© « o ■" -^ ^^^\ ^^^*\'^^^''^^ ""W^^' /^\. ^^»*° '^^^ " -o>^ :^^'^ '-^^o^' r^'^K; -ov^^ xPv*, .-^^^ .'t ^P'?:, .^^°^ '. ft? ^^ /\-^:^'\ o°*.:^>'\ /\c;^.*-o "^^ ^^. ^^H-^ 0^ ^^ o . s * A v*' .^^ /(: SKETCHES OF CENTEAL ASIA. VsA > s > SKETCHES OP CENTRAL ASIA. ADDITIONAL CHAPTERS ON MY TEAVELS, ADVENTURES, AND ON THE ETHNOLOGY OF CENTRAL ASIA. / BY ARMINIUS VAMBERY, PE,0:FESS0R of oriental LANGUAaSS IN THE UNIVERSITY OF PESTH PHILADELPHIA : J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO. Wm. H. ALLEN & CO., 13, WATERLOO PLACE, PALL MALL,. LONDON. 1868. \^All rights irscrved.] ?5 C! 10 15 47 \^ Lewis and Son, Printers, Swan Buildings, Moorgate Street. '2 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. Early the second day we passed the town of Gorlen at a short distance from the shore. The proper land- ing place is a village near, called Ishinidji, and oppo- site to it on the right bank is situated the fort Rehini- berdi Beg, which I mention merely because here begins the mountain chain of Oveis Karayne, extendmg from south-east to north.* At iirst sight it bears much resemblance, as well in height as in its formation, to the Great Balkan in the desert, between Khiva and Astrabad : but on a nearer approach its larger circum- ference soon becomes apparent, and the luxuriant vege- tation and the woods with which several of its heights are clothed, present a scene of agreeable surprise. On one of them is said to be the tomb of Oveis Karapie. a celebrated place of pilgrimage in Khiva, and in the distance we discovered seA^eml buildings, which Rehim- berdi Beg had erected for the convenience of the devo- tees. Further on is the Munadjat daghi (mount of devotion), which is pointed out as the resting place of a holy lady, called Amberene (Mother Ambra). Holy women are not often met with in Sunnitic Islamism; tliere are. however, a few of them in Central Asia, which may be taken as a fresh proof that Islamism * Oreii? KaraTiio is the name of a faithful follower of Mohammed, who out of love to the Prophet had all his teeth knocked out, the latter hariiiE; lost two of his front teeth in jhe battle at Ohud, thi-ough a blow from the enemy's weapon. After Mohammed's death lie eveu intended to found an Order, with this self-mutilation as a condition of membership ; but his efforts proved nn- sucoessfvd. The assertion, that he came to Khiva and died there, belongs rather to the region of fiction. FROM KHIVA TO KUNGRAT AND BACK. 133 does not treat the fair sex with such unnatural harsh- ness as people in Europe are apt to imagine. As to my lady Amberene, tradition tells us that, a Zuleikha in beauty, a Fatima in virtue, she was hated and after- wards expelled by her husband, solely because she pro- fessed the Mohammedan religion, of which he was an arch-enemy. Driven from her princely abode m Ur- gendj, she was obhged to take refuge in this wild spot, and would have died of starvation but for a hind which appeared daily at the entrance of her cave, wait- ing to be milked, and then again disappeared. Who, in hearing this tale, is not reminded of the story of Genoveva ? The Parisians in those days were not better than the Q^^zbegs of to-day ; nor can we fail to be struck mth the identity that exists in fables of social and re- ligious hfe, among nations living widely separated from each other. After leaving Gorlen we went on for about four hours down stream, and came to Yengi yap, an insigni- ficant hamlet, surrounded by earth walls, and about one hour and a half distant from the river. Two hours later we reached the district of Khitayi, which begins where the Yumalak, a conical hill, rises close to the left bank. On the right the Oveis mountains ap- proach nearer and nearer to the Oxus, and soon we passed the prominent peak Yamj)uk, crowned with the rums of an old castle. Opposite Yumalak the moun- tam chain. Sheikh Djeli, which runs from east to west, forms a very narrow channel (here called kis- 134 SKETCHES OE CENTEAL ASIA. nak), much narrower than the Iron Gates on the Danube, and often dangerous to navigation from the force and rapidity of the current. The waters here roar, as if the Oxus, that unruly son of the desert, were angry at being so imprisoned between the rocks. The narrowest part is, however, very short; on the left bank the mountains terminate abruptly, while on the right bank the high lands gradually slope, and after having passed Tama, which lies on the left, the country is everywhere flat. With the mountains dis- appeared every romantic feature along the banks of the Oxus. After a voyage of two days our eyes and imagination were fully satisfied, and although the morning and evening hours had their charms, yet the heat became intolerable in the day-time, and the mos- quitoes and flies at night — insects, in comparison with which the Golumbacz on the Lower Danube are harm- less and insignificant as butterflies. As soon as the sun began to set, every one crept carefully under the mosquito-net, made, of course, of hnen, the air under which had become so thoroughly poisoned by my fellow-travellers, that I felt keenly not to be able to exchange it for the purer air outside. Towards even- uig we reached the district of Mangit, which has a town of the same name, about two hours' distance from the river, but not Adsible from the boat on account of a small wood which intervenes. Here we remained for some tmie moored along the bank, and having comfortably cooked our dinner in the open air, PROM KHIVA TO KUJSfORAT AND BACK. 135 instead of ou the narrow hearth in the boat, we contiaued our voyage. We reached Basuyap, after another hour's journey, at night, much to the regret of my friend, who had been anxious to pay a visit with me to a very celebrated Nogdi Ishan, who re- sided there, m order to ask his advice and blessing on the journey he had undertaken. These Nogdi^ who fled hither to escape the Russian authorities or the conscription, are m Central Asia regarded as martyrs to freedom and Islamism, and revered as such; but I have frequently met among them the most consummate rascals, and thought that they had probably run away from a fully merited chastisement. Early in the morning we passed Kiptchak, which is the second stage on the journey, and lies on both sides of the Oxus. At this place a rock rises from the water, which, extending across the river, narrows the channel by more than half its ividth, and renders the navigation so extremely dangerous, that it is never attempted, except at broad dayhght. At low water some of the points are visible, and it is no uncommon thing to see children, a foot deep in water, clambering upon them. Kiptchak itself is a place of considerable importance, uihabited by an (Ezbeg tribe of the same name, and possesses several mosques and colleges. Of the latter, the college situated on the right bank of the river was founded by Khodja Niaz, and is deservedly celebrated 136 'SItETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. for its rich endowments. Not far from this building, which stands separately, is seen the ruin Tchilpik, on a hill rising close to the water. Tradition asserts that in ancient times it was a strong castle, and the residence of a Prmcess, who, having fallen in love with one of her father's slaves, and dreading the anger of her offended parent, fled hither for refuge with her lover. In order to obtam water, they were obliged to pierce the hill doAvnwards to the river, and the subterranean passage exists at the present day. From Kiptshak up the stream beghis the forest already mentioned, which extends with few interrup- tions along the right bank of the river to some distance beyond Kungrat. 1 could not see from the boat hoAV far its breadth stretched eastward, but 1 have been assured that it is from eight to ten hours' journey. Its approach from the river is intercepted by bogs and morasses, which render it only in a few places accessible. In the less thickly-wooded parts graze numberless herds of cattle, the property of the Kara- kalpaks, who find abundance of game in the forest, but sometimes suffer greatly from the numerous wild beasts, especially panthers, tigers, and lions, which infest that district. From here to Gorlen the stream has so many shallows, that we were incessantly strik- ing aground. The left bank rises to an elevated plateau, which extends far in a north-westerly direc- tion, and is called Yilanku^ (the field of serpents) by the natives. On the western frontier of the desert it FROM KHIVA TO KUNGRAT AND BACK. 137 forms a declivity as steep as the Kaflankir, or the whole table-land of Ustyurt. The population of this region consists of Jomut- Turkomans and Tchaudors; the former lead a nomadic life near the river, and in the country round Porsu and Yilali ; the latter inhabit the skirts of the desert and the several oases of the Ustyurt. Both tribes, as may well be imagmed, live in constant feud with each other, — a condition as much to their disadvantage, as it is to the advantage of the OEzbegs, the immediate neighbourhood of a strong and united nomad people proving always most dangerous to the dwellers in settled habitations. On the evening of the third day we stopped at Khodja Hi,* a town about two hours' distance from the river. Most of the inhabitants derive their origin from Khodja, and they are not a little proud of com- parmg theh^ ancestry with that of the other Qi^zbegs. The whole district is thickly populated, and the left bank forms as far as Noksf an uninterrupted cham of wood and cultivated land. Here is one of the most dangerous places in the Oxus, a waterfall, which at the time of our voyage rushed down from the height of three feet with the swiftness of an arrow and with * Khodja Hi. — The people of the Khodja, or descendants of the prophets, a considerable number of whom inhabit this part of the country. Thej have as much a purely Q^zbeg physiognomy, as the numerous Seids in Persia bear the stamp of an Iranic origin. The former, however, enjoy considerably more privileges. t In the map to my " Travels in Central Asia," N5ks has by mistake been confounded with Khodja Hi; the former also is full an hour farther from Kungrat than is there stated. 138 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. a tremendous noise, which is heard at the distance of more than a league. The natives call it Kazankitken, i.e.^ the spot where the cauldrons went to the bottom, since a vessel laden with these utensils is said to have been lost here. Full fifteen minutes before reaching the waterfall the boats are brought close to the shore, and carefully towed along. From here down the stream the river has formed by inundations very con- siderable lakes, which communicate with one another by small natural canals, which seldom dry up entirely. The largest are : Kuyruklu Kol and Sari Tchongul. The former is said to extend for several days' journey far towards the north-east; the latter is smaller in circumference, but much deeper. We passed Noks on the fourth day. Even on the left bank we saw cultivation gradually decreasiug as we advanced ; the river on both sides is bordered with forests, and forms half-way to Kungrat a broad and rather deep canal, called Ogiizkitken, which takes a south-westerly direction and falls into the lake Shor- katchi. Efforts have been made to cut off the latter from the large stream by raising dykes, but in vain, and the immense extent of water renders the naviga- tion here exceedingly troublesome. The forest ter- minates at the tomb of a saint, called Afakkhodja, and the district of Kungrat begins, covered, as far as the eye can reach, with gardens, fields and " havlis." The town itself did not become visible until the even- ing of the fifth day, after we had passed the run of a FROM KHIVA TO KUNGliAT AND BACK. 139 fortress built by the rebel Torebeg at the time of Mehemmed Emin, and a whirlpool near it. Our stay in this most northerly town of the Khanat of Khiva was of very short duration, since my young companion, having lost his parents a year before, was not long in taking leave of the relative who dwelt here, and himself urged a speedy return. The town has a far more miserable appearance than those in the south, and is chiefly known for its large fairs, to which the nomads of the neighbourhood resort, offering for sale large quantities of cattle, butter, carpets of felt, camels' hair and wool. A brisk trade is also carried on in fish, especially dried fish, which are brought from the sea of Aral, and sent afterwards from here all over the Khanat. I must mention as a very re- markable fact, that I met here with two Russians, who had turned Mahometans, and lived in the full enjoyment of a comfortable dwelling-house, a flourish- ing farmstead, and a numerous family. They were prisoners of the Perowsky Army, and received their liberty from Mehemmed Emin Khan, under the con- dition that they would adopt Islamism. One of them has been presented with a Persian slave : the dark- brown daughter of Iran and the fair-haired son of the north five very happily together, and although the latter has several times had the opportunity of return- ing to his native home, he has not been able to form the resolution of quittting his adopted fatherland on the banks of the Oxus. 140 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. In conclusion, I will state the scanty information I gathered here about the further course of the Oxus from Kungrat to its embouchure in the Sea of Aral. At two hours' distance from this town, going down stream, the river divides into two great arms, which are little distinguished from each other. The right one, which keeps the name of Amu Derya, reaches the lake first, but in consequence of its many ramifications it is too shallow, and at low water extremely difS.cult to navigate. The left arm, which bears the name of Tarlik (the strait)* is narrow, but of a certain depth throughout, and is little used, simply on account of the great circuit it makes on its way to the lake. The traffic on the Lower Oxus is inconsiderable, and not to be compared with that which enlivens the river between Tchihardjuy and Kungrat, where it forms the principal commercial highway between Bokhara and Khiva. In autumn it is chiefly fishing which takes the ffizbegs to the sea, and the trade m dried sea-fish is m all three Khanats an important one. It has * Not Taldyk, as Admiral Butakoff called it in his treatise, read on the 11th of March, 1867, before the Greographical Society in London, nor can I agree with him about the two extreme arms of the Delta, of which he calls the eastern Yenghi, and the western Laudan. It is possible that it may have been so formerly, in consequence of the frequent changes of the water-course ; but at present this is no longer the case I learned from the most authentic source, that the name of Laudan is given only to the dry bed of the Oxus, which, beginning at Kiptchak, runs in a westerly direction past Kohne Urgendj^ Butakoff designates the middle branch by the name of Ulkun, and here I must remark, that this word meaning " great," is always added to the name of the chief stream. Ulkun, more correctly Ulken, is consequently identical with my Amu Derya. FROM KHIVA TO KUNGRAT AND BACK. 141 become an almost indispensable article to the inhabit- ants of the steppes, from their being too parsimonious to feed on meat, in spite of their wealth in cattle, and therefore preferring, as they do, dried fish as its sub- stitute. In the spruig, on the other hand, it is the wild geese, large numbers of which are found around the several mouths of the river, which tempt all those who are fond of shooting to the shores of the Sea of Aral. At this season of the year also most pilgrim- ages take place, undertaken by pious OEzbegs to the tomb of Tokmak Baba, which is situated upon an island of the same name, near these outlets. This saint is revered as the patron of fishermen, and rests under a small mausoleum, in the inner cell of which have been carefully preserved through remote ages his clothes and cooking utensils, among which a caul- dron is an object of peculiar veneration. I was told, that even the Russians very rarely land on this island, although access to it has been greatly facilitated by steam-vessels, and that in case they do visit it, they never touch these relics, — as if moved by involuntary feelings of respect. In surveying the whole course of this remarkable river, from its source on the Ser-i-kul (beginnmg of the sea) down to its embouchure, we perceive firstly, that it is not, as Burnes asserts, navigable throughout its entire length, but on the contrary, that only from Kerki, or rather from Tchihardjuy down stream can it be used for large and small craft. Upwards from 142 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. these towns we meet nothing but rafts, carrying fuel and timber, in which the slopes of the Bedakhshan mountains abound, and supplying the scantily wooded plains, but seldom used by families emigrating to the Lower Oxus. Between Hezaresp and Eltchig, a part of the river which forms one stage on the way to Bokhara, larger boats already are used from and to Khiva, which carry goods and victuals ; but the greatest traffic is undoubtedly on that part of the river, which flows in the Khanat of Khiva, where the river, with its many towns along its banks, affords a favourite and cheap means, up as well as down stream, for the transport of large freight, and is used among the poorer classes even for personal mter- communication. Secondly, it ajDpears to me (I abstain from making any assertion, not possessing sufficient knowledge on the subject), that the Oxus has scarcely the capabih- ties of becoming the powerful artery for traffic and communication in Central Asia, which politicians, when speaking of the future of Turkestan, confidently expect. It never can become of the same importance as the Yaxartes, whose waters at this very moment are ploughed by Russian steamers, a conjecture suf- ficiently warranted by the fact, that the Russians entered Turkestan with their flotilla of the Sea of Aral, not by the Oxus, but by the Yaxartes, a river far less favourable to their plans of occupation. It has been urged, that the uninhabited shores of this last-named river are of greater importance to the FEOM KHIVA TO KUNGEAT AND BACK. 143 Court of St. Petersburg ; but this is a worthless argu- ment, and rests solely on our want of geographical knowledge with respect to Central Asia. With steamers on the Oxus, the Russians would not only have been able to keep the Khanat of Khiva in check, to garrison the fortress of Kungrat, Kipt- shak and Hezaresp, but they would have had the power of introducing with the greatest ease a strong corps cParmee by Karakul into Bokhara, and thus into the very heart of Central Asia, had not the extra- ordinary physical difficulties of this route rendered such a scheme impracticable. Moreover, of this the Russians themselves became sufficiently convinced, when making their very first appearance in Central Asia. Apart from the waterfall at Khodja Hi, the dangerous cliffs near Kiptchak and the Kisnak near Yampuk, the Oxus offers perhaps the greatest dif- ficulties to navigation in its numerous sandbanks, which in some parts extend for many miles, and at the same time undergo such rapid changes in con- sequence of the large quantity of sand the stream carries along with it, that it is quite impossible to take observations, and even the most experienced steersman can do no more than guess the navigable channel by the colour, but can never indicate it with confidence or certamty. Thirdly, to regulate this stream, which at the beginning of the spring, and during the latter part of the autumn, is almost two- thirds smaller than in summer, would be of the greatest 144 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. disadvantage to the inhabitants, since its numerous arms and canals not only are necessary for the cultiva- tion of their fields, but supply \vith drinking water even the most distant parts of the country, to say nothiag of the rapid current rendering such an under- taking extremely difficult. If the Khan of Khiva wanted to declare war against some rebellious part of his country, he would first of all cut ofi" the canals and aqueducts, a stroke of policy which would be felt most severely ; and a government, which were to shut the sluices in order to increase the water ui the bed of the Oxus, would commit an act equivalent to a declaration of hostilities against the whole country at once. Not only has the Oxus extremely rapid currents, but it continually deviates from its original channel. These deviations in the lower part of the river begin after its bend near Hezaresp, and are far more numerous than is generally supposed. Upon enquir- ing of the inhabitants about them, they reckoned up more than eight on each side, and although they may have included in this estimate former canals, never- theless its irregularity must be admitted. Taking this view, there is very little difficulty m agreeing with Sir Henry Rawlinson, who founded his assertion on a very valuable Persian manuscript, that m former times the Sea of Aral had no existence whatever. The journey from Kungrat to Khiva is generally made by land, since it requires from eighteen to twenty days up stream. The transport of freight is made b}^ FROM KHIVA TO KUNGRAT AND BACK. 145 "water. There are three roads by land ; 1, by Kohne Urgends, which is called the summer route, and avoids the lakes, outlets and arms of the Oxus, which at that season of the year are full to overflowing. This route is the longest, 56 farsakh* in length; 2, by Khodja Hi, a distance of 40 farsakh, which the traveller prefers in the winter, all the waters being frozen; and 3, the road on the right bank of the Oxus by Shurakhan, which makes several detours^ and runs through a great many sand-steppes. Our return journey had to be made with all possible speed, but nevertheless we were obliged to take the long road by Kohne Urgendj. We had the good fortune to join a party of travellers, of whom some were going to Kohne Urgendj, others to Khiva. All were capitally mounted, and even the horses placed at our disposal "lillah" (out of pious benevolence) were young, vigorous animals, and, as we carried no luggage except a few biscuits with a small store of provisions for our journey, we rode briskly along in spite of the heat, which even in the early morning made itself felt. Leaving the gate of the town behind us, we rode across the well- cultivated district of Kungrat, keepmg always a north-westerly direction, and then crossing a barren tract of country, came to a large stagnant water, called Atyolu^ which is marked out as the first stage, and is 7 farsakh long. A bridge leads over a narrow part of it, and here the road diverges * Farsakh {i.e., iTapa(Tayyy)s), a Persian league, about 18,000 feet in length. 10 146 SKETCHES or CEXTEAL ASIA. in two parts, the one of which skirts a low mountain, called Kazak Orge, and, crossing the great plateau of Ustyurt, goes to Orenburg; the other leads to Kohne Urgendj. We took the latter route, and passing through forests and sandy tracts, now* and then came in sight of some ruin on either side of the road, of which two were pointed out as being worthy of notice; — Karagombez (black dome), near which a salt is found as clear and white as ciystal, and the finest in the Khanat, and Barsakilmez (he who goes does not return), a dangerous spot, inhabited even at the present day by evU spirits, and where many, who went there from curiosity, have lost their hves. After a long ride of five hours we reached the second station, called Kahilbeg HavIL It is an isolated :fermstead, but, m accordance with an old custom of the proprietors, we were received and treated with great -hospitahty, and remembering that we had the prospect of a long ride of eight hours from here to the next stage, Kiziltchagalan^ our kind host had not for- gotten to provide us at breakfast with meat and bread. It was still dark when we started. Our companions were examiniug their weapons with the utmost care, which made me fear that we might j>erhaps have to pass some hostile tribe of the Turkomans; but they removed my uneasiness on this point, cautionmg me at the same time that we should have to travel the whole day long in a thick forest, in which there were many lions, panthers and wild boars, which sometimes FEOM KHIVA TO KUNGRAT AND BACK. 147 have been kno^vn to attack the traveller. They added, that although they never reached the place of danger till broad daylight, yet they invariably moved forward with the greatest circumspection, and, above all, put great confidence in their horses, which no sooner prick up their ears, or begin to snort, than each and all seize their weapons. It is well known that lions and panthers in a climate like that of Central Asia are far less dangerous than their brethren in India and Africa, and therefore I did not share the fears of my young Tartar companion ; on the contrary, I rather longed for adventure and the excitement of the chase. The Qllzbeg, however, like a true Asiatic, possesses an excitable imagmation; there was neither trace nor sound to indicate that we were near the abode of the king of animals, and we saw nothing but some herds of wild boars, who with a loud crash made their way through the thick underwood, and an immense, nay, fabulous number of Guinea-fowl and pheasants, of which we made rich spoil for our evening halt. These birds are in this part of the country of a much finer flavour than in Mazendran, the OEzbegs also understand far better than the Persians to dress and cook them. Emerging from the forest, we soon came in sight of the fortified place Kiziltshagalan, which is inhabited by Qj^zbegs. We arrived there in good time, and the following morning continued our road across a district inhabited by Yomuts. Kohne Urgendj is considered the fourth station, although the journey thither does not occupy above 148 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. three hours. This ancient metropohs of far-famed Kharezm, in Central Asia, is the poorest of all those cities in Asia which have shared the same fate, and however much its former splendour is extoUed in word and writuig, I could not help feelmg at the sight of its still existing rums, that it had been the centre of no higher than Tartar civilisation. The town of the present day is small, dirty and insignificant, although it must have been much larger m former times, to judge from the rums that he scattered out- side the wall. These rums are not older than the Islamitic era, and date from the reign of Shahi Kha- rezmian, an epoch of a higher culture. The most re- markable object here is the mosque of Torebeg Khanim (not Khan), of which I have already made mention in my " Travels," and which is larger and more splendid than Hazreti Pehlivan. The latter, nevertheless, has been considered hitherto the finest monument m Khiva, and it must be admitted that with its works in Kashi (glazed tiles), in which throughout the yellow colour predommates, it is not mferior to any architectural monument of the same kind in Turkestan. Further is seen the mausoleums of Sheikh Sheref with a his^h azure dome, of Piriyar, the father of the very celebrated Pehlivan, and of Sheikh Nedshm ed-din Klibera. The latter has of late been restored from decay by the libe- rality of Mehemmed Emm Khan. I was told that there are m the neighbourhood several towers and walls built '^f stone, such as Puldshoydu (money destroyed) which is distant three hours' journey. Whenever a storm FROM KHIVA TO KUNGRAT AND BACK. 149 ploughs up the sand-hills there, corns and vessels of gold and silver are discovered, and people who take the trouble of siftmg the sand, find frequently their labour amply requited. There is also the Aysanem, or double kiosk of Aysanem and Shahsanem, the famous pair of lovers, whose romantic fate forms the subject of a collection of songs frequently sung by the native minstrels. The name appears to be a stereo- typed name for any two isolated ruins, since there are Shahsanems to be found in other parts of Khiva and Bokhara, as well as in the neighbourhood of Herat, and everywhere the same legends are recorded of them with few variations. At Kohne Urgendj the road divides, both branches running at a small distance from each other. The one less frequented runs by Porsu and Yilali, and is taken by people who travel m large parties; the proximity of the maraudmg tribes of the Tshaudors and Yomut Turkomans, rendering the road, at least as far as Tashhauz, very insecure. The second road, nearer the Oxus, rmis with few mterruptions along its banks, a tract of country strewn with farmsteads (Havlis), villages and hamlets. This road is generally taken in summer, although it is the longer of the two, and also more troublesome .on account of the many ditches and canals for irrigation. Whereas, a caravan must keep together as far as Tashhauz on the former road, travellers on the latter may- part company as early as at Kiptchak, and each continue his way separately. CHAPTER X. MY TARTAR. 1 CAXXOT conooivo it possible to imagine a greater eoTitrast than an Asiatic, and more particularly a Cen- tral Asiatic, who, as late as two years ago, wrapt in his national garb of ample width, hanging about him in loose folds, ^^-as feeding on the simple and primitive fare of a nomadic people, and who, at the present mo- ment, booted and spurred, moves about in the closely- fitting costume of the Hungarians, and is already ac- customed to the iood and manners of the West; one, who, destined to lead the life of a Mollah, once spent his time hi the lonely cell of the ]\Iedresse jMehemmed Emui at Khiva, absorbed either in prayer or in the doc- trines of Islamism, and who is now seen tiu-nmg over the large folios in the library of a European academy, acquainted with books on philosophy, or the histor}^ of the Avorld and religion, Greek and Latin literature, and numberless authors besides ; who scarcely ever had heard the name of Europe, or had heard it mentioned only in terms of the utmost abhorrence ; who knew no other institutions, no other phases or aspects of men and thino's, but those in his own wild Eiistern world, and MY TARTAR. ' 151 recognised these alone as true and reasonable; — and who now is reading the leading articles of European newspapers, discussing the different politics of Western countries, and unhesitatingly making the boldest com- parisons between the Eastern and Western hemispheres. These are certainly clear and sharply-defined con- trasts, and such contrasts my friend the Mollah exhibits '"'' in propria persond^^'' — the Hadji whom I brought with me from Central Asia, whom I met with whilst on his way to Mekka, who became my companion and asso- ciate, and who, instead of the holiest of holy cities, now Uves with me in the metropolis of Hungary. How I succeeded in inducing him to form this resolu- tion has been to many a matter of the liveliest curiosity to know; nor were their enquiries less eager as to the impression made upon him by my metamorphosis from the pious dervish into the European traveller. One fundamental error ran through all these enquiries, — namely, the strange behef that my change had been as sudden as that of the chr}^salis to the butterfly. It was, on the contraiy, extremely gradual, and its vari- ous phases are the more interesting, since they illus- trate in a striking manner the difference between Eastern and Western hfe. The history of my trans- formation, in fact, deserves to be given in detail. I first met my Tartar, as I mentioned before, in Khiva. A ^lollah, young and animated with a desire for travelling, he was in search of a companion on his journey to Mekka, and in the full belief to find in me 152 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. a Turk and a Mohamedan, the most suitable fellow- traveller, he at once attached himself to me with the utmost ardour and devotion. During the early part of our acquaintance he saw in me merely the learned Mollah, the wild zealot, whom he approached mth the greatest veneration, listening most attentively to every word that fell from my lips. Such was the relation that existed between us throughout our journey to Bokhara, Samarkand, and Karshi, as far as the banks of the Oxus. Here I became rnore confidential towards him : occasionally I put off somewhat the disguise of my aiFected sanctity ; we grew more and more intimate by degrees; our slender store of provisions was put into one common bag, and as he was thoroughly honest and true-hearted, his sincere and loyal friendship be- came a great support and comfort to me on my sohtary and perilous journey. Only slowly, and with difficulty, could he accustom himself to a real and mutual inti- macy; and on our beggmg expeditions he would take upon himself, as his own undisputed task, to collect the heavy contributions, such as wood, flour, &c., whilst he left to me the less onerous business of col- lecting the pence. In the evening he made it his duty to prepare the supper, and, after having served the rice on a piece of rag or a board, it was always a mat- ter of conscience with him not to touch it until I had twice helped myself with my hands. I. do not know whether veneration or conscience inspired him with this excessive respect, but, be the cause what it may, MY TARTAR. 153 he invariably shrank from placing himself in a position of equality. Not mshing to spoil his pleasure, I there- fore let him do exactly as he pleased. On our journey from the Oxus to Herat, my feigned devoutness visibly decreased in exact proportion as the distance between me and fanatic Bokhara kept increas- ing. Prayers, ablutions, pious meditations — aU became less frequent. My Tartar, no doubt, observed this, but it did not seem to trouble him, and he accommo- dated himself ungrudgingly to his master. His ques- tions on religion were fewer, but he listened instead with more eager attention to my descriptions and nar- ratives of the foreign land of the ' Frengi,' and the pictures I drew of those marvellous countries of the West. Such lectures as these were usually delivered during our night marches, when we were riding alone in intimate converse, and at some distance from the caravan. The pleasure I felt in being able to talk of my beloved West in a barbarous country, surrounded as I was with dangers in so doing, was not greater than my Tartar's astonishment when he heard that there were towns more beautiful than Bokhara, and countries where it was possible to travel without fear of robbers or of dying with thii^st. He was especially struck when I assured him that the ' Frens^is,' so far from being the savage, pitiless cannibals, such as they had been represented to him, possessed heart and feel- ing, and that they were iniinitely superior to their reputed character in the East. Under different cir- 154 SKETCHES OF CENTEAL ASIA. cumstances he might have doubted the truth of my assertions; but as I, the Efendi, his teacher and master, assured him of these facts, he placed implicit belief in all I told him. No wonder that I was pleased with his thirst for knowledge and his loyalty, and that I in return became greatly attached to my young Tar- tar. Moreover, he kept as much as possible aloof from the other Central Asiatics, his countrymen, uniting himself more closely to my society. As soon as I perceived — which I could not fail to do before long — that something could be made of the young man, I resolved not to let him leave me, but, if possible, to take him with me to Europe. If such was my determi- nation long before we came to Herat, it was still further strengthened by the brilliant proofs of his attachment and fidelity which he showed to me during our resi- dence in this town. Here, as is already known, my sufferings and privations reached their climax. Totally without means, I had not unfrequently to bear all the torments of hunger; and whenever, at this advanced season of the year, the cold prevented my sleeping duruig the night, it was my young Tartar who honestly shared with me his poor thin rags, in order to procure for me a warmer covering and a quiet sleep. During these six weeks that we spent in Herat we suiFered, indeed, greatly; but I tried to strengthen the courage of my companion by assuring him that we should meet with certain help in Persia. The idea that a pious Sunnite should fare well m the heretical country MY TARTAR. 155 of the Shiites, appeared to him sufficiently droll; but the child-like innocence of his heart, and his unaffected confidence in me, prevented his making any further conjectures. He looked, like myself, with intense longing to the frontiers of Iran, and the capital of Khorassan. At last we arrived in Meshed. The hearty friendship of the Enghsh officer here, and his kindness towards me as well as my companion, were at first a great puzzle to my Tartar. He knew Dolmage was a Frengi ; — what strange thoughts must have crossed his mind, in his astonishment at seeing me, the pious Mohamedan, his " chef spirituel," sit for hours in the company of an unbeliever, talking with him hi a foreign language, nay, eating with him out of one and the same dish. The servants of the English officer, and indeed every one in the town, repeatedly declared to him their opinion that his master was a Frengi in disguise. He shuddered at the thought, and although he heard these suspicions with feelings of anger and indignation, yet he never questioned me on this point, and his firm faith m me remained unshaken. Moreover, his at- tachment to me naturally increased, from findmg in me at all times a friend and protector, especially on our journey to Teheran, when, on account of his Tartar costume, he had frequently to encounter the ill-will of the vindictive Shiites. On my part, again, it was, I consider, no small risk, to travel for a whole month alone with this man, to pass whole nights alone with 156 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. him in desolate spots. Let one single evil thought arise in his heart, and it would have been an easy matter for him to kill me during my noon-day slum- bers on the open road, and, carrying with him my horses, weapons and money, to escape into the desert northward to the Turkomans. But I never harboured any such suspicion. Fully confiding in him, I en- trusted to his charge my musket, sword and horse; when tired and fatigued I stretched myself out upon the sand and slept soundly and securely, whilst he acted as sentinel; for at the very beginning of our acquaintance I had discovered that he had a true heart, and I cannot say that I have ever once been mistaken in this respect. It was in Shahrud where he saw me for a second time embrace an unbeliever. He was struck by it, and said: " My master, thou art truly wise, in always associating with the Frengis; for these Persians, al- though they believe in the Koran and m Mohammed, are, by heaven! a hundred times worse than the un- believers ! " On this occasion he expressed to me also, after having met a second Englishman, his surprise at finding these Frengis, both " outwardly and inwardly, such agreeable persons;" and yet he found it difficult to approach them. He would stare at them and scru- tinize them for hours, proving clearly that, although he had partly got rid of his deeply-rooted prejudices, a certain degree of shyness and reserve was still cling- ing to him. MY TARTAR. 157 During the latter part of our inarch towards the Persian capital, my joyous feehngs occasionally woke within me some long-forgotten song or melody. I began first to whistle, and then to smg, popular airs of certain operas. Whisthng is not practised m the East, and regarded as extremely frivolous and inde- corous; nevertheless, he was greatly pleased with the charming melodies from the Troubadour, Lucia, and others. He asked me with great naivete, whether in Mekka people recited the Koran with these accompani- ments, and was greatly astonished when I rephed in the negative. It was at the post station of Ahuan for the first time he heard me called by my European name. This name touched the tenderest fibres of his heart, and no doubt he struggled long and painfully before he found the courage to question me. I rephed, that I would give him an answer m Teheran, and this set him at rest for a time. On my arrival in Teheran, I lodged with my old friends in the Turkish embassy. The young Efendis, who represented the Sultan, were fashionable European diplomatists, bearing the signs of Frengiism in far stronger colours than myself. This lessened his suspicions ; and when I enhghtened him on the modern civilization of his Sunnitic brethren in the West, he gradually became aware of the immense gulf between Stamboul and Bokhara. He was told of the continuous efforts of the Osmanlis to assimilate themselves as much as possible to the Western conn- 158 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. tries and their culture, and he could not help following this example himself. If we take into account, that he saw and heard nothing but what was good and excellent of the few Frengis whom he had hitherto had the opportunity of knowing, it was natural that his hatred and his prejudices should vanish day by day. In Teheran he made the acquaintance of a country- man of mine, Mr. Szanto, who frequently came to see me, and with whom he was soon on terms of intimacy. Szanto told him with no small joy, that he and his master (he meant me) were the only Magyars in Per- sia. The Magyars, moreover, the philologizmg tailor added, are the kindred of the Osmanlis, — a statement the Tartar felt surprised at, but which did not exactly disquiet him, our long intercourse and friendship re- concihng him to all he saw and heard. And seeing in me more affection and kindness than in the genuine Turk, the trifling difference as to nationality troubled him very little. He roved about cheerfully in Tehe- ran, making himself acquainted with the manners and language of the Persians, and was extremely glad, when, after a residence of several weeks, we were saddling our horses once more for our journey to Con- stantinople. Hitherto no other plan had been talked of, but that he was to accompany me as far as Constantinople, and from thence go on to Mekka by Alexandria. Buti soon I perceived that this original plan no longer pleased MY TAETAR. 159 him, and that he intended to do otherwise. Our hfe in the Turkish embassy m Teheran, where everything was arranged after the European manner, and our fre- quent intercourse with other embassies, had shown him a part of Western life in a very pleasant aspect, and awakened in him the desire to visit with me these wonderful countries. Nor is it difficult to understand how his original longing, to prostrate himself upon the grave of the holy Prophet, receded more and more into the background. His sound understandmg was not long in penetrating this religious humbug; and, having naturally a great love for adventure, he soon resolved, instead of the illustrious Mekka, to go and visit Frengistan, a country formerly thought of with dread and detestation. I pretended not to observe what was passing in his mind, and putting him on shore at Constantmople, I was about to take leave of him, after havmg amply provided him with money. The young Tartar looked at me fixedly with tears m his eyes, and in spite of the sight of the proud minaret, in spite of the crowd of orthodox worshippers who surrounded him here on every side, he felt constrained to say to me, in a voice trembhng with emotion, and interrupted by frequent sobs : "• Efendi, do not leave me here behind alone. Thou hast brought me from Turkestan into this strange land: I know here no one but thee. I follow thee, gladly, whithersoever thou gdest ! " — "What, ^vilt thou come with me to Frengistan?" I asked him; "from 160 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. pes» ;houHI thence it is very far to Mekka ; there are no mosques and public baths, no Mussulman food; how wilt thou Hve there?" For a moment he seemed perplexed but after a brief silence he rephed: " The Frengis are such good and kind people ; I should hke to see their country; and afterwards I will return to Stamboul." I required no more. Fully understanding the charac- ter of my Central Asiatic friend, I embarked with him once more on the shore of the Bosphorus, and in three days he was already upon a steamer on the Danube, surrounded by Europeans, and on his way to the not far distant capital of Hungary. On board the steamer I found him often absorbed in thought. Not yet ven- turing to taste European food, he gazed at everything around him ^Yiih a shy timidity, but gradually he grew accustomed to the novelty of the scene, and a few days later he promenaded the streets of Pesth in Bokhara costume. During the first few days he could scarcely find words, so full was he of amazement. Everythmg, indeed, appeared to him hke an enchantment. He ad- mh^ed all he saw, from the square-hewn paving stones in the streets to the lofty buildings and towers; and it can easily be imaghaed what singular, and at times comical, remarks he made; — he, the son of the desert, in the midst of one of the first cities in Europe. He was much struck with the quick walking of people in the streets, and the rapid movements of the vehicles; but, above all, the women arrested his attention; and he could not understand how the Frengi, clever and MY TARTAR. 161 sensible people as they are, could allow their women- folk to appear m pubhc m such clumsy and uncouth attire, and without any protection. In the day time I often saw him standiug by the telegraph Avires, lis- tening to the sounds that passed along them. At night he would stare at the gas lamps, full of curiosity to discover whether it was the iron that was burning. At the hotel, the luxury and magnificence -that sur- rounded him filled him with astonishment. Judo^ino^ of every person he met by his dress, he regarded every one as some mighty lord or potentate, and frequently exclaimed : " Oh ! this is a happy country I Here seems to be not a single poor man ! " He soon grew accus- tomed to the looks of curiosity that followed him wherever he went. His former dread of the Frengi had enth^ely disappeared; he had a pleasant face for every one, and frequently entered eagerly mto con- versation with the first person he met, forgettmg, m his characteristic manner, that no one could under- stand him; and he would go on talkmg to his heart's content, without beiug in the least disturbed by the surprise exhibited by those he was thus addressing. I should most gladly have taken him on with me to London, had I not deemed it better for him to leave him for the while behind in Hungary. A friend of mine, who lived in the country, received him kindly mto his house ; and when, after a year's absence, I re- turned from England, I was not a little surprised to find my young Tartar dressed in the Hungarian cos- 11 162 SKETCHES OF CENTEAL ASIA. tiime, and, instead of the turban, with his hair nicely curled and trimmed, with a rather droll air and de- meanour, and a certain stiff gravity in his manner. He had learned the Hungarian language in a very short time; he was everywhere liked and heartily welcomed, and when, for the first time, I saw him smartly dressed, and with gloves on his hands, talking most courteously and earnestly to a lady in her draw- ing-room, I could scarcely refrain from laughter. Two years ago a Mollah of a Medresse, he is now grown into half a dandy : — in truth what cannot be made of an Oriental? Being able to write as well as speak Hungarian, my friends kindly procured him an ap- pointment as assistant - librarian in the Academy, which position he fills at the present moment. When I question him about his new life, and talk to him of the difi"erence between Eastern and Western manners and habits, I find that his past life floats like a dream across his mind, which he cherishes only as a distant reminiscence, but which he would not on any account exchange for his present existence. He rarely feels any longing for his native home, and he loves our Western civilisation for the following reasons. In the first place, he is particularly pleased with the perfect security that society affords to the individual, and the absence of any arbitrary tyranny on the part of the Government. In Central Asia a man's bare fife is not safe on the roads from robbers; in the towns he is threatened with constant danger from the barbarous MY TARTAR. 163 decrees of the authorities. The frequent cruel execu- tions, the desolating civil wars in his country, have never struck him until now, when he has become aware how thousands of persons come m daily contact with each other, without quarrels, fighting, or blood- shed ensuing— all consequences of frequent occurrence in his native country. Secondly, the comfort which Europeans enjoy, at once benefits and captivates him. He finds the house of a simple citizen better appointed than the palace of his sovereign. The cleanliness in dress and food, the reciprocal ofiices of kmdness and courtesies of society, are magnets which attract him and make him forget his rude and uncivilised home. Thirdly, it is a special delight to him to find that the various differences of rehgion and nationality are scarcely ever felt here, whilst in the East they form the strongest barriers between man and man. With him at home the mere notion of visiting the country of the Frengi would have been certain death, and now he lives in the very heart of their land, not only with- out encountering hostility, but actually received with cordiahty and afi"ection. With regard to his feelings on Islamism, his own speculations had already in some degree enlightened him. He observed that the nearer he approached the West, the more Mahometan fanaticism decreased, and as he, in proportion with its decrease, drew nearer and nearer to humanity and order, he could not help suspecting very soon that Islamism, or at least the UU 8KKTCHKS OF CENTRA I ASIA. Iskiuisui ho know an^l ooutossod, was tbo doohiroJ en^my of civilisiitiou and ivfincuiont of life, such as he met with m Kui\>po. Ho has novor yot uttered a woixl of aversion or ropronoh when rotorring tti tlio dootruies of the Anibiau j>rophot. hut his subth^ and s[VOulativo theories sutheiontly indioato that a stivnij- iVA\)hitioii has been wrought within him. Without wishina^ to assi<»ii the cause of this xi'ix^at contmst be- t^ween the East and the West solely to tho inliuonoo of Christianity^, he has, nevertlieless, arrived so 4?ir in his conelusions as to conipivheud that our western culture and mode of lite are hieonipitible with the tejichings of Mahomet. He has never yet distinctly expressed to me his preference of either one or the other religion, and it will probably be long beforo ho will venture to give expression to any thought of the kind. His allusions ai\d fnigmentary remarks, however, prove that his muid is oceupied with (piestions of this nature^ and that the great struggle with himself has begun. Such, indeed, is tlie historj^ of ever^^ Mussulman, whether Tartar, Arab, Persian, or Turk, as soon as he becomes thowughly acq\iaii\ted with our w^estern ci"vilisation — a complete tnuisformation but seldom i>ccurs. The highly important question, whether the ci\TLlisation of the East or West is the better — ^whether the teaching of Christ or of ]!iIohanuned is the true reliij^ion, will lono" reniaii\ muieoidod bv the nations of Asia; — nay, so long, T feel inolinod to s:iy, as the rays MY TARTAR. 165 of the sun pi'oduce mth us a temperate, with them a burning, heat; so long as distance separates the east and the west. Were it possible to bring the doctrines of Christianity more into conformity with their views, by setting aside those of the Incarnation and the Trinity, and were these tenets, thus modified, put into the place of the Koran, an opportunity might be presented of making a small, but only a very small, step in advance. I say advisedly a small step, since Christianity, though sprung from an Eastern soil, has long ago proved to be a plant which can only flourish in the West. And who would deny that the Koran and Vedas, created as they are by an Eastern mind and in the spirit of Eastern nations, are prized and revered by them above everything besides ? Their dis- appearance would bring new and similar productions into existence. I venture almost to assert that the Christian tenets would, after a time, become trans- formed, on Eastern soil, into a sort of Koran or Vedas, in order to be the typical embodiment of oriental sen- timent, and be recognised by orientals as their real and peculiar property. Are not the Xestorians, Arme- nians, and other followers of the Eastern Church, all disciples of Christianity ? but as great as the difference is between them and their co-religionists in Europe, so little do they differ in their mode of thought, their feelings, and views of life, from theii- Moliammedan fellow-countrymen in the East. CHAPTEE XI. THE KOUND OF LIFE IN BOKHARA. " Hadji ! Thou hast, I am sure, seen many coun- tries — tell me now, is there another city iii the world in which it is so agreeable to reside as Bokhara?" Such was the mquiry with which I was frequently greeted in the Tartar capital, even by men who had ah'eady several times visited India, Persia, and Tur- key. My answer upon these occasions it is not of course diiiicult to divine. Questions of a nature so delicate are an embarrassment to the traveller when he is in. Paris, London, or St. Petersburg, just as much as when he is in Constantinople, Teheran, or Bokhara. One encounters egotism everywhere. Bokhara, the focus of Tartar civihzation, posesses beyond a doubt much to remind one of a capital, par- ticularly when a man enters it as a traveller, commg immediately from a journey of many weeks through deserts and sohtudes. As for the luxury of its dwell- ings, its dresses, and manner of living, that hardly merits attention at all when compared with what is to be seen in the cities of Western Asia. Still it has its peculiarities, which prevent one wondering so much THE BOUND OF LIFE IN BOKHARA. 167 that habit and partiality dispose the Bokhariot to be proud of his native city. The houses, built of mud and wood, present, with their crooked pamtless walls, a gloomier appearance than the dwellm2:s of other Mohammedan cities. On entering the court through the low gateway, one fancies oneself in a fortress. On all the sides there are high walls, which serve as a protection, not so much agamst thieves as against the amatory oglings of intriguuig neighbours. In Bokhara, the most shameless sink of iniquity that I know in the East, a glance even from a distance is regarded as dishonour- ing ! The number of the separate apartments varies with the fortmie of the proprietor. The more im- portant part of them comprises the harem, styled here Enderun (the inner penetralia), the smaller room for guests, and the hall for receptions. This last is the most spacious, as well as the most ornamented apart- ment in the house, and, like the other rooms, has a double ceiling, with a space between used as a store- room. The floor is paved with bricks and stones, and has only carpets round the sides near the walls. Rectangular stones, which have been hollowed out, are placed in a corner — a comfortable contrivance enablmg the owner to perform the holy ablutions in the room itself. This custom is met with in no other Mohammedan comitry. The walls have no particular decorations; those, however, which are nearest to Mekka are pamted with flowers, vases, and arabesques 168 SKETCHES or CENTRAL ASIA. of clifFerent kinds. The windows are mere openings, each with a pair of shutters. Glass is seen nowhere, and few take the trouble to use paper smeared with fat as a substitute. Articles of furniture, still rarities throughout the East, are here scarcely known by name; but this need not excite surprise, for often have I heard Orientals who have visited Europe ex- claim : " Is not that a stupid custom among the Frengi, that they so crowd their handsome, spacious rooms with such a heap of tables, sofas, chairs, and other things, that they have hardly place left to seat themselves in any comfort ! " Of course meaning on the ground. The expenditure upon the wardrobe is on a footing with the style of each house and its arrangement. Cloth is rarely met with : it serves for presents from the Khan to his officials of high rank. Different quahties of the Aladja (cotton) are employed by all classes, from king to dervish, for winter and summer. Although the Bokhariot over-garment has the form of a night- dress extending down to the ankles, still it is subject from time to time to little innovations as to cut, sleeve, collar, and trimming, in accordance with the fashion of the moment, which is as much respected in Bokhara as in Paris. A dandy in the former city takes especial care to have his turban folded according to the idea in force at the moment, as an evidence of good taste. He sees particularly to his shawl, by which he binds his trousers round the loins, and to THE ROUND OF LIFE IN BOKHARA. 