Water Route from Kasala to Petro-Alexandrovsk—The Irkibai Route—The Winter March Route—General Perovsky—His Expedition—Loss of Nine Thousand Camels—New Year’s Day—Two out of Ten Cossacks Frozen to Death—Major Wood and the Survey of the Oxus—Struggling into the Saddle—Your Horse is Tough—Ophthalmia—Cotton Bales—The Mohammedans and the Deity—Fatalism—The Will of Allah.

Abstract

Abstract The water route to Petro-Alexandrovsk was closed to me by the frost, but it affords easy communication in summer with the Khivan khanate. Indeed, should the Russian Government ever permit Englishmen to travel in their Asiatic dominions, Khiva will probably become known to Mr. Cook, and on the list of his personally- conducted tours. However, besides the water route by the Jaxartes, Sea of Aral, and Oxus, there are several land routes used respectively in summer and winter.