With Persia the trade is inconsiderable. The shawls of Kerman form the principal article of import. Silk, cotton and wool are exported. The wool of Turkestan is sent across the mountains to Cabul and the Punjab, where it is made into a coarse kind of shawl. It is procured from the Kazaks, and wandering tribes about Bokhara, who were long ignorant of its value, and still use it for the common ropes for their horses and cattle. The lamb-skins of Bokhara are celebrated in the East, and are exported to Persia, Turkey, and China. There is, however, great difficulty in transporting merchandize, owing to the unsettled state of the roads, which are infested with wandering Turcoman robbers; and the hatred which subsists between these and the peaceful population, being fostered by different religions, adds to the difficulty. The merchants purchase their goods for ready money, being afraid to risk a commercial investment across the deserts.

Turkestan has never been all subjected to the same sovereign. It may be considered as divided naturally into, 1. The "Steppe of Kirghiz," which occupies the northern part; 2. "Mawar-ul-nahar," i. e. between the rivers Amoo and Sir; 3. The "Hill Countries," along the southern and eastern borders. It is divided politically into a great number of independent states, which differ widely in extent, population, and importance; but the dominant, or at least the preponderating native powers, are the Khanates of Bokhara, Khiva, Khokand, &c.

THE KINGDOM OF BOKHARA.

BOKHARA is an isolated kingdom of small extent in the midst of the desert. It is an open champaign country of unequal fertility. In the vicinity of its few rivers the soils are rich, but beyond them they are barren and unproductive. It lies chiefly to the north of the Amoo, but to the south-east it crosses the river and holds a supremacy over Balkh and the Khanates of Andkho and Maimuna. Its length along the Amoo is 240 miles. From Balkh to Bokhara the distance is 260 miles of nearly an entire waste. The population is estimated at 1,000,000.

The climate is salubrious and pleasant, being dry, and in winter very cold, as is usual in sandy countries. There is a constant serenity in the atmosphere, and the sky is of a bright azure blue generally without a cloud. At night the stars have an unusual lustre, and there is also a never-ceasing display of the most brilliant meteors. In winter the snow lies at Bokhara three or four months, and the spring rains are often heavy. At Balkh the heat is oppressive and the climate very unhealthy.

BOKHARA, the capital, is a place of great celebrity, tradition assigning its foundation to the age of Alexander the Great. It lies embosomed among gardens and trees, and cannot be seen from a distance. Its shape is triangular, exceeding eight miles in circuit, surrounded by a wall of earth about 20 feet high and pierced with 12 gates. Few great buildings are to be seen from the outside; but internally lofty arched bazaars, and ponderous and massive buildings, colleges, mosques and minarets, everywhere meet the eye. The city contains about 20 caravansaries and 100 ponds and wells, and is intersected by canals shaded by mulberry trees. It contains several large mosques, and not less than 366 madresses or colleges a third

part of which are large buildings, and contain upwards of 70 or 80 students. The students are supported by a public allowance, and are entirely occupied with theology, which has here superseded all other subjects. They are quite ignorant of the history of their own country; and a more perfect set of drones, says Byrnes, were never assembled together. Population, 150,000. SAMARCAND, the Maricanda of the Greeks, 120 miles east of Bokhara, is as ancient as the era of Alexander. It was the capital of Timour, and is still regarded with veneration by the people, and though now containing only 8,000 inhabitants, its splendid ruins of mosques and temples attest its former grandeur. The tombs of Timour and his family still remain; and the ashes of the conqueror rest beneath a lofty dome, the walls of which are beautifully ornamented with agate.

KURSHEE, 140 miles south-east of Bokhara, is a straggling town of a mile in length, with a considerable bazaar and about 10,000 inhabitants. To the north-east, 50 miles, is Shuhr-Subz, the birthplace of Timour and the seat of a Khan. Balkh, 266 miles S. S. E. of Bokhara, is one of the most ancient cities of the world. It is the ancient Bactra, said to have been built by Kyamoors or Cyrus, the founder of the Persian monarchy; and was in later times the capital of a Grecian kingdom, which was founded by the successors of Alexander. It was also the birthplace of Zoroaster and the seat of the patriarch of the Magian hierarchy. Its present population does not amount to 2,000. The ruins extend for a circuit of 20 miles; fallen mosques and decayed tombs demark its ancient magnificence. A stone of white marble is still shown in the citadel, which is said to have been the throne of Cyrus.

The above are the only towns in the country; there are some large villages and about 400 small ones. The villages are fortified with mud walls, as are also the separate farms in the cultivated portions of the country.

