contact with barbarism. She may indeed stop short of absolute and entire annexation, but there can be no doubt that by bringing Khiva under the same yoke as Bokhara, has established her influence on the Oxus, as she has already established it on the Jaxartes. The Oxus, or Amu Daria, is a noble river, not easy of navigation, but, it is believed, capable of being made so. It will furnish a ready means of carrying the tide of Russian annexation eastward until it finds a barrier in the Hindoo Koosh. When Russia shall have established herself along the Oxus, her position will be at once menacing to Persia and India. From Chardjuy on the Oxus there is a road to Merv, distant about 150 miles, and from Merv a direct road runs along the valley of the Murghab to Herat, the "key of India." Merv is historically a part of the Persian Empire, but in these countries it is notoriously difficult to define boundaries with any precision. Should Russia succeed in occupying Merv, as there is too much reason to fear she ultimately will, and in converting the neighbouring tribes into friends or allies, her position would be one which we could not regard without the gravest apprehension.

Surely, in the face of such facts as these, the time has arrived when England should rouse herself from the apathy of the past, and take steps to secure the incalculable advantages which would accrue to herself and her Eastern dependencies from the opening up of the Euphrates route.

The military and political value of the Euphrates Line is a matter of extreme moment, and has a far more decided bearing on the defence, not only of Turkey, but

of Persia and the whole district lying between the Mediterranean, the Caspian, and the Indian Ocean than might at first be supposed.

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So long ago as 1858 Field-Marshal Lieutenant Baron Kuhn von Kuhnenfeld, Austrian War Minister, predicted that Russia would in future probably try to satisfy her craving for an open sea-board by operating through Asia. She will not," says this distinguished authority, "reach the shores of the Persian Gulf in one stride, or by means of one great war. But taking advantage of continental complications, when the attention and energy of European States are engaged in contests more nearly concerning them, she will endeavour to reach the Persian Gulf step by step, by annexing separate districts of Armenia, by operating against Khiva and Bokhara, and by seizing Persian provinces.

"The most important lines which Russia must keep in view for these great conquests are,

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"1. The line from Kars to the Valley of the Euphrates and Mesopotamia.

"2. That from Erivan by Lake Van to Mossul in the Valley of the Tigris, to Mesopotamia, and thence, after junction with the first line, to Bagdad.

"3. That from Tabreez to Schuster, in the Valley of the Kercha, where it joins.

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4. The road leading from Teheran by Ispahan to Schuster and thence to the Persian Gulf. . . . .

""Once in possession of the Euphrates, the road to the Mediterranean, viâ Aleppo and Antioch, and to the conquest of Asia Minor and Syria is but short.

""It is clear that all these lines are intersected by the

line of the Euphrates, which, running in an oblique direction from the head of the gulf north of Antioch to the Persian Gulf, passes along the diagonal of a great quadrilateral which has its two western corners on the Mediterranean, its two eastern on the Caspian and Persian Seas, and so takes all Russian lines of advance in flank.

""From this it is evident that the secure possession of the Euphrates Line is decisive as regards the ownership of all land lying within the quadrilateral. It must therefore be the political and strategic task of Russia to get the Euphrates Line into her hands, and that of her enemies to prevent her doing so at any cost.

""The great importance of a railway along this decisive line which connects Antioch with the Persian Gulf follows as a matter of course. It is the only means by which it would be possible to concentrate, at any moment, on the Euphrates or in the northern portion of Mesopotamia, a force sufficiently strong to operate on the flanks of the Russian line of advance and stop any forward movement.

"It is true that, at first, the aggressive policy of Russia in the East will only threaten the kingdoms of Turkey and Persia, but as neither one nor the other, nor both combined, would be strong enough, without assistance, to meet the danger successfully, England must do so; and it is certain that she must, sooner or later, become engaged in a fierce contest for supremacy with Russia,

"The Euphrates Valley Railway becomes therefore a factor of inestimable importance in the problem of this

great contest. Even now the construction of the line will counteract the Asiatic policy of Russia, for it will strengthen the influence of England in Central Asia and weaken that of Russia. .

"The growth of Russia in the East threatens, though indirectly, the whole of Europe, as well as the States named above, for, if she were firmly established in Asia Minor, the real apple of discord, Constantinople, would be in imminent danger, all the commerce of the Mediterranean would fall into her hands, and she would command the canal through the Isthmus of Suez.

""Whatever the commercial value of the Suez Canal to Central Europe, there is no doubt that it is secondary in importance to the Euphrates Railway, which affords the only means of stemming Russian advances in Central Asia, and which directly covers the Suez Canal."

"Yet the establishment of this route has been pressed for twenty years in vain on the attention of the Government of this country; and even the high recommendation of the Select Committee of the House of Commons has failed to awaken the Government to a sense of the gravity of the issues involved."*

*"The Euphrates Valley route to India, in connection with the Central Asian Question," by W. P. Andrew. A Lecture delivered at the Royal United Service Institution, May, 1873.

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

OUR NEIGHBOURS-continued.

Tibet-Nepaul-Sikhim-Bhutan-Burmah-Siam.

Tibet. The great table-land of Tibet, lying between the Kuen Lun Range and the Himálayas, is still for the most part a land unknown to Europeans, whom Chinese jealousy has long and persistently shut out from even a passing acquaintance with the country ruled in their name by a succession of Buddhist Lamas, or incarnation, of the great Buddha himself. Of these Lamas, whose sanctity is upheld by large bodies of Buddhist monks dwelling in strong convents picturesquely perched on steep hill-tops, the most important is the Lama of Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, in the valley of the Sánpee or upper course of the Brahmapútra. It was to one of his predecessors that Warren Hastings, in 1784, sent Mr. Bogle on a friendly mission which was welcomed in a friendly spirit. For a few years an Indian agent lived at the Lama's capital, and trade with Bengal was carried on by way of Bogra. But little came of a movement which succeeding Governors-General were unable or unwilling to follow up, and fear of Nepaulese aggression united with orders from China to close the door which Warren Hastings had opened. Early in this century another