EXPLORATION

the progress of geodetic surveys in russia had long ago extended across the european half of the great empire, st petersburg being connected with tiflis on the southern slopes of the caucasus by a direct system of triangulation carried out with the highest scientific precision. st petersburg, again, is connected with greenwich by european systems of triangulation; and the greenwich meridian is adopted by russia as the zero for all her longitude values. but beyond the eastern shores of the caspian no system of direct geodetic measurements by first-class triangulation has been possible, and the surveys of asiatic russia are separated from those of europe by the width of that inland sea. the arid nature of the trans-caspian deserts has proved an insuperable obstacle to those rigorous methods of geodetic survey which distinguish russian methods in europe, so that russian geography in central asia is dependent on other means than that of direct measurement for the co-ordinate values in latitude and longitude for any given point. the astronomical observatory at tashkent is adopted for the initial starting-point of the trans-caspian triangulation of russia; the triangulation ranks as second-class only, and now extends to the pamir frontier beyond osh. the longitude of the tashkent observatory has been determined by telegraph differentially with pulkova as follows:-- h. m. s. in 1875 via ekaterinburg and omsk 2 35 52.151 " 1891 " saratov " orenburg 2 35 52.228 " 1895 " kiev " baku 2 35 51.997 with these three independent values, all falling within a range of 0^s.25, it is improbable that the mean value has an error as large as 0^s.10. extent of exact surveys in asia. exact surveys in russia, based upon triangulation, extend as far east as chinese turkestan in longitude about 75 deg. e. of greenwich. in india geodetic triangulation furnishes the basis for exact surveys as far east as the eastern boundaries of burma in longitude about 100 deg. e. the close of the 19th century witnessed the forging of the final links in the great geodetic triangulation of india, so far as the peninsula is concerned. further geodetic connexion with the european systems remains to be accomplished. since 1890 further and more rigorous application of the telegraphic method of determining longitudes differentially with greenwich has resulted in a slight correction (amounting to about 2" of arc) to the previous determination by the same method through suez. this last determination was effected through four arcs as follows:-- i. greenwich--potsdam. ii. potsdam--teheran. iii. teheran--bushire. iv. bushire--karachi. each arc was measured with every precaution and a multitude of observations. the only element of uncertainty was caused by the retardation of the current, which between potsdam and teheran (3000 m.) took 0^s.20 to travel; but it is probable that the final value can be accepted as correct to within 0^s.05. the final result of this latest determination is to place the madras observatory 2' 27" to the west of the position adopted for it on the strength of absolute astronomical determinations. connexion between russian and indian surveys. but while we have yet to wait for that expansion of principal triangulation which will bring asia into connexion with europe by the direct process of earth measurement, a topographical connexion has been effected between russian and indian surveys which sufficiently proves that the deductive methods employed by both countries for the determination of the co-ordinate values of fixed points so far agree that, for all practical purposes of future asiatic cartography, no difficulty in adjustment between indian and russian mapping need be apprehended. extension of geographical surveys. in connexion with the indian triangulation minor extensions carried out on systems involving more or less irregularity have been pushed outwards on all sides. they reach through afghanistan and baluchistan to the eastern districts of persia, and along the coast of makran to that of arabia. they have long ago included the farther mountain peaks of nepal, and they now branch outwards towards western china and into siam. these far extensions furnish the basis for a vast amount of exploratory survey of a strictly geographical character, and they have contributed largely towards raising the standard of accuracy in asiatic geographical surveys to a level which was deemed unattainable fifty years ago. there is yet a vast field open in asia for this class of surveys. while at the close of the 19th century western asia (exclusive of arabia) may be said to have been freed from all geographical perplexity, china, mongolia and eastern siberia still include enormous areas of which geographical knowledge is in a primitive stage of nebulous uncertainty. indian explorers. of scientific geographical exploration in asia (beyond the limits of actual surveys) the modern period has been so prolific that it is only possible to refer in barest outline to some of the principal expeditions, most of which have been directed either to the great elevated table-land of tibet or to the central depression which exists to the north of it. in southern tibet the trans-himalayan explorations of the native surveyors attached to the indian survey, notably pundits nain singh and krishna, added largely to our knowledge of the great plateau. nain singh explored the sources of the indus and of the upper brahmaputra in the years 1865-1867; and in 1874-1875 he followed a line from the eastern frontiers of kashmir to the tengri nor lake and thence to