John Thomas Bealby

“ The steppes along the bottom of the principal valley are for the most part too dry to be cultivated without irrigation. It is only in Kakhetia, where numerous mountain streams supply the fields and gardens of the plateau of Alazan, that wheat, millet and maize are grown, and orchards, vineyards and mulberry plantations are possible. Lower down the valley cattle-breeding is the chief source of wealth, while in the small towns and villages of the former Georgian kingdom various petty trades, exhibiting a high development of artistic taste and technical skill, are widely diffused. ”

“ Although low and flat, and seamed by innumerable water-courses, the entire region is not, as the Roman name of Metaris Aestuarium would imply, a river estuary, but a bay of the North Sea, silted up, of which the Wash is the last remaining portion. Hydrographically, the Fens embrace the lower parts of the drainage-basins of the rivers Witham, Welland, Nene and Great Ouse; and against these streams, as against the ocean, they are protected by earthen embankments, 10 to 15 ft. high. As a rule the drainage water is lifted off the Fens into the rivers by means of steam-pumps, formerly by windmills. ”

“ The slopes of the Armenian highlands are clothed with fine forests, and the vine is grown at their base, while on the wide-stretching steppes the Turko-Tatars pasture cattle, horses and sheep. The lower part of the Kura valley assumes the character of a dry steppe, the rainfall not reaching 14 in. annually at Baku, and it is still less in the Mugan steppe, though quite abundant in the adjacent region of Lenkoran. The vegetation of the steppe is on the whole scanty. ”

“ It is only in winter that this appalling desert can be crossed with any degree of safety. It is destitute of water, but in winter it is possible to transport ice on the backs of camels. Sometimes for days together the desert is enveloped in an impenetrable dust-haze, which chokes and smothers every living creature. ”

“ Towards the foothills of the Caucasus they are clothed with thick forests, while in the west they merge into the steppes of south Russia or end in marshy ground, choked with reeds and rushes, in the delta of the Kubañ. In the north and east they give place, as the Manych and the coasts of the Caspian are approached, to arid, sandy, stony steppes. The soil of these plains is generally very fertile and they support a population of nearly 2,800,000 Russians, composed of Cossacks and peasant immigrants, settled chiefly along the rivers and grouped in large, wealthy villages. ”

“ During the centuries since the Romans are believed to have constructed the sea-banks which shut out the ocean, it is computed that an area of not more than 60,000 to 70,000 acres has been won from the Wash, embanked, drained and brought more or less under cultivation. The greatest gain has been at the direct head of the bay, between the Welland and the Great Ouse, where the average annual accretion is estimated at 10 to 11 lineal feet. On the Lincolnshire coast, farther north, the average annual gain has been not quite 2 ft. ”

“ The Witham, on whose banks so many monasteries stood, was particularly famous for its pike; as were certain of the monastic waters in the southern part of the Fens for their eels. The soil of the reclaimed Fens is of exceptional fertility, being almost everywhere rich in humus, which is capable not only of producing very heavy crops of wheat and other corn, but also of fattening live-stock with peculiar ease. Lincolnshire oxen were famous in Elizabeth’s time, and are specially singled out by Arthur Young, [6] the breed being the shorthorn. ”

“ But where irrigation is employed the yield of crops is excellent. Rye and wheat are the most important crops harvested in northern Caucasia, but oats, barley and maize are also cultivated, whereas in Transcaucasia the principal crops are maize, rice, tobacco and cotton. The rice is grown chiefly in the valley of the Kura and in Lenkoran; the tobacco in the Rion valley and on the Black Sea coastlands, also to some extent in Kubañ ”

“ The most densely-peopled provinces were Kutais and Tiflis, each with 80 inhabitants to the square mile; the thinnest the Black Sea government (201⁄2 per sq. m.) , Terek (31) , and Kars (39) . Of the total population 3,725,543 lived in northern Caucasia and 5,564,547 in Transcaucasia (including Daghestan) . In the latter territorial division there exists a great disproportion between the sexes, namely, to every 100 males only 86 females; indeed in the Black Sea government there are only 65.5 females to every 100 males. Ethnologically the population belongs to a great variety of races. ”

