; traditions, languages, dialects, have irrevocably perished, nothing remaining in the il,6S0Tatt land except geographical names more or less distorted in the untrained mouth of strangers. In the last century the steppes of Oircassia were still mostly peopled by the Cherkesses, who even owned grazing lands north of the Euma, and procured their salt from the lakes in the Manich depression. In 1859 they numbered about 600,000 in Western Caucasia, and even in 1864, after the wars ending in the Russian conquest, they were still estimated at 300,000. But now they have ceased to exist as a distinct nationality in the country, and in all Caucasia they will soon be represented by a few individuals only. The Abkhasians also of the Euxine seaboard and southern valleys have mostly disappeared, although nomi- nally subjected to Bussian rule since 1810, and treated far more leniently than the Cherkesses. They were reduced from about 150,000 in 1864 to 50,000 in *E&ii LU. ■V'.? ■jU'^■ H-t1V-'^ ;■ the public their race, Bgant type, y become a in Cossackt :a, with ita laent rauny sreme law. edemption, er to bring mdn lasted led to lurk sonstruoted of women, r, and who kill them )y force hiq she must be sold in »nd the life p, they con- lage would 'sons. The nts, but by ualities, his When his r ceased to m in their ople in the al amongst reduced by f " brother- > death that )rity of the ucceeded in e highland B defeat of rangers for ting exclu- Bssed in the "1 THE ABKIIASTANS AND COflSAOKS. 91 puMio gatherings hud the furoo of law, und the princoa and nnblbn conttitutod tho (•xocutive. The prioatR, though ranking with tho htrdH, hud hut little iuHuoncr, for, owing to the confusions of creedn, the CherkeMcs wuro nt oncu pii^nnn, rhristiuns, and Mohammedans. As puguns thoy worithip|)od Shibleh, gtMl uf thunder, war, und juNtico, and to him uftur tho victory wore sucriKccd tho fuiroitt of the tlock. Thvy venerated the tree blasted by lightning, beneath which the criminal found a aufe refuge. The gods of tho air, water, woodlands, fruit troon, and herds, uU unimut.'d by the breath of tho Oreat Spirit, hud also their speciiil worrihip, and received uffurings, if only a few drops solemnly poured out' from the goblet. To soothe tho stormy sea, and induce it to spare tho mariner, mother, wife, or betrothed committed her votive offerings to the mountain torrent, by which they were borne to the Euxine, whose response was the soughing of tho winds and the banking up of the clouds. Such was tho religion of the ancient Cherkesses ; but till the luttor hulf of tho uighteenth century the nobles mostly claimed to be Christians, und worshipped in the ohupols, whoso ruins are still met here and there on the hill-tops. But the Sheikh Mansi^r, whom the Russians afterwards sent to die in tho island of Solovetz, in the White Sea, made nearly all his countrymen Sunnito Moham- medans. The influence of the Crimean khuns worked in the same direction, and the faith of Islam became more and more intensified according aa hatred of the Christian Muscovite invaders increased. Nevertheless certain Moslem practices, cHpeciuUy polygamy, were not generally introduced, and the old family life held its ground. ' In religious zeul neither the Cherkesses nor other western high- landers are to be compared with the Kura-chai, or " Black River " Tatars of the southern Kuban valleys, west of Mount Elbruz, who are strict Mohammedans, engaged in trade, and as intermediaries between the northern and southern Caucasian tribes. Thk Ahkhasiaks and Cossacks. The Ahkhasians, who still retain in a slightly modified form the name of Abazes, by which they were known to the Greeks, call themselves Absua, or " People." Before the great emigraHons they occu|iied nearly all the southern slope of the Caucasua between the Ingdr and Bzlb valleys, and at certain points encroached on tho Cherkess territory on the opposite slope. Their speech resembles that of the Adigheh, hut they di£fer g^atly from them in appearance and customs. The Absua are shorter, of browner complexion and llucker hair than the Cherkesses, and their features are mostly irreg^ar, with a hursh, wild expression. Hence slaves of this race commanded no more than hnlf the price of their Circassian neighbours. Though of less chivalrous appearance, like them they preferred to live by the sword, or scour the sea as corsairs. Before the Kuxine had become a " Russian lake," their long galleys, impelled by oar or sail, and with crews of from one hundred to three hundred men, ventured along all tho shores of Anatolia, the Crimea, and European Turkey. Many also took service or became slaves in Egypt, where they were numerously represented amongst the ,■;! m imvlii t t ^ I Mi m >nffda. 19 Mae*. province of Euban alone there are no less than 146, each with upwards of 2,000 inhabitants, a vast number considering the short period since the colonisation began. In 1872 the population of the Euban territory rose from 672,000 to 733,000, and, as the normal excess of births over deaths was only 6,000 or 7,000, the immigration could not have been less than 54,000. But such a rapid move- ment, directed without system towards marshy lands, necessarily entails fatal consequences on many of the new arrivals, more especially as the best tracts are already occupied by high officials and members of the imperial family. Between 1860 and 1870 over 325,000 acres were thus disposed of in the province of Euban and government of Stavropol. The Cossacks do not distribute the land in separate holdings. " Together we conquered it," they say, "together we have defended it; it belongs to all of us." isthmus inity are ; groups pplied to gives its eh, and a ite of the le Kuban ig at the into real , In the •N 50^ ds of 2,000 colonisation 672,000 to 00 or 7,000, rapid move- entails fatal at tracts are Between Be of Kuban Together we Ko all of us." TOPOGRAPHY. «8 The commune decides every year how the several districts are to be cultivated, and market-garden plots alone are held as private property. Still the officers, being no longer elected by their Cossack comrades, have received with their commission parcels of land, or khutors, intended to enhance their prestige. The example of the superior officers was soon followed by other dignitaries, and the stanitzas thus became surrounded by khutors, from which the herds of the com- monalty were excluded. In 1842 the Government proceeded with the regular distribution of the land according to the rank of the holders — 4,090 acres for Pig. 20. — Vallbtb of Euubion ik the Kvban Basin. From the Map of Uie BuuImi Staff. Scale 1 : 700,000. tilUum. generals, 1,090 for superior officers, 645 for subaltem^^, 83 for simple Cossacks. The allotments of the soldiers, constituting the communal dojiain, were thus cut up into small fragments, and the peasantry protested in vain ngainst a distribution so entirely opposed to their interests. Of late years the ShalopAts and other sectarian communities have acquired a great development in this region, the habits of co-operation giving them exceptional strength, and enabling them to ^succeed where others fail. The most populous villages are foxmd in the fertile v&lleys formed by erosion in the limestone terrace facing the CoiTtcae^us. The most important of the stanitzas M 04 ASIATIC EUS8IA. lying at the very foot of the Caucasian spurs is Maikop, formerly a first-class strategic point, now a chief mart for the produce of the whole country. In the Kuban valley are also the trading towns of Batalpashinskaya ; Nikolayevskaga, near the Kurakent coal mines ; Ladorakaya; and Yekaterinudar. The last named, now capital of the province of Kuban, does a considerable trade, and at its September ftiirs, frequented by 25,000 of the peasantry, the exchanges amount to about 2,000,000 roubles. Yeink, founded since 1848, has had a rapid development, thanks to its free trade and productive fisheries, and although its progress has been less marked since its privileges have ceased, it still remains the most populous town on the Caucasian seaboard. Stavropol, capital of the government of like name, stands at an elevation of 2,000 feet on one of the rtdvunced terraces flanking the foot of the Caucasus. Founded as a mere fort in 1776, it long remained without any importance except as a strategical positic a on the line of the ten fortresses guarding the plains of Ciscaucasia between the Don delta and the town of Mozdok. But thanks to the fertile lariiis {>% r hich it is surrounded, it has now become one of the most flourish- ing place; in Russia. North of it stretch a number of populoM villagfe» in ♦'if Yeg'orlik and Sredniy-Yegorlik valleys, founded chiefly by peusaniry from the vi!.;)tre of Kussia ; hence forming not stanilzaa, but seloa, a circumstance whi,?h < 'ip).^i .. th(, liJffiarence of terminations presented by the names of villages in the ]\'Kbi*i.; '*.;'! reg'orlik basins. ^i*^i'K'; TIL— CENTRAL CAUCASUS. KUMA AND TEREK BASINS. Between Mounts Elbruz and Kazbek the main range rises for a distance of 10b miles above the suow-line. At certain intervals side ridges, with the summits of the range, form huge massoR towering like glittering citadels of ice above the surrounding highlands. Thi Elbruz, with its counterforts, constitutes the most imposing of these masses In the Caucasus. It is the " Holy Mountain " of the Cherkesses, on whose f ^iowy peak is enthroned tbe " Jjord of the World, King of Spirits." The Ad^ oh, Kashtan-tau, and Dikh-tau also form a sort of promontory projecting beyopc'i the main range, and succeeded farther east by a similar group consisting of the Adai-kokb, Tzea kikh, and neig.hbouriug mountains. Immediately east of this group tho rihain is brok^ \ by the deep gap through which flows the Ar-don ; but the gorge is blocked by a ridge running parallel with the main axis, and culminating with Mount Zikari, In the same way the Zilga-kokh stands at the southern entrance of the depression formed by the torrents flowing between the masses culminating respectively with the Tepli and Kazbek. The latter, which is the Mkinvari of the Oeorgians, and Urs-kokh, or " White Mountain," of the Ossetes, is still more venerated than Mount Elbruz, thauas probably to its position near the gate of the Caucasus, now known as the 'j^Wf'' # ii-st-class In the t/evakaga, ued, now eptember to about )lopment, has been tous town ivation of Daucusus. ce except plains of iks to the ; flourish- Uag&wn as the RIVER SYSTEMS— KUMA BASIN. 6S Darial Pass. Here is the celebrated grotto, whence the hermits could ascend, by means of an iron chain, to the " Cradle of Bethlehem " and " Abraham's Tent," an 11 le Kazbek peak is variously known to the native Christians.* River Systems — Kuma Basin. The counterforts and terraces falling from the snowy crest of the (Juucasus form the various chains of the " Black Mountains," beyond which thev develop Fig. 30.— PASSANAfrR, OW THR TlKLW- VLADIKAVKAZ RoUTB. into a vast semicircle round the Kabarda plains, terminating northwards with the isolated mass of the Besh-tau, Here the streams converge towards the centro • Mean height of the Ciauoaaus between the Elbruz (18,820 feet) and Adai-kokh (16,485 feet). 12,670 feet. Chief peaks :— Feet. 10,430 12,840 Zikari . Zilga-kokh Tepli . 14.000 Mamisson Pass Erestovaya Gora Besh-taa Feet. 9,640 7,642 4,670 M A8UT10 BUflSIA. of the amphitheatre, like the Alpine torrents collected in the plains of Piedmont, and. thus is formed the Terek, the Po of the Caucasus, flowing thence in a swift and copious stream towards the Caapian. Still the waters descending from the more advanced spurs of the Caucasus du not join the Terek, hut drain through the Ealuils and Kuma north and north-east wards to the steppes, The Ealuda is a true steppe river. With the melting of the snows in spring it overflows its banks far and wide; in summer its stream contracts more and more as it recedes from the hills, and at last runs quite dry before reaching Fig. 31.— Ths ELBBtrs Qaovr, Trom the Map of th* Boajan BtaS. tloak 1 : 480,000. 501 m 4S'I0" CoP AB'AO the Manich depression. It also presents the remarkable phenomenon of a double discharge in the direction of the Euxine and Caspian. Entering the Manich depression at the water-parting, its floods, arrested and divided into two streams by a small eminence, are diverted west to the Manich of the Don, east to that which flows to the Euma delta. Steep banks enclose a bed 2 to 3 miles wide, bearing witness to its iormer importance. But in this space, large enough to con- tain the waters of the Nile or Rhone, nothing now flows except a sluggish stream winding its way from marsh to marsh through its sedgy channel. -^-- iii»»»Mii RIVER SYSTEMS -KUMA BASIN. 67 The Kuma basin ia more extensive than that of the Kaluils, and the streams oy which it is watered flow from more elevated ground, some of them from moun- tains covered with snow for the greater part of the year. On issuing from ita upper valley the Kuma is already a copious river ; but after receiving its last regular aflBuent, 160 miles from the Caspian, it gradually contracts as it winds through the steppe. A portion of its waters is evaporated, and the rest is diverted right and left to the pastures of the Nogai Tatars and Kalmuks. It often happens that about 60 miles above its former mouth the last drop is turned aside by the dams of the natives. At one time the quantity of water in the Kuma basin was much greater than at present, and a delta began at the point where the river now Pig. 32.— RAHinOATION OP THB KaLA(»8. From the Map of the RuMian Staff. Seale 1 : 610,000 45*50 44»eo Kurgana. , IS MUM. runs dry. The northern branch flowed to the Western Manich, whose bed is now replaced by the lakes and tarns of the H(iid(ik, strung together like pearls on a necklace. The two other branches of the Kuma, also indicated by fens, pools, and channels, run nearly parallel towards a bay in .the Caspian still known as the Kumskiy Proran, or "Mouth of the Kuma." Exceptionally high floods occa- sionally sweep away the dams constructed by the Nogai Tatars, and the lower beds are then temporarily flushed, as in 1879, when the yellow waters of the Kuma again reached the Caspian. Neither the Kuma nor the Kala&g discharges water sufHoient to feed a Fonto- Caspian canal, and even if such a projeot wore carried out, Serebrakovskaya, tie :3 -_^ 68 ASIATIC RUSSIA. intended port of the Kuina, would be inuccossiblo to vessels drawing more than 2 feet uf wuter, while thoae drawing over 4 feet could not approach wit'iln 4 nitles of the place. The Tekbk. The Terek is not one of those rivers which, like the Manich and Kuma, run out before reaching the sea. Its chief sources rise iti a cirque about 8,300 feet above sea-level, and it is already a large stream before issuing from the region of ;: Fig. 33. — DiLTA AND FiAonBD Dihtricts of thb Lowbu Tkuek. According tn Litvinov. Hcnlo 1 : 1,000,000. E^oFG. 46'eO 47'00- OldUdaoftbcTerdh. Flooded Landi. •'» ^ (Corgaoi. BnntiiigoftheDyke. Terek Delta in 1841. snows andv upknd pastures. After skirting the Kazbek group on the south and west, it flows from basin to basin through a series of gorges down to the plains below Vladikavkaz. At the foot of a vast declivity filling the bed of an old lake it collects the waters of the Qusel-don, Fiag-don, Ar-don, and several other rapid streams, beyond which it is joined by the XJrukh, and its largest tributary the Malka, with its affluents the Oherek and Baksu. Above the Malka junction it already discharges 17,6C9 cubic feet per second, and during its further course through the steppe to the Caspian it is joined by the Sunja, another large and THE TEREK. V\g. 84.