Page:The Boy Travellers in the Russian Empire.djvu/466

460 "Quite likely you have," said Mr. Ivanovich, "as there is little doubt that such was the case. The old bed of the Oxus can be distinctly traced, and geographers are generally agreed that the river entered the Caspian by three mouths. Ptolemy and Strabo both state distinctly that in their time the Oxus flowed into the Caspian, and formed the principal trade-route between Europe and Asia."

"How came it to change its course?"

"Much of the region traversed by the Oxus is a desert, and the only agriculture possible there is by irrigation. In order to increase the area

under cultivation, the Turcomans built dams that turned the Oxus in the direction of a vast plain which contains the Aral Sea. Since the occupation of the country by the Russians, it has been proposed to return the Oxus to its ancient bed, and bring it down to the Caspian. It is not likely that this will be done, as the result would be that the whole lower