The Chimkent district similarly possesses a rich and fertile soil, derived in the main from its network of irrigating canals. Its population is more numerous than other adjacent settlements and it supports altogether seventeen immigrant villages with a population of 5135. Chimkent contains in itself all the features necessary to the development of a wide belt of agriculture; but at the present time the most extensive tracts of wheat land are along the systems of the Aris, Aksu, Badam, Buraldai, Burdjar, Tchayan and Bugun rivers. In the valley of the Arisi, along the middle reaches, there are rice-fields; and in the country round Chimkent the cotton industry has begun to develop. Experiments are being tried in the cultivation of beetroot as the soil and climatic conditions of the district are especially favourable to its growth. The present quality of the Chimkent beetroot is not inferior to that grown in the Kharkoff Government; so that Chimkent may well become, in the near future, the centre of a sugar-producing industry not only for Turkestan but for the whole of Central Asia, which so far has imported its sugar exclusively from European Russia. [Illustration: KIRGHIZ WOMEN] The district town of Chimkent, formerly a Khokand fortress taken by the Russian forces under the command of General Chernaieff September 22, 1864, lies upon the eastern side of the railway. Its population comprises: _Males._ _Females._ _Total._ 6887 5554 12,441 Orthodox Russians 768 Jews 150 Natives 11,523 There are in the _Russian Quarter._ _Native Quarter._ Houses 105 Houses 1886 Orthodox churches 2 Schools 3 Mosques 34 Native schools 16 Government offices similar to those in other towns are also found. The town revenue is 11,760 roubles. The trade returns of the Chimkent district amount to 5,000,000 roubles. _Exports._ _Imports._ Wool } Manufactured goods } Hides } Iron } 3,000,000 Lard } 2,000,000 Agricultural Implements } roubles Butter } roubles Tea } Wheat } Sugar } Santonin } Through Chimkent passes a road from Tashkent to Verni. In the northern part of the district the line runs close to the ruins of the ancient town of Sauran and the fortress of Vani Kurgan, from where it proceeds to Turkestan. This was occupied in 1864 by the Russian forces under the command of General Verevkin. Turkestan is situated 40 versts to the east of the right bank of the Syr Daria, at a height of 102 sagenes above sea level. It is watered by canals diverted from springs and small rivers which flow from the southern slopes of the Kara mountains. The combined population of the place comprises: