Page:England & Russia in Central Asia, Vol-2.djvu/16

4 the countries of the Upper Oxus, for the purpose of meeting the first mission into Eastern Turkestan at Kashgar, he had already rendered several valuable services to the cause of geographical research and to the Indian Government by journeys to Cabul and its northern dependencies. In September, 1865, he had travelled by the Abkhana pass route to Jellalabad and Cabul; and thence, via Bamian and Balkh, had gone on to Bokhara, Samarcand, and Tashkent. On his return journey he had explored Gusar, Shirabad, and the eastern parts of Karshi; and, crossing the Oxus, he had, after visiting Kundus and Badakshan, taken the route over the Khawak pass to Inderaub, Charikar, and Cabul. He arrived in India in Novem- ber, 1867, having been absent more than two years. Almost immediately after his return from this journey he visited Cabul again, and remained there for six months. In July, 1869, he repeated his first journey to Samarcand, apparently in consequence of the pohtical changes which had just taken place in Central Asia. He was back again in India in February, 1870, ready for fresh work. In the month of May he was deputed to undertake the task of which an interesting narrative will be found in the volume for 1872 of the "Journal of the Royal Geographical Society." The following is a summary of that narrative.

Faiz Baksh gives an interesting table of routes both in Afghan Turkestan and Bokhara; but it is neces- sary to test these in some details with those furnished by other authorities. The most interesting portion of his narrative is undoubtedly that describing Kundus