— Tk* Tihbk Floods or 1863. From the M*p of the Ituui;in Htaff. Boale 1 : 600,000. ^#« o-Vi, rapid river flowing t.li rough the country of the Chechenzen, and fed by luimuroun sulphur streams. One of these is thu Molchihi, which is formed by the junction of five copious springs, so hot that sevurul miles lower down it is still unpotuble. Below the Sunja, notwithstanding the losses caused by evaporation and irri- gation, the Torek is still copious enough to form a vast delta, with a largo number of permanent or intermittent branchea frequently shifting with the floods, and changing their relative importance from century to century. One of these is the " Old Terek," formerly the most abundant, but now sur- passed in volume by the " New Terek." The delta oomprises a coast-line of about 70 miles, and it seems to have been formerly con- nected on the one hand with the Euma, on the other with the Sulak by some now partly obliterated channels. West of thu present delta are still to be seen the old shores of the Caspian, as well as a number of parallel lines of elongated sand dunes, or bugri, exactly similar to those of the Volga deltii, and ' doubtless formed by the subsidence of the water at the time when the Caspian became separated from the Euxine. According to Baer the alluvia of the Terek are encroaching on the Caspian even more rapidly than those of the Volga. Several inlets have already been choked up, and fishing stations which in 1825 stood on the coast were, thirty years later on, nearly 10 miles from the sea. The whole coast-line between the Kuma and Terek has advanced from 1,000 to 2,000 yards since 1841 ; but all these new and badly drained tracts are still very unhealthy. During the months of July and August the labourers and gardeners complain of swollen heads, and the marsh fever subjects them to hallucinations of all sorts. The stream of the Terek is amply sufficient to contribute its share towards the navigable canal with which Danilov proposes to connect the Euxine and Caspian. But pending this somewhat remote contingency, its waters and those of its tribu- :;^;^£i-^ v«t iS oPG. 45*10 4e*so Old Beds of the Terek. ,isMnM. '' i .5; i ■^ 70 ASIATIC RUSSIA. tarioA aro utilised in irrififutin}^ tho horderiiiff ntuppe lands. Tho Rristo- junnl, fed by tlut Mulkit, truvoraos the nortlioni pluinn, joining the Torek utV u coune of 140 miloa. Further north tho KtirHkiy Cunul, also Howing fnun !.e Mulku, turnn the wheels uf nineteen railis, and during the floods forms a stroum Wi miles long. A third, running north of the Sunja junction, irriguton over 2/>0,()00 ucres. If skilfully utilisefl, the waters of this river system, which abound in fertilising matter, might extend fur north and north-cant the rich Kuburdu basin, which promises one day to become a magnificent agricultural region. Inhabitants — Thk Ka hards. Tho Kabardx, or Kaburdins, who call themselves Kubertti: occupy nearly all tho northern slope of the Oentrul Oaucasus between the Klbruz und Kuzbek. They are ethnicriPy closely related to the Cherkessos ; like thom, a fine race, fondur of wars and stril.) thun of peaceful habits, and distiuguished from thom only by their harsh speech full uf gutturals and sibilants. Their princes claim Arub descent, though the difference which some observers have detected between them and their subjects is probably due to outward circumstances and their occasional alliiincos with foreign families. The Eabards seem to have come originally from the north-west, probubly even from the Orimeo, whence they have been gradually driven towards the Terek, first by the Nogai Tatars, and afterwards by the Russians. They have retainfH^ something of their former nomad life, and are oven now far more devoted to the ! reeding of hors.s and sheep than to agriculture. The land is still held iit common, the woods and pastures remain undivided, und no one has any claim except to the plot ullo(' by himself. Such plots, when left uncultivated, revert immediately to the f^f r-nur Perhaps more than elsewhere in Caucasia daring robbery is held in i ;.>>«» but on the condition of its being committed awuy from the village and ' - ">, and provided that the robber escape detection. In the latter case he woi ' le exposed to the taunts and jeers of the community. Notwithstanding 'he Russian laws, it is also still considered highly honourable for the young man t6 carry off his bride. Some days before the nuptials he steals into the chamber where she await« him, and whence they escape together. On returning to sue for pardon, he may calculate beforehand on the approval of all who still respoct the old usages. The Eabards properly so called number about 32,000. At one time they were the leading nation in Ciscaucasia ; but owing to their exposed geographical posi- tion, they were the first to lose their independence. The Russians easily pene- trated through the Terek valley into the heart of their domain. Forts erected at intervals along the river divided the plains into two distinct regions — Great Eabarda on the west, and Little Eabarda on the east. Between the two runs the great military route over the Caucasus, and here the Russians consequently strove, in the first instance, to establish their power on a solid footing. As early as 1763 gome of the Eabards, outwardly Christians, withdrew to Russian territory, settling in the steppe along the middle course of the Terek. At the beginning m tj^mm m: \ Janal, u coune I iVIaIku, 96 intlua 00 ucre«. artiliHing [J, which learly all Kuzbek. je, fondur I only by im Arab 3en them Ksoasional ally from gradually I by the 1 are even ture. The d, and no when left elsewhere its being ber escape lers of the ed highly before the hey escape ind on the 1 they were >hical posi- aeily pene- rts erected ms — Great ro runs the atly strove, ply as 1768 L territory, beginning f Vt .'v-^ ■ j i msj:»moHUi'i:! : M^ -'SDi^ ''AiUCKfiWaVUf^owft^WHVIffM ^^^. IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) Photographic Sdfflices Corporation 23 WBT MAM STMIT WnSTfR,N.Y. 14510 (716)873-4503 % CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHM/ICMH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Inatltuta for Historical Rfllcroraproductlona / Inttitut Canadian da microraproductiona hiatoriquas THE 0SSE8 AND NOOAI TATARS. 71 of the present century upwards of 40,000, flying from Russian rule, sought a refuge amongst the Euban Tatars, who welcomed and gave them lands, which are still held by the descendants of those "White Kabards " But the bulk of the nation remained in the Upper Terek basin, and their young men were fain to accept service in the imperial armies. Amongst them were first recruited those magnificent " Cherkesses," as they are called, who figure so conspicuously on all state occasions. Returning to their homes, they have ceased to be Kabards, and take pride not in their ancestral freedom, but in their present thraldom. The ancient usages also become slowly modified by constant intercourse with the ruling race, while their national unity is broken by the intrusion of foreign elements. Isolated villages are already occupied by Tatars, Uruspievtzes, Balkars, Nogais, grouped in democratic communities administered by the elders. The country is also traversed by Jewish usurers in search of fresh victims, while groups of Germans are settled here and there, generally on the more fertile lands. The " Scotch " colony north of Patigorsk has even been already completely assi- milated to these Teutonic settlers. On the other hand, the towns, growing daily in size, have become exclusively Russian, and the district north of the Malka has been entirely Slavonised by the Cossacks, who beg^n to make their appearance in this region during the reign of Ivan the Terrible. The Osses and Nooai Tatars. The Osses, more commonly but less correctly known as Ossotes, are ab numerous in the Terek basin as the Kabards, but they have scarcely yet ven- tured on the plains, confining themselves mainly to the upland valleys between Mounts Adai-kokh and Kazbek, west and east. Two-fifths, however, of this nation dwell not -on the northern, but on the southern slopes, in the valleys draining to the Rion and Kura, and even on a portion of the Trialetes Hills, south of the Kura plains. They are estimated at upwards of 110,000 altogether, thus forming one of the most important nations in Caucasia. But their fame is due not so much to their power as to the various theories that have been broached touching their origin and affinities. Some have regarded them as Alans ; others as the purest representatives of the Aryans in the Caucasus, akin either to the Teutons or to the Iranians ; while Vivien de Saint-Martin suggests that they may belong to the race of the Ases, like those who migrated to Scandinavia. Lastly, Pfaff thinks that they are at least partly of Semite stock. But, judging from the great variety of types and features, ranging from the ideal beautiful to the down- right ugly, they would seem to be a very mixed people, including Oeorgian, Armenian, Kubard, and other elements. In the Digor district, on the north slope, several noble families are undoubtedly of Tatar origin, whilst others in the southern valley of the Livash-don are of Georgian stock. Apart from numerous exceptions, the bulk of the people are decidedly inferior in physical appearance to the other races of the Caucasus. Their features are generally angular, their forms heavy, and they utterly lack that pleasant expression, that noble air and I 72 ASIA.TIO RUSSIA. graceful carriage, by which the Cherkesses and Eabards are distinguished. The fair type is more common than the brown, and some are met with blue eyes like the Scandinavians, while others resemble the Jewish dealers in their black or brown eyes, and even in their wheedling voice. But whatever be their origin, their speech belongs unquestionably to the Aryan familj'. Their national name is Iron, and their country Ironiston, words sug- gesting the Iran of Persia. The Digor dialect has a large mixture of Tatar and Cherkess elements, but the pure speech still current in the upland valleys, while ruder than that of the lowlands, abounds in Aryan roots. In their manners and customs the Osses seem also to betray their relationship with the Western niitions. They differ from the other Caucasians in their use of the bed, table, and chair ; they salute in the European fashion, embracing and shaking hands as in the West ; lastly, they brew from barley, and drink their beer from tankards exactly like those of the North German peasantry. In the upper valleys, where wood is scarce, they live in stone towers of great age ; but lower down they build little wooden houses like the Alpine barns, shingle-roofed and weighted with heavy stones. On the whole the Osses do not reflect much credit on the Aryan race. Physically inferior to their highland neighbours, they cannot compare with them in pride, dignity, or courage, although Freshfield calls them the " Gentle- men of the Caucasus." Like their neighbours, they have always been ready to offer themselves to the highest bidder, taking service under the Byzantines, Greeks, or Persians, and returning to their homes to spend in revelry the fruits of their plundering expeditions. They had been so debased by this mercenary trade that they became confirmed marauders, worshipping Sadbareg, god of brigandage, who rides a black horse, accompanying and guiding the freebooters on their predatory incursions. But though still ready for murder and pillage when no danger is run, they took care not to defend their liberty against the Bussians at the risk of their lives. Although masters of the central valleys, and consequently of the most important strategical points in the Caucasus, they left the Cberkesses in the west and the Lezghians of Daghestan to fight and perish separately. Instead of occupying the foremost rank in the wars against the aggressor, they waited till victory hod decided in favour of the Russians to make up their minds. Poverty had made them the prey of every foreign speculator, and to put an end to all further disputes touching the ownership of the land, the Russian Government declared all the lowlands State property, and removed thither the "unsafe" hillmen. Most of the Osses used to call themselves Mohammedans, but now they pretend to be Christians, and revere St. Nicholas no less devoutly than the prophet Elias. Besides, they had already changed their' religion three times during the ten last centuries, and in spite of their present Christianity they practise polygamy, aggravated by the fact that the first wife treats the children of the others as slaves. Pagan practices even reappear beneath the official religion and the remains of .the Moslem creed. During Holy Week they make offerings of bread-and-butter on the altars of the sacred flWiTtlMiilM'ftrii-i [iguished. The blue eyes like their black or ly to the Aryan on, words sug- re of Tatar and d valleys, while 3ir manners and Western nations, ible, and chair ; ands as in the ankards exactly ijs, where wood own they build hted with heavy le Aryan race, compare with tn the " Gentle- 8 been ready to ;he By/antines, Bvelry the fruits this mercenary (ibareg, god of ■ the freebooters der and pillage srty against the tral valleys, and iicasus, they left fight and perish 'ars agai^8t the Russians to make, 'eign speculator, of the land, the r, and removed call themselves ere St. Nicholas ilready changed Q spite of their le fact that the 1 practices even 1 creed. During irs of the sacred TOPOGEAPHY. ft ^•:^:;^^: c'fa s^i ^k.^ ^:5#-^ ' '-- 7..- ^i^V^ 1- ','''7', » groves, in the grottoes, in tbe former Christian shrines, and then devour tho sheep victims of the sacrifice. Their most revered monuments are the aappads, or ancient gravets octagonal structures from 12 to 16 feut high, terminating in a pyramidal roof pierced with holes. In some Oss and Gherkess villages tho sappads are numerous enough to form veritable cemeteries ; but since the middle of the century no new ones have been allowed to be built, because of the gases escaping from them and poisoning the atmosphere. Of the non-Caucasian peoples the most numerous in the Euma and Terek basins are the Nogai Tatars, who roam mostly over the eastern steppes, and along the shores of the Caspian and brackish lakes filled by the winter rains, dried up under the summer suns and winds. Akin to those still met here and there on the banks of the Euban, and partly descended from the old masters of the Crimea, the Nogais are true Asiatics. Like their poor neighbours the Stavropol and Astrakhan Ealmuks, they dwell in felt tents, and when removing to fresh pastures they place their children in the panniers carried by the camels on whose hump the women are perched, and in this order the caravan crosses tbe desert wastes. Thus are the familiar scenes of Central Asia repeated on the western shores of the Caspian, though this Asiatic region is being gradually contracted, according as the Mongoloid populations are being driven back by the Russians. During the last fifty years the Nogais of the Caucasus have fallen from 70,000 to half that number. In features, stature, and carriage most of them have become Mongolians, assuming by mixture the flat face, broad nose, prominent cheek bones, small and oblique eyes, high brow, and scant beard of the Ealmuks. They are of a gentle and kindly disposition, but wedded to their old usages, haters of all change, and resisting Slav influences except along the river banks, where tillage and the fishcriea bring them into constant contact with the Russians, and where poverty obliges them to hire themselves out to the Armenians and Cossacks. With the sad temperament of all Mongolians, they derive their national name, with a sort of melancholy irony, from a word meaning " Thou shalt be wretched." Some thousands of Turkomans also live in t^e neighbourhood of Eizlar. According to a tradition, based apparently on a faint reminiscence of submarine geology, these Turkomans crossed over on dry land from the Erasnovodsk headland to the peninsula of Apsheron. Topography. Patigorsk (in Russian " Five Hills "), the largest town in the Euma basin, lies at the southern foot of the Mashuka, an advanced spur of the Besh-tau group. This five-crested porphyry cone rising in the middle of the plain was at all times a rallying-point for the steppe nomads. Hence Patigorsk occupies one of the spots in the Caucasus most frequented by divers tribes, Eabards, Nogais, Cossacks, and others, and it has now become a rendezvous for the Russians of all the surrounding provinces, and even for strangers from the rest of Europe, Patigorsk is, in fact, one of the thermal stations whose abundant sulphur springs are held in 6 % ASIATIC RUSSIA. ■,■.,• tho highest repute, aad is more frequented than uU the rest of the hundred watering- phioes in Cuucusia, with their seven hundred different mineral springs, as enume- rated by Oliodzko. Within a radius of 24 miles the Putigorsk medicinal waters comprise a complete scries of such as are recommended by modern therapeutics. The twenty springs in Putigorsk itself, with a temperoture varying from 85" to 110° Fuhr., and yielding on the average 2 J gallons per second, are typical sulphur springs. About 12 miles to the north-east the station of Jekanovodak — that is, " Iron Water " — indicates by its very name the nature of its twenty springs, which Fig. 36.