169 his koshbag suspended to that shawl. The koshbag is a piece of leather consisting of several tongues, to which are fastened a knife or two, a small tea-bag, a iniswak (toothpick), and a leathern bag for copper money. These articles constitute the indispensables of a Central Asiatic, and by the quahty and value of each is a judgment formed of the character and breeding of the man. Whoever may wish to see the haute voUe, the fashion- able world of Bokhara, should post himself on a Friday, between ten and twelve o'clock in the forenoon, in the street leading from Deri Rigistan to the Mesdjidi Kelan, or great mosque. At this time the Ameer, followed by his grandees, in great state, betakes himself to his Friday's devotions. All are in their best attire, upon their best horses; for these, with their splendid hous- ings, serve as substitutes for carriages. The large, stiff, silken garments of staring colours are in striking contrast with the high and spurred boots. But what produces a particularly comic effect is the loose and waddling gait which all pedestrians studiously put on. Reftari khiraman (the waddling or trotting step), which Oriental poets find so graceful, comparing it to the swaying movement of the cypress when agitated by the zephyrs, and whose attainment is the subject of careful study in Persia as well as Bokhara, to us Europeans seems like the gait of a fatted goose flomidering on his way home. But this is no sub- ject for me to jest upon, for our stiff, rapid pace is just 170 SliETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. as displeasing to an Oriental eye, and it would not be very polite to mention the comparison they make use of with repect to us. It does not excite less wonder on our part when we see the men in Bokhara clad in wide garments of brilliant colour, whereas the women wear only a dress that is tight to the shape, and of a dark hue. For in this city, where the civihzation has retained with the greatest fidelity its antique stamp of Oriental Islamism, women, ever the martyrs of Eastern legislation, come in for the worst share. In Turkey the contact with Christian elements has already introduced many innovations, and the Yaschmak (veil) is rather treated as part of the toilette than as the ensign of slavery. In Persia the women are tolerably well muffled up, still they wear the Tchakshur (pantaloons and stockings m one piece) of brilliant colouring and silken texture, and the Kubend (a linen veil with network for the eyes) is ornamented with a clasp of gold. In Bokhara, on the other hand, there is not a trace of tolerance. The women wear nothing that deserves to be named full dress or ornament. When in the streets, they draw a covermg over their heads, and are seen clad in dark gowns of deep blue, with the empty sleeves hanging suspended to their backs, so that observed from be- hind, the fair ones of Bokhara may be mistaken for clothes wandering about. From the head down to the bosom they wear a veil made of horsehair, of a THE EOUND OF LIFE IN BOKHARA. 171 texture which we in Europe would regard as too bad and coarse for a sieve, and the friction of which upon cheek or nose must be anything but agreeable. Their chaussures consist of coarse heavy boots, in which their little feet are fixed, enveloped in a mass of leather- Such a costume is not in itself attractive ; but even so attired, they dare not be seen too often in the streets. Ladies of rank and good character never venture to show themselves in any public place or bazaar. Shopping is left to the men ; and whenever any extra- ordinary emergency obliges a lady to leave the house and to pay visits, it is regarded as hon ton for her to assume every possible appearance of decrepitude, poverty, and age. To send forth a young lady in her eighteenth or twentieth year, in all the superabundant energy of youth, supported upon a stick, and thus muffled up, in the sole view that the assumption of the character- istics of advanced life may spare her certain glances, may be justly deemed the ne plus ultra of tyranny and hypocrisy. These erroneous notions of morahty are to be met with, more or less, everywhere m the East; but nowhere does one find such striking ex- amples of Oriental exaggeration as in that seat of ancient Islamite civihzation, Bokhara. In Constanti- nople, as well as other cities of Turkey, there are certain Seir-yeri (promenades), where ladies appear in public. In Teheran, Ispahan, and Shiraz, it is the custom for the Hanims, en grande toilette^ and mounted 172 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. on magnificent horses, to make excursions to the places of pilgrimage situate in the environs of those cities. The tomb of the Said is the place of rendezvous, and instead of prayers, reciprocal declarations of love are not seldom made. In Bokhara, on the contrary, there is not a shadow of all this. ISFever have I seen there a man in the company of his wife. The husband slinks away from his other half, or thu'd, or fourth, as the case may be ; and it is a notorious fact, that when the wives of the Ameer pass by any place, all men are expected to beat a hasty retreat. Under such circumstances it is easy to see how society must con- stitute itself, and what shapes it must assume. Where the two sexes are so separated, it can never put on an appearance of gladness and geniality; all becomes compulsion and hypocrisy; every genuine sentiment is crushed by these unnatural laws which are imposed as God's ordinances, and as such expected to be ob- served with the strictest obedience. To study that part of their lives which is before the public eye, we must first pay a visit to the tea- booths, which are the resorts of all classes. The Bokhariot, and the remark applies indeed universally to all Central Asiatics, can never pass by a second or third tea-booth mthout entering, unless his afikirs are very urgent indeed. As I before mentioned, every man carries with him his little bag of tea : of this, on his entry, he gives a certain portion to the landlord, whose business is rather to deal in hot water than in tea. THE ROUND OF LIFE IN BOKHARA. 173 During day-time, and particularly in public places, the only tea drunk is green tea, which is served with- out sugar, and with -the accompaniment of a relish or two, consisting of little cakes made of flour and mut- ton suet; for the makmg of these Bokhara is famous. As any attempt to cool tea by blowmg upon it, how- ever urgent on account of its heat some such process may be, is regarded as highly indecorous — nay, as an unpardonable offence — the Central Asiatic is wont to make it revolve for this purpose in the cup itself until the temperature is tolerable. To pass for a man comme il faut^ one must support the right elbow in the left hand, and gracefully give a circular movement to the cup; no drop must be spilt, for such an awkwardness would much damage a reputation for savoir faire. The Bokhariot can thus chatter away hours and hours, amidst his fellow tea-drmkers; for the meaningless conversations that are maintained weary him as little as the cup after cup of tea which he swallows. It is known to a second how much time is required for each kind of tea to draw. Every time the tea-pot is emptied, the tea-leaves that have been used are passed round: etiquette forbids any one to take more than he can hold between finger and thumb, for it is re- garded by connoisseurs as the greatest dainty. They seek to find amusements of a higher kind in excursions to the environs of the city. These are made sometimes to the tombs of the saints ; sometimes to the convents of certain Ishans (sheiks), in the 174 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. odour of sanctity; sometimes to the Tchiharbag Ab- dullah Khan, situate near the Dervaze Imam. The visit to a Khanka, that is to a dignitary of religion still mstinct with life, is an act of more importance and involving greater outlay than the pilgrimage to a grave. The saiated men, whether departed or still hvmg, have equally their fixed days for levees and receptions. In the former case the descendants of his Sanctity receive the tribute, m the latter a man has the good fortune to have his purse emptied by the holy hands themselves. On the occasion of these formal visits the Ishans are tuned to a higher pitch than ordmary, and as the holy eye distinguishes at once by the exterior of the visitor the amount of the offering that is to be received, so does that measure serve to fix with precision how long or how short the benediction is to be cut. Scenes of this kind, in which I performed my part as a spectator, or stood by, were always full of interest to me; and one, over which I have had many a hearty laugh, has made an indelible impression upon my mind. In the environs of Bok- hara, I entered the residence of a sheikh to ask for his blessing and a httle assistance in money. Upon the first point no difficulty was made, but the second seemed to stagger him. At this moment a Turkoman was announced as an applicant for a Fatiha. He was allowed to enter. His holiness made his hocus-pocus with the greatest devotion. The Turkoman sat there like an innocent lamb, and after being subjected to the THE ROUND OF LIFE IN BOKHAEA. 175 influences of the sanctifying breath, energetically ad- ministered, he dived into his money-bag, from which he extracted some pieces of coin, and, without count- ing them, transferred them to the hand of him from whom he had received the benediction. I noticed that the latter rubbed the money betwixt his fingers, and was really astounded when he beckoned to me, and without once looking at the number of pieces, handed them over to me in the presence of the Turko- man. That was real liberahty, the reader may say. I thought so myself until coming to the bazaar and seeking to make a purchase from a baker, one of the coins was rejected by him as false. I tendered the others, and they were all pronounced to be bad — valueless. The nomad, as crafty as he was super- stitious, had paid for the spurious ware with spurious money, and as his holiness on his side had at once detected the cheat by the touch, he had no scruple in making it over to me. On the occasion of their excursions to the environs of the city, persons of wealth are in the habit of taking with them their tea-things, and a servant to prepare tea. Those who are not so well off have recourse to estabhshments that are to be found at these places of resort. Visitors evince just as much desire to hide themselves, where possible, in the booths, as they do to avoid encamping close to the road. As it is the ap- proved custom to invite every passer-by, be he of what rank he may, to take some refreshment of food or 176 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. drink, each host entertains an apprehension, not un- justified by experience, lest those whom he accosts, not content with returning for answer the ordinary word expressive of gratitude — khosh (well) — may actually close at once with the invitation. Still, not to give it is everywhere regarded as a mean sin. Conditional acceptance only is usual in some places. These rules of hospitality so exaggerated, and at the same time so specious, operate oppressively and un- pleasantly, both on him that takes and him that gives ; and the confomided, I might almost say the aghast, air of the host who is taken at his word always pro- duced upon me the drollest effect. Tha spectacle which these private parties of pleasure generally afford is one of no great gladness, they rather seem to produce a deadly-lively effect. The significant joke, the peal of laughter, the loud cry are, it is true, none of them wanting on these occasions; but where the crown of society, woman, is absent, all is in vain, and never can life assume its real aspect of genume enjoyment. If I do not err, it is the Tchiharbag Abdullah Khan that still preserves most of the characters of a public place of entertainment. It is a spot well shaded by lofty trees ; a canal flows through it, to whose banks the pupils of the numerous colleges and the young men belongmg to the wealthier classes, resort generally on Friday afternoons. The inevitable tea-kettle is here again in requisition, and tea is the article for THE ROUND OF LIFE IN BOKHAEA. 177 which the place is renowned; but not the only one, for the combats of rams are here celebrated also. The savageness with which these sturdy animals rush against each other when irritated, the fearful shock of their two heads, particularly when they struggle to push their antagonists back, present a spectacle very attractive to the inhabitant, not only of Bokhara, but of every part of Central Asia. What the bull-fight is in Spain, and horse-racing in England, these combats of rams are m Turkestan. The rams are trained to this sport, and it is really surprismg how these brutes support with obstinacy often as many as one hundred charges. When they first make their appearance on the avenue, the bystanders begin to wager as to the number of shocks their chosen champion will support. Sometimes the weaker combatant beats a retreat ; but very often the battle only ends with the entire dis- comfiture of one animal, consequent upon the cracking of his skull. It is a cruel spectacle ; still the cruelty does not seem so great in the middle of Tartary as some of the sports in which so many civilised nations of the West still find amusement. Let me now attempt to portray in the following slio-ht sketch the external mode of livino; in Bokhara. In the morning — I mean by the term before sunrise, as by rehgious compulsion every man is an early riser — one encounters people, half-asleep, and half-awake, and half-dressed, hurrying one by one to the mosques : 12 178 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. any delay in arriving not only entails reproach, but is considered as meriting punishment. The stir made by these devotees in running through the streets rouses the houseless dogs from their lairs in the out-of-the- way corners or upon the heaps of dung. These famished, horrid-looking animals — ^yet contrasted with their Stambouli brethren, presenting a princely ap- pearance — are crying proofs of the miserly nature of the Bokhariots. The poor creatures first struggle to rear their gaunt frames, mere skin and bone, from sleep; then they rub their rough, hairless carcases, against the mouldering walls, and this toilette at an end, they start upon their hunt for a dejeuner a la fourchette^ for .the most part made up of a few fleshless bones or carrion, but very often of kicks in the ribs administered by some compassionating and charitable inhabitant of Bokhara. At the same time as the dogs, awake the hardly-better lodged Parias of the Tartar capital — I mean the wretched men afflicted with in- curable and contagious skin diseases, who sit at the corners of the streets en famille^ and house in miserable tents. In Persia they are met with, remote from cities and villages, on the high roads; but here, owuig to the absence of sanitary regulations, they are tolerated in the middle of the city. Their lot is far the most terrible to which any son of earth can have to submit, and unhappily they are long livers too. Whilst the mother is clothing her other accursed offspring mth a scanty covering of rags, the father seats himself mth THE EOUND OF LIFE IN BOKHARA. 179 the most disfigured one amongst them by the roadside, in order to solicit charity and alms from those who pass. Charity and alms to prolong such an existence ! After the sun has looked long enough upon this miserable spectacle, the city in all its parts begins slowly to assume animation. The people return in crowds from the mosques; they are encountered on their way by troops of asses laden with wood, corn, grass, large pails of milk, and dishes of cream, pressing from all the city gates, and forcing their way in varied confusion through the narrow and crooked streets. Screams of alarm from the drivers, the reciprocal cries issuing from those who buy and those who sell, mix with that mighty hee-haw of the asses for which Bokhara is renowned. To judge by the first impres- sion, it might be supposed that the different drivers would be obliged to fish out their wood from milk, their grass from cream, charcoal from corn, silkworm- cocoons from skimmed milk. But no, nothing is spilt, nothing thrown down; the drivers are wont to flog each other through in right brotherly fashion, till in the end all arrives in safety at its destination. At an hour after sunrise the Bokhariot is already seated with his cup of Schirtschaj (milk-tea) : this beverage is composed of tea made from bricks of tea in the form of Kynaster, and abundantly flavoured with milk, cream, or mutton fat. This favourite drink of the Tartars, in which large quantities of bread are broken, would be more rightly described as a soup; 180 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. and although the treat was highly commended to me, I had great difficulty in getting accustomed to it. After tea begins the day's work, and then one remarks particular activity in the streets. Porters loaded with great bales hurry to the bazaar. These goods belong to the retail dealers, who every evening pack up their shop and transport it to their own house. And then a long chain of two-humped camels that have no burdens are bemg led into the Karavanserai, destined to convey the produce of Central Asia m every direction. Here, again, stands a heavily-laden caravan from Russia, accompanied on its way by the prying eyes of the custom-house officials and their cohorts, for those long bales contain valuable pro- ductions of the industry of the unbelievers, and are destined accordingly to be doubly taxed. Merchants of all religions and from all nations run after the caravan ; the newly-arrived wares find customers even before they are unpacked, and at such moments Afghans, Persians, Tadjiks, and Hindoos, seem to get more excited than is the case even with the heroes of the Exchange m Paris, Vienna, or Frankfort-on-the- Maine. The Kirghis camel-driver, fresh from the desert, is the quietest of all; he is lost in astonish- ment, and knows not whether most to admire the splendour of the mud huts, the colour of the dresses, or the crowds swaying to and fro. But the greatest source of amusement to me was to observe how the Bokhariot, in his quality of inhabitant of a metropolis, THE ROUND OF LIFE IN BOKHARA. 181 jeers at these nomads; how he is constantly on the alert to place the rudeness of the sons of the desert m rehef by contrastmg it with his own refinement and civilisation. Whilst the bazaar fife, with all its alarm, tumult, shrieks, cries, hammering, scolding, and knock- ing, is in full force, the youths greedy of knowledge swarm about the numerous Medresse (colleges), there to learn to extract from their useless studies lessons of a more exalted kind of stupidity and a more grovelling hypocrisy. The greatest interest attaches to the primary school posted in the very centre of the bazaar, and often in the immediate neighbourhood of between ten and fifteen coppersmiths' workshops. The sight of this pubhc school, in which a MoUah, surrounded by several rows of children, gives his lessons m reading, in spite of the noise, is really comical. That, in a place where sturdy arms are brandishing hammers, hardly a smgle word is audible, we may readily sup- pose. Teachers and pupils are as red in the face as turkey-cocks from crying out, and yet nothing but the wild movement of the jaw and the swelling of the vems indicate that they are studying.* In the afternoon (T speak here of summer-time, for of the winters I have no personal experience), there is more tranquillity both in bazaar and street. On the * Schools thus placed in the middle of the bazaar are also met with in Persia : these are the cheapest schools for ehildi'en, still it is incredible that the Orientals should suffer such a stupid practice to exist, and that they do not remove these establishments for instruction to some less disturbed situation. 182 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. banks of the water reservoir and of the canals, the true believers are engaged in performing the holy ablutions. Whilst one man is washing his feet from their layer of sweat and dirt, his neighbour uses the same water for his face, and a third does not scruple to quench his thirst with it. Water that consists of more than one hundred and twenty pints is, according to the texts of Islam, blind; which means that filth and dirt lose themselves therein, and the orthodox have the privilege to enjoy every abomination as a thing pure in itself. After a service in the mosques, all becomes again animated; it is the second summons to work durmg the day, for a period by no means so long. The Mussulman population soon begin then evening hohday, whilst Jews and Hindoos still remain busy. The former, who are for the most part employed in the handicraft of silk dyers, move stealthily and timidly through the streets, their spirits broken by their long and heavy servitude; the latter run about like men possessed, and their bold bearing shows that their home is not far off, and the time not so remote when they also had a government of their own. It is now within three hours of sunset. The ehte of society betake themselves to the Khanka (convent), to enjoy a treat, semi-rehgious and semi-hterary. It consists in the public reading of the Mesnevi, which .is declaimed at that time of the day by an experienced reader in the vestibule of the Khanka. This master- piece of Oriental poesy presents in its contemplations of THE ROUND OF LIFE IN BOKHARA. 183 terrestrial existence much elevation of thought. Ver- sification, language, metaphors, are, m reality, full of charm and beauty; but the audience in Bokhara are incapable of understanding it, and their enthusiasm is all afi*ectation. I often had seated at my side on these occasions a man who, in his excitement, would emit deep-drawn sighs, and even bellow hke a bull. I was quite amazed; and when I afterwards made enquiry as to his character, I heard that he was one of the meanest of misers, the proprietor of many houses, yet ready to make obeisance for even the smallest copper coin. No one is at all inclined to adopt the sentiment he hears there as the rule of his hfe, and still it is re- garded as becoming to be deeply impressed by the beauty of the expression. Every one knows that the sighs and exclamation of his neighbour proceed from no genuine emotion, and still all vie in these demon- strations of extraordinary feeling. Even before the last beams of the setting sun have lost themselves in the wide waste of sand on the west, the Tartar capital begins to repose. As the coolness commences, the stifling clouds of dust subside. Where canals or water-reservoirs are near at hand, they are rendered available — the ground is watered and then swept. The men seat themselves in the shade to wait for the Ezan (evening prayer) ; that heard, an abso- lute stillness ensues, and soon all are seated before the colossal dish of pilau, and after they have well loaded their stomachs with this heavy and greasy meal, 184 SKETCHES OF CENTEAL ASIA. any desire they may have felt to leave the house is quite extinguished. Two hours after sunset all the thoroughfares are as silent as death. No echo is heard in the darkness of the night but the heavy tread of the night-watchman makmg his rounds. These men are charged to put in force the strictest pohce regulations against thieves and seekers of love adventures; they scruple not to arrest any man, however honourable his position, if his foot crosses his threshold after the beat of the tattoo has issued its order that all the world should sleep. What in this mode of to^vn life so pleases the Bok- hariot — what makes him give so marked a preference to his own capital — is not difficult to divine. His mind has become familiarized with a simple mode of living, in Avhich, as yet, little luxury is to be found, and which, in externals, admits not much perceptible distmction between ranks and conditions of men. A universal acquiescence in the same poverty, or to use a more appropriate expression, the absence of different degrees of visible property, makes Bokhara, in the eye of many Asiatics, a favourite residence. I once met a Persian in Teheran who had been a slave in Bokhara fifteen years. And there, in the middle of his fatherland, and surrounded by his relatives, he sighed and pined for the Tartar capital. At the outset he was delighted with the bazaars, filled with articles of European luxury ; he contemplated them with childish delight ; but later he saw how the wealthier alone made their purchases, THE ROUND OF LIFE IN BOKHARA. 185 and how all despised a man like him, clad in a cotton dress, the costume of the poor. JSTo wonder his wish carried him agam back to the spot where, at the time unconscious of his happiness, he was permitted to share ■great physical comfort, without a thorn m his eye or a pang m his heart. CHAPTER XII. BOKHARA, THE HEAD QUARTERS OF MOHAMMEDANISM. " Bothara, mirevi divanei Laiki zen djiri zindankhanei." Thou wilt to Bokhara ? O fool for thy pains, Thither thou goest, to be put into chains. Mesneti. It has frequently been noticed by travellers in Central Asia, and we have likewise remarked upon it, that Bokhara considers itself the great pillar of Islamism, and the only pure fountain of the Mohammedan re- ligion. Nor is it the Bokhariots alone who take this view, but all the rest of the Mohammedan world, in whatever region or country, unite in looking up to and extolling the Turkestan capital for possessing this exclusive privilege. The pilgrim from Central Asia, whether travelling in Asia Minor, Arabia, or Egypt, is received with marked veneration and respect, and is regarded as the very embodiment of every Islamitic virtue. The Western Mohammedan, especially the Osmanli, deeply wounded by the innovations our civi- HEAD QUARTERS OF MOHAMMEDANISM. 187 lization has introduced into his native country, turns to his kinsman and co-religionist from the far East, and gazing at him with a look of extreme piety, finds com- fort at the aspect of him, who in his eyes stiU repre- sents the religion of the Prophet, pure and undefiled. Heaving a sigh, he exclaims : " Ha Bokharai Sherif ! " (yes, the noble Bokhara), which utterance is meant to express his whole mind. The diiFerence that exists between Eastern and Western Mohammedanism in Asia is indeed a remark- able phenomenon, and deserves a closer examination. Upon my asking the MoUahs m Bokhara how it hap- pened that they were better Mohammedans than the people in Mekka and Medina, where Mohammed had actually lived and taught, they answered: that "the torch, although sending its light mto the far distance, is always dark at the foot," — Mekka being meant by the foot of the torch, and Bokhara the far distance. In an allegorical sense this may be correct, but Euro- peans are not silenced by similes of that sort; and, since the fact deserves attention, we will endeavour to ascertain, first — the essential points of the difference in question; and, secondly — the causes for it. Upon examining in detail the various points of contrast be- tween Eastern and Western Mohammedanism, the chief characteristic feature is, no doubt, the wild fana- tic obstinacy with which the Mussulman, in the far East, clings to every suigle point of the Koran and the traditions, looking with terror and aversion, in the 188 SKETCHES OP CENTEAL ASIA. true spirit of the Oriental, upon any innovation ; and, in a word, directing all his efforts to the preservation of his religion at that precise standard which marked its existence in the happy period (Vakti Seadet) of the Prophet and the first califs. This standard, how- ever, is not sufficiently apparent, since Islamism, in those countries, has assumed a form such as a few eccentric iaterpreters among the Sunnites desire, but which, so far as our knowledge extends, has never existed in reality. Fanaticism, the chief cause of hypocrisy and impiety, has disfigured every religion, so long as mankind, liv- ing in the infancy of civilization, has been unable to perceive the pure light of the true faith. All nations and all countries have given proof of its existence, but nowhere does it appear iu such glariag colours, or wear such a disgusting aspect, as in the East. Here, reli- gion, in order to improve the mind, deals chiefly with the body; here, m order to exejcise moral influence, the devotee is occupied with physical trifling, and, neglecting the inner man, as may be supposed, every one strives for outward appearance and effect. In Bokhara the prmciple reigns paramount : " Man must make a figure, — no one cares for what he thinks." A man may be the greatest miscreant, the most repro- bate of human creatures; but let him fulfil the out- ward duties of religion and he escapes all punishment in this as well as in the next world. The very popular prayer of the thief Abdurrahman HEAD QUARTERS OF MOHAMMEDANISM. 189 (Duai-duzd Abdurrahman) illustrates most strikingly this opinion. It consists of about fifteen to twenty sentences, and its substance is as follows : " When the Pro]3het (the blessing of God be upon him!) lived in Medina, he went one afternoon upon the terrace of his house, in order to perform his devotions. He looked about with his blessed eyes and saw in his part of the town a funeral procession pass through the streets, followed only by a few persons, and the coffin sur- rounded by a marvellous brilliancy, not unlike a sea of rosy light. As soon as he had finished his prayer he hastened to the spot, joined the funeral procession, and saw, to his great amazement, that the shine did not leave the coffin, even when let down into the grave. The Prophet could not recover from his surprise; he went to the wife of the deceased, and asked what and who her husband had been. ' Alas ! ' she answered, with tears, 'God be merciful unto him, his death is a blessing to all, for throughout his life he was a highwayman and murderer; and the tears of widows and orphans he has caused to flow, are more than the water he has drunk. He lived only to cause unhappi- ness to others. I have often remonstrated with him, but in vain. He lived as a suiner, and as a sinner he died ! ' ' What ! ' exclaimed the Prophet, with ever- increasmg astonishment, ' Did he possess no single good quality, has he never shown repentance?' 'Alas, no!' she sobbed out; 'the only thing he used to do every evening after his wicked daily work, was to read 190 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. over these few lines (and she showed the prayer), and then fell asleep, and woke to sm anew on the morrow.' The Prophet looked at the prayer, and recognismg at once its marvellous efficacy, he has left it behind to exercise the same virtue upon all orthodox Mussul- men." The moral drawn from this narrative needs no explanation 5 and it is easy to imagine how many Central Asiatics, furnished with such a recipe, a la Tetzel^ will commit the most atrocious deeds, and re- tain withal the consciousness of being pious and reli- gious men. What strikes a European most of all, in seeing this principle of outward formulas reduced to practice, are the laws of cleanhness, which, in Central Asia, are ob- served with strict and scrupulous exactness, although, as is well known, the most disgusting filthiness is to be met with. By the Mohammedan law the body becomes unclean after each evacuation, and requires an ablution, according to circumstances, either a small (abdest) or a great one (gusl). The same has to be observed with resj)ect to the clothes, which are sub- jected to a purification if touched by the smallest drop of water.* The cleaning of the body is strictly per- formed amongst all Mussulmen; nor, on the whole, is the law about the clothes lost sight of; but I have * In the eyes of Eastern people, dogs and Europeans are classed together, as making water against the wall. Thronghout the East people squat down during the action, for fear lest in a standing position a drop might touch and thus pollute their clothes. \ HEAD QUARTERS OF MOHAMMEDANISM. 191 never seen people in the West of Asia, as in Bokhara, repeat their prayers stark-naked, from a religious scru- ple, that their clothes might have been defiled without the eye having detected it. It is extremely ridiculous, that in any religion, as is the case in the Mohammedan, whole volumes should be written as to the manner in which its followers are to cleanse their body after each large or small evacuation. The law, for instance, com- mands the istindjah (removal), istinkah (ablution), and istibra (drying), i.e.^ a small clod of earth is first used for the local cleansing, then water, at least tmce, and finally a piece of hnen, a yard in length, in order to destroy every possible trace. In Turkey, Arabia, and Persia, only one of these acts is performed, — the istinkah; but in Central Asia all three are considered necessary; and m order to prove the high standard of their piety, zealous Mohammedans carry three or four such clods of earth, cut "vvith a knife that is used for no other purpose besides, in their turbans, to have a small store at hand. This commandment is often car- ried out quite publicly in the bazaars, from a desire to make parade of their conscientious piety. I shall never forget the revolting scene, when I saw one day a teacher give to his pupils, boys and girls, instructions in the handling of the clod of earth, linen and so forth, by way of experiment. It never occurs to any one that such a tenet is disgraceful, nor does any body perceive that these extremes of physical cleanliness lead directly to the extremes of moral impurity. 192 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. The extreme severity with which the law of the Harem, is executed in Bokhara, is looked for in vain among the Western Mohammedans, or even among the fanatic sect of the Wahabites. This law, so con- trary to nature, has necessarily been the cause of a certain vice equally contrary to nature, and which, although it exists among Turks, Arabs and Persians, is confined within a comparatively narrow hmit, and condemned as a "despicable sin" by the interpreters of the Koran as well as by public opinion. In Central Asia, especially in Bokhara and Khokand, this atro- cious crime is carried to a frightful extent, and the religious of these countries considering it a protection against any transgression of the law of the Harem, and declaring it to be no sin, marriages a la Tiberius have become quite popular ; nay, fathers feel not the smallest compunction in surrendering their sons to a friend or acquaintance for a certain annual stipend. Our pen refuses to describe this disgusting vice in its full extent; but even the few hmts we have thrown out are sufiicient to show the abyss of crime to which an exaggerated religious fanaticism degrades mankind. It is just the same with the prohibition of spirituous liquors. The Koran commands not only abstinence from wme, but from all intoxicating drmks, for this reason, that a state of intoxication ^would be attended by neglect of prayer, or of any other pious duty. The Western Mohammedans interpret this command- ment as referring only to mne (sharab) in the strict HEAD QUAKTERS OF MOHAMMEDANISM. 193 sense of the word, and consider drinking arak (brandy) already a much less oifence ; many, indeed, are of opinion, that since it has not been expressly mentioned m the Koran, it would not be regarded as a sin to drink it with water. In Turkey and Persia brandy is as much m favour among the better educated classes, as wodki in Russia; but in Bokhara both brandy and wine are very rarely met mth. Even those who do not confess the Mohammedan religion, such as Jews and Hindoos, cannot drink it except clandestinely, and the mere pronouncing the words sharab and arak, is a sin in the eyes of the orthodox. With facts like these one would expect the greatest sobriety among the people, but alas ! hbw terrible is the substitute hypocrisy has mvented ! The Central Asiatics make a distinction between fluid and solid spirits. The former are strictly for- bidden, whilst the latter, by which all narcotics are understood, are looked upon as perfectly mnocent. The famous opium-eaters of Constantinople, who, at the present day almost extmct, were seen daily, at the begumhig of the century, m the notorious square of Direkalti, and admu'ed by all passers-by — the various hashish-eaters in Egypt — the lovers of the comparatively harmless teryak in Persia, — all these are as nothing in comparison with the bengis* of Central Asia. * Beng is the name of the poison which is produced from the canabis indica. 13 194 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. In the first-named countries opium has a rival m " pater bacchus," and holds, therefore, a divided em- pire; but in Turkestan, where the "jolly god" is a stranger, it reigns paramount, and its destroying power is fearful. The number of beng-eaters is greatest in Bokhara and Khokand, and it is no ex- aggeration to say that three-fourths of the learned and official world, or, in other words, the whole in- teUio-ent class, are victims to this vice. The Govern- ment looks on with perfect indifference, while hundreds, nay, thousands, commit suicide. It never occurs to any one that a prohibition should be made on this sub- ject, but if a man were convicted of having tasted a drop of wme, he would be beheaded without any further ado. These errors, together with many others of the same kind, must no doubt be ascribed to an eccentric scrupulousness m observmg the existmg laws. Strange as they are, they appear less surprising when com- pared with those views and opinions which arose in Eastern Mohammedanism m consequence of a dif- ferent mterpretation of those traditional dogmas, which are not only rejected as erroneous, but flatly condemned by the learned Mohammedans of the West. Amonoj these we are struck first of all ^vith the rehgri- ous orders or pious fraternities, which are spread in an extraordinary mamier over Central Asia, and are subject to such strict regulations, and conducted with a fervour which contrasts singularly with the character HEAD QUARTERS OF MOHAMMEDANISM, 195 of Eastern nations, especially the Central Asiatics. In the Western Islamitic countries we meet with the various orders of the Oveisi, Kadrie, Djelah, Mevlevi, Rufai, Bektashi, &c., which, at all times treated mth civility by the Ulemas, were never able to attract within their magic circle more than a few mdividuals of a heated imagmation; whereas, on the contrary, the JSTakishbendi, Makhdumaazami, m Bokhara and Khokand, embody large masses of the population, who are appointed, guided, and governed by the officers of the order, representing the temporary supreme chief. Every community, however small in numbers, com- prises one or more Ishans (priests of the order) beside the lawful MoUah, Reis, &c. ; and I have often felt astonished at witnessing the blind obedience and re- spect paid to the members of the order as compared with the former. It need scarcely be added, that these influential Ishans stand frequently m the way of the Goverronent, but it has never ventured to offer them any check or resistance, regarding, as they do, rehgious orders as inseparable from Islam. Moham- med expressly stated, "Xa Ruhhanitum jil Islam'''' — ■ " no monks in Islam." Nevertheless the Khan, his ministers, even many Ulemas, in spite of the latter, regarding the Ishan as powerful rivals, and hating them accordingly, are in the habit of adopting the outward attributes of one or the other order, out of deference to pubHc opinion. The judicial procedure of Eastern Mohammedans is 196 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA, equally remarkable. They entirely reject the Urf, i.e.^ the decision of the judge, based upon his own judg- ment and convictions, in cases where the Sheriat (the laws of the Koran) is insufficient; as also the Kanun, i.e.^ laws framed by later legislators. The latter they regard as heretical innovations, and they take the Sheriat, or the code of laws emanatmg ft-om the Koran, as their sole and infallible guide. That the laws Mohammed framed twelve hundred years ago for the social wants of the simple Arabs, should not suit every clime and epoch, can be no matter of surprise. In Turkey and Persia the necessity for reform has long been felt. The Governments of these countries have tried in all cases to supply the deficiencies of their primitive codes by supplemental additions, how- ever much the opmions of the Ulemas resisted such a step, naturally foreseeing from it, as they did, the downfall of their power. In Turkestan, not only the Mollahs, but the Government, and everybody in fact, is highly mdignant at the very idea of a supplement. In their eyes the Koran is "as fine as a hair, as sharp as a sword, and satisfies all possible wants of hfe;" whoever thought difi^erently would be treated as a wicked man and an infidel. People eat, drink and dress, m strict conformity with the precepts of the Koran ; it is the standing rule, by which all taxes and toll-moneys are levied, the standard, by which aU wars are conducted, and the guide for directing their relations mth foreign powers ! Upon the same prin- HEAD QUAETEKS OF MOHAMMEDANISM. 197 ciple, any innovation in domestic life is strictly for- bidden as sin. England, Russia, and other modern states, of whom the Koran makes no mention, cannot be recognised by the Tartar rulers de facto ; on the contrary, they consider it their duty to oppose them as intruders by the law of the Djihad (the religious combat), a pohcy which will, of course, as already sufficiently shown, lead them to entire destruction. With regard to the Shiitish Persians, the Eastern Mohammedans stand in a very different relation to them from their Western brethren. This rehgious schism, as is well known, has often been the cause of long and bloody wars, — under the pretext of a tem- porary quarrel. Ever since the first dissensions took place between the dynasties Akkoyunlu and Karaka- yunlu, Turks and Arabs have ffequently been opposed to the Persians in destructive and calamitous wars : deep hatred and bitter resentment separated the two sects, and the former succeeded in ejecting their Shiitish enemies from the bond of Islamism. The Persian is looked upon as an heretical Mussulman, but always as a Mussulman; he is admitted to the holy cities and all places of pilgrimage, the orthodox Sunnite does not object to pray with him in the same mosque, and in modern times the hatred between the Osmanli and Persian has ah-eady so far diminished that the latter is permitted by law to intermarry with the former. In Central Asia there exists no trace of anything of 198 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. the kind. Here the Persians are hated and persecuted as fiercely as on their first appearance among the Shiitish sect. In the year 945 of the Hidjra, they were declared outlaws and infidels by the fetwah of a certain MoUah, Shemseddin Mohammed, a native of Samarkand, and hving in Herat at the time of the Sultan Husein Baikera. This fetwah has done much injury to the poor inhabitants of Iran, for, although the marauding Turkomans would have taken them prisoners without any form of law, they would not have been sold m the market-place of fanatical Bok- hara, had not the brand of the Kafir qualified them for it, only such men being saleable. Whatever cruelties were practised on them, were all committed under the pretext of punishing an unbehever, and though Eastern Mohammedans try to vmdicate the MoUahs of Turkestan, by pomting out that the Per- sians recognize one and the same Koran, and one and the same prophet, yet they declare the fetwah to be just and proper, and protest against all assertions to the contrary, of the West- Mohammedan learned men, as ignorance and error. There are essential distinctions also in the ritual of the Eastern and Western Mohammedans. I doubt very much whether, even at Bagdad and Damascus, during the most brilliant period of Islamism, officers (Reis) were daily traversing the streets, stopping everybody in the midst of their daily occupations in order to hear them the prayer Farz-i-Ayin, and pu- HEAD QUARTERS OF MOHAMMEDANISM. 199 nishing the ignorant on the spot. This is actually being done in Bokhara at the present day. In the various ceremonies of circumcision, marriage, and burial, the Central Asiatics have several customs of their own, entirely heterogeneous to Western Islam; their daily prayers, which have to be repeated five times, consist here of more Rikats (genuflexions) than in other countries ; and it is curious, at the Ezan (call to prayer), the Turkestans most carefully avoid aU tune or melody, and recite it in a sort of howl. The manner in which the Ezan is cried in the West, is here declared sinful, and the beautiful, melancholy notes, which, in the silent hour of a moonlit- evening, are heard from the slender minarets on the Bosphorus, fascinating every hearer, would be hstened to by the Bockhariot with feelings only of detestation. In addition to the above let us bear in mind the many mosques, medressas, all filled to overflowing with worshippers, the Karikhane, i.e. houses, where blind men recite the Koran the whole day long, the numerous Khanka, where fanatics roar out their Zikr day and night, and with which institutions every city is crowded; then let us picture to ourselves the various gestures, the severely earnest looks and the whole appearance of the MoUahs, Ishane, Dervishes, Kalenters, and ascetics, one of wild fanaticism, and it might perhaps be possible to form an idea of Bokhara, of this pillar of Islam, these headquarters of an over- strained religious zeal, and where the religion of the 200 SKETCHES OE CENTRAL ASIA. Arab Prophet has degenerated into a form, such as the founder no doubt never wished his work should assume. From here it has spread with the same ten- dencies over Affghanistan to India, Kashmir, and the Chinese Tartary, and northwards as far as Kazan. In all these places the spirit of Bokhara has taken firm root, for Bokhara is their teacher, and neither Con- stantinople nor Mekka, but Bokhara is looked up to as their sole guide. It is here that our civilization will encounter more serious obstacles than in Western Asia, and Russia most hkely has already made this experience with respect to the Nogai Tartars. It would be a matter of regret, if the English Government should not as yet have felt this to be the truth with her 40 millions of Mohammedan subjects in India. The consequences would be sure and inevitable. So much at present for the difference between Eastern and Western Mohammedanism, and without much research we shall find the principal causes to be as follows : Firstly, Asia, the chief seat and fountain-head of religious fanaticism, is found, the more we advance eastward, the more true to its ancient type. As in general the inhabitants of India, Thibet, and China are more eccentric, more rehgiously fanatical, or, in other words, more Asiatic, than the followers of Islam, in the same measure the Eastern Mohammedans are more zealous than their Western co-religionists. Secondly, the same eccenti^c fanaticism, which the HEAD QUAETERS OF MOHAMMEDANISM. 201 Central Asiatics displayed when professing the doc- trines of Zoroaster, has been the cause why their conversion to Islam cost the Arabs so much time and trouble. It took more than 200 years, before the re- ligion of Mohammed had completely supplanted the old faith. No sooner had the conquerors left a town than the newly-converted inhabitants returned to their old faith, and the town had to be re-conquered and re-cohverted. But when the iron perseverance of the Arabs had at last succeeded in making them Mohammedans, they attached themselves to the new rehgion Avith the same fervour they had manifested in the old. As early as the begmning of the rule of the Samanides, we find in Transoxania men of high reputation, throughout Islam, for their learnmg and their exemplary piety. Belkh had already then ac- quired the name of Kubbetiil Islam, the dome of Islam. The city and neighbourhood of Bokhara were crowded with the tombs of saints and learned men, and we can easily understand how it happened that these Turkestani cities had in piety and learning become successful rivals of Bagdad, the then centre of the Mohammedan world, where devotional zeal was eclipsed by the splendour of worldly grandeur. After the extinction of the dynasty of the Sam- anides, but especially during the Mongol conquests, no doubt all rehgious life suffered a temporary check, but the edifice has never been shaken to its founda- tions as in Bagdad, where Helagu, in destroying the 202 SKETCHES OF CENTEAL ASIA. phantom caliphate of Motasimbillah, broke the chief strength of Islam and scattered it to the winds. In Transoxania, on the other hand, its energies were being silently strengthened and matured. Timur aimed at making his native home the chief seat of Mohammedan learning, and his work was continued, though in a different spirit, by the rulers of the Sheibani dynasty. It can therefore excite no wonder that Bokhara has been able to preserve to the present day, that precise standard of religious asceticism which characterized Islam in the middle ages. Thirdly, the great body of the Sunnites has been separated by the schism of Persia practically, if not morally, into two distinct parts, and the separation is certain to continue. The pilgrimages to the holy cities of Arabia have by no means compensated for the undoubtedly greater intercourse, which, in the times of the cahphat, could be carried on without fear of disturbance from the Eastern to the Western frontier of Islam. Sectarian animosity has been pur- posely kept alive, and has rendered Persia a danger- ous country to any Sunnitish traveller. Whilst great political changes, as well as constant intercourse with Christian Europe, combined to bring the Western Sunnites under the influence of foreign social rela- tions, the Eastern Sunnites, left entirely to themselves, had no opportunity offered them of introducing either changes or reforms. They looked with quite as much abhorrence as the Chinese and 'Hindoos upon heretical HEAD QUAETEKS OF MOHAMMEDANISM. 