1 88 OXU&
2 die north, aa Hindoo Coosh does on the souIJl . I know little of the
3 extent or direction of these beanches, but one of them seems to
4 stretch westerly to n^r Samarcand. These are the principal ranges
5 of mountainf? north of Hindoo Coosh ; hid a fow words are required
6 respecting the rivers and coimtries between that rapge, ilfeioot Xaugh,
7 and tlie Caspian sea.
8 I have already mentioned the source of the Jaxartes. It holds ft
9 course to the north oi west, till it falls into the Lake of Arul.
10 The Oxus rises in a glacier near Pooshtee Khur, a loftv peak oi'
11 Beloot Taugh, in the most northerly part ot iiudukhshuun. Its ge-
12 neral course is west as liir tui the sixty-tliird degree of longitude, from
13 whence it pursues a north-westerly course, through a desai^, to the
14 lake of And. The rough oountry about the sounse of. the Jaxartes*
15 is udbabited by waadeihig Kirghizzes s but, from the fdeoe ivbere h
16 kftvee the hOls to longitiide 66* or 67^* east* both banks are oecn|iied
17 by the tlriiek kingdom of Ferghauiwy called also KcJawm from Ihe
18 lesideBoe of die sovereign. To the west of longitude W easti llie
19 northem batik is inhalnted) fint by JQighiises» and than by Eusf'
20 aanksy both rude ^nd pastoral nations. On the sonthem bank^ ta
21 the ivest of longitude 66" east, is a desatt, wliich extends m a soutli-
22 ^pesterly direction to the inhabited couhtiy of Kkoiassaun. Its
23 breadlli varies, but in latitude 40 it is seven days journey broad, and
24 it there separates the Uabek kingdoms of Orgunge and Bokhaura ;
25 the first of which lies on the Caspian, and the other between the
26 Oxus, the desart, and the mountainous countries under Beloot Taugh.
27 The character of these kingdoms, or at least of Bokhaura, is that of
28 desart, enclosing oases of various size and fertility. All the country •
29 west of Bf'loot Tan»h, and north of the Oxus. is railed Toorkistaun,
30 a term which m;»v be extended to the east oi Ht loot Taugh, as far as
31 there is reason to think the f urkish language is spoken ; but when I
32 have occasion to speak of that division, I shall call it Chinese Toor-
33 kistaun, and the oilier Toorkistaun alone. The name of Tartary is
34 unlmown in those regions. There remains a tract, bebweea the Oxm»
35 Digitized by Google