— Patiooksk and thb Region of Thermal Watwm. From Ibe Mop of the Riuaian Staff. Boal* 1 : e00,000. 44 ^^^^^^^^^^^M M 10 '^^^^^^^^m ■io t^^gJii^SmSzl '^^^fe'mm^jSpfWlBP^^'^^ i^M^tff^jlflflP^^ e or^K'i^'^J|||M^^MMHc fl^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^|iJ^y^^jMj^^B^| ^^i^S^SSS^Sma^^K^S^^^^s^^lS^^^Sm^B^^^^^^myX t-imf^^S^US^^^S^im^^^^MSII^my9- BiflM^V^^I^^II^^^Hk^^te^B7^3^3R!S^flKiBSfi3A vBHBMfl^CSWTIftiiA'' '^^^Btf^ir^Q^i^k^ l^^^Bl^^^^^BIBB^M^BBBiiS!3BMK^!!T..5i^B8Bi3f^'3«y ^^^m^^^^^m ^^^^^K^^^^^S 4S so^^JioBgi^MiiCTi^g^lWBMBPwwaBBi^^K^ bo w^^^^^^^lM^^^mtBBKK^^SSSsSm ■ -^^ ^ ■ ' ■..■■' ■''■'■V-'.- ft 'T , \ > -K^'K. ■J^X^-'-iM'^ ^% 'f J„i_:»..„ ..„ ^a. „„_ ;» .* xu ^__^_1________^„__^,^^_^ 01 snow and detritus swept over it at tbe issues of tlie mountain torrents. £von now it is constantly threatened to be overwhelmed by the Devdoraki glacier, and is generally blocked for seventeen days in the year for a space of 8 or 9 miles. Hence heavy engineer- ing works will have to be carried out, should the project be persitttud in of running a line of railway through the Terek valley and under the Caucasus from Vladikavkaz to Tiflis. The prosperity of Yladikuvku/ and other towns on both slopes of the main range largely depends on the ultimate choice that may be made of the several alternative lines that have been pro- posed. It is probiible, however, that, before attacking it directly, the main range will be skirted at its eastern extremity by a line con- necting the towns of Petrovsk, Derbent, and Baku. Tekaterinograd, on the Terek below Vladi- kavkaz, a former outpost of the Oherkesses, still occupies a vital position near the confluence of the Malka. Here Potomkin founded one of the chain of Russian fortresses in the Caucasus, and seven years later on it was chosen as the capital of the Muscovite posses- sions in this region. But it lost this position in 1790, since when it has remained a simple Cossack stanitza. The political and commer- cial centre of the district is Mozdok, or " Black Wood," founded in 1769 by a chief of Little Eabarda driven by the fortunes of war into exile. From the first it was a haven of refuge for fugitive Eabards, Osses, Chechenzes, Arme- __— 6 MUe». nians, and Georgians from Transcaucasia. Till lecently the Armenians formed by far the most numerous element, and thanks to them Mozdok had become the chief trading-place in Ciscaucasia. • The Russian Government had even favoured it by diverting towards it the military route between Stavropol and Tiflis ; but since the completion of the railway it has lost I i i "' " ill B i l l ^tU'immmtmmmmHtmimm Mn*;RS'Bp*«api TOl'OOttAWiy. rus more than D CuuoasuB to ion from the ilo uvalaiiehea iver it at the Evon now B overwhelmed is generally the year fur a eavy engineer- iod out, should running a line lUey and under to Tiflis. The other towns on argely depends be made of the lave been pro- er, that, before L range will be by a line con- Derbent, and ik below Vladi- ihe Oherkesses, ,r the confluence in founded one rtresses in the iter on it was luscovite posses- ost this position mained a simple il and commer- zdok, or " Black chief of Little tes of war into haven of refuge echenzes, Arme- tscaucasia. Till t, and thanks to ,. • The Russian military route ilway it has loet iho udviintageH thereby a(M]uirod. Iloncoforth its proupcrity must dcpond exclusively on ilH position uh thu natural rullyiii^-|H)iiit of tho nurruiuuiiiig |)opulatiuns, and uh tho entrepot of thu agricultural Huttlumuntx on tlio Middlo Torek. Qrozniy, which has grown up round the fortroHH of (iroznuyu, is now tho Fig. 37.— Tmb TKHui.ofl-MTA Orovp, Worn iha Map of the RiuMUm Htnff. 8o«le 1 : 'JflA,O0O. natural capital of all the Sunja valley, probably the most fertile in Ciscaucnsia. Its mineral waters, known since the middle of the last century, are mu<-h frequented, but the neighbouring naphtha well» have no great commercial value. ' - ■ !iJ.g!! " -'- 78 AHIATTO RUSSIA. Of the iminoroufl towtiH and villugoa aoiittorou ovor the Groznty plain and aurroiiiidiii^ liilU thu muNt iiii|>ortiiiit uro lfruii-3f'it'(fin, und furthur ouiit the Mtmlutn tuwn uf Ak-nai, in ii wull-wuturod diHtriut l«id uut in gurduuH. h'iz/iir, of which mention occum no oiuly u*" ll'l i>, wa« uImo a pluoe of rofugo for fugitivoN, oapeoiully ArnioniunH, who graduully monopolizod tho h)uul triidu. It Ih huppily nituatcd ut thu houd of the Toruk dultu for truftic und horticulturu, I ho t'ivur und its brunohuH Mupplying ull tho watur needed for irrigating purpoacH. In lH(il there were in this diatriut over 1,250 flourishing gardens, supplying the liuBsiun markets with ull sorts of spring fruit* and vegetublea. Kizlar is likewise noted for its vineyards, the produce of which, exported from the neighbouring port of Briunsk, or Hriansko'ie, is used by tho Russians in the manufacture uf "jwrt," "sherry," "madeira," and other famous southern wines. About l,2oU,000 gallon* are yearly sold at the Nijni-Novgorod fair. IV.— EASTERN CAUCASIA. DAGHE8TAN. Ai.THni'nii boasting of no summits rivalling Mounts Elbruz and Kazbek, the general relief of the eastern is far more considerable than that of the central sootion of the Caucasus. The depressions between the peak* are relatively very high, while the lateral ridges give to this division an expansion of 2° of latitude north and south. Here the different altitude* and dispositions of the groups impart fur greater variety to the scene, and in many valley* *nowy or wooded heights rise all along the line of the horizon. The rugged and tangled masses long afforded a shelter to the native* against the Russian*, who were unable to penetrate into the upper valleys except through the winding bed* of the mountain torrents or across unknown tracks, where they were exposed to the ambuscades and sudden attack* of the lurking foe. Mount Borbalo, source of the streams flowing to the Terek, Sulak, Euma, and Aliizan, is usually regarded as the western limit of Daghestan. Hero the Andi, or principal side ridge, branches from the main range, forming with it the triangular *pace of the Easi'em Cauoa*u8. This region presents somewhat the aspect of a vast plateau scooped into valleys, the higher of which nowhere fall more than about 3,000 feet belo the surrounding crests. Abi*h regard* the whole of Daghe*tan a* a syst^ii ■ f sedimentary, Jurassic, cretaceous, and tertiary rock* overlapping each other, and whose fold* have been rent and intersected by crevassos. The culminating point of this system is the Tebulos-mta, rising to a height of 14,990 feet in the Andi ridge. Several other mfa, or " peaks," in the same chain exceed 13,000 feet, whereas those of the central range vary from 9,750 to about 11,370 feet. Still the line of perpetual snow is reached by several, such as the Sari-dagh, Vitziri, Bazardiiiz, Tkhfan-dagh, Baba-dagh, on the main range, and the Alakhiln-dagh, Shalbt^z-dagh, Shah-dagh, or Eastern Elbruz, and Eizil'Euya, in the northern side ridge*. East of the Baba-dagh the mountain* icr iii l i r i i rn ii M MiiwartiiM iiittaiUimimmim'ilggf Ml "Htll PI INIIAIUTANTH- THH CIIKOHKN/KS. iy pluin and -thur uuHt the )luoe of rofugn 10 louul triidu. 1 hortiuulturo, ttiiig purpuBUH. Hupplying thu xlur ia likewise neighbuuring nunufacture uf wines. About fall rapidly towards the Ciispian, sinking to mere hilU in the Apxlioron p4«ninsiilu. Nearly itil these mountuins uru still known by their T(lrki or Uoorgiun d Kazbek, the of the central relatively very 2° of latitude of the groups owy or wooded tangled masses were unable to )f the mountain the ambuscades names. RiVKK SVHTKMS. A fow of the torrents rining in the iuIvuikmhI npurs of Daghostnn flow to the Sunju, the chief mmthcrn iitHuont of the T«rirH ure colloctwl by flu' Huluk, fomu'd by the four torrtnitn wliicli iK'ur tlu* Tiitiir inline of Koi-MU. Like tlie Torek and Ar-don, the Suluk enicrgfH through iimgniHci'iit gorges on the plaiiiN, trending thence euHtward to the (yaN])ian. Like them, uIho, it is gradually encroaching on the sea, and during the H(hm1h foniiH a teni]H)rary delta, whose waters are partly mingled with those of the Terek in the vast liuy of Agrakhan, which is rather a lugoon than a marine inlet. In the ho|)e of deepening its channel, Peter the Great diverted to it a (lennaneut stream from the Huluk, but, like so many similar projects undertaken by that czar, the attempt proved aliortive ; the dykes were swept away by the floods, and the navigable canal choked by the mud. More successful have been the irrigation rills fonne >> tin aj. J aH -'4^^ 82 ASIATIC RUSSIA. land, they were several times removed, and the (Savoyards of each fresh place of exile retained numbers of the emigrants. ' The Chechenzes bear a strong resemblance to the Cherkesses, and, like them, are haughty, well proportioned, active, fond of rich garments, which they wear with an easy grace. Most of them have an aquiline nose, and a restless, almost sinister glance ; yet they are generous, and always maintain a certain dignity of speech and carriage : they kill, but never insult. The women of the better classes wear an elegant robe revealing the figure, and wide silken trousers of a pink colour. Yellow sandals, silver bracelets, and a piece of cloth falling over their shoulders and partly concealing the hair, complete their attire. The Chechenz dwellings are nearly all veritable hovels, cold, dank, and gloomy, some dug out of the ground, others formed of interwoven branches, or of stones rudely thrown together. A group of such dwellings forms one of those a&b often seen perched on some steep bluff, like erratic boulders arrested on the brink of the precipice. Before the Russian conquest most of the people lived in republican communes, governing themselves by popular gatherings like those of the primitive Swiss Cantons. Other communities were subject to hereditary khans, whose power dated from the time of the Moslem invasion. But all alike obeyed the adat, or unwritten code of the common law. Although much dreaded by the lowlanders as brigands and marauders, the Daghestan hillmen, and especially the Chechenzes, more, perhaps, than any other warlike people, revealed the most brilliant qualities of freemen, at least during the final struggle with the Russians. " We are all equal," they were fond of repeat- ing, and in point of fact there wer°i no slaves amongst them except prisoners of war or their descendants. But these often married the daughters of their masters, and thus became members of the family and the equals of all. The Chechenzes carried their pride to a pitch of fanaticism, but their hospitality was boundless, although associated with eccentrie practices. The traveller is often met by a band of horsemen swooping wildly down tram the camping ground, firing salvoes over his head, then suddenly stopping within ten or fifteen paces, and saluting him with a profound " Salam aleikum ! " In such a sooiely justice was necessarily regulated by the law of life for life, and, notwithstanding the Russian code, this law is still the only one that is respected. Murder, pillage, robbery with violence, can be expiat«d only by death, unless the offender allow his hair to grow,' a^d the injured party consent to shave it with his own hands, and make him take the oath of brotherhood on the Koran. It also happens that the law of vendetta is at times suspended by some great feasts. When a hillraan discovers that his horse has disappeared, he sets out in search of it, fully equipped, wrapped in one of those white woollen shrouds which serve as winding-sheets, and provided with a piece of money to pay the priest who has to utter the prayers for the dead. The robber mostly gets rid of his booty by- selling it in some remote clan, but at the sight of the rightful owner armed for a deadly fight the purchaser restores the animal, takes over the shroud and money, and presents himself before the vendor. Should he happen to be the robber, the priest is called in, and they fight it out. But if THE LEZGHIANS, TATS, AND TATARS. 88 resh place of d, like them, !h they wear Btless, aknost in dignity of better classes i pink colour, teir shoulders dwellings are the ground, together. A )n some steep Before the is, governing riss Cantons, ited from the ritten code of arauders, the an any other st during the nd of repeat- t prisoners of their masters, le Chechenzes ras boundless, let by a band ^ salvoes over ang him with rily regulated lis law is still lenoe, can be i the injured I the oath of ta is at times bis horse has one of those with a piece The robber t the sight of « the animal, dor. Should i out. But if the vendor has himself been deceived, he sets out in his turn with the dread emblems of mortal strife, and thus death at last hounds down its quarry, unlq^s the horse-stealer happens to be a stranger from over the hills. Another custom peculiar to the Iii-l i< W i' Hl i !j)W W WV T im '''t WuWMWil '■ I ff lit CM I THE LEZGHIANS, TATS, AND TATAHS. 80 tmselves out »y displayed trophy the gles against )dans except on of being ty sacrifices, srs of tradi- us Sunnites, ardent faith many years lily rivalries, he ghazavat, del. Rally- round their ifollah, and ird Shamyl tribe, . they in once back iing them to ced military rrisona in the nainly in the h they were :ept alive by y hero Haji- wars waged 4.var8. But ihe ndib%, or restored, the d to their ith the same sr-narrowing ; up by great erished from his followers iiian districts n every three ear, and the listinction of fet in their are chiefly engaged in forging arms for the surrounding hillmen. Indispensable to all, their ueutrality is alike respected by all. This industrious tribe claims European descent, but their national name of Frenghi, orFrenki — that is, Franks — is justified neither by their features nor their speech, which is a Dargo dialect. In any case they are a very small community, consisting in 1867 of scarcely 2,000, dwelling in 400 houses. Some of the magal, ' r tribal confederacies, acquired a considerable degree of prosperity, thanks to their common solidarity and individual freedom. Fig. 41.— Mount aOmB. 1 -'... ■ n - ^ J^'- ^-^^:^ffite^*==r:-;i '^r ." ^ ' :^^, -V '^" "-.": ' Jls " """ -■""."""::""' ... ■ -v^^:z^--".- ■' ^^^-^=.^g^ ws^mm^^^,^^,_~__-. E=^ — ^===^=r— _-=^5^^^— mgai^.=g;^--^ -^ -^^^^^- 1. "'„ ■■■ ■■.- y%\ . -'-^- ^^l—^- '', III. I ^fe '^ ■%■ ^^''' , M^- M^ A vfi^ - ■' n-T—, - '"* -irrrT' V ■ 1 iffnHHI^HHI Such was that of the five Dargo clans, whose popular gattherings, which resembled the Swiss /atuhgemehiden, were held in a plain near Akhusha. This magal received refugees from all nations, and their territory was the most densely peopled in all Daghestan. The Caspian seaboard, forming the historical highway of migration and conquest between Europe and Asia, was naturally occupied by a motley population, in which were represented all the races who had made use of this mifitary and commercial route. 