203 Persia, the only country which afforded them the means of communication mth the West. The observation which I have offered, that the in- fluences of European Christianity have divided western from eastern Islam in many cardinal aspects of faith, may lead many of our readers to hope, that the ever- increasmo- communication and mterchano-e of ideas will gradually effect a total transformation in Asia, or, as many sanguine travellers of modern times believe, that Asia will be Europeanised. The question is naturally one of mterest to every one who wishes (and who does not wish it) for an improvement of the social relations in Asia, and far too important for a mere passing examination. Never- theless, in order to obviate certain mismterpretations or false constructions, we must remark, that the above observation is not to be reg-arded as offerina; an in- falhble test of Western Mohammedan advancement. We have to be careful, not to mistake for precious metal the tmsel of European civihsation and modes of thought, with which Young Turkey and Persia en- deavour to garnish their uinate barbarism. I must confess the result of European influence in these countries is hitherto alas ! very small and ineffectual. The mexperienced eye of a tourist is deceived by their having partly adopted our dress and furniture, but all else is now just as it was in olden times, and wiU pro- bably continue so for a very long time to come. It is taken for granted that our relations, as Euro- 204 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. peans with Asia, are those, as it were, between a son and his mother, the latter possessing a certain amount of superstition, with which she finds it difficult to part. From Asia we received our descent, mentally and materially, as well as our education, but nobody would reproach us with ingratitude or want of respect, if we reject the views and opinions of "our aged parent," and for her own benefit occasionally press upon her our ideas instead. I use purposely the expression "press upon," for whatever has been adopted of European civilisation in Asia up to the present day, has not been the result, either of conviction or a liking for our social relations, but simply that of fear. A forced love never lasts, and were we to base our speculations as to the future of the whole of Asia upon the changes hitherto effected in Western Asia, they would mevitably prove fallacious. CHAPTER XIIL THE SLAVE TRADE AND SLAVE LIFE IN CENTRAL ASIA. The last cannon-sliot fired by the victorious champions of the Union agamst their seceding brethren, although it has not entirely put an end to the slave trade in the Western hemisphere, has nevertheless dealt it a very severe blow. The flao; of Great Britain in the waters of Eastern Africa and the recent conquest of the whole Caucasus by the Russians have, to a great extent, crip- pled the same abominable traffic among the Moham- medans of Western Asia. The indolent, enervated Orientals may still regard with bitter resentment and rancour the efforts of Europe in the cause of humanity ; but the sale and purchase of human beings is every- where practised with a certam reserve arising from a sense of shame, or, to speak more correctly, of fear of European eyes. This trade is now to be found un- fettered and unembarrassed only m Central Asia. Here, in the ancient seat of Asiatic barbarism and ferocity, thousands every year fall victims to this in- human trade. These victims are not negroes, occupy- ing the lowest place in the human race, but belong to 206 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. a nation celebrated now, as of old, for its culture and civilisation. These not only exchange freedom for slavery, but at the same time the comforts of com- parative civilisation for the miseries of semi-savage life, and are torn from their smihng homes to pine away in the desert. The lot of such captives is even harder than that of the negro. Inasmuch as to this day Europeans have had very httle information with respect to the miserable state of things which prevails in the distant regions of Central Asia, it may not be out of place if I here recount my own experiences of them somewhat m detail. What the Portuguese slave traders and the Arabian ivory merchants are in Central Africa, that are the Turkomans in the north-eastern and north-western portions of Iran, indeed we may say in all Persia. Wherever nomad tribes hve in the immediate neigh- bourhood of a civilised country, there will robbery and slavery unavoidably exist to a greater or less extent. The poverty-stricken children of the desert are endowed by nature with an insatiable lust for ad- venture, and frames capable of supporting the most terrible privations and fatigues. What the scanty soil of their native wilderness denies them, they seek in the lands of their more favoured neighbours. The intercourse between them, however, is seldom of a friendly character. As the plundered and hardly used agriculturist cannot, and dare not, pursue the well-mounted nomad across the pathless deserts of SLAVE TRADE AND SLAVE LIFE. 207 sand, the latter, protected by the nature of the country, can carry on his career of plunder and rapuie without fear of chastisement. In former times the cities on the borders of the Great Sahara and of the Arabian desert were in the same plight. Even at the present day the caravans m the latter country are exposed to the greatest dangers. But Persia has to suffer from these evils to a still greater extent, as the deserts which form her northern boundary are the most ex- tensive and the most savage in the world, while their mhabitants are the most cruel and least civilised of nomads. The wars of hoary antiquity between the Iranians and Turanians, sung by the master singer of the Shah Nameh, " the Book of the Kings," seem to have had their origin in acts of violence perpetrated by the latter. It is true that the combatants of that period are represented in the poem as belonging to one and the same race, but we find that at the period of the expedition of Alexander the people of northern Iran called on the great Macedonian to afford them protec- tion agamst their northern neighbours, whom they described as terrible beings of uihuman aspect — pro- bably they were of the true Mongolian type, which differs widely from that of the Iranians. Alexander built a great wall from the Caspian Sea to the Kur- distan mountams. This uxmaense work, however, did not come up to the expectations of its founder. Like tlie Great Wall of Chma, built for a similar purpose, 208 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. it could not permanently keep out the barbarians. Their impetuous fury burst through such feeble ob- stacles, and nothing could check their devastating incursions except the energetic rule of some excep- tionally vigorous sovereign, who instead of protectmg his subjects by a stone wall, did so with a well-dis- ciplined army. This is the case at the present day. The Turkomans and CEzbegs dn^ect their forays ac- cordmg to the peaceful or disturbed state of the adjacent provhices, or the energy or indolence of their respective governors. During the disorders which attended the establishment of the Kadjarish dynasty, individual bands of Yomut Turkomans pushed their predatory incursions as far as the neighbourhood of Ispahan, although the greater number of them were servmg mider the bamier of Aga Mohammed Khan. At the same period the Tekkes pressed forward on the north-east as far as Seistan. At the present day it is the two provinces of Khorassan and Mazenderan which suffer most. The Turkomans first of all m- quire into the character and administration of a newly appomted governor, and if they find m him signs of cowardice or neglect of duty (which is often the case), they make repeated incursions with terrible speed on the defenceless provmce committed to his care. On the other hand, they hardly dare to show themselves m those places where a vigorous and active officer is at the head of affairs. At the time of my journey through Khorassan the roads were so safe that tra- SLAVE TRADE AND SLAVE LIFE. 209 vellers could otq alone throuo:h districts which were formerly so fraught with danger, that the largest and best appointed caravans could pass there only when accompanied by a body of troops and a battery of cannon. At that time the governor, Sultan Murad Mirza, kept the nomads in check. Every move- ment of theu^s was reported to him by his spies, and, as soon as they showed themselves, they were attacked m their own haunts, and received severe punishment. In Astrabad, on the contrary, where a fool was en- trusted with the admmistration, the neighbourhood was so unsafe that the Yomuts carried off Persians captive from the very gates of the town. There are several tribes of Turkomans both on the edge and in the interior of the desert, who consider the robbery of human beings so indispensable a means of livelihood as to deem their existence in the steppes impossible, if they were to be deprived of this produc- tive source of wealth. As other nations talk about "the prospects of a good harvest," so they talk about "the prospects of open roads to Iran." The time which elsewhere is employed in ploughing, irrigat- ing, and sowing the fields, is spent by them m train- ing their horses, burnishing their arms, and m mock combats. Custom has raised their detestable occupa- tion to the rank of a recoo-nised trade. It is looked o upon as a Djihad, or rehgious war, against the Shiite schismatics, who are declared to be no better than infidels. As the heroes set out on their adventure U 210 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. they are publicly dismissed with the blessmgs of the ministers of their religion ; and in case of any one of them paying with his hfe for his enormities (which very seldom occurs), he is at home declared to be a martyr, a mound of earth adorned with flags is heaped over his remains, which are seldom left in the hands of the enemies, and the devout make pilgrimages to the holy place, where they implore with tears of con- trition the intercession of the canonised robber. The terrible extent to which the most exposed pro- vinces suffer from these excursions is explained by the courage and resolution of the Turkomans. No war, no devastation caused by the elements, can be com- pared to the misery which their depredations occasion. Not oidy is all trade and commerce on the highways crippled, but even the husbandman must provide him- self with a tower in which he can take refuge, when suddenly attacked by them during his labours in the fields. The smallest village is surrounded by a wall. Even these measures do not suffice, for the robbers often come in large bands and lay siege to such for- tified places, and not seldom carry the whole popula- tion, men, women, and children, into captivity with all their moveable property. I have seen in Eastern Khorassan villages whose inhabitants, although in the immediate vicinity of large forests, pass the winter without fires, because none dare venture out to cut wood beyond the walls. Others suffer hunger, as their water-mills are outside the village. Travelling SLAVE TEADE AND SLAVE LIFE. 211 is, of course, regarded as a most desperate venture, which no one undertakes save in cases of the most urgent necessity, or under the protection of an armed force. The readers of my book on Central Asia will have ah'eady formed some idea how far this fear of captivity among the Turkomans is well-founded. The lot of the negro, confined in the close hold of a ship during his passage from Africa to America, is sufficiently hard, yet it is not less hard to be bound behind the saddle of a nomad with the feet tied under the belly of the horse, to be insufficiently supplied with food and water, and to be thus transported for days across the weary desert, far from one's dear country and the bosom of one's family. These privations of savage life in the tent of the rude nomad and under an in- clement sky are the harder for the Persian to bear, as at home he is accustomed to cooked food and the com- forts of civilised life. In addition to these sufferings he is loaded mth heavy chains, which are not removed by night or by day. He is contmually the object of the revihngs, curses, and blows of his tyrannical master. Indeed the first stage of his slavery is the m.ost grievous. At the present day the occupation of stealing men is followed by the (Ezbegs and Turkomans alone. Of the first race the inhabitants of Khiva are to be espe- cially noticed, but they only follow it when in the course of their hostilities with the Turkomans they 212 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. ar« driven towards the frontiers of Iran. The Bok- hariots have not apjDroached those frontiers since the commencement of this century, and the mhabitants of Khokand may be said to have never come in contact with them. Of the Turkomans, the Tekkes and the Yomuts are most addicted to this traffic; the first seekmg their victims m Khorassan, Herat, and Seistan, and even along the western frontier of Afghanistan; the latter along the southern shores of the Caspian Sea. After these the Salors and the Sariks are to be mentioned, who, broken m power and diminished in numbers, seldom, but then with so much the greater fury, make their incursions. The Aliehs and Karas can only now and then get hold of a caravan of Hmdus, Tadjiks, or even Afghans, and these only on the road to Bokhara. The Tchaudors, who dwell be- tween the lower part of the course of the Oxus and the Caspian Sea, since the Russians are no more marketable, nor mdeed easy to catch, have scarcely any field left them for exercising their man-stealing propensities. The majority of the slaves in Central Asia are Shiite Persians, more especially from the provinces mentioned above, though many from the remaining provinces are also captured, either in war or during their pilgrimage to Meshed. Besides them there are Smniite Persians from Khaf and Herat; the last are generally caught while cultivating their fields, or while gathermg the pistachio nuts. Djemshidis and SLAVE TEADE AND SLAVE LIFE. 213 Hezares, who fall victims to their mutual feuds, are less often to be met with, and still smaller is the number of Afghans and Hindus. Nay, Osmanhs and Arabs, ia spite of the high esteem in which they are held, are sold as slaves, but, as far as I know, there are not more than four or six of them. Jews alone, who have the reputation of bemg sorcerers, are re- garded with too much horror by the mhabitants of Turkestan to be a marketable commodity. It is difficult to estimate the number thus carried year by year mto captivity, because, as I have ex- plamed above, it varies according to the state of things in Persia. Nor is it easier to estimate the number of those at present living in slavery in Turkestan. Not all persons who fall into the hands of the Turkomans are sent to the Khanats for sale. Taking into con- sideration the distribution of property in Iran, we may reckon that about one-third of those captured in Ma- zenderan and along the shores of the Caspian are ransomed. This is a clear gain to the nomad robber, as he, in the first place, saves the expense of keepmg his merchandise for a long time on hand; in the second place, he is not exposed to the risk of the market, for should his captive prove physically de- ficient in some important respect, he will not be able to sell him at aU. Still, however, the proportion of those who are thus ransomed is not everywhere the same. The greater part of those who fall into the hands of the robbers are poor men, who are most ex- 214 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. posed to this danger during their work out in the fields. These, of course, can rarely be ransomed. But if, in the case of those who are captured in Mazenderan, we may estimate those who are ransomed at a third, we cannot assume the same of those who are seized in the much poorer provinces of Khorassan and Seistan. I have heard, out of the mouth of a slave dealer who had grown grey in his trade, that from these districts scarcely a tenth part are ransomed, the remaining nine-tenths being forwarded for sale in the markets of the Khanats. The Turkoman never retains a slave for his own use, except ( 1 ) when his captive is old or crippled, and yet not so much so but that he works enough to earn his meagre sustenance ; if he cannot, he is at once mercilessly cut down; (2) infants who are brought up as Turkomans to become the wildest of robbers; (3) when Cupid makes some pretty brunette of an Iranian so dear to him that he cannot make up his mind to part with her. This last case, however, happens but seldom, as the Turkomans are notoriously the greatest misers in the world. As, besides, they are wanting in that feeling of delicacy for which the Circassian Huri-dealers are so renowned, the harems of Khiva and Bokhara receive many flowers which have lost their freshness in Turkoman hands. The only Persians who are to be found among the inhabitants of the steppes are such as m their own country would not be much better off, or else escaped criminals who have to continue their former courses SLAVE TEADE AND SLAVE LIFE. 215 of misdoing, of murder and robbery, in conjunction with the nomads. It is the ordinary practice of the men-stealers to keep their booty by them not longer than two or three days. They are by that time transferred to the slave broker, who by way of advance has already furnished the robbers with money or provisions. These con- scienceless usurers derive the largest profit from the abominable traffic, for the robbers are for the most part dissolute characters, who, contrary to the usual practice of the nomads, gamble away, or squander in vicious enjoyments, then' money as soon as they get it. Slave brokers are of two kinds. (1) Turkomans, who carry on the commerce which exists between the mhabitants of the steppes and the Khanats. They wait until they have got together thirty, forty, or fifty slaves, and then travel in a caravan to Khiva or Bok- hara. In the meantime then' human merchandise are let out for hire as day labourers, in order to lighten the expense of their maintenance. (2) Sunnite inha- bitants of the Persian frontier. These men play a very curious and ambiguous role^ and are the most de- testable of all engaged in the whole business. On the one side they serve the Persians as go-betweens, em- ployed to find out such persons as are kept in slavery in the steppes or in the Khanats; on the other they are the most useful spies of the nomads, whom they furnish with the best intelligence about a village or a caravan. Many, especially such as live on the eastern 216 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. frontier of Persia, have buildings for the reception of slaves in Herat, Maymene, and Bokhara, and just as once in the year they lead to the market a string of miserable slaves of both sexes, so on their return they bring back with them a number of captives redeemed through their mediation. From the family of one of these unfortunate creatures, they take regularly three times the ordinary amount of the ransom, and talk largely about the difficulty of finding him, and of per- suadmg his captor to accept of the money, while all along they know the very place where he is, and have probably already spoken about the price. It is amus- ing to observe how these scamps change their senti- ments, their rehgion, and pohtical opinions, accordmg to circumstances. On their way to Bokhara, while playing the part of slave holders, they act the zealous Bokhariot, abuse the heretical Shiites, and exult in the just measure dealt out to the Persian slaves. On their return to Iran, when playing the part of slave ransom- ers, they are loud in their abuse of the brutahty and cruelty of the Bokhariots, shed bitter tears over the misfortunes of the poor Persians, and are, in one word, the softest-hearted creatures m the world. In the caravan in which I myself travelled from Bokhara to Herat, there were two such slave brokers, who came from Khaf and Kain. Both of them bore the title of Khodja, or descendant of the prophet, of which they were not a little proud. The tenderness and care with which they treated the liberated slaves SLAVE TRADE AND SLAVE LIFE. 217 in their charge was almost unexampled. Yet these very men, as the leader of the caravan assured me, had only a few months before led a train of miserable captives mto slavery. In the Khanats of Khiva and Bokhara the slave dealers, called there Dogmafurush, form a regularly organised guild. It is remarkable that as regards their nationahty they are for the most part Sarts, Tadjiks, and emancipated Persians, and not so often Q^^zbegs or of any other tribe belongmg to the Turko- Tartaric race. The sale takes place either in the dealers' magazines, or in some market-place outside the to^vn, to which place the goods are removed some days previous. The most important depots are to be found in the Khanat of Khiva, first of all at the capital, then in Hezaresp, in Gazavat, in Gorlen, and in Kohne. Besides these, every place of any pretensions has a re- tail dealer, who is in connection with the large whole- sale dealers, or sells goods on commission. In Bokhara is to be mentioned first 'of all Karakul, and next the capital; besides these, Karshi and Tchihardjuy. It is to ba observed that, eastward from Samarcand, this abominable trafiic declines more and more, so that in the Khanat of Khokand there are no large slave deal- ers, and the majority of the slaves to be found there are bought in the territory of Bokhara. In the steppes lying to the north of the Khanats, thanks to the spread of Russian sway, slaves are only found as articles of luxury in the houses of the rich begs. The price of slaves in the markets of Central Asia, 218 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. like that of every commodity, varies according to the quantity at any one time on sale, which in time of peace is less, in time of war greater. The difference of price in male slaves of the same age depends for the most part on their physical condition and their nation- ality. The Turks of northern Persia are most pre- ferred ; first, because they sooner learn to make them- selves understood in the Turkish dialects of Central Asia, which are akin to their own; secondly, because they have robuster frames and are more accustomed to hard work than the other mhabitants of Iran. The Afghans fetch the lowest j)rice, not only because they have the greatest dislike to hard work, but also on account of theii' "sdndictive and revengeful character, which m the case of a brutal master may lead to un- pleasant consequences. As for the female slaves, they do not by any means enjoy the position which is occu- pied by the daughters of Circassia and Georgia m the harems of Tui-key and Persia. On the contrary, their position is rather to be compared with that of the ne- gresses in those countries. It is very easy to explain why. In the first place, the daughters of Turkestan correspond better to the ideas of beauty entertamed by QEzbegs and Tadjiks than the Iranian women, who with their olive complexions and large noses, would never bear off the apple of Paris from the fair, full- cheeked (Ezbeg women. In the second place, hi con- sequence of then* poverty the inliabitants of Central Asia do not mdulge m potygamy to such an extent as SLAVE TKADE AND SLAVE LIFE. 219 the Mohammedans of the West. Besides this, the (Ezbeg has generally too much aristocratic pride to share his bed and board with a slave, whom he has bought for money. In Bokhara it is true that we find mstances to the contrary, but that is only among the high functionaries of state, and even they only take such women as have been brought as children mto the country. In the middle classes such mesalliances are very rare phenomena. Besides, marriage is much easier here than in other Mohammedan countries. Hence female slaves are kept only as articles of luxury in the harems of the great, or as domestic servants. As regards male slaves the case is quite different. This yearly contingent of human arms has become for centuries necessary to the support of the Q^zbegs, who have a horror of steady agricultural labour. Indeed without their slaves they could hardly obtain from the ground enough to support Hfe. The truth of this as- sertion is shown by the fact, that the price of cereals m the Central Asiatic markets is deternuned not simply by the rise and fall of the waters of the Oxus, but also by the greater or smaller number of slaves sold durmg the year. The use to which slaves are applied is prm- cipally agriculture, and m the next place care of cattle ; and the larger the estate of an QEzbeg landlord, the larger the number of slaves which he requires. In a land hke Turkestan, where the mihtary element pre- ponderates, and every free man, either from instinct or from pohtical necessity, lays hold of the sword rather 220 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. than the plough-tail, it is necessary that the arms, thus subtracted from profitable labour and employed in murder and devastation, should be replaced by others accustomed to labour. That this is so, is best shown by the fact, that in those districts m which the popu- lation are most addicted to war and robbery, there the number of slaves is greatest. In this respect Khiva stands first of the three Khanats, Bokhara second, and Khokand third. In Khiva the greater part of the population is (Ezbeg, and, as they are surrounded on all sides by nomad tribes, they are contuiually engaged in war, and anarchy prevails among them more often than in the two other Khanats. In Bokhara, where the population is strongly mixed with peaceable Tadjiks, things have been rendered more stable by an older estabhshed and better organised government. In Khokand, which also contains many Tadjiks, wars are infrequent, owing to the notorious cowardice of its in- habitants, and when they do occur they are by no means so destructive in their character. A small proportion of the slaves are employed as private servants by the government officials (Sipahi) as also by the sovereigns themselves. For such pur- poses, however, only such are used as were brought in their earliest youth to Central Asia. These receive a thoroughly CEzbeg education, and beyond the oppro- brious title of kill (slave), bear few traces of the servile condition. Like the Circassian slaves m Turkey, they often attain the highest posts in the administration, as SLAVE TRADE AND SLAVE LIFE. 221 their innate Iranian quick-sightedness enables them to supplant their OEzbeg competitors. Thus, many who have now under their rule whole provinces, were brought into the Khanat as slaves. In Bokhara, where the (Ezheg aristocratic is of little moment by the side of the predominant Persian element, the sovereigns often take slaves for their lawful wives. Such was* the mother of the present Emir, such is one of his wives, both of them of Iranian orio;in. In the purchase of a male slave the first point looked to is a strong and Robust physical frame, but his value is increased if it be found out later that he has a good character. The seller must eno;ao;e himself to take him back during the first three days in case any hidden physical defect be found out ; for, although the buyer at the time of sale examines him carefuUy all over like a beast of burden, makes him show the strength of his arms, chest, back, and voice, he is still obliged to be on his guard against the tricks of the broker. For instance, it is very difficult to ascertain the age of such a Persian slave. As is the custom in Iran, the Turko- mans also dye the beards of their captives if they have any grey hairs. It is thus possible to make a mistake of twenty, nay, even of thirty years, and it sometimes happens that a slave who, when bought, had a fresh, youthful appearance, and a coal black beard, a few days afterwards turns out to be a grey-haired old man. It is easier to practice such tricks, as the slave, subdued by fear and harsh treatment, does not dare to make 222 SKETCHES OF CENTEAL ASIA. the least objection to any assertion of his Turkoman master. This is especially the case with slaves who belong to the Sunnite sect. As they profess the reli- gion of the Central Asiatic, they are not allowed to be made slaves of by the commandments of their religion ; but in consequence of the threats of the dealer they deny theu' own faith. The Central Asiatic, when he sees an Afghan or a Herati for sale, knows that he has been compelled to renounce his faith, yet with dis- graceful hypocrisy considers it no sin to buy him and keep him as a slave. I have myself seen in Khiva and Bokhara, even in houses of Mollahs of great renown for learning and piety, Sunnite slaves, and when I called them to account for conduct so inconsistent with their profession, they answered, " At the time I bought him he was a Shiite ; that he is now a Sunnite is to be attributed to the influence of the sacred soil of Turk- estan." Thus is rehgion employed to cheat religion. If we now pass on from the details of the slave trade to consider the condition of the slave, we shall find that the hardest time for him to bear is when he is first captured and trained by the Turkoman or the broker ; when the Iranian, justly proud of his superior civilisation, is treated Hke one of the lower animals by the coarse and brutal Turanian, whose very name is in Iran held in derision. The Persian is from his childhood accustomed to the most refined politeness, and to a flowery, elegant conversation; and must of course sufler mentally a great deal when first intro- SLAVE TRADE AND SLAVE LIFE. 223 duced to the savage manners and habits of Turkestan. His physical suffermgs are by no means so great. The majority of them, destined for agricultural labour, generally gain the confidence and affection of their master by their good behavior. If a slave has during a year not incurred punishment, he is soon looked upon as a member of the new family. Indeed, many receive, after a certam time, either monthly wages, or else a share of the produce of the land or cattle com- mitted to then' care. As the Iranian is in general more active and frugal than his Turanian neighbour, the slaves in Turkestan, in a remarkably short time, get together a little capital. This is employed by most of them in ransoming themselves from slavery, which they have the right to do after seven years' service. This term is occasionally shortened as a reward for peculiar diligence, or from great good nature on the part of the master; and the slave is surprized by an azad (letter of freedom), in the same way that we make a present to a faithful servant. Such a document is confirmed by the kadi and the temporal magistrate, and he who is in possession of it becomes at once master of his own actions. The act of emancipation is everywhere accompanied by certain solemnities. Sheep are slaughtered, guests invited; the freedman embraces one after the other the male members of his master's family; and after he has taken his place upon the same piece of felt carpet as 224 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. his master, his freedom is proclaimed. Among the Kirghiz it is the custom for the master on such oc- casions to fasten a white bone to the girdle of the freedman, which denotes that the latter is raised from the ranks of the " black -boned " (subject people) to that of the "white-boned" (nobility). So much for good-tempered and obedient slaves. Where the contrary qualities show themselves, (Ezbeg barbarity and cruelty make themselves felt in all their force. It is enough to make one's hair stand on end to read the list of punishments used to compel a refractory slave to obedience. The master has legal right of life and death over his slave. It very seldom happens, however, that he actually kills him, as he thereby loses the whole of his purchase money; but the miseries which he inflicts on him are worse than death itself. Many are kept for years together on mere bread and water in the midst of the lonely deserts; others, a few days before their seven years have expired, are sold agam — not, however, in the Khanats, where, their character being already known, they would be unsaleable. In such cases of impo- sition the victim is generally a Kirghiz, unversed in the tricks of the slave trade. Thus the Persian passes from the city into the northern desert, whence, even if emancipated, he seldom, if ever, returns home. It is certainly striking that, out of the large num- ber of slaves of Persian origin who are continually SLAVE TRADE AND SLAVE LIFE. 225 brought into Central Asia, only half of those who obtain their freedom go back to their native country. Such as do return are mduced to do so either by the necessity of setting their family affairs in order, or by extraordinary home-sickness. He who has hved eighteen years in Turkestan will seldom change it for Iran. The slaves, as observed before, are for the most part originally poor ; and when they have secured in Turkestan a certain means of gaining their liveli- hood, or have got together some property, they m few cases think of returning to their native land, where, on account of general habits of industry and activity, existence is much harder to support; where the necessaries of life are more expensive, and the luxury and splendour of the wealthy excite many migratified desires in the breasts of the poor, which are not aroused in the midst of the barbarous simplicity of the Khanats. Still, it is to be observed that the emancipated slave can never get rid of the disgrace imphed in the word hid (slave), however great may be the wealth he may have accumulated, or however high the post to which he may be promoted. Although he may be living in the utmost splendour and magni- ficence, the kul can never hope to obtain the hand of a free (Ezbeg, the poorest of whom would reject his proposals with scorn. I know an mstance in which an (Ezbeg refused his daughter to a freedman, although the latter' s suit was backed by the command of the khan; he preferred rather to encounter the anger of 15 226 SKETCHES OF CENTEAL ASIA. his sovereign than to call one who had once been a slave his son-in-law. Even the khanezads* (children of slaves), who are not allowed to be sold, are treated in the same manner, and can only marry the daughters of other emancipated slaves, or sarts. Only in the fourth generation is the disgrace attached to the word hul somewhat softened down, but by no means quite obliterated. In a country like Central Asia, in which courage is looked upon as the highest virtue, the slave is regarded as the ne plus ultra — a man who, for want of a contempt of death, allows himself to be put m chams; and it is this vice which is so difficult to be forgiven. This way of looking at the subject is further strengthened by the boundless feeling of aristocracy which distinguishes ih^ Tartars, whether settled or nomad, in which not even the wildest Tories or the proudest marquis of the Faubourg St. Germain can surpass them — a feehng which is entertained not only against the foreign Iranian, but even the native Tad- jiks, the eldest inhabitants of the land. It will be understood that it is only the moral stigma of slavery which the freedman has to suffer from. In his civil rights he is as well protected as any one else. Thus, as the Oriental is even more a creature of habit than we are, I found it very easy to understand how the Persian soon finds himself completely at home in Turkestan, which country he once so despised and * The sale of a khanezad is regarded as a disgraceful action, and one who commits such an act is branded as a thief and a robber. SLAVE TEADE AND SLAVE LIFE. 227 dreaded, and dwells contentedly in a foreign land, only occasionally solacing himself with a visit to his rela- tions or to the shrine of some Shiite saint in Iran. Unfortunately, it is the material comfort and pros- perity of the slave which the Central Asiatic, like other Mohammedans, alleges in his defence, when we express our abhorrence of the disgraceful traffic in human beings. As in Turkestan, so in Turkey we may often hear this argument : — " The sons and daughters of the wild Circassians were in their native land poor people, who in their free mountains could hardly get bread enough to eat ; here with us they become rich govern- ment officials, pashas, nay, even pruicesses, whose powerful influence affects the pohcy of government." They farther point out how kiudly the slaves are treated in the houses of persons of distinction, where they are put on the same footing as the members of the family. But they forget that these cases are exceptional, and that such good fortune depends for the most part on the personal beauty of the favoured few. What be- comes of the greater number, whose charms are not such as to gain the favour of their master? What shall we say of this majority, exposed as they are to the op- pression and cruelty of a tyrannical master, and con- stantly employed in the hardest labour? Such things are of course not taken into account, any more than the original cruelty of the slave mer- chant, who tears his victims from their homes and their 228 SKETCHES OE CENTEAL ASIA. friends. On the banks of the Bosphorus, as on those of the Oxus, few persons care to picture to their minds the horrors of that first moment of separation. How many orphans, how many mdows, how many aged and helpless parents, are left behind to wring their hands in sorrow for their bread-winner, who is carried mto captivity ! It is impossible to count them, it is impos- sible to describe the miserable condition of so many villages and districts which are exposed to the terrible scourge of the slave trade. The traveller in those re- gions stumbles at every step over the most melancholy traces of the devastation which it causes. However certain he may feel of the splendid destiny which awaits this or that individual captive, he must still exclaim : " This is the most execrable occupation that has ever defiled the hands of man, and its suj^pression is the first and holiest duty which our western civilisation has to perform for the cause of humanity ! " The suppression of the slave trade in Central Asia is, moreover, much easier than many might at first sight suppose. The root of the evil is to be sought, not so much in the Turkomans a,s in the inhabitants of the cities. All nomad tribes were and are ready for such a trade, if they only find settled tribes who will buy their captives of them. The Bedoums of the Arabian desert could never addict themselves much to the trafiic, inasmuch as the markets of the surrounding cities were closed by the religion of Islam against the SLAVE TRADE AND SLAVE LIFE. 229 sale of their booty. In the same way the Turkomans would soon abandon the practice, if the sale of Persians, Afghans, &c., in the Khanats were declared illegal. The Djemshidis, the Firuzkuhis, and Hezares, afford the strongest proof of this. As the transport of their captives^ to Bokhara is rendered unsafe by the inter- mediate Turkoman tribes, while at the same time their sale is forbidden in the Afghan town of Herat, they have either to suppress their slave-trading propensities altogether, or come to a compromise with the Turko- mans, much to the advantage of the latter. Sultan Murad Mirza, an enhghtened prince, and the governor of Khorassan, once expressed to me his sur- prise that England, which spends so many thousands in checkhig the slave trade m African waters, can look on unconcernedly while the same trade in the middle of Asia lays waste such a country, whose ancient civi- Hsation was of profit to Europe itself. In like manner I, too, cannot conceal my astonishment at the apathy which Europe, and especially that State whose flag is in the East ever the harbinger of the dawn of a newer, a happier era, has displayed on this question. Senti- mental newspaper writers, in. their pohtical rhapsodies, may yet for a long time take under their protection the feehngs of independence of many a savage Asiatic tribe, to whom freedom means nothing more than anarchy, plunder, and murder. But the dreams of Rousseau have had their day, and we can with the fullest confidence say, that whenever Europe shows 230 SKETCHES or CENTRAL ASIA. herself in the East, whether in the peaceful garb of the missionary, or in the terrible panoply of her war- like power, she brings only blessings in her train, and scatters the seeds of a new order of things. The more light is poured from the West upon the East, the sooner will the evil customs of the old world be eradicated, and our brother men be made happier. CHAPTER XIV. PRODUCTIVE POWER OF THE THREE OASIS COUNTRIES OF TURKESTAN. In arguing about the Russian conquest of Central Asia, we are wont to say that the Court of St. Peters- burg, in those far-reaching schemes which she pursues towards the Hindu- Khush with so much toil, at so heavy a cost, seeks some richer recompense than is to be found on the shores of the Yaxartes and the Oxus. Well; it is true that Russia's policy does not confine itself to the possession of the plains of Bokhara, Kho- kand, and Khiva. But in the meantime let us not undervalue the immediate gain of these conquests. It is right that we should learn the com23arative worth of the three Khanats, the nature and extent of their produce, both as it is, and as with proper management it might become. The very name of "oasis countries" contributes to- wards creating an impression, that the inhabited part of Turkestan must be unimportant as regards produc- tive power ; add to this the poverty and the extremely primitive and simple mode of life of its inhabitants, and it is not surprising that the great distance and 232 SKETCHES OF CENTKAL ASIA. the consequent want of knowledge should have be- gotten and spread erroneous notions. The natives themselves, as well as oriental travellers and geo- graphers, such as Idrisi, Ibni Haukal, Ebulfeda, and the learned Prince Baber, fall into the opposite ex- treme, by representing Turkestan as the richest country on the face of the globe, India alone excepted. This opinion prevailed in former times,* not only through- out Western Asia, but even very lately I have met with it in several locahties, and never felt more astonished than when I heard the egotistic Persian eloquently praising the wealth of Turkestan, a country he looks upon with deadly hatred and aversion. As for ourselves, we will try to form as far as possible an impartial estimate, although we must maintain at the outset, that Turkestan by far surpasses the known parts of European and Asiatic Turkey, Afghanistan and Persia, both in the wealth and variety of its pro- ductions ; nay, that it might be difficult to find in Europe, flourishing as it is, and rich in every bless- ing, a territory that would rival the oasis countries of Turkestan. The great variety of productions is to be ascribed essentially to the climate of the countries bordering the Oxus and Yaxartes. It is neither harsh, nor could it exactly be termed mild. On the average it cor- * The plain of Sogdiana or the Zerefsha — valley between Bokhara and Samarkand — is spoken of as an earthly paradise, and Hafiz calls the towns of Bokhara and Samarkand the greatest treasure, and yet surpassed by his beloyed. OASIS COUNTRIES OF TURKESTAN. 233 responds to the climate of Central Europe, though it must be remarked, that the winter is far more severe on the shores of the Sea of Aral and in the mountain- ous parts of Khokand, and the summer, on the con- trary, much warmer in those districts that lie to the south, and often almost tropical m the immediate neighbourhood of the great sandy deserts. The Oxus is frozen over every winter, from Kerki and Tchardshuy to its mouth; in Kungrad, Khodja Hi, and on the right bank, where the Karakalpaks dwell, the winter is generally very severe ; the snow lies often for weeks on the ground, and tempestuous north winds (Aya- mudjiz) are not unfrequent. Under such conditions there can be no question of a mild climate, and yet in Khiva I have found the heat unbearable as early as the beginning of June, while in August, near Kerki and Belkh, it was more sultry and oppressive, even in the shade, than is the case in really tropical countries. This great variation in the climate produces correspond- ing local dilSferences in the vegetation of even a small extent of country. Thus, for instance, the cotton of Yengi Uergendj is far better than that in the more northern districts, and the silk of Hezaresp is con- sidered throughout the Khanat of Khiva to be of first-rate quality. Gorlen produces the finest rice, and the finest fruit is found in the environs of Khiva, which lies farther south. In Bokhara and in Kho- kand we see the same effects produced by the climate, and hence the reason why each of the three Khanats 234 SKETCHES OF CENTEAL ASIA. contains, on a comparatively small area, such various and manifold productions, as are usually met with only in larger countries, which he between several zones.* The extraordinary productiveness of the soil is to be ascribed partly to the "blessed" rivers, so-called by the natives, which intersect the oasis-countries, and partly to the quahty of the soil. Of these rivers the Oxus is the most important. From its fertihzing in- fluence upon the land it may be compared to the Nile ; although, when used as drmkmg- water, the latter still surpasses it in its pleasantness to the taste. Next comes the Zerefshan, whose name, " Scatter er of Gold," sufficiently indicates the blessing it scatters over its shores. Nor are the smaller rivers, such as the Sliehr Sebz and the tributaries of the Yaxartes, of less importance. When we finally add, that the irri- gation of the fields is carried on with as much care, and much more ease, than in other parts of Western Asia, we shall cease to marvel any longer at the rich resources of the soil, however grand and important they may still appear. I have already noticed in my " Travels in Central Asia" that the irrigation is carried on — ^firstly, by natural canals, called arna^ which are formed by the * The difference in tlie harvest time in Turkestan best illustrates the above remark. In Belkh, for instance, and in the neighbourhood of Andkhuj, the harvest is at the beginning of June ; in Ilezaresp, Khiva, and Karakol, towards the end of June ; in the oasis-countries, in July ; in Kungrat, and in the north of Khokand, not before the beginning of August. OASIS COUNTEIES OF TUEKESTAN. 235 irregular course of the Oxus; secondly, by yaps^ i.e., smaller artificial canals, by which every village and colony is surrounded and intersected. In all places of any importance there is a high official, called Mirab (prince or warden of the water), who inspects the various aqueducts, and orders them every spring to be freed from the accumulated sand. During the winter the sluice-gates of all the principal "arnas" are closed as a protection against the inundations which naturally follow the breaking up of the ice. The cleaning of the canals takes place at the beguining of April, and the great object in view is to make them constantly deeper and narrower. The sand that is taken out is heaped up on both sides of the bank, which have thus for miles the appearance of intrench- ments, and -svith their cooHng shade protect the precious water from the burning rays of the summer's sun. To the general purposes of communication, however, these intrenched ditches are very prejudicial, although of real advantage to agriculture. Hence, the more expensive kahriz — subterranean canals — in Persia, are far more advantageous, and, moreover, preserve the water purer and cooler. The yaps and arnas in Central Asia form great obstacles to the traveller. Bridges are either very bad or altogether wanting. Let the reader imagine the trouble and the dreadful loss of time incurred, when a caravan with its heavily- laden camels has to cross from ten to fifteen of such embanked canals in one day's march. How prejucU- 236 SKETCHES OF CENTKAL ASIA. cial it is to the rivers to have so much water drawn off, we .see clearly in the Oxus. Formerly it flowed, no doubt, into the Caspian Sea, now its embouchure is in the Sea of Aral,* and this great change in its watercourse must be ascribed, if not wholly, yet in a great degree, to the evil of the many small canals. It is difficult to decide which of the three Khanats is the most fertile, especially now, when since the death of the much-lamented Conolly, nobody is able to fur- nish a succmct account of the nature and resources of the soil. To judge from all I have seen in my journey to Samarkand, and learned from my fellow-travellers, of Khokand, the native home of most of them, I should feel mclmed to give the preference to the Khanat of Khiva in point of vegetation. The two other Khanats have more land under cultivation, but Khiva surpasses them' by far m the quantity and quahty of its produc- tions, with the exception, perhaps, of fruit, which Bok- hara furnishes in greater variety, and of finer flavour. Bokhara also deserves the prize mth respect to all mineral productions; but the breeding of the finest cattle and horses is the exclusive property of the no- mads. The land is measured by tanah (cord, — a tanab is * Burnes (Travels in Bokliara, ch. ii. p. 188) doubts altogether whether the Oxus had formerly a different watercourse, and, amongst other reasons, sujj- ports his view by the opinion of the natives. No one will feel surprised that I heard them assert the very contrary. Among the Turkomans there exist numerous contradictory legends in connection with the former waternourse of the Oxus. OASIS COUNTRIES OF TUEKESTAN. 237 equal to sixty square yards), and in Khiva and Kho- kand consists of (1) Mulk, freehold property, which is subject to the payment of taxes; (2) Khanlik^ arrear estates, i.e.^ such land which the Government has either reclaimed and brought under cultivation, or which has devolved upon it by confiscation and conquest. Of this land a third of the net income is claimed by the State. (3) Yarimdji,^ all land that belongs to the medresse (schools), mosques, or any rehgious institu- tions, and which is liable to a fourth of the net income. The Khanlik estates in each district are under the con- trol of a certain number of officials, called Miishilrub^ who at the same time collect the taxes. Church pro- perty, on the contrary, is under the management of the mutevalis, as in other Islamitic countries. The quahty of the land in general may be judged best by my stating, that the richest soil under cultiva- tion produces one hundred batman (one batman is equal to twenty-four pounds) on a tanab, and that of least productive quahty never less than sixty batman. And takmg -into consideration that the cultivation of the ground here, as everywhere m Asia,, is done m the most neo-lio-ent manner, and is in the hio-hest decree- primitive, a competent judge can easily form an idea of the great fertihty of the soil. It is impossible for me to say how many square miles of cultivated land, or of land capable of cultivation, * These were formerly let on the system of half -profit, as indicated by the name. 238 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. the three Khanats possess. The frequent wars and unsettled times sufficiently explain the numerous ruins of former "flourishing colonies. Of the Khanat of Khiva thus much at all events may be assumed, that the area of territories laid waste and turned into deserts is larger than the land at present under cultivation. With the exception of a few single productions, with which the three Khanats carry on an export trade among each other, and with Russia, only so much of the rest is grown as is required for home consumption. There is no doubt that not only might the quality of all present productions be essentially improved, but also consider- ably multiplied. A short survey of the productions of the three Kha- nats will help to explain and confirm in detail all I have hitherto stated. 1. The Vegetable Kingdom. Wheat and barley are the most important among the cereals grown in the oasis countries of Turkestan. There are four kinds of wheat : — 1. Bukhara hudayi (Bokhara wheat) is considered the finest; it has a long, thin, and reddish grain, with a greenish top. Of this sort the delicious bread is baked, in the preparation of which the town of Bokhara excels, and which is famed far and wide under the name oi shir may e (mUk-marrow). 2. Tokmak hash (cuneiform top) has a round, thick OASIS COUNTRIES OF TURKESTAN. 239 grain ; it is very substantial, and most like our wheat. The best quality is found in Khiva. 3. Kara sullii (black-haired) has a thin and dark- brown grain ; it is chiefly used as food for horses, not being of a particularly good quality. 4. Yazlik (summer-fruit) takes a very short time to grow; it is exceedingly light, and, when used, is mixed with other kinds of wheat. Barley is not so good in Central Asia as m Persia or Turkey. There is, besides the usual sort, an in- ferior one, called harakalpak in Khiva, which is here used, as everywhere in the East, as food for horses. The average prices of all cereals are exceedingly low, as compared with the countries of Western Asia. The price of a Khiva batman of the best wheat varies from two to three tenge (one tenge, seventy-five cent. ), whilst barley costs often less than one tenge, and seldom more. Kice is grown in enormous quantities, but it is far inferior to the Herat or the excellent Shiraz rice, called tchampa and amberbuy (amber perfume) m quality. It is more like the Egyptian, called in Turkey dimyati (damietter), but would no doubt surpass the latter, if cultivated with more care and attention. Djugeri (holcus sorghum) is grown and consumed in far larger quantities in the three Khanats than any- where else in Asia. It is eaten in a milky state, but when dry it is used as fodder, principally for young colts, being less heating, and also more nourishmg, than barley, from the quantity of saccharine matter it 240 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. contains. Bread is made of it, either alone or mixed Avith wheat. Mekke djiigeri (Turkish wheat) never grows higher than a small span's length. Two kinds of it are found, one with a yellowish, the other with a red, small grain. It is never dried, and always either eaten in its milky state or used as fodder. Tari (groats) is an important article of consumption m Central Asia, and is therefore much grown. There are several sorts. Besides the well-known kmds of pulse, such as peas (burtshak), beans (lubie), lentils (jasmuk), &c., there are several others which we do not know; as for in- stance, the konak, which has smaller but thicker seeds, and a lower shrub than our lentil ; mash^ rather larger than millet, of a brownish colour, and several others, which are of no mterest to the general reader. Of oil-plants, I must mention first of all the kilndshi sesame, which thrives very well, and provides the Kha- nats amply with oil for cooking and burning. Then there is the zigir^ a plant similar to millet, which bears on one stalk several fruits, which are like apples, and the yellow seeds in which are not bigger than poppy- seeds. This oil is fit in food, especially in pastry. Then the djigit^ the seeds of the cotton-capsule, the oil of which, however, is not fit for food. Render (hemp), of which an inferior sort of Imen is made, and' which also furnishes the very popular narcotic, called beng. Lastly, mdau, a small shrub, from the greenish OASIS COUNTRIES OF TURKESTAN. 241 seeds of which a bitter oil, and of a disagreeable smell, is made, which is used as a medicine for animals, and especially for camels. Among the plants, which produce dye- drugs, the following are most esteemed : — ruyan or hoyah^ an ex- cellent species of madder, which thrives in all three Khanats, and is exported in considerable quantities to Russia. In the year 1835 this article was very Httle in request, and in the year 1860 as many as 24,523 Russian pud (883,000 Enghsh pounds) were imported.* Isbarak or harak^ whose small yellow flowers, when dried and powdered, give a fine yellow colour. Gort- chuk, a plant resembhng clover, with small red flowers ; the leaves, when boiled, give a fine black colour. Buz- gundjh, a plant with a fruit similar to gall-nuts, only grows in southern Maymene, and in the Badkhiz moun- tains, north of Herat, and is said to produce the finest red colour ; it fetches a high price in the place itself. Although not belonging to the same class of plants, I must mention here the terendjebin, a resinous and very sweet substance, which grows on a thorn, called khari shutur (camel's thorn). The terendjehin shows itself suddenly and quite unexpectedly towards the end of the summer during the night, and has to be collected at once in the early morning, before it grows hot. It resembles a gum, is of a greyish white colour, exceedingly sweet, and can be eaten in its raw state; in Central Asia it is made into shire (syrup), but in * Mitchell. " The Russians in Central Asia," p. 462. 16 242 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. Persia it is used in the suo-ar-manufactures of Meshed and Yezd. As regards fruit, we find in the Khanats almost every species (with the exception of fruits of the South) m great quantity, and of excellent quahty. A very considerable export trade is carried on m it to Russia, and even to "rich" India. The Central Asiatic is not a httle proud of his superiority m this respect, in Asia the glory and value of a country being determined by the quality of its water, ah', and fruit. Each of the three Khanats has in the latter its speciahte; Khiva is distinguished for its melons and apples, Bokhara for its grapes and peaches. It may be that some parts of Persia and Turkey surpass Bokhara ; but for melons, Khiva is unrivalled, not only in Asia, but I feel inclined to say, throughout the world. No European can form an idea of the sweet taste and aromatic flavour of this delicious fruit. It melts in the mouth, and, eaten with bread, is the most wholesome and refreshing food that nature affords. The celebrated Kasrabadi melon alone, near Ispa- han, remuids one, though very feebly, of this fruit of Central Asia, unique in its kmd. There is a great variety of species. The principal summer melons are the following: — 1. Zamtche^ which ripens earliest; it is round, of a yellowish colour, and has a thin skm. 2. Gorhek^ of a greenish colour, and with a white meat. 3. Babasheikhi is small, round, and with a OASIS COUNTRIES OF TURKESTAN. 243 white meat. 4. Koktche. 5. Shirin Petchek^ espe- cially mellow and sweet, of a small round shape. 6. Shekerpare. 7. Khitayi. 8. Koknahat. 9. Akna- bat. 10. Begzade* The winter melons are not ripe until the beginning of October, but they keep the whole winter, and are most palatable in February. There are the following kmds: — 1. Karagulehi. 2. Kizilgulahi. 3. Besliek. 4. Payandeki. 5. Sahsaul Kavunu. These are mostly exported to Russia. The Oxus chiefly contributes to render the melons of Central Asia so incomparably excellent, since the finest quahty thrives only on its banks. The melons of Bokhara are very indifferent, and in quality even inferior to those of Khokand. Khardkoff mentions in his iateresting workf ten different kinds of grapes he found in Bokhara. In Khiva I met with the following: — 1. Huseini, with oblong seeds and a thm skin, very sweet, and keeps throughout the winter. 2. Meske, with large romid seeds. 3. SuLtani. 4. Khalide are ripe first of any. 5. Shiborgani. 6. Taiji. 7. Khirmani. 8. Say eke. All these different sorts of grapes grow on the level ground, and are either made iato shire (syrup) or dried for eating; wine being made only by the Jews in Bokhara, and iti a very small quantity. There are four sorts of apples grown, and that of * I observe with pleasure, that of the seeds, which I brought with me from Central Asia, several kinds have succeeded in Hungary. These wiU un« doubtedly be the best melons we have in Europe. t "Bokhai'a, its Emir and its People." 244 SKETCHES OF CENTEAL ASIA. Hezaresp may boldly challenge the productions of our European horticulture. The mulberry, too, is larger, more varied, and sweeter than ours, and to this superiority we must, perhaps, ascribe the fact, that the silk of Central Asia is better than the Italian and French, and that a certain disease among silk-worms, common with us for many years, is there quite unknown. The rearing of silk-worms came originally from Chinese Tartary, especially from Khoten, where, as M. Remaud* correctly remarks, it was introduced in the first century of our era from the interior of China. Silk stuffs of native manufacture were known in. Bok- hara in pre-Islamitic times, accordmg to the testimony of a certain Manuscript, f which treats of the ancient history of Bokhara. It is no exaggeration to assert that the cultivation, spinning, and dyeing of silk, is a still more primitive process in the three Khanats than in China itself, where industrial progress, no doubt, effected many changes, whilst here ' everything has remained as it was years ago. The Khanat Bokhara supplies most of the raw silk; it is produced in the capital, in Samarkand, and among the Lebab- Turko- mans. Much also comes from the Khanat of Khok- and, in the neighbourhood of Mergolan and Namengan. Khiva contributes but little, and this little is inferior * " Relations Politiques et Commerciales de I'Empire Romain avec I'Asie Orientale," p. 197. t Tarichi Narschachi. OASIS COUNTRIES OF TURKESTAN. 245 in quality to the productions of the other Khanats, though, as competent judges have assured me, it is far superior to the silk of Gilan and Mazendran, in Persia. The manipulation, however, is very imper- fectly performed. I was struck with the manner of winding off the cocoons, which were placed in a cauldron of boiling water and stirred with a broom, until a certain number of threads unwind themselves, which are then wound round the broom. The dyeing is almost exclusively in the hands of the Jews, the weaving is done by the Tadjik and Mervi, who, in accordance with the taste and fashion of the country, prepare only stuffs of glaring colours. In former times, especially during the Arabian oc- cupation, the silk stuffs of Central Asia were celebrated throughout the East; but when the cleverest of the artisans were transferred by the conquerors to Da- mascus and Bagdad, the old art gradually disappeared, and is now gone for ever, in spite of the efforts of Timur to transplant it back from Transoxania. How great is the quantity of silk produced here, is shown by the cireumstance, that the greater part of the cotton stuffs, called aladja^ that are generally worn, are strongly intermixed with silk; that not only the rich, but every man of middle rank, possesses one or more garments, several table-cloths and pocket-hand- kerchiefs made of sill?:; and that a considerable export trade in silk is carried on, not only with Persia, India, and Afghanistan, but to a large extent with Russia. 246 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. The cotton in Central Asia promises to become an important article for the future. It is cultivated m large quantities in the three Khanats, furnishing the material for the upper and under garments of every body, high and low, for their bed-clothes, and cloths of every kind. The cotton in Turkestan is better than the Indian, Persian, and Egyptian, and is said to equal the far-famed American cotton. At present, however, Russia alone consumes this article in her manufactures at Moskau, Wladimir, Tverskoy, &c., and m quantities which increase annually in a sur- prising degree. The manufacturers complain greatly of the clumsy management of the planters, especially of the insufficient cleansing of the cotton from the seeds, as well as of the dishonesty of the traders, who wet the bales, or fill them with stones, to make them heavier. Nevertheless, the cotton, which is imported from Khiva and Bokhara by Orenburg, is almost m- dispensable to Russian industry. In Central Asia the cultivation of cotton is com- paratively easy and convenient, the cotton fields re- quiring no irrigation, and the rain being considered, if anything, prejudicial even in the spring. A hard, stony ground, called Soga^ is always chosen, and is ploughed once ; on the whole, the cultivation of cotton is the least troublesome of all field occupations. Ac- cording to the statistical dates of the Orenburg custom-house the greatest quantity of cotton is pro- duced in the Khanat of Bokhara; this statement. OASIS COUNTRIES OF TUEKESTAN. 247 however, rests upon an error, since the caravans of Khiva, when crossmg the Jaxartes, frequently join the Bokhariots, or they give themselves out for Bok- hariots ; these latter standuig on a much better footing with the Eussians, whilst the people of Khiva are in very ill favour with them. I know from my own experience, and have conviaced myself by frequent inquu-ies, that not only is the cultivation of cotton far more flourishing in Khiva, but its quahty is far superior to that in. the two sister Khanats. The pod, here called gavadje, is smaller than that of Bokhara; but the cotton is much finer and whiter even than the guzei sefid, that is, the first quality of Bokhariot cotton industry. The Central Asiatics themselves give the preference to the Khiva production, a fact which tends to confirm our opinion. In dyeing and weaving Bokhara stands pre-eminent, but the stuffs fi'om Khiva are better paid in her capital than her own manufactures. They are exported to Afghanis- tan, India, and Northern Persia, and are a highly- prized article even among the nomads. There is no doubt that the cotton of the oasis countries will one day considerably increase in value. Several circumstances of paramount and urgent neces- sity must combine to further this object. Above all things, it is requisite that important improvements should be introduced in the mode of cultivation; our European machines should come in aid of the cleans- ing and packing, and the roads should be rendered, as 248 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. far as possible, secure. By these means the cotton would not only be improved in quality, but, without any great additional expense, the quantity might be con- siderably multiplied. It is very probable that Central Asia may one day, although not in the immediate fu- ture, be to Russia what N^KjCarolina is to the manu- facturing towns of England at the present day. The immense increase in the exportation of cotton from Central Asia is shown very clearly in the Blue Books of 1862 and 1865, in the list which Mr. Saville Lumley, former secretary to the English embassy at St. Petersburg, has contributed. According to this official statement the Khanats exported to the value of— Bokhara. Khiva. Khokand. Roubles. Roubles. Roubles. 