"ملخص لمراسلات، إلخ، تتعلق بشؤون آسيا الوسطى، بلوشستان، بلاد فارس، إلخ، ١٨٧٥-١٨٧٧. مع ملاحق." [ظ‎‎٢‎٧‎١] (٥٦٢/٥٤٧)

APPENDIX XIX.
NOTES ON KOKAND BY COLONEL YENIUKOFF.
I.
The recent invasion of Kokand by our troops is calculated to lend an interest to some
particulars concerning- that Khanate, the exploration of which country has been effected solely
bv Russian men of science, step by step, for more than 130 years Commencing from Miller
and Kushelef (1739-43), who proceeded to Kokand from Orenburg by a very circuitous route
across the Balkhas desert and the lower course of the Chu River, we find a series of Russian
travellers and men of science whose works have gradually thrown a light on the character of
the famous Farghana valley and on the surrounding regions. In the year 1800 two Russian
Engineer officers, Pospelof and Burnashef, penetrated into Kokand,* who gave as admirable a
description of Tashkend and the surrounding country as was possible at that period. In the
year 1813 the interpreter Nazarof reached Kokand itself, and went even as far as Ush. Seven
teen years later the Khanate of Kokand was again visited and described by Potanin, and in the
beginning of the second half of the present century, Yeliaminof-Zernuf compiled an excellent
work on Kokand from materials in the archives of Orenburg, and from information collected
by Gens from traders and Kirghiz. In the year 1858, Bardashef, an interpreter of the Alatau
administrative circuit, collated the evidence which he obtained by interrogation from leaders of
caravans at Vernoe, and constructed, with the aid of topographers, a manuscript map of the
Khanate of Kokand, which in many respects is found to be accurate even up to this day. In
1861, Staff Captain Veniukof, embodying all this material and other data which were pro
curable in the Omsk archives, was enabled to publish a map of Kokand, based on a critical
appreciation of the above materials. Then supervened the brilliant era of the successes of the
Russian arms in the country lying to the north-west of Farghana, accompanied by the fresh
epoch of scientific research in the valley of the Jaxartes throughout its entire extent. The
upper portions of the river, which had long appertained to Kokand, were explored by Protsenko,
Sebertsof, Krayefski, and Kaulbars. While Struve conducted a series of astronomical observ
ations in Farghana, Fedchenko studied its natural history; the political history became the
study of Sobolef, and its ethnography was enquired into by a multitude of other Central
Asian explorers. In a word, Kokand was scientifically conquered by Russians long before the
historical course of inevitable circumstances introduced the invincible Russian troops into the
region.
We now know very well what is contained in Kokand. This small Khanate shorn of so
much territory in the years 1863 to 1868, represents a superficial area of 1,400 square geo
graphical miles (German), i.e., smaller than the province of Saratof by 100 square miles. Its
population is half that of Saratof, viz., 800,000; the general aspect is that of a valley within
a framework of mountains, leaving a narrow opening on the west of Khodjend. The length
of this valley, called larghana, is 2.05 miles, and the width in few places exceeds 33 miles,f so
that the entire area does not embrace more than 280 square geographical miles (German). The rest
of the Khanate is filled with mountains, which attain the greatest elevation on the south, towards
Karateghin and the Alai, where, according to Mr. Fedchenko, there are peaks 20,000 feet
above the sqa. The mountain girdle on the north side the Kendyr-tau, Chatkal, and Urtyk-
tau ranges are also of considerable altitude, rising in many places above the snow line. On the
east the valley is closed by the Djassy, Koghart, and Chichikty mountains, through the last-
named of which the Naryn rushes with the impetuosity of a mountain torrent; this is the chief
river of the^ Khanate, and in the vicinity of Namagan it receives the name of Syr-Daria
(Jaxartes). This river flows nearer to the northern than to the southern confines of the
Khanate, so that the greater portion of the habitable part of the country is on the south side of
the river. As in the case of most of the rivers in Central Asia, the banks of this stream are
almost unpopulated; the towns and settlements stand off at some distance. This is to be
accounted for by the flooding of the low lands, by their insalubrity, and partially also by the
stretches of barren sands which occur in the centre of the river valley. The portion of the
I arghana valley which is famous for the fertility of its soil lies on the south side, commencing
from within a few miles of the river, and is not so much irrigated by the waters of the Jaxartes
as by the streams issuing from the southern mountains, such as the Isfara, Sokh, Shaghimardan,
Isfairarn, Ak-bura, Kurshab, Tara, Kara-Kulsha, and Yassa; the four last named of these
streams unite in one river, the Syr proper, according to the natives. The lands of Kokand are
migated by means of canals, sometimes extending 60 or 70 miles; all the mountain streams
are similarly run into aryks, and consequently do not reach the main river. The Naryn has
no large affluent from the north within the limits of the Khanate.
* These officers visited Tashkend, the capital of the Kirghiz Kaisaks at that time.
f The lineal measurements are alone reduced from versts.