86 ASIATIC EUSSIA. Hence Mongolians, Semites, Aryans, and Tatars are now found crowded together in this narrow strip of coast. The Nogai Tatars have fixed their tents in the northern steppe bordered by the Sulak. The tract stretching thence to Derbent is occupied chiefly by the Eumik Tatars, numbering over 50,000, and many Armenian traders. Other Tatars, akin to those of Transcaucasia, dwell farther south in the Euba district. The lingua franca of all these races is the T6rki dialect of Azerbeijan, although the Persians, Tats, or Tajiks, about Derbent and between Euba and the Gulf of Baku, still preserve their language and usages since the time of the Sassanides, when they settled here. With them evidently came the Jews, who also speak Persian, while their women wear the Iranian garb. But their Persian dialect is mixed with many old Hebrew and Chaldean terms, and according to some authorities those of Euba, Baku, and Shemakha are descended from the Israelites, who were removed to Persia after the first destruction of the Temple by Salmanazar over two thousand five hundred years ago. The names of their' children are those in vogue during the time of the judges, and which have elsewhere been obsolete for the last twenty-five centuries. Most of the Caucasian Jews, however, have become much mingled with, and even absorbed by, the Osses, Georgians, and especially the Tatars, and many villages known by the name of J(it-kend, or " Jewish Town," are now excliisively occupied by communities claiming to be of Tatar stock. Topography. In the highland districts there are no towns, though the Leaghian a'Als have often been crowded by thousands attracted by local festivities, or rallying round their warrior chiefs. Khunzak, formerly capital of the Avar Ehans, is now a mere ruin, on a bluff commanding a tributary of the Eoisu, and itself conmianded by the guns of a Russian fort. Ohimri, above the junction of the two rivers Eoisu, retains nothing but a reminiscence of the national wars, for here died Ehazi-MoUah, and here Shamyl was bom. Vedeno, on a lofty terrace within the Chechniya territory, is an important village overlooked by a Buasian fort, which stands on the site of l^hamyl's former citadel. Near it is Mount GAnib, whose upper terrace, 40 square miles in extent, served as the last refuge of the Lezghian prophet and prince. Tetnir-Khan-Shura, in the Eimitk Tatar country, stands at an elevation of 1,540 feet in a valley opening towards the Caspian. The lake, or tarn, whence its name, is now drained, although fever is here still endemic. The port of all this district is Petrovsk, during the wars a place of some strategic importance, and with one of the best harbours on the Caspian, sheltered from the west and south winds, and affording good anchorage in 30 feet of water withiu 800 yards of the shore. Though of recent origin, Petrovsk has already supplanted its southern rival, Tarki, or Tarku, which, with a Tatar population of nearly 12,000 at the beginning of the century, is now a mere village dependent on Temir-Ehan-Shura. The narrow defile between the advanced spurs of the Tabasseran range and the coast is guarded by the city of Derbent, or Berbend, traditionally founded » i> * tiiiut Berbent ge and usages lem evidently Iranian garb. aldean terms, are descended ruction of the names of their' lave elsewhere ews, however, Georgians, and J(it-kend, or ning to he of lian aiHa have rallying round ana, is now a If commanded he two rivers for here died terrace within Russian fort, Mount GAnib, refuge of the I elevation of m, whence its >rt of all this tnce, and with 1 south winds, I of the shore. 1 rival, Tarki, [inning of the Ein range and lally founded either by the Medes or by Alexander the Great, but more probably by one of the Sassanidea about the close of the fifth century. This unique town and fortress is enclosed between two long parallel walls running from the hills to the sea, flanked by towers and inscribed sepulchral stones. Within this inclined parallelogram the houses and bazaar form in reality but one lino of buildings somewhat under 2 miles long. As implied by its Persian name, Derbent is merely a large forti- fied gateway, whence also its various Tatar and Arabic names. All the mediaeval travellers describe its walls as advancing far into the sea ; but nothing is- now visible of this marine rampart, which may be due to a local upheaval. Between Fig. 42 — DcHBiNT. Scale 1 : (00,000. Thmm of Old Wall, ■oonrding to EiohwtU. ihe town and the present coast-line there stretches a broad strip of land which was formerly perhaps under water. West of Narin-Kaleh, the citadel com- manding it on the west, the wall, here also flanked with towers, follows the crest of the hills in the direction of some distant peak. According to the natives this wall formerly crossed the wholt range from sea to sea, and in any case it guarded all the lowlands at the foot of the Eastern Caucasus, for traces of it are still met at A distance of 18 miles from Derbent. There are few more industrious places in Russia than this Persian town, although its population is said to have fallen from 26,000 in 1826 to little over half that number in 1873. In the district are 1,500 well- watered garden plots, yielding wine, saffron, cotton, tobacco, madder, WiiiM - t ■'iW& i M&'«- ' *^^'iii^^ 88 ASIATIC BUS8U. and fruits of all kinds. Borne naphtha wolls and quarriea of bituminous schists are worked in the neighbourhood. Less picturesquely situated than Derbent, Kuba resembles it in its population and pursuits, its inhabitants consisting chiefly of Mohammedans of the Shiuh sect engaged in gardening, and of some thousand Jews occupied with trade. The climate is so unhealthy that an attempt was made in 1825 to remove the town to a more salubrious site some 10 miles farther north-west. But the people refused to fdlow the Russian officials, who were fain to return to the old town, where, however, they reside only in winter. In the Samur valley the chief town is Akhti, standing at the junction of two torrents in the heart of the mountains. v.— THE INGUR, RION, AND CHORUKH BASINS. MINUKELTA, TMERITIA, SVANIA, LAZISTAK. This Transcaucasian region, recently enlarged by a slice of territory from Turkey, has long been politically attached to Europe. The Greeks had thrown a himdred and twenty bridges over the Phasis, and constructed a fine carriage road across the moun- tains between the town of Sarapanes, the present Sharopon, and the Kura valley. To the Greeks and Romans succeeded the Genoese, and even when the Turks seized the seaboard they did so as masters of Constantinople and heirs of the Byzantine emperors. European influence has also made itself felt in religious matters, most of the inhabitants having been Christians since the first centuries of the Church, whereas the two great divisions of the Moslem faith have prevailed elsewhere in Caucasia. Nevertheless the Ing&r and Rion basins have long kept aloof from the general movement of modem culture, and some districts are still in a barbarous state. This region, the Colchis of the ancients, is equalled by few places for the splendour of its vegetation, its natural fertility and resources of every sort. Tet it is but scantily peopled, with scarcely one-half of tlie relative population of France. The IngAr and Rion basins are both of them sharply limited by the Caucasus, Anti-Caucasus, and intermediate Mesk range. From Abkhasia to Lazistan the hills form a complete semicircle, whose lowest point, except near the coast, is at the Surom depression, 3,040 feet above sea-level. This vast semicircle is divided by ridges rtmning parallel with the Great Caucasus into secondary segments, some of which are completely isolated, and form little worlds apart. The Upper Ingiir valley, which has b6come administratively the district of Free Svania, forms one of these distinct regio^s, and is typical of those elongated troughs lying between two parallel crests at an altitude of about 6,300 feet, and skirted north and south by snowy ridges. Here the glaciers of the Truiber have carried their advanced moraines to within 2 miles of the Svan village of Jabeshi, in the commune of Mujal, and the village itself, like so many others, is built on iWii lrW « < BW«'.|« f i^tfi.M WMWMW?agg'*''P' MINOBELIA, IMEBITIA, SVANLA, LAZISTAN. 88 )U8 schists are its population he Shiuh sect trade. The the town to Mjople refused town, where, notion of two [8. from Turkey, a hundred and ross the moun- e Eura valley. le Turks seized the Byzantine I matters, most of the Church, tiled elsewhere >ng kept aloof I are still in a places for the ^ery sort. Yet population of limited by the I Abkhasia to it, except near jI. This vast Caucasus into m little worlds the district of hose elongated 6,300 feet, and B Truiber haye ige of Jabeshi, iTB, is buUt on the detritus of moraines deposited by the old glaciers. The glacial torrents forming the Ingfir arc collected in the depression of Free Svania, which is enclosed by a transverse barrier running south of Mount Elbruz. Ilonce the Inf^dr escapes from its upper valley through a narrow and deep rocky defile, in which it flows south-west and south for a distance of 48 miles. From 15 to 30 feet broad, and commanded by granitic or schist escarpments 600 to 1,200 feet high, this gorge presents, nevertheless, a succession of smiling landscapes, thanks to the bushy vegetation of the river banks and to the little mounds of rooky debris at the mouths of the tributary streamlets. Previous to the military expedition of Fig. 43.— Mouth op tmi Bion. Boal* 1 : ¥»,«». 4I<40- 48' L.otC 1858 no route had penetrated through this gorge, and Svania communicated with the Mingrelian plains only by a dangerous mountain path. The gorges of the Rion and its head-streams lack the sublimity .of those of the IngAr, although all of them present some delightful views. The Rion and Tskhenis, the two chief rivers of this basin, both rise amidst (he snows of the Pasis-mta, a word almost identical with that of Phasis, given by the Greeks to the river now known by the Qeorgian name of Rion, or Rioni. Separated at their source by the Garibolo ridge, the two streams diverge more and more, ihe Tskhenis watering the Svania of the Dadians and Mingrelia, while the Rion flows through Radsha and Imeritia. From the eastern valleys comes the Evirila, which, T ! W4tH ■ V.^ Bg timmimS^MiSim^^'i''^l^Sin'^^'i^^''^^^^^^^^^!^^^'SiS^s:S, KMMM 90 ASIATIC RUSSIA. after joining thn Khani from tho south, united with tho Rion in tho fertile plain stretching south of KutuiH. Hero l)uginH the old inlet, which has been gradually filled in by tho alluvia of these mountain torrents. Where tho liion becomes navigable it is skirted by broad swampy tracts, mostly concealed by their dense aquatic vegetation, and in places even by thickets and forests. But few oxiNinsos of still water remain to recall the time when all this district was covered by the sea. Nevertheless, near tho coast there remains a remnant of the old inlet, still known by tho Greek name of PaloxMtom, or " Old Mouth," and which is supposed to have formerly received the waters of the Phosis. In the last century it seems to have communicated by a navigable channel with the sea, and its fauna is still partly marine, although the water is no longer even brackish. It is in some places over 60 feet deep, and is separated from the Euxine by a straight strip of dunes, which the Rion has pierced, its alluvia, like those of the Ing(ir and other Mingrelian coast streams, gradually encroaching beyond it seawards. According to Strabo the Rion and its tributary, the Evirila, were navigable to Sarapanes, 90 miles from the present mouth, whereas boats now stop at Orpiri, which is about one- third of that distance, and during low water, from July to December, there are scarcely more than 20 inches in the channel. The mountains forming the watershed between the Rion and Eura basins, towards the east and south-east, are continued uninterruptedly by the Suram Hills westwards to the Lazistan coast range. These mountains, imposing even in the pre- sence of the Great Caucasus, rise above the forest zone to the region of pastures, some reaching an elevation of 8,000 feet, but all falling short of the snow-line. Westwards the Ajara, or Akhaltzikh range, which is the last section of the chain, skirts the Euxine at a distance of little over half a mile from the coast.* Seen from the sunmiits of these Lazistan highlands, which were annexed to Russia in 1878, the land presents the aspect of a storm-tossed sea. Here the highest point is the Earch-shall, south-east of Batftm, which is 11,430 feet above sea-level, while the mean elevation scarcely exceeds 8,000 feet, or about 2,000 feet above the forest zone. Mount Arsiani has all the appearance of an extinct volcano, and lava streams have been discharged in prehistoric times from several neighbour- ing summits. Their upper slopes are clothed with rich pastures, whose flora ia much the same as that of West Europe, while the fruit trees of the valleys rival those of the southern slopes of the Caucasus. Lazistan is an earthly paradise, where the natives have generally shown a keen sense of natural beauty in the choice of ihe sites for their villageis. Each of these villages commands a lovely prospect of flowery meads, steep rocks, mountain torrents, cascades, clumps of trees, and scattered haiplets. * Chief elevations of the Ajara range : — Kepis-tzkaro, south of KutaXB 9,484 Nageho 8,720 SagalaUo 8,2M ChekhataH . . . . . . . . . . 3^865 •imm ' imjt m^ sTrwmBjeir" mmmM:->-»w I'ffiir. 4^ CLIMATE— FL( )IIA AND FAUNA. 01 ho fertile pluin boon gradually Iliun becumoH by tlioir denao it few oxpanM)8 vaa covered by old inlet, still liob is supposed ientury it seems ts fauna is still in some places strip of dunes, ther Mingrelian "ding to Strabo panes, 90 miles is about one- Daber, there are Euro basins, the Suram Hills even in the pre- ion of pastures, ! the snow-line, on of the chain, le coast.* Seen ed to Russia in e highest point sea-level, vrhile feet above the ct volcano, and eral neighbour- i, whose flora is ihe valleys rival arthly paradise, 1 beauty in the omands a lovely clumps of trees, Itet. 9,48« 8,720 8,265 3,S66 All the waters flowing from tho Arsiani Hills westwardH roach the Chorukh oithor tlirougb tho Ajura or tho Imnrshovi. Tho main stroam rises south of Trobi/oiul, and after rotteiving its firnt aflluonts flowH puruUol with tho cooHt and tho Up]Mt<«.im"'-injj»»iiiMai i HW.1.1M'i li ii>iliy i [jo clmrtxl lund prevail, unci no H. Under the I bruckon, while HO their former cent fuunu tliun the finest cattle jfhtly, the other jiun race intro- vttUoy, where, m uHfluniing the M in the upland nian mules and The goat and eir symmetrical animals than to which Toropov asanri? t a great variety is very striking, latter by broad of graceful car- ixine have been have introduced n their Turkish iwever numerous iding to develop tnd especially on all the men are ^le for existence I, are often even as we ascend the ;e in the appear- by the traveller jys, are evidently ( whom they are tioned by Strabo, ay. TLq present Miiiiai INHABITANTS— THE SVANS AND EAOHIANS. 