These states are situated east of Bokhara. KHUNDUZ occupies a valley to the south of the Amoo, lying among low hills, which extend about 30 miles east and west, and about 40 from north to south. The climate is one of extremes, but the soil produces a great variety of crops, and the mulberry and other fruits flourish. The town of the same name has a population of about 1,500 inhabitants. BADAKSHAN is situated to the east of Khûndûz, to whose meer or chief it is now subject. This celebrated country is now almost without inhabitants; it was lately overrun by the chief of Khûndûz; its ruler was dethroned, the peasantry driven out of the country, and a rabble of lawless soldiers quartered in its provinces. The natives are Taujiks, and their language the Persian. Badakshan has acquired great note for its ruby mines, and the lapis lazuli is often found. Of its capital, Fyzabad, once so celebrated throughout the East, scarcely a vestige is left. To the north of Khûndûz and Badakshan, and beyond the Amoo, are the small hilly states of HIZAR, KOOLAB, DURWAZ, SHOOGNAN and WUKHAN; the whole of which are mountainous. Hisar is finely watered, and is a rice country; its capital of the same name stands on a rising ground 260 miles E. S. E. of Bokhara. These states are independent, and ruled by their own chiefs. The whole population is Mahomedan.

KHOKAND, KOKAN OR FERGHANAH.

THIS Country lies north-east of Bokhara. It occupies the upper vallies of the Sir and its affluents, and is a much smaller territory than Bokhara. It is ruled by an Usbeck Khan, who claims to be of the same lineage with Baber, the founder of the Mogul dynasty. The country is celebrated for its silk and cotton goods. The Kokanese wear skull caps instead of turbans. The Khan keeps up an intercourse with Russia and Constantinople. KOKAN, on the Sir, a town about half the size of Bokhara, is the capital. The ancient capital is MARGHILAN, still a large and fine city. INDEJAN is also a town of considerable note. TASHKEND, an ancient and flourishing city, 86 miles N. N. W. of Kokan, is described by the Siberian merchants who visit it as a large town of 80,000 inhabitants. TURKESTAN, OCH, KHOJEND, &c., are also noted places. Och, at the foot of the Tukht-iSuleiman, is frequented by numerous pilgrims, who come to pay their devotions to a small square building at the top of the mountain. Tradition says that Solomon sacrificed a camel on this spot, where the blood is still shown on a stone that is quite red. It is, however, much frequented by people suffering from rheumatism or other acute diseases, who are said to be cured by stretching themselves on a flat stone near the building'

KHIVA, called by the natives ORGUNJE.

THE Khanate of Khiva lies about 200 miles W. of Bokhara. It is a small but fertile territory, occupying the delta of the Amoo, and surrounded by deserts. The inhabited part is about 200 miles long by about one-half as much from east to west. It claims the dominion of the deserts which border the Caspian, and has of late years established its supremacy over the Turcoman borders south of the Amoo, and holds Merve, which lies on the high road between Khorassan and Bokhara. It is the ancient Kharism, and is mentioned by Arrian under the name of the country of the Chorasmii. Khiva contains only two places of note, New Orgunje and Khiva, the former of which is the commercial capital, and the latter the residence of the Khan NEW ORGUNJE stands on a canal derived from the Amoo, about six miles from the river, and has a population of about 12,000. KHIVA is a modern town, about half the size, situated also on a canal about 60 miles south-west of Orgunje, and is the greatest slave market in Turkestan.

The COUNTRY OF THE KARA-KALPAKS, lying along the Sir, whose inhabitants are nomadic in summer and stationary in winter, is subject to Khiva, but contains no place of any importance. The people of Khiva make forays into Persia, seize Russian subjects on the Caspian, and supply Bokhara and Turkestan with slaves, and are said to possess about 2,000 Russian slaves themselves. But while they are thus robbing in every direction, they grant protection to caravans on payment of fixed duties. The Russians, in the winter of 1839-40, attempted to march an army of 20,000 men into Khiva, but after suffering dreadfully from the effects of the cold, the armament was obliged to return to Orenburg; and instead of repeating the attempt, they have been content to enter into a treaty, one condition of which is, that the Khivans shall no more enslave Russian subjects.

TURKMANIA,

TURKMANIA, or Turkestan Proper, is the country lying north of the Amoo, stretching from Balkh to the Caspian, and occupying the space between the sea and the Aral. On the south it is bounded by hills; and on the southeastern shore of the Caspian, where Turkmania adjoins Persia, the country is mountainous, and watered by the rivers Gûrgan and Attruck, which fall into that sea. In all other places it is a flat and sandy desert, scantily supplied with water. The country contains no towns or villages; for the Turcomans are an erratic tribe, who wander from one well to another with their herds and flocks, taking their conical khirgahs, or huts, with them. The Turcomans boast that they rest under the shade neither of king nor tree. They acknowledge the patriarchal sway of their aksakals (whitebeards) or elders, and now and then fall under the power of some neighboring

nations.

