Terekli, over the Kalmás mountain, the place Múzbill, the Akkúm and Chúbar-Túbia mountains, the southern point of the sandy desert Myin-Kúm, and the place Myín-Búlák to the confluence of the rivers Syry-Sú and Chú. 3. The new Government shall be divided into two provinces-one the SirDaria, the other Semiryechensk-and the river Kurogoty will form the boundary line between them. 4. The chief administrative power over the country thus constituted will be entrusted to a Governor-General, and the provinces of the Sír-Daria and the Semiryechensk to Military Governors; as regards the military administration and the military establishments, the two provinces shall form the military district of Turkestán, and the command of the whole of the troops stationed within the district shall be entrusted to the Governor-General, with the title "commander of the forces in the district," and the Military Governors shall command the troops in their own provinces, with the title "commander of the forces in their respective provinces." 5. On the establishment of the provinces of the Sír-Daria and the Semiryechensk, the civil authorities therein employed shall remain at the disposition and under the control of the respective Military Governors until general regulations for the guidance of the administration of the whole district shall be promulgated.' (Petermann's Geogr. Mittheilungen, 1868, No. iii. pp. 85-86, and Behm's Geogr. Jahrbuch, 1868, vol. ii. p. 51.) According to the Journal de St.-Pétersbourg of July 19 (31), 1867, the province of Sír-Daria was divided into eight, and that of Semiryechensk into five, districts; namely, in the former Kazalin, Perovski, Turkestán, Chemkend, Auliet, Táshkend, Khojend, and Djizzak, and in the latter province Sergiopol, Kopal, Vyernoe, Issikkúl, and Tokmák. (Behm's Geogr. Jahrbuch, 1868, vol. ii. p. 51.)

167

CHAPTER X.

THE MILITARY OPERATIONS AGAINST SAMARCAND.

WHEN Mozaffer perceived that no direct aid from England was to be expected, he made a fresh attempt at an alliance with the Sultan, and sent Mohammed Farissa to Constantinople to implore protection against Russia. This, however, proved fruitless; for the Sultan, as might be foreseen, rejected this appeal in the most decided manner. In face of the notoriously hostile demeanour of the Amír, Russia established a permanent camp not far distant from Samarcand, which was under the protection of a vessel carrying twenty-four guns. To this camp troops and numerous convoys of war materials were ordered. It was not long before there arose a new cause for hostilities. Some robbers in Bokhára took a Russian officer (Second Lieutenant Slushenko) and three soldiers prisoners. On the summons of the Russian authorities to deliver up the prisoners the Amír gave a very unsatisfactory and evasive reply, whereupon the Russian commander ordered the chastisement of the cantons in fault. Amír Mozaffer, on the other hand, began to raise numerous recruits and to prepare for war. 'General Kaufmann, on his part, determined to punish the village of Ummy, which was mixed up with this affair, and to entirely destroy this nest of robbers as a punishment upon the whole district. Colonel

Abramov, the commandant of the Djizzak detachment, seized the opportunity for the accomplishment of his plan when the tax-gatherers from Bokhára with 1,000 soldiers had appeared in the canton of Bagdán-Átá to collect the

taxes.

On October 12, 1867, he sent Major Baron von Stempel with two companies of infantry, two sotnias of Cossacks, and two field-pieces, to follow the robbers. At a distance of sixteen versts from Ummy, Stempel left his infantry and guns in position, and pushed forward with the Cossacks to the village. On his approach the villagers dispersed and fled into the mountains; the deserted village was set on fire and destroyed. Soon afterwards a revolt against the Russians broke out in Kokán; but it was put down with great loss to the insurgents. In the beginning of December 1867 Khiva, having concluded a treaty with the Turkomans, armed against the Russians, and constructed a fort on the frontier. In consequence of this, and also for the purpose of making a diversion, the Russians occupied, at the commencement of the year 1868, Chehardchúi,' the most important place on the

