Sir Daria

a river of Central Asia. It is known in ancient geography as the Jaxartes. It rises in the Thian-Shan Mountains and flows through a delta into the eastern side of the Aral. The total course is about 1,500 miles, the lower half of which is navigable, not because the river is larger indeed, but because the bed is more level. The Daria, though but a name to New World readers, is a noble stream. It issues from the snows of its mountain home and creates a belt of unsurpassed fertility in an otherwise waterless region. By the aid of irrigation 3,000,000 inhabitants raise large quantities of grain, fruit, vegetables, and cotton. See Samerkand; Turkestan