lhasa, in which city he remained for some months. krishna's remarkable journey in 1879-1882 extended from lhasa northwards through tsaidam to sachu, or saitu, in mongolia. he subsequently passed through eastern tibet to the town of darchendo, or tachienlu, on the high road between lhasa and peking, and on the borders of china. failing to reach india through upper assam he returned to the neighbourhood of lhasa, and crossed the himalayas by a more westerly route. both these explorers visited lhasa. russian explorers. in 1871-1873 the great russian explorer, nicolai prjevalsky, crossed the gobi desert from the north to kansu in western china. he first defined the geography of tsaidam, and mapped the hydrography of that remarkable region, from which emanate the great rivers of china, siam and burma. he penetrated southwards to within a month's march of lhasa. in 1876 he visited the lop nor and discovered the altyn tagh range. in 1879 he followed up the urangi river to the altai mountains, and demonstrated to the world the extraordinary physical changes which have passed over the heart of the asiatic continent since jenghiz khan massed his vast armies in those provinces. he crossed, and named, the dzungarian extension of the gobi desert, and then traversed the gobi itself from hami to sachu, which became a point of junction between his journeys and those of krishna. he visited the sources of the hwang-ho (yellow river) and the salween, and then returned to russia. his fourth journey in 1883-1885 was to sining (the great trade centre of the chinese borderland), and thence through northern tibet (crossing the altyn tagh to lop nor), and by the cherchen-keriya trade route to khotan. from khotan he followed the tarim to aksu. following prjevalsky the russian explorers, pevtsov and roborovski, in 1889-1890 (and again in 1894), added greatly to our knowledge of the topography of western chinese turkestan and the northern borders of tibet; all these russian expeditions being conducted on scientific principles and yielding results of the highest value. among other distinguished russian explorers in asia, the names of lessar, annentkov (who bridged the trans-caspian deserts by a railway), p.k. kozlov and potanin are conspicuous during the 19th century. other explorations in central asia. although the establishment of a lucrative trade between india and central asia had been the dream of many successive indian viceroys, and much had been done towards improving the approaches to simla from the north, very little was really known of the highlands of the pamirs, or of the regions of the great central depression, before the mission of sir douglas forsyth to yarkand in 1870. robert barkley shaw and george hayward were the european pioneers of geography into the central dominion of kashgar, arriving at yarkand within a few weeks of each other in 1868. shaw subsequently accompanied forsyth's mission in 1870, when henry trotter made the first maps of chinese turkestan. the next great accession to our knowledge of central asiatic geography was gained with the russo-afghan boundary commission of 1884-1886, when afghan turkestan and the oxus regions were mapped by colonel sir t.h. holdich, colonel st george gore and sir adelbert talbot; and when ney elias crossed from china through the pamirs and badakshan to the camp of the commission, identifying the great "dragon lake," rangkul, on his way. about the same time a mission, under captain (afterwards sir willaim) lockhart, crossed the hindu kush into wakhan, and returned to india by the bashgol valley of kafiristan. this was colonel woodthorpe's opportunity, and he was then enabled to verify the results of w.w. m'nair's previous explorations, and to determine the conformation of the hindu kush. in 1885 arthur douglas carey and andrew dalgleish, following more or less the tracks of prjevalsky, contributed much that was new to the map of asia; and in 1886 captain (afterwards sir francis) younghusband completed a most adventurous journey across the heart of the continent by crossing the muztagh, the great mountain barrier between china and kashmir. tibetan explorations. it was in 1886-1887 that pierre g. bonvalot, accompanied by prince henri d'orleans, crossed the tibetan plateau from north to south but failed to enter lhasa. in 1889-1891 the american traveller, w.w. rockhill, commenced his tibetan journeys, and also attempted to reach lhasa, without success. by his writings, as much as by his explorations, rockhill has made his name great in the annals of asiatic research. in 1891 hamilton bower made his famous journey from leh to peking. he, too, failed to penetrate the jealously-guarded portals of lhasa; but he secured (with the assistance of a native surveyor) a splendid addition to our previous tibetan mapping. in 1891-1892-1893 the gallant french explorer, dutreuil de rhins, was in the field of tibet, where he finally sacrificed his life to his work; and the same years saw george n. (afterwards lord) curzon in the pamirs, and st george littledale on his first great tibetan journey, accompanied by his wife. littledale's first journey ended at peking; his second, in 1894-1895, took him almost within sight of the sacred walls of lhasa, but he failed to pass inside. greatest among modern asiatic explorers (if we except prjevalsky) is the brave swede, professor sven hedin, whose travels through the deserts of takla makan and tibet, and whose investigations in the glacial regions of the sarikol mountains, occupied him from 1894 to 1896. his is a truly monumental record. from 1896 to 