1840—1850 2,065,697 470,781 16,851 1853 380,514 133,799 1854 509,600 248,347 H ^ tr 1855 513,023 .185.683 ^ CO 1856 501,225 36,050 Is- 1857 578,483 66,776 p ft> OQ CO 1858 634,643 59,729 1859 495,065 2,274 1860 721,899 22,429 4,907 Total... 4,284,412 755,087 4,907 From this list we see, that the exports of 1840 — OASIS COUNTRIES OF TURKESTAN. 249 1850 did increase more than double during the next ten years, and under favourable pohtical circumstances would, no doubt, continue to increase. We must add the remark, that although Bokhara shows m this list throughout the largest figures, it does not by any means follow that they are the result of its own exclusive production. Much Khiva cotton has been included, as well as the cotton which the Urgends traders carry to Orenburg on the Bokhara road. The Orenburg custom-house furnishes the list, and all the cotton is entered under the head of Bokhara. In like manner much Khokand cotton is mixed up with it. The Khokand traders give themselves out for Bokha^ riots on the frontier, on account of the frequent hos- tilities between their tribe and the Eussians. 2. The Animal Kingdom. We must mention first of all the domestic animals, and among these the genus, sheep. Two species are usually distinguished: 1, the Kazak hoy (the Kirghis sheep) ; and, 2, the (Ezheg hoy (the (Ezbeg sheep). The Kirghis sheep is preferred to the latter, for its wool as well as its meat. Throughout Central Asia we meet with the fat- tailed sheep. Of these it is said, that their masters are obhged to fasten either cylinders or wheels under their broad, thick tails, which they drag after them on the ground, in order to render walking easier to them, or rather to enable them to walk at all — a story which is by no means exaggerated. 250 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. however incredible it may appear. The so-called Bak- kan- koy, the fatted sheep, give often from two to three batman of pure fat. The meat I fomid, in point of taste and flavour, superior to any in all those parts of Asia I am acquainted with. The highly celebrated Kivirdjik and Karaman sheep in Turkey cannot be compared to them ; and even the south Persian sheep, of which the Persians are exceedingly proud, are in- ferior to them. The wool is not of the same excellence, and is used less for clothing (probably for want of knowledge in the preparation of it) than for carpets, travelling-bags, horse-cloths, and similar other coarse stuffs ; it is little seen in the export trade. Black, curly lamb-skins, on the other hand, form an important article of trade. Its chief source is Bokhara, especially Karakol; from here it is exported all over Asia, and even to Europe, where it is known under the name of Astrachan. The sHd is drawn off the young lamb two or three days after its birth, and then softened in barley meal and salt. It is said, that washing it in the water of the Zerefshan gives it the beautiful lustre; and in the month of July thousands of them may be seen spread out for drying along its banks, between Bokhara and Behaeddin. The skins are everywhere admned, but mostly in request in Persia, where they are made mto the fashionable hats of the country. If we take into account, that a kiilah (a hat, for which three or four skins are used) costs there as much as from ten to OASIS COUNTKIES OF TURKESTAN. 251 fifteen ducats, we may feel assured that our Astrachan of a considerably lower price is no Bokhara production. With the nomads of Central Asia the breeding of sheep is a chief means of maintenance, and we can easily form an idea of the innumerable flocks of sheep which graze and rove upon the steppes. The Kirghis send great quantities of sheep to the Khanats and to Russia, where the importation is constantly on the increase. In the year 1835 about 850,000, and in the year 1860 already 3,644,000 roubles' worth of sheep were imported.* In addition to this enormous quantity of sheep, raw sheep- skins to the value of 75,000, and wool to the value of 86,000 silver roubles, passed the Russian frontier at Orenburg in the same year. The goat is, after the sheep, one of the most impor- tant of domestic animals. Goats' flesh is not so palat- able as that of sheep, but it is here better than any- where else in Asia. The wool of the goat, according to Burnes, is far inferior to that of the Cashmir goat, but tolerably good; and waterproof stuffs are made of it. Horses^ of excellent breed, are found among the Turkomans, who export the finest to Afghanistan, India and Persia. The Turkoman horse, especially the Akhal and Yomut race,f is very little inferior to the Arab horse in point of swiftness and endurance, as well as in beauty of form. The ffizbeg horse, or the * Compare " The Eussiaus in Central Asia," p. 462. t Compare " Travels in Central Asia," p. 420. 252 SKETCHES OF CENTKAL ASIA. species met with in Bokhara, Khiva, and Maymene, possesses more strength than swiftness. The camels of Central Asia, among which the breed of Bokhara and the two-humped Kirghis are considered the best of their kiad, are surpassed in point of strength and swiftness only by the Arab, and especially by the Hedshaz camel. The story that the camels can pre- serve water pure and cool in their second stomach, and that travellers, when suffering from thirst, drink it in their utmost need, is perfectly unknown here ; and on questionmg the nomads on the subject, they only laughed and seemed highly amused. These animals are famous in Central Asia for then' rare contentedness, satisfied as they are with the very worst water, and most mi- serable food, consisting of thistles and briars, and in spite of which they hold on for days, loaded with the heaviest burdens. They are at the same time entirely free from the spite and viciousness of the Arabian camel. They are exported to Russia and Afghanistan ; less to Russia. Their hair is cut twice a year, and is used in the manufacture of ropes and coarse stuffs. Cattle on the whole are not very numerous, and in rather a poor condition. The finest cattle are said to exist in Khokand, and among the Karakalpaks on the Oxus, whose exclusive occupation is to rear them. Beef is, in Central Asia, stUl more tough and unpalatable than in Persia or Turkey, and the consumption of it is therefore limited to the poorest class of the people. Butter and cheese are made of cow's milk, but in com- OASIS COUNTRIES OF TURKESTAN. 253 paratively small quantities. Mules are not found iii Central Asia, from a religious superstition against dis- gracing the horse, the noble animal, "par excellence;" but all the greater care is bestowed upon the breeding of the ass, which undoubtedly is here the finest and most excellent of all I have seen in Asia. The ass is, in Bokhara, not only of a vigorous frame and high stature, but of surprising nimbleness, and m long cara- van marches can be relied upon as much as the horse. The fowls are of the long-legged Chinese breed. Geese are smaller than those in Europe; and there are several species of ducks. Besides these, there are swans, partridges, guinea-fowls and pheasants, of which the finest sort is found in Khokand. 3. Mineral Kingdom. My readers will not feel suprised that we should have but a scanty knowledge of the mineral riches in the three Khanats. Lehmann, and other Russian tra- vellers, who, famished with sufficient geological know- ledge, 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 Bumes, 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 254 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 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 mmes 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 neghgent manner. The gold-washing, or more correctly the gold- fishing, is done mth 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 ex- ported ; 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 AUahkuli-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 prmce he either fled or was murdered. Since that time the mines have been much neglected. I also OASIS COUNTRIES OF TURKESTAN. 255 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 Laah 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 ex- ported to Arabia, Persia, and Turkey. Lapis lazuli, which is used in dyeing, is of small value in Central Asia, and is ex23orted to Russia and Persia. The turquoise of Bedakhshan and Khokand is far mferior m colour to that of Nishapur in Persia, and is pur- chased by none but the nomads and Nogay silver- smiths ; it is of a green instead of a blue colour, and liked far less than the latter.* This sketch of the productions of the oasis countries in Central Asia will have convinced my readers, and especially those who are acquainted with Asiatic countries and their conditions, that Turkestan can- not be numbered among the sterile countries. Called by the natives " a jewel set in sand," from its o^vn pecuHar value and the barrenness around it. Central Asia will certainly play an important part one day among the countries of the far East, and occupy a prominent position, as soon as the beneficent beams of our European civilisation shall have dried up the stagnant pool of its miserable social relations, and as * Compare Ritter, "Erdkunke," viii., 326. 256 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. soon as the grand results we have gained for industry and agriculture shall there likewise have received their acknowledgment. It is robbery, murder, and war, but not the barrenness of nature, which convert the shores of the Oxus and Jaxartes into a desert. In Bokhara, but especially in Khiva, agriculture is almost exclusively in the hands of slaves, of which there are in the latter Khanat more than 80,000. Their rude manners have placed the sword in the hands of the inhabitants, — the plough is considered degrading, and is entirely given over to slaves. When will these Khanats learn to see that a great part of their mis- fortunes, and the unsettled state of then* political and social relations, originate in the perversity of their nature and conduct? A government which endeavours to smooth existing relations deserves our full acknowledgment and cordial wishes for success, although it is premature to anti- cipate a complete change. Nor must we grudge it the natural wealth of the country. Setting aside the moral influence of such a Government, and its possible future political schemes, the material gain is, on the whole, not large; nay, I mamtain, that it is small, when compared to the trouble and expense the occu- pation and administration of such a province require — a province, the communication with which must always be attended with endless hardships and dif- ficulties. CHAPTER XV. ON THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF BOKHARA. What I have to impart in this chapter on the ancient history of Bokhara is taken out of a Persian MS., brought by the late Sir Alexander Burnes from Bok- hara, which bears the name of " Tarikhi Narshakhi," the history of Narshakhi. The author, Mehemmed ben Djafer el Narshakhi, wrote this highly mteresting work in Bokhara, m the year of the Hegirah, 332, under the government of Emir Hamid the Samanide, in Arabic. Later, in the year 522, it was translated into Persian, and augmented by quotations from a not less mte- resting work, Khazain ul Ulum, " The Treasures of Wisdom," which Ebul Hassan wrote at Nishapur. In consideration of its historical value it is well worth the trouble (m a quite literal translation) to give the whole. The distmguished orientalist. Monsieur de Khanikoif, has already done this, and it will very pro- bably be put before the scientific world. We have here only selected that which is suitable to the outhne of our sketches, and for this reason given an extract m a free translation, smce this is less fatiguing to the majority of readers, and more acceptable. 17 258 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. Bokhara, z.e, its Environs. On the site of modern Bokhara there must have been in ancient days a morass, which arose from the yearly flooding of the river that comes from Samarkand. In summer, from the melting of the snow in the exist- ing mountains in the neighbourhood, this was much augmented. This morass was dried up at a later period, and the fertile soil soon attracted settlers from all sides. From these colonists a prince was chosen, by name Aberzi, for their ruler. Bokhara itself ex- isted not then. There were simply numerous villages, of which Beykem or Beykend (the village of the ruler) was the largest. Tyranny soon dispersed this little colony. A part of it drew back to northern Turke- stan, founded the town Djemuket,* and soon enjoyed a flourishing condition. Later they returned to the assistance of their brethren whom they had left be- hind. Then Prince Shir Kishver, " Lion of the Land," conquered the bad Aberzi, put him m a sack full of thorns, and turned him i^ound and round until he die^. Bokhara gradually flourished again. Shir Kishver ruled for twenty years, and contributed much to the success of the colony, and his followers pursued the same path, and the whole neighbourhood was soon peopled and covered with villages. In what epoch the chronology of this place falls, is hard to con- * This is very probably the modern Chemket, in the new Russian province of Turkestan. ANCIENT HISTOKY OF BOKHAEA. 259 jecture. It were a vain effort to attempt to penetrate the table of the oldest history of Bokhara. We prefer rather to give the interesting data of the MSS. on that neighbourhood, and to begin with Bokhara, which from ancient days was an important spot. Bokhara, the Capital. What the source of our information relates with regard to the religious importance of this spot, what pre-eminence its inhabitants had, what distinction awaits them at the day of resurrection, &c., will not much interest our readers. Siaush is stated to have been the founder of the fortress, where he was slam in a pubhc square, before the Gate Guriun, by his own father-in-law. This place was constantly held in honour by the fire-worshippers, and every one took care to offer a cock there on Noruz (New Year's Day) before the set of sun. This commemorative festival was celebrated everywhere. Troubadours have long sung of it in their lays, though the story relates to facts that happened three thousand years ago. Other people affirm that Efrasiab was the founder. It may suffice to know that the fortress long remained de- solate and uninhabited until Benden, or Bendun, the husband of Queen Khatun, rebuilt it, together with a castle over the gate, on which he caused his own name to be engraved in iron. In the year 600 Heg. this gate, together with the iron slab, was still conspicuous ; later all fell in ruins, and every attempt to rebuild it 260 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. was fruitless. After the opinion of the wise men of the day it was at length rebuilt in the form of the Pleiades, on seven pillars, and from that time all kmgs who inhabited it were victorious, and, what is still more wonderful, none of them died, as long as they contmued to occupy it. This castle had two gates — the Eastern or Gurian Gate, the Western or Rigistan Gate — which were connected by a road, and the castle contained the dwellmgs of the chief officers, as well as the prison and treasury and divan. After these events there was a time of desolation, and it was agam rebuilt by Arslan Khan, and enjoyed its former greatness, 534 Heg. When Kharezm Shah took Bok- hara he permitted governors appointed from Sandjar to direct matters, and to destroy the citadel. Then, in 536 Heg., it was again restored. Similar events it experienced many times, till at last the Moguls, under Djengis Khan, reduced to ruins Bokhara and the fortress. Of the palaces of Bokhara, the Serai at the Rigistan must be mentioned in the first place, m which square the lords of this land, both in the pre-Islamite times and also later, were m the habit of hving. In regard to circumference, that which Emir Said, the Samanide, caused to be built is the largest, and probably most splendid palace, where all the high counsellors, -svith the governors, are found in one and the same buildmg. After this, we must name Seray Molian, or that palace which was built on the canal of the same name. ANCIENT HISTOEY OF BOKHAEA. 261 This is described as an exceedingly charming dwelling- place, which was surrounded by the most luxurious gardens, the most beautiful meadows and flower-beds, brooks and fountains. The whole tract of country from the gate of the Rigistan to Deshtek (little field) was quite full of beautifully-painted, sumptuous houses, with, lovely lakes, and shadowy trees which allowed no sun to penetrate; and the gardens exuberant in fruits, as almonds, nuts, cherries, &c.* The palace of Shemsabad is also worthy of notice, which the king, Shems-ed-din, caused to be built near the gate Ibrahim, and which is remarkable for its zoological garden, named Kuruk. This was a place of four miles m circumference, surrounded with high walls, where many dove-cotes, as well as wild animals, such as apes, gazelles, foxes, wolves, boars ( !), in half- tamed condition, are found. After the death of Shems- ed-din, his brother, Khidr Khan, mounted the throne ; then his son, Ahmed Khan, who continually increased the beauty of the palace; but when the latter was conquered and conducted to Samarkand by Melek Shah, it was abandoned, and fell into rums. Besides these there were many country houses in the neigh- bourhood, nearer to the toAvn, which belonged to the Keshkushans. By this name a certain people were indicated who came out of the west to Bokhara, but were not Arabs, and possessed a singularly good * Almonds and cherries are, uow-a-days, not to be mot with as a prodnct of Bokhara. 262 SKETCHES OE CENTKAL ASIA. reputation. When Kuteibe, after the conquest of Bokhara, required the half of the houses for the Arabs, the Keshkushans formed the largest portion of those who gave up their houses and settled out of the town. Of these country houses only two or three remained to later periods, which bore the name of Koshki Mogan (Kiosks of the fire- worshipping priests). There were many temples in Bokhara kno"\vn as those of the fire- worshippers, and the Mogan were accustomed to main- tain them with great care. The first town wall which extended round Bokhara was built by the command of the governor, Ebul Abbas, in 215 Heg., in consequence of the mhabitants having complamed that they had sufi'ered so much from the inroads of the Turks. In the year 235 Heg., it was repaired and fortified, but later enth'ely ruined when the Mongol hordes laid waste the city and environs of Bokhara. Besides the above, mosques and other buildings are mentioned. We wish to spare our readers these details. The past prosperity of Bokhara is sufficiently shown, when we appeal to twelve canals or larger conduits which inter- sect the vicinity in all directions. The fruitful and bounteous nature of the soil has, in the East, become proverbial, and the great sums which have been levied on the town and environs prove it. After the fourth, i.e.^ the final conquest of Bokhara by Kuteibe, the Khalif in Bagdad received 200,000, and the governor of Kho- rassan 10,000, dirrhems. In the time of the Sama- nides Bokhara paid, in Kermineh alone, more than a ANCIENT HISTOEY OF BOKHARA. 263 million dirrhems tribute, which is considered an im- mense sum according to the tariff of that period. In pre-Islamite times there was m Bokhara only barter. The first governor who struck silver money was Kanan- khor. The coin had on one side his portrait, and was of pure silver : this lasted up to the time of Abubekir. The old coinage became lessened, and was replaced by the inferior mint at Kharezm. In the time of Harun al Raschid, Athref, the governor, struck a new mint of six different kinds of metal, which were named atrifi or azrifi. (I thmk that the word, common in Persia, eshrefi — ducats, is not from the Arabic, but derived from azrifi. ) In industrial arts also, Bokhara has exceeded the other nations of once famous Asia. The dress stuffs which were fabricated on the bank of the Zerefshan were sought for in Arabia, Persia, Egypt, Turkey, India itself. These were merely of three colours, white, red and green ; but its silken stuffs were strong and heavy, and were worn for a long time as the favou- rite royal and prmcely robes m many lands. Next to these were the large carpets and curtains, which were woven in Bokhara. The former of these were so ex- pensive that the town of Bokhara could pay, with one single carpet, the tribute to Bagdad. In the later devastations of Boldiara the clever artizans were scat- tered, and with them then* art fell to the ground. 264 sketches of central asia. The Environs oe Bokhara. Besides the chief city and its wonders, there are many places of the environs described in the manu- script before me. Some of these exist even now; others have passed nameless. Kermineh. In this many other towns are comprised, and this region has produced many poets and "poetesses. It is distant from Bokhara fourteen farsangs only, and was named Dihi Khurdek (httle town). Nur is a larger place, where there are many mosques and caravanserais, and it is the spot most frequented by pilgrims of the whole neighbourhood. In Bokhara much is thought of this, for a journey thither is es- teemed as half a pilgrimage to Mecca. Tavais (as the Arabians name it, for the proper name was Kud), a considerable spot, which was cele- brated for its markets. They lasted commonly ten days, and were frequented yearly by more than ten thousand persons, who came from Ferghana (Khokand) and from all quarters. This circumstance made the mhabitants wealthy, and they were famous for their riches. Ta- vais lies on the high road to Samarkand, and is seven farsangs from Bokhara. Ishkuhket, a large and rich town, carries on an exten- sive commerce in prej^armg kirbas (a kind of linen); has many mosques, caravanserais, and is considered one of the loveliest towns of Bokhara. Zeiidine produces the best kirbas in Bokhara, which ANCIENT HISTORY OF BOKHARA. 265 it exports to Arabia, Fars, Kirman, and other distant lands, and which is used everywhere by princes and great people for clothing. It is in high estimation, and is purchased at the same price as the heaviest stuffs. Revane is a fortified spot, and Avas formerly the residence of the kmgs, and it is said that it was built by Shapur. It is on the Turkestan boundary, has a weekly market, at which much silken stuff is sold. Efshana is a well fortified spot, has a mosque built by Kuteibe, and a weekly market. Berkend^ a large old village, which the Emir Ismael, the Samanide, bought, and divided the revenue be- tween Dervishes and Seids. Rametin is older than Bokhara, and was earher in- habited by princes. It is said to have been built by Efrasiab, who fortified it also at a later period, when he was attacked by Kaykhosrev, who sought vengeance on him for the death of his father, Siaush, and son-in- law. In this place were the most celebrated temples of the fire -worshippers in all Transamana. Efrasiab was, after two years, seized and killed by Kaykhosrev, and his grave is found at the entry of that fire-temple, which stands on that hio;h hill which is now visible close to the mountams of Khodscha Imam. These events are reported to have taken place three hundred years ago. YerakK sha is one of the Bokhara towns, and is celebrated for its castle, which was built by Prince 266 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. Gedek, one thousand years since, and then lay long years in ruin. Later, Prince Hebek restored a portion, and Benyat, the son of Tugshade, is said to have died there. In the time of Islam, Emir Ismael, the Samanide, mshed to make a mosque of it, and offered the inhabitants 20,000 dirrhem as a re-unbursement for the restoration, but they dechned his ojffer. In the time of Emir Hayder, the Samanide, there were yet some wooden remains, which that person brought to Bokhara, and used for the builduig of his castle. Yerakh'sha has yearly fifteen markets, of which the last, which is held at the end of the year lasts twenty days, and also is called the Noruz market (New Year's Day market), which since that time (what time?) has become a Bokhara custom. Five days after the Noruz market comes the Noruz Mogan (New Year's Day of the priests of the fire-worshippers). Beyhend was considered a city, and its inhabitants are highly indignant if any one call it a village. Were a Beykender in Bagdad questioned as to his home, he would say Bokhara. It was once a considerable spot, had many beautiful buildings and mosques, and in the year 240 Heg. had yet many rabats (stone houses in the form of a caraver serai). The number of these exceeded a thousand, all inhabited by people who, in summer, dwelt at their own country seats, but in winter spent the fruits of their industry in the town, and thus were very gay. The Beykenders v/ere also great merchants, who carried on a trade to China and ANCIENT HISTORY OF BOKHARA. 267 the Sea. The fortifications of this town are older than Bokhara, and it gave Kuteibe much trouble to take it. In earlier times each prince had here his castle. Between Beykend and Farab is a tract of twelve farsangs, which goes through a sandy desert. Arslan Khan had raised here a magnificent building, and with much cost brought the Canal Djaramgam mto this vicmity. In the neighbourhood of Beykend there are many beds of reeds and large lakes, which they call Barkent ferrakh or Karakol. According to a cre- dible statement these are about twenty farsangs in extent, and abound in water-fowl and fish, beyond any other portion of Khorassan. Here the Canal Dja- ramgam had not suificient water, so Arslan Khan ■wished to bring from these lakes a stream to Beykend, which place Hes on a slight elevation. They began to dig, but they struck on an excessively hard rock, which rendered useless all their hammering and hewing. Loads of fat and vinegar were employed for the softening of the stone, but in vain, and the work was abandoned. Farah has a large mosque, of which the walls and cupola are built of tiles, without a particle of wood visible. It had its own princes, who governed from Bokhara in a settled order, and, to a certain degree, independently,- 268 sketches of central asia. Queen Khatun and the Four First Arabian Field Marshals.* In the time of the Arabian occupation, or more pro- perly speakmg, in that time when the first outposts of the Arabian adventurer pressed to the distant East, there was in Bokhara a woman on the throne, who, during the mmority of her son Tugshade, held for fifteen years the reins of government mth both might and rectitude. Of this woman, who is considered to be the Nusliirvan (emblem of justice) of Central Asia, it is reported that she went daily from her castle on the Eigistanf on horseback, and, surrounded by all classes, busied herself with state afikirs. Towards the end of year 53 Heg., the Arabians, under the leading of Abdullah-ben- Ziad, crossed the Oxus, and took the once celebrated Peykend, through which victory they came mto possession of much treasure, and about 4,000 prisoners. In the year 54, Heg., they attacked Bokhara with a strong army and battering engmes, and Khatun was cowed before the threatening peril. One messenger was sent by her to the Arabian field-marshal with presents, and instructions to obtaui at least an armi- stice for fourteen days ; another was sent to the north- east to a Turkish race, for quick aid. The stratagem was * Khatun means in Turkish, woman, of which word we wish to avail our- selves instead of a name, as this is the practice in the MS. before us. t Rigistaii means in old Persian, an open space, which is strewn with sand (rig) and kept vacant. ANCIENT HISTORY OF BOKHARA. 269 successful. The Arabs, anticipating nothing, granted the armistice. Meanwhile the Turks approached, and Khatun felt herself strong enough to attack the besieg- ers and put them to flight. The defeat itself was not denied by the Arabian historians : they only add, that the Massulman army took a rich booty in gold, silver, clothing stuffs, and weapons, in which were the golden and jewelled boots of the queen, Khatun, the worth of which was estimated at 200,000 drachmas. Abdullah- ben-Ziad felled all the trees in the vicinity, and de- stroyed all the towns. Khatun felt anxious for the fate of her land, and concluded peace with the Arabians, which she bought, they say, for one milhon drachmas. In the year 56, Heg., Said ben Osman was named governor of Khorassan. He crossed the Oxus and fell o on Bokhara. Khatun wished to buy a peace for a si- milar sum to that which she gave Abdullah ben Ziad. Despite of this offer, Said, who stood with 120,000 men m Kesch (Shehr Sebz) and Nakhsheb (Karschi), refused compliance, gave battle, and after he had beaten the army of Khatun, made peace. The queen was obhged to submit, and entered the army of the Arab as a vassal.* The submissive State gave eighty hostages, and Said ben Osman went to Samarkand, which he also took, and thence, laden mth rich trea- sures, returned back to Medina. The report goes, * Report says, that Said ben Osman and Khatun, who was a celebrated beauty, loved each other; and even in later years the popular ballads were extant which sung of this adventure. 270 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. that the hostages which Khatun gave to the Arabian field-marshal were officers who doubted the legitimacy of Tugshade, and plotted together against the queen. According to agreement, they wanted merely to ac- company the Arab army as long as they remained in Bokhara, but Said wished to have them with him as trophies of his victory when he entered Medina. This moved the deceived Bokharians; and when they saw their ruin unavoidable, they wished, at least, to die avenging themselves. They slew Said, and then severally destroyed each other. In his turn, Muslmi ben Ziad was named ruler of Khorassan. He hastened quickly to his post, drew together a considerable army, and fell on Bokhara, again become faithless. Khatun quickly perceived that she, alone, was no match for him, and sought everywhere help. She gave her hand to Terkhan, Prince of Samarkand, to purchase pro- tection for her country; also the mighty Turkish prince, Bendun, was called in to aid. When all the assistance had been promised, Khatun hastened to conclude a truce: the Arabs consented; when Bendun appeared with 120,000 men, and induced the reluctant queen to violate the truce. The Arabian field-marshal was extremely incensed, and sent one of his officers, by name Mehleb, to Khatun, to remind her of her blame- able neglect of duty. Mehleb took from each com- pany a man with him, quitted secretly the camp by night, with the intention to surprise, on some point, the enemy's army. He was already arrived on the ANCIENT HISTORY OF BOKHARA. 271 banks of the river (Zerefshan), when some Arabs, thinking that the question was a matter of booty, joined him. Their united force was not more than 900 men. The enemy's cavahy discovered this, and at the first onset cut down 400 of them. The rest fled quickly back, but were followed, and towards daylight reached near to Khoten. The Turks opened a bloody battle ; Mehleb was surrounded on all sides, and announced, by a powerful shout, his position to the nearest Arabian camp. The signal was heard ; Muslim knew the voice of Mehleb, heeded it but little, and only Abdullah, who blamed the mdifference of the commander-in-chief, mounted his horse in order to assist his brother, who was hard pressed. This approach gave courage to Mehleb and his followers. The battle was renewed ; Bendun fell, and the Turks were put to flight with great loss. An immense booty fell into the hands of the conquerors; and it is said that each horseman received about 1,000 dirrhems. After this incident Khatun made peace, and did homage to the Arabs. She also appeared in the camp, and did homage again. She requested to see Abdullah, whose heroic deeds had astonished the whole army. Muslim called him. He wore a blue tunic with red girdle, and favourably impressed the Queen by his noble appearance, and she made him great presents. The fourth Arabian field- marshal was Kuteibe ben Muslim. He went to Kho- rassan, under the Kaliphate of Hudjadj, conquered on his way the provinces of Tocharistan, and crossed 272 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. the Oxus, in 88 Heg. Peykend was ajDprised of his a]3proach, a strong walled fortress, the taking of which cost him a hard struggle. The Arabs were forced to besiege it fifty days, and suiFered considerably. Since force could produce no effect, he was obliged to em- ploy stratagem, and caused it to be undermined, and the fortress was thus surprised. He pardoned the inhabitants, made peace with them, and leavmg Yarka ben Nasr-uUah as governor, went to Bokhara. Intel- ligence soon reached him that the Peykendis had killed the governor, whom he had left behind, and who, as it proved, had provoked the revolt by his cruel deeds. Kuteibe hastened back, plundered the city, des- troyed it, killed all the men able to bear arms. The rich and mighty Peykend, which maintained an exten- sive commerce in teas from China and other goods, was utterly destroyed. Some portions were restored later, but its prosperity was gone for ever. They relate that the Arabs, among abundant treasures, found a silver idol, which, with the robes, was worth 150 miskal. Among things most worthy of remark, were two pearls, as large as a pigeon's egg. These, according to the report of the Peykendis, were brought into the temple by a bird. Kuteibe sent such things to the Khalif Hudjadj as a present, who, in a letter of thanks, expressed both his admiration for the objects, and the high spirit of the sender. From hence he went to Yardun, (now Yardanzi) which he spoiled, with all the other villages belonging to it. ANCIEKT HISTORY OF BOKHARA. 273 These successful advances of the Arabian army terri- fied the small princes of that neighbourhood, and they united, and attacked, with joint forces, the invaders. As the Arab historian affirms, Kuteibe was greatly distressed. He was also destitute of arms f and they say that a lance was bought for 5 dirrhems, a hehnet for 50, the cuirass for 900. Happily, the ruler of Samarkand, by cunning and deceit, had withdrawn from the alhance to go over to the Arabs; and the Turkish leader having obtained information that fresh auxihary troops had arrived in Kesh and Nakhsheb, retreated to Vardun; and Kuteibe remained undis- turbed in the possession of the conquered province in Transoxiana. TUGSHADE AND MOKANNA, THE YeILED PrOPHET OF Khorassan. Tugshade, who, after the death of his mother, was chosen King of Bokhara, had to thank Kuteibe, alone, for his throne, since he supported him against his powerful neighbour, the Governor of Vardun, who invaded Bokhara repeatedly, but was always driven back by Kuteibe. This feeling of gratitude may have been the principal cause that Tugshade went over to Islam, and distmguished himself by his remarkable ardour in favour of the new opinions. He reigned thirty-two years, not so much as an independent prince, but as the vassal of Kuteibe, who found in , 18 274 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. him a mighty aid in propagating by force the doctrme of Mohammed, which the mhabitants of Bokhara were much disposed to reject. As the Arabian adventurers made conversion to Islam the chief condition m sub- mitting, the Bokhariots, at each capture of their capi- tal, acknowledged, m appearances, Islam, but after the departure of their conquerors returned to their beloved national rehgion, the Parsi. Kuteibe wished to check this. He ordered, therefore, that the half of the houses of the whole town should be given up to the Arabs. The proselytes were placed, by these means, m the immediate neighbourhood of men who continually watched them, and urged them to the new doctrine. In the year 94 Heg., he permitted a large Mosque to be built, in which all were to assemble for prayer on Fridays, and in which the Koran should be read, in an emphatic manner, in the Persian language. This mosque existed even in the time of our author's writing, who besides adds that upon the doors figures of annuals were cut, (which, as is known m every place of Islam, to say nothuig of a mosque, is treated as a gross offence) : the reason of this, they say, was, that these animals were taken from an earlier temple of the Fire -Worshippers, and retained afterwards. Tugshade reigned thirty-two years. After his death, Kuteibe, his son, (whom he so named, from attachment to the Arabian field-marshal), took the throne. At the commencement of his reign he aff'ected the Musulman, but, as it was soon apparent that he ANCIENT HISTORY OF BOKHARA. 275 was secretly attacliecl to the old religion, he was exe- cuted by order of Ebn Muslim, the ruler of Khoras- san, and in his stead, Benyat, also a son of Tugshade, was named Lord of Bokhara. Under both these latter reigns, it happened that the Sefiddjamegan (the white-clothed), as the followers of Mokanna, the Veiled Prophet of Khorassan, have been called, raised, with the new doctrine, the standard of rebel- lion against the Arabian conquerors. In like manner with Kuteibe, the son of Tugshade, did the other son, Benyat, go over to the rebels, and was put to death by order of the Khalif, 166 Ileg. The family of Tug- shade held the throne of Bokhara till 301 Heg., when Ibn Ishak, the son of Ibrahim, the son of Khalid, the son of Benyat, ceded his rights to Emir Ismael, the Samanide. As to the history of Mokanna and the Sefiddjame- gan, this movement might have had, certainly, dan- gerous consequences for Islam in Central Asia, if the authorities in Bokhara, and particularly the Khalif Mehdi, had not used all proper precaution. Mokanna, (as is related in the MS. lying before me), the veiled prophet of Khorassan, whose real name was Hashim bin Hekim, was born in the village of Geze, near Merw, and early occupied himself mth many kinds of knowledge, but especially with enchantments and secret arts. He was named Mokanna, or the Veiled Prophet, on this account, ]:)ecause he covered his head constantly 276 SKETCHES OF CENTEAL ASIA. with a veil, for he was deformed in features, one-eyed, and, moreover, bald. He had, no doubt, under Ibn Muslim a high military rank, as he there once came out in his character of prophet ; he was seized, sent to Bagdad, and there put ia prison. He escaped thence and came back to Merw, and when he showed him- self among his people, for the first time, he demanded, "Know ye who I am?" They said unto him, that he was Hashim bin Hekim. He replied, " You are in error. I am your God, and I am the God of all people. I call myself what I will. I was earlier in the world in the form of Adam, Ibrahim, Moses, Jesus, Mohammed, Ibn Mushm, and now in the form in which you see me." " How is it, then," they asked of him, "that these make themselves known as prophets, but you wish to be God? " " They were too sensual, but I am through and through spiritual, and have constantly possessed power to appear in any form." He hved, then, in Merw, but his agents moved about everywhere in order to gam followers, and his letters of mission began thus : — " In the name of the Merciful and Gracious God, I, Hashim, son of Hekim, Lord of all lords. Praised be the One God, He who was before in Adam, Noah, Ibrahim, Moses, Christ, Mohammed, Ibn Muslim ; He who was manifested before aU these, namely, I Mokanna, lord of might, brightness, truth, — rally round me and learn, for mine is the lordship of the earth, mine the glory and power. Besides me there ANCIENT HISTOEY OF BOKHAEA. 277 is no god; he who is "with me goes to Paradise; he who flies from me goes to hell." Among his adherents an Arab, named Abdullah, principally distinguished himself, and, in the vicinity of Kesh, misled very many. At a later period the greater part of the villages around Samarkand and Bokhara went over to him. The professors of the new sect became from day to day stronger, and with their numbers increased also both uproar and riot, and the alarm and cries of the Musulmans. When the governor of Khorassan was informed of this issue he wished to seize Mokanna ; who then kept himself con- cealed a long time, and though all the passes of the Oxus were guarded, he succeeded in escaping over to the Transoxanian side, and effected a retreat into a strong fortress on the mountain of Sam, near the town of Kesh (the modem Shehr Sebz). The Khalif Mehdi also was struck with terror at the intelligence. He sent first troops, and then arms in person to Nishapur, for it had become a question whether the partisans of Mokanna would not obtain the upper hand, and Islam sink to the ground. At that time in the new sect robbery and murder having been permitted, immense hordes out of Turkestan joined the revolters, the Musulmans were hard pressed on all sides, their villages plundered, their women and children carried away to prison. In the year 159 Heg. the com- mandant of Bokhara went against them with a con- siderable force, and the contest between the partisans 278 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. of Mokanna and the Mohamedans lasted in that country many years. The Veiled Prophet moved not from his fortified position, his spiritual influence was sufficient to stimulate his followers. The Arabian garrison of Bokhara, with the few which remained true to Islam, soon felt itself too weak agamst the number and fanaticism of their far superior enemy. Aid was sent from Bagdad under the command of Djebrailo bin Yahya; and the well fortified place, Narshakh, which was a residence of the Sefiddjamegan, was first attacked. After a close and vain siege the walls could only so far be damaged as to allow a ditch that was fifty yards long to be filled with wood and naphtha : this they fired, and the cross beams of the wall became consumed, and the whole mass without support fell. With sword in hand the Mohamedans rushed mto the fortress, many were massacred, many yielded under the condition of retreating with their arms. The fortress was eva- cuated, yet when the Sefiddjamegan heard that their commanders were put to death in a traitorous fashion, they themselves took up arms in the enemy's camp. A fresh contest arose, in which the Arabs con- quered, and the supporters of Mokanna were partly destroyed, partly put to flight. After Narshakh, Samarkand had to be forced, the inhabitants of which, in great part, were known to belong to the new sect. The sieges and battles of these places lasted more than two years (because a great number of the Turks had ANCIENT HISTORY OF BOKHARA. 279 joined the Samarkanders without any result being obtamed). Mokanna, the mysterious prophet, kept himself during this period always in his fortress, attended by one hundred of the loveliest women of Transoxiana. The interior of the castle was kept only for these with himself and one male page ; besides these was no earthly eye permitted to penetrate into his sanctuary. They say that 50,000 of his followers lay at the gate of the fortress, and earnestly implored him to show but once his god-like splendour. He refused, sent his page with the message : — " Say to my servants that Musa (Moses) also mshed to see my godhead, but the beams of my splendour he could not support. My glance kills instantly the earth-born." The enthusiastic ad- herents assured him that they would gladly offer their lives as a sacrifice if this high enjoyment was allowed to them. When he could not furthermore deny them, Mokanna consented to their entreaty, and appointed them to come at a certain time before the gate of the fortress, where he promised to show himself. On the evening of the appointed day he ordered that his women should be placed in a line, mth looking-glasses in their hands, as the beams of the setting sun were reflected in the looking-glasses, and when everything was illuminated by that reflection, he ordered them to open the doors. The splendour blinded the eyes of his devoted adherents, who fell prostrate, and called out, — "»God ! enough for us of 280 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. thy glory, for if we see it more all will be destroyed I " They lay long in the dust supplicatmg him, until at length he sent his page with the message : — " God is pleased with you, and he has given you for your use the good of all the world." Fourteen years long Mokanna is reported to have lived m this fortress consuming his time with women in drinking and carousing. The Arab field marshall, Said Hersi, had at last, aftei a hard siege, driven him into straits. The outer part was taken, and there was only the inaccessible citadel on a higher eminence. With the extinction of his ascendant star Mokanna was abandoned by his followers, and when he saw the inevitable rum nigh he decided, in order not to fall into the hands of his enemies, rather to destroy him- self with his women and treasures. He gave to the women at a last carouse a strong dose of poison in wine, and challenged them to empty a goblet with him. All drank but one, who poured the wine into her bosom, and as an eye-witness, told later the whole catastrophe. According to her, Mokanna, after all the women had fallen dead, cut oif the head of his faithfal page, and, quite naked, burnt himself, with his treasures, in a furnace, which had been heated for three days. He amiounced before that he wished to go to heaven to call the angels to his help. " I have long watched the furnace," said the fortunate woman who escaped, "but he never came back in that fashion." After the death of Mokanna there were many curious sects and \ ANCIENT HISTORY OF BOKHARA. 281 creeds, but they concealed themselves from the ever increasmg power of Islam. Under the Samanides the doctrme of Mohammed spread more and more, and Transoxanian comitries became soon famous for their religious zeal. i CHAPTER XVI. ETHNOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE TURANIAN AND IRANIAN RACES OF CENTRAL ASIA. THE TUEKS OF EASTERN ASIA.— PHYSIOGNOMY AND CUSTOMS. I THINK that there are few points upon the whole terrestrial globe, which are of greater importance for our historical researches than the oases of Central Asia. These in the primitive times were inexhaus- tible floodgates for those warlike hordes, who often inundated and conquered the most beautiful spots of Jfeia, streaming towards the west in wild torrents, and even occasioning alarm among Europeans. No people can be so interesting for us upon the subject of Ethnography as the Turko- Tartars, who, under such various names and forms, have appeared on the scene of the events of the world, and have had such powerful influence over our own ciixumstances. Is it not sur- prising that of all nations we are the least acquainted with these? Huns, Avars, Utigurs, Kutrigurs, Kha- zars, and so many others, float before our sight only in the mist of fable. The clash of arms which sounded TURANIAN AND IRANIAN RACES. 283 through them from the Yaxartes to the heart of Gaul and Rome has long smce ceased. In vain should we inquire even into their origui, did we not find m the scanty dates of the Western chronicles of that period some points of reliance. These dates show us that between the Tartar tribes of that age and the present inhabitants of Central Asia there did exist an analogy of an unmistakeable character. We detect this in descriptions of them — in the accounts of their manner of living — all evincmg much resemblance to the customs and physical condition of the present in- habitants of Turkestan. A similar life to what Pris- cus describes in the Court of the King of the Huns is met with to-day in the tent of a nomadic chief. Attila is more original than Djingis or Taimur, but as his- torical personages they resemble each other. Energy and good fortune could now almost produce upon the borders of the Oxus and Yaxartes one of those heroes, whose soldiers, like an avalanche, carrying everything before them, would increase to hundreds of thousands, and would appear as a new example of God's scourge, if the powerful barriers of our civi- lisation, which has a great influence in the East, did not stop the way. The people of Central Asia, parti- cularly the nomadic tribes, are, in the internal rela- tions of their existence, the same as they were two thousand years ago. In these physiognomical signs we find already changes from a mixture of Iranian and Semitic blood (chiefly after the Arabian occupa- 284 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. tion). The features of the Mongohan- Kalmuck type here and there approach the Caucasian race. The Tartar m Central Asia is no longer what we see him represented by the Greek- Gothic writers, for even in the times of Djingis he was no longer the same. It is, therefore, of great interest to mark how this change in physiognomical type continually decreases from the east to the west — how this Deturkism, if I may so express myself, is perceptible among the various races of Central Asia, and in what degree their various gradations through social circumstances came, more or less, in contact with foreign elements. This will especially be seen by a cursory view of the Turkish nations of Central Asia from Inner China to the Caspian Sea; but those Turks who stretch hence up to the Adriatic, or to the banks of the Danube, are West Turks, and camiot be included in the unity of race so much by physiogno- mical type as by analogy of speech, characters, and customs. With the former, whose masses have retained com- pactly together the unity of- the race, in spite of all those ways in which the Central Asiatics differ remark- ably from one another — in spite of our ethnographical names, — the distmction shows itself clearly in their features and common physical type. Whatever views we may entertam of the origm of the Turks, so much is certam, that they are closely related to the Mon- gols; the relation bemg much closer than those which subsist between the Indians and Persians in Iran. TURANIAN AND IRANIAN RACES. 285 Much, very much indeed, is to be done before we have investigated the mutual relations of the whole Turko- Tartaric race, which stretches from the Hindu Kush to the Polar Sea, from the interior of China to the shores of the Danube. Our present sketch is only a weak attempt at a small portion — general views upon all. that personal experience has presented to our observation ; and it may here and there exhibit some- what of novelty. Through the extent known to us from East to West, we divide the Turks mto the following classes : — 1. Buruts, black or pure Kirghese. 2. Kirghis, properly Kazaks. 3. Karakalpaks. 4. Turkomans. 5. (Ezbegs. Buruts. These are pure, or black (Kii^ghis), and dwell on the eastern boundary of Turkestan, namely, the valleys of the Thian-shan chain of mountains, and inhabit several points on the shores of the Issik Kol, close upon the frontier towns of Khokand. As I am told (I have only seen a few of them), they are thick-set, but of powerful stature, strong-boned, but remarkably agile, to which last quality their warlike renown is attributed. By then- physiognomy alone are they to be distinguished 286 SKETCHES OE CENTEAL ASIA. from the Mongolians and Kalmucks : the face is less flat, their cheeks less fleshy, their foreheads somewhat higher, their eyes are less almond-shaped than those of the latter. With regard to their colour, they can be little distinguished from the neighbouring nomadic races ; red or fair hair and white complexion (by which type our European scholars would claim relationship for this race with the Finlanders and other north Altaic races) are rarely found; at least, my Khokand friends assured me that among hundreds there were scarcely one or two.* In all likehhood the Kiptchaks, of whom I have made mention in my travelling journal at page 382, are no other than a division of the Buruts, who are settled do'wn in and around Khokand, and have caught, both from Islam and from their social re- lationship with Turkestan, far more than the rest of the Buruts, who, through their contact with Kalmucks and Mongolians, now and then profess themselves more or less Islam. Their language also contains many more Mongolian words than the dialect of the Kiptchaks. From this most original Turkish people we pass over to the second gradation, which is — * Klaproth, and Abel Kemusat, in his " Researches on the Tartar Lan- guages," counts this stock with the Hindu- Q-othic race, which assertion is now considered by every one an error. Castren may, without doubt, be right, if he in his investigations in south Siberia finds relationship in a light- oloured Turkish stock ; but these are not Buruts. T believe that even the jearned Mr. Schott is deceived, when, following Chinese sources, he favours this opinion, in his treatise, " Upon the Pure Kirghese." Berlin : 1863. It appears that the Buruts are confounded with the Uisuns, who dvi'ell further north, are light-coloured, and probably are the remnant of a Finnish stock. See " The Russians in Central Asia," by Mitchell, p. 64. turanian and iranian races. 287 The Kirghis. Among the Kirghis or Kasak (as he calls himself), the character of the Mongol Kahnuck type is no longer to be met with in such a striking manner as among the Buruts, although he is hardly to be distinguished from the latter in language and manner of life. In colour, he nearly resembles the rest of the inhabitants of the deserts of Central Asia. The women and youths, in general, have a white and almost European complexion ; still this becomes soon altered, through the manner of living in the open air, in heat and cold. The Kirghis are of thick- set and powerful frames, with large bones ; they have mostly short necks, — a real type of the Turanian, opposed to the long-necked Iranian; not very large heads, of which the crown is round, more pointed than flat. They have eyes less almond-shaped, but awry and sparkling, prominent cheek-bones, pug noses, a broad flat forehead, and a larger chin than the Buruts. Their beards have little hair on the chin, only on both ends of the upper lip; and it is remarkable, that they lament this deficiency, and by no means find such dehght m this physiognomical characteristic as in the projectmg cheek-bones, small eyes, &c., which are esteemed by them as beauties.* * That many nomads censured this deficiency in projecting cheek-bones in myself, as a disfigurement, I have already mentioned. This need not astonish us ; and it appears to me truly remarkable, that Dr. Livingstone, in his book, "The Zambesi and its Inhabitants," can assert that he has seen African women, from the Makololo race, who, standing before the mirror, strove to lessen the broad mouth, which is common among them, with the intention to make themselves more beautiful. 288 SKETCHES OF CENTEAL ASIA. Since, as we have said, the type of the primitive race is no longer so strikmg among them and universal as among the Buruts and Kalmucks, so also we find their ideal of perfect beauty derived only from their neigh- bours, with whom they gladly intermix; and Lew- schine* has rightly stated a fact, when he mentions the preference they allow the Kalmuck women before their own. That from their great extension through the northern desert lands of Central Asia, perceptible shades may be met with in the external traits is scarcely to be doubted ;f but one easily comprehends that our classification into great, little, and middle hordes, is un- known to them ; for, from the mutual tie of the manner of living, customs and dispositions, they remain always the same, in spite of the many subdivisions into branches, families and lines, which they, like the Turkomans, gladly consider as decided separations. Whether on the shores of the Emba or of the Sea of Aral, as well as in the environs of the Balkhash and Alatau, there is little difference to be found in the dialects spoken by them. Many tales and songs, many national dishes, and national games, are, throughout the year, to be met with m hke manner ; and although they may occur but seldom, still, love of travelhng and warlike dis- turbances have often brought together the most distant races. * " Description of Kirgliese Kazaks," by Alexis de Lewschine. Paris : 1840 ; "page 317. t See the former work, page 300, chapter II. TURANIAN AND IRANIAN RACES. 289 In their dress, the Kirghis are to be distinguished from the rest of the nomadic tribes and settlers: in Central Asia, mostly by their head-gear. The men wear, in summer, a felt hat (kalpak) ; m winter, a cap (tumak), with fur covered with cloth, the back-flaps of which protect the neck and ears. Besides these, they have still a little fur cap {koreysh)^ which, how- ever, is employed more for in-door use. The women wear a sheokele^ which is distinguished from the Turko- man head-dress in that it is more conical, and allows the veil to fall not before, but down the back to the loins. The hair, also, is dressed in a different fashion. The young Turkoman women plait the hair in two plaits; the Kirghis with eight thin ones, four on either side. They cover their heads with a letshek, in cloth, which covers head and neck. In neglige attire, the girls twist red handkerchiefs round their heads, but the women white or dark-coloured ones. The upper garments have the same tasteless form, with many folds, as everywhere in Central Asia, only more of the bright and glittering colours are liked; and in the north of Khokand it is the custom for the young Kirghis to f)repare for themselves a garment from the raw hide of the fox- coloured horse, besides which they let the horse's tail hang down from the neck as an ornament. In their coverings for their feet, the only distinction is, that the western have adopted the Russian form of boot; the eastern, on the contrary, 19 290 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. the Chinese; namely, with pointed, curved toes, and slender, high heels. The rehgion is almost universally the Mohammedan ; still, in a very lax condition, which is the case with nearly all the nomadic tribes in connexion with Islam.