My readers will not feel surprised that we should have but a scanty knowledge of the mineral riches in the three Khanats. Lehmann, and other Russian travellers, who, furnished with sufficient geological knowledge, might have made closer investigations, were thwarted in their efforts at every step by the jealousy of the Tartar officials. I incline, however, to the opinion of Burnes, that Central Asia possesses either no precious metals or extremely few, and that the gold dust in the Zerefshan is not the property of the country, but washed down by the small rivers that rise in the Hindukhush. According to a statement of the Central Asiatics, the mountainous country round Samarkand and in Bedakhshan, the Oveis-Karayne mountains on the left bank of the Oxus (in the Khanat of Khiva), and the Great Balkan in the desert near the Caspian Sea, are rich in metallic wealth. That gold mines really do exist near the upper Oxus, is proved by a certain considerable quantity of gold annually obtained from it, although the gold-washing is carried on in the most primitive and negligent manner. The gold-washing, or more correctly the gold-fishing, is done with camels' tails, of which several are hung up side by side between two poles. People beat them about in the water for some time, or they dip them into the river, and then hang them up. Those places are always chosen where the water is troubled, and the work is generally performed in June and July, the months in the year most fit for the purpose. I doubt whether any gold-dust is exported; it is not probable, since the smaller ornaments are made of native metal, as the Persian goldsmith in Bokhara informed me. Silver is found in Khiva in the above-mentioned mountains, and a considerable quantity of this valuable metal was really gained during the reign of Allahkuli-Khan, when the miners were worked for three years under the management of a native of India, who had been educated for this department. It is said that after the death of this prince he either fled or was murdered. Since that time the mines have been much neglected. I also heard some vague reports of the existence of silver mines near Shehri Sebz. Of precious stones, we must mention first of all the rubies of Bedakhshan, which were formerly of high repute in Asia, under the name of Laali Bedakhshan; at the present day not many of them are found. Cornelian exists in large quantities in the mountain-rivers of Bedakhshan. It is very cheap, and is exported to Arabia, Persia, and Turkey. Lapis lazuli, which is used in dyeing, is of small value in Central Asia, and is exported to Russia and Persia. The turquoise of Bedakhshan and Khokand is far inferior in colour to that of Nishapur in Persia, and is purchased by none but the nomads and Nogay silversmiths; it is of a green instead of a blue colour, and liked far less than the latter.[32] [32] Compare Ritter, "Erdkunke," viii., 326.