98 survivors seem to descend mainly from fugitives driven from the Mingrelian plains by oppression and the calamities of war. In the secluded valleys bor- dering on the glaciers they foimd a secure retreat, almost severed by physical barriers from the rest of the world. More accessible are those of the Upper Tskhenis basin, who have consequently had to endure the hardest feuda] rule imder princes binding them to the glebe. This branch take the name of Dadion Svans, from the ancient Georgian princely title of " Dadian " assumed by the governing family. They are scarcely to be distinguished from their Imeritian neighbours, and their speech is a pure Georgian dialect. The Dadishkalian Svans, in the western division of the Upper Ingflr basin, are also \mder a feudal lord of Kumik Tatar stock ; but being regarded as serfs, they were emancipated at the expense of the Russian Government when serfdom was everywhere oiBcially abolished. The eastern communities of the Upper IngAr have long maintained Fig. 44. — TJppRB iNots Valley. From tbe Uap of the BuMtan BtaO. Bede 1 : 810,000. .ISHitai. their independence, and are still often distinguished by the epithet of " Free," although they took the oath of obedience to Russia in 1853. And in many respects they are still really free, recognising neither lord nor master, and rejecting even the control of the clergy. In the communal gatherings all have an equal voice, and important decisions require to be adopted unanimously, the opposition of a single member causing the whole question to be postponed until unanimity can be secured. Nor does the commune interfere in personal quarrels, which are regulated by the lex talionis. Nowhere else in the Caucasus are the laws of vendetta more rigorously adhered to, so that few are met who have not killed their man. All the houses along the Upper Ingdr are real fortresses, perched on rocky eminences, and commanded by square watch-towers 60 to 80 feet high. The doors of these keeps are on the second or third story, and can be approached only by rude ladders formed of the stems of trees. Hereditary animosities greatly contribute to the reduction of the population pent up in the bleak valley of Free Svania, or Jabe-Shevi ; yet it is still so dense . ■Mt^.jMttetatJi.'.iUiJ Mkf.aMiJrl'^a'Uhfcanl-JBll/ 94 ASIATIC RUSSIA. that the people are obliged to emigrate to the neighbouring tribes. In the days of their military power their young men left their homes as conquerors, often under- taking plundering expeditions to the plains, and even in the fourteenth century they were strong enough to bum the city of Eutais. Till recently the excessive population was also checked by the practice of infanticide, in which most of the girls perished, while in hard times grown-up children were sold at prices varying from £30 to £50. The small am^>unt of trade carried on by the tiffies lower down is monopolized by the Jews, who are grouped in the village of LokhomuU. These Jews are distingmshed from their brethren elsewhere by their warlike- habits. But although practising Christian rites and calling themselves Svans, the hillmen of the Upper IngAr contract no alliances with them, and even refuse to eat at their table. All the Svans, estimated at over 12,000, are classed amongst the Christian tribes of Caucasia, and even claim a sort of pre-eminence amongst their co-religionists, pretending that their ancestry were baptized by Christ himself. But their Chris- tianity has been developed in a somewhat original manner imder the influence of older rites. Thus their little chapels, large enough to acconamodate about a dozen, have crypts filled with the horns of the chamois and wild goat, which are objects of great veneration. The priests, or " papas," form a distinct hereditary caste, though their only privilege is exemption from the laws of vendetta. Although not obliged to keep the lower part of the face covered, the women pass a bandage over their mouths when singing national or religious songs, possibly to prevent the devil from entering. All the Svans are also bound to silence when on the march, or chanting sacred hymns, for the least word might draw down the tempest. Analogous superstitions occur amongst the Norwegian fishermen, the Buriats, and the American hunting tribes. The district of Bacha, comprising the Upper Rion valley, is larger and more populous than the western basins of the Tskhenis and Ingfir, and has always offered a route to graziers, traders, and even warlike bands crossing the Caucasus obliquely from the Georgian to the Terek lowlands. Hence the Rachians, who, like most of the people in the government of Eutais, are of Georgian race and speech, are more civilised than their Svanian neighbours. But they also are too numerous for their largely unproductive territory, so that thousands are forced to emigrate to the lowlands, seldom returning without having amassed a small fortune. Most of the carpenters and sawyers met with in Imeria and Mingrelia are Ba^hians. The Imeritians, Minorelians, and Lazes. The Georgians of the Upper Bion basin bear the general name of Imeritians, or more properly Imerians ; that is, " People of the other side," in reference to the Suram Mountains separating them from the bulk of the nation. The term Imereth, or Imeria, has been applied, with the shifting of the border peoples^ at times to all Western Transcaucasia, at times only to its upper section, Mingrelia being usually reserved for the low-lying region comprising the alluvial lands and coast district. Thanks to their damp, miasmatic, and enervating climate, the Mingrelians are nnmnmni In the days of •s, often under- teenth century y the excessive Lch most of the prices varying bes lower down bamnli. These Irohahits. But 3 hilhnen of the it at their table. Christian tribes co-religionists, 3ut their Chris- the influence of ) about a dozen, lioh are objects ereditary caste, Although not a bandage over revent the deAril n the march, or n the tempest. ;he Buriats, and larger and more and has always ig the Caucasus chians, who, like race and speech, lie too numerous reed to emigrate I fortune. Most re Rachians. ' i feiw iM iOimi mmm»*tmmj»Mii»i ■. .wi i nwiwMMiw THE IMEBITIANS, MINGBELIANS, AND LAZES. 95 \,\ U'< [S 1' a '"*'* moBtly of an indolent temperament, while their brethren who have migrated to the dry district of Tiflis are noted for their active habits. A repugnance to labour was also naturally fostered by former devastating inroads, incessant intestine warfare, and the complete thraldom of the peasantry to their nobles. Here was represented every variety of serfdom, and until 1841 the priests themselves were classed as serfs. Even in recent times the Mingrelian princes were accustomed to apply personally for their tribute. Followed by courtiers, retainers, falconers, dogs, and horses, they would swoop down on some unfortunate vassal, living at his expense as long as the provbions lasted, then betaking themselves elsewhere, and thus making a round of revelry as self-invited guests, and leaving ruin in their wake. No women, especially if well favoured, were safe from these despots, who Fig. 46.— Minorblum Ladt. carried them off and sold their children .„- . i. into slavery. Although generally too weak to resist, the Mingrelians' were nevertheless occasionally driven by this oppression into revolt, as in 1857 and 1858, when they appealed to arms for the recovery of their captured women, and to get rid of the yoke riveted by their masters round their necks. But all such efforts were quenched in blood, nor was serfdom finally abolished till three years after its suppression in the rest of the empire. But many of its effects still remain, and in a teeming land the Imerians and Mingrelians oontiniie, '^^^^^SH^RIIS^ . -"^^9^v«' like the wretched Lombard peasantry, to live almost exclusively on a mess of maize or millet resembling the polenta of Italy. The usoal dress is a tattered smock fastened by a cord or strap to the waist, and instead of a hat a bit of cloth retained on the head by a string passed under the chin. The Mingrelian farmstead consists of a wretched hovd of wood or branches, surrounded by badly cultivated maize-fields, with a few lean pigs or goats, and one or two buffaloes wallowing in the muddy pools. Although till recently dwelling beyond the political limits of Russian Trans- caucasia, the Lazes of the Ajara and Chorukh basins are none the less akin in speech and race to the Mii^^relians and Georgians. Those still subject to Turkey, and leaching westwards beyond Trebizond, are also of the same stock, though more or less mixed with other elements, while beyond these limits many geographical names show that in remote times the interior of Asia Minor was largely peopled by Georgians. Rosen has established the near, relationship of the Laz and Georgian tongues. The language current on the banks of the Chorukh differs little from Mingrelian, though that of the west coast is largely affected by Turkish A "j^^g 90 ASIATIO BU8SU. and Greek elements. In their customs also the Lazes resemble the Imerians. Both respect old ago, are extremely hospitable, and, while fidl of curiosity, still maintain a dignified reserve. Like most Caucasians, they are fond of display and rich attire, nor do they deserve the charge of indolence brought against them by careless observers, for their fields are well tilled and their houses kept in good order. The Laz women combine with beauty and symmetry of form a rare repu- tation for courage. The Moslem Lazes have emigrated in large numbers to Tiirkish territory since the annexation to Russia in 1878, while the Christians will now probably find their way to Tiflis and the Russian ports on the Euxine. The national character could scarcely fail to be modified under the Turkish regime. Three centuries ago all the Lazes of the Upper Ajara valleys were Christians, and many villages still boast of well-preserved churches in the best Byzantine style of architecture. Certain communes did not conform to the Moslem creed till about the close of the eighteenth century, and several, though nominally followers of the Prophet, are still practically Christian, the two faiths often over- lapping to such on extent that it becomes difficult to say where the one ceases and the other begins. With their religion the Turks also introduced their lang^ge into all the towns and large villages, so that the Laz dialect ceased to be current except in the remote rural districts. The Armenian colonies scattered over the land had also forgotten their mother tongue in favour of Turkish, which must now in its turn slowly yield to Russian, just as the Mohammedan must give way to the Christian faith. Topography, The Rion valley, whose commercial importance was already recognised by the prehistoric Argonauts, and where, thirty centuries later on, the Genoese also went in search of the " Golden Fleece," promises once more to play a large port in the general development of trade. For some years past it has been crossed in its entire length by a railway connecting Tiflis with the Euxine, and this is but a first section of the line destined, sooner or later, to reach the Indus. But the site of the old Greek trading route, like that of their chief emporium Colchis, has long been forgotten. The village of S/iaropan, at the jimction of the £virila and Dzir(ila, claims to stand on the spot where grew the famous grove penetrated by the legendary Jason in search of the " Golden Fleece." At the gorges of the Ehani, south-east of Kuta'is, are the extensive ruins of the former Turkish fortress of Bagdad, whose Moslem inhabitants were driven into exile in the last century. Nevertheless Bagdad is still a considerable village. Kuta'is, the present capital of the province, which comprises most of Western Transcaucasia, is happily situated at the junction of the three valleys watered by the Rion, Evirila, and Ehani, and at the head of the alluvial p^. u. tretching thence to the coasc. Standing on the first rising g^imds of the advanced spurs cf the Caucasus, it is well sheltered from the north wind, while its gardens and parks are abundantly watered by the Rion, which traverses the town. Euta'is, if not the traditional city of Medea, is at all events a very old place, for it is mentioned by NiilMil mMJJSia^M^JttirM, TOPOGBAPHY. 97 the Imerians. curiosity, still pnd of display » against them ss kept in good a rare repu- 3rs to Turkish Itians will now pie. [er the Turkish valleys were les in the best I to the Moslem >ugh nominally iths often over- one ceases and their language to be current ttered over the rhich must now give way to tho sognised by the ese also went in rge part in the sed in its entire } is but a first t the site of the , has long been a and Dzir&la, etrated by the } of .the Ehani, dsh fortress of e last century. lost of Western leys watered by retching thence sd spurs of the 3 and parks are tais, if not die 8 mentioned by Procopius under the name of Eotatission, and it constantly figiires in Georgian history, sometimes even as capital of the kingdom, and always as a noted strong- hold. The old town stood on the right bank of the Rion, at the foot of the acropolis ; but the modem lies mainly on the opposite bank. Its most remarkable monument is a ruined cathedral built by the Bag^tides early in the eleventh century on the acropolis. On it have been modelled most of the other religious edifices in the coimtry, so that it is rightly regarded as the most precious relic of Georgian art. Thanks to its trade and local industry, chiefly hat-making, Eutais has recently made rapid progress, the population rising from 4,000 to 12,000 Sig. 46.— KtlTAi't AMD THB RiON AMU KtIBILA JvMOTIOM. From the Map of Um RoMlan Stnff. Soala 1 : 440,00a , ■', V . . .'•'■ .UMilca. in a few years. In the district is found a species of jet used for bracelets and other ornaments; but the rich Tkvibula coal-fields, some 18 miles to the north-east, have been but little worked. Since 1879 the manganese deposits of the Upper Kvirila valley, estimated at several millions of tons, have also attracted attention. Khoni, at the entrance of the Tskhenis valley, north-east of Eutais, is the market town of the Dadian Svans, and lower down is the large village of Kukuht, near the junction of the Rion and Tskhenis, in the most densely peopled district of Caucasia. Orpiri, the river port of the Rion, at the junction of the Tskhenis, is inhabited by members of the Skoptzi sect, who are mostly wealthy, though the trade of the place has fallen ofi since the opening of the railway. The two seaports of JRedoiU- ?!: fr-^;- '' '^yST^ ! ? t^^^!^!^i^W^'^^- TOPOOBAPHY. M local feven, and whose name is composed of a French and Turkish word, both moaning the same thing, is a poor Russian village founded in the present century as the seaport of the rich Lower IngikT district, but now almost forsaken in favour of Poti, situated farther south, at the mouth of the river. Its houses, raised on piles and surrounded by palisades, Htretch for a considerable distance along the unhealthy marshy banks of the river, whose floodings convert the town twice a year into a peninsula. The harbour is rendered inaccessible to large vessels by the bar at the uth of the Rion, all the engineering efforts to remove which have hitherto had but partial success. Hence it is little used except for shipping cereals and raw silk. The exports amounted in Fig. 48.— BatCm 1>Vom «hr Mfip nf tha BomUd Staff. Scale 1 : »90,0(jO. itm . SHUaa. 1876 to nearly 5,000,000 roubles, while the imports average scarcely more than 800,000. A much finer harbotir is that of Batum, lying 30 miles to the south-west, and ceded by Tiurkey in 1878. Even before the annexation it was far more a Russian than a Turkish port, for here the large Odessa steamers transhipped their cargoes in 60 feet of water to smaller vessels capable of crossing the bar at Poti. Although declared a free port by the treaty of Berlin, Battkm has none the less already become a strong fortress. But with all its advantages, the peninsula created by the alluvia of the Chorukh on the west is constantly increasing, and threatening to still further restrict the available space in the harbour, which i>« already insufficient to accommodate more than twelve large vessels. But nothin;; would be easier than to connect the port with the river by a canal, which, with the railway now being construoted by the town of Uzurgeti to the Foti-Tiflis line, will render Bat(km the 100 ASIATIC BUSSU. (lommon outport of tho Ilion and Cborukh basins. Tho extraordinary fertility of this region will thus Hocuro it a certain commerciul iinportancu in future. The chief exports are cereals, cotton, the excellent apples known in Russia as " Orimean apples," and the oil yielded by the dolphina taken in the bay. The chief inland town of Russian Lazistan is Artvtn, standing on the slope of a hill at the outlet of the gorge of the Lower Chorukh, and at the head of itit nuvigutiou. It is built in the fonn of an amphitheatre, with a circuit of not leas than 5 miles, including its gardens. Besides dyeing, which is its staple industry, it manufactures silks and other woven stuifs. Itb traders, mostly Armenians, have relations through BatQm with Constantinople and Marseilles. Here the Laz race is said to reach its highest physical perfection, and all the children might serve as models for the painter or sculptor. Ardaniy, on a plateau south of Artvin, was formerly capital of the kingdom, and higher up in the heart of the mountains is 0/ti, ceded in 1878 by Turkey. Like Artvin, it is a city of fruits and flowers, and the chief trading-place between Arduhan and Erzerum. VII.