“ The Alai is a well-defined ridge with steep slopes, and both it and the Terek-tau, which prolongs it towards the Kokshal-tau, are flanked next the Ferghana valley by what appear to be the old uplifted strata both of the old Palaeozoic series of metamorphic limestones and of the newer Tertiary series of softer conglomerates and sandstones. The general altitude of both ranges is 16,000-19,000 ft., but the Trans-Alai culminates in peak Kaufmann (23,000 ft.) . The Trans-Alai is a true border range, the ascent to it from the Pamir plateau (13,000 ft.) ”

“ Attempts on a considerable scale were indeed made to reclaim them in the 17th century, and the work as a whole forms one of the most remarkable chapters of the industrial history of England. Thus, the reclamation of the Witham Fens was taken up by Sir Anthony Thomas, the earl of Lindsey, Sir William Killigrew, King Charles I., and others in 1631 and succeeding years; and that of the Deeping or Welland Fens in 1638 by Sir W. Ayloff, Sir Anthony Thomas and other “adventurers,” after one Thomas Lovell had ruined himself in a similar attempt in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. ”

“ Industries.—The principal occupation of the settled inhabitants is agriculture and of the nomadic the breeding of live stock, including camels. The cultivation of the soil is, however, attended in many parts with great difficulties owing to the scanty rainfall and the very primitive implements still in use, and in the valley of the Kura heavy losses are frequently incurred from depredations by locusts. ”

“ In the Alai region there are other extensive glaciers, e.g. the Fedchenko and Shurovsky glaciers south of peak Kauffmann. Generally speaking, the snow-line runs at 11,500–12,800 ft. above sea-level, and all ranges the peaks of which shoot up above 12,000 ft. are snow-clad, and all ranges which are snow-clad rise to higher altitudes than 11,500 ft. A feature generally characteristic of the Tian-shan as a whole is that the absolute elevation of the ranges increases gradually from north to south, and from the centre decreases towards both the east and the west. ”

“ During the 3rd century A.D. Georgia and Armenia were invaded and in great part occupied by the Khazars, and then for more than a thousand years the mountain fastnesses of this borderland between Europe and Asia were the refuge, or the resting-place, of successive waves of migration, as people after people and tribe after tribe was compelled to give way to the pressure of stronger races harassing them in the rear. ”

“ Previous to the drainage of the Fens, ague, rheumatism, and other ailments incidental to a damp climate were widely prevalent, but at the present day the Fen country is as healthy as the rest of England; indeed, there is reason to believe that it is conducive to longevity. ”

“ The mining industry is growing rapidly in importance in spite of costly and deficient means of communication, want of capital, and lack of general initiative. So far the principal developments of the industry have been in the governments of Kutais, Batum, Elisavetpol and Kubañ. Copper ore is extracted above the Murgul river (some 30 m. south of Batum) , at Akhtala south of Tiflis, and at Kedabek in Elisavetpol; manganese to a considerably greater extent (over 400,000 tons annually) at Chiaturi in the Kvirila valley in Kutais. Steam coal of good quality is reported to exist about 30 m. ”

“ The remaining 182,000 sq. m. (51-2 per cent.) of the potential catchment area fails to contribute one drop of water, being nothing but arid, rainless desert. Throughout the catchment-basin of the Tarim the precipitation is governed by the general law, that it increases from N. to S. and from E. to W. Hence, in conformity with this, the largest affluents are in the west. In general shape the basin of the Tarim is elliptical, but the lowest part lies near the extreme E. end of the ellipse. ”

“ North of the old Seljuk capital are the ruins of Iskender Kalah, probably to be identified with the ancient Merv of the Seleucid dynasty.
New Merv, the present chief town of the oasis, founded in the first quarter of the 19th century, is on the Transcaspian railway, 380 m. by rail south-west from Samarkand. It stands on both banks of the Murghab, 820 ft. above the Caspian. Pop. (1897) , 8727, including Russians, Armenians, Turkomans, Persians and Jews. It has a meteorological observatory. Corn, raw cotton, hides, wool, nuts and dried fruit are exported. ”

“ The Ouse (q.v.) or Great Ouse, the largest of the fenland rivers, seems to have been deflected, at some unknown period, from a former channel connecting via the Old Croft river with the Nene, into the Little Ouse below Littleport; and the courses of the two streams are now linked together by an elaborate network of artificial drains, the results of the great engineering works carried out in the Bedford Level in the 17th century. The old channel, starting from Earith, and known as the Old West river, carries only a small stream until, at a point above Ely, it joins the Cam. ”

