Page:England & Russia in Central Asia,Vol-I.djvu/31

Rh to the Oxus fords. He found that the best road was the direct one by Derbend and Shirabad to Kilif, but that the mountain road through Guzar was more practicable than had been supposed. On that road Baisun may be said to be the half-way post to Kilif. In August M. Maieff set out upon a second journey in Hissar, and on this occasion his discoveries were more important than on the former. He accompanied M. Weinberg's mission to Bokhara as far as Karshi, but at that town he turned in a south-easterly direction to Guzar. He explored the road leading from Tengi Khoram to the thickly-populated district of Koris- tan, passing through Akbatch and the valley of the Kerchak river, the existence of which was previously unknown. Another road, leading from Koristan east- wards through the Tengi pass to Shirabad, was found to be passable at all times, and constantly used by the inhabitants. From Shirabad the traveller turned in a north-easterly direction, crossing the Surkhan near Kakaity, and proceeded along the river to Regar and Sarijui. He then by a circular route reached Shahr-i- sebz, passing through the kishlaks of Sengri-dagh, Batch, Tashkurgan, and Yakobak. During this ex- ploratory tour he acquired an immense amount of geographical and political information, that is stored away in the archives of Tashkent. It speaks well, however, for Russian influence that a traveller should have been able to pass in safety through that wild and semi-independent country which lies between Karabagh and Shahr-i-sebz. With regard to this journey the following information as to the southern parts of the