— THE KURA HASIN. GEORGIA, TRAN80AU0ASIAN TATAEY. The Eura and Araxis may be regarded as twin, but independent streams. Of nearly equal length, and draining about an equal area, they remain separated throughout their upper and middle course by plateaux and lofty ranges. In the time of Strabo they had even separate mouths, ani' < t present unite their waters in the neighbourhood of the Caspian, soarcely more than 20 feet above the level of that sea. Ethnically also the two river basins are quite distinct. . Both are now no doubt occupied by Tatar peoples, but the Georgians are still predominant in the Upper and Middle Eura valley, while the A roxis is chiefly occupied by Armenians. Politically the former belongs entirely to Russia, whereas the latter rises in Turkish territory, and for about half its course its right bank, with all its southern tribu- taries, waters Persian districts. River Systems — ^Thb Eura. The Georgian river known as tho Eura, or Eur, names recalling the Gh«ek Euros (Anglicised Cyrus), has its farthest source in the " Pearl Brook," or "Coral Water," of the Turks, a torrent flowing from a cirque, or old hill-enoircled lakelet, through a narrow gorge round the east foot of the Arsiani range. It descends thence through a series of defiles and sudden windings between the Ajara and Trialetes Hills, west and east, down to the plains of Tiflis. In one of these defiles, between Atzkhur and Borjom, it falls altogether about 740 feet through a succession of rapids in the space of 15 miles. The plateau whence flow its head- .s-ssisissmMxi^^^, mmmm. iry fertility of future. The as " Crimean the slope of a e he»d of itv uit of not lets .plo industry, y Armenians, lere the Laz hildren might the kingdom, 178 by Turkey, -place between it streams. Of [uain separated anges. In the their waters in sve the level of Both are now luminant in the by Armenians, "iaes in Turkish southern tribu- ing the Gh«ek ok," or "Coral i hill-encircled ani range. It reen the Ajara [n one of these feet through a I flow its head- KIV£B 8YST£MS~TiLt 1A. IM streams is very irregular, but it becomes mucli more Akhultzik, where it forms the true wator-parti»K '> with a moan elevation of from 7,000 to 8,000 ff-et depressions on this monotonous plateau uro tilled wit Araxis, some to the Kura, while others have become brackish tamH m ith w Aiw, and others again half dried-up fens and marshes. The aspect uf the 1 id still iifonr hptween Ai*dahun and >veer the K' n and Araxinr ;K)ve the iic.k 8<'u. The likes drai ng m»iii > the Fig. 49.— AXHALKAI.AXI Platiav. ftan tb« Map of Um Riuaiu SUIT. S«U« I : MflbOOa l-^ "^ % 41' !)0 41* A ■^..s^ fe-5:5v.i^^ ^'f^^B .It * . ^- wm^ E»B^!| •■'$»*■ ^ \ ^V ' A > ilV ^^1 " "^ '■/ \T*^? fW' :*j ; ^V;. ::'*'{// fr ■.^/H' :^":i "■c^ ' #y '..v^' '-wtk ^ ^>m^ ''- iv-va ... .^ ?t'<^ 1 . r -A'^-^Ct^W iv ■ \" i'& i^lJI;'' ri^- — ■« , — ."■ /'i;#«;'i»v-.Vj- .■ ■■* ' • > ^' *■„;:—■-/ — . . - r f ■if ^y , . : -^ ** .■"^^^^"^/^ ^: ^H '^ - ■ '->-:,- 'i,^T:v 1. ri,\y^x;^ irjk; '^, C.oPC. Ai* u speaks of a time when it formed a vast lacustrine basin with inlets ramifying into the, surrounding hills. This region was formerly lit up by a double line of active volcanoes rising to the east of Akhalkalaki, and running north and south vertically with the axis of the Trialet«s range. Mount Samsar, one of these volcanoes, has an oval crater nearly 2 miles long, and its lava streams stretch north-west over a large portion of the plateau. The Great and Little Abiil, rising from a common base, resemble in form the double cones of Ararat, and from their trachytic fi ISmS^m^^^^^^M^^ 101 AHIATIO BUBSIA. porphyry aummit*! u northern view in ufTurdixl, umbraciuf^ all tho Cuucasu* from Elbruz to tho TobuloH-nitu. Other extinct vulcunues uru (iiMimtied in urcaoont fonn round thecirc{uo enclosing the romantic I^ake Toporovan, which, with ita mmaina of lacuatrino dwuUingH, itttult rcaoniblea 'i vuat fl(KNlud crater. Thia aublimo but gloomy tableland, with ita black mouiitaina, yawning abyaaea, and ancient lava atroama, " atill haunted by demona and goblina," preaenta a atriking contraat to the winding valley of the Kura, with ita leafy shadea and aparkliug running watera, atill occaaionally broken by nar- Fig. 60.— Tatab Ttpb. ^^^ ^'^^^ f^^^g^^ AQ<1 columnar oryatalline cliifa many hundred {jet high, and capped with the ruina of ancient caatlea. All theae volcanic highlanda and rugged terracea riaing to the weat of Tiflia ..^ form a aort of advanced pro- montory of Aaia Minor, about 60 milea long, within whoae nar- L^ ^ft "^^ limits are brewed nearly all the fierce tempeats and hail- -y- itK:.7,^^^w atorms that bi^'st on the neigh- ,^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ bouring Earthu.ian plaina. The <■ ^-^^^^^^^^^^^KI^^My^^^^ r ^ frequency of theae hail-storma l^^^^^^ifl^^H^^B V y ^\| ' X has compelled the peasantry to '-i:.^^^^^^^^^^^^^IKt^li[v;'A<.-^^^, N abandon the cultivation of certain ^:^Y districts in this region. A aeoond ,A'VR^|i|m^^^^H^p^Hr VBHH||^n^^^. zone of tempests stretches along 'i'tjr'^^ml^SS^KSmuZ^ i \x^^^^^^ ^^ '°^^ ^^ ^^ Yelizavetpol I ^-"{fliflBi^^w : ''A v\v ^^ Mountains, preventing the exten- 4k J M"'w?l^» '^> ^\ "^'^ °' sericulture in consequence y'n *^»V, \^^^ '^ \^ of the great mortality caused by thunder amongst the silk- worms.* Before its junction with the Aragva, which is scarcely inferior in volume to the main stream, the Kura flows south and south-east mainly in a line with the Great Caucasus and with the Yora and Alazan, the two tributaries which join it after emerging from the upper * Chief elevations of the Upper Kura baain : — Kizil-Ojaduk. aourre of the Kara . - 10,360 GwatAbfll . . . . . . . . 11,125 Samsar 11,000 Godorebi 10,630 EmIekU . . . ^ 10,106 Koyerettn-dagh, west of the Kura . . • . . . 10,116 Aij«van 9,106 Kanll PasH, between the Eura and Chorukh 9,060 Kojor Pass, between the Akhaltsik plain and Tiflia ^ . . 4,890 SP" . «)'!*« BIVEfi S¥8TEldS-TUE KUltA. im uucasu* from crescont fonn its ronminH of Hublimo but ancient lava EontraNt U) the inning waters, rokcn by nar- and columnar (lany hundred )ped with the ties. All these and rugged west of Tiflis idvanced pro> Minor, about lin whoso nar- wed nearly all sts and hail- on the neigh- n plains. The ise hail-storms B peasantry to ation of certain ^on. A second stretches along ) Yelizavetpol iting the exten- in consequence ortality caused igst the silk- iction with the the Kura flows I with the Yora rom the upper VMt. 10,360 11,12« 11,000 10,680 10,1«6 10,115 0,106 9,060 4,800 gorges. At the point where it is crossed by the rood from Yelizavetpol to Ttuku, li little below the confluence of tht'se HtrnuiiN, the Kura is ulrt'udy nuvigahlc for croft drawing 4 feet, although, owing to the wc Prninwula. Soale 1 : MO,0OU. ~ ModVoIoHiOM. Naphtha Wdla. OaiJate. Snbnwqiad Baina. SMflta. for heating, lighting, and cooking, though the illuminating power of the Balakhan gas is much inferior to that of the artificial article, for it possesses far less carbon. To the internal pressure of the gas is due the rising of the naphtha, which is forced upwards through the sandy and shingly layers below the superficial tertiary strata. With the petroleum stream there are carried up large quantities of sand, which accumulates about the orifice, where it gradually forms conic moimds 60 feet high. So far the seven hundred n(q)htha wells sunk in the neighbourhood of Baku have shown no signs of exhaustion. They supply over five-sixths of the petroleum of the Caucasus. Between 1870 and 1878 the yield was increased over tenfold, and quite a fleet of steamers and sailing vessels has been equipped for the export of this produce. mmmm Jtfiffi^UJP' Itar, by the side of >, Russian images objects which are p has been much ready yielded over e simple than the leaping from the by the heat to the these jets are used BaiH. 9r of the Balakhan es far less carbon, ha, which is forced jial tertiary strata, ies of sand, which lunds 60 feet high, lood of Baku have le petroleum of the enfold, and quite a )rt of this produce. INHABITANTS— THE OEOBOIANS. Ill But immense Ions is cauaod by the ignorance of thoae engaged in the trade. Thufi a well at Balakhan, yielding 4,800 tona of naphtha daily, ran waste for four weeks before a reservoir could l)e prepared to receive the oil. The totol yield of naphtha at Baku amounted in 1878 to about 7,000,000 owt., of which nearly 3,500,000 cwt. were exported. Inhabitants — ^The Oeorgians. Tn Central as in Western Caucasia the most numerous race are the Georgians, or Karthvelians, descendants of the Iberians spoken of by Strabo. The statuettes found in the graves represent exactly the same type and the same ^tyle of head-dress as those of the present inhabitants, so that no change has taken place in this respect during the last two thousand years. Masters of the land from the remotest historic times, the Georgians have succeeded, if not in maintaining their independence, at least in preserving their ethnical cohesion and various national idioms. They formerly occupied a wider domain, and although encroached upon at various times by Persians, Medes, Armenians, Mongols, Turks, and now by the Slavs, their territory still stretches from the plains of the Eura to Trebizond, and from Mount Elbruz to Mount Arsiani. Of all the Caucasian peoples the Georgians, who are estinwted at upwards of a million, form the most compact and homogeneous natioAality. In Georgia is situated Tiflis, capital of all Transcaucasia. As a political state Georgia had its periods of prosperity and military fame. Especially in the twelfth century, in the reigns of David the " Restorer," and of Queen Tamara, the Earth velian kingdom acquired a decided preponderance over all the Caucasian lands, and the name of Tamara has remained popular from the Black Sea to the Caspian. ' In all the upland valleys she is the theme of countless legends and national songs ; most of the ruins scattered over the land are supposed to be the remains of her palaces and strongholds; as a ruler of men the popular enthusiasm ranks her with Alexander ; as a saint with Sti George and the prophet Elias. But the period of Georgian ascendancy was of short duration, and the invasion of Jenghis Ehan was followed by incessant warfare and civil strife, which ended only in 1802, when Georgia was officially incorporated in the Russian Empire. Its geographical situation pennitted the inhabitai\(8 to maintain their independence and become fused in a ctanpact national body. Most of the Earthvelians dwell on~ the plains, where the conditions of soil and climate oblige them to live as agricul- turists scattered over the land. Their territory is everywhere enclosed by lofty mountains, whose occupants, pent up in their narrow, bleak, and unproductive glens, cast envious glances on the lowlands, never failing to swoop down whenever an opportunity is offered for making, a successful foray. . The Georg^ian territory is, moreover, divided into three distinct parts, clearly defined by forests and mountain ranges. The Eura basin in the east, those of the Rion and IngAr in the centre, and that of the Chorukli in the west, are so many detached geographical areas, whose inhabitants were naturally involved in different political careers. The severance of the Georgian nationality into distinct fragments was also rendered almost inevitable "WiH 112 ASIATIC BU88U. by the form of the neveral diatrict«, all of which are greatly elongated east and west. The Kurthvfl, or KurtbalianH, properly m called, who hove retained the collective racial nuiiie, uro the Georgians dwelling east ot the Huram Mountains, in the old lacustrine plain whose centre is oc(>upied by the town of (}ori, and which terminates at Mtzicliet, ancient capital of Karthalia. They become blended eastwards with the Gru.siunH of Tiflis, whone name is frotjuently applied collectively to all the branches Tig. Ae.— Mtxkhiit, Amcibnt Capital or Obomoia. of the Georgian family. The Eakhetians, the easternmost of these branchefl, occupy the Yora and Alazan valleys; west of the Suram Mountains dwell the Imerians and Mingrelians in the Riou, Tskhcnis, and Lower IngAr basins ; the Gurians hold the northern slopes of the Ajara Mountains ; the Lazes a portion of the Ghondch basin west of that range ; lastly, the Svans, with a few other tribes, have found a refuge in the fastnesses of the Upper Caucasus valleys. The varioiis branches of the Karthalian family cannot all of them converse together, largely INHABITANTS— THE OEOBOIANS. 118 ngatod eaiit and ed the collective taiiifl, in the old v^hich tcrtninatea Ntwarda with the uU the branches ^■^i^' fis _ - these branches, itains dwell the gfir basins; the azes a portion ot Eew other tribes, ^8. The various ktgether, largely owing to the foreign words that have cropi into tho different local idiomn. Hut the general rcHoniblanco is very marked throughout the whole region from Trcbizond to Tiflis, while amongst tho educated Kurthaliuns complete unity of speech has been maintained by the works of all sorts that have been published in (ileorgian. At least since tho tenth century there has ftcurishcd a Karthalian literature, beginning with a simple translation of tho Dible and gradually enriched by religious treatises, epic poems, songs, dramas, scientific writings, and more recently with translations of foreign works and periodical publications. Neverthe- less the cultivation of the Qeorgian language and the intcllectiul development of the nation have been arrested by extreme centralizing tendencies. Hince 1807 the Georgian archives and the valuable literary and historical documents found in Tiilis have been removed to St. Petersburg. Studied efforts are' also being made to replace Georgian by Russian, and the latter lang^ge is now compulsorily taught in all the local schools. The national speech, by some grouped with the Aryan, by others with the Ural-Altaic family, would really seem to stand quite apart, a view already held by Klaproth, and since confirmed by Zagarelli, who has paid the greatest attention to the structure of the language. Like the Basque in Europe, Georgian appears to be the surviving representative of a form of speech formerly current throughout a far wider area, and absolutely distinct from the Aryan, Semitic, and Uralian linguistic stocks. The alphabet in use, at least since the tenth century, is derived, like the Armenian, through the Pahlvi and Zend from the Aramtean. With the exception of the Lazes, who are mostly Mohanunedans, the Eartha- lians belong to the Greek rite, and to their patron saint, George, is with some probability attributed the name of Georgia, whence the Russian Grusia. North of the Rion and Eura this saint is held in greatest veneration, whereas in the region south of those rivers, including the whole of Armenia, the worship of Mary has everywhere replaced that of Ma, or Maya, goddess of the teeming earth and of the harvest. The Georgians are strongly attached to their faith, and notwithstanding their naturally gentle disposition, they have always energetically resisted the successive religious persecutions of the Turks and Persians. The Byzantine style of their churches, introduced from Armenia, assumed in mediaeval times a certain originality, still represented 'by exquisite oaves, belfries, and apses, dating especially from the tenth and two foUo'ving centuries. Even in the remotest upland valleys the traveller is surprised to meet with churches in a renoarkably pure style, mostly standing on pleasant hills in the midst of leafy thickets. Nearly aU are so built as to serve also as strongholds, while some are even subterraneous, betrayed by no outward signs, and capable of sheltering the community in troubled times. In Kakhetia the rocky eminences of the Earayaz steppe overlooking the Yora valley are pierced with caverns, said to have been excavated as churches and convents in the sixth century. In aU the hilly districts of Karthalia the peasantry are also acquainted with labyrinthine oaves, the former abode of a troglodytic people. Hundreds of strange towers are also met, recalling the nuraghi of Sardinia, but of unknown origin and use, although each is associated with its special legend. 