Afghanistan and India, the imports being valued at about 16 million roubles and the exports at 15 million roubles.1

The Amir, though educated in Russia, and practically a Russian Governor, was deposed in 1893, and interned in the Crimea, so that the Khanate is now in all but the name a Russian province.

The capital, BOKHARA, (75), lies within the fertile valley of the Zarafshan and is only a few miles from the Trans-Caspian Railway, which crosses the Amu into Bokhara at Charjui, and passes up the Zarafshan valley to Samarkand and Tashkend.

CAUCASIA.

This administrative division of the Russian Empire embraces the territory lying between the Black and the Caspian Seas, and is divided into two distinct divisions by the great chain of the Caucasus.

If we take the Caucasus range as being the boundary between Europe and Asia, Cis-Caucasia is within the limits of Europe, while Trans-Caucasia is in Asia. But these two divisions are physically and politically so intimately. connected that they must be regarded as forming one country.

BOUNDARIES: Caucasia is bounded on the north by European Russia, on the east by the Caspian Sea, on the south by Persia and Asiatic Turkey, and on the west by the Black Sea.

The northern boundary coincides with the deep depression of the Manich Steppe, the river flowing through which is the real parting-line between the continents, so that physically, as well as politically, the entire region of the Caucasus belongs not to Europe but to Asia. 2

The whole province has an area of 185,000 square miles, or three times that of England and Wales, of which Northern Caucasia or Cis-Caucasia contains 86,000 square miles, and Southern Caucasia or Trans-Caucasia 95,000 square miles.

NATURAL FEATURES: The greater part of the province is mountainous-the vast chain of the Caucasus extending right across it from the Black Sea to the shores of the Caspian.

The chain of the CAUCASUS rises above the snow-line, and its higher portions exceed 10,000 feet above the sea. Mount Elbruz, the highest point of the chain, has an elevation of 18,526 feet, which is a greater height than that of Mont Blanc. The only road practicable for carriages across the Caucasus attains, at the summit of the Dariel Pass, an elevation of 8,000 feet.

"The Caucasus presents in its general outlines. one of the best defined mountain-systems in the world. Approached from the northern Steppes, it everywhere offers the appearance of an unbroken rocky barrier, rising rapidly from the plains, and surmounted all along the line by a series of magnificent

1. The rouble is valued at about 39. 2d.

2. The Manich depression may be geologically regarded as the survival of the broad strait, which, at a not very remote period, connected the Caspian basin and the Black Sea.

The River Kuban, which flows into the Sea of

Azov, and the River Terek, which enters the Cas

pian Sea, are regarded by Russian geographers as the boundaries of Europe on the south-east.

3. Nine other snowy peaks in this magnificen. range are higher than Mont Blanc.

snowy peaks. Southwards, also, it falls everywhere abruptly towards the valleys of the Rion and the Kura, which form a nearly continuous trough or depression, running from sea to sea, between Poti and the Kura delta."

The country lying further south, towards the Persian and Turkish borders, includes part of the Plateau of Armenia. The double-peaked Mount Ararat, near 17,000 feet high,' is almost at the converging point of the Russian, Persian, and Turkish boundaries. The irregular masses, south of the basin of the Rion, are called the Little Caucasus, in contradistinction to the Great Caucasus, with which they are joined by the Suram or West Range, a narrow ridge, of comparatively no great height, separating the head-waters of the Rion from those of the Kura.

Cis-Caucasia is watered chiefly by the Kuban and the Terek and their tributaries. The Kuban flows west into the Sea of Azov, but the Terek has an eastwardly course into the Caspian.

The Kur (the ancient Cyrus) and its tributary the Aras (the ancient Araxes, drain the south-eastern and by far the larger division of Trans-Caucasia. They both flow, by the single stream of the Kur, into the Caspian Sea. The western portion of the broad depression between the Caucasus proper and the Little Caucasus to the south is drained by the Rion (the ancient Phasis) and its affluents. The large lake of Gokcha or Sevan, which is within Russian Armenia, is connected with the stream of the Aras.

CLIMATE: The climate, though temperate on the average, is yet one of great extremes. In the plains towards the Caspian the heats of summer are Excessive, while the winter is one of prolonged and extreme severity. Thi is especially the case in the open plains of the Armenian plateau.

PRODUCTIONS: The productions of the soil, and the apparently inex haustible supply of petroleum, constitute the chief wealth of this territory There are extensive forests, in which wild animals (among them the boar and the antelope) abound; and the watered valleys yield plentiful crops of grain and fruits. Both the vine and the mulberry flourish, and the cotton-plant thrives. Petroleum is obtained in enormous quantities from the wells around Baku, on the western shore of the Caspian, and none of them show as yet any signs of exhaustion. Silver, lead, and copper are also found, and some coal and salt are produced.

INHABITANTS: The inhabitants of Caucasia are about 94 millions in number. They comprise people of various races and creeds, but the majority are Georgians and other people of what is called the Circassian stock.

