[326] Mīrkhwānd (ed. Vüllers, p. 185) says that Kamāj and his

son perished in this battle, but Hamdullah Mustawfi, in the

_Tārīkh-i-Guzīda_, says they were spared.

[327] De Guignes, vol. iii. pt. i. p. 256.

[328] Mīrkhwānd relates (ed. Vüllers, p. 188) that when Sanjar fled

with his army, and was hotly pursued by the Ghuz, a man who bore a

striking resemblance to the Sultan was captured. Say what he might, the

Ghuz would not be convinced that this was not Sanjar, and paid him all

the respect due to royalty, until finally some one recognised him as

the son of Sanjar’s cook, whereupon he was beheaded.

[329] Professor Shukovski, of St. Petersburg, published in 1894 an

excellent and exhaustive monograph on the ruins and past history of

Merv, under the title _Razvilini starago Merva_, “The Ruins of Old

Merv.”

[330] Ed. Vüllers, p. 189.

[331] Mīrkhwānd has in this place evidently followed Hafiz Abru (the

author of the _Zubdat-ut-Tawārīkh_), who says that the first day of

plunder was devoted to articles of gold, brass, and silver; the second

to bronzes, carpets, and vases; and the third to whatever of value was

left, such as cotton-stuffs, glass, wooden doors, and the like. Cf.

Professor Shukovski’s _Ruins of Old Merv_, pp. 29, 30.

[332] He is said to have been kept in a cage at night. Cf. De Guignes,

iii. pt. i. 257. Mīrkhwānd has been followed in this relation, and we

have seen what he considered to be the cause of the hostilities between

the Ghuz and Sanjar. From Ibn el-Athīr (_Tārīkh-i-Kāmil_, xi. 118, as

quoted by Professor Shukovski, _Merv_, p. 29) it would appear that

the cause of the conflict was Sanjar’s refusal to give up Merv to the

Ghuz, on the plea that he could not be expected to abandon his royal

residence. De Guignes (iii. pt. i. p. 257) introduces this anecdote

after the capture of Sanjar.

[333] Many say he died of an internal malady, A.H. 552 (1157). He was

in his seventy-third year.

[334] The modern Chārjūy.

[335] Cf. De Guignes, iii. pt. ii. p. 258.

[336] Cf. De Guignes, _loc. cit._

[337] He entered into a union with the Khān of the Kipchāk, named

Ikrān, and married his daughter, who became the mother of the famous

Sultan Mohammad Khwārazm Shāh; cf. _Tabakāt-i-Nāsiri_, Raverty’s

translation, i. 240. This Khān of the Kipchāks is called, on p. 254 of

the same work, _Kadr Khān_, a discrepancy which escaped the notice of

Major Raverty, who, however, calls attention to three different Kadr

Khāns in one chapter (see _op. cit._ p. 267, note).

[338] Cf. _Habīb-us-Siyar_.

[339] In this account of the reign of Tekish we have followed the

_Habīb-us-Siyar_. There is, however, a great discrepancy in this part

of the history, for in one place Khwāndamīr says that the hostilities

lasted only ten years (A.H. 568–578), when they were brought to a close

by a treaty between the two brothers, in which Tekish granted the rule

of certain towns in Khorāsān to his brother. An account of Sultan Shāh

Mahmūd may be found in the _Tabakāt-i-Nāsiri_, trans., i. 245–249.

[340] There is a misprint in d’Ohsson, _op. cit._ i. 180, the date

being given as 1149. He also waged war on the Assassins in `Irāk and

Kūhistan, and took from them their strongest fort, Arslān Kushāy.

[341] _Tārīkh-i-Jahān-Kushāy_, as quoted by Bretschneider, _op. cit._

i. 229, from d’Ohsson.

[342] Cf. d’Ohsson, _op. cit._ i. 180; and _Tabakāt-i-Nāsiri_, trans.,

i. 253–260.

[343] He had solicited the hand of a daughter of the Gūr-Khān, and,

having been refused, had become his secret enemy. Howorth, _J.R.A.S._,

New Series VIII. p. 282.

