by the occupation of Herat. It would be sheer folly to trifle with a danger of such vital consequence.

Nor should it be left out of sight that not the least of the advantages that would accrue to this country from the occupation of Herat would be the fact that in face of England strongly placed in that city the Russians would not dare to assail Merv. Not only would the Turcomans voluntarily ally themselves with us when we had garrisoned Herat, the dominant place in all Khorasan; but the exigencies of our position would lead to our forming a close connection with them. From Herat it would be so easy to supply the Tekes with arms that the opportunity would certainly not be thrown away. But from Herat-and this is the great point—we should be able to influence the policy of Persia, and by giving consistency to Persia's carefully concealed apprehension at Russia's designs raise up another bulwark to the ambition of that Power. With the Turcomans' hostility rendered formidable by improved weapons, with Persia distrustful and covertly hostile, protesting and preserving her strict neutrality on the guarantee of the English army at Herat, and with an Anglo-Indian garrison of twenty thousand men in Herat, Russia would not dare to move against Merv, and it is most probable that she would have to withdraw from all the country up to the Caspian sea. This is the bold and practical solution of the Merv question. The danger can now be nipped in the bud by garrisoning Herat, and by taking up a firm position in the council chamber at Teheran. There must be no bullying in our dealings with the Shah, but by a

bold act it lies in our power to prove to the mind of that prince that we have resolved that Russia has now reached the farthest limit in her career southward which is compatible with the safety of India. The solution of the Merv question means the solution of the Central Asian Question in its earliest stage. If Russia's policy in Persia be counter-mined, if the Turcomans preserve their independence through our well-timed aid, Lomakine and his superiors will have to turn elsewhere if they still desire to reach the Indus. They will have to abandon their policy of sap and mine, and adopt bolder measures, and a more proclaimed hostility. They will have to crush the resistance of Northern Persia, and assemble their hosts on the shores of the Caspian. They will have to advance, not with fifty thousand men, but with two hundred thousand men, if not still more, and to accept all the risks and enormous outlay of a great war carried on in Khorasan amidst a hostile population. The time necessary for the preparation of such a host as this would alone take years, and until Russia produces a Napoleon it would be practically impossible. Even a superhuman genius would find the task of advancing upon the Indus under the circumstances described one that could only be compared to Napoleon's march on Moscow. The ramparts of Herat have retarded invading armies for months, and engineers could with great ease convert the enormous fortress round Herat into one that should be impregnable. But Herat is only the first, if the most important, of the outer and true defences of India.

Behind it lie Giraneh and Ferrah, the Helmund, and the citadel of Candahar. By treating the Merv question as a vital portion of the Central Asian, by regarding the stronghold of the Turcomans as the key to Herat, and as consequently also the key to India, we may achieve the greatest of results. Far away though that speck in the desert may appear from the frontiers of India, its importance is to be gauged by the relation it bears to Herat, to which it is so close. Of the importance of Sarakhs there can be not less doubt, and in some respects the danger there is the more formidable, because the less recognised and the more insidious. The occupation of Herat is for many other reasons necessary, but among the principal must be held the great influence which it will have upon the future of Merv and the action of the Turcomans. The day which witnesses the arrival of British troops in Herat will also behold the retreat of the Russian columns from the vicinity of Merv, provided, of course, that that place had not already been occupied. It is to be hoped that that time is not far distant, for with each day's hesitation on our part Russia's hold on the approaches to Merv becomes more firm, and the defences of that place, which are the half-heartedness of Persia, and the hostility of the Turcomans themselves, less calculated to withstand the forces of General Lomakine. In no quarter is there greater necessity to pursue a bold and far-sighted policy than on the frontiers of Persia and the Turcomans.

CHAPTER XI.

BALKH, KUNDUS, AND BADAKSHAN.

Ir will not be out of place to say something, before passing on to other subjects, of those khanates which lie north of the Hindoo Koosh, and which are best known as Afghan Turkestan. As a matter of fact, they are now the Afghan provinces in Turkestan, but they have not always been Afghan provinces. Very often, too, the authority of the Cabul ruler has not extended beyond the city of Balkh, and the claims of Bokhara to exercise supremacy over the khanates have been considered to be quite as good as those of Afghanistan. In fact, Balkh has become a bone of contention between these two States, but to exercise suzerainty over Kundus and Badakshan, Bokhara has fewer claims than Cabul. Over Balkh itself, it will be found that history proves their claims to be almost on a par, but independence has been the normal condition of these districts. As the most important of these places, we will consider the history of Balkh first,

although it will be difficult to separate them from each other, as they are closely intertwined. Of the early history of Balkh we possess only the vague description of ancient legends. It is said by some to have been founded by Zoroaster; others attribute its magnificence to the great Cyrus; others, again, assert that it was founded by Kaïamur, a prince of the Pishdadian dynasty. But whoever was its actual founder, there can be no doubt that when Alexander visited it Bactra, or Balkh, was a most prosperous city, and when the Chinese traveller, Hwen Thsang, came there in the sixth century it had lost little of its importance. Its great antiquity is proved to some degree by the title which it has obtained from the Persians of Oumme el Belaud-the mother of cities. From the Macedonian to the Mongol conqueror, that is through fifteen centuries, is a long stride to make without finding anything of sufficient interest to mention in the life of a State, even though that State be in Central Asia. Yet such is the case with Balkh. When Genghis Khan appeared before the walls of Balkh it still retained much of its old grandeur. But from him it received the most ruthless treatment. Not only was it destroyed, so far as it was possible to destroy it, but its inhabitants were almost annihilated. To some extent it rose from its ashes, but only to meet with an equally hard fate at the hands of Timour. From this second shock Balkh never recovered, but, despite the petty wars of which this region has been the scene ever since, this city still stands forth the undisputed capital of the region lying between the Oxus and the