1898 we find two british cavalry officers taking the front position in the list of tibetan travellers-captain m.s. wellby of the 18th hussars and captain h. deasy of the 16th lancers, each striking out a new line, and rendering most valuable service to geography. the latter continued the pamir triangulation, which had been carried across the hindu kush by colonels sir t.h. holdich and r.a. wahab during the pamir boundary commission of 1895, into the plains of kashgar and to the sources of the zarafshan. since the beginning of the century the work of deasy in western tibet has been well extended by dr m.a. stein and captain c. g. rawling, who have increased our knowledge of ancient fields of industry and commerce in turkestan and tibet. ellsworth huntington threw new light on the tian-shan plateau and the alai range by his explorations of 1903; and sven hedin, between 1899 and 1902, was collecting material in turkestan and tibetan fields, and resumed his journeys in 1905-1908, the result being to revolutionize our knowledge of the region north of the upper tsanpo (see tibet). the mission of sir francis younghusband to lhasa in 1904 resulted in an extension of the indian system of triangulation which finally determined the geographical position of that city, and in a most valuable reconnaissance of the valleys of the upper brahmaputra and indus by captains c.h.d. ryder and c.g. rawling. chinese explorations. meanwhile, in the farther east so rapid has been the progress of geographical research since the first beginnings of investigation into the route connexion between burma and china in 1874 (when the brave augustus margary lost his life), that a gradually increasing tide of exploration, setting from east to west and back again, has culminated in a flood of inquiring experts intent on economic and commercial development in china, essaying to unlock those doors to trade which are hereafter to be propped open for the benefit of humanity. captain william gill, of the indian survey, first made his way across china to eastern tibet and burma, and subsequently delighted the world with his story of the _river of golden sand_. then followed another charming writer, e.c. baber, who, in 1877-1878, unravelled the geographic mysteries of the western provinces of the celestial empire. mark bell crossed the continent in 1887 and illustrated its ancient trade routes, following the steps of archibald colquhoun, who wandered from peking to talifu in 1881. meanwhile, the acquisition of burma and the demarcation of boundaries had opened the way to the extension of geographical surveys in directions hitherto untraversed. woodthorpe was followed into burmese fields by many others; and amongst the earliest travellers to those mysterious mountains which hide the sources of the irrawaddy, the salween and the mekong, was prince henri d'orleans. burma was rapidly brought under survey; siam was already in the map-making hands of james m'carthy, whilst curzon and warrington smyth added much to our knowledge of its picturesque coast districts. no more valuable contribution to the illustration of western chinese configuration has been given to the public than that of c.c. manifold who explored and mapped the upper basin of the yang-tsze river between the years 1900 and 1904, whilst our knowledge of the geography of the russo-chinese borderland on the north-east has been largely advanced by the operations attending the russo-japanese war which terminated in 1905. indian frontiers--afghanistan, baluchistan, persia. turning our attention westwards, no advance in the progress of scientific geography is more remarkable than that recorded on the northern and north-western frontiers of india. here there is little matter of exploration. it has rather been a wide extension of scientific geographical mapping. afghan war of 1878-80; the russo-afghan boundary commission of 1884-1885; the occupation of gilgit and chitral; the extension of boundaries east and north of afghanistan, and again, between baluchistan and persia--these, added to the opportunities afforded by the systematic survey of baluchistan which has been steadily progressing since 1880--combined to produce a series of geographical maps which extend from the oxus to the indus, and from the indus to the euphrates. in these professional labours the indian surveyors have been assisted by such scientific geographers as general sir a. houtum schindler, captain h.b. vaughan and major percy m. sykes in persia, and by sir george robertson and cockerill in kafiristan and the hindu kush. arabia. in still more western fields of research much additional light has been thrown since 1875 on the physiography of the great deserts and oases of arabia. the labours of charles doughty and wilfrid s. blunt in northern arabia in 1877-1878 were followed by those of g. schweinfurth and e. glaser in the south-west about ten years later. in 1884-1885 colonel s.b. miles made his adventurous journey through oman, while theodore bent threw searchlights backwards into ancient semitic history by his investigations in the bahrein islands in 1888 and in hadramut in 1894-1895. northern asia, siberia, &c. in northern asia it is impossible to follow in detail the results of the organized russian surveys. the vast steppes and forest-clad mountain regions of siberia have assumed a new geographical aspect in the light of these revelations, and already promise a new world of economic resources to russian enterprise in the near future. a remarkable expedition by baron toll in 1892 through the regions watered by the lena, resulted