The life of a Turcoman is passed in the most reckless plunder of property and human beings; and a proverb among them boasts that a Turcoman on horseback knows neither father nor mother. They have fortunately no supreme ruler to guide and direct their united efforts, a circumstance which lessens their power, and the effects of their barbarity. They belong to the great family of the Tookee, or Tartar race, and differ from the Usbecks in being exclusively a nomadic people. They all claim a common lineage, though they are divided into different tribes. Their total number is reckoned at about 140,000 families. They have neither science nor literature; they are even without mosques, though not altogether without religion; they are a warlike people, and their domestic habits fit them for battle. Their food is simple, consisting of milk, and the flesh of their flocks and herds. They bestow great care on their horses, and exhibit the most patient solicitude in their breeding and food, so that their best qualities are fully developed. The Turcoman horse, however, is a large and bony animal, more remarkable for strength and power than for symmetry and beauty.

In the midst of Turkmania, between Bokhara and Persia, lies the once fertile LAND OF MERVE, the capital of which is said to have been built by Alexander. It long continued a dependency of the Persian Empire, and rose to be a great and opulent country. Such was its condition when it was conquered in 1787 by Shah Mûrad, of Bokhara, who destroyed its castle and canals, and forcibly marched the greater part of the people to Bokhara, where they still form a separate community. At a later period the remnant of the population was driven into Persia; and this beautiful district, which once presented so striking a contrast to the rest of the country, now partakes of the general sterility, while the Turkomans have usurped the place of its once fixed population. The fields on the verge of of the Mûrghab alone are cultivated, and here the Turkomans still rear the finest wheat, juwaree, and excellent melons.

ASIATIC RUSSIA.

ASIATIC RUSSIA is a vast tract of country extending from the eastern borders of European Russia to the Pacific Ocean, a distance of nearly 4,000 miles; and from the Arctic Ocean to the borders of the Chinese Empire, Turkestan, Persia, and Ottoman Asia, a breadth of about 2,000. In describing this country it may be naturally considered under the two heads of the "Caucasian Provinces" and Siberia."

I. THE CAUCASIAN PROVINCES.

Though the Caucasus has been assumed by modern geographers as the boundary between Europe and Asia, yet since the countries on both sides of the range form one physical region, and are included in one political government, we have found it necessary in this particular, to pass the limits of Asia and intrude on those of Europe. This country has a very irregular outline, and forms a sort of isthmus between the Black Sea and the Caspian. It is bounded on the north by the rivers Kouma, Manytsh, and Kougoi-leia; on the west by the Sea of Azov, the Strait of Yenikaleh, and the Black Sea; on the south by Turkish Armenia, the river Arras, and Persia, and on the east by the Caspian Sea. The area is estimated at about 200,000 square miles, and the population, including the mountain tribes, at 3,400,000.

The principal feature of the country is the celebrated mountain chain of Caucasus, which extends across it from near Anapa, on the Black Sea, to the Peninsula of Abcheron, on the Caspian, a distance of nearly 700 miles, with a breadth varying from 60 to 120 miles. The highest part of the chain lies to the east of Mount Elbûrz, 43° E. longitude, and contains numerous summits which rise above the snow line, but on the peninsula of Abcheron the chain sinks down to the appearance of moderate hills. Westward from Elbûrz the chain extends to the north-west, parallel to the shores of the Black Sea, at a distance of 20 or 30 miles, presenting in its eastern portion a series of granitic and porphyritic summits, flanked by shapeless masses of black schist, over which rises a wall of jurassic limestone to the height of 7,000 or 8,000 feet, (French,) cleft by deep ravines, through which the collected waters flow. Advancing from Colchis it is still separated from the sea by a uniform plain 7 or 8 leagues wide, which runs along its base for a space of 30 leagues, becoming gradually narrower as far as the height of Gagra, where the jurassic wall approaches the sea with its full elevation, leaving only a pass almost as narrow as the Grecian Thermopylae, which is a sandy flat, in some parts only 50 feet wide. Farther west the summits decline in elevation, and change their geological character the black schists and the jurassic limestone are gradually concealed beneath the waves of the Black Sea, or under vast beds of a chalk formation, which here terminates the Caucasus. There are no longer peaks white with snow, but in their stead low, round, wooded hills are found ranging along a deep sea-coast, cut into a multitude of narrow lateral valleys, which are watered by unnavigable streams. The sea itself is bordered by a long series of white or grey shelving rocks, which are lashed by the waves.

Towards the banks of the Kouban the mountain valleys open into a plain, a considerable part of which is covered with forests, while the acclivities