* Before and lon^ after the Arabian occupation of Central Asia, the Kirghis professed Shamanism, and it is not to be wondered at, considering the little influence which the teachers of Mohammed could maintain there, that much of the early faith remains there now, and out of a whole tribe, which consists of many hundred tents, there are often only one or two persons among the chiefs who can read the Koran a little. The greater part of them are the bad students out of the schools of the three Khanats, who for pay go into the army in the deserts. The true proselyte zeal has long become extmct, and the able seek employ- ment in the town.f To keep a Mollah or an Akhond is besides more fashionable, for it points out the affluent condition of a party. To the nomadic tribes their material condition is of more consequence; they look upon religion as a secondary object. They call them- selves Mohammedans, but prayers, fasts, and other religious acts are little observed by them, and it * The Islam of faith was established, according to Fischer ("History of Siberia," pages 86, &c., and elsewhere) towards the middle of the sixteenth centmy, by one Kutshum. This date is admitted by those in the north, as well as by the dwellers in South Siberia, still in Turkestan that conversion is reported to have taken place much earlier. t Lewschine says the same in his above-named work upon the Kirghis, page 353. TURANIAN AND IRANIAN RACES. 291 will in consequence not appear at all remarkable that superstition, that remmiscence of the infancy of all people, still plays here an important part. Chiro- mancy, astrology, casting out devils, breathing on the sick, and other humbugs we will not mention, since we find them m the educated Islamite countries, as Persia, Turkey, and even m enlightened Europe. Of the superstitions of the Kirghis those only are most interesting for us which relate especially to the earlier faiths of these nomadic tribes, and furnish us thereby with some ideas as to their earlier social relations. That sacrifices were offered, the still existing oracle upon the shoulder-blades and entrails proves. The first, called Keoze siiyeghi, consists in placing on the fire, clean and pure, the shoulder-blade of a sheep just slaughtered, keeping it in the flames until it is quite reduced to powder. It is then carefully laid down, and the experienced person, who is generally a grey- beard, a Bakhshi, or a Quack (Kam) studies the cre- vices of the burnt leg with the greatest seriousness and a countenance full of importance.* When the cracks run parallel with the broad end of the leg it signifies good fortune, but if in the opposite direction a misfortune. The latter, naturally, is seldom detailed- Still this is no wonder, for when the civilized Greeks were cheated at Delphi and Dodona, why should not * Dr. A. Bastian lias found the oracle of the shoulder bone even among the Buruts who profess Shamanism, and it is considered by the Kirghis as a remnant of the same religion. See Ausland, No. 23, 1869. 292 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. this happen among the Kirghis deserts. To prophesy from the position and twisting of the entrails is a rare knowledge, in which the Kalmucks pretend to be par- ticularly distinguished. It is remarkable that this oracle is only consulted when they are curious to know the sex of a child that is to be born. Fire also must probably have been held in high honour, because it was not allowed to spit on it. Ceremonies and dances are held around it, a custom which exists in a wonderful manner in so many parts of Asia, Africa, and Europe, and is still carried on in this district as well as in Khiva and Khokand. To blow out a light is considered very ill bred by the Kirghis in the whole of Central Asia; and finally from the colour of burning oil, fat, &c., many prognostics are divined. The superstition of the women is enormous, and really deserves the trouble of a particular study. A girl, when only in her fourth year, is possessed with it as completely as an elderly nomadic matron who has passed her whole life in the lonely desert which de- developed all her intellectual faculties m that direc- tion. Each individual part of the tent, each utensil, has some superstition in connexion with it, which is strictly observed in pitchmg a tent, in milking, cooking, spinning, and weaving, far more than the laws of Islam, which are never particularly taken to heart. But the favourite divination of these sooth- sayers is from fresh-spun thread. Four stones are laid down, two white and two black ; in the midst is TUKANIAN AND IRANIAN. RACES. 293 a thread, strong twisted^ and the other end suddenly set free. If the thread ui its fall sink down to the black stones, it signifies misfortune; to the white, the contrary. From the hand of the twister no action is descried, for the oracle must be mfallible. This is called Tyik Yip, and is to be found everywhere in Central Asia. Of food which is peculiar to the Kirghis we will name Sltrii, which consists of smoke-dried flesh (horse or sheep's flesh) cut into small pieces, roasted in. fat. The preference for this arises from its keeping for weeks carried about without spoihng. Kodje, ordinary wheat, is cooked in water and eaten in sour milk. As national games of the Kirghis, we may mention tadjak-kisimo (stocks). It consists in leaping over a rope held high. The winner is applauded, the clumsy, on the contrary, are pressed between two chairs, and exposed to the jeers of the company. Further, "eshek yagiri" (womided asses' back), in. which in running they must leap over three or four squatting play- fellows. 3. Karakalpaks. These form the third division in the race, and are essentially different from the Kirghis in physiogno- mical expression, although allied in language and customs. The Karakalpaks are distinguished by a tall, vigorous growth and a more powerful frame than all the tribes of Central Asia. They have a 294 SKETCHES OE CENTEAL ASIA. large head with flat full face, large eyes, flat nose^ shghtly projecting cheek-bones, a coarse and slightly pointed chin, remarkably long arms and broad hands. Taken as a whole, their coarse features are in good harmony with their not less clumsy forms, and the nickname of the neighbouring people Karakalpak. Tiize yalpak. tJzi yalpak. Karakalpak, (has a flat face, and is himself totally flat). This sobriquet has not been uttered without reason. The complexion approaches that of the OEzbegs, particularly that of the women, who long retain their white com- plexion, and with their large eyes, full face, and black hair, do not make an unpleasant impression. In Central Asia they are highly renowned for their beauty. The men have pretty thick, but never long beards. The Karakalpaks, who are sometimes falsely ranked with the Kirghis, are at present only to be met with in the Khanat of Khiva, to which they moved at the begin- ning of this century. A man of this tribe relates to me that they lived earher on the banks of the Yaxartes, and certainly near its mouth, whilst another portion abides in the neighbourhood of the Kalmucks, probably in the government of the Semipalatmsk. The first part of this report does not seem to me to be a mere invention, for Lewschine (in the above-cited work, p. 114), reports, speakmg of the rums of Djem- kend, that even in the last century Karakalpaks had TURANIAN AND IRANIAN RACES. 295 lived there. According to all probability they have separated for a long time from the Kirghis, to whom they approach nearest, and now they form, mth re- spect to their physiognomy, the transit pomt from the latter to the (Ezbegs. In their dress they draw nearer to the (Ezbeo:s than the Kirg-his. The men wear large telpeh (fur caps) which fit low in the neck and cover ears and brow ; the women have a cape like a cloak round the throat, and are delighted "\vith red and green boots. The tent of the Karakalpaks is much larger, and of stronger construction than that of the rest of the nomadic tribes, and is guarded by a species of large dog, only to be met with among this tribe. In their dwellings in general they are distinct from the other nomadic tribes in dirt and uncleardi- ness; they evince also m their food and clothmg a carelessness, which makes them abundantly ridiculed and disliked by their neighbours. To their national dishes belongs the torama, which consists of finely chopped meat, and is cooked with a large quantity of onions (which vegetable is much liked there) and mixed meal. Kazan djappay^ meal baked in a pan in fat, which is considered a dainty. Lastly, baursak, a meal which consists of a four-cornered piece of pasty filled with meat. A favourite game is Jciimalah^ resembling the game m Europe. It is played with dried excrements of sheep. Many of them devote themselves to games of chance. 296 sketches of central asia. 4. The Turkomans. These, which I designate as the fourth gradation of the Mongolian Turkish race in then* westerly exten- sion, possess many of the peculiarities of the Kirghis as well as of the Karakalpaks. The pure Turkoman type, which is to be found among the Tekke and Tchaudor, living in the heart of the desert, is denoted by a- middling stature, proportionately small head, oblong skull (which is ascribed to the circumstance, that they are not placed at an early period in a cradle, but in a swing, made of a linen cloth), cheek-bones not high, somey/hat snub noses, longish chin, feet bent inwardly, probably the consequence of their continual riding on horseback, and particularly by the bright, sparkling, fiery eyes, which are remarkable in all sons of the desert, but especially in the Turkomans. As regards colour, the blond prevails, and there are even whole tribes, as, for example, the Kelte race among the Gorgen Yomuts, which are generally half blond. On the borders of the desert, but particularly at the Persian frontiers we find this principal trait already quite altered by the frequent and considerable inter- mixture with the Iranian race, m which one sees many men with thick black beards, and often without the least trace of the Mongolian Turkish race. In- deed, the Goklens are those who, with the exception of the formation of the eyes, most resemble the majority of the Persians TURANIAN AND IRANIAN RACES. 297 Slave-dealing, which from iiumemorial times has been practised m the northern provinces of Persia, has there, where the intermediate trade with Persian slaves takes place, left many traces behind. Still, only upon the borders, for those living in the interior of the desert and occupymg themselves more with the peaceable occupation of keeping cattle than with ala- mans (foray) have, on the average, preserved the marks of the pure Turkoman type. As the nomads are generally more agile and quick than the settled tribes, which is naturally to be attributed to the end- less wanderings of their adventurous existence ; so the Turkomans are to be distinguished in this pecuharity from all the dwellers in tents in Central Asia. And their slender frames, hardened by a very poor food, can outdo even the Arab in privations and endurance. Taken as a whole, the Turkomans cultivate (spite of the type of a family unity) a strange mixture of cus- toms and habits, which are found either here and there among the neighbouring nomads and OEzbegs, or only among themselves. While their language approaches to the Azerbaidjan dialect, their customs have the pure Turko- Tartarian stamp; and in their social relations, as well as in their warlike existence and their abundant religious usages, they have more m common with the Kiptchaks than with the Kirghis, Karakalpaks, and (Ezbegs, with whom they have lived in close con- nexion for so many centuries. That they separated themselves early, very early, from the greater part 298 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. of the Turko- Tartarian nations, admits of no ques- tion. There is no doubt, according to their o^vn assertions, that they moved first from the east to the north-west, namely, towards the southern frontier of the former main horde, and thence towards the south. This assertion is very probable, and as alleged proofs of it, we may cite the small number who have remamed behind on the road as remnants, and are still now to be found. As such, are cited the Turkomans to the north of Kermineh and Samarkand, who, in the midst of kindred elements, have remained true to their nationality. Their emigration from Mangishlak, un- questionably the oldest abode of the Turkomans, is indicated by the Central Asiatics themselves in the fol- lowing chronological order. As the oldest in their present native country, we name the Salor and Sariks ; after them come the Yomuts, who, before the period of the Sefevides, stretched from the north towards the south along the shores of the Caspian. It is said that the Tekke, at the time of Taimur, were transplanted to Akhal in small numbers, in order to paralyse the great strength of the Salor. The Ersaris, towards the end of the last century, from Mangishlak have settled upon the shores of the Oxus; whilst, finally, the Tchaudors, of the more recent period of Mohammed Emin Khan (Khiva), from the shores of the Aral and Caspian Seas, are shifted to the opposite bank of the Oxus, although many of that tribe are to be found in the old places. As the Turkoman's chief em- TUEANIAN AND IRANIAN RACES. 299 ployment aims at pillage, it is natural to expect that many of tlieir customs should harmonize with this. Their attire, although m its origin of the Khiva fashion, is made shorter and closer, that they may be able more easily to take hard exercise : the heavy fur cap is re- placed by a smaller one. Their drawers, which sup- ply the place of trousers, are very wide, and remind one of the national 'garb of the Hungarian peasants. The curls of hair which hang down behind the ears far over the shoulders of the young, are peculiar to this tribe. These are allowed to grow by the young ; during the first year of married life, they are worn concealed in the cap, and only after its lapse cut off. This ornament gives to the young cavaher a stately appearance whilst riding, and he is not a little proud of it. The dress of the women, also, has some peculi- arities, to which belong the ujDper garment, hanging down, long-armed, hke the Hungarian jacket; the head-gear, and the masses of silver ornaments, — as bracelets, necklaces, amulets, etuis, &c. It is not unusual to meet among the women perfect beauties, not mferior to the Georgians in growth and regularity of features. Though the young girls in all nomadic tribes are tolerably practised riders, the young Turko- man women stand pre-eminent in this art. With re- gard to their rehgious zeal for Islam, their proneness to superstition is the same as that of the Kirghis ; and as the readers of my " Travels " are more acquainted with them, we will pass from them to the CEzbegs. 300 SliETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. QllZBEGS. These may be considered the established and civilized inhabitants of Central Asia, and they have retained only feeble traces of the Mongolian- Turkish race, owing to considerable intermixture with the ancient Persian elements, and also the great number of slaves, who are brought there out of the present Iran. In their broad faces, somid of voice, the sharp angle which the temples form, and especially the eyes, we recall their Tartar origin. The (Ezbegs were always pointed out by the Tadjiks by the nickname of Yogunkelle (thick skull), and really this part of their body is thicker and coarser than that of the rest of their Tura- nian fellow races. Besides the diversity that reigns among them in the three Khanats and m Chinese Tar- tary, you may further observe that the dwellers in villages generally possess more signs of the national type than townsmen. For ingtance : (Ezbegs of Khiva are to be recognised by the broad, full face, low, flat forehead, large mouth; the CEzbegs of Bokhara, by the somewhat more arched foreheads, more oval faces, and long, pomted, oblong chin, and the great majority by black hair and eyes. Also in colour there are some shades of resemblance. In the neighbourhood of Kashgar and Aksu yellowish-bro^\ai to blackish tint pre- vails ; in Khokand, brown ; in Khiva, white is the reign- ing colour. Indeed, the QEzbegs are bastards of the Turanian race, in the same manner as the Tadjik and % TURANIAN AND IRANIAN RACES. 301 Sarts (the aborigines of the ancient Transoxiana, Sogdia, and Fergana* ) . Of the origin, immigration, and settle- ment of the (Ezbegs, we have but httle information, and that highly confused. Whilst some mamtaiu that the name of QEzbeg was the name of one of their most re- nowned princes, who, in the time of Djingis, ruled over the whole desert; others discover, in the etymology of the word Q^^zbeg (independent prince, independent head), the signification of that actual mdependence for which the tribe was distinguished, as it disengaged itself from any ruler, and attempted, on its OAvn ac- count, its march of conquest toward the west. The name becomes prominent with the family of Sheibani, viz., with Ebul Kheir Khan, as founder, in the fore- ground ; for, although Taimur may belong to the same tribe, still the Turkish state is more prominent than the OEzbeg. If T am not deceived, it appears to me, at leas^, that the (Ezbegs of to-day form a tribe, which, as a colony, highly inconsiderable in numbers, only increased after it had received into its bosom contingents of the various nomadic tribes passing from the north to the south. This assertion is, perhaps, bold, still the fol- lowing circumstances render it not impossible. 1st. The already indicated diversity which shows itself between the (Ezbegs of Turkestan from Komul ' * " aibbon ;" edited by Dr. W. Smith. London, 1862, page 296. Here it is justly remarked, " The (Ezbegs are the most altered from their primitive manners. 1st., — by the profession of the Mohammedan religion ; and, 2nd.,^ — by the possession of the cities and harvests of Great Bueharia. 302 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. to the Sea of Aral, whereby the degree of resemblance which exists between the latter and those nomadic tribes hvmg in the vicuiity is not to be mistaken, who, induced by certam cu'cumstances, in which riches and religion play an important part, settled in towns, and are amalgamated with CEzbegs. 2nd. Many names of branches and famihes of the (Ezbegs are common amongst the rest of the tribes of Central Asia. Thus, for example, we find the tribes Kungrat, Kiptchak, Naiman, Taz, Kandjigale, Kanli, Djelau', by which the thirty- two chief divisions of the (Ezbegs are named, figuring also among the Kirghis. The Turkomans and Karakalpaks can produce some, which, from the great importance the nomadic tribes attach to family names, certainly would not be the case if earlier mutual relations had not existed. We know little of their origin, little in regard to the time of their settlement. The opinion of Persian historians, that the QEzbeg power rose upon the ruins of the Taimur dynasty is, mdeed, correct, but forms no guide to the (Ezbegs themselves. The name only is ap- parent ; but who can tell us to which tribe that Turkish population professed to belong, which at a period long anterior to Taimur, and before Djingis, in the time of the Kharezmian prmces, Sahi Charezmian, and even further back m the thirteenth century, were established m the three Khanats? In Khiva I often heard of the brilliant period of ancient Urgendj, namely, before the inroad of the Mongolians, described as TURANIAN AND lEANIAN EACES. 303 (Ezbeg. Was this merely national vanity, or had the Turks at that tinie at Khiva really called themselves QEzbegs? Turks were already settled during the Arabian occupation, as may be seen in the ancient his- tory of Bokhara, although not directly in the centre, certainly m the neighbourhood of the old Persian towns, in the time of the Samanides ; and it would be highly interestiQg to know to which type they really belonged. In the customs of the QEzbegs, also, much foreign ad- mixture has been introduced chiefly through Islam, and the restless manner of existence pursued by them ; but not nearly so much as with the Western Turks, who through the foreign elements that they receive are already quite denationahzed. The Qilzbegs are pious — one might say zealous — Musulmans. ]S[o where m Islam, Kashmir excepted, does the tendency to asceti- cism flourish more than here: a third of the uihabi- tants of a town are Ishan, Khalfa, Sofi, or aspirants to those holy titles, and nevertheless the doctrine of Mo- hammed has little lunited their customs m regard to all this. In Khiva, and in some parts of Chinese Tar- tary, they have remained truest to nomadic customs. They build houses, which are used as stables and granaries; but for dwellmg-places, they prefer always the raised tent in the court-yard; — building durable dwellings is scoffed at by the pure CEzbeg, and ridi- culed as even now usual only with the Sart (Persian aborigines). A general habit is marked out in the proverb : " Sart baisa tam salar — as soon as the Sart 304 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. becomes rich, he builds a house," in contradistinction to the (Ezbeg, who procures rather a horse or arms. Also in food and clothmg but few refinements have crept m, the chief towns excepted. Whilst in the towns the Harem life is in full force, one finds in the country all CEzbeg women unveiled, for, to the great anger of the Mollah, they resist that restriction, to which their nature is averse. Ceremonies at burials, weddings, births, contain much of what is not only foreign to Islam, but even criminal. This false step is a striking contrast with the otherwise enthusiastic feehngs of Central Asiatics. Not less does the rigid adherence to a warlike existence, in which the (Ezbegs are distinguished from the rest of the established na- tions of Central and Western Asia, deserve our atten- tion. Agriculture and durable dwelhngs render people more peaceable; but this is not the case with the (Ezbegs, because they excel so many nomadic tribes in bravery. Chaeacter. However great the extent over which the diverse branches of Turkish tribes may be found, however variously the influence of strange elements may have acted upon their social relations, still the features of a common type of character cannot be denied ; — a picture in which more traces of analogy are to be found than in the physiognomy and other physical signs resj)ectively. The Turk is everywhere heavy and lethargic in his TURANIAN AND IRANIAN RACES. 305 mental and corporeal emotions, therefore firm and sted- fast in his resolves ; not, perhaps, from any principle of life philosophy, but from apathy, and smcere aversion to everything which would alter his adopted position - This lends him an earnest and solemn aspect, which is so often extolled by European travellers. As upon the shores of the Bosphorus the Osmanh, in his keif^ can gaze for hours on the clear sky, while he only makes as much movement as will blow the blue wreaths of smoke from his pipe towards the yet bluer firma- ment; so the CEzbeg or the Kirghis can sit for hours, motionless, in the narrow tent, or in the immeasurably wide desert ; for, while the former turns his gaze upon the colours of the felt coverlet or carpet, already seen thousands of times, — the latter looks on the waving, curling quicksands, which are to amuse him. As those who go about briskly and nimbly, or even gesticulate, are only compassionated by the Osmanhs as hving proofs of partial msanity and misfortune; so each quick movement of the feet and hands is considered by the OEzbegs as highly unseemly. Indeed, when I called out to one of my Tartar fellow-travellers to save himself from some falling bales of goods by a side- spring, he exclaimed, mdignantly: "Am I, then, a woman, that I should disgrace myself by sprmging and dancing!" With this profound seriousness and marble-cold expression of countenance, we find every- where among the Turks a great inclination to pomp and magnificence; but this does not degenerate into 20 306 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. frivolity or fanfaronades, as is the case with the Per- sians. In Constantinople one often hears the proverb : *' Intellect is peculiar to Europe, riches to India, and splendour to the Ottoman." The solemn processions (alay) of the sultan and of the great nobles are alike celebrated in the East and the West, and the imposing exterior which is exhibited on such occasions is no- where to be found so faithfully reflected as among their fellow tribes in Central Asia. An Qllzbeg or Turko- man, when upon his horse, or seated in his tent at the head of his family, has the same proud bearing, the same self-consciousness of greatness and power. He is quite convinced that he is born to rule, and the foreign nations which surround him to obey, — just in the same way as the Osmanli thinks with regard to Bulgarians, Armenians, Kurds, and Arabians. His love for independence is boundless, and is also the chief cause why he cannot long remain under the chieftain whom he loves in many respects ; and he would rather command ten or twelve miserable highwaymen or ad- venturers than stand at the head of a well-equipped, elegant troop, who might, in common with himself, own a greater master. Coinciding with these traits of cha- racter, is also the predilection of the Turks for repose and inactivity; for, although diHgence and activity, according to our European notions, are not to be met with anywhere m Asia, still, work is not so much ab- horred, either by the Iranian or Semitic nations, as by the Turks, who consider hunting and war alone TURANIAN AND IRANIAN RACES. 307 worthy of man. Upon them husbandry is only forcibly imposed, and is considered ignominious. A wondrous prosperity has never befallen Turkey. The peasant was always idle and careless ; the number of craftsmen limited. Officials had only wealth when the Janit- chars came back from their pillaging excursions, laden with treasures. In Central Asia, agriculture is exclusively in the hands of the Persian slaves; commerce and business with the Tadjiks, Hindoos, and Jews; for even the (Ezbegs, settled there for centuries, meditate robbery and war, and if they can procure no foreign enemy they attack each other mutually in bloody brother strife. As concerns intellectual capacit}'', I have found that the Turk is everywhere far inferior to other Asiatic nations, namely, the Iranian and Semitic; and that, through narrowness of mind, he loses those preroga- tives which his superiority in other respects would acquire for him. This weakness is denoted by the word Tiirkliik (Turkdom), of which Kabahk (coarse- ness), and Yogunluk (thickness), are synonyms. By Tiirkliik, one understands also rudeness and roughness in manners; and if here and there this defect is pal- liated by the appellation, Sadelik (simplicity), still, for the most part, they are subjoined to the Turkish name as insulting epithets. As the Osmanli is over-reached by the Armenian, Greek, and Arab ; so is the (Ezbeg baffled by the subtle and yielding Tadjik, and the no 808 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. less crafty aiid avaricious Hindoo. Whether this is to be ascribed to a national defect or to an extreme non- chalance, it were hard to determine ; still, it is highly remarkable that the Turk in the far east, as well as in the immediate vicinity of the civilised western country, shuns meditation, and that nowhere are his attempts at wit particularly brilhant. This disadvantage is par- tially the reason that among the Turks more honesty, frankness and confidence, is to be met with than among the remaining nations of Asia. Tiirkllik, by which strangers understand the above- named fault, is often used by the Turks themselves as a mark of plainness, simphcity, and uprightness. The lights and shades of Tiirkllik have been at all times observable and discoursed on, whenever parallels are drawn between the character of the Turks and of other nations, especially the Persians. People praise the acute- ness, the refined manners of the latter ; but still, he who wants to find a faithful servant, an attached soldier, or an upright man, will always give the preference to the Turks. Therefore, we find in earliest times that foreign prmces liked to use Turkish troops ; they call them uito their country, and invest their ofiicers with the highest dignities; and as bravery, perseverance, and love of governing, is more innate in them than in any other Asiatic people, it is very easy to explain how they rise fi'om simple mercenaries to governors; and how they subjugated Iranian and Se- mitic peoples, from their home up to the Adriatic, TURANIAN AND IRANIAN RACP:S. 309 many of whom are still ruled by them. In my opuiion, it is not only superiority of physical powers which has sustained the Turkish dynasties upon foreign thrones, and still does so : this is also greatly ascribable to their superiority of character. They are unpohshed, and by nature wild, uncultivated, but seldom cruel out of mahce. They enrich themselves at the cost of their subjects, but again divide generously the collected treasures. They are severe towards their subordi- nates, but seldom forget the duties that they have to fulfil towards the latter, as patriarchal heads. In a word, in all deeds and works of the Turks a sort of kindness is perceptible, which is, perhaps, more to be ascribed to indolence and laisser-aller, than to a fixed purpose to do good; but still it works as a virtue, whatever may be its origin. Finally will we mention hospitality, in which the Turks are better versed than the Iranian and Semitic nations, and certainly for very simple causes. As acknowledged, hospitality is observed in proportion to the degree in which a nation advances from a nomadic condition to a settled manner of living, and as Asia is generally far more prominent in this virtue than Europe, so are the Turks, the majority of whom are incarnate nomads, to be distinguished from the rest of Asiatics, who, long settled there, rejoice in an older civilisation. This must be considered a mere sketch of the common character of the Turks. Concerning the gradation of difi'erent races, we find the Buruts 310 SKETCHES OF CENTEAL ASIA. wilder, more savage than the remaining nomadic fellow races.* They are more superstitious, but also less malicious than, for example, the Kirghis and Turkomans, because, without having wholly deserted Shamanism, they know but little of Islam; and it is well known that the weaker a nomadic people's ideas of that rehgion are, the fewer are its vices, and the more tractable are they with strangers. The Kirghis, on the contrary, are m the chief features of character less warlike, although they can easily make up their minds to undertake a baranta (pillaging expedition). They form the greater part of Turkish nomads, are for the most part devoted to a wanderiag hfe ; and whilst the Turkomans are in many places to be met with in a half settled state, for example, along the left shore of the Oxus, from Belkh as far as Tchardjuy, and in Khiva, one can only find very few examples among the Kirghis. They are easier to subjugate than other nomads, because they, as already stated, are more peaceable and less brave, still their colonization appears ahnost verging upon impossibility ; at least it will require a gigantic task of Russia, if such be her design. The Karakalpaks, through their remarkable simplicity, are often considered foolish and dull. They represent the idiot among Central Asiatic nations, and many droll anecdotes are composed at their cost. In bravery they are even inferior to the Kirghis; they * Eadloff also confirms tlie same in his Report upon the Acad. Imp. of Sciences of St. Petersb. See the bulletin of the society named, vol. vi., p. 418. \ TURANIAN AND IRANIAN RACES. 311 have seldom appeared as conquerors, and are seldom employed by others even as mercenaries. As they occupy themselves chiefly in breeding cattle, and like best to sojourn in woody regions, they are called by the QEzbegs, ayik (bear). Still, activity, benevolence and faithfulness, are everywhere adjudged to them. The Turkomans are notorious among all the races of Central Asia as the most restless adventurers, and rightly; for not only there, but throughout the whole globe, hardly can a second nation be found of such a rapacious nature, of such restless spirit and untame- able licentiousness as these children of the desert. To rob, to plunder, to make slaves, is in the eye of the Turkoman an honourable business, by which he has hved for centuries. He considers those who think otherwise as stupid or mad, and yields in such a mamier to this passion that he often commences plundering his own tribe, indeed, often his own family, in case he is baulked in foreign forays. As a very weak apology, it may be argued that they in- habit the wildest and most savage countries, where even keeping of cattle gives only a scanty revenue : still the fruits of their detestable trade hardly ever alleviate their pressmg poverty, for they are just as dirty niggards, as avaricious, and starve often in the possession of riches as much as the poorest being. The Qilzbegs play the fashionable among their fellow- races in Turkestan. They are not a little proud of the education which, through Islamitisli civilisation. 312 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. they obtained, and, starting from this point of superiority, wish to govern their nomadic brethren. Highly praiseworthy with them is their tenacious ad- herence to so many good points of their national character ; which, in other places, is too easily trans- formed and disgraced by Islam. With the (Ezbeg, there is, in spite of the hypocrisy and pretended holi- ness, which endeavour to spread themselves by Mo- hamedanism, still always very much honesty, upright- ness, and Turkish open-heartedness, m which qualities they are considerably to be distinguished from the re- probate and vicious Tadjiks, and are truly worthy to govern the latter. The (Ezbeg is, as far as personal knowledge has shown to me, the only Turk, from China to the Danube, who represents all the best side of the national character of the Turks. CHA.PTER XVIT. IRANIANS. The Turanian people, but especially the already men- tioned Turko- Tartaric tribes, have made themselves renowned in antiquity by their warlike disposition, and the wild untractable rudeness of then' habits; but the Iranians, in strong contrast with these, have always been known for the delicacy of their habits and a briUiant state of civilisation. The former have ever appeared among their neighbours as spoilers, destroyers, and plmiderers; the latter, on the contrary, as civilisers, propagators of the arts, and milder social relations. For it is not only the whole Mohamedan region which embraced Persian civilisation, but even we Europeans have borrowed much from these wonder- ful people, which, partly through the channel of the ancient Greek and Byzantine culture, partly by a later contact of the Western with the Eastern countries, as, for example, m the Crusades, has naturally always reached us second hand. Iran from time immemorial was the seat of civilisation, and in the entire record of the civilisation of mankmd we could in vain seek for a nation which, not-withstanding grand political revolutions, notmthstanding the copious foreign influx of the ancient spirit of its civihsation, could preserve 314 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. SO long and faithfully the character of its national ex- istence as the Persian. There is a great difference between the doctrine of Zoroaster and that of the Ara- bian Prophet, and yet in the modern Persian almost all the features of the former character may be dis- covered, which the Greek historians trace out in the ancient Persian. In a hasty superficial glance this will not strike the eye so easily, for, according to out- ward appearance, it would be most difficult, amidst the agglomeration of tribes in the Persia of to-day, to find out the genuine Iranian. Yet a deeper insight would soon convince us of the truth of what has been said, and we should see that the Iranian has not only borrowed nothing in his customs and manner of think- ing from the Semitic and Turanian elements, which for more than a thousand years have endangered his nationality, but has rather exerted over the latter a powerful influence. The cradle of the Iranian nation, as asserted by a modern ethnographer, namely, the learned Russian traveller, M. de Khanikoff, in his Me- moirs, " Sur r Ethnographic de la Perse," is the Eastern portion of modern Persia, and especially Southern Sigistan or Sistan, and Khorassan, which stretches out to the north-east. It is not only ethnography, but also history, which accords with this assertion. As Sigistan, the native place of Rustem, and other cele- brated Iranian heroes of the classical age, is used as the scene of action by the narrators of fiction at this day, whenever they wish to describe something highly potent and ancient, so the old Belkh in Khorassan TURANIAN AND IRANIAN RACES. 315 is declared to be the original source of religion and polite education, and Merv is pointed out as the spot where Adam received from the angel the first lesson in agriculture. In a word, whatever refers to the early ages is to be met with in the East, but never in the West. The Iranian race, on its dispersion, as has been already remarked in a foregoing paragraph, took a direction from East to West; the Turanian scattered from South to North, and in two directions, one to- wards the North-East the other towards the North- West. The emigration occurred in those very ancient ages, of which we can have hardly the faintest con- ception ; yet even here there are features of a common type which guide us like glittering stars through a night of uncertainty, and though the Iranian race has suffered much in modern times from the Turko- Tartar tribes, so superior to themselves in number, one can nevertheless detect in the groups lying scattered around, the separate rings of the former chain; pre- cisely also as one recognises in the Western remnants, though m contmual contact with Turanian and Semitic elements, the avowed Mede, so in the Eastern rem- nants one may recognise the primitive genuine Iranian. This preceding opinion formed from personal convic- tion, and every one who carefully observes the Persian of modern Iran and Central Asia must perceive the same, receives a further confirmation in the learned inves- tigations of our arrow-headed writings ;* and it is * Ritter, West Asia. Vol. ii. p. 86. 316 SKETCHES OF CENTEAL ASIA. chiefly the Iranian catalogue of people ui the arrow- headed writmgs at Persepolis which enumerates all the nations of Iran, starting from the centre of the empire, Persepohs, and contmuing in a west and eastern direction. Of course nothing positive will be perceived in these with reference to higher or lower antiquity concernmg the physiognomical distinctions of one or another branch of the families, but- that a substantial difference existed already in the early ages is hardly to be doubted. " The Semitic influences m the West," says Fr. Spiegel, " began very early during the existence of the Assyrian and Babylonian kmgdom, and lasted through the whole Achoemenian period. After the overthrow of the Achoemenian kingdom occurred the amalgamation with Greeks as well as Semitics, and so forth."* As is rightly observed, for m the Southern provinces of Farsistan, Laristan, and Luristan, where the contact of the Iranian and Semitic elements from the earhest ages has remained undis- turbed, we find in the person of the modern Persian the same physical characteristics that were described to us ia these people by Herodotus, and later Greek authors. The spare form, which is more natural to the Western than to the Eastern, strongly reminds one of the principal feature of the Arabian, who is represented by Unsemitic tribes as nahif^ haggard, and thin, whilst the Turk is kesif^ blunt, and stout, the genume Persian zarif^ noble, and elegant. * " The Etlmographical Position of the Iranian tribes." Ausland, 1866, No. 36, p. 853. TUEANIAN AND IRANIAN RACES. 317 The Semitic elements have commenced in south and east Persia, from Benderbushir until near to Kirman- sah, and have especially left behind with the uihabi- tants of the towns perceptible traces, which strike the eye all the more when we compare the physiognomy and stature of a Sigistanian with those of an Isfahanian. This is best perceptible in the Ghebrs (fire worshippers), who sojourn among the West Iranians, and are very different from them. As one misses among them the predominating numbers of thin, slender forms, so also one seldom meets with the narrow chin or the thm, small nose. The Ghebr, in. company with the Khafi, will certainly strike us less than m the midst of a group of Isfahanians ; and since the Ghebrs, who are only sparingly scattered in the west of Persia, are to be considered as the remnants of the primitive Iranian people, having remained most pure from the mixture of foreign elements, one can assert with certamty that the distinction of physiognomy between East and West Iranian must always have existed. The Greek his- torians of the Alexandrian campaign, who came in contact with the Eastern as well as the Western nations of the then great Iranian kingdom, have disregarded in their descriptions the ethnographical side of the question, which is of the highest importance in our studies. In the same way we gather but little infor- mation from the sculptures which descend from tlie Sassanides. The figures on the bas rehefs of Nakshi Rustem, Nakshi Redgeb, and, near at hand, of Kaze- run, may furnish faithful representations of the former 318 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. Persian, but of the nationality of the same there is no accurate account; and however wide the opinion may extend with regard to stature and features, these appear rather to belong to the West Iranian than to the East Iranian, for the striking resemblance to the modern inhabitants of West Iran must be apparent to the eye of every one. Kecent European travellers only cause us to observe the existing difference. So we find that Gareia Silva Figeroa,* who in 1627 visited Persia on a diplomatic mission, abeady calls our attention to the difference between the East and West Iranian, though without entermg into any de- tails of the physical characteristics. Chardin, who travelled through this country in 1664-1677, is more explicit, for he says that the Ghebrs, m whom he per- ceives the remnant of the ancient Persian, are of a disagreeable exterior, clumsy figure, coarse skin, and dark complexion, and form a strong contrast to the present inhabitants of West Iran, who have a mixture of the Chirkassian and Georgian blood in their veins. This opinion is also positively expressed by Peter Angelus (Labrosse), a contemporary of the former, in his " Gazophylacium hnguge Persarum," published in 1684, under the article, " Georgians." f Since, therefore, no doubt can remam about the dis- tinction between the East and West Iranians, we wUl brmg the divergence to a common point of view, and * Khanikoff's "Memoire sur FEtliiiographie de la Perse." Paris, 1866, page 45. t Above cited work, page 47. TURANIAN AND IRANIAN RACES. 319 then represent the separate branches or members of the t'svo powerful races in such a way as we observed the same on our journeys, not leaving unnoticed the observations of our predecessors with reference to this subject- FlGURE. Hi'. AD. Eyks Nose, West Iranian, Mouth. Haik. In surpassing numbers, though not slim, yet of a haggard and thin form ; of a light, supple movement, and graceful demeanour ; but very rarely very thin or very fat, or strikingly tall or very short. Oval, narrow, and mid- dling high forehead, flat- tened at the temples ; oblong skull and narrow chin. Large, black, with long upper lid, and arched eye- brows. Long, thin, often arched. M oderate- sized ; percep- tibly thin compressed lips. Black, of a thick and pow- erful growth ; particularly long, thin beard. b. East Iranian. Of a somewhat thick-set figure ; bones of a powerful and large construction, but also clumsy in movement, although far less awkward than the Turanians. Much less oval than a, almost to be called round ; a wider forehead, also larger jaw bones, and more fleshij cheeks ; the chin, however, oblong, and less pointed than the Turanians. Black, oblong cut, close and thick eyebrows. Less long, sometimes thick at the root, but never so stumpy and wide as the Tu- ranians. Often wide and thick lips. Black, of thick growth ; beard thicker, but less long than the West Iranian. 320 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. In consequence of this diversity of the physical ex- ternals, there is also a distinction not to be mistaken in the moral properties of these two races. The East Iranian, although far superior to the Turks in vigour of mind and body, is far inferior to the Persian of modern Iran; and it appears as if the stamp of the mental superiority of the latter was imprinted in the symmetrical formation of their limbs and elegance of their features. East Iranians. We can form the following subdivisions or branches according to the geographical position of their north- easterly extension? 1. Sigistani or Khafi. 2. Tchihar Aymak. 3. Tadjik and Sart; each of which counts many subdivisions or degrees. As in our progress towards the West we lose, in the Turanian race, the Mongolian character in physiognomy more and more, and find m the single branches a continually increas- ing mixture of races; in the same way we discover, also, that the East Iranians become less Iranian, and more Turanian, the farther they remove from the mother land. The relation that exists between the Burnt and the pure-blooded Anatolian, the same is to be found between the Sigistani and the Tadjik of Kash- gar. The latter may, indeed, be called the old inhabi- tant of that region, yet no one will dispute that the Turanian elements, surrounding him in such numbers, have strongly influenced him. IRANIANS. 321 1. SiGISTANI OR KhAFI; Or that Shiite population of East Iran which inha- bit the eastern part of Iran, from the southern borders of modern Khorassan to beyond Bihrdjan. They are as frequently called Khafi as Sigistani, as the principal mass occupy Khaf and its neighbourhood, Ruy, Tebbes, and Bhirdjan; whilst the ancient, clas- sical Sigistan, more traversed m modern times by Afghans and hordes of Beloochees, offers to the peace- able Persian but a very insecure retreat. Judging by historical accounts of Merv, which, m the Vendidad, is enumerated as the thirteenth locality under the name Mun, as the third spot marked, one might easily con- clude that the inhabitants of modern Khorassan, espe- cially of the northern part, might be reckoned with the East Iranians. This was naturally more or less the case before the Arabian occupation; but at this day the people of Khorassan are so powerfully intermingled with Turco- Tartar elements, that the genuine East Iranian type only begias on the other side of the south- ern rocky chain, behind Shehri No. Without being furnished with an especial ethnographical representa- tion, the traveller will easily perceive that the Khafi (we preserve the appellation which is usual in the country), although brown in complexion, is to be dis- tinguished from the Isfahani; for example: in that his complexion is more olive-brown, whilst that of the latter, tanned by the sun, appears more of a dark 21 322 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. brown. In the second place, the afore-named differ- ence in stature and features, but especially the less fiery eye, will strike him. And in the third place, he will miss, in intercourse, that sprightliness and acti- vity which he meets everywhere among the lively West Iranians under the same situation of climate. It can hardly be doubted, that many will be surprised that this relative difference should exist between such tribes as those in question, — of common origin, lan- guage and religion, for hundreds of years, nay, for thousands of years, of one and the same pohtical con- nection. This circumstance would be with difficulty explained through an analagous case in other lands. We shall, however, recognise the cause directly, when we take into nearer view the following points : — 1st. The whole portion named of East Iran has been spared from all times the influence of the Semitic as well as Turanian nations, since the first extended them- selves only toward the western side of the desert; the last, on their march westward, only at intervals passed from the high road, Merv, Nishabur, and Rei to the southern slope of the Djagatay Hills. 2nd. East Iran herself, in an earlier period, remained separated through the great desert, when the Shiite sect, the chain of solid union, embraced the Persian population of Iran; and, despite all the wildest sect-hatred, the traffic now is as great with the Sunnite Afghans and Heratis as with their western brethren. It is true that, despite all the fatigue of travel in the desert, despite lEANIANS. 323 all fear of the Beloochees, caravans go annually from Shiraz, Isfahan, over Yezd, Tebbes up to holy Meshed. Yet Khaf and Bihrdjan, situated south-east, are never touched upon; and then, as now, it was always the case. In the mutual intercourse of nations, language assumes foreign elements easiest and preserves them the longest. The Persian dialect of modern Iran is overloaded with Arabian- Turkish words. Fars m the south, as well as Mazandran in the north, is in this only a httle distinctive. In East Iran, nevertheless, the borrowed richness of language is certainly less; and we find m much that Persian m which Firdusi, with a premeditated rejection of Arabic, wrote his great epic. In what concerns the use of old forms and words, the Persian of Bokhara is of that character, and especially we may name the Tadjiks in the first place ; yet these last have too much lexicographical and grammatical material borrowed from the Turks; and this circumstance it is that has produced the convic- tion in our minds, that in East Iran the 'purest and oldest Persian is spoken. As for the language, I should be incluied to cite the Khafi or the Sigistani as the primitive tongue of all the Iranians, yet, m regard to their ethnographical position m relation to the whole Iranian race, I would not venture to attribute that position to them in which the Buruts stand to the whole Turko-Tartar race. What branch of the East Iranian families may be the primitive is one of those questions to which no one 324 SKETCHES or CENTRAL ASIA. could deny a high degree of importance, yet is the reply much more difficult as to the Turko- Tartar race. For the appearance of the latter on the stage of his- torical events is comparatively fresh, whilst the former stepped forward in a period of which we can hardly form a conception. We must, therefore, again repeat that the Sigistani or Khafi are named as the first among the East Iranians, only in consequence of their geogra- phical position, and not from mduction on the more primitive character of their branch. TcHiHAE Aymak.* These are the four people or races which, from the time of the conquest of Herat, have been thus named by the Mongols. They consist of the Timuri, Tei- meni, Firuzkuhi, and Djemshidi. The whole are of Iranian origm and Persian speech, and enough so to distmguish them from the Hezareh,f who, though * Aimak is a Mongolian word, and signifies a people. , t Klianikoff seems to be in error when lie considers the Hezareh, as formerly CEzbegs ; viz., as the Berlas tribe. " Memoire sur la Patrie Meridionale de I'Asie Centrale." Paris, 1842, pp. 112, 138. I must against this cite the following arguments : — 1st. Their own assertion, — that they were the remainder of the army of Djingis, and, moreover, from the statement of Abul Fazl of a troop of Mangu Khan. 2ndly. That a portion, now named the Gvbi Hezareh, which retired into the hills in the .neighbourhood of Herat, and has been spared by the Persian elements, speaks a Mongolian dialect, as is proved by Von der Oabelenz, in a periodical of the German Asiatic Society, — vol. xx. p. 326. ; and Baber affirms that in his time many Hezareh spoke Mongolian. 3rd. There is nowhere among the ffizbegs such a decided Mongolian type to be found as among the Hezareh, which is the more striking, because the first remain near their old home in more compact masses, while the latter have dwelt under a foreign climate and foreign elements. IRANIANS. 325 they speak Persian, yet show their pure Mongohan type, their Turanian origin without a doubt. On the spot itself there is but a confused understanding as to its name Tchihar Aymak, because many appro- priate to themselves the same, and are again opposed by others. Our travellers have most contradictory statements concernmg these races, and especially this erroneous idea, that the Hezareh are to be reckoned among the Tchihar Aymak, who appeared at the Southern part of Central Asia, at a time when the latter were already indicated by the name in question. During my abode of six weeks in the town and neighbourhood of Herat, I devoted considerable at- tention to this question. My knowledge is grounded, not so much on hearsay touching the race, as on their physiognomical characteristics, which are incontestably the best proof. The Timuri^ or the Sunnite Persians of East Iran, dwell now partly on the Western boun- dary of Herat, as Gurian, Kuh'sun, &c., and partly also m the villages and towns situated to the east of Iran, from Turbet Sheikh Djam as far as Khaf. ' In the first- named region they constitute exclusively an united population, m the latter they are only to be found sporadic, for although two hundred years ago the greater number were Sunnites, yet the sect-hatred of the Shiites converted them partly by force, partly drove them into the neighbouring Sunnite city of Herat. In consequence of the frequent confusion of boundary, for Herat has endured in ancient and 326 SKETCHES OF CENTKAL ASIA. modern times more than forty sieges, one can easily imagine what an amalgamation has been produced by these continued movements among the sohtary branches which approach so nearly to East Iran, and it is truly a wonder that the Timuri are still to be dis- tinguished from the Shiites of East Iran. The remarkable characteristics are first, that among them more people are to be found short and thick- set than among the Sigistanis ; also as regards colour, the latter are, on an average, of an olive brown, and with dark black hair, whilst among the former a whiter complexion, with chesnut brown hair, is not uncom- mon. As I have said, the united number of the Timuri on the East Iran boundary amomits now in its fullest extent to one thousand families, because the great majority dwell in Herat. The Teimeni are hardly in any respect to be dis- tinguished from the latter dwelling in the Northern and Southern parts of the so-named Djolghei Herat, from Kerrukh to Sebzewar : only a small part has ex- tended as far as Ferrah, and is named by the Afghans Parsivan (Farszeban, speaking Persian). Since the Afghan rule has taken place in the Western valleys of the Parapamisian mountains, many attempts have been made to establish in the midst of the Persian population Afghan colonies, yet until this day all have failed, for the discord and strife which have wasted this neighbourhood for centuries still continue; each member of the Tchihar Aymak knowing no greater IRANIANS. 327 enemy than the Afghan. In consequence of this cir- cumstance the Teimeni, although an agricultural people, are of wild, warHke nature, and there is no longer any trace of that spirit of wisdom, which in the time of the descendants of Taimur, viz., Sultan Husein Mirza, animated them. The Sumiite Persians of former times contended in poetry, learnuig, and music, with the Shiite confederates ill the West; at the present time they are raw barba- rians in comparison "vvith the latter. FiruzhuM is the name of the httle people that dwell on the steep hill, north-east of Kale No, and from then' inaccessible situation afflict the whole neighbourhood with robbery and plunder. To the traveller are nar- rated the most gloomy stories of Kale No on the sum- mit of the mountain, and the fortified places of Derzi Kutch and Tchekseran are considered the same as the robber nests of the Bakhtiari and Luri m the environs of Isfahan. As all dwellers in mountains remain distinct from their nearest kindred in the valleys, so is this the case also between the Firuzkuhi and the remaining Aymaks, and one could almost name them the Gileki and Mazemderanis of East Persia. On the first glance they appear to have much resemblance with the Hezareh. It is even asserted that they came forth from them, yet neither has their formation of the forehead and of the chin, nor the complexion and figure of the body,— ^a decided Turanian character ; and although it might present a strong mixture, 3"et does the Iranian 828 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. element prevail, for, besides that they all speak Persian, the names of their dwelling-places and khans are pure Persian words. They inhabited those hills from immemorial time, and though Taimur settled them by force m Mazen- deran, they soon returned back to their old hilly home, and have lived since that time in constant war- fare with their neighbours, partly supporting them- selves from their scanty breed of cattle and tillage; partly also from robbery and plunder, which they per- petrate on the caravans upon the road to Maymene, or upon the scattered tents of the Djemshidi. Their total number hardly amounts to eight thousand families. The Djemshidi^ the only tribe of the East Iranians living exclusively in a nomadic state, inhabited from time immemorial the shores of Murgab, whither they, accordmg to their own statement, settled out of Sigis- tan m the time of Djemshid, from whom they derive their descent. This national myth cannot be consi- dered quite true, yet is it incontestable, that among all Iranians who now inhabit Central Asia the Djemshidi have the most striking resemblance with the Sigistani^ which is so much the more to be wondered at, because these for so long a time have led a settled life, whilst those have led a nomadic ; and the vast influence which the diiference of the two ways of life has on the develop- ment of the body needs hardly be mentioned. Kha- nikoff thinks they approach rather the Tadjil^s ; but I cannot coincide in this view, because, in the first place, IRANIANS. 