OXUS, the Jihun of the Arabs, and .Amu, Ab i-ma, of the Persians. North-east of Bokhara is a lofty •range of mountains which runs east wards to the borders of the Khanate of Rho kand, where it converges at right angles to the Bolor or Belur Tagh. This is called the Ak-Dagh, or white mountains, and seems to mark the northern boundary of the high land of Pamir, nit the west side of which the Oxus takes its rise. It collects all the drainage of the Great Pamir, through two main head-streams, the Panja or southern rising in Lake Victoria (13,900 feet), discovered in 1838 by Wood ; the Ak-Su (Murgh ah) or northern, flowing apparently from Lake Barkal Yasin (13,100 feet), and receiving the outflow of Lake Kara-Kul above the junction. The united stream flows westwards towards Balkh, front which it runs north-west to the south coast of the Aral Sea. Lieutenant Wood penetrated thither in mid-winter. On reaching a spot elevated 14,400 feet above the level of the sea, some of his escort refused to proceed farther ; upon which he pushed forward with the remainder, through deep new-fallen snow. As he neared the head-waters of the Oxus, the ice became weak and brittle. After quitting the surface of the river, he travelled about an hour along the right bank, and then ascended a low hill which ap parently bounded the valley to the east ; on surmounting this at 5 P.M. of the 19th February 1838, he stood on the Barn-i-Duniah, or ' Roof of the World,' while before him lay stretched a noble frozen sheet of water, from whose western extremity issued the infant Oxus. This fine lake lies in the form of a crescent, about 14 miles long from east to west by one mile in average breadth. On three sides it is bordered by swelling hills about 500 feet high, while along its south hank they rise into mountains 3500 feet above the lake, or 19,000 feet above sea-level, covered with perpetual snow, from which never-failing Source the lake is supplied. From observations made at the west end, he found the latitude to be 27' N., and long. 73° 40' E., and the
elevation, as deduced from the boiling point of water, 15,000 feet.
In the upper part of its course it is called the Wakkan, also Ab-i-Panj, the latter being from a belief that it is formed by the junction of five •treams. At the village of Isar, in lat. 37° 20', t an elevation of 10,000 feet, Lieutenant Wood ound two rivers joining, one of which he traced o Lake Sir-i-Kul, at an elevation of 15,000 feet, n the Pamir table-land. It then flows through Vakkan, encloses in an angle Badaklishan, , of which it forms the natural frontier, and passes ilongside the desert within 40 miles of the city )f Balkh. 80 miles below this Afghan outpost is 'hojah ferry. At Kunduz, 600 miles from Khiva, he navigability of the river is supposed to cease. air Alexander Burnes describes the channel as acing 'straight and singularly devoid of rocks, rapids, and whirlpools, and rarely impeded even )y sandbanks. The depth varies from 6 feet to .?0 feet, with an average current of 31 miles an lour.' In the spring the river is liable to be looded with the snows of the Hindu Kush, and n the winter the ice collects on the surface near he Aral sufficiently thick to permit of caravans :tossing over it. In its course through the desert 'rom Khulm to the frontiers of Khiva, the Amu 'ertilizes a narrow strip of country on either bank.
The fruitful oasis of Khiva, with its canals 50 eet broad, its rows of stately elms, its orchards ' of mulberry trees, apples, apricots, and cherries, and its lovely gardens, is 'Imply a slice of the desert irrigated by the Oxus. Settlement,' would in time grow alongside the stream if a check could only be placed on the predatory nonrades. What Central Asia might bo wafer a secure and peaceful rule, we have evidence in the ruins of 13alkh, 20 miles in circuit; in the remains of Merv, which once boasted of a million inhabitants ; in the walls of Samarcand, which in ancient days were manned by 100,000 men ; and in the 2000 villas which marked a suburb of the city of Bokhara.