The inhabitants of the Caucasus have been famed, in all ages, for their personal beauty, and they still preserve this reputation. The Georgian and Circassian girls, formerly sold as slaves in the markets of Constantinople, were derived from this region.

INDUSTRIES and TRADE: Besides the ordinary pastoral pursuits in the uplands, and the cultivation of the fertile soil of the lowlands and lower mountain valleys, the one dominant feature in the province is its vast petroleum industry and trade. The naphtha springs and wells are found in the Apsheron peninsula, which juts out into the Caspian Sea at the eastern extremity of the Caucasus, and the petroleum and petroleum-products obtained from the many

1. About 1,000 feet above the snow-line.

hundreds of wells around the port of Baku are distributed by a numerous fleet of small vessels to all points along the Caspian, and the rivers which discharge into it. But far larger quantities are sent by rail from Baku to Batum and Poti on the Black Sea coast, and there shipped to all parts in specially constructed tank-ships. But the supplies carried by rail do not seem to meet the demand, and a pipe-line is now being laid from Baku, through which upwards of a million gallons of oil per day may be poured into the tank-ships and reservoirs at Batum.

Much trade is also carried on with Russia by the magnificent military road from Tiflis to Vladikavkas, through the Dariel Pass.

GOVERNMENT: Caucasia forms a single 'administrative government' uuder a Lieutenant-General, responsible only to the Czar. Northern Caucasia or Cis-Caucasia is politically divided into the 3 'governments' of Kuban, Stavropol, and Terek. Southern Caucasia or Trans-Caucasia is divided into 10 governments,' namely, Baku, Batum, Black Sea, Daghestan, Elizabethpol, Erivan, Kars, Kutais, Tiflis, and Zakataly.1

TOWNS: The chief town north of the Caucasus is VLADIKAVKAZ (50), formerly the southern terminus of the Russian railway-system, situated at the head of the great military road which crosses the Caucasus by the Pass of Dariel, and joins the Baku-Batum Railway at Tiflis. The old capital of Cis-Caucasia, Stavropol (42), lies much further north, on the old route between Russia and Trans-Ca casia. TIFLIS (161), the capital of the whole territory, and by far the most important city in Caucasia, is on the River Kur, at the southward termination of the great military road across the Caucasus, and is connected by rail with Poti and Eatum (29), the chief ports of Trans-Caucasia, on the Black Sea, and with Baku (179), on the Caspian. Baku is now connected with the Russian Railway system. The Batum-Tiflis-Baku Railway is 560 miles in length, and connects with the Trans-Caspian Railway by a line of steamers. During the Russo-Turkish War, Kars, Ardahan, and Batum were captured, and the surrounding territory was occupied and finally ceded to Russia by the Treaty of Berlin (1878). Kars, which has been besieged and taken by the Russians three times - in 1825, 1855, and 1877-is now the chief stronghold of Russia on the Turkish frontier. Erivan is situated within Russian Armenia, not far from Mount Ararat. Etchmiadzin is the ecclesiastical centre of the Armenian Church. North-west of Erivan is the strong fortress of Alexandropol.

AFGHANISTAN.

AFGHANISTAN is the name given to the mountainous country on the north-western frontier of India.

Lying between the Russian dominions and India, the country is, politically, of great importance, hence the recent strenuous efforts of the British Government to make its power felt and respected by the turbulent and warlike inhabitants of this otherwise unimportant region.

BOUNDARIES: Afghanistan is bounded on the north by Bokhara and the Trans-Caspian Territory, on the east by British India, on the south by British Baluchistan, and on the west by Persia.

1. The various parts of the region of the Cau- | ever, bng bern swept away, the poli, y of the Rus casus, however, are better known to Europeris by, sian big, wherever possible, to leave nothing the old names-Circassia, Georgia, Mingrel, &d. It mi at rekindle the national feeling of the These historical divisions of Caudald have, how-Doo!

The boundary of Afghanistan extends north of the Hindu Kush, including in the north-east the Pamir district of Wakhan, between Kashmir and Russian territory. Thence it follows the course of the Amu Daria to about 66 E. long., where it turns south-west to Zulfikar on the Heri Rud. Thence it turns due south to the north-west corner of Baluchistan. The southern and eastern boundaries, touching British territory, have recently been demarcated, Kafiristan, Asmar, the Kunar valley, and Birmal, being assigned to Afghanistan, and Chitral, Bajaur, Swat and Waziristan to India. The area within these limits is estimated at 250,000 square miles, or nearly five times that of England and Wales.

NATURAL FEATURES: Lord Lawrence pithily described Afghanistan as a "country of mountain ranges, narrow defiles, and valleys limited in extent." In fact, more than four-fifths of the "Switzerland of Asia" consist of rugged mountains, with intervening valleys, some of which are well watered by perennial

stre. ms.

