The Russian Amu Daria Flotilla described in 1892

On the river Amu Daria is a flotilla (1) active consisting of the two large steamships Czar and Czaritsa and further more barges, boats and so on. The boats used everywhere were called kaiyuks and towed upstream by men or horses. There were several hundred of kaiyks which were all Khivan owned, flat-bottomed with as dimensions 35-50 length and 2-4 feet depth and could transport 1,000 poods [pounds?] cargo and 150 men. Every summer Kazalinsk was visited by around hundred boats coming from the river Oxus loaded with grain, fruit, timnber and from the Aral Sea limestone. The town Petro-Alexandrofsk in the Amu Daria section of the Syr Daria Province is a terminal station of the Amu Daria flotilla.

Note

1. Sometimes referred to as Oxus-flotilla which is the ancient name for the river Amu Darya in Central Adia flowing through Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Afghanistan.

Source

Journal of the United Service Institution of India, vol. XXI, January 1892, no. 89 p. 224 and 254.