[344] Cf. d’Ohsson (_op. cit._ i. 181), who does not quote his

authority.

[345] Thus according to d’Ohsson. But De Guignes gives a very different

account of Mohammad’s first Eastern campaign, which he dates A.H. 604

(1209). He says that Bokhārā and Samarkand were delivered over to him

by the friendly Turkish princes, that on entering the Kara-Khitāy

territory he gained a splendid victory. Thus the first disastrous

campaign is wholly ignored. De Guignes, _op. cit._ i. pt. ii. pp. 266,

267.

[346] Cf. De Guignes, i. pt. ii. p. 267. d’Ohsson says as far as

Uzkend, _op. cit._ p. 182.

[347] The name of this famous conqueror has been spelled in many

different ways,--_e.g._, _Genghiz_ (De Guignes), _Gengis_ (Voltaire, in

his tragedy of that name), _Zingis_ (Gibbon), _Tchinguiz_ (d’Ohsson),

etc. We have adopted the one which most nearly approaches the Turkish

and Persian pronunciation of the name. For authorities we would refer

the reader to Sir H. Howorth’s _History of the Mongols_, part i.

(1876); R. K. Douglas, _Life of Jinghiz Khān_ (1877); an article by

same author in the _Encyclopædia Britannica_; Erdmann’s _Temudschin

der Unerschütterliche_ (1862); and d’Ohsson and De Guignes (vol. iv.).

The principal _original_ sources for the history of Chingiz Khān are:

(1) the Chinese account of a contemporary named _Men-Hun_, which has

been translated into Russian by Professor Vassilief, and published in

his _History and Antiquities of the Eastern Part of Central Asia_ (see

Transactions of Oriental Section of the Russian Archæological Society,

vol. iv.); and (2) the _Tabakāt-i-Nāsiri_ of Juzjānī, translated by

Major Raverty. This important work comprises a collection of the

accounts of Chingiz Khān written by his Mohammedan contemporaries.

Other Chinese and Persian sources might be mentioned, but the above are

the most important.

One very important authority for the Mongol period is the compilation,

from Chinese sources, by Father Hyacinth, entitled _History of the

first four Khāns of the House of Chingiz_, St. Petersburg, 1829. This

Russian work is comparatively little known outside Russia. Both Erdmann

and d’Ohsson often lay it under contribution. It may be added that Sir

Henry Howorth, in his first volume on the Mongols (published in 1876),

gives a complete bibliography of all the available sources for the

history of Chingiz and his successors.

[348] M. Barthold, of the St. Petersburg University, has devoted

much time to the study of the Mongol period in Central Asia, the

fruits of which he has not yet published on an extended scale, though

some shorter articles of great value have appeared in Baron Rosen’s

_Zapiski_. The expeditions of Chingiz Khān and Tamerlane were admirably

treated by M. M. I. Ivanin in a work published after his death,

entitled _On the Military Art and Conquests of the Mongol-Tatars under

Chingiz Khān and Tamerlane_, St. Petersburg.

[349] Since the discovery and decipherment of the Orkon inscriptions

it may be regarded as certain that the form _Khitan_, or _Kidan_,

is but the Chinese transcription of the word _Kitai_, which is the

name of a people, most probably of Manchurian origin, who, as is well

known, ruled over Northern China during the tenth, eleventh, and

twelfth centuries. It was borrowed by some of the tribes inhabiting

those parts. Cf. note on p. 106 of vol. x. of Baron Rosen’s _Zapiski_,

article by M. Barthold.

[350] Precisely the same thing occurred in the case of the Yué-Chi and

the Kushans.

[351] This admirable summary is taken from S. Lane-Poole’s _Catalogue

of Oriental Coins in the British Museum_, vol. vi. (also reprinted in

his _Mohammedan Dynasties_, pp. 201, 202). It is a condensation of what

may be read in great detail in Howorth’s _Mongols_, vol. i. pp. 27–50.

Cf. also De Guignes, vol. iv. p. 1 _et seq._; and d’Ohsson, vol. i.

chaps. i. and ii.

[352] For information with regard to