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
Page:England & Russia in Central Asia, Vol-2.djvu/16
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ENGLAND AND RUSSIA IN CENTRAL ASIA.