in the collection of material which will greatly help to elucidate some of the problems which beset the geological history of the world, proving _inter alia_ the primeval existence of a boreal zone of the jurassic sea round the north pole. general results of investigation. in no other period of the world's history, of equal length of time, has so much scientific enterprise been directed towards the field of asiatic inquiry. the first great result of recent geographical research has been to modify pre-existing ideas of the orography of the vast central region represented by tibet and mongolia. the great highland plateau which stretches from the himalaya northwards to chinese turkestan, and from the frontier of kashmir eastwards to china, has now been defined with comparative geographical exactness. the position of sachu (or saitu) in mongolia may be taken as an obligatory point in modern map construction. the longitude value now adopted is 94 deg. 54' e. of greenwich, which is the revised value given by prjevalsky in the map accompanying the account of his fourth exploration into central asia. other values are as follows:-- prjevalsky, by his second and third explorations 94 deg. 26' krishna . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 deg. 23' carey and dalgleish . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 deg. 48' littledale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 deg. 49' kreitner (with szecheny's expedition) . . . . . 94 deg. 58' the longitude of darchendo, or tachienlu, on the extreme east, may be accepted as another obligatory point. the adopted value by the royal geographical society is 102 deg. 12". krishna gives 102 deg. 15", kreitner 102 deg. 5", baber 102 deg. 18". south and west the bounding territories are well fixed in geographical position by the indian survey determinations of the value of himalayan peaks. on the north the chinese turkestan explorations are now brought into survey connexion with kashmir and india. no longer do we regard the kuen-lun mountains, which extend from the frontiers of kashmir, north of leh, almost due east to the chinese province of kansu, as the southern limit of the gobi or turkestan depression. this very remarkable longitudinal chain is undoubtedly the northern limit of the chang tang, the elevated highland steppes of tibet; but from it there branches a minor system to the north-east from a point in about 83 deg. e. longitude, which culminates in the altyn tagh, and extends eastwards in a continuous water-divide to the nan shan mountains, north of the koko nor basin. thus between tibet and the low-lying sands of gobi we have, thrust in, a system of elevated valleys (tsaidam), 8000 to 9000 ft. above sea-level, forming an intermediate steppe between the highest regions and the lowest, east of lop nor. all this is comparatively new geography, and it goes far to explain why the great trade routes from peking to the west were pushed so far to the north. russo-chinese boundary. on the western edge of the kashgar plains, the political boundary between russia and china is defined by the meridional range of sarikol. this range (known to the ancients as taurus and in medieval times as bolor) like many others of the most important great natural mountain divisions of the world, consists of two parallel chains, of which the western is the water-divide of the pamirs, and the eastern (which has been known as the kashgar or kandar range) is split at intervals by lateral gorges to allow of the passage of the main drainage from the eastern pamir slopes. indian frontiers--afghanistan, &c. in western asia we have learned the exact value of the mountain barrier which lies between merv and herat, and have mapped its connexion with the elburz of persia. we can now fully appreciate the factor in practical politics which that definite but somewhat irregular mountain system represents which connects the water-divide north of herat with the southern abutment of the hindu kush, near bamian. every pass of importance is known and recorded; every route of significance has been explored and mapped; afghanistan has assumed a new political entity by the demarcation of a boundary; the value of herat and of the pamirs as bases of aggression has been assessed, and the whole intervening space of mountain and plain thoroughly examined. persia. although within the limits of western asiatic states, still under asiatic government and beyond the active influence of european interests, the material progress of the eastern world has appeared to remain stationary, yet large accessions to geographical knowledge have at least been made, and in some instances a deeper knowledge of the surface of the country and modern conditions of life has led to the straightening of many crooked paths in history, and a better appreciation of the slow processes of advancing civilization. the steady advance of scientific inquiry into every corner of persia, backed by the unceasing efforts of a new school of geographical explorers, has left nothing unexamined that can be subjected to superficial observation. the geographical map of the country is fairly complete, and with it much detailed information is now accessible regarding the coast and harbours of the persian gulf, the routes and passes of the interior, and the possibilities of commercial development by the construction of trade roads uniting the caspian, the karun, the persian gulf, and india, via seistan. persia has assumed a comprehensible position as a factor in future eastern politics. arabia. in arabia progress has been