The lofty range of the Hindu-Kush extends along the northern border from the Pamir Plateau to the Hajigak Pass, whence it is prolonged west as the Koh-i-Baba and the Safed-Koh or Paropamisan Mountains (north of the Her-i-Rud R ver, which merge into the Khorassan highlands, and are thus linked with th Elbruz Mountains to the south of the Caspian Sea. The Sulaiman Moum tins, on the east, divide Afghanistan from the low plains that border the Indus: their highest summit, called Takht-i-Sulaiman,1 is 12,000 feet in height. Besides these, there are other lofty ranges, such as the Siah Koh, south of the Her-i-Rud River, and the Safed-Koh, 12,000 feet high, south of the Kabul River.

The mountain 1 anges of Afghanistan are traversed by numerous passes, of which the most important, from a military and commercial point of view, are the Khaibar Pass (30 miles in length), leading from Peshawar towards Jellalabad, and thence by the Khurd Kabul Pass to Kabul; the Kuram Pass, up the valley of the Kuram River, and then by the Peiwar Pass (7,500 feet) and Shutargardan Pass (11,000 feet) to the road between Kabul and Ghazni ; the Gomal Pass, from the Indus valley across the Sulaiman Mountains to Ghazni; and still further south, within the limits of British Baluchistan, the Bolan Pass (50 miles) leads to Quetta, and thence by the Pishin Valley and the Kojak Pass to Kandahar.

The chief rivers of Afghanistan are the Kabul, which, with its tributaries, drains the north-eastern part of the country, and, after a course of 300 miles, joins the Indus at Attock; the Halmand, with its tributaries, which drains Central Afghanistan, and, after a course of 700 miles, discharges its waters into the lake, or rather swamp, of Hamun in Seistan, into which the Harud and the Farah also empty themselves. The Murghab and the Her-l-Rud both flow north and finally disappear in the Turkoman Desert-the Murghab in the neighbourhood of Merv, and the Her-i-Rud some distance north of the Trans-Caspian Railway, which crosses both rivers. The Dehas River, which flows north from the Koh-i-Baba, is also lost in the sands near Balkh, but the Kunduz River, which flows from the same mountains, joins the Amu Daria. The only considerable lakes are the Lake of Hamun in Seistan, on the southwest frontier, which is, in fact, a mere swamp, being scarcely anywhere more

1..., "the Throne of Solomon.

than three feet deep, and the intensely salt Lake Abistad 1, about 60 miles south-west of Ghazni, and into which the Ghazni River flow 3.

CLIMATE: The climate is distinguished by intense extremes of heat and cold; the summer heat in some of the deeper valleys being almost intolerable, while the winters, especially in the highlands, are intensely severe.

At Farah, in Western Afghanistan, it is said that the n id-day heat renders eggs hard and makes balls of lead malleable. Yet the winter of Kabul is intensely severe, and the streams are frozen sufficiently hard to bear loaded camels. In spite of the disadvantages of an extreme limate, the country is on the whole healthy, and its inhabitants are perhaps the strongest and most active race in Central Asia.

PRODUCTIONS: The mineral productions are not unimportant, and the soil yields abundance of fruits and grain, wherever water is sufficiently plentiful.

There are two harvests in the year in most parts of Afghanistan. One of these is sown in the end of the autumn and reaped in sumi..er, and consists of wheat, barley, peas, and beans. The other, which is sown in the end of spring and reaped in autumn, consists of rice, millet, maize, &c. Assafada and the castor-oil plant and madder abound, and all kinds of fruits-apples, plums, grapes, figs, &c.-are produced in abundance, and form an important art. le of food.

Various metals and minerals are also found, but not much worked. Among the domestic animals are the camel, the broad-tailed sheep, and an excellent breed of horses, great numbers of which are exported to India. Among the wild animals are the lion (rare), leopard (common), the wolf, hyena, bear, wild sheep, and antelope.

The principal trade routes of Afghanistan are (1) from Herat by Mashad to Persia, and by Merv to Bokhara; (2) from Kabul by Balkh and Khulm to Bokhara; (3) from Jellalabad by the Chitral River Valley to Eastern Turkestan and China; (4) from Kabul by the Khaibar and Abkhana roads to India, through Peshawar; (5) from Ghazni by the Gomal Pass to India; and (6) from Kandahar by the Sind-Pishin Railway and the Bolan Pass to India.

INHABITANTS: The population is estimated at about 5 millions, consisting of over 400 different tribes, some of which are almost independent of the Amir.

The Ghilzais and Duranis are the most powerful of the Afghan tribes. Of the rest, the most important are the Tajiks, of Arab or Persian descent, in the west; and the Kahkars in the south-east. The Kafirs, Mohmands, Afridis, Waziris, and other tribes, occupy the mountainous regions to the north and west of the Punjab, and have recently been placed under British protection.

The Afghans proper evidently belong to the Aryan race, but the Hazaras, in the north-west, are of Mongolian origin. The Afghans generally are a bold and hardy race of mountaineers, extremely jealous of their liberty, many of the tribes owning no sovereignty but that of their own cli.fs. They are warlike and hospitable, but treacherous and faithless.