329 the Djemshidi is thinner; secondly, has a longer face and a far more pointed chin than the Tadjik; and in the thh-d place, their language, as well m form as in copiousness, agrees much more with the Persian dialect of East Iran than mth that of Central Asia. As to what concerns then' method of life, they are the only Iranians who, in every respect, have taken much from the Turanians ; that is to say, from the Salor and Sarik Turkomans living in their neighbourhood; whilst the other half-nomadic Aymak used a long Afghan tent, which here is named the Tent of Abra- ham, one sees among the Djemshidi that round, conical tent of the Tartars surrounded with felt and a reed matting ; their clothing also and food is Tur- komanish ; mdeed, even in then* occupation, they copy these last. For when a flourishing position, that is, abundance of horses and arms befalls them, they are just such fearful robbers of mankind as the children of the desert. They enjoy also the reputation of the best riders and warriors amongst all Aymak, and abide, partly in service at Herat or Maymene, partly in league with one or other of the Turkoman tribes, when the im- mediate question among them is a large tchapao (raz- zia). In consequence of this aforesaid comiection they were transported to the banks of the Oxus by force by Allah Kuh Khan, from Khiva, after he had conquered them with the allied Sariks. They remained more than twelve years there; a fruitful place, which was 330 SKETCHES OF CENTEAL ASIA. assigned to them as their new home, and rendered them well to do. Yet the longmg for the poorer, but old home-like hills, was soon felt by them, and availing themselves of the confusion which a war of the Khivians with the Turkomans called forth, they packed up every- thing quickly and fled, without fearing the danger of pursuit, across Hezaresp, Tchardjuy, Maymene, back to- wards the town of Murgab. In their march one thou- sand Persian slaves joined them, who, in consequence of their escape, obtained their freedom ; but, having reached Moorgab, were again taken in a treacherous mamier and sold in Bokhara. Although the Djemshidi among all the Iranian races of the East, as well as of the -West, have most truly retained the warlike spuit of old Persia, yet they are in proportion less rough in their customs and intercourse with strangers than the neighbourmg Turkomans, with whom they have had relations for a long time; and, notwithstanding his wild exterior, the Djemshidi, even in the lowest class, is polite in word and mamier : — the light and shade of the Iranian character are not recognisable in him, and we must not be surprised if m the customs of this nomadic people we meet with the most lively marks of the pre-Islamite time. Islam with them has taken still less root than among the other Turanian nomads, and the greater part of them use it as a veil, under which lurk concealed many features of the religion of Zoroaster; thus, for instance, fire among them is in higher estimation than among the Tadjiks; the door lEANIANS. 331 of the tent is always facing the East, and the idea of the good and evil spirit is so universal that the lowest class of the people, especially the women, when a sheep or goat is slaughtered, never neglect to throw certain parts of the animal which are considered by other nomads as dehcacies, to the bad spirit as kende^ "un- clean;" and they are only eaten by the dogs. It is worthy of remark, that among the ruins of Martchah the same stories are in circulation, as among the Yomuts of the old remnants of the ruins at Meshdi Misrian. Martchah was in olden times the Kaaba of the whole region until the wicked Turkomans appeared there, and destroyed the whole. This is all that I can say in respect to the Tchihar Aymaks, I can, notmthstandmg all inquiries, learn nothing of their name before their last appellation. According to all probability they were reckoned among the Tadjiks, yet now they are distinct from these latter, and form the second gradation of the Iranian race in its extension to the North-East. Tadjiks, As the remnants of the Persian population of Cen- tral Asia are called, whom we meet in their largest numbers in the Khanat of Bokhara and in Bedakhshan. But there are, besides, many settled in the cities of Khokand, Kliiva, Chinese Tartary, and Afghanistan; although here and there little deviation in their physiog- nomical outward developments are observable, in con- 332 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. sequence of the different climacteric and social relations under which the Tadjiks hve. And thus, for example, the Tadjiks of Bokhara and the Afghanistan to^vns have much more resemblance one "with another than the former with the Bedakhshanis, or the confederate races of Chinese Tartary ; notwithstanding, the leadiug features of one common t}^De are generally observable among them. They are usually of a good middle height, broad, powerful frame of bones, and especially wide shoulder bones. Then* countenance, the Iranian type of which immediately strikes the eye at first sight, is more oblong than that of the Turks; but by the wide forehead, thick cheeks, thick nose, and large mouth, we soon perceive that this most eastern branch of the Iranian family has much that is heterogeneous, that is to say, Turanian, m its stamp of countenance as well as in the formation of body, and is in nowise to be regarded as the primitive type of the Iranian race, as M. de Khanikoff imaoines. Accorduig to the statements of the Yendidad and Greek historians, it is no longer matter of doubt that the native country of the modern Tadjik was ui those celebrated regions of ancient times, Bactria and Sog- diana, — the most ancient seat of Iranian civilisation, the cradle of the religion of Zoroaster, and the source of the heroic legends of Persia. We must own, that even in. the most ancient tunes they were inhabitants of tliis region, for the ancient Khorassan, which stretched far into Chinese Tartary, was, as is proved by topo- IRANIANS. 333 graphical nomenclature, founded and occupied by Ira- nian colonies. And who is there that does not perceive the continuous stream of Scythian-Turkish elements which has overflowed Central Asia, from the valleys of the Altaic Mountains, that officina gentium^ from 700 B.C. to400 A.D.? I^o country which was situated along the chief route of these migrations could remam unafi*ected by the m- termino-hno- of foreion blood : and as the northern half of Persia, the modern district of Maymene, Andchoi, and the western declivities of the Parapamisian Moun- tains could preserve, but m a slight degree, the pri- mitive unity of race ; so also was it equally impossible to the Iranians of Transoxiana. The mhabitants only of the mountains of Bedakhshan, namely, the Vakhani (in which name the learned writer of the article, " Central Asia," in the Quarterly Review^ Ju.ly — Sep- tember, 1866, believes that he has detected the origin of the Greek, 6^os*)^ can have a greater claim, from then' less accessible homes, to unity of race; for all the Feizabadisf whom I have seen have more mdehble marks of the Iranian type than the Tadjiks : even their very language is freer of Turanian words. And since one can imagine that a people, though in strictest re- tirement, can preserve for centuries its primitive type, * From Vah (the river Vali), as the Oxus is called in Bendehesh, may also be derived the modern name, Vachan, Vacks as-ird, and Vas-ab. t During my sojourn in Kerki I lived with ten Feizabadis (Feizabad is the capital of Bedakhshan) many days in one and the same house. It was a depu- tation returning from Bokhara, where they wished to raise the Emir to the place of their lately -banished prince. 334 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. the Yakhaiii alone, and not the Tadjiks in general, must be considered the truest remnants of the ancient East Iranian, As regards the appellation Tadjik, I have always found that those concerning whom we are speaking never use it themselves willingly ; for, if this does not sound exactly in then' ears as a term of reproach, people are yet accustomed to understand by it that expression of contempt with which the OEzbeg con- querors regard the subdued aborigmes. By the word Tadjik, the Tartar population of Turkestan understand a man without warhke disposition , of a covetous, avari- cious nature;* with crafty and vaunting ideas; in a word, everything that stands in opposition to CEzbeg frankness, sunphcity, and uprightness. These relations are, moreover, to be found everywhere between Tura nian conquerors and the subjugated Iranians ; for as the latter, in Persia, are far inferior to the Turks in mental endowments, so is this also the case in Central Asia. And Bokhara has only become the head quarters of Central Asiatic civilisation, because here, from the earhest ages, existed the overwhelming numbers of the Tadjik population ; who, contmumg their previous exertions in mental culture from the pre-Islamite times, notwithstanding the oppression of foreign power, have civilised then' conquerors. As in the earliest ages, * Slaves prefer rather ten years in the house of an CEzbeg than five years in the house of a Tadjik, because the last, who is considered a man without con- science, makes use of them in every possible way. lEANIANS. 335 after the reception of the Islam faith, all the celebrities in the field of religious knowledge and belles lettres were mostly Tadjiks ; so, to-day, one still meets in Bokhara, Khokand, and Kashgar, the most conspicuous Mollahs and most celebrated Ishans- At the court of Bok- hara, notwithstanding the (Ezbeg origin of the prince, the chief ministers are always Tadjiks ; nay, even in the rude (Ezbeg government of Khiva, the Mehter (Secretary of State), as an officer whose qualifica- tions must be of the highest order, is chosen inva- riably from the Persian population of the place. It is truly wonderful how the Tadjiks, notwithstanding more than a century of co-existence with the Q^zbegs, are to be distinguished from the latter, not only in their individual nature but in their habits. A proverb says, " Look at the (Ezbeg on horseback, — the Tadjik in his house ;" for, the same care that the one bestows on his steed, arms, saddle and horse, the other spends on his house and attire. However poor the Tadjik, he will yet pass for a man of more substance than he is, and will always appear rich and great in public, although sparing and abstemious m his family circle. Nor is his conversation less choice : the courteous ex- pressions, the compliments of which he makes use, sound somewhat Tartarian, to ears accustomed to Persian refinement ; yet, in contrast with the (Ezbeg, he is to be considered an accomplished gentleman. Attuned by nature to peaceful occupations, the Tad- jiks are devoted everywhere considerably to tillage. 336 SKETCHES OE CENTRAL ASIA. commerce, and industrial pursuits, as they hate war; and if they are compelled to handle weapons, they are rarely valiant, but frequently cruel. They are also defective in that national feehng that strikes one so forcibly among the (Ezbegs. This has best shown itself in recent occurrences in Tashkend. In a letter from General Kryjanovsky from the town above-named, (Ausland, December 4th, 1866, H. 1159), we see that, among the diversified population of that place, the Sarts were the first who drew near, m a friendly fashion, to their conquerors, and certauily rendered very readily considerable help in hard labours of paci- fication ; and that probably to the dislike of all the (Ezbegs, who certainly took no part m the pretended petition to the Russian Government. The Tadjiks hold well together, but this is more from the mutual support of one with another in an op- pressed race than a special efibrt for Tadjik public interest; and if they wish to distinguish themselves, which is only the case in Bokhara, then they are in the habit of showing with pride their Arabian descent. The emptiness of this last vaunt Khanikoff has shown sufficiently. He derives the word Tadjik from Tadj (crown), a head-dress, which the old fire worship- pers had, and the Ghebrs wear even now y — the name Tadjik arose from it, by which the adherents of the teaching of Zoroaster were called at that time — before Mohamedanism, or else it was a term of their o^wn adoption; for the word Tadji in Huzvari, lEANTANS. 337 and Tazi in Persian, which signifies Arab, has with the first no connection. It is remarkable that the word Tadjik is even found in Western Asia. There are Armenians who call Turks as well as Arabs, i.e.^ Mohamedans, Tadjik^ but only among themselves pri- vately. And it seems to me to be constantly a nick- name affixed by the oppression of their tyrannic rulers. Since I have found this universal among the Armenians of Asia Minor, it appears to me that they did not wish to express by it only Mohamedans, but also the ad- herents of a strange religion, and thiat this, accordmg to all appearance, old word, has been transmitted later to the Arabians by the old inhabitants of Persia, with whom the Armenians, under the Sassanides, were in contact. That the name Tadjik has been missing among both Arabic and Persian authors of the first century, after the entrance of Islam, but existed early m Central Asia, the U'igur MS. (Kudatku Bilig the lucky knowledge) best shows. This bears the date of 462 Heg., and we find there the word Tadjik often quoted in opposition to Turk. The above-named work, which Jaubert has mentioned in the Asiatic Journal^ 1825, is an Uigur version, or rather rifacimento of the Chinese original. The Turks themselves have always called the Transoxanian aborigmes Sart, a word of which I know not the origin. M. de Khanikoff mistakes when he supposes that this is only the case in Khiva, for he must know that in the Russian Army the Persian population of conquered Tashkend at a later 22 338 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. period was enrolled under the name of Sart, and they were so called in all Khokand. Also the above- named General Krijanovsky speaks of Tadjik and Sart as of two different races. As to this word Sart, the derivation of which is wholly unknown to me, it is a term of which the famous Mir Ali Shir, m the time of Sultan Husem Mirza Baikera, makes use in a treaty on the Persian and Turkish language. The latter, he always calls the Sart tili (Sart language), and not the Tadjik tili. Sart is hence legally used for the Turkish appellation of Tadjik. Here and there (Ezbegs busy themselves in making a distinction between Sart and Tadjik ; but I cannot agree with this view, although I will not conceal the fact, that the Sarts seen in mass diifer greatly in some physiognomical pecuharities from the Tadjiks. They are, for mstance, more slender- built, have a longer face, and, moreover, a higher fore- head than the Tadjiks ; but it must also be mentioned as a quahfication of the above, that they formed frequent alhances with the free Persian slaves of Central Asia, which the Tadjiks never or very seldom did. CHAPTER XVIII. LITERATURE IN CENTRAL ASIA. Tartae muse I (Ezbeg Melpomene ! This will to many somid passing strange! That poetiy should exist in the oldest spots of rudeness and barbarism — that persons in those regions where robbery, murder, and spoliation rage most, should busy themselves with literature, may to many seem strange ; but yet such a notion would be incorrect. The East was at all times the seat of poetic enthusiasm, and the more the social relations retain the stamp of olden time, that is, the nearer civilisation is to its infancy, the more general is the inclination to poetry and fables, the more pas- sionate the sound of forced hyperboles and enthu- siasm. That the dwellers in a Kirghis tent are more dis- posed to poetry than the members of a pohshed society in Paris and London, must surprise no one. Among us it is only over a certain age that poetry indicates herself more or less ; there are only certain individuals that linger round the Castahan fountains. In Central Asia those bowed down by age, as well as youthful lovers, passionately affect poetry, the warrior equally 340 SKETCHES OE CENTRAL ASIA. with the shepherd, the priest as well as the layman, — each one attempts the composition of poetry or devises tales ; and if this attempt is probably not successful in every instance, still, nevertheless, the habit of even listening to the compositions of others may be said to be universal. Since literature in the East is in close connection with religion, we must then divide the literary pro- ductions of Central Asia at the commencement into two parts. 1st. The Literature of Islam or the Settled Nations. 2nd. The Literature of the Nomadic or Wandering Tribes. This distinction dates from that time when, with the entrance of Islam, foreign literary conceptions became universally dilFused, which, without retaining at the present time any special national character, are in vogue among the different followers of Islam. Poetry, for this is the essence of that literature, is always the same now with Arabs, Turks, Persians, and Central Asiatics. Vainly would one seek there the stamp of a national mint ; it is everywhere the same sprightly imagery of the poets ; everywhere the same metaphors, parables ; everywhere the stereotyjDed image of the rose and the nightingale, the thorn-resembhng eyelashes, the fum- ing vapors of rising sighs, &c. Everywhere the same muse of which the learned M. de Khanikoff rightly says : — " That she comes forth free and wild, like those plants of strange forms to be met with in the calcined LITERATURE IN CENTRAL ASIA. 341 soil of southern Asia, covered with thistles and thorns, mcrusted with salt ; they diffuse through a rugged bark, here and there, aromatic, beneficent odours, and wave ujDon their mthered stems wreaths of flowers of elegant forms and brilliant colours." — Asiatic Journal^ vol. v., p. 297. Of this literature, however, which is well known in western countries, through many trans- lations and learned treatises, we shall say nothing. We rather pass over the religious hterature of many eccen- tric devotees, who, m zealous ardour towards God and the prophets, have written volumes full of pompous ex- pressions on the subject of their love and resignation. These last productions m the three Khanats are con- sidered as the exclusive property of the MoUah and Ishan world. The people listen very patiently to their recitals, but are not enthusiastic, for the mystical cur- rent of thought m copious language is beyond the reach of their understandmg. What we wish to say, then, of the literature of Central Asia is confined, to speak correctly, to the Popular Poetry. Here we do still find something original, here some types which deserve the real name of Turkestan, and with these we wish to make our readers acquaiuted. The most poetically attuned people are in the Khanat of Khiva. This part of Central Asia had at the begmning of the twelfth century acquired the reputation of a special eminence in music, tmieful voices, distinguished poets and poetesses; indeed, it is hardly fifty years ago that in the courts of the Kadjars, in Teheran, a 342 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. Khivite lute-player was in great honour. Bokhara, before the ascendancy of the Turkish element, had only a few great poets, such as Rudeki and Figani ; but these must be rather classed in Persian hterature. To return to Khiva, I must remark that as it always sur- prised myself when I heard a heavy-looking, coarsely- dressed (Ezbeg, with wild, sun-burnt features, sing one or another soft minor air ; so, also, with travellers in general, this feeling will be found to exist on their entry among Turkomans and Kirghis. These people esteem music and poetry as their highest pleasure. After a fortunate adventure the marauder, however tired and hungry he may be, will hsten in the open street with real dehght to the bakhshi (troubadour), who comes to meet him. Returning home from a foray, or other heroic deed, the young warriors are in the habit of amusing; themselves throug-hout the night with poetry and music. In the desert, where man is either ignorant of the luxuries of life, or does without them, it is, nevertheless, that the bakhshi is very seldom wanting, and besides, that the latter are found in great numbers, goiag about to exercise their art. The nomads have the habit of amusing them- selves with poetic games. As people regard in company the happy finding of a rhyme or cadence as indispensable to education, the young nomad girl will also, say, give the preference to him who would answer her question in a verse with happy rhymes. The poetry of the (Ezbegs consists LITERATURE IN CENTRAL ASIA. 343 first of narratives, which either appeal to rehgious life or famous heroic deeds. The first are composed by the Mullah world, or by the more polished bakhshis, after Arabic or Persian sources, and adapted to native taste, — the last are genuine Tartar compositions, m which there are not wanting at times both glomng lan- guage and good metaphors. These tales of heroic exploits, which are similar to our romances, begin ah'eady to be of even greater extent, and are often recited or sung many evenmgs together, and although Islam plays here and there a conspicuous part, never- theless those pieces are preferred in which home-heroes figure on well-known historic fields. Of these last- named compositions, one much esteemed in Central Asia may serve as a specimen. It bears as its title "Ahmed and Yusuf," And is the history of two sons of heroes, who, after their country's fashion, even in early youth undertake a tchapao or razzia agamst heretical Iran, in which the leadmg motive is not so much the thirst for spoil as the chastisement of the unbeheving Shiites. Just at the beguining Yusuf harangues his heroes ready for the foray m the following fashion : — " With the worthless fellow unite not, for he makes known the deepest secret. Speak no secret words in bad spots, for thy deep hidden mystery will become known. Better is the bare leaf than the faded rose. Better is dry earth than worthless grass. Better is a staff than 344 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. a stupid fellow-traveller. For he makes known the direction of thy route to the foe. Do not mstruct the fool, because he will, nevertheless, reach the grave of misery miconsciously. When you enter ^t a good-for-nothing fellow's as a guest, he attacks you hke the little cur, and makes his vice kno^vn. Would that I could give you the picture of a true hero ! He draws his sword only for the destruction of the un- believers. Do not march against the enemy with a coward, since he makes kno^vn the trodden track as well as his own path. Yusuf Beg says, ' Such a time is come. This home-land is for us no longer. Fools know not their o^vn lair ; they speak angrily, and make then" evil speech known.' " They march away. The report of their heroic deeds spreads far and wide, and naturally reaches their home-land. Here governed only petty prmces, each of whom would take renowned warriors mto his service. The usual career of warfare proceeds, and Yusuf takes the command, but only with the consent of his comrades. They draw out afresh for an expedition against Guzel Shah, the Governor of Isfahan. The (Ezbegs are overpowered by Persian cmming. Both prmces are taken and dragged in chams to Iran. This mis- fortune rouses deep cries from the heart of Yusuf, and as he could not turn for sympathy to his captors, he pours forth his wail to the lofty hills that surround him, and exclaims : — LITERATURE IN CENTRAL ASIA. _345 " Ye snow-bedecked, many coloured hills, what has befallen me ; have you seen it ? I am become the slave of these unbelievers; my tarrying behind, have you seen it? No one pities my tears, the hills only throb at my tears. With lashes aromid my head, how must I have stepped along the way; have you seen it? Heedless were my attendants. Ah! I weep tears of blood ! How captured with Ahmed Beg came 1 here, have you seen it? I drink blood, — -in this world too heavy is my sorrow! Walking on foot, unbehevers on steeds; have you seen it? Yusuf Beg saj^s, ' I am mwardly consumed, my sorrow is endless. Dragged with these bomid hands • at a horse's pleasure, have you seen me?' " He is then thrown into prison, where he finds a fellow-suiferer in the person of a Sunnite, who as enchanter and fortune-teller by profession, had drawn on himself the displeasure of the Persian monarch ; and he also finds in the dauo-hter of the o'aoler, who had become enamoured of him, a kmd friend. Up to this point the strifes, the mighty hero- deeds, the religious enthusiasm, are constantly detailed. From this pohit love also mnioies in the strain. Yusuf Bes; had left at home a sister and a lady love. The former vainly waiting his return, cries bitterly, and in tears calls on her maidens to loosen her hair; the latter, in his ab- sence, mamtains her passionate regard, and sends the trained cranes of the hero with a love-letter to him. It contains the foUowmg charge : — 346 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. " Oh, ye five cranes of Yusuf Beg ! Rush out and draw near to N. Strengthen jT^ourselves and fly away over the hills ! Seemg Yusuf Beg, hasten back, that the hawk see not on the plams the tips of your wiugs. I am deprived of half my heart. Come back, asking him of his health! Hasten back! I was once the world-rose ; flown hence is the nightingale of my grove! Should my lover be living, then brush with your hvely wmgs early back. Should the red roses have become withered; should his life have reached its end; should my lover be dead, put on mourning, and weepmg return ! Calling on God, shake then your wings. With ardour look forth to the heaven ; burst out for the town of Urgendj. Break out and draw towards the town of N. Gaiu true intelligence, and come back. Oh, hear Gul Assl's cry! Carry to him my heart- sorrow ! Oh, make a pilgrimage to his grave. Brmg me a httle dust, and hasten back." The birds circle around the prison of their sorrow- ful master with plaiative chirping. He remarks them, and sends back to his home the followmo; messao;e : — " Oh, ye cranes ! Fly round me, right and left, in mazy sweep m an*. Go back, — say my greeting to my people ! Oh, ye cranes ! right and left, looking round, go back, — say my greetmg to my people! The crane flies and rests high hi the air. Tired are his wiags with the long way. Here in prison breaks out afresh my sorrow. Oh, greet, then, my kmsmen ! Kharezm to^vn is my home. There stays my friend. LITEKATUKE IN CENTRAL ASIA. 347 my beloved, my well-wisher, my dear one, my tender one. Oil, greet her, my mother ! my Kaaba! On the momitains of sorrow are pines high, high. Oh, pray for me all of you, young and old. Mournful autumn became my fate; before the life's blossoms had opened yet! Oh, greet for me my poor httle sister! She from early morn waiting for me looks aroimd. She is inwardly consumed by the torture of separation. Looking on the path in the morning with dishevelled han, she cries : ' He is not come !' Her whole soul for me is waste and empty, — my love Gul Assl, for her I mourn. Oh, greet her! In one day, oh crane ! thou wilt reach from here to Kharezm. On the way thither go over the seven mountains. Note this thou hast seen, Yusuf Beg; greet the cowardly Begs for me." The birds depart, but the heroes languish yet long in prison. At last they are condenmed to die. But the miraculous power of the Sunnee saints saves them. All the weapons employed become blunt. The Per- sian tyrant remarks it, and summons the heroes to his presence. As the chief condition of obtaining the mshed-for freedom, Yusuf must improvise in opposi- tion to the court fool, Kokche, and in the event of his overcoming the latter in poetic ability, then he is to be restored to his home m full liberty. Yusuf im- provises in strikingly bold language. He sings not the praises of the tyrant, but his own, while he says, — ■ " My people is a fine people. Winters there are 348 SKETCHES OF CENTEAL ASIA. continually summers, gardeners tend the gardens, the trees give their fruits. In white tents repose the aged, the youths hunt around them. In cordial com- panionship live the youths, spending time in delight and pleasure. Fast as the wind the steeds. In racing thy steeds lay behind them. High soaring to heaven is the flight of the birds. In scorn they carry off men. Should mtelligence of me arrive in a day, in a day also an army can come. Out of six pounds of thick cord are the strmgs of their bows. Then' princes rule in equity, partiality is far from them. Hear me, Guzel Shah, thou unbeliever, should I re- turn to wage war on thee, then know that one wave of my arm kills 100,000 men. Of Isfahan are their swords. Then' streets are united bazaars, their fields like beds of tulips. With deers, hare,s, falcons, the fields of my people are full. Their free inhabitants are like Hatem,* their leaders are like Behram and Rus- tem m the day of battle, heroes in the strife. I am a slave without power, the mibeliever regards not this; without fate the fly dies not ; let not my tears flow m vain." He conquers, goes laden with treasure to Urgendj ; and though he has to undergo some hard struggles on the road, arrives happily home, where his reception is described in many deeply-moving, highly poetical images. After an interview with his beloved and his sister they conduct him to Lalakhan, his mother, who * The oriental emblem for generosity. LITERATURE IN CENTRAL ASIA. 349 in consequence of mourning for him for several years, has ahnost lost her sight. They bring her the joyful intelligence, Avhich she disbelieves at first, and says, — " My ardent desire has bent me low. Am I really to see thee, my dear child? Sunk in sorrow, I only sighed, with eyes tremulously searching for you. The whole world would I look through could I really find thee, my child. Shall I mourn like the nightingale? Shall T, like Mansur, succumb to sorroAv? Shall I, like Djerdjis, weep tears of blood? Am I again to find thee, oh my dear child," &c. Yusuf Beg is led to her. He bides apart, and when he hears the cry of his mother, his anguish bursts forth for their fatal separation m yet more sorrowful words. By the voice his mother recognises him. Overpowered by excessive joy, she yet welcomes him m the following words : — " Oh, thou seven years' sufferer m prison ! Oh, thou balsam of my wounded heart ! My star of hap- piness brightens. Vanished is the night of misery! Oh, prince of my people and land! Thou Rustem, thou hero of the world ! My Yiisuf, my glorious son, my comfort, my life-power! Thou crown of happi- ness, thou highest grace of my life! Lalakhan has found her son, the All-powerful has shown mercy to her. Gone is all pain from my breast, all sorrow. Yusuf, my son, is come ! " Soon after this the marriage of the lovers takes place, his hero blood suffers not the adventure- seeking 350 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. chief to rest. He collects an army, of which all the people of Central Asia form part. It is to take vengeance on Guzel Shah. Fortune attends his arms. The Persian is conquered; his old fellow- sufferer, Kamber, freed. He goes home crowned mth glory, and the conquered Guzel Shah must pay him the following tribute. Demands of Yusuf feom Guzel Shah. "He shall give me the whole Kharads of the town, N., — 40,000 silk stuffs embroidered with gold, and 40,000 khimhal (stronger silk stuffs) shall he send. His tolls and taxes he shall collect ; 40,000 magnificent dresses shall he send; 40,000 chargers, mth golden saddles; 40,000 male and female camels; 40,000 young slaves with golden girdles; 40,000 youths, with beautiful eyes, shall he send; 40,000 oxen (well bred) shall he send; 40,000 rhinoceri, bound hi chains, shall he send; 40,000 reins, well shod, with gold nails, and 40,000 grey falcons shall he send; 40,000 whips shall he send, the nails of which shall be symmetrically arranged; lashes, worked in silver, the handles with golden spangles; 40,000 iron greys, 40,000 foxes, 40,000 noble steeds, with snake like tails, shall he send; 40,000 ambling nags, 40,000 roadsters, 40,000 pea- sants, as caravan guides, shall he send; these, with black locks falliug down right and left, whose faces are covered with moles; 40,000 wonderfully beauti- ful maidens, with golden gh'dles, shall he send ; 40,000 LITERATURE IN CENTRAL ASIA. 351 caps, 60,000 turbans, shall he send. Also, 70,000 sheep and double horned rams shall he send. Yusuf Beg says he shall have all ready quickly; 100,000 Russian thalers and 10 gold dishes shall he send." This was, in short, the material of an QEzbeg romance, of which there is an innumerable quantity, and of domestic tales also; and these are considered the most valuable portion of their literature. Here and there, one finds an union of rehgion and valour. The Heroes are taken out of the Islam world, as, for instance, in the story- of Zerkum Shah, where Ali conquers the last named heathen prince of Persia, in wonderful engagements, which border upon the imagmative, and may be compared to the poems of Ariosto and Bojardi ; finally, he converts him to Islam. There are also numerous tales of Ebu Muslim, the old Field- Marshal of the Abassides, and, later, the mdependent ruler of Khorassan and Kharezm. The historical facts are pretty old, and yet each (Ezbeg, in the great desert which separates his home from Persia, points out many a spot where the Arabian Field- Marshal encamped, fought, and enacted supernatural deeds of valour. Finally, there are also the epics, in which the old princes of the house of Shah Kharezmian are extolled. In these, as well as in those which tell of Mohamed Emin, Khan of Khiva, Mohamed Ali Khan of Khokand, we find many an image which indi- cates the natural feeling and pride of the (Ezbegs. Then follow, also, on these compositions, which are 352 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. always of greater length, short poems, which tell of love, morality, heroism, — or contain special directions for handling of weapons, dressmg of horses, and the duties of a good warrior. These are, for the greater part, productions of plam burghers, professional Bakh- shis, people who are unacquainted with reading and writing, and leave their poetry to be ^vritten by others ; or, finally, productions by women and young girls, who break out into poetic effusions from the fire kindled by passion. I brought with me a pretty col- lection, written on soiled paper, m a bad hand, bound in rough leather, which I found among the Turkomans at a Bakhshi's, who hid the "Opus Curiosum" in the broad leg of his boots ; and it has really very strange things in it, sometimes not without beauty. We msh to produce some specimens, under the names of the Avriters ; some of them appear to be anonymous. The first one, in the genuine Oriental style, mourns the transitory condition of humanity and the vanity of the world. Allah Yar. L To build castles in this world is a fruitless thing; finally, all will become ruin, and builclmg is really not worth the trouble. 2. Day and night, for each poor wanderer to labour and strain himself, is really not worth the trouble. 3. Friends ! For idle good m this empty world. LITERATUEE IN CENTRAL ASIA. 353 to mourn and lament oneself, is really not worth the trouble. 4. To do homage to passion out of ostentation, to torment the poor and the sick, is really not worth the trouble. 5. To destroy the lands of Islam, and to draw the sword to annihilate, is really not worth the trouble. 6. With taxes, duties, with hundredfold griefs and sorrows to vex Molla Khodja, — nay, the whole world, is really not worth the trouble. 7. As you cannot, Allah Yar, stand the brunt of the world, why plague yourself going up and down it ? it is really not worth the trouble. Revnak. 1 . I went to my love one evening, on foot, treadmg softly. In sweet sleep lay the dear one. I embraced her softly, softly. 2. I took a kiss from her lips and refreshed my soul by it. I embraced her tender limbs, and kissed her once more, — softly, softly. 3. I said, give me a kiss, then. What, are you not ashamed, said she? Return whence you came, quickly, — treading softly, softly. 4. I was obstinate, and would not go. She seized my arm and pushed me out. At last, I saw no other chance, and sneaked off, — softly, softly. 5. I departed; could not endure separation, and 23 354 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. came back. Oh, merciless one, I implore thee, give me a kiss, — softly, softly. 6. Too genial to suit European taste. 7. Revnak says, as the whole world is full of jokes and sport, so let no one blame me, and read tliis softly, softly. Meshref, 1. My soul blazes in flame, yet my mistress comes not. What said I, — Mistress! The beloved of my heart comes not. 2. I am inwardly consumed for the love of this cypress-like beauty. She is so cruel. Into her thoughts I enter not. 3. I see m dreams her ringlets, and rise deeply saddened at noon. From this lock of her hair my heart separates not. 4. Medjnun and Leila, take a lesson from me in love ; my charming dear one heeds me not. 5. The hfe of foolish Meshref seems coming to its end, and the sad flirt heeds me not. FuzuLi. 1. Hold fast to the leading strings of modesty, for nothing is lovelier than modesty. Immodesty, mark this well, advances neither in this nor that world. 2 . Oh ! bird of my heart, flutter not in the air, but light on the hand of a king. The too high-flying hawk is never employed in the chase. LITERATUEE IN CENTRAL ASIA. 355 3. Desire treasure only from God; he has many storehouses. Should a drop only fall to thee for por- tion, this is amply sufficient : it ends not. 4. He, on whom the bird of happiness has rested, flies high, even without wings. He, on whom a dark lot has fallen, can scarcely raise his own hand. 5. Be always humble: strive to obtain a contrite spirit. He who suffers gold-hunger can never be sa- tisfied. 6. You, Fuzuli, live in this world only for friend- ship. Winter lives in unfriendly hearts ; ■ never can it be summer there. Nesimi. 1. Saturday. I met my cypress-like charmer, and she made me distracted. 2. Sunday. I was frantic, and a wanderer, and fell down senseless. I saw her face, and thought it was the shining moon. 3. Monday. At last I told her my heart-secret. Her eyes are like the narcissus, her cheeks resemble roses, her eyebrows are like a bow. 4. Tuesday. I became a huntsman, and went over the country (walked), yet I myself became the chased, and fell a sacrifice to the ever coy one. 5. Wednesday. My beauty walked in the fields; the nightingale saw her face and uttered wild cries. 6. Thursday. I said to my loved one: Hearken, 356 SICETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. then, to my advice: hide thy secret still from both good and bad. 7. Friday. At last Nesimi saw her beauty, and drank to satiety of the sherbet of her rosy lips. These, although through the poetic beauty of our European tastes they may not prove quite agreeable, give yet sufficient evidence that the inhabitants of Cen- tral Asia, apart from the roughness of their social rela- tions, despite their incessant wars and forays, are not unskilled in the expression of traits of poetic feeling and tender love. The higher classes, though they do not look on the popular poetry with contempt, still wish to show traces of refined taste, a higher educa- tion, and enjoy the works of the elder Persian poets, or the books of Nevai, who stepped forward as the first of the Tchagatay poets in that kmd of accomphsh- ment, by which all the rest of the poets of the Islamitish polite world acquired renown. Nevai is a scholar of the celebrated Sheikh Abdurrahman Djami, during many years minister, field marshal, and governor of many provmces. He is of rare genius in poetry, and of great fertility ; for he has produced more than thirty- two distmct works on poetry, history, morals, logic; and though his works are thoroughly Persian in spirit, and not pervaded with the spirit of Central Asia, yet the merit of having refined and ennobled the Turkish dialect of Central Asia cannot be taken from hmi. Here I give a few specimens. liteeatuke of centeal asia. 357 Nevai. 1. Oh! heart, come, let us seek out a love; the C3^press-growuig one, the silver-cheeked one, let us seek. 2. As the clarlmg of our eyes has looked for another friend, we also have eyes ; therefore, another let us seek. 3. She greets the glance of men only with the dust of death. Why stand longing here ? Another beauty let us seek. 4. Should I not find another like thee, who destroy- est all the world, then a lowly, modest, but tender one, I will seek. 5. We will hasten through field and plain for the loved one ; we will search garden and meadows. Her will we seek. 6. As the "svish is good, it shall not remain unful- filled. Among small and great, through all as far as possible, we wish to seek. 7. Oh ! Nevai, fi-om this passion jou. will never get freed. Come, therefore, before the meeting. Patience and perseverance let us seek. NevaIc 1. Absent fi-om the loved one, the heart is like a land without a king. A land without a king is like a body without a soul. 2. Oh! Mussulman, what service is a body without 358 SKETCHES or CENTRAL ASIA. a soul! It is like black earth, which has no sweet smelling roses. 3. Black earth, that has no sweet smelling roses, is like a dark nio-ht, that has no brio-ht moonbeams. 4. A dark night, that has no bright moon, is like darkness without a life-source. 5. A darkness, that has no life-source, is like a hell, which has no paradise-plains. 6. Oh! Nevai, as the loved give so much pain, it is certain, that absence has its pangs, and the return no aid. His Tchihardivan is beautiful, in which he celebrates the various ages of men, as also his adaptation of the well-known romances, Ferhad and Shirin, Medjnun and Leila, Yusuf and Zuleikha, &c. Also his versification of some stories out of the 1,001 Nio-hts. among which Prince Seif-ul-Muluk is the most successful. The fol- lowing will serve as a specimen of the latter. How Seif-ul-Muluk sets out from the toion of Tchin^ and journeys to the sea. 1. Come, tale-teller, let us hear the story of the ad- verse fate that befel the king's son? 2. The tale-teller replied, " That is hard to do; for the sword of sorrow cleaves the breast." 3. The prince had every thmg prepared for his de- parture, and first enquned about the town of Katme. 4. Satisfactory mformation was soon received; all his effects brought to the ship. LITEEATUEE IN CENTEAL ASIA. 359 5. The whole crew were on board, the officers stood prepared, and the army equipped. 6. Then the prmce betook hunself on board, and confided his person to the "god's de^dce " (the ship). 7. The pilots led the way, followed by an endless host of ships. 8. There sat the prince in sweet reverie, with smil- ing lips and a heart free from sorrow. 9. Six months he went across the sea, with pilot carefully watching his way. 10. Soon, Fate made him feel the sting of enyy, and mahciously opposed him. 11. The sea became moved and girded on the blood- tliirsty sword. 1 2 . She opened herself, and the deluge wildly burst forth, — a deluge on all sides of streams of fire. 13. Every moment she showed a fresh scene of horror — every instant makes a thousand souls tremble. 14. Wildly swelled the waves, and threatened with mighty floods : with blood-thirsty jaws rush and roar the waters of the sea. 15. Then dark fearful wmds arise — the horizon veils itself in pitchy darkness, and from the surface of the sea there sounds forth wild lamentation. 16. The day, bright with the sun, becomes a pitch- dark night. What a fearful day I It is the image of the day of judgment. 1 7 . Wherever thou lookest no man is visible, not even the hand before the eyes, — all, and over all, is water. 360 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 18. The salt waves toss and roll incessantly, and raise the ships with keels upward. 19. Ever does the mighty sea rage and roar and mount with fury from the deep abyss. 20. Wild cries of creatures break out together, you would think it was the day of Resurrection. 21. In frightful hurly-burly one ship runs into the other ; they split, and sink to the bottom of the sea. 22. The yards break, the planks fall in pieces, no possibility of escape. 23. Those hundred ships, said the tale-teller; that crew, those possessions, 24. All was wrecked on the sea coast, not a trace remained behind on the surface of the waters." Wide as the territory of Turkestan-Proper extends, so far does the literature of which we have tried to give a slight sketch in the foregoing pages. And the further we betake ourselves from the frontiers into the desert, so in like manner does Islam become weaker, and here commences the change from Mohamedan civilisation into the old Shamanism. Among the Kirghis, notwithstanding the greater part of them profess Islam, one meets here and there with a tale which was generated m the Khanats; this, however, is looked upon as an exotic plant, and never preferred to the native. The popular poetry that one finds among them forms the point of transition from the currents of ideas of one society into another. Indeed, only two days' distance from the borders of LITEEATURE IN CENTRAL ASIA. 361 the Yaxartes, or northward from the Sea of Aral, may a bakhshi prosper, provided he can give m the best fashion tales or narratives of a pnrely Kii'ghis cha- racter. The poetry of the wild inhabitants of the steppe is more strange and odd than pretty. Here and there a happy image occurs, at other times there are only broken exclamations and solitary verses with- out the smallest connection. Since each person is a poet, a tale cannot long preserve its origmality, either they add somethmg new to it or cast the whole off, and few people can keep themselves from annexhig to their songs the momentary influence of thefr fantasy. Of the love-lays of the Kirghis, Lewschme has intro- duced a short poem, not without charm, in his book, p. 380 :— " Dost thou see this snow? The body of my loved one is wliiter still." " Dost thou see the dropping blood of the slain, lamb? Her cheeks are redder still," " Dost thou see the trunk of this burnt tree? Her hair is blacker still." " Dost thou know with what the moUahs of our Khan write ? Her eyebrows are blacker than their mk." " Dost thou see these glowing embers ? Her eyes are brighter still." Another specimen which follows this consists of detached sentences without any comiection. " The hawk has pounced on the ducks — on a flight of ducks — on a great flight ! " 362 SICETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA, "I am very ill, and hardly ever think of eating," or "yonder is a tall pine-tree, the mist has fallen over it." " Yesterday she allowed me to enter her house. Formerly she would come herself and caress me." These more or less may be found among all purely popular tales of oriental people. There is even a trace of them in Hungarian, as for example, — " Three apples and a half, I invited thee, and thou earnest not," or "the crane flies high, singing beauti- fully, my loved one is angry, for she will not speak to me," &c. A considerable number of tales or narratives of hero deeds exists among nomadic tribes, partly in verse, partly in prose. In these the spirit of the lite- rature of the Turkish tribes of South Siberia is more promment than that of their Central Asiatic neigh- bours ; and I have heard many compositions of Kir- ghis Bakhshis, which I find with little variation and dialectic differences faithfully conveyed in the more recent work, — "Proofs of the Popular Literature of the Turkish tribes of South Siberia," by Dr. RadlofF. It leaves no doubt that as the learned A. SchiiFner, in the myths and tales of Dr. Radloff's collection, finds traces of a Buddhist influence, so many of the irtegi (tales) of the modern Kirghis have reached them from the further south, beyond Djungaria; for Islam, coming from the south-west, could take no firm root over ike Yaxartes, and now that the mighty waves of LITERATURE IN CENTRAL ASIA. 363 Russian power roll down from the north, will certainly prevail no further. This kind of hterature belonging rather to the Turks of South Siberia, we shall conclude our present sketch by a tale of the Kirghis, which be- longs to this httle horde, accordmg to European opinion, but according to inland appellation, to Mangishlak Kazagi, i.e.^ a Kirghis of Mangishlak. It is from the book of Bronislas Zaleski, who, as a Pohsh exile, dwelt nine years in the desert, and on his return, 1865, pub- lished mider the title of " La Yie des Steppes Kirghizes." Paris. Fol. 1865. The Tale of Kugaul.* Man is, in Heaven, helpless without God ; on earth, powerless without a horse. There was once a Kirghis, named Buruzgay. He had great numbers of sheep and horses, and nothmg was wanting to him if God had not denied him children. He was alone, consequently, in an advanced state of life. He said not his daily prayer (namaz), nor kept the enjoined feasts. One day, the sorrow of his childless condition overcame him, and he deter- mined to go to the Holy places, in the hope that his prayers might obtam for him a son. He forged for himself shoes of iron, and took a staff of iron in his hand, and so betook himself on his way. He travelled * I adopt the orthography of the original, although Kugaxil (himter) Bar- zagai (master lion) instead of Buruzgay would be preferable. 364 SKETCHES OF CENTEAL ASIA. and travelled ten years long, and probably more. So long, so long did he travel, until his iron shoes were quite worn out, and only the handle of his iron staff remaiaed. At last, he fell down on the ground, pros- trate. Great were his sufferings, for he could neither raise himself up nor die. Lo ! before him appeared a holy man, who perceived him lying on the earth, had compassion on him, bent over him and enquired what ailed him. Buruzgay could not utter a word. The holy man fell on his knees, recited his prayer, (namaz) and prayed the Almighty to loosen the- tongue of the unhappy man. Hardly had he done this, when Buruzgay began to feel his strength revive. He related his history, and on what grounds he had abandoned his aoul. The holy man withdrew a short distance, and contuiued in prayer untD. God said to him, " Thou art well pleasuig m my sight. I will accomplish thy wish. But why dost thou interest thyself m Buruzgay? He pays no impost, he says no prayer (namaz), he observes no fast. How shall I have compassion on him?" " Lord," said the holy man, " in time to come he will serve Thee devoutly, and will repeat his prayers ; only do not reject my mtreaties. Grant my prayer and take me for an hostage." Then God said, " Depart, faithful servant, thy prayers are granted. Enquire of Buruzgay what is his desire. Will he have forty sons and forty daughters, or only one son and one daughter especially approved by me." LITERATURE IN CENTRAL ASIA. 365 The holy man returned to Buruzgay. He found him quite restored, and on his knees; and he cried aloud with joy, " Oh, God, I have not lied to Thee : Buruzgay, before my return, had begun to perform his duty." He then told Buruzgay the words of God. "What shall I do with forty sons and forty daugh- ters? If the Almighty hear my prayers, he will give me one son and one daughter." The holy man blessed him, and conveyed back to the Lord his reply. Buruzgay found his iron shoes as though unworn, and betook himself to his aoul. Approaching it, he ap- peared to recognize his steppe and flocks. He viewed all with heartfelt joy. Slowly and slowly regainmg his recollection, he perceived that nothing had changed since his departure. He approached a shepherd, to enquire of him as to the owner of the herds. The shepherds did not recognise him, he had so fallen away, and become so changed through fasting and hardships, and his clothes were worn out. " What is our master to thee," enquired the shepherds, "go thy way." They went their way to their flocks. Buruz- gay waited until their return, and questioned them afresh. The shepherds drove him away as a poor beggar (baygouche), without wishing to speak to him, till at last he uttered his name. They immediately looked at him attentively, recognised him, and told him that his wife, whom he had left in the family way, was near her confinement, and they were expecting guests in the aoul. Then, without waiting for his 366 SKETCHES OF CENTEAL ASIA. reply, the shepherds ran off swifter than an arrow, and coming to Buruzgay's wife, demanded the suy- midji, (the customary gift for good news). They re- ceived it, and informed the wife of the arrival of her husband. She was highly delighted, and immediately afterwards Buruzgay entered. A few days after his arrival, his wife was delivered of two fine, strong children, — twins. One was a son, the other was a daughter. Buruzgay was beside himself with joy, and he kept constantly meditating on what names he should give these children, with whom God had re- joiced his old age. Whilst he was buried in thought, his former intercessor with Heaven, the holy man, came to him, and said, " Thou wilt name thy son Kugaul, and thy daughter Khanisbeg. And Buruzgay hearkened to the holy man, who immediately left him. The children grew, and were beautiful. Four years passed away. The twins began to learn shoot- ing, with little bows prepared for them. Kugaul easily learned to shoot, and ten years passed away. At thia time, it came to pass that a mighty Sultan gave a feast (Toy). During the banquet, he gave notice that he wished a lofty mast to be erected, with a piece of gold on the summit, and that whoever could pierce with his arrow the gold piece, should be the husband of his daughter. A host of competitors presented themselves. The mast was very high; they shot in. turns; none could pierce the gold piece, and the re- nowned archers of the Steppe missed their aim. At LITERATURE IN CENTRAL ASIA. 367 length, the last guest at the banquet missed also. The Sultan cried out, " are these all the young people that there are in the Steppe? Have none stayed away who will let fly an arrow for the hand of the Sultan's daughter?" " Only one remains," they replied, " Kugaul, son of Buruzgay ; but he is only a little boy ten years old." " That matters nothing," said the Sultan, "bring him here immediately." They went into the aoul to seek him. He appeared on a broken-Avinded horse, in old clothes, with a bow at his back. He had plenty of beautiful clothes, and good horses, for his father was rich, and denied him nothmg, but he wished, before the rich, to appear poor and humble. When the Sultan's wife saw him riding forward, she cried out immediate^, " This shall be my son-in-law, and none other among those present." Arrived at the mast, Kugaul would not immediately draw his bow. " You are many," said he ; "I am alone, and young ; and if I were to hit successfully, I might, perhaps, not then receive the hand of the Sultan's daughter. The Sultan assured him that he would give him his daughter, but only on the condition that he should shoot successfully. Kugaul prepared to pierce the gold piece. He took aim, bent his bow so powerfully, that his lean, miserable horse, sank beneath him. He struck him with his whip until he rose. Kugaul took aim again, stretched the cord afresh. This time the horse only bent the knee. The arrow went off and pierced 368 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. the centre of the golden piece. Kugaul, exhausted with the effort, dismounted, unsaddled his horse, lay down on the ground, and, rechnmg his head on the saddle, fell asleep. He slept there three days long in his miserable attire, httle as he was on a poor saddle. The Sultan had fully intended not to give his daughter to such a wretched-looking bemg. In vain Kugaul awaited the messengers. ISFo one came, and he thought of some means by which he could obtain his bride. Suddenly a woman aj)peared before him from the Sultan's household, and exj^lained to him fully the position of cu'cumstances. Kugaul said to her, " Re- turn to the Sultan, and tell him that I give hun until mid-day to-morrow for consideration. If he does not then give me his daughter, and forty laden camels, and forty carpets, I will kill him and exterminate his whole family." The woman took a fancy to Kugaul, imagining him to be a great warrior (batyr), returned quickly to the aoul of the Sultan, gave the Sultana an account of the meetmg, who rushed to her husband, saying, that Kugaul would become a great hero (batyr), and if he should not keep his word, he would draw on himself a disgrace darker than the earth. The Sultan's wife spoke many similar speeches, until at last her husband resolved to marry his daughter, and he gave Kugaul notice to that effect. Kugaul now attired him- self in splendid robes, mounted a magnificent courser, and presented himself to the Sultan. The marriage was celebrated, and after the accustomed wedding LITERATURE IN CENTRAL ASIA. 369 feast (toy) Kugaul conducted his young wife home, and returned to his father's aoul. Forty camels, laden with costly objects, and covered with forty carpets followed him. This was the dower of the bride. When he reached home, Kugaul' s wife lowered her veil, according to the custom of the Kirghis. But when they were in the presence of his father and mother, Kugaul lifted it for the first time. Hardly had his parents seen her countenance, when they pre- sented her gifts of horses and cattle. Then, because they had not guessed her favourite colours for animals, the daughter-in-law did not fall at their knees to thank them. The old Buruzgay was angry at this, and cried out, enraged, " What an animal is this maiden ! We have given her a host of presents and she will not humble herself before us, nor give us even the usual salute (selam)." She replied, "What are your pre- sents to me ? I do not require them. You have not given me the very best. Behind the house there is a chesnut mare, she sinks knee-deep in the sand; she alone suits me. For she will produce a stallion, which will save my Kugaul from many misfortunes, and be- come a true warrior's steed. Give me this mare, she is the most valuable, and I prefer her to all." " My daughter-m-law is, though young, prudent enough," said Buruzgay. This pleased him, he became recon- ciled to her, gave her the mare, and the young bride fell at the feet of her parents, and gave the usual greeting. A beautiful tent was erected near the old 24 370 SKETCHES OE CENTRAL ASIA. people, and the newly-married dwelt therein, and the Avife of Kugaul ordered her servants to attend to the chesnut mare as the apple of their eye. They then dug a deep recess, covered it with grass, and there the mare was protected and well fed. Durmg the night a fire was lighted around. Forty days passed and the mare brought forth a colt, a Kttle bay stallion. The servants ran immediately to ap- prise the lady, and demanded a reward for the joyful intelhgence. "Wait another forty days," she an- swered; "take great care of the stallion, give him plenty to eat and drink." The servants obeyed, and when the appointed time was passed they returned to their mistress, who informed them that from that moment they were all free, and could go where they wished. As for the young colt, a silk noose of forty fathoms was prepared, — they fed him on pure barley, milk, and kishmish (a kind of dry raisin), and he grew up with Kugaul. It happened at this time that the Khan (chief of the Kirghis) came on a visit to the old Buruzgay, and when he saw Khanisbeg and the wife of Kugaul they pleased him so much that he fell senseless to the ground. They brought him back to life, and prepared food for all. They all set to work to cut meat for mishbarmak (a Kirghis dish). The Khan did the same, but whilst his hands were occupied his eyes admu-ed the beautiful women. He became inflamed with a mighty passion, and could not turn his looks away from her face. So absorbed LITERATURE IN CENTRAL ASIA. 371 was he that he did not even remark, that instead of cutting meat he had cut his own finger, and did not discover this for some minutes. Aware of it, he be- came so ashamed that he could cut nothing,* and not to displease his host he made belief as though he were tasting the dishes. He took leave quickly, and re- turned home with a concealed longing in his heart. Hardly had he reached it when he gathered his friends and relatives together, and consulted with them on the means he should take to remove Kugaul, and become possessed of his wife and his sister. Every body said that he could not kill him, for he was far too great a hero. But they devised another plan; they resolved to send Kugaul against a hostile horde with the command to brmg the Khan, who was there ruling, alive or dead. This idea pleased the love-lorn Khan. People assured him that the envoy could not return under ten years, and it was mdeed very probable that he might perish. They sent for Kugaul immediately, and gave him the instructions. He returned home to his aoul and related to his wife the commands he had received. " Not on this account does he send thee," replied she, "I know the feelmgs of his heart. When he was here he was seized with a passionate longing for me and thy sister ; he will have us and send thee * This same episode occurs in the romance of Yusuf and Zuleikha, where Zuleikba's friends at the banquet are so astonished at the beauty of Yusuf that instead of paring the pomegranates before them they cut off the skin with their fingers. 