slower, although the surveys carried out by colonel wahab in connexion with the boundary determined in the aden hinterland added more exact geographical knowledge within a limited area. little more is known of the wide spaces of interior desert than has already been given to the world in the works of sir richard f. burton, wm. gifford palgrave and sir lewis pelly amongst englishmen, and karsten niebuhr, john lewis burckhardt, visconte, joseph halevy and others, amongst foreign travellers. charles doughty and wilfrid s. blunt have visited and illustrated the district of nejd, and described the waning glories of the wahabi empire. but extended geographical knowledge does not point to any great practical issue. commercial relations with arabia remain much as they were in 1875. asia minor, &c. in asia minor, syria and mesopotamia there is little to record of progress in material development beyond the promises held out by the euphrates valley railway concession to a german company. the exact information obtained by the researches of english surveyors in palestine and beyond jordan, or by the efforts of explorers in the regions that lie between the mediterranean and the caspian, have so far led rather to the elucidation of history than to fresh commercial enterprise or the possible increase of material wealth. russia in asia. asiatic russia, especially eastern siberia and mongolia, have been brought within the sphere of russian exploration, with results so surprising as to form an epoch in the history of asia. here there has been a development of the resources of the old world which parallels the best records of the new. chinese turkestan and oxus basin. the great central depression of the continent which reaches from the foot of the pamir plateau on the west through the tarim desert to lop nor and the gobi has yielded up many interesting secrets. the remarkable phenomenon of the periodic shifting of the lop nor system has been revealed by the researches of sven hedin, and the former existence of highly civilized centres of buddhist art and industry in the now sand-strewn wastes of the turkestan desert has been clearly demonstrated by the same great explorer and by dr m.a. stein. the depression westward of the caspian and aral basins, and the original connexion of these seas, have also come under the close investigation of russian scientists, with the result that the theory of an ancient connexion between the oxus and the caspian has been displaced by the more recent hypothesis of an extension of the caspian sea eastwards into trans-caspian territory within the post-pleiocene age. the discovery of shells (now living in the caspian) at a distance of about 100 m. inland, at an altitude of 140 to 280 ft. above the present level of the caspian, gives support to this hypothesis, which is further advanced by the ascertained nature of the kara-kum sands, which appear to be a purely marine formation exhibiting no traces of fluviatile deposits which might be considered as delta deposits of the oxus. in the discussion of this problem we find the names of baron a. kaulbars, annentkov, p.m. lessar, and a.m. konshin prominent. further matter of interest in connexion with the oxus basin was elucidated by the researches of l. griesbach in connexion with the russo-afghan boundary commission. he reported the gradual formation of an anticlinal or ridge extending longitudinally through the great balkh plain of afghan turkestan, which effectually shuts off the northern affluents of that basin from actual junction with the river. this evidence of a gradual process of upheaval still in action may throw some light on the physical (especially the climatic) changes which must have passed over that part of asia since balkh was the "mother of cities," the great trade centre of asia, and the plains of balkh were green with cultivation. in the restoration of the outlines of ancient and medieval geography in asia sven hedin's discoveries of the actual remains of cities which have long been buried under the advancing waves of sand in the takla makan desert, cities which flourished in the comparatively recent period of buddhist ascendancy in high asia, is of the very highest interest, filling up a blank in the identification of sites mentioned by early geographers and illustrating more fully the course of old pilgrim routes. baluchistan and makran. with the completion of the surveys of baluchistan and makran much light has also been thrown on the ancient connexion between east and west; and the final settlement of the southern boundaries of afghanistan has led to the reopening of one at least of the old trade routes between seistan and india. burma and china. farther east no part of asia has been brought under more careful investigation than the hydrography of the strange mountain wilderness that divides tibet and burma from china. in this field the researches of travellers already mentioned, combined with the more exact reconnaissance of native surveyors and of those exploring parties which have recently been working in the interests of commercial projects, have left little to future inquiry. we know now for certain that the great tsanpo of tibet and the brahmaputra are one and the same river; that north of the point where the great countermarch of that river from east to west is effected are to be found the sources of the salween, the mekong, the yang-tsze-kiang and the hwang-ho, or yellow river, in order, from west to east; and that south of it, thrust in between the extreme eastern edge of the brahmaputra basin and the salween, rise the dual