1 The Calcutta Despatch calls this town Charput, the most important place on the Lower Oxus. Now Charput, or Kharpout, is situated 37° E. longitude from Paris in the valley of the upper course of the Euphrates in Asia Minor. In no case can this place be meant; consequently it must be intended for Chehardchúi. But it is still very obscure; for how could the Russians on their march from Djizzak reach this place, which lies on the road from Bokhára to Mashad, without having first seized upon Samarcand and even Bokhára? They might indeed have advanced from Khiva up the river Amú, and thus have reached Chehardchúi. But, on the one hand, we are quite in the dark with regard to the position of the Russians in the Khanate of Khiva, and, on the other hand, if the Russians did actually reach Chehardchúi, they would have gone entirely round the position of the Amir of Bokhara, and could then at any moment have taken the city of Bokhára in the rear. In such a case the war would in all probability have

lower course of the Amú-Dariá; they seized at Urghendj, situated on the same river, the chief magistrate, who had shown himself refractory, and sent him as a prisoner to St. Petersburg.

Soon afterwards, through the mediation of the commandant of Fort Alexander, Atánúrat-a Turkoman Khán and a vassal of the Khán of Khiva-and twenty neighbouring Begs supplicated the Governor-General of Orenburg to grant them permission to be received as Russian subjects, in the same manner as all the Turkomans dwelling in the territory of Khiva; they also requested that a fort might be erected on the Balkan mountains close to the coast. While at that time many Turkomans were constantly leaving to settle on Russian soil, the relations with the Khán of Khiva became exceptionally favourable; for that circumstance had induced him to become excessively pliant.

Affairs in Bokhára wore quite a different aspect. It is true that, in the beginning of December 1867, an ambassador from Kokán, and soon afterwards one from Bokhára, arrived at Táshkend. In their presence there was a display of military manœuvres, on which occasion the throwing of a pontoon bridge and the storming of a position were represented; but none of these brought forth the slightest expression of astonishment on the impassive features of these reserved Asiatics. The Kokánese ambassador soon took his departure, accompanied by Lieutenant-Colonel von Schaufuss and Doctor Abiyev; and a commercial treaty' with Kokán was shortly after

taken quite a different turn from what it did, unless, indeed, the Russians had deliberately foregone the advantages they had obtained.

The Russian Correspondence gives the principal articles of this commercial treaty which was concluded with the Khán of Kokán; they are

wards, on February 13, 1868, actually brought to a conclusion. The ambassador from Bokhára, however, remained longer in Táshkend. Nevertheless they arrived at no definite arrangement, as the Amír, under various pretexts, declined to accept the conditions of peace proposed to him by General Kaufmann. But the unfortunate Lieutenant Slushenko and his three fellow-prisoners were released and sent back.

1

The provocations of the Bokharians did not end here ; on the contrary, they became more frequent, till at length they were of daily occurrence. At the same time the Russians, whilst endeavouring to obtain possession of the two routes to India, which traverse the difficult passes of Karákorum, to enter the valley of Shang-tshen-mu, and the following:-'All cities, towns, and places are, without exception, open to Russian merchants. The same rule applies to the Kokánese merchants as regards Russian markets. The Russian merchants are permitted to establish warehouses for their goods in every place throughout Kokán, and to appoint everywhere commercial agents to superintend commercial affairs and to collect the custom dues; similar rights are granted to the Kokánese merchants within the Russian Government of Turkestán. Russians and Kokánese are to pay for goods imported the same duty, namely, 2 per cent. ad valorem. Russian caravans are to pass free and unhindered through the khanate of Kokán on their way to the neighbouring countries; in like manner Kokánese caravans are permitted a free passage through the Russian territories.' Vide also Russia and the Central Asian Khanates (Allgemeine Zeitung, 1872, No. 325).

1 Concerning the fate of Sub-Lieutenant Slushenko the Bokharians give the following account :-He was placed in a ditch, in which a gibbet was erected. He was allowed the choice to turn Mussulman, and to take unto himself two Bokharian beauties as wives, or to remain Christian and As the threats took a very decided turn, the unfortunate Slushenko at length yielded. Now he is, if one can put faith in the Bokharian reports, circumcised, married, and a commandant of a battalion of Sarbázes, whom he drills in the 'manual exercise' and in the 'slow march,' as he assures them that these are the chief excellences of good troops. It is said that he beats them unmercifully, very probably to avenge the insults he has suffered at their hands. (The Riga Invalide, 1868.)