“ The ridges rise by long, gentle slopes to flat summits, where often for many miles the sky-line is an almost straight crest, from which the rounded slopes of pure white snowfields descend towards the basins. The crest line is notched by high passes only 1000–2000 ft. below the top of the crest. Oftener the summit of the ridge is broken into individual mountains, broadly flat-topped and of nearly equal elevation. ”

“ The Turkomans possess a famous breed of horses and keep camels, sheep, cattle, asses and mules. They are excellent workers in silver and noted as armourers, and their carpets are superior to the Persian. They also make felts and a rough cloth of sheep’s wool. The heat of summer is most oppressive. The least wind raises clouds of fine dust, which fill the air, render it so opaque as to obscure the noonday sun, and make respiration difficult. ”

“ Sunflowers are very extensively grown for oil in the government of Kubañ and elsewhere, and also some flax. Liquorice is an article of export. Many varieties of fruit are grown, especially good being the apricots, peaches, walnuts and hazel nuts. A limited area (not more than 1150 acres) of the Black Sea coast between Sukhum-kaleh and Batum is planted with the tea-shrub, which succeeds very well. ”

“ The climate is one of extremes. At Merket on the W. verge of the desert of Takla Makan proper the winters are cold, though the snowfall is small, while the summers are hot. In the desert of Cherchen a temperature of −22°F. has been observed in the depth of winter, and there snow sometimes falls heavily. ”

“ The plains of Northern Caucasia, which include most of the provinces of Kubañ and Terek and of the government of Stavropol, slope gently downwards from the foot of the Caucasus range towards the Kuma-Manych depression. It is only in their centre that they reach altitudes of as much as 2000–2500 ft. ”

“ Indeed, it is in the open Lop country, where the mountains, the Kuruk-tagh on the N., and the Astin-tagh on the S., are the nearest to each other, that the wind develops its greatest and most concentrated energy. ”

“ In some places limestones appear as projections from the range; at others conglomerates and Tertiary clay marls form the outermost fold.” [3] On the north versant of the ranges the rainfall increases from the foot of the mountains upwards, and at 9000–10,000 ft. the vegetation becomes luxuriant. According to P. P. Semenov, the following vegetable zones may be distinguished on the northern slopes: altitudes of 525–1575 ft. are steppe lands, of 1575–4300 ft. are the zone of cultivation, 4300-8100 ft. the zone of coniferous trees, 8100-9500 ft. ”

“ If the deepest part of the basin lay beyond the long axis of the ellipse the symmetry would be ideal ; but, situated as it is at the southern foot of the Tian-shan, it has occasioned a dislocation toward the N. of the main stream of the system. ... If we compare the northern peripheral zone from the catchment area of the Kashgar-darya to the catchment area of the Kuruk-tagh, both inclusive, with the southern peripheral zone from the catchment area of the Yarkand-darya to the catchment area of the Astin-tagh, both again inclusive, we find that the former has an area of 82,990 sq. ”

“ Commerce.—The exports through the Black Sea ports of Batum, Poti and Novo-rossiysk average in value a little over £10,000,000 annually, though showing a tendency to increase slightly. By far the most important commodity is petroleum, fully one-half of the total value. In addition large quantities are shipped at Baku direct for the Volga and the Transcaspian port of Krasnovodsk. ”

“ The Alexander Mountains terminate over against the town of Aulie-ata (71° 20' E.) at the relatively low altitude of 2460 ft., though farther east they rise to 13,000-14,000 ft., and even reach 15,350 ft. in Mt Semenov. On the north their declivities are steep and rugged. They are crossed by passes at 6550-11,825 ft. (Shamsi) .
From the middle of the Alexander range, in about 74° E., a chain known as the Talas-tau breaks away from its south flank in a W.S.W. direction, and from near the western extremity of this latter two parallel ranges, the Chotkal or Chatkal (14,000 ft.) ”

“ A good deal of this is transported by gravitation from Baku to Batum on the Black Sea by means of a pipe laid overland. The refined oil is exported as kerosene or petroleum, the heavier refuse (mazut) is used as fuel. Naphtha is also obtained, though in much smaller quantities, in Terek and Kubañ, in Tiflis and Daghestan. Numerous mineral springs (chalybeate and sulphurous) exist both north and south of the Caucasus ranges, e.g. at Pyatigorsk, Zhelesnovodsk, Essentuki, and Kislovodsk in Terek, and at Tiflis, Abbas-tuman and Borzhom in the government of Tiflis. ”