Page:England & Russia in Central Asia,Vol-I.djvu/148

128 To Balkh there is a greater number of roads. Roads from Kerkhi, Khoja Salih, Kilif, and Chuclika are all available, and present no inordinate difficulties. That from Kerkhi to Andkhoi is, perhaps, the most difficult, passing through the country of the Alieli Turcomans. The distance from Kerkhi to Andkhoi is one hundred and ten miles, and, so far as is ascertamed, water is procurable only at the Zeyyid wells, about half way. The great value of Kerkhi is that it is the highest point to which the Aral flotilla has been able to ascend, but now that a Russian war-vessel is reported to have got as far as Khoja Salih it loses its special claims to be considered the best base for operations beyond. Khoja Salih can be reached from Karshi either by the Kerkhi road or the Kilif. Its ferry is one of the most used along the Oxus, and it is the extreme point of Afghan authority in a north-westerly direction. The Cossacks who have recently been travelling so repeatedly between Samarcand and Cabul have always used this ferry, and it was by it that the Stoletoff mission reached its destination. From Khoja Salih to Balkh there is a good road, with water procurable in abundance at at least five places, which is everything that could be desired, when we remember that the distance is only one hundred miles.

The road from Kilif is still shorter, being only fifty-five miles, and there is water in abundance on this road also. If the Russians have discovered a road from Shirabad to Kilif this is undoubtedly the way by which they will advance on Balkh, for the Gusar-Derbend- Shirabad road is superior in many respects to those