114 A8IATI0 BUS8U. The old method of oonHtructin^ dwellingH hnn peniiited for orer two thotimnd yoorn. Whole villiif^cH eoiiNitit of nothing hut holcH dug in the ground or hewn out f)f the roi'k, revoulwl from without only hy masitea of foliugo, or by clay roofs on which the women nit in the eool of the nummer oveningii. In mont of the towns many hou8cn are uIho still covennl, instead of a roof, with a layer of hardened earth alM)ut 2 feet thick, and inclined just sufficiently to allow the water to run off through the openings in the low wall enclosing the terrace. On this surface there grows a dense leafy vegetation, in which the Lepidium teticariuHi, a species of crucifera, prely with the best one of the most ^ng at the doors )rder to preserve le of flaying the Thier imparts a rangers soon get le population, the ond a few mangy Mingrelians and from the feudal to be attached to where throughout •8, have not all of in, while practices i i i iit '- ' .u M w ii M i i i w wn H' m [n1rfl'lT"'''Mltiri'rJ TOPOGRAPHV. The highest to\(ai in the Eura basin is Ardahan, a stronghold situated in a fertile cirque at the southern foot of the bliiff surmounted by the fortress of Ramazan. By its capture in 1877 the Russians became masters of the more important passes leading towards the Chorukh and Araxis valleys. But eastwards Ardaha^ still remains unconnected by easy routes with the rest of Transcaucasia, the volcanic region here traversed by the Eura opposing great obstacles to trade. ■ymt- TOPOGRAPHY. 181 istion or lom of ilaco with flongH, ctaricH, doscend- is synonymous und in compact coran district, on as Talishcs, who ion between the is not a Persian in affinity to the Talish Iranians sd by the Arrae- Besides all these vivors of the old ', the left bank of rlooking Tiflis on ler to replace the Bcaucasia is com- others voluntary it years to settle ilk"— orDukho- their co-operative gian neighbours, rermans who, like tpol, live entirely il skill have con- ted in 1817 from 70 generations, to cal surroundings. ;n, Armenian, or fatherland, most reg^ar features, >ld situated in a f the fortress of )rs of the more But eastwards >f Transcaucasia, ibstacles to trade. One of the river gorges below Arrlnhuii onolosos the celebrated convent of Vardziu, or Vardzish — that is, " Castlo of Roses "—entirely oxoavuted in the Hoft tufa, which is liore regularly stratified with layers of black Hcoria. The underground town contains innumerable cells dis|)OHcd in stories, and connected by galleries edging the preci- pice 200 foet above the Kura. The larger spaces form either chapcjls, where are still to bo seen the rcmaius of frescoes, or the so-called summer and winter palaces of Queen Tamaro. East of these defiles stands the important fortress of Akalkalaki, on an exposed but fertile plateau 6,630 feet above sea-level. Akiaka, or Akhaltzik — that is, " New Fig. 68.— The Suhax Fasb and Mbkk Moumtains. Bcalu 1 : 9tO,)iiitrr,riiwiiiiiiiiriiii(i ii w A8UTI0 BUS8IA. This ia the Huminer rcnort of the woulthy classes from Tiflis, and the ruined build- ings intcrH|x>rHC centre of population even l)oforo the sixteenth century. Hero the air is pure and fresh, water flows in abundance, and every eminence is clothed with forests in which the ibex uiid wild goat are still hunted. Snram, though small in size, is a bu.«y town, well known to travellers as a resting-place on the routo and railway between Poti and Tiflis. It is comnuinded by a strong custlo, which, according to the legend, the owner endeavoured to render impregnable by layinv^ the foundation stone on the only son of a widow. Surani stands at the western extremity of the Earthalian plain, a dried-up lake whose bed is now extremely fertile. The temporary railway ot pre .at crossing the Suram Fig. 69.— Thb Kura Valley Bmr»N Qori and Mtsuut. IlromUMlUpofthcaaMlMiStaC. a«at 1 : MXMW). 1 AQ, 1 I^ i ^M FvfflHHHflr* ll mz - ifSfi^^'^^i^^ ^ V * •: *^H^^^^^^H^* 1 ^K E^:-' ^ffi^V^Eg ^ Vai....*-<^.t M 4i' DO nm ^^gj W EoPG 44* 10* 'a^'ao- 1 .•XflM. Hills will probably be ultimately replaced by another running farther south, and piercing the Mesk range by a tunnel in the vicinity of Borjom. Oori, capital of the district, and ethnological centre of Oeorg^a, stands as nearly as possible in the middle of the old lacustrine basin, not far from the junction of the Eura, Lakhva, and Mejuda, of which the two latter streams descend from the country of the Osses. Gori is happily situated in a fertile and well- watered district at the foot of a bluff crowned by an old citadel. The wheat of this district is the best in Transcaucasia, and its wines are used in Tiflis for tempering the more fiery vintages of Eokhetia. On a tertiary rock of molasse formation, 5 miles east of Gori, lies the troglodytic town of Uflis-tzikhe, no less remarkable than the convent of Yardzia, and much more accessible to visitors by the railway from Tiflis. The rock, some 660 feet high, consists of strata of varying hardness, carved, sculptured, and excavated from base to summit, so as to present the appearance of a pyramidal group of buildings. These Uflis grottoes were probably at first inhabited by TOPOOEAPHY. 128 tho ruined build - at it WU8 a lur{j^> e air is pure and forests in which travellers as a It is comniunded ivoured to render 1 widow. Surani ip lake whose bed isaiug the Surani >M'40' farther south, and %, stands as neok'ly m the junction of descend from the 11- watered district this district is the apering the more ition, 5 miles east e than the convent from Tiflis. The arved, sculptured, Lce of a pyramidal Krst inhabited by luirbarous troglodytes ; but their Huocesimrs were acqiuiintod with tho arts and I'omforts of life, and in these underground chambers are found the romainH of Urcok, Roman, Arub, and Dyzuntino architecture. Mftkhet, standing at tho outlet of the old Lake of Kurthalia, though now an insigniHcant village, was tho residence of the Georgian kings in tho fourth and Hfth centuries. It occupies a vital position at tho junction of the main routes from tho Dariul defile through the Aragva valley, and from the Caspian and Euxine through the Kuro and Rion basins. Hence after its destruction tho new capital of Georgia and of all Caucasia was founded in tho same neighbourhood, but removed, about a thousand years ago, some 13 miles farther south, to avoid tho dangerous proxi- mity of the Osses. The piles of a bridge thrown across the iCura in 1841 are said to rest on Roman foundations dating from the time of Pompey. But more interesting are the ruins of the cathedral founded by King Mirian in 328, and since then frequently restored. Tiflia, capital of Caucasia and the largest city in Asiatic Russia, was a more hamlet on the banks of the Kura till the fifth century, when the seat of Govern- ment was transferred hither from Mtzkhet. The Georgian term Tiflis, Tphilis, or Tphilis-Kalaki, means " Hot Town," doubtless in reference to the sulphur spring rising near the Euro, amidnt the porphyries and schists of the Tsavkjssi fissure. Yet the name might be equally well applied to it from the sultry summer heat reflected by the bare rocks of the surrounding heights on the basin enclosing the city at an elevation of 1,220 feet above the sea. Nothing is visible in every direc- tion except the slopes of hills or yellow and grey schistous mountains stripped of the forests formerly covering them, and even of the vegetable humus carried away by the winds and rains. The Russians have recently endeavoured to restore these forests, but they have succeeded only in the ravines, on the flats and islands watered by the Euro. Above the quarter where stood the old town, the mono- tonous uniformity of the rocky landscape is broken by ramparts, bastions, and crumbling towers, while the banks of the Euro present a picturesque view with their three bridges, hanging galleries, low many-coloured housetops, and churches flanked by belfries terminating with octagonal pyramids. Nevertheless the general aspect of the place is not cheerful, the grey tones of the brick and wood work con- tributing to produce a depressing effect on the traveller. In 1874 nearly half of the houses were still roofed with earth, giving them the appearance of huts, and forming a strange contrast with the grand edifices in their midst. North-west of the old town stretch the regular streets of the new quarter, flanked by heavy buildings, churches, barracks, palaces, in the ultra-Caucasian Russian style. A broad boulevard, much frequented after sunset, vies in the splendour of its ware- houses with those of the great European capitals. The town is also constantly spreading northwards, especially round about the Poti railway terminus, along the left bank of the Eura, and in the direction of Mtzkhet. In its motley population Tiflis is the worthy capital of the Caucasian regions. Although lying within the ethnological limits of Georgia, it is not in a special sense a Georgian city, and even in 1803 of 2,700 houses four only belonged to families wmmmmmmm ssasmmemmMmmmim^ 124 A8IATT0 RUSSIA. of that nation. The AnnonianH, oonntituting ono-thinl of the inhabitantH, are i\w nioHt nuniorouM olonicnt, whilu niMtlu>r lluHHianH nor Quorgianit amount to ono-Hfth, and «vcn amoni^Nt tho latter niunt bo inulud(*d tho Inioriun and Miiigrcliun " Lowitn of w{hhI and drawtTM of wat(>r." * A lurj^o ntim))c>r of tho |)<i»ffijT; "'v^f ^fj..::' r.,;:'«»sss®> rfa.is's^cSffir! A^S 1S6 ASIATIC EUSSIA. of Tolfa, near Giyita Yecchia, and covering an urea of over 12 square roilea. These mines have been worked since the time of the Romans, as shown by numerous remains found on the spot. Iron and cobalt are also worked in this part of the Yelizavetpol district. Some 120 miles south-east of Tiflis lies the old city of Ganja, formerly capital of a khanate of like name, and now renamed Yelizavetpol, as capital of the Russian province of Yelizavetpol. It existed in the eleventh century, but some miles from its present site, where are still to be seen the ruins of the old place, popularly attributed to Alexander the Great, who never visited the Eura basin. A little farther south-east stood Partav, the old capital of the kingdom of Agvania, or Fig. 61. — Yblizavbtfol and VioimrT. n«iii the Map of the Bawian Staff. Soale 1 : 000,000. .11 Albania, in the district watered by the Tertor above its junction with the Kura. Partav was destroyed in the tenth entury, according to the Arab historians, by " R(is8i " advent rers from beyond the Caucasus, and its site is now indicated by the village of Barda, or Berdaya. This region was certainly far more densely peopled formerly than at present, and Yelizavetpol itself, rebuilt in the sixteenth century on its present site, was evidently a considerable place, as shown by its extensive ruins and the fine Persian mosque erected here by Shah Abbas. Most of its windowless houses are bitilt of a hardened clay, which is very durable in this dry climate, but which, with the ruins, contributes to g^ve the place an appearance of g^reat age. With its fine plantations it covers a large area, some 12 miles in circumference ; yet it is so unhealthy that the ofiicials are all obliged to remove in TOPOGRAPHY. summer to the banks of the romantic " Blue Lake " (Qok-gdl), to Ilelenendorf, and Haji-Kend, near the wooded hills of the south. Yelizavetpol is even noted for a local endemic, the so-called godovik, or " yearly leprosy," so named because it lasts about one 3'ear in defiance of all remedies. This loathsome disease is probably due 127 to the twenty-two cemeteries close to the town, iningling their contents with the numerous irrigating rills fronii the river Oanja, whose waters are often absorbed in this way before reaching the Eura. The skilful horticultiu^ of its Tatar, Suabian, and Slav inhabitants has brought the fruits of this district to great perfection, and its cherries especially are tihe finest in Caucasia. They also occupy themselves with 128 ASIATIC RUSSIA. the cultivation of tobacco, cotton, sericulture, spinning, and weaving, while the trade of YelizaviJtpol is chiefly in the hands of the Armenians. Shusha, the largest town in this government, is also peopled by Armenians and Tatars. Standing 3,500 feet above the sea on an augite porphyry terrace enclosed by an amphitheatre of hills, its climate is one of the severest in Caucasia, while its flag-paved streets, stone houses, fortified buildings, towers, and posterns give it the • Fig. 63.— Baku and Cafh Bail-Buhni. aspect of a mediaeval European town. T^ Vrmeuian traders, who deal chiefly in silk, have extensive relations with Tiflis, Moscow, and Marseilles. Telav, capital of Kakhetia, and in the eleventh century the residence of a " King of Kings," is now merely a picturesque village, standing with its ruined forts on the summit of a blu£E overlooking the Alazau valley. Yet it has a considerable wino trade, and but for its inconvenient situation might possibly recover some of its former importance. Signakh, also commanding the Alazan valley from an eminence ■s^ssss^^^ -**- TOPOGBAPHY. 120 , while the trade f Annenians and terrace enclosed aucaaia, while its stems give it the J_-r! >Ko*: iio deal chiefly in dence of a " King (lined forts on the considerahle wino some of its former om an eminence Fig. 64.— Lbnkoran. Fram th« Map of the Bunian Staff. Scale 1 : 600^000. 2,600 feet high, was originally a fortress and " place of refuge," as indicated by its Tatar name, but has gradually become a thriving commercial town, with a prepon- derating Armenian population. Nukha, at the foot of the Great Caucasus, is peopled chiefly by Tatars engaged mostly in sericulture and silk-weaving. Here the Khan Hussein built a strong fortress in 1765, which encloses an extremely handsome palace in Persian style. It does a large export trade in raw silk, and since the ravages of the silk disease in the European nurseries it is yearly visited by hundreds of French and Italian buyers. Shamakhi, the Shemakha of the Russians, capital of the old province of Shirvan, and formerly the largest city in Transcaucasia, was said to have had a population of 100,000 in the seventeenth century. But it has suffered much from earthquakes, and still more from the hand of man, having been wasted first by Peter the Great, and then by Nadir Shah. Yet ever since the removal of the seat of Government to Baku it has remained the most popidous place in the province. It is chiefly engaged in wool- spinning, dyeing, and weaving carpets in the Persian style, said to be the best and most durable in all Asia, and surpassing even those of the French looms in beauty of design, rich- ness of colour, and cheapness. Its seedless pomegranates are also famous throughout the East. Baku, the present capital of the eastern province of Transcaucasia, exhibits quite an Asiatic appearance, with its low flat-roofed houses, taU minarets and palace of its former khans. Close to the blue waters of its bay stands the so-called " Maiden's Tower," a truncated cone, originally, doubtless, a watch- tower, but now used as a lighthouse. But being otherwise destitute of monuments, the dirty, irregular, and dusty town of Baku, and centre of the naphtha trade, possesses no impoirtance except as the Caspian seaport of all Transcaucasia. In its deep and sheltered roadstead at least fifty vessels are always anchored, some in 20 feet of water within a few yards of the shore, and although still unconnected by rail either with Stavropol or Tiflis, it has the largest trade of any Caspian port except Astrakhan. But it has scarcely any industries, and even all the naphtha and ,iaiu)M. ! nnii-'i lillniiliiii IMMM ■WMMMMaamv-:; ■ rtl I im Mta t\t^i"Mt!