The Russian Government is making a very insportant experi- ment.
The Oxus now flows into the Sea of Aral. It once flowed into the Caspian, its old bed being still visible enough to be a feature in maps. If it could be brought back, the Russians would have an unbroken and impregnable water communication from the Baltic to the heart of Khiva, and with further improvements to Balkh, would, in fact, be able to ship stores at Cronstadt for Central Asia, and send them without land carriage. The addition to their power would be enormous ; for instance, they could send 10,000 riflemen almost to Afghanistan by water, and without any sound audible to the West,—aud their engineers think it can be secured. An energetic officer, with 1,800 men, is already on the south bank of the Caspian, the natives are reported "friendly," that is, we suppose, quiet, and the Russian Government has the means through its penal regiments of employing forced labour on a great scale. We shall hear a great deal more of this engineer- ing enterprise.
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