sources of the irrawaddy. from the water-divide which separates the most eastern affluent of the brahmaputra, eastwards to the deep gorges which enclose the most westerly branch of the upper yang-tsze-kiang (here running from north to south), is a short space of 100 m.; and within that space two mighty rivers, the salween and the mekong, send down their torrents to burma and siam. these three rivers flow parallel to each other for some 300 m., deep hidden in narrow and precipitous troughs, amidst some of the grandest scenery of asia; spreading apart where the yank-tsze takes its course eastwards, not far north of the parallel of 25 deg. the comparatively restricted area which still remains for close investigation includes the most easterly sources of the brahmaputra, the most northerly sources of the irrawaddy, and some 300 m. of the course of the upper salween. _modern boundary demarcation._--the period from about 1880 has been an era of boundary-making in asia, of defining the politico-geographical limits of empire, and of determining the responsibilities of government. russia, persia, afghanistan, baluchistan, india and china have all revised their borders, and with the revision the political relations between these countries have acquired a new and more assured basis. see also the articles on the different countries. we are not here concerned with understandings as to "spheres of influence," or with arrangements such as the anglo-russian convention of 1907 concerning persia. southern boundary of russia in asia. the advance of russia to the turkoman deserts and the oxus demanded a definite boundary between her trans-caspian conquests and the kingdom of afghanistan. this was determined on the north-west by the russo-afghan boundary commission of 1884-1886. a boundary was then fixed between the hari rud (the river of herat) and the oxus, which is almost entirely artificial in its construction. zulfikar, where the boundary leaves the hari rud, is about 70 m. south of sarakhs, and the most southerly point of the boundary (where it crosses the kushk) is about 60 m. north of herat. from the junction of the boundary with the oxus at khamiab about 150 m. above the crossing-point of the russian trans-caspian railway at charjui, the main channel of the oxus river becomes the northern boundary of afghanistan, separating that country from russia, and so continues to its source in victoria lake of the great pamir. beyond this point the anglo-russian commission of 1895 demarcated a line to the snowfields and glaciers which overlook the chinese border. between the russian pamirs and chinese turkestan the rugged line of the sarikol range intervenes, the actual dividing line being still indefinite. beyond kashgar the southern boundary of siberia follows an irregular course to the north-east, partly defined by the tian-shan and alatau mountains, till it attains a northerly point in about 53 deg. n. lat. marked by the sayan range to the west of irkutsk. it then deflects south-east till it touches the kerulen affluent of the amur river at a point which is shown in unofficial maps as about 117 deg. 30' e. long, and 49 deg. 20' n. lat. from here it follows this affluent to its junction with the amur river, and the amur river to its junction with the usuri. it follows the usuri to its head (its direction now being a little west of south), and finally strikes the pacific coast on about 42 deg. 30' n. lat. at the mouth of the tumen river 100 m. south of the amur bay, at the head of which lies the russian port of vladivostok. at two points the russian boundary nearly approaches that of provinces which are directly under british suzerainty. where the oxus river takes its great bend to the north from ishkashim, the breadth of the afghan territory intervening between that river and the main water-divide of the hindu kush is not more than 10 or 12 m.; and east of the pamir extension of afghanistan, where the beyik pass crosses the sarikol range and drops into the taghdumbash pamir, there is but the narrow width of the karachukar valley between the sarikol and the muztagh. here, however, the boundary is again undefined. eastwards of this the great kashgar depression, which includes the tarim desert, separates russia from the vast sterile highlands of tibet; and a continuous series of desert spaces of low elevation, marking the limits of a primeval inland sea from the sarikol meridional watershed to the khingan mountains on the western borders of manchuria, divide her from the northern provinces of china. from the khingan ranges to the pacific, south of the amur, stretch the rich districts of manchuria, a province which connects russia with the korea by a series of valleys formed by the sungari and its affluents--a land of hill and plain, forest and swamp, possessing a delightful climate, and vast undeveloped agricultural resources. throughout this land of promise russian influence was destroyed by japan in the war of 1904. the possession of port arthur, and direct political control over korea, place japan in the dominant position as regards manchuria. afghan political boundaries. coincident with the demarcation of russian boundaries in turkestan was that of northern afghanistan. from the hari rud on the west to the sarikol mountains on the east her northern limits were set by the boundary commissions of 1884-1886 and of 1895 respectively. her southern and eastern boundaries were further defined by a series of minor commissions, working on the basis of the kabul agreement of 1893, which lasted for nearly four years, terminating with