abled and many of the men were frostbitten and unable to move without assistance. The camels were dying at the rate of one hundred a day, and as the effective force was reduced to less than 2,000 men. General Perovski decided to retreat. The remnant of the expedition arrived at Fort Emba in February and remained there until spring, but the attempt to capture Khiva was not then renewed.
The next expedition to Khiva was that of General Kaufmann in 1873, which resulted in the conquest of the khanate and the transfer of its rule to Russia. We will now consider the details of the expedition.
General Kaufmann, Governor-General of Turkestan, had been for two years planning the expedition and getting ready for it before he asked the permission of the government at St. Petersburg to attack the khanate of Khiva. But there were other aspirants than Kaufmann for the honor of capturing Khiva, and as the distances were very great and nobody was able to say with certainty which route offered the best chances of success, the emperor, after due consideration of the subject, decided to send four expeditions from as many different points. The first was to go from the Caucasus under command of Colonel Markosoff; the second was to march from Orenburg under General Verevkin; the third was from Kinderly Bay, on the Caspian Sea, under Colonel Lomakin; and the fourth was from Tashkend under General Kaufmann. A fifth column was to start from Kazala, or Fort No. i, on the Syr Daria, under command of Grand Duke Nicholas, and join General Kaufmann en route. Markosoff's expedition never reached Khiva; it suffered terribly in the desert, and when within 120 miles of the oasis was compelled to turn back.
The governor of Orenburg did not receive his orders to prepare the expedition until the first days of January. By the 27th of February he had his troops in readiness
