Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 8.djvu/107

Rh away, but still covering an extent of twenty miles with its fragments, it is a fitting monument of the many empires to which it has belonged; for here the Greek, Persian, Arabian, Tartar, and Afghan, have successively ruled. Strange, therefore, have been the changes it has witnessed since the time that it was the Bactra of Alexander the Great! After halting for three days in this interesting compend of ancient and modern history, Burnes and Gerard entered the desert on the 14th of June, and, two days after, they reached the banks of the Oxus, that most important of Asiatic rivers, which bounded the conquests of Cyrus, and all but terminated those of Alexander. At that part which our travellers crossed, the river was about 800 yards wide, and twenty feet deep, where the transit was made in boats neither impelled by sail nor oar, but drawn by a couple of stout horses that swam across. Continuing their course, they reached on the 27th of June the city of Bokhara, the capital of the country of that name, a city whose remaining colleges still justify its ancient renown for learning and civilization, and the high encomiums which eastern poets heaped upon it. After waiting in the neighbourhood of the city of Kara-kool till the 16th of August, Burnes and Gerard resumed their journey in the company of a caravan consisting of 150 persons and 80 camels, the former travelling in very simple fashion, some on horses, some on asses, and several in panniers slung across the backs of camels. With this escort our travellers passed the great desert by Merve, and on the 17th of September reached the strong fortress of Koochan, where they parted, Gerard intending to proceed to Herat and Candahar, and afterwards return to Cabool. Burnes continued his journey in the company of 300 persons, chiefly Khoords, Persians, and Turcomans—three of the eleven races with which the province of Bokhara is peopled—until he had passed Boojnoord, when he continued his journey alone to the town of Astrabad. He then crossed an arm of the Caspian, and proceeded to Teheran, the modern capital of Persia, where he had the honour of being presented to the Shah. Such is a brief outline of one of the perilous and laborious journeys in which a chivalrous love of science enables the modern traveller to dare and endure the utmost that knight-errantry has recorded of its ancient votaries.

The object of this expedition having been successfully attained, Burnes was eager to return by the shortest and safest route to head-quarters, and report his proceedings. He therefore embarked at Bushire for Bombay, which he reached on the 18th of January, after a year's absence. The information he had gathered during this adventurous journey, and which he hastened to lay before the government, was so valuable in the statistical and geographical history of these countries with which India is so closely connected, that he received the especial thanks of the governor-general, and was honoured besides with the commission of carrying his own despatches to England. He accordingly set sail for London, where his services were so highly appreciated, that he not only met with the most flattering reception at the India House, but was honoured with the especial thanks of his sovereign. Fresh distinctions crowded upon him as soon as the results of his labours were known to the public. The narrative of his journey was immediately translated into French and German; he was elected a member of the Royal Asiatic Society, and of the Royal Geographical Society; and presented with the gold medal, and royal premium of fifty guineas, for "The Navigation of the Indus, and a Journey by Balkh and Bokhara across Central Asia." Nor were these acknowledgments of his services in behalf of science, literature, and humanity, confined to his own country; for,