the mohmand settlement at the close of an expedition in 1897. the pamir extension of afghan territory to the north-east reaches to a point a little short of 75 deg. e., from whence it follows the water-divide to the head of the taghdumbash pamir, and is thenceforward defined by the water-parting of the hindu kush. it leaves the hindu kush near the dorah pass at the head of one of the minor chitral affluents, and passing south-west divides kafiristan from chitral and bajour, separates the sections of the mohmands who are within the respective spheres of afghan and british sovereignty, and crosses the peshawar-kabul route at lundi-khana. it thus places a broad width of independent territory between the boundaries of british india (which have remained practically, though not absolutely, untouched) and afghanistan; and this independent belt includes swat, bajour and a part of the mohmand territory north of the kabul river. the same principle of maintaining an intervening width of neutral territory between the two countries is definitely established throughout the eastern borders of afghanistan, along the full length of which a definite boundary has been demarcated to the point where it touches the northern limits of baluchistan on the gomal river. from the gomal baluchistan itself becomes an intervening state between british india and afghanistan, and the dividing line between baluchistan and afghanistan is laid down with all the precision employed on the more northerly sections of the demarcation. baluchistan. baluchistan can no longer be regarded as a distinct entity amongst asiatic nations, such as afghanistan undoubtedly is. baluchistan independence demands qualification. there is british baluchistan _par excellence_, and there is the rest of baluchistan which exists in various degrees of independence, but is everywhere subject to british control. british baluchistan officially includes the districts of peshin, sibi and of thal-chotiali. as these districts had originally been afghan, they were transferred to british authority by the treaty of gandamak in 1879, although nominally they had been handed over to kalat forty years previously. now they form an official province of british baluchistan within the baluchistan agency; and the agency extends from the gomal to the arabian sea and the persian frontier. within this agency there are districts as independent as any in afghanistan, but the political status of the province as a whole is almost precisely that of the native states of the indian peninsula. the agent to the governor-general of india, with a staff of political assistants, practically exercises supreme control. kirman. the increase of russian influence on the northern persian border and its extension southwards towards seistan led to the appointment of a british consul at kirman, the dominating town of southern khorasan, directly connected with meshed on the north; and the acquisition of rights of administration of the nushki district secured to great britain the trade between seistan and quetta by the new helmund desert route. boundary between french territory and india. while british india has so far avoided actual geographical contact with one great european power in asia on the north and west, she has touched another on the east. the mekong river which limits british interests in burma limits also those of france in tongking. the eastern boundaries of burma are not yet fully demarcated on the chinese frontier. at a point level in latitude with mogaung, near the northern termination of the burmese railway system, this boundary is defined by the eastern watershed of the nmaikha, the eastern of the two great northern affluents of the irrawaddy. then it follows an irregular course southwards to a position south-east of bhamo in lat. 24 deg. it next defines the northern edge of the shan states, and finally strikes the mekong river in lat. 21 deg. 45' (approximately). from that point southwards the river becomes the boundary between the shan states and tongking for some 200 m., the channel of the river defining the limits of occupation (though not entirely of interest) between french and british subjects. approximately on the parallel of 20 deg. n. lat. the burmese boundary leaves the mekong to run westwards towards the salween, and thereafter following the eastern watershed of the salween basin it divides the lower burma provinces from siam. area and political division. the following table shows the areas of territories in asia (continental and insular) dependent on the various extra-asiatic powers, and of those which are independent or nominally so:-- territory. sq. m. russian . . . . . . . . . . . . 6,495,970 british . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,998,220 dutch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 586,980 french . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247,580 u.s.a. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114,370 german . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193 turkish . . . . . . . . . . . . . 681,980 chinese . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,299,600 japanese . . . . . . . . . . . . 161,110 other independent territories . 2,232,270 the total area of asia, continental and insular, is therefore somewhat over 16,819,000 sq. m. (but various authorities differ considerably in their detailed estimates). the population may be set down roughly as 823,000,000, of which 330,000,000 inhabit chinese territory, 302,000,000 british, and 25,000,000 russian. (t. h. h.*) [illustration: geological map of asia]