^mk< L ' .U.v.lbJ^-f <*'«.>^£;uu^,1. 180 ASIATIC BUSSIA. petroleum refining works are carried on at Balakhani and Maslitagi, in the neighbourhood of the " fire springs." 8alyani, or Salyan, the chief town of the Exira delta, and standing near its apex, derives considerable importance from its productive fisheries and horticulture. Lenkoran, or Lenkorud, a maritime town near the Persian frontier, lacks the natural advantages of Baku ; for although its Tatar name means " roadstead," it is greatly exposed to the winds and surf, and its shipping is obliged to oast anchor about 2 miles from the coast. The Mard-ab, or " Dead Waters," of the surround- ing district also render its climate very unhealthy. In these swampy g^'ounds multitudes of ducks and other aquatic birds are taken by the net, and the cultiva- tion of rice, together with a rich Indian flora, has been introduced by the Hindu traders. South of Lenkoran stands the equally inconvenient and insalubrious little port of Astara, at the mouth of a river of like name, which here marks the frontier of the Russian and Persian Empires. From Persia, Astara imports dried fruits, gall nuts, and raw cotton, in exchange for cotton stuffs, iron and copper ware, and samovars. It has a yearly trade of nearly 1,000,000 roubles. VII.— RUSSIAN ARMENIA. ARARAT, ALAQOZ, PLATEAU OF LAKE OOK-GHAI, AKD ABAXIH BAS Thk Araxis basin presents on the whole a marked geographioal unity, forming, north of the Iranian tableland, a broad semicircular zone, with its convex mia facing southwards, and everjrwhere enclosed by lofty mountains, except near the Caspian, where the hills fall towards the alluvial plains of the Euia and Araxis. Neither of these rivers forms a uniform ethnological domain, for Armenians, Georgians, and Tatars dwell on the banks of the former, while the Araxis valley is occupied by Armenians, Kurds, and other Tatar peoples. Still the Armenians everywhere preponderate not only in culture and influence, but aLso in numbers. Politically also the Araxis- basin is divided between the tiiree u>nverg^g states, the region of all the head-Btreams belonging to Turkey, and most ci the right bonk of the main stream to Persia, while more than half of the whole basin, indudihg the best strategical points for a descent on the Euphrates valley, ore now Riueian territory. Russia is thus mistress of the famous Mount Ararat, and of the con- vent of Echmiadzin, the religious capital of the Armenians, and centre of their nationality. Oroobapht — ^Ararat — ^Ala-ooz. North of the sources of the Araxis the mountains sloping northwards towards the Euxine are cut up by ittvines and glens into irregular chains and spurs, such as the Kirechli, Soghanli, and Childir-dagh, which, north of the Ears basin, merge in the lacustrine plateau bordered eastwards by the Abul and Samsar volcanoes. Although presenting serious obstacles to intercommunication, none of these ranges ■*»- OBOOEAPHY— ABAEAT— ALA-OOZ. 181 lashtagi, in tho rtanding near its and horticulture, ontier, lacks the roadstead," it is ed to cast anchor of the surround- swampy g^'ounds and the cultiva- led by the Hindu ubriouB little port 'ks the frontier of dried fruits, gall copper ware, and LXI8 BAS al unity, forming, h its conrex aide is, except near the Eura and Araxis. 1, lor Armenians, ) the Araxis valley ill tlie Armenians t also in numbers, converging states, I; of the right bank le basin, including r, are now Russian ,t, and of tiie oon- id centre of their Dithwards towards and spurs, such as irs basin, merge in Samsar volcanoes. >ne of these ranges attain the altitude of the Caucasus and Anti-Caucasus, tho highest summit being the Eizil-dagh, or " Red Mountain," between the Ears basin and Lake Childir, which is only 10,460 feet, and consequently below the normal snow-line. South of the region of the Araxis head-streams the highlands become narrower, but more elevated, here forming a single parting range running east and west between the Araxis and Euphrates or Murad valleys, with several extinct craters over 10,000 feet high, and culminating with the Ferli-dagh in the centre, and the Chingil, ¥itf. b(.— Bbcint RrwiAif CoxauiiiTS. 1 : 8,000,000. OadMbytbetiMtr ofSt. Stefeao. Anaavd inisrs. TnuBMuoMia before tlMWar. 60 near the eastern pass leading from Erivan to Bayazid, both about 10,830 feet above the sea. Several streamlets flowing to the Araxis indicate, by their name of Tuzla-su, the nature of their waters, which spring from extensive salt beds. North of the Perli-dagh stands Mount Eulpi, one of the largest masses of rock-salt in the world, rising on a tertiary plain near the point where the Araxis passes through a narrow basalt gorge above its junction with the Arpa-chai. The surrounding hills, destitute of vegetation, and composed of red, blue, green, or grey marls, impart to ::t; m mftw" J 188 ASIATIC RU88U. tho landHcapo a most motley appearance. The Eulpi salt mines, which are confined to a central layer from 100 to 210 feet thick, have probably been longer worked than any other out of China. The Armenians tell us how Noah drew his supplies from this source, and even show the very spot where he began his mining operations. In the abandoned parts of the works hammers and other implements are frequently picked up, dating from the stone age. These objects are all made of diorite, a rock found nowhere in the district, and which must have been procured from distant countries. The mining operations are still carried on in a rude manner, and owing to the absence of roods, the produce is limited to the Tiflis and Fig. 66.— AiUBAT. nom the Map of UmBdmUb Staff. Sod* 1 : 8«M)00. H^:*^ ■/' r^. ?■ -.V ■,/ 44» lO'- Erivan markets. Between 1836 and 1876 the average yield has risen from 4,000 to 16,300 tons. Ararat, " historical centre of the Armenian plateau," and central point of the line of tablelands stretching across the eastern hemispheres from the Cape of Good Hope to Bering Strait, rises above the eastern continuation of the volcanic chain nmning between the Araxis and the Euphrates. ' But its snowy crest towers to such a height above the surrounding mountains that they become dwarfed to mere hills, while the hilly plateaux seem to stretch like plains at its base. Its very name of Ararat, probably of Aramaean origin, is synonymous with ^upereminence, while its Armenian designation, Masis, is also said to mean " grand," or " sublime." &:'SSSWS?S r""::mimimsm OBOOEAPHY— ABAEAT— ALA-OOZ. IW lines, which arc lubly been longer «r Noah drew his }cgan his mining ather implements octs are all made ive been procured Eld on in a rude I to the Tiflis and The Turks call it Agri-dagh, or " Steep Mountain," and the Persians Koh-i-Nuh, or "Noah's Mount." This superb muss, gronder than the Hellenic Olympusc-s, naturally became a sacred object to the peoples of the plains, the mysterious summit whence men and animals descended to people the world. The Armenians show the very spot where Noah's ark grounded, ond where it is still guarded by genii armed with flaming swords.* Viewed from Nakhichevan, Ararat looks like a compact conic moss rising on the north-west horizon ; but from Bayazid on the south, and Erivan on the north, it is seen to consist of two distinct mountains disposed in the direction of the Coucosus— Great Ararat, with a double peak in the north-west ; Little Ararat, with a rounded crest in the south-east, and with a deep intervening depression. Both Fig. 67. — ^HovMT Ababat. WM EeFG. I risen from 4,000 mtral point of the the Cape of Good the volcanic chain wy crest towers to le dwarfed to mere its base. Its very ith iBupereminenoe, id," or " sublime." masses, with their (»unterforts, occupy an area of about 380 square miles between the plains of Bayazid and Erivon. Like those of Etna, their slopes ore almost everywhere gently inclined, although the ascent is -rendered very difficult lower down by occasional lava streams, and higher up by the snows, nearly always softened under the solar raye in summer. The Armenians speak of the prodigies by which too daring shepherds hove ever been prevented from scaling the " Mother of the World," and the failures of Toumefort and Morier lent a colour to their statements. When Parrot at last scaled the highest crest in 1829, they unani- * Elevniioiu of the Irazia and neighbouring plaina Feet, Great Ararat Little Ararat Intermediate Col 16,760 11,080 8,78d Bayazid (citadel) Echmiadzin . Krivan . 6,634 2,810 3,200 ^mimmseKsiim jgateiaBCMi'iga.wffj' v' . w . t i ^f 'iji W 'fri hwaw iif j i w i ^ ii j itJ' ii 'ff^-'.^ ;^JT.«r>'»«',a»fjf."f." »ami^mmmim 184 ASIATIC BUSSIA. mouHly (lonicd the truth of hiA account, and for a long time micceeded in casting ii doubt on hlH veracity, until the exploit was repeated by other adventurers. In 1860 Khodzko pawed five whole days on the auinmit in order tx) prosecute his work of triangultttion in Caucasia. He passed thence south-east to Mount Halivan, 204 miles off, and north- west to Mount Elbruz, distant 264 miles, corresponding by means of heliotropic signals with the astronomers stationed on Mount Akh-dagh, in the centre of the Qok-chai plateau. At an elevation of 11,600 feet, Ararat is still everywhere clothed with vegeta- tion ; but herbage ceases at 12,600 feet, while nothing occurs except on Alpine flora between 13,200 and 14,300, which marks the line of perpetual snow. The species of the Upper Ararat are all either identical with, or allied to, those of the Alps, but they are much less numerous, a fact doubtless due to the greater dryness of the atmosphere on the Armenian mountain. Its fauna also is comparatively very poor. The wolf, hyena, and perhaps the panther, haunt the thickets at its base about the Araxis ; but higher up nothing is met except an ibex, a polecat, and a species of hare. Although only 3° of latitude farther south than the Pyrenees, the lower slopes are free of snow much earlier, and the snow-line itself is about a mile lower down than on the Iberian range. StiU the snow reaches much further down in the ravines of erosion by which its flanks are furrowed. In several gorges these snows become true glaciers, of which the chief is that of St. James, whose cirque has undoubtedly been formed by a former eruptioa analogous to that of the Yal del Bove on Mongibello. In more remote times the glaciers reached much lower, as shown by the scored and polished surface of the traohite rooks. Notwithstanding the vast quantity of snow lying on its slopes, Ararat is almost entirely destitute of water. Wagner failed to discover anything beyond two cprings at its base, from which mere rills trickle away amongst the stones. Hence its sides remain arid and parched, while the neighbouring mountains, also of volcanic origin, discharge torrents numerous enough to form vast and deep lakes at their feet. During dry seasons Ararat becomes altogether uninhabitable, the want of shade and moisture driving away the flocks, and even the Inrds of the air. It is therefore probable that the water from the melting snows disappears in crevasses, or beneath the ashes and lavas, either collecting in underground lakes, or forming a network of hidden streams. These waters, transformed to steam by the subterraneous fires, may perhaps explain the terrible eruption of 1840, when an old crater above the convent of St. James suddenly reopened, ejecting a dense vapour far above the smnmit of Ararat, and diffusing sulphurous exhalations round about. The mountain groaned threateningly, casting up from the fissure vast quantities of stones and rocks, some weighing as much as 5 tons. Jets of steam escaped through niunerous crevasses, and springs of hot water bubbled up from the bed of the Araxis. The convent itself disappeared beneath the debris, together with the rich and populous village of Arguri, supposed by the Armenians to be the oldest in the world, and to mark the spot where Noah planted the vine on leaving the ark. There perished on this occasion, besides the 2,000 inhabitants OEOOBAl'HY— ARARAT-ALA-G6Z. IM sded in casting a idvonturen. In rosocuto his work Mount Halivan, jorreaponding by iint Akh-dagh, in bed with vegeta- xoept an Alpine tual snow. Tbo 1 to, those of the ) greater dryness is comparatively le thickets at its ex, a polecat, and snees, the lower lout a mile lower ther down in the >rgeB these snows (rhose cirque has it of the Yal del 1 much lower, as Ararat is almost ing beyond two e stones. Hence ountains, also of t and deep lakes ininhabitable, the ) Inrds of the air. WB disappears in idergrbund lakes, med to steam by m of 1840, when , ejecting a dense trous exhalations I from the fissure 5 tons. Jets of r bubbled up from e debris, together Armenians to be ated the vine on 2,000 inhabitants of Arguri, several thousands at Envan, Nakhichevan, ond Hoyajsid, victims of the (•(irthquako felt at those places. Four days afterwords a fresh disaHtcr doHtroyMl nouriy all the land under oultivotion about Arguri. Tht' wiiter und slush, collected in the crat«r portly from the mdfing snows, burst their Iwrriers, overflowing in long streams of mud down the sIojkjs, and converting the plain into a vast morass. The Arguri eruption is the only one mentioned in historic times, though Ararat Fig. 68.— Ala-ooi. Um Map of Um BuMlMt Staff. Soalt 1 : 800,000. .SMUm. has been the scene of frequent and violent earthquakes. The statement of Reineggs that he saw flames and smoke emitted from the s'lmmit in 1785 is more than doubtful, for the phenomenon was witnessed by none of the natives. The Allah-ghoz, or rather Alo-gdz ("Motley Mountain"), faces Ararat from the opposite side of the Erivan plain. It is a volcanic mass, with a truncated cone 13,900 feet high, but with its counterforts occupying a wider area than its ■iSgjSaWMS3»ii:i- iw ii i iHL.iiL ■>_.» ' . t Mi i .[.| w*> « <»^ i tt £=3Bbi 186 ASIATIC HUH8U. hnuffhty rival, lin Invn utrpaniii dencond iiouth and «wt towanln the Araxin vulU'V — wont iind north towardN AU»Xiindra|K)l, in th«) Ari>u-«hai IwiHin. It takes itH name from tho divorHo coloiirR of ita Hcoriiu, pumico, and <•*»' ' ini.v, vun'oti hero and then' with horlMigo and bright flowers. Throo of tho o' i . . orH now form r a many Hniall lakes, although but fow streams roach tho plains, ' ' m > un^ waters gone- Fig. 00.— Lake Oox-chai. Trom th« Hap uf tlw llumian Staff. Soal* I I I.OOO.nnn 44050 4a'so Z oCG 18 rally disappearing beneath the scorisB, and feeding tlie Aiger-gol, a lake lying south of the mountain, and draining through the Eara-su to the Araxis. Lake Gok-chai — ^The Earabaoh — Flora and Fauna, Isolated like Ararat, the Ala-goz is connected only by low ridges with the northern highlands. These run parallel with the Caucasus, and connect the volcanic chain of the Akhalkalaki plateau with the mountains overlooking Lake LAKE nOK-rnAI— THE KARAHAOH— PT.ORA AND FAUNA. 187 anlH the AnixiN iNin. It tnkcs itn , vuHcd here und )W form f A inuiiy itiif^ wulufM gvnu- 50 C oCG gol, a lake lying iraxis. LUNA, f ridges with the and connect the overlooking Lake (!ok-«hui, euHt of Krivun. Theno inountuinH — Hoiiikhi-t, I*nnih(ik, and otherH from H.OOO to 10,000 feet high — Htuiul on iiuch an elevutwl pluteiiu that the rulgv \h camily Hurniuunted hy {iummw upprouehiHl by lony; iiiul ^i ni\y Nloping indineN. The KHhek-Muidun I'umh, on the trade route lM