Burnes, Alexander: Travels into Bokhara: containing the narrative of a voyage on the Indus from the sea to Lahore, ... and an account of a journey from India to Cabool, Tartary and Persia ; performed by order of the supreme government of India, in the years 1831, 32, and 33 (Band 3) (London, 1835)

161

chap. n.

the river oxus, or amoo ; with some notice
of the sea of aral.

The Oxus, or Amoo_, is a river of considerable
magnitude and classical celebrity. It was known
to the Greeks under the designation of Oxus : the
Asiatics call it Jihoon and Amoo. Jihoon means a
flood, and is used in all the Turkish and Persian
works that treat upon these countries : but the
inhabitants on its banks now speak of the river
under the name of Amoo, calling it " Durya-i-
Amoo," the River, or, literally, the Sea of Amoo.
I am not aware of any meaning that attaches to
this title. The Oxus rises in the table-lands of
Pamere, and is formed by a variety of rivulets
which collect in that elevated region of Asia. Ac-
cording to the information which I have received,
its source is a degree more northward and east-
ward than appears in Mr. Macartney's map. It is
stated that four rivers, which flow in opposite di-
rections, issue from the vicinity of the lake Surikol:
these are the Oxus, Sir or Jaxartes, one of the
heads of the Indus, and a portion of the waters of
Tibet. The Oxus waters the rich valley of Bu-
dukhshan, where it receives the river of that name,
the greatest of its tributaries, and is afterwards

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