THE RUSSIANS IN CENTRAL ASIA.

CHAPTER I.

RUSSIAN EXPLORATIONS IN CENTRAL ASIA.

ALMOST in every stage of history we perceive knowledge and science gloriously following the triumphant course of conquest. And if any branch of science may be said to cling to the banners of victorious columns, it is that of geography and ethnology, which forms the foundation of the wide-spread intercourse and the commercial development of the present age. In nature, as in the life. of nations, all things constantly stand in mutual relation to each other; cause produces effect. From death springs forth life, as life subsides in death. War-that deplorable evil, which banishes commerce and interrupts all intercourse, and which modern opinion cannot but shun and abhor as the source of all disasters-has not unfrequently influenced mankind, both morally and materially, by opening out new territories hitherto impenetrable, and by pointing out to nations a new path to wealth and prosperity. That which is now taking place in remote

1 Concerning the material advantages of war, vide Die wissenschaftlichen Errungenschaften des Krieges (Ausland, 1873, Nos. 4 and 5).

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Asia is nothing but an exemplification of this fact, although it arrests so little the attention of unobservant Europe. In the train of the Russian warrior science strides forward with rapid pace, yet ceaselessly spying, observing, and minutely examining all that meets its onward course. That which only twenty years ago was a mystery shrouded in obscurity, doubtfully hinted at by the educated and cautiously mentioned by the learned, at this day stands bared to view and manifest to all. Now is the veil torn asunder, the barriers are thrown down, and whatever is still unexplored must in a few years reveal its hidden secrets to the Russian soldiery. Central Asia, with its steppes, deserts, and mountain ranges, the latter rearing their snow-capped and ice-girt summits to the skies, a land whence sprang forth not long since naught but dark traditions, will henceforth lie open to knowledge, commerce, and the civilisation of cultivated Europe.

Before we attempt a sketch of the countries that form the theatre of the Russian operations of war, and endeavour to elucidate them, it would, perhaps, be not uninteresting to throw some hasty glances over the undertakings pursued during the last few years in time of peace, especially as they have paved the way for Russia to acquire scientific knowledge of the states of Central Asia, and at the same time to prepare victory for her

arms.

An immense tract of country beyond the Caspian and Aral Seas stretches to the frontiers of China, which is commonly known as Middle or Central Asia, Tartary, Turkestán, Türkistán, Turán,' Turkmenia. There has long

1 Turán, in the Zend language Tûirja. The derivation of these names is not yet ascertained, although Burnouf (Yaçna, vol. i. pp. 427-430)

existed a great dearth of information regarding the geography of these countries, since none has been derived from other sources than the Chinese, and the scanty accounts that have been handed down to us by the few travellers in these far-distant lands.

The first European who set foot on this part of Asia was Giovanni de Plano Carpini, a Franciscan monk, who went forth in the year 1245 and remained sixteen months on his journey. It was he who first spread in Europe definite information respecting the Mongols, and made reports, though only from hearsay evidence, about China and the Prester John.1 In 1249 he was followed by Andreas de Lonjumel. Reliable information, however, first reached Europe through William van Ruysbroeck, or de Rubruquis, also a Franciscan monk, who, accompanied by Fra Bartolomeo di Cremona (1252 and 1253), journeyed from Acre across Central Asia until he reached Karakorum, then the residence of the Great Khán. To him we are indebted for the first account of kumiz, which is made. from the fermented milk of mares, and is the favourite beverage of the Mongols; also for a description of arak, a spirit distilled from rice, and for a minute description

has ingeniously mentioned the Bactrian satrapy, Turiua or Turiva, described by Strabo (lib. xi. p. 517, ed. Casaub.). Du Theil and Groskurd (the latter, part ii. p. 410) prefer the reading Tapyria. Vide Humboldt's Kosmos, vol. ii. p. 119. Derivation of Tûirja in Zend (Turuschka, Sanscrit) signifies 'quick,' 'speedy,' a characteristic of the nomad horsemen of the northern steppes. Consult further, as regards the word Turanian, Globus, vol. v. pp. 81-83.

1 Concerning Carpini, vide Peschel, Geschichte der Erdkunde, pp. 150, 203, 207; also the interesting article by Dora d'Istria, Russes et Mongols, les Ruricovitschs et Jean du Plan de Carpin,' in the Revue des deux Mondes of February 15, 1872, pp. 800-832.

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