372 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. away, so that thou mayest die; but thou hast thine horse, thou canst not fail, only return quickly." Kugaul departed, and only took with him his servants and his horse, and travelled over many steppes, until at last he reached the hostile border. Ten years, perhaps, more or less, he travelled, I do not know exactly. At last his horse stopped, Kugaul pressed him on, but the animal suddenly began to speak with a human voice. " Compel me not to advance further, we are near the enemy. Take off my bridle and saddle, I will go thither and see how many they are in number." Kugaul obeyed his horse, which began to roll on the ground, and by this means to increase his strength more than by the best food. Then he rose, shook himself, neighed, changed into a bird, and flew up into the clouds. Thus he flew for three days. At last he returned and said, " There are more ene- mies than hairs in my mane or tail. Consider well what thou dost. Wilt thou fight or return? " Kugaul was not terrified. He left his servants with the com- mand that they should await him on that spot. " If you hear of my fall," continued he, "bear the news to my wife and my mother." He then offered an earnest prayer to God for help, and departed. The enemy surrounded him, but he permitted not himself to be conquered. His horse was a great help to him, for hardly did one of the enemy take aim at him with his gun than he changed into an eagle and flew far away with Kugaul towards the heaven. If he were threatened LITERATURE IN CENTRAL ASIA. 373 with an arrow, the horse changed into a sparrow and disappeared among the grass like a small ball. Kugaul fought thus many days and at last slew and exter- minated all the men of this race, carried oiF the women, children, cattle, and possessions with him, brought them to the place where he had left his servants, commanded them to convey the booty home, and he himself rode forward on his faithful steed. On and on he journeyed for a long time. One evening, however, his horse would go no further, did nothing, and stood petrified. Kugaul dismounted and lay down to sleep. Towards the morning he awoke, approached his horse, and perceived that he was shedding bitter tears. " What dost thou ail, my good horse," inquired Kugaul, "why dost thou weep?" " Alas, why should I not weep ! " answered the horse. " this is the spot where once I trotted in my silken halter. Here was also our aoul, and now there is not a trace remaining of it, all is destroyed." And he began again to weep. " Take off my saddle and bridle, let me take rest, and so recruit my strength, and I will make enquiry as to the doer of all this, and discover thy enemy." Kugaul took the saddle and bridle off the horse ; he began to roll afresh ; and when he had regained strength he raised his head, took a deep breath with his power- ful nostrils. He bounded, changed into a bird, and flew up into the air. He flew three days, without, however, discovering anything, and was already on the 374 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. point of returning, when, on the opposite side, he dis- covered the aouls of the Khan. Hither he directed his course; flew over the tents and flocks, and saw everything. No one guessed that the bird was Kugaul's horse, only the wife of the hero (Batyr) had a pre- sentiment that some one was commg to her, and nigh at hand, which idea she communicated to her sister. The bird returned to Kugaul, related what he had seen, that the Khan had carried ofi" his Avife and sister, taken his flocks, compelled his father to collect tezek (a fuel made of manure), his mother to tend the sheep. The horse began to weep afresh. Kugaul prayed God to come to his assistance, so that he might punish his insulting foe. He then commanded the horse to con- vey him forthwith to his mother. He departed, and soon foiuid her in the steppe, occupied in tending the sheep. He threw himself into her arms. "Why dost thou thus embrace me?" said the good old woman; " can it be that thou art my son?" " If I am not thy son, am I not worth as much as he?" "Oh, no; none in the steppe is worth as much as my son." " Have you no news of him?" " I do not know where he is. The Khan has despatched him against a hostile people ; smce that time I have never heard talk of him. Only, to-day it appears to me that I heard the noise of his horse's Avings ; but I do not know whether it was reality or a trick of Satan." " And is it long smce thy Kugaul departed ? " " Yes, yes ; a long, long, very long time." " But I am Kugaul himself. Dost thou not recognise LITEEATURE IN CENTRAL ASIA 375 me ?" The old woman looked at him. miore attentively, and she did not recognise him, and said : " No, thou art not Kugaul ; but if thou art his companion, or if thou knowest anythuig of him, then speak. But do not deceive me — do not torment me." " I am Kugaul," cried the son. " It was my horse that flew over thy head this day." But the old woman was still incre- dulous. He asked her if Kugaul had no birth-mark, and she replied, that he had a black spot on his shoulder, big as a hand. He then asked his mother to rub his shoulder (a common habit among the Ku^ghis). " But," the old woman replied, " the sheep will run about m all directions, and the Khan will beat me ; for he often beats me. Go, then, and let me manage my flocks." But he msisted and pressed, and said, that if they wished to beat her, he would protect her. At last the old woman consented. She took off the khalat (upper garment) and the shirt, and proceeded to rub his shoulders. She perceived the black spot large as a man's hand, threw herself on the neck of the young man, and cried out, " Thou art Kugaul, thou art my Kugaul ;" and she wept for joy. " Did you not, then, recognise me, mother ?" said Kugaul. "Is it, then, so long a time that I have been? And you, my poor dear mother, how altered you are ! You have grown old and grey, and your eyes are red with tears." And he embraced her, weeping. " I knew not my child," replied his mother; "how long you have been absent! But the Khan has attacked our aoul, carried off thy wife and 376 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. sister, and all our eiFects, and reduced thy father and myself to be his slaves. I have been constantly ex- pecting thee; but I have lost all memory: I cannot tell how long a time has passed. I know only that it is a long time, a very long time, that thou hast left us." "Be tranquil, mother," said Kugaul; " the evil days are terminating, and all begins anew to go right. God will aid me. Return to the aoul ; hasten to get in thy sheep, without paying attention that it is yet early. If any one inquires about me, say that I am not far off; but not a word more." He took leave of her, and went his way. The old woman returned to the aoul, but she did not walk as usual, — she ran; she, who could hardly before catch a lamb, now chased three or four at once, — so much had her strength im- proved. The Khan remarked it, and said to those aromid him: " That old wife of Buruzgay must have received intelligence of her son." He approached her, and questioned her about her son. " He is here, — he is come," replied the old mother. " You will not be able henceforth to make me suffer any more." She spoke boldly ; for her interview with her son had filled her heart with j oy and hope . The Khan turned pale with fright, and soon he perceived Kugaul, who, mounted on his celebrated steed, advanced to him. Kugaul stopped at some distance, tlien spoke, without descend- ing from his horse. " You have deceived me, you wished to get rid of me, to carry off my wife and sister. I thought that you acted loyally mth me, and LITEEATUEE IN CENTEAL ASIA. 377 went out at thy bidding as a true man. But thou art only a hound, a perjured miscreant, a robber. We must reckon. But what shall I gain by thy sohtary death. They would say, that Kugaul, the Batyr, has only killed the Khan. Gather, then, thy army together." And the Khan begged of him to grant him three days to assemble his people. Kugaul consented, and departed. The Khan sent his orders into all the aouls of his horde, and drew together a large armament of his people around him. Kugaul prayed meanwhile to God. At the day appointed he came, and said : " You are my Khan; I will not shoot first at you, — you begin." The Khan shot : missed his aim. " I will not yet shoot at thee," said Kugaul ; "gather together thy best marksmen, and command them to shoot agamst me; if they do not hit me, then I will shoot." The best marksmen of the Khan stepped out of the ranks, and shot. Each shot an arrow at Kugaul, but his horse transformed himself into an eagle, then into a lark; protected him against all the shots, by raising himself up in the clouds — and against all the arrows, by crouch- ing down in the grass of the steppe. They could not hit him. Three days Kugaul permitted them thus to shoot against him. On the fourth, he said to the Khan : "Well, since you are my master, you have shot against me, — you and your servants, for three days. Now comes my turn." " Do what you like," said the Khan. Kugaul placed the best hunter, and then two archers, and the Khan himself in a line behind them. 378 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. He placed himself opposite to them, and, turning to his horse, said: "My true steed, rest firm now, and change not thy position, m order that I may, with a smgle arrow, kill all four." The horse stayed still as a stone. Kuo-aul drew the strmo- with all his miffht : O O o the arrow went through huntsman, archers, and the Khan himself. When the people saw that the Khan was dead, they ran away on all sides. Kugaul followed them. He reached, on horseback, now this one, then that one, from the height of the clouds ; and all that he struck, died. At last he gave over his work of extermination. He returned to his aoul, found there his parents, his wife, and sister, and seized on the pos- sessions of the Khan. Among the women and children that the servants brought in, there was the daughter of the Khan. Kugaul took her for his second wife. He married his sister, Khanisbek, to a very rich Khan of a neighbouring tribe, and he himself became also Khan. So ends the story. The old people say (added Mour- zakay) that all this is the exact truth, and that all the events happened in the steppes. I did not see them; but we must believe what the old people tell us. CHAPTER XIX. RIVALKY BETWEEN RUSSIA AND ENGLAND IN CENTRAL ASIA. It is three years ago since, in the closuig chapter of my Travels in Central Asia, I expressed my surprise and dissatisfaction at the indiiFerence of Englishmen towards Russian progress in those regions. I then indicated not only the exact course of Russian pro- cedure on the Yaxartes, but also its steadily approach- mg influence on British India. Abstainmg purposely from all far-reaching political reflections, I was as brief and concise as possible, and could hardly have beheved that the unassuming remarks of a European, just returned home from Asia, would be found worthy of closer consideration. Nevertheless, these few luies were discussed and dwelt upon by almost every organ of the English and Indian press, from the Times to the Bengal Hirhdru. Only a very small proportion of those various journals attached itself in any measure to my ideas; the most of them, on the contrary, re- jected my good counsel; and without directly ridicul- ing my judgment, raised from all sides a loud-sound- ing Hosannah over the happy change in English poll- 380 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. ticians, who, being less short-sighted now than they were thirty years back, discovered in the advance of the Russians only a disagreeable event; nay, would even regard it with pleasure, and cry success to their march southward over the snow-capped peaks of the Hindu- Kush and the Himalayas. In these three years, however, a great change has taken place. Far though I be from wishing as an ex-dervish to exult over the fulfilment of my pro- phecies, still I cannot help referring to the lines in which I happened to proclaim the progress of the Russian arms. While I was in Central Asia the furthest out-posts of the Cossacks lay at Kale-Rehim, thu'ty-two miles from Tashkend. Forts 1, 2, and 3, on the Yaxartes, if actually conquered, were not yet wholly in safe keepmg. On the north of Khokand, too, — on the west of the Issikkol and the Narin, the Court of St. Petersburg could show but few tokens of success. The Kirghis were embittered and hostile to the strange intruders, and the CEzbeg tribes on the northern frontier of Khokand would then have deemed a Russian occupation equivalent to the destruction of the world ; so much did they hate and scout the Un- behevers. Three years have passed, and what has happened in that time? Not only has Khodja-Ahmed- Yesevi, that holiest patron of the Kirghis, become a Russian subject in Hazreti- Turkestan; not only has Tashkend, the most important trading town, the great mart of Central- Asiatic and Chinese trade with Russia, KIVALRY BETWEEN RUSSIA AND ENGLAND. 381 been absorbed into the northern Colossus; not only- does the Russian flag wave from the citadel of Khod- jend, the second town of importance in Khokand; it may now be also seen on the small fortress of Zamin, Oratepa, and Djissag. The dreaded Russ has set himself up as lord-protector in the eastern Khanat of Turkestan : the Hazret, the Khan, as also the Hazret or High Priest of Namengan, strive for the favour of one who, but a year before, would have filled their verjT- dreams with mortal terror. Nay, not Khokand only, but the Tadjik population also throughout Bok- hara and Khiva, the great number of freedmen and slaves in service, and even the wealthier merchants from Mooltan and other parts of India, who once trembled before the (Ezbeg power, now whisper de- lightedly into each other's ears that the Russians are slowly drawing nearer, and that Q^zbeg lordship and (Ezbeg absolutism are coming to an end. For three years have these metamorphoses in the oasis-countries of Turkestan been carried on with sure and steady hand from the banks of the Neva. As an erewhile traveller, for whom those spots had been full of interest fi'om my youth up, I had already kept, albeit from a distance, a watchful eye on all that went on amidst the plains of the Yaxartes. I devoured alike the newspaper reports and the scanty notices which my fellow pilgrims from Turkestan commu- nicated to me through their westward journeying brethren. That I took a hearty interest in every- 382 SKETCHES OF CENTEAL ASIA. thing will surprise no one, little as the utterances of the English press and the writings of British Indian diplomatists during these occurrences claimed my full attention. To the prophecies of the Dervish neither the one party nor the other gave a thought. The note of satisfaction struck three years before was kej)t up without a break. People were no longer content with the bare assertion, that Russian progress in Central Asia was a thing to welcome, but tried their utmost to show convincing grounds for that assertion, in order to represent the success of the Muscovite arms as tending more and more profitably for English interests. To solve this problem the more happily, to convince all thoughtful Englishmen the more unanswerably of the profit to be gained from Russian successes, the question was debated by a light which was sure to be equally welcome to all the different classes. The scientific world was informed by the learned Pre- sident of the Royal Geographical Society touchmg the excellent service rendered to science at large by the trigonometrical, geographical, and geological societies of Russia. Russian voyages of discovery were exalted above everythmg; Russian scholars were deified; nay, it was only lately that even Vice- Admiral Butakoff was presented with the large gold medal for his dis- coveries on the Sea of Aral. Social Reformers, on the contrary, were taught to compare Tartar savagery with Russian civilisation. The picture which I my- RIVALRY BETWEEN RUSSIA AND ENGLAND. 383 self drew of Central Asia was contrasted with the young Russia of to-day: the emancipation of slaves, the Russian endeavours after national enlightenment, the great change m manners, the mighty strides by which Russia was approaching England in civilised ideas, were all brought into the foreground ; and in every thread of this tissue was expression given to the great usefulness of Russian supremacy in Asia. The trading world was shown the advantage which must accrue from safe means of communication, now that Russian arms are on the point of smoothing a way through the mhospitable steppes of Turkestan towards India. Some journals, indeed, were carried so far away by their zeal as to pomt out to the honest workmen of Birmmg- ham, Sheffield, Manchester, &c., that only English wares and English capital would travel to and fro along the new Russian commercial road to Central Asia. Even the military class had a friendly word whispered into its ear. To the sons of Mars it was needful to represent a Russian invasion of India as a ridiculous bugbear. From every stand-point, moral, physical, strategical, was such an attempt proved to be an impossibility. How, mdeed, could Russia over- come the enormous difficulties of those parched steppes that stretched week after week before her ; how master the warlike Afghans, or win through the dreaded Khyber Pass? And even if she succeeded in that also, how roughly would she not be handled by the British Lion, who would lie waiting leisurely for her 384 SKETCHES OF CENTEAL ASIA. in his luxurious palankeen ? Nay, even to the Church, that mightiest of English levers, should a lullaby be chanted forth. People huited at a happy union be- tween the Orthodox Church of Russia and that of England. Dr. Norman Macleod is an authority; and his cry, " The Greek Church is not yet lost," has aroused the hopes of many; and very learned church dio;nitaries have looked forward with blissful smiles to the moment when the three-fold Greek Cross shall rise from the Neva up to the proud dome of St. Paul's in London, for the kiss of brotherhood, and the two united churches shall become a powerful weapon against Papal ideas. Independent pamphlets and thunderiag newspaper articles alternated on the field of this question with the expositions above-named. The warning voice of a small minority could not succeed in making head against the Optimists, agauist those apostles of the new pohtical doctrine. Sir Henry Rawlmson, whose perfect conversance with the circumstances of that region no one can dispute, a man whose practical ex- perience is at one with his theoretic msight, has here and there m the Quarterly Review pointed out the errors of such sjDeculations in sohdly written essays; and though, as doubtmg any ultimate design of Russia upon India, he protested agamst aU actual in- terference, merely blaming the indifference above- mentioned; stni his words passed unheeded of the multitude. I might well say to myself that where RIVALRY BETWEEN RUSSIA AND ENGLAND. 385 such an authority carries no weight, my present words could but travel a very short way. I was therefore slow to speak; and yet, as I had studied this mo- mentous question in all its aspects, and exammed it from many sides with impartial eyes, I deemed it pos- sible to show, not only to the statesmen of England, but to those of all Europe, how fatally the Cabinet of St. James errs in its way of looking at the matter; and how this cherished indifference is not only hurtful to English interests, but becomes a deadly weapon wherewith Great Britain commits a suicide unheard of in history. How it happens that I, who by race am neither Enghsh nor Russian, have taken so warm an interest in this matter, is mainly accounted for by the fact of my regarding the colhsion of these two Colossi in Asia less from the stand-point of their mutual rivalry, than from that of the interests of Europe at large. Whether England or Russia get the advantage, which of the two will become chief arbiter of the old world's destmies, can never be to us an indifferent matter; for widely as these two powers differ from each other in their character as channels of Western civilisation, not less widely do they diverge from one another in any future reckoning up of the issues of their struggle. A passing glance, on the one hand, at the Tartars, who have hved for two hundred years under Russian rule ; on the other, at the millions of British subjects m India, might teach us a useful lesson from the past on 25 386 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. this point. This, however, may be reserved for later investigation. For the present we will only affirm that the question of a rivalry between these two North European powers in Central Asia concerns not only Englishmen and Eussians, but every European as well ; nay, more, it deserves to be studied with interest by every thoughtful person of our century.* 1. Russian Conquests in Centeal Asia during THE last three YEARS. First of all we will recount the historical facts of the Russian war of conquest during the last three years. Instead of goiag into those details about the campaigns of Perovski, Tchernaieff, and Romanovski, which were recorded partly in Mitchell's book, " The Russians in Central Asia," partly in several solid treatises in the Quarterly and the Edinburgh Review^ or into the slender notices which have trickled out into pubhcity from the Russian State- Cabinets, or those yet scantier notices which were revealed by highly-paid Enghsh spies in Central Asia, we would cast only a hurried glance at events, in order to ac- quaint the reader with the latest posture of Russian arms in Central Asia. * tip to tliis moment tlie Revue des Deux Mondes, alone of aU the Con- tinental press, has brought out two special articles on Central Asia. The first, without any acknowledged leaning, points out the critical conditions of the approaching conflict ; the second, imbued with a Russian spirit, keeps time to the song of the English optimists ; for doing which I would not blame the writer, had he not cited several passages from my book as his own property. EIVALRY BETWEEN RUSSIA AND ENGLAND. 387 So successfully had the Russian operations been started in Central Asia, that after a brilliant over- throw of the Kirghis, they entered first on the con- quest of Khokand, in order to gain firm- foothold in the three Khanats. In those eastern parts of the three oasis- countries of Turkestan the social order has ahvays been relatively least, the religious culture weakest, and the antipathy to warlike enterprises most strong. These were accompanied by internal dis- orders, for while the Khodjas through their inroads into Chinese territory on the east of the Khanat were always encountering the risk of a collision with China, which in bygone centuries did sometimes ensue, the greedy Ameers of Bokhara from the west have con- tinually laid the country waste with their wanton lust of conquest. Before the capture of Ak-Meshdjid the nearing columns of the mighty Russ on the north had but little place in the bazaar-talk of Namengan and Khokand. At the time of the miscarriage of Perovski's expedition Mehemed Ali Khan was seated on the throne. He was beloved and honoured, and the dazzled masses were much too wantmg in ideas of conquest, to think seriously of self-defence against the threatening foe on the north, or of Conolly's pro- jected alliance with Khiva. Not till after the death of Mehemed Ali ensued the fall of Ak-Meshdjid, the first serious wound in the Khanat's existence; and the Russian success was all the easier, because at that time their fighting powers were crippled, on one side 388 SKETCHES OF CENTKAL ASIA. by the fierce conflict between Kirghis and Kiptchaks in the interior of the Khanat, and by the first attempt of Veh- Khan- Tore ao-ainst Kashsrar on the other. The storming columns of the Russians agamst the Khokandian fastnesses on either shore of the Yaxartes leave no cause to complain of cowardice, although the thousands of Khokandian warriors mentioned in the Russian accounts seem to rest on an over-keen eye- sight. After the capture of the last-named place, or, to speak more correctly, after a systematic restoration of the chain of fortresses along the Yaxartes, on whose waters the steamers of the Aral flotilla could now move freely about, the Russian power advanced with strides as gigantic as those with which Khokand, through the continuous working of the causes above- mentioned, continually fell away. The line of forts ofiered not only security against Turkestan, but was also a powerful bulwark against the Kirghis, who, being at length surrounded on all sides, could not so easily raise into the saddle an IsJied* as the last anti- Russian chief styled himself during the Crimean War. Thenceforth the work of occupation was pursued by the court of St. Petersburg with its wonted energy; and not till both the army corps, which were operating from the Chinese frontier to the Issik-kol, from the Sea of Aral along the Yaxartes, had drawn together * Ished, wliicli tlie Russians wrongly pronounce Iset, is a usual contrac- tion of " Eisli Mehemmed," wliicli signifies " Mohammed's delight." RIVALEY BETWEEN RUSSIA AND ENGLAND. 389 southwards from the north-east and the north-west at Auha Ata, {Holy Father^ an ancient place of pil- grimage,) did Russian diplomacy deem it necessary to announce, in a despatch signed by Prmce Gort- shakofF on the 21st November, 1864, that the go- vernment of the Tzar had at length obtained its long- cherished desire to remove the boundary Ime of its possessions from the ill-defined region of the Sandy Desert to the inhabited portion of Turkestan; that the policy of aggression was now at an end, and that its one single aim in the future would be to demonstrate to the neighbouring Tartar states, with regard to then' independence, that Russia was far from being their foe, or mdulging m ideas of conquest, &c. &c. That no Cabinet save the English placed any more faith in such assurances than the Russian Minister himself, it is easy enough to imagine. The tale of ever-recurring conquests from vanquished states has long been notorious. We have instances thereof in every page of the world's history, in every age in which some power has set about enlarging itself. Just as the English are vainly apologising for Lord Dal- housie's thirst for annexation, or absorption in India, so are all Russian notes composed in a strain of over- flowmg politeness. It is only the natural course of things; and the court of St. Petersburg was right, could not indeed do otherwise, after settmg up a government in Turkestan, than follow the southern course of the Yaxartes ; and as the waste steppe 390 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. formed at the first no defensible frontier, neither could the thmly-peopled neighbourhood of Tchemkend and Hazret furnish a better one. There was need of a well-inhabited region, to provide agamst being de- pendent merely on the means of communication from Orenburg and Semipalatinsk. Therefore was Tash- kend, rich and fertile Tashkend, doomed to incorpora- tion in Russian territory. It would be a profitless waste of time to quote as the maui cause of the Russian occupation of the last- named town, on the 25th June, 1865, the movuig history of the petition of the Tashkend merchants, of the numerous deputation that came beseechiagiy to the Russian camp, to obtain the shelter of the two- headed Eagle, whom the Central Asiatics call the ajder-kite^ a bird not greatly beloved of yore. Tash- kend, which fi'om time immemorial, lived at feud with the masters of Khokand, was latterly very much en- raged, because its darhng Khudayar was twice driven from his throne. To endamage the dommant m- fluence of theKliirgis by means of Russian supremacy, was for it a welcome idea; but it is not at all likely that the supremacy itself should have been generally desired. Russia has absorbed Tashkend, because she deemed it indispensable as a firm base for further operations; not, however, with a view to erecting therewith a bul- wark against possessions already secui-ed. Still it was through Tashkend that the court of St. Petersburg EIVALRY BETWEEN RUSSIA AND ENGLAND. 391 had embroiled itself in hostilities with the Khanat of Bokhara. The Ameer, as we know, had earned for himself, through his campaign of 1863, the nommal right of suzerainty over the western part of Turkestan ; and though after his departure everything fell back into the old rut of Kiptchak lawlessness and party war- fare, he still thought to make good his right over all Khokand. He therefore wrote the commandant of the newly- conquered town a threatening letter, in which he summoned him to vacate the fortress. This, how- ever, gave small concern to the Russian general ; and, hearing that Colonel Struve, the famous astronomer, whom he had sent to Bokhara for a friendly settle- ment of the affair, had been forthwith taken prisoner, he burst forth on the 30th January, crossed the Yax- artes at Tashkend with fourteen companies of foot, six squadrons of Cossacks, and sixteen guns, with the pur- pose of gomg straight into Bokhara and punishing the Ameer for the violation of his envoy. This design, however, miscarried. The Russians had to retire, but did so in perfect order; and though countless hosts of Bokharians swarmed round them on every side, yet their loss was too insignificant to accord with the bombastic tales of triumph which the Bok- harians thereon trumpeted through all Islam, and which even found their way to us through the Levantine press. General Tchernaieff had excused himself on the plea that his hasty advance was intended merely to bafSe the movements of secret Enghsh emissaries, 392 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. who were striving with all possible zeal after an Anglo- Bokharian alhance, and were also the main cause of his envoy, Colonel Struve's imprisonment. In Peters- burg, however, they could not pardon his mihtary failure : he was displaced from his high command, and General Romanofski went out in his stead. The latter moved forward with slow but all the more cautious steps. On the 12th April a flock of fifteen thousand sheep, escorted by four thousand Bokharian horsemen, was made prize of; and a month afterwards there en- sued, in the neighbourhood of Tchinaz, a fierce fight, called the battle of Irdshar, in which the Tartars were utterly beaten. On the 25th May fell the small fort of Nau ; and afterwards Khodshend, the third town in the Khanat of Khokand, was taken by storm ; but not without a hard fight, in which the Russians left on the field a hundred and thirty-three killed and wounded, the Tartars certauily ten times that number. The battle, however, was well worth the cost, for the forti- fications of this place were better than those of Tash- kend or of any other town in the Khanat. This was the second resting-point for the 'Russian arms on their march southward; and though the "Russian Invahd," in an official report concerning further projects, affirms that the conquest of that part of Bokhara which is severed from the rest of their possessions by the steppes could never become the goal of Russian operations, while for the present it would be entirely profitless, yet progress has already been made over Oratepe, KIVALRY BETWEEN RUSSIA AND ENGLAND. 398 tlirougli the small districts of Djam and Yamin, as far as Djissag ; whilst everywhere important garrisons have been left behind. What has happened in the Khanat of Khokand itself during this triumphal march of the Russians, is a point no less worthy of our attention. The inhabitants, con- sisting of nomads, — rCEzbeg, and Tadjik or Sart, — were as much divided in their Russian likings and dislikes, as they were different from each other m race, condi- tion, and pursuits. The warlil?:e, powerful, and widely- courted Kiptchaks, being ancient foes of the oft- en- croaching Bokharians, who wanted to force upon them the hated Khudayar- Khan, immediately sided with the Russians. Their friendship was for these latter an important acquisition; and the friendly movement must have ah^eady begun, when the north-eastern army- corps came in contact with them in its forward struggle from Issikkol; for if this had not been the case, the Russian advance on that line would cer- tauily have been purchased at heavier cost. The CEzbegs, as being de jwe the dominant race, had defended themselves as well as they could; yet with their well-known lack of courage, firmness, and endurance, they had but small success ; and when they began to reflect that Russian rule would probably be no worse a misfortune than the incessant war with Bokhara, or their internal disorders, they prepared to accommodate themselves to inevitable fate. Only a 394 SKETCHES OF CENTEAL ASIA. few angry Ishans and Mollahs maintained an unfounded dread of Bokhara; the descendants, for example, of KhodjaAhmed Yeseviin Hazreti- Turkestan, who, how- ever, in all likelihood will soon go back to the bones of then' sacred forefathers, as the Russians assuredly will not hinder them from collecting pious alms among their pilgrims. Moreover, to the wealthier merchants of Tashkend, to the Sarts and Tadjiks, and a small number of Persian slaves, the Russian occupation seemed welcome and advantageous; for whilst the former expected considerable profit fr^om the admis- sion of their native town into the Russian customs- circle, the latter hope to be rescued from their oppressed condition through the downfall of OEzbeg ascendancy. As we may see from the correspondence addressed by General Krishanofski to a Moscow journal, it was these very Sarts who gave the Russians most help. Their Aksakals, not those of the OEzbegs, were the first to accept office under the Russians. In public places they always appear by the side of the Russian officers, harangue the people, and while Russian churches were getting built, spread about a report that His Majesty, having been converted by a vision in the night to Islam, was on the point of makmg a pilgrimage to Hazreti- Turkes- tan. From the length of their commercial intercourse with Russia, many of the Tadjiks, especially the Tash- kenders, are skilled in writing and speakmg Russian; they serve as interpreters and middle-men, and as EIVALRY BETWEEN RUSSIA AND ENGLAND. 395 many of them reach the highest places in the melikeme (courts of justice) and other posts, the mam motive of their adherence is easy to apprehend. So far has it fared with the main line of operations in the Khanat of Khokand. On adjacent pomts like- wise, both eastern and western, has the work of trans- formation stealthily begmi. From Chinese Tartary we learn, that ever since 1864 the Chinese garrisons have been expelled, and replaced by a national govern- ment. First came disorders among the Tunganis, presently followed by the deliverance of Khoten, Yar- kand, Aksoo, and Kashgar; and although these dis- orders may have been caused at bottom by the tradi- tional dehght of the Khokandie Khodjas in free plunder- ing, still many of us are positively assured that the court of St. Petersburg countenanced all those revolu- tionary movements ; aye, and that the Kiptchaks, who are now masters of Kashgar, were helped to wm it by Russian arms. Such is the usual prelude to Rus- sian mterference. For a time these independent towns are permitted to carry on feuds and warfare against each other; but it is easy to foresee that their enmity will come to appear dangerous to the peace of the yet distant Russian fr'ontier; and if haply the court of Pekin be in no hurry to restore order, the Russians are very certain to forestal it on that poiut ere long. The English press comforts itself with remarking, that the insuperable barrier of the Kuen-Lun mountams renders further progress towards Kashmir impossible ; 396 SKETCHES OE CENTRAL ASIA. and that this Russian diversion is only for the good of Central- Asiatic trade. For the moment, however, we will put aside the discussion of this question, preferring to glance at that part of Central Asia which inchnes westward from Khokand. Albeit engaged in war mth Bokhara, Russia has hitherto made no attack on the real territory of that State, for Djissag is the law- ful boundary between the former and Khokand. About this well-known seat of the struggle with Bokhara, there is only a diplomatic skirmish, which still goes on, under whose cover the revolution of Shehr-i-Sebz holds its ground. For, even if the Russian press denies for the thousandth time all interference, yet the appearance of the Aksakal of Shehr-i-Sebz m Tash- kend cannot be regarded as unimportant. It is, at any rate, noticeable with reference to the Russian plans in Khiva. The settled portion of the Khanat proper has not yet been touched by Russian influence, and only in the north, since the destruction of the fortress of Khodja-Niyaz, on the Yaxartes, have some Cossack and Karakalpak hordes, skirting the eastern shore of the Sea of Aral, been converted into Russian subjects. 2. Russia's Future Policy. Our sketch of Russian progress in Central Asia fur- nishes its own evidence of the way in which the pohcy of the court of St. Petersburg will follow out its pur- pose in the immediate future. RIVALRY BETWEEN RUSSIA AND ENGLAND. 397 The most southern, therefore the most advanced, outposts rest on Djissag. This word, in Central Asiatic, means a hot, burning spot, and its position m the deep, cauldron-hke valley of the Ak-Tau hills en- tirely justifies the name. Owing to its utterly un- wholesome climate, and the great want of water, the population of this station on the way to Khokand is but very small; and that the Russians have selected it for a more abiding resting-place, I cannot beheve, in spite of the aforenamed asseverations of the " Rus- sian Invahd," and in spite of the contrary opinion of the learned writer of the article. Central Asia, in the " Quarterly Review." Not only is it an unhealthy and barely tenable post; but a lengthened stay here must also be acknowledged as most impohtic. The gentlemen on the banks of the Neva know well what Bokhara is in the eyes of all Central Asia, I might even say of all Mohamedans. They know that on the Zerefshan may be sought the special fount of reli- gious ideas and modes of thought, not only for the mass of Central Asiatics, but for Indians, Afghans, Nogay Tartars, and other fanatics. In order to achieve a grand stroke, the Ameer, who styles himself Prince of of all true believers, must be made to recognise the supremacy of the white Tzar ; the holy and honoured Bokhara, where the air exhales the aromatic fragrance of the Fatiha and readmgs from the Koran, must learn to reverence the might of the black unbehevers ; and the crowd of crazy fanatics, of rehgious enthusiasts, 398 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. must acknowledo;e that the influence of the samts who rest in her soil is not strong enough to blunt the point of the Russian bayonet. The fall of Bokhara will be a fearful example for the whole Islamite world; the dust of her ruins will penetrate the farthest distance, like a mighty waming-cry. For this must the court of St. Petersburg assuredly be striving, and ready to strive. From this stand-pomt it is therefore most probable that the greatest attention will henceforth be paid to the line of operations from Tashkend, Khodjend, and Samarkand. The conquest of the whole Khanat of Khokand may also follow in time, for that offers no special difficulties; but the chief mterest lies in the maintenance and security of the roads of communica- tion, on which the advancing army, in concert with the strong garrisons in the now well-fortified Tash- kend and the northern forts, as also with the govern- ments of Orenburg and Semipalatinsk, will move along a road furnished with an unbroken Hne of wells. The Ameer may have recourse to all possible means of gain- ing the friendship of the Russians, in which he has hitherto failed ; he may send to Constantinople as many Job's messengers as he will; he may despatch ever so many friendly invitations to the Durbar of the Indian Viceroy : but all that wiU do him no good. The town of Bokhara shall, with or without his leave, be governed by an Ispravnik ; for the Russians dare not and cannot rest, until ancient Samarkand and Nakhsheb (Karshi), RIVALRY BETWEEN RUSSIA AND ENGLAND. 399 or the whole right bank of the Oxus has been absorbed into the gigantic possessions of the House of Romanojff. That this catastrophe, this last hour of Transoxanian independence, will not be brought about so easily as the heretofore successes m Central Asia, is manifest enough. Already in my mind's eye do I behold a frantic troop of Mollahs and Ishans, with thousands of students, roammg the Khanats with holy rage, in order to preach the Djihad (religious war) among the Af- ghans, Turkomans, Karakalpaks; and gomg through scenes of the deepest, the devoutest anguish, in order to draw down the curse of God on the foreign intruder. The death-struggle will be fierce but profitless. So far as I know the Khivans and the Afghans, I deem the notion of a general alhance with Bokhara to be quite impracticable ; for, if such was their inclination, they should have formed one long ago. No egotism, no pohtical combinations, but the greatest want of prmciple alone, an utter recklessness of the future, will keep them quiet until Hamiibal stands before their gates. In vain shall we look for any efibrt after a general league, either in Central Asia, or even among any of the other Eastern nations. As the very war- hke Afghans could play their part with a force of dis- ciplined auxiharies, so also might the Khan of Khiva join the Ameer's army with twenty to thirty thousand horse. Yet this is what neither the one nor the other will do. To unite them under one command might be possible for a Timur or a Djinghiz ; and even then 400 SItETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. the smallest booty miglit stir up rancour aud dissen- sions in their ranks. So, too, the hundred thousand well - mounted Turkomans, who inhabit the broad steppes from this side the Oxus to the Persian fron- tier, are utterly useless for the rescuing of the Holy City. Their Ishans, indeed, if summoned by their fellow-priests in noble Bokhara and by the Ameer, might do their very best to stir up the wild sons of the desert to a holy warfare : but I know the Turko- mans too well not to be sure that they will take part in the Djihad only so long as the Ameer can offer them good pay and the prospect of yet richer booty; and as they sometimes owned in Afghan- Persian offices, it is most likely that the Russian imperialists will soon turn them into excellent brothers-in-arms of the Cos- sacks. Enthusiasm for the creed of the Prophet ex- isted, if I remember rightly, only for the first hundred, indeed I might say only for the first fifty years. What Islam afterwards accomphshed in Anatolia, in the em- pire of Constantine, in the islands of the Mediterranean, in Hungary, and in Germany, was due to the impulse of a wild daring in quest of booty and treasures, and a hankering after adventures. Where these leading incentives failed, there was a failure m zeal; and I repeat that, although the struggle will be a stern one, the speedy triumph of Russian arms in Bokhara is open to not the slightest doubt. With the fall of the mightiest and most influential part of Turkestan, will Khokand, of her ovm accord, RIVALRY BETWEEN RUSSIA AND ENGLAND. 401 exchange a protection for the manifest sovereignty of the white Tzar. Khiva however, undaunted by the example, will, to all seeming, take up the struggle nevertheless. The conquest of Kharezm, moreover, though easier than that of Khokand, is connected with remarkable difficulties. With the exception of two towns, whose uihabitants are better known through their commercial relations with Russia, the (Esbeg population of this Ivhanat abhor the name of Russian. In courage, they stand much higher than the men of Khokand and Bokhara, and, protected by the forma- tion of their native land, will cause much trouble to the Russian troops from the way of fighting peculiar to the Turkoman race. As for the view upheld by many geographers and travellers, that the Oxus will form the main road of the expedition, I am bound to meet it "with the same denial as before. That river, on account of its great irregularity and the fluid sea of sand borne down upon its waves, is hard of passage for small vessels, not to speak of ships of war. Not a year passes without its changing its bed several miles in the shifting ground of the steppes ; and if the Rus- sians were not quite convinced of this circumstance, the small steamers of the Aral- Sea flotilla, built as they were for river navigation, would have begun forcing their way inland by the Oxus, mstead of the Yaxartes. For although the smaller forts, such as Kungrad, Kiptchak, and Maugit, which were built on the fortified heights by the left bank of the river, 26 402 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. might do harm to a flotilla passmg near; yet, owing to the sad state of the Khivan artillery, they are hardly worth considering. Attempts to pass up the river, from its mouths to Kungrad, where the stream is deepest and most regular, have already been tried; still, the fact of their remaining merely attempts, clearly shows that the navigation of the Deryai Amus (Oxus), if not altogether impossible, is a hard prob- lem nevertheless. These, however, are but secondary drawbacks, and in Khiva, as in Bokhara, the white Tzar will be raised aloft upon the white carpet of the Kharezmian princes, if not through the grey-beards of the Tshagatay race, at any rate by his own bayonets and rifled guns. The conquest of the whole right bank of the Ganges once assured to them, the strip of land from Issikkol to the Sea of Aral once come into full possession of the Russians, and well provided with excellent victualling-stores, then will the game of diplomacy have begun in Afghanistan also. Among the Afghans the court of St. Petersburg will not intervene so sud- denly with arms in hand; not because England's mis- carriage in 1839 has made it cautious, but because such a procedure is by no means customary with the Russians. That, moreover, would be partly super- fluous, partly beyond the mark, amidst the now prover- bial dismiion of Dost Mohammed's successors. Where brother rages against brother in deadliest feud, where intrigues caused by greed and vanity are ever in full RIVALRY BETWEEN RUSSIA AND ENGLAND. 403 swing; there the secret agent, the kind word, a few friendly lines of writing, are much more profitable than a sudden assault with the armed hand. Hitherto, in his brother- strife against Shere-Ali-Khan, Abdur- rahman-Khan has in no way entangled himself with Russian agents, although he sought to frighten the Enghsh moonshee (agent), by bringiug some such conception to his notice. That he was greatly inclined to such a step I have not the slightest doubt; but as yet the Russians have given him no encouragement to take it. For if the Afghan opponents of Shere-Ali- Khan, the Ameer accredited by England, had received but the faintest wink from the Neva, they would never have coquetted with Sir John Lawrence in Calcutta. Not only chiefs and princes, but every Afghan war- rior, nay, every shepherd on the Hilmund, puts his trust in the idea of Russian trade ; and I have a hun- dred times over convinced myself how easily, indeed how gladly, these people would embrace a Russian alliance against the masters of Peshawar. Whether the fruits of such a friendship would be wholesome, and conduce to the interests of Afghanistan, no one takes mto question. The Afghans, like all Asiatics, look only to the interests of the moment, see only the harm which Afghans have suffered in Kashmere and Sindh through English ascendancy, have a lively re- membrance of the last sojourn of the red-jackets in Kabul and Kandahar; and though every one knows that the Kaffirs of Moscow are very little better than 404 SKETCHES OF CENTEAL ASIA. the Feringhies, still, from an impulse of revenge, they all desire and will prefer an alliance mth the North to a good understanding with England. Hence it is but a friendly regard, it is only a com- pact upheld not by treaties, but by a strong force on the Oxus, which the Russians can aim at for some time to come. The same kind of relation must be then' object m Persia. Here too, for the last ten years, has the court of St. Petersburg been playing a lucky game. Since the appearance of Russian envoys at the splendid court of the Sofies, in the time of Khardin, until now, Russian influence has gone through many phases. At first scorned and disregarded, the Russians have risen into the strongest and most dangerous opponent of Iran. Whilst, in the days of Napoleon I., England and France, to the profit and partial aggrandisement of the Shah, vied with each other m turning to account their influence at the court of Teheran, Russia, as "in- ter duos certantes tertius gaudens," quietly smoothed her way to the conquest of the countries beyond the Caucasus, to the profitable treaties of Guhstan and Turkmanshay. And while the same Western Powers persevered in that policy, the Colossus of the North took up such a position on the Caucasus as well as the Caspian Sea, that its shadow stretched not only over the northern rim of Iran, but far also into the country. At the time of Sir Henry Rawlinson's embassy, Eng- lish influence was near being in the ascendant; but RIVALRY BETWEEN RUSSIA AND ENGLAND. 405 since then it has been continually smking ; for however lavish of gold and greetings the English policy might be in Malcohn's days, it showed itself just as cold and indifferent from the time of Mac Neil do^vnwards. Both the Shah and his ministers seem urged on by necessity to accept the Russians as their Mentor. It is not from any conviction of a happier future that they have flung away from the fatherly embraces of the British Lion into the arms of the Northern Bear ; and the Shah must dance for good or ill to the song which the latter growls out before him. If now, in accordance with the aforeshown position of the Russian power and pohcy in Central Asia, we cast a glance on the frontier, stretching for 13,000 versts wide, from the Japanese Sea to the Circassian shore of the Black Sea, where Russia is always in con- tact with so many peoples of different origin and dif- ferent rehgion, over whose future her aggressive policy hangs lilve the doomful sword of a Damocles ; we shall soon be driven to observe that, although the southern outjDosts m Asia are on the Araxes, yet the only point where, m their farther advance, they impmge on a European power is to be found in Central Asia. Sepa- rated twenty years ago from British India's northern frontier by the great horde of the Khirgis and the Khanats, the space at this moment left between Djis- sag and Peshawar, although the difficult road over the Hmdu-Kush lies midway, amounts to no more than fifteen, days' journey, and in reckoning by miles to 406 SKETCHES OF CENTEAL ASIA. hardly a hundred and twenty geographical miles. For an army the road, though difficult, is not insuperable, while it should be tolerably easy for the development of political influence ; and for all England's readiness to see a mighty bulwark for her frontier in the snow- crowned peaks of the Hindu-Kush, she forgets the ease with which a Russian propaganda from the banks of the Oxus can smooth a way hence towards the north of Sindh. From the moment, indeed, when the Rus- sian flag waves in Karshi, Kerki, and Tchardshuy, may England regard this power as her nearest neighbour. 3. Russia's Views on India; and English Optimists. Has Russia any serious views, then, on British India ? Will she attack the British Lion in his rich possessions ? Does her ambition really reach so far, that she would wield her mighty sceptre over the whole continent of Asia, from the icy shores of the Arctic Sea to Cape Comorin? These are questions of needful interest, not to Englishmen only, but to all Europeans. On the bank of the Thames as well as in Calcutta, states- men have latterly answered them in the negative ; for their organs, official and unofficial, regard the utmost danger of the meeting as a neighbourhood of frontiers, and not an aggression ; a neighbourhood which, so far from imperilhng Enghsh interests, will be altogether to their advantage. These gentlemen are sadly at fault, for the spirit of Russia's traditional pohcy, — her EIVALRY BETWEEN RUSSIA AND ENGLAND. 407 steadfast clinging to the schemes before indicated, the unbounded ambition of the House of Romanoff, the immense accumulation of means at their disposal for the accomphshment of their designs, — place in surer prospect the fulfilment of any aim on which they have once bent their gaze. Russia wants India first of all in order to set so rich a pearl in the splendid diamond of her Asiatic possessions; a pearl, for whose attain- ment she has so long, at so heavy a cost, been levelling the way through the most barren steppes in the world ; next, in order to lend the greatest possible force to her influence over the whole world of Islam (whose greatest and most dangerous foe she has now become), because the masters of India have reached, in Mohamedan eyes, the non-plus-ultra of might and greatness ; and lastly, by taming the British Lion on the other side the Hindu- Kush, to work out with greater ease her designs on the Bosphorus, in the Mediterranean, indeed all over Europe ; since no one can now doubt that the Eastern question may be solved more easily beyond the Hmdu- Kush than on the Bosphorus : for if, at the time of the Crimean War, when Nana Sahib's brother was feted at Sevastopol, Russia had held her present position on the Yaxartes, the plans of Tzar Nicholas on Constantinople would not have been so easily buried under the ruins oftheMalakhoff. These far-reaching designs may not, perhaps, be the work of the next years, nor even of the Government of the peaceful and well-disposed Alexander ; yet who 408 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. can assure us that after him no Nicholas, or no yet sterner nature than his, may succeed to the throne, who will thwart the desire of a Tauuur or a Nadir to come forth as a thoroughly Asiatic conqueror of the world? What a Russian, autocrat can do in the pre- sent condition of Russia, in the present social position of his subjects, who, moreover, will long continue such, every one knows, and the statesmen of England best of all. It is, therefore, the more remarkable, that these gentlemen should think to put the said eventualities so easily aside, and to contest the question of a Russian invasion of India with arguments so very shallow. They usually bring forward the unpassable glaciers of Hmdu-Kush and the Himalayas, and the swarms of hostile nomads which would hem in a force advancing from the north on its way southward. They console themselves with the great distance, which would brmg an invading army to the Indian frontier tired and ex- hausted, while the English troops lying by, ready to strilvc at their ease, and strong in military zeal and training, awaited the shock of war with greediness. But do these gentlemen believe that Russia, in the event of her really cherishmg these sort of views, would dispatch her invadmg armies thitherwards direct from Petersburg, Moscow, or Archangel? What end is served by the South- Siberian forts? What by Tash- kend, Khodshend, and still more afterwards, by Bok- hara and Samarkand? What, too, by the Persian- Afo-han alliance? What did the Cossacks and the EIVALRY BETWEEN EUSSIA AND ENGLAND. 409 Russian troops of the line do in Gunib, and in the rugged hills of Circassia? Were they exhausted when they reached then' journey's end? And the latter station is not so much farther from the capital on the Neva, than Peshawar is from the cities just named! And why are we to assume that Russia would choose only the difficult road through Balkh to Kabul, and thence through the Khyber Pass, and none other? Without mentioning that this could have been so fatal to the Enghsh army of 1839, which fled in affright and disorder, for the march thither cost no especial sacrifices ; the road through Herat and Kandahar, the proper caravan-course to India through the Bolan Pass, is far more convenient. The latter, fifty-four or five Enghsh miles in length, did indeed cost the Bengal corps of the army of the Indus many days' toil; and yet we read in a trustworthy English author that the passage of 24-pounder howitzers and 18 -pounder guns caused no particular trouble. Or why should the Russians not force the Gomul or the Gulari Pass, called also the middle road from Hindostan to Khoras- san, which, accordmg to Burnes, serves the Lohani Afghans as their main road of communication, and ofi'ers no especial difficulties? It is too hard, indeed, to scatter the sanguine views of the Enghsh optimists with regard to the strength of their fancied bulwarks. The way through Kabul would have to be taken only in case of necessity; for the chief points by which Russia could quite easily 410 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. approach the Indian frontiers are Djhissag and Astra- bad; from the former in a southerly, from the latter in an easterly direction. Both roads have often led armies, time out of mind, to the goal of their desires ; for both, though bordered by large deserts, pass through well-peopled, even fertile districts, which can support many thousands of marching men with ease. Indeed, even the chances of an eventual war are greatly over-estimated by the English. True, that their present army m India, numbering 70,000 picked British troops besides the strong contingent of sepoys, is not to be compared with any of their former fightiug forces in those regions. To throw as strong a muster across Afghanistan into the Punjaub, would certainly cost Russia some trouble. Still we must not forget how stout a support an invadiug army would find in a Persian- Afghan alliance, and in the great discontent which prevails in the Punjaub, m Kashmir, in Bhotan, and among the fanatic Mohamedans of India. The ever-broadening network of Indian railways may do much to hasten and promote a concentration; but the fountain-head of military support for India being on the Thames or the islands of the Mediterranean, is not much nearer than that of the Russians, especially if we consider that more than three hundred vessels sail- ing down the Volga make the transport to the southern shore of the Caspian Sea considerably easier. By this road may a large army be brought in a short time to Herat and Kandahar through the populous part of EIVALEY BETWEEN EUSSIA AND ENGLAND. 411 nortliern Persia; on the one hand through Astrabad, Bujnurd, and Kabushan; on the other, by the railway as yet only projected to Eneshed. This railroad the Tzar wants to build for the rehef of the pilgrimage to the tomb of Imam Kizah ; yet through all the Russian promises of subsidies there gleam forth other and non- religious plans. Or would people in England, besides the no longer doubtful possibility of a Russian design upon India, measure the political constellations which the said power has called into being on her behalf, in the field of European diplomacy ? The Russian-French alhance of a Napoleon I. and an Alexander I., which left noticeable traces in Teheran, would now be much easier to enter on than before, owing to the dominant influence of France in Egypt and Syria, through the commencement of the Suez Canal. And these things apart, will not the ever-increasing entente cordiale be- tween Washington and St. Petersburg prove of signal advantage for Russia's purposes? People scoff at the way m which the Yankee cap entwines itself with the Russian knout ; and yet the banquets on the Neva, at which American brotherhood was vigorously toasted, the journey of the Tzarovitch to New York, the mighty show made by America m China and Japan, where she threatens to turn the calm face of ocean into an American lake; — do not these things furnish ample reason for discerning in the alliance between Russia and America symptoms of the greatest danger for Enghsh interests ? Indeed, when the decisive moment 412 SKETCHES OF CENTEAL ASIA. comes for acting, Russia will be able to avail herself of many ways and many means, which, however little worthy of notice they may seem to English statesmen, will be carefully pre-arranged without any noise. Nevertheless, we are "willing to allow that the actual shock will follow only in some very distant future. Gladly, too, will we bear to be pomted at as a false prophet. But how is it that Enghsh statesmen will proclaim as harmless the more and more manifest ad- vance of their northern rival; how disguise and pal- liate the mischievous menace of that rival's aims ? The body of English politicians friendly to Russia is wont, whenever this question comes up for discus- sion, to reply that the neighbourhood of a well-ordered State is more acceptable to them, than several wild nomad tribes living in anarchy and plunder. An Eng- lishman once asked me, whether I would not prefer to sit beside an elegantly-dressed fine gentleman, instead of a dirty and uncouth boor. People may wish success with all theu' might to a Muscovite neighbour ; yet to me it is not at all clear, why those gentlemen should wish for the neighbourhood of a sly and powerful ad- versary in the room of an unpohshed but essentially- powerless foe. What happened once in America, m the north of Africa, and even on Indian ground, be- tween rismg England on the one hand, and waning Holland and Portugal on the other, has often been and will yet often be repeated in the pages of history. As m ordmary life two strong, selfish mdividuals, will EIVALRY BETWEEN RUSSIA AND ENGLAND. 413 but rarely thrive in one same path ; so does the same impossibility exist in the case of two States; — a fact, of which the long war between France and England for the superiority in India furnishes the best proof. Even if she followed the best aims, how could Russia, backed as she is by the gigantic power of the whole Asiatic contment ; — she, whose pohcy for the last hun- dred years, has led her through desert regions with a perseverance so great, at a cost so lavish, — refuse a hearing at once to her own designs and to the insmua- tions of her abettors? Will she have sufficient self- control to forbear from profiting by the happy occa- sion which plays mto her hands the Mohamedan popu- lation of India, more than thirty millions strong ? The last-named, being the most fanatical of all who profess Islam, are filled with unspeakable hatred of the British rule. Their religious zeal, fostered on one side by Bokhara, on the other by the Wahabies, goes so far, that, in order to drain the cup of martyrdom, they often murder a British officer walking harmlessly about the bazaar, and even give themselves up to the heads- man's axe.* In India, where religious enthusiasm has ever found a most fruitful soil, Islam has revealed itself in the oddest forms. The brotherhoods intro- duced in the days of the Taimurides, are there more powerful and important than elsewhere ; and not Scoat alone, but every place has an 'Akhond of its own to show, whose summons to a crusade would be followed * Quei'y — Hangman's haltei* ? (Trans.) 414 SKETCHES OE CENTRAL ASIA. by thousands. In spite of the manifold blessings which English rule has secured to the Mohamedans, it is they alone who form the nest of revolutions; they alone who gave most support to the rebellion in its last dis- orders ; they alone who take chief delight in conspirmg for a Russian occupation, and proclaim in all directions the advantages of Muscovite rule. Should we not also take this occasion to think of the Armenians, who, scattered through Persia and India, form siQgle links of the chain wherewith the court of St. Petersburg conducts the electric stream of its in- fluence from the Neva to the Ganges; aye, even to the shores of Java and Sumatra? The hard-working, wealthy Armenians, who in their rehgious sentiments are inclined to be more cathohc than the Papist, more Russian, more orthodox than the Tzar himself, will assuredly not recommend the Protestant church and Protestant power to the natives of India, to the injury of supremely Christian Russia. How many zealous sub- jects of British rule in Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras, are not enrolled at Petersburg as yet more zealous promoters of Russian interests! Every member of this church in Asia is to be regarded as a secret agent of Muscovite policy; and if the moment came for a decision, the Enghsh would be amazed to see what kind of chrysahs emerged from this rehgious, moral, free and industrious people. How, then, can England look on with indifference, to say nothing of her desire to have as neighbour a RIVALRY BETWEEN RUSSIA AND ENGLAND. 415 great and certainly unfriendly power, in a land where such inflammable elements are to be found? Trade will spring up, I hear from all sides; yet, to all seem- ing, the prospect of the commercial advantages, which British statesmen behold in Russia's oncoming, and in the removal of anarchical conditions in Central Asia, rests rather on a pretended hope than on true convic- tion. Is it not strange, that a people, so practical in its ways of thinking as the English, should for one moment entertain the hope that some profit would arise for England out of the plans which Russia has followed up for years with toil, and expense, and self- sacrifice ; that English goods will get the upper hand in the markets of Central Asia, as soon as they have passed mider the Russian rule ? Henry Davies, in his commer- cial report, may point to the considerable figures which the export trade through Peshawar, Karachie, and La- dak, to Central Asia, has to show ; and yet he must allow that this would be ten times larger, were it supported by English influence beyond the frontier of northern India. And in the same proportion will it diminish, in which the Russian eagle spreads out his Avings over those regions. To Lord William Hay's plan for lay- ing down a commercial road through Ladak, Yarkend, Issikol, and Semipalatinsk, the Petersburg cabinet has given its seeming assent ; yet, in fact, nobody wanted to support the plan, nor will it occur to any Russian statesman to carry it out. The Chinese are far supe- rior not only to the Russians, but even to the English, 416 SKETCHES OF CENTEAL ASIA. in mercantile zeal ; and yet they trade along the great commercial road from Pekin through South Siberia only to Maimatshin, while from Kiachta the Chinese ex]3orts are forwarded, mainly through Russian hands, to Petersburg and Europe. And how fared the Itahan silk merchants, who, under Russian protection, found their way to Bokhara, but were there arrested and robbed of their goods and possessions ? One of them, Gavazzi, lets us feel very forcibly in his report, that he could never place full faith in Russian letters com- mendatory, in spite of all after applications from St. Petersburg. The products of Enghsh manufacturmg towns are wont to drive Russian manufactures out of every market. The merchants of Khiva and Bokhara still carry with them Russian articles from Nijni- Nov- gorod and Orenburg, which they sell to Central Asiatics under the name of Ingilis 7nali, or English wares ; such bemg always m most demand among the latter. People in England forget that plain dealmg will for some time yet be wanting to Russian policy, and that, on the commercial roads which its arms have opened out, it will throw, of a certainty, in the way of foreign inte- rests, obstacles of a like nature, if not indeed the same, as one now meets with from Afghan rapacity, from (Ezbeg lawlessness, on the commercial roads to the Oxus. In the year 1864-5 America alone disposed of more than fifteen miUion pounds' worth of hnen and cotton goods, which was naturally possible only under the free mstitutions of England. Do the gentlemen RIVALRY BETWEEN RUSSIA AND ENGLAND. 417 in Calcutta expect any similar dealings with the Rus- sians ? Ephemeral, alas! are the calculations formed by- people in England on behalf of Russia's future policy with reference to India. Just as the fabric of security which the statesmen of Downing Street are now build- ing withm their brains, can soon be shattered to the ground; so the arguments for a future entente cordiale are but slight indeed. Instead of a bootless refuta- tion, we would rather point out former mistakes, would rather touch on the means by which the danger of a direct colhsion, — that most perilous of all games for Enghsh mterests, — may yet be avoided. 4. Russian Gains and the Disadvantages of English Policy. In order thoroughly to understand the misconcep- tions of English politicians concerning their Russian rivals, it is necessary for us to consider all the advan- tages which the latter always enjoyed, and still enjoy, on the field of action. In Europe, we are wont to look with amazement on Russia's gigantic empire in Asia ; and yet nobody thinks of the means which have rendered essential service towards the acquisition of it. The Russians are Asiatics, not so much m consequence of their descent as of their geographical position and their social relations; and it is only because with the Asiatic laisser-aller they combine the steadfastness and resolution of Europeans, that they have mostly been a 27 418 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. match for the Asiatic races. In their contact with Chinese, Tartars, Persians, Circassians and Turks, they have always shown themselves as Chinese, Tartar, Per- sian, and so forth, according to circumstances. An Enghsh historian says, pretty coiTectly, if not without ill-will, that the Russians moved forward hke a tiger. " At first, creeping cautiously and gliding stealthily through the dust, until the favourable moment admits of its taking the fatal spring. With smiles of peace and friendship, with soft smooth words on their emis- saries' part, have they often averted every fear, every precaution, until the certain success of their schemes made all fears profitless, and baffled every precaution. Bluid, therefore, and ill-advised must every govern- ment be, which can go to sleep over Russian advances to- wards its frontiers, be those never so slow, or the interval between the conqueror and the goal of his endeavours be never so great!" As Asiatics, they are wont to hold out less rudely against their neighbours in man- ners, customs, and modes of thought, than the Enghsh, for whom, on account of their higher culture, such a renunciation would be a great sacrifice, mcompatible with their efibrts after civilisation. They seldom ofiend against the national ways of thuiking, and easily con- form to them when their interests require it. In Eng- land the Government has hitherto disdained to place itself in direct correspondence with the Ameer of Bok- hara, for what the chief city in Zarif-Khan obtained up to this date from the British cabinet was always EIVALKY BETWEEN RUSSIA AND ENGLAND. 419 enjoyed through the Governor- General of India. In Russia they think differently; and even the haughty Nicholas, that stern autocrat, who long shrank from callmg the French emperor "mon frere," behaves, in in presence of the Tartar princes of Central Asia, not as Emperor of all the Russias, but as a Khan on the Neva. As a result of such procedure, we find the nations all along the Russian frontier of Asia, whether nomad or settled, Boodhist or Mohamedan, in such a state of intimacy at this moment, if not of actual friend- ship, mth the Russians, as happens nowhere else in the foreign possessions of a European power. These advantages, however, of Asiatic modes of thought, which might properly be specified as exces- sive slyness and craftiness, are, even in political inter- course, far more profitable than the open and upright language employed on principle by Englishmen from of old. It is only Great Britain's foes in Europe, only the enviers of her power, who can find fault with the English in India; and yet whoever is sufiiciently in- formed as to their political dealings with native princes and neighbours on the border, whoever is thoroughly conversant with Asiatic character, will, in the utter absence of this very defect, discover the one great fault of English statesmen. From the largest province on the Amoor, to the smallest of the possessions latest won by Russia on Asiatic ground, may we always find one same proce- dure of intrigues and wiles, — a scattering of the seeds 420 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. of discord, bribery and corruption, through the vilest means, — all serving as forerunners of invasion. Men come first through commercial relations in contact with foreign elements; then the slightest differences come to be readily employed as casus belli ; failing these, the ground will be undermined by emissaries, the chiefs bribed by presents, or bemuddled with lavish draughts of vodki (Russian brandy), and drawn on into the dano;erous mao;ic circle. A well-founded cause of war and of invasion would nowhere be easy to discover; and certauily the gigantic emph^e of the House of Eomanoff has been builded up more through the wiles of its Asiatic statesmen than by the might of its arms. Moreover, in consequence of the quahties lately named, Russia is more conversant "svith the relations of Asiatic peoples, far better informed of all that is passmg in the border-states, than the English and other Europeans. To the great watchfulness of her emissaries, to the unwearied zeal of her diplomatists, is she indebted for the fact that her cabinet is often more quickly and fully informed of the most private dohigs of her neigh- bours, than the particular native government itself. Passing over the fact that, in Petersburg, a company of the cleverest men can make money out of their ex- periences through the different parts of Asia, there is here and there a Kkghis, a Buryat, a Circassian, or a Mongol, who, after being trained in Russian learning and modes of thought, becomes a most serviceable tool against the wholly or half- subjected land of his birth. RIVALRY BETWEEN RUSSIA AND ENGLAND. 421 In England we meet everywhere with the sharpest contrasts. Whoever is aware of the great ignorance of pnbHc opinion in England about events in India, about the relations between those great possessions and the neigh- bourmg States; whoever in the course of a year has noted down those absurd and ridiculous news, those telegraphic despatches in the English papers, which reach Europe and England through Bombay and Cal- cutta; whoever is aware of the very small number of English statesmen who are so carefully informed on Asiatic relations, that they can pass a sound judgement on questions of Eastern pohcy; — such a one must surely be amazed at the way in which Great Britain founded her foreign possessions, to say nothing of her bemg able to hold them until now. And just as even those among the English pubhc who have lived anytime in India have kept aloof from the natives, in accordance with their national character, and are but seldom conversant with their language and man- ners, — so, too, can the Enghsh Government entrust to naturahzed Levantines, and not to Englishmen, the Dra- gomanate, that necessary organ of mutual intercourse, in such important embassies as that, for instance, of Constantinople. While Russia, France and Austria, have long had Oriental academies for diplomatic be- gianers; in England, with her rich dower of colleges, schools, and universities, no one has ever thought of such an institution. And so again m the legislative 422 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. body as well as in the ministry, where the smallest questions often have a special advocate, there are but very few men competent to discuss the important rela- tions in Asia; and even these, on account of the pre- vailing nepotism, are but seldom allowed to turn their experiences to account. This indifference must surprise all foreigners. Still more amazed will they be to hear men of the liberal party say: "What does Asia concern us; what the swarm of barbarous races that cause us more trouble than profit; what the wealth of India, whose income has long ceased to cover her expenditure, to say nothiag about the costs of the conquest?" I have often heard remarks of this kind from the most famous leaders of this party. The sincerity of their confession defies questioning ; and yet they have always left me without an answer, when I have asked them how they would make up for the loss of that political influence which springs from a great colonial empire. People seem wholly to forget that a large number of young Enghsh- men, of all ranks, are pursuing military and pohtical careers in India ; they seem to be unaware how many sons of clergymen and officers, to whom no sphere of action offers itself within their island home, earn wealth in lucrative offices on the Ganges and the Indus, with the view of spending at home in a calm old age the outcome of then' earher years. They seem to leave entirely out of their reckoning the enormous number of merchants dwellmg m their great Asiatic dominions RIVALRY BETWEEN RUSSIA AND ENGLAND. 423 amidst the most extensive commercial interests, through whose hands Enghsh capital multiplies by millions. Those hberals are very short-sighted, who deem the possession of such a colony as India an indifferent or superfluous matter. That they should wish to see the greatness of their fatherland founded on the flourishing condition of hiland manufactures, and not on their do- minion over foreign peoples, can no longer be regarded as a view generally vahd m England, now that more than sixty milhons pounds sterling are laid out in Indian railway undertakmgs alone; for that neither manufacturing industry nor the enterprising spirit of English merchants can succeed, to any great extent, without the supportmg hand of Enghsh rule, is amply shown by the circumstances of British trade in Algiers, Central Asia, and other non-British territories. It is faulty views hke these which neutrahse all the advantages of Enghsh individuahsm in the presence of Eussian pohcy, which always acts with steadfast con- sistency. To these errors may be ascribed the fact that Russia, haviag grown up into a powerful rival ui a space of tune mcredibly short, is treading so close on the Achnies-heel of Great Britain. With the posi- tion she holds on the Aral and the Caspian Seas, after conquering the whole of the Caucasus, after her enor- mous successes in Central Asia, it would now be use- less to try and force back that giant power. What might with no great trouble have been attained twenty years ago, it is now far too late to attempt ; but if Eng- 424 SKETCHES OF CENTEAL ASIA. land would avoid the usual lot of commercial states, — the doom of Carthage, Venice, Genoa, Holland, and Portugal, — there is but one way left to her : a pohcy of stern watchfulness, a swift grasp of the measures still at her command. 5. Advice to England for the purpose of averting the d anger. To think of moving out in open hostility to the grow- ing power of Russia, were now, on England's part, just as great an error as the strange inaction she has displayed for the last twenty-five years amidst all the occurrences beyond the Hindu- Kush. Russia will estabhsh her- self on the right bank of the Oxus, will absorb the three Khanats, and perhaps Chinese Tartary, will make everything Q^zbeg to acknowledge her supremacy. That can no longer be prevented ; but thus far and no farther should Englishmen allow their rivals to advance. All that hes between the Oxus and the Indus should remain neutral territory. Through her physical con- formation, through the warlike character of her mha- bitants, and specially through their great aptitude for diplomacy, Afghanistan would be altogether suited to form a military and political barrier against any pos- sible collision between the two giants. That country would cost the conqueror, coming whether from North or South, a tenfold harder struggle than did the Cau- casus. Besides, the possession would not for a long while make good the material advantage of an expen- RIVALEY BETWEEN RUSSIA AND ENGLAND. 425 sive war; and although the continual disorders that prevail in the mountain-home of the Afghans may be of no advantage to either neighbour, still the danger is not so great as to justify any schemes of conquest on one side or the other. How, then, in case Russia continues her policy of aggression, may England secure the neutrality of Af- ghanistan? What must she do to set up with her in- fluence there a solid barrier, without coming forward as a conqueror? That is the work of a skilled diplomatic intercourse, the work of an uninterrupted alliance, carried on by agents, who, acquainted with the Afghan character, and eschewino; Eno;lish modes of thouo^ht, can conduct themselves as Asiatics. The same fault which Lord Auckland committed in 1839, by his active interference in Afghan afiairs, that fault and one far greater still did his successors prove guilty of, through their utter withdrawal from the scene, through their strange indifference in respect of the concerns of the neighboming State. The English resemble a child which, after having once burnt itself at a fire, will not for a long time venture to draw near its warmth. The catastrophe of the Afghan campaign, the thirty millions sterling in costs, dwell even now, after a quarter of a century, with such fearful vivid- ness in the eyes of every Briton, that he trembles at the very thought of political influence beyond the Hindu- Kush. Have we not here two sharply-opposed 426 SKETCHES OE CENTRAL ASIA. extremes? First, armed to the teeth in support of the interests of a prince so little loved as Shah Sujah ; and then, after the annexation of the Pmijab, scarce willing to give one more thought to Kabul ! And why .should the frontier above Peshawar be so dangerous a barrier for every Englishman and European? If seve- ral thousands of Kakeries, Lohanies, Gilzies, and Yusuf- zies, yearly pass over the northern frontier of Hindos- tan, — some for mercantile purposes, others to graze their flocks, — why should British travellers not be al- lowed to venture over the Hmdu-Kush, let alone a few hours' journey beyond Peshawar? Afghan mer- chants drive a flourishing trade "svith Mooltan, Delhi, Lahore : why, from the English side, may not one mercantile firm or another betake itself for the same end to Kabul? In truth, this state of things has always astonished me ; the more so, when I heard that the officer whom Sir John Lawrence sent to Kabul to offer welcome to Shere Ali Khan had to be always escorted there by a strong detachment of troops, to guard himself from the rage of a fanatic population. This is surely a mode of proceedmg at once wrong and ridiculous, for giving Asiatics a lesson in European magnanimity and European love of justice. England, who has long dealt with the Asiatics after this fashion, resembles a person trying with all his might to make a blind man comprehend the beauty of one of Raphael's cartoons. In this respect Russia is far more practical. She knows RIVALRY BETWEEN RUSSIA AND ENGLAND. 427 that such proofs of magnanimity and humanity are^ only ridiculed by the Orientals ; that, so far from tak- ing the example to themselves, they misuse those proofs for their own special ends; and, instead of wastuig moral preachings on them, England would act shrewdly by helping herself to the same weapons, and treating Orientals in Oriental fashion. At the time when the martyrs ConoUy and Stoddart were pining m cruel imprisonment, out of which they were afterwards delivered only by the headsman's axe, there happened to be in British territory a number of Bokharians, Khokandies, and other Central Asiatics, by whose arrest the lot of the English officers might have been alleviated, and their deliverance from death assured. In such cases Eussia is wont to clear herself from the dilemma by the law of retaliation. England acts differently. She would play the high-minded part; and what has she gained by it? When I was in Bokhara, I heard how this very act of British gene- rosity had missed its mark. England, said the Bok- harians, dares not awaken the wrath of the Ameer of Bokhara : her weakness commands this moderation. Do the gentlemen in Calcutta imagine that the Af- ghans think otherwise? No; and they likewise say: protected by the might and greatness of Islam, our indigo and spice merchants, our camel-hirers, can ven- ture unharmed on British ground; whilst not one in- fidel soul dares show himself among us. The same unpardonable weakness did the Viceroy 428 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. of India show in 1857, when he was sent by Lord Canning to Peshawai' to conclude, in conjunction with Edwardes, an offensive and defensive alhance against Persia with the then reio-nino; Dost Mohamed Khan. At that time the Afghans were hard pressed; they wanted arms and money: the grey-haired Barukzie chief, attended by his sons, betrayed this fact in every word; and yet his demands were fulfilled in every point, without his yielding in the least to any of Eng- land's leadmg claims. Eour thousand stand of arms, with bayonets, sabres, pouches, and twelve lakhs of rupees a year, were promised hun, so long as England was at war with Persia. Of this large sum they re- ceived, even after the .conclusion of peace at Paris, a considerable instalment; and yet the chief end of the negotiations at Kabul and Kandahar — ^the appointment of a permanent Enghsh representative — was not at- tained. Dost Mohamed Khan avowed, as Kaye tells us in his " History of the Sepoy War," that he would not take on himself the responsibihty of such a step ; that he could not protect English agents against Afghan fanaticism; that every step of theirs might compro- mise, &c., &c. I cannot comprehend how John Law- rence, one of the few men acquamted with Eastern character, could yield to the endearments of the grey Afghan wolf, — how he could believe those false appre- hensions. If even Dost Mahomed could say that an English mission might tarry in peace at Kandahar, why could it not fare as well in Kabul? The British RIVALRY BETWEEN RUSSIA AND ENGLAND. 429 commissioners were greatly in. the wrong if they doubted even for a moment the supreme power of the Afghan ruler. With a very little more persistency, the Eng- lish, who then appeared as helpers m need, might have obtained not two but several posts of embassy. The Afghans would soon have grown used to their presence, and the diplomatic alliance, once made easy, would have been maintained unbroken. In a semi-official article, which appeared in the Edinhurgh Review for January, 1867, Sir John Law- rence now strives to show how hard and vain it is to enter into diplomatic intercourse with neighbours so wild and turbulent as those who surround India on all sides. Still, I cannot understand why the Viceroy should not take example from Russia, who, with the same elements on her frontier, sends envoy after envoy, knows how to obtain for them respect and safety, and so keeps moving forward to her wished-for goal. Why does not England pursue, in this case, the same policy which she once began in Chma, Japan, and other Asiatic _ countries ? It seems to me that people are less convinced of the difficulty of carrying out such a purpose, than of the extreme remoteness of the conse- quent gain. Or are these gentlemen really unaware of the permanent support thus rearable, not only for Enghsh interests in Afghanistan, but even for the spe- cial welfare of the Afghans themselves ? Sir Henry Rawlmson's diplomatic bearing in Kan- dahar, which enabled him so long to maintain himself 430 SKETCHES OE CENTRAL ASIA. there with his suite in the most difficult position, at a period the most critical, is a splendid proof that even the rudest Asiatics are not unmanageable. And if the said officer could accomplish so much in the threaten- ing attitude of a conqueror, what might not first have been attained through political tact and friendly per- suasion ? The tangible results of uninterrupted diplomatic in- tercourse would, if we mistake not, be : — 1st. A greater impulse given to trade; for, as Eng- lish goods have long enjoyed a good name in Central Asia, Enghsh products, imported direct from England, could certainly drive similar but less-prized Russian products out of the market. At present this is natu- rally not the case : at this moment, in the bazaars of Kabul, Kandahar, Herat, and other places, there is much more sold of many Russian articles, — such as ironware and working tools, coarse cotton and hand- kerchiefs, — than of English ones; solely because the former, owing to the lower price at which they were first saleable, are not raised by the additional payments to so high a figure as the English goods, whose value, originally dear, is raised twofold in the transit. Moreover, in Bokhara, here and there in Khiva and in Karshi, Russian traders may be found who, secure m the energy of their government, can of course advance then' own interests better than foreign mercantile agents. In vain should we seek for a better apostle, a better pioneer for civilisation, than trade; in vain. RIVALRY BETWEEN RUSSIA AND ENGLAND. 431 for a better teacher to turn men to our own ways of thinking, than the silent bales of goods which are car- ried over from Europe ; and England, apart from her commercial interests, is bound, for the ends of huma- nity also, to help forward trade in Central Asia. 2. The Afghans, who, under the name of Ingihs or Fermghi, have hitherto been acquainted with but one armed power, one conquest- seekmg neighbour, will easily, in the peaceful garb of diplomatic intercourse, in well-meaning counsels, accept the teaching of a bet- ter one. In the year 1808, when the Afghans had little fear of an English invasion, the ambassador, Mountstuart Elphinstone, with a numerous following, whose escort amounted to only four hundred Anglo- Indian soldiers, was well received throughout Afghan- istan, for fear and mistrust had as yet taken no root. Down to the beginning of this century the same state of things might be found in all parts of the Ottoman Empire. Euroj^ean and enemy were deemed identical things; but now, after our embassies and consulates have pushed themselves, spite of the Porte's reluctance, into many places, will Osmanlis and Arabs no longer cherish the same sort of views ? They have clearer no- tions about the generic term, "Feringhi," and know for certain that Russia, for instance, feels just as friendly to the Porte as England feels inimical ; that this govern- ment has one set of plans, the other another; and so on. Without consulates such a result could not have been attained. And so the Afghans, until they have 432 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. been brought into nearer and peaceful intercourse with the Enghsh, will never understand what England or Russia may do for their weal or woes ; whose friendship will render them the more or the less service. 3. The Afghans, most warlike of all Central Asiatics, might, with the powerful support of Enghsh counsels, easily be raised into a military power of some impor- tance. What the Instructeurs Militaires of their day accomplished in the army of Sultan Mahmood and Mehemed Ali Pasha; what Enghsh officers accom- plished with the troops of Abbas Mirza, — would be as nothing in comparison with the consequences of a simi- lar undertaking among the Afghans ; out of whom, so far as one may judge from the military bearmg and manoeuvruig of a Kabul regiment drilled by Sepoy de- serters, a regular army will very easily be formed. Such a result may also be attained with the fortresses of Herat and Kandahar, whose fortifications, in the event of their coming under the charge of a second Pottinger, would certainly prove a far harder prize for Russian besiegers than if they were given over to the warlike skill of Afghans alone. 4. The prime gain, however, which we look for from a permanent agency is, that England, bemg accurately informed of proceedings in Central Asia, of the mili- tary and pohtical movements of Russia, will no longer be exposed to the danger of findmg herself suddenly surjDrised on one point or another, and, through the continual uncertainty m which she wavers touchmg RIVALRY BETWEEN RUSSIA AND ENGLAND 433 the true state of things, of being disabled from taking the right precautions. At this moment, the Viceroy maintains a few Moonshies without any official charac- ter in Kabul, Kandahar, and Herat; Moonshies, that is, scribes, and Mohamedans, who, being among other thmgs well paid, are engaged to furnish occasional news. Besides these, there are also spies, or secret emissaries, despatched in this or that direction on spe- cial conjunctures, who roam in the disguise of a mer- chant or a pilgrim through Turkestan, and furnish tidings of political events. Letting alone the fact that I regard both the former and the latter class as alike unfit for such an office, because they never enter in their memorandum-books anything but bazaar-reports and the pohtics of the caravan, I may, as one who has lived whole years among Orientals, be allowed to place the very smallest faith in those people. Do persons in Calcutta consider what Mohamedan fanaticism is; are they aware that no amount of gold will succeed in turnino: one Mussulman to the account of the Ferino-hie agamst another Mussulman? To all appearance these emissaries and spies will display the greatest diligence, the most reckless loyalty, the most forward zeal; and yet in the interior of Central Asia they will fulfil the commands of their order by squattmg on the self same carpet with those religious comrades, with whom they repair to one common mosque. On this point British statesmen will certainly not agree with me, though that is the very reason why they are so little acquainted 28 434 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. with what goes on in Central Asia, — why the absurdest stories spread through India into Europe, — and why they can regard the affairs of the Khanats in the light which Russian diplomacy has kindled for them. Far as I am from wanting to set up as a political advice-giver, I find that these unpretending counsels point out the only means whereby Afghanistan's neu- trality can be secured, and herself erected into a power- ful barrier against Russia's further progress in Central Asia. In view of so weighty a question as the posses- sion of the East Indies is for the greatness and con- tinuance of English power, it were too dangerous to seek a false protection in palliative measures. Political errors, however trifling, form in time so many links in one unbroken chain of disasters, — a chain which, pre- sently, the greatest struggles, the most clear-eyed statesmanship, may trouble themselves to break m vain. 6. The General Interests of the Question. It still remains to answer the one farther question, why we cannot look with indifference on the danger for Enghsh interests from Russian ascendancy, and for what special reason it is that the dechne of England's power seems to us so detrimental, that we see m Rus- sia's undue influence a bar to the advance of the spirit of our age. The answer is very simple : Russia was, is, and long will be Asiatic. The cheering prospect that the over- RIVALEY BETWEEN RUSSIA AND ENGLAND. 435 grown body of Russian power will, according to the laws of nature, necessarily break up hereafter into two or more sections, and the danger that threatens us be thereby lessened, is one which we cannot for a moment entertain. We need only fix our eyes on the character of pohtical life in Russia, its social circumstances, the relation of the people towards the upper castes of the governing circle, the general state of popular culture, and the modes of popular thought, to see how every- thing there is Asiatic, aye, wildly Asiatic in tendency ; and how little, in spite of the long struggle after Euro- pean civilisation, has yet been taken in, to speak com- paratively, from what we call European or Western life. Without repeating the well-worn adage, " Scrape a Russian and you will lay bare a Tartar," it is none the less impossible, whether from personal experience, or the reports of later, and to Russia most friendly travellers, to help acknowledging how much may yet be found, on the Neva and in other large Russian towns, of that surface civilisation which many Asiatic governments bring successfully to bear on short-sighted Europe. No doubt this pretence of civiHsation suc- ceeds better in Petersburg, wielded by a government containino; a strono^ admixture of Christian and Euro- pean elements, than in Cairo, Constantinople, and Te- heran. The Russian noble, in appearance a finished European, thoroughly versed in our language, manners and modes of thought, will certainly cut a better figure than the semi-European EfFendi on the Bosphorus, or 436 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. the Persian Mirza. A government which draws towards itself, at a cost so heavy, so many scientific and artistic forces, which has lately advanced with so much zeal in founding schools, universities, scientific associations, which hires persons in Europe to blazon forth the pro- gress of Russian civilisation, — can assuredly reap for it- self greater credit than the Porte or the Persian ministry, which, engaged in upholdmg their weakly existence, can- not bestow so much attention on the needful pageantry. No wonder, then, if to a superficial glance Russia seems more European, more imbued with the spirit of our civilisation, and can easily win the sympathy of those who would love her with all their might. But if once we try impartially to hft uj) the outer covering and peep into the inside of the great Russian commu- nity, what shall we behold ? Great, indeed, is the disenchantment that awaits us at every step, when we seek to discover in the majority of the Russian people those traces of progress, which ought to exist according to the statements of Russian hirelings in the European press. The Englishman who, in 1865, in a pamphlet called " Russia, Central Asia, and British India," sought to indoctrinate the Eng- lish pubUc with the same idea, and, inferring the com- mencement of many reforms from the bearing of such innovations as slave emancipation, placed such a con- version in the foreground, though even Russian writers like Herzen and Dolgorukoff are doubtful of it, would in all likelihood have thought very diiFerently, if he RIVALEY BETWEEN RUSSIA AND ENGLAND. 437 had drawn the parallel, not between persons of intelli- ,gence, but between the Russian people and the Asiatics. On that immense frontier where Russia touches Asia, we shall everywhere find the Russians standing on a markedly lower level of development, and in freedom of manners far behind those Asiatic peoples to whom we would impart the advantages of our younger Euro- pean as compared with their old Asiatic civilisation. Alexander Michie, a traveller from Pekin to Peters- burg, and so great a friend of Russia that he calls Siberia a second Paradise, and deems the exiled Poles enviably fortunate, cannot, however, help proclaiming aloud the superiority of the Chinese to the Russians, wherever he finds the two holding intercourse with each other. And this is the case not only in Maimadshin and Kiachta, but even among the Mussulmans. The Russian, as a northerner, will display more energy than the Asiatic cle pur sang ; but his remarkably dirty exterior, his drunkenness, his religion bordering on fetishism, his servility, his crass ignorance, his coarse, unpolished manners, — are characteristics which make him show very poorly against the supple, courtly, keen-siffhted Eastern. Just as I have heard a culti- o vated Moslem Tadjik in Bokhara speak with contempt of the uncivilised Russians, whom he set above the Kirghis only, so in all likehhood will every Chinaman, every Persian in Transcaucasia, and eveiy well-educated Tartar in Kazan, say the same. What can these na- tions, then, learn from Russia? 438 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. Can her forms of government awaken any envy in Asiatic races? The corruptibility of the placemen, their tyrannical and arbitrary conduct under Nicholas, the mass of more than fifty milhon peasants who occu- pied the lowest of all positions beside the caste of place- men and nobles, — all this really is not particularly alluring for those among whom the wildest autocratic institutions are yet combined with patriarchal mildness. Yes, it is hard, not only at present, but even in the distant future, to discover in Russia's craving for con- quests the prospect of a profitable change in the social life of the Asiatic peoples, a change in the direction of European ideas. If we ask ourselves what has become of the Tartars, who for more than two hundred years have dwelt under Russian protection; what of the great number of Siberian tribes, — such as Bashkirs, Voguls, Tzeremisses, Votjaks, — which have been or are on the point of being absorbed into the Russian nation, must we not everywhere regard the Russian- ising as the chief result ? Russianising is naturally a step from Asia towards Europe, as the government of an Alexander II., so far as it has gone, may even be called a turning-point: and yet who will blame us, if to this wearisome pro- cess, whose results seem always doubtful, we prefer the English scheme of civilisation, which has at this moment such splendid and surprising results to show in India, and wherever else it deals with Asiatics? That the peoples of broad India, of the land which RIVALRY BETWEEN RUSSIA AND ENGLAND. 439 has been the cradle and the fountain-head of that Asiatic civihsation which we show up and fight against as unfit to live, hold very persistently to their old usages, to their own ways of thinking, no one will dispute; and yet how great a change has come over India, even since the beginning of the last century! Methinks, even the worst enemies of Great Britain will be unable to deny that the caste-system of the Hindoos and their many inhuman customs have suf- fered a mighty blow from English influence. No one can deny that these wild Asiatics, in spite of all their stiff-necked bearing, are advancing with wonderful strides on the path of our civilisation. We find at this moment in India a great number of people thoroughly convinced of the blessed influence of their conqueror : numerous schools and institutions spread the hght of the new world abroad through all classes of the popu- lation. Not only are there many well versed in the Enghsh tongue; they also take an active part in our scientific discussions, are enrolled as members of learned European societies, and sometimes even take up the pen to emulate the writers of the West. Rajah Rada- kant Deb Bahadur, Maharajah Kali Krishna Bahadur, Baboo Rayendra Lala Mitra, a good many pundits (priests), and other learned gentlemen, may be found on the list of French, German, and Anglo- Asiatic so- cieties, and are known in distinguished circles by their works. Strong in their own sense of nationality, the Hindoos are now better acquainted with their language. 440 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. history and philosophy, than ever they were in the days of their inland princes. Societies are formed, as in England, for the extirpation of certain prejudices, for doing away with so many shameful habits and cus- toms, for the advancement of social intercourse; and if we consider how much the reading world increases day by day, how large a circle has been procured from among the natives for such Hindustani papers as the Hirkara Bengdla ("Bengal Messenger"), the Suheili Panjdbi ("Punjaub Star"), the Audh Akbar ("Oudh News "), Khairkah Panjdbi ("Punjaub Wellwisher "), and how greatly the press is rising day by day into a powerful factor of Europeanism, we shall be obliged to own that England's subject races stand, in. respect of culture, not only above their yoke-fellows in Russia, but even above many of the Russians themselves. If to the above-named unfitness of Russia for civi- lising India we superadd the important circumstance that Russia, in thus absorbing half the world, and blending miany milhons of Asiatics into her own body, presents herself in an attitude of powerful menace, not to Great Britain only, but to all Europe as well, we shall find this immense predominance more hurtful to our own existence than advantageous to the leading Tartar races of Asia. Russophobia, we are told, is a foolish crotchet ; and I am wilhng to think so myself. Still, if we contemplate the mighty influence of the Russian two-headed eagle in all parts of Asia; if we reflect, that through its position on the Hindu Kush the court EIVALEY BETWEEN RUSSIA AND ENGLAND. 441 of St. Petersburg will solve, in its own favour, the Eastern question on the Bosphorus, it is hard to feel perfect peace of mind with regard to the future destiny of our own hemisphere. The diplomacy of to-day, which pays more homage to fashion than to good sense, makes merry enough with Napoleon's prophecy regard- ing Cossack rule in Europe. But people forget how much may be accomplished with our present means of communication by a power which will extend from Kamshatka to the Danube, or perhaps to the shore of the Adriatic, — from the icy zones of the North Sea to the burning banks of the Irawaddy. Visionary as it may seem to many, it is in nowise impossible that some hun- dred thousands of Asia's wildest horsemen may readily follow the summons of such a power into the midmost heart of Europe. In the beginmng of this century the possibdity of such an inroad, a la Djinghis Khan and Taimur, was shown by the Don Cossacks on the banks of the Seine. And why might this not be repeated now-a- days, with railroads and steamers at their disposal? Our European war-science may overcome this savage power: no member of the House of Romanoff could long play among us the part of a Djinghis or a Taimur. Yet a struggle of that sort, however momentary, would evolve mournful issues; and it is now a matter of pressing need to keep off the approach of such an event, while measures of precaution are still within our reach. Apart, however, from these far-reaching calculations, 29 ^42 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. can any one doubt that England's power and greatness are of more advantage than Russian supremacy to the general interests of Europe ? England has many foes, or perhaps we should rather call them, enviers. Cer- tain voices in the continental press will always, under the sway of passion, discover in her conduct selfish- ness, greed, and pride. Enthusiasts will see the blind- est materialism in every move; and yet people must be bhnd and carried away by prejudice, not to see the triumphs won by English greatness, English capital, and English endurance, for our civilisation and our scientific researches. Is it not England alone, whose powerful flag has opened Eastern Asia to our trade? Who else but English travellers have been driven by a daring spirit of inquiry into the farthest regions, in order to enrich our geographical and ethnographical knowledge ; and what happens on the Thames, what in every other town of that ever- stirring and busy island-realm ? Do those haughty spirits who are con- tinually finding fault with English materialism, ever consider that these brokers, in spite of their lively interest in trade and money-making, still render the greatest service in the advancement of science, in the enlightenment of the world? What country is there, in which Government gives its millions so readily for an institution like the British Museum ; where a hun- dred thousand pounds is laid out with so free a hand on the mere catalogue of a library, as lately happened in London ; where Government fits out ships and RIVALRY BETWEEN RUSSIA AND ENGLAND. 443 expeditions in quest of an imperilled traveller, as they have lately done in behalf of Livingstone ? Yes; in spite of all her faults, from which no country is free, we must allow that England, whether in consequence of the materialism thus strongly cen- sured, or of the thirst for power so often laid to her charge, anyhow stands at the top of European civiHsa- tion. For if France and Germany furnish indis- pensable aid in diffusing the light of our higher civilisation, still, the chief agent is England alone. With her flag emerges the day-dawn of a fairer era in every zone, in every part of the world. What the enviers of Great Britain tell us of her tyrannical behaviour, is mainly an untruth. It is not at the writmg- table and m easy arm-chairs, but in the coun- tries of the Asiatic world, that these sentimental fault-finders should inform themselves about England's influence; and if they saw how the march of our western civilisation drives out the vices of the old Asiatic, how it seeks to upraise the downtrodden rights of man, and freeing miUions from the absolute sway of a single tyrant, leads them on towards a better future, then assuredly they could not remain indifferent to England's influence in foreign lands. And would it not be grievous, if Muscovite ascen- dancy should do harm to such a State? The strong will of a free people governs on the Thames; on the Neva the ambition of an Asiatic dynasty, a system of government so framed that its capacity for reform in 444 SKETCHES OF CENTEAL ASIA. the future remains doubtful, while its great pernicious- ness in the present is all the more assured. Yes ; only in Russia's approach towards India, that Achilles-heel of British interests, may we discover the infallible sign of serious danger for England. A greater struggle than that which the British Lion had to encounter in the south with France, for the estab- lishment of its power on the Ganges, it has still to look for in the north. The first-named foe, weaker in numbers and endurance, had but a small fleet, and a sea at that time unnavigable behind her back, and could easily be overcome. The last-named, on the contrary, will be supported by an unbroken chain of fortresses, garrisons, guarded roads; her weapons are a boundless ambition, the bhnd devotion of millions of subjects, and the sympathy of rude neighbour- states. Victory over such a power will be far less easy, and the consequences of defeat far greater. Be on thy guard, therefore, Britannia ! For if the star of thine ancient fortune should now begin to wane, then will that verse — " Tlie nations not so blest as tliee Must in their turn to tyrants fall, Wliile thou shalt flourish great and free, The dread and envy of them all," — have to remain unread in the different zones. Lewis & Son, Printers, Swan Buildings, Moorgate Street, London. nu 1 aiUAQ H 393 85 .>-^/..^ ^0^ TLk a* <^<^ o«o ♦ «> -^ •A r\> ^ -OHO «0 'Ov Vr^ c' ^-"^ <^ ^^ ^^ii^i^ • rv ^ ^A '^ • • ^ .V ^ * o iTo ' .o*^ t ^ ■' o • s .0 O^ 'o » » *> A. ^ ^-^^^ A .^-^" -^^I^. V .0^ ..-^i:}. -^q^ .^^-^ .o^L^r^ %,'•••' .<^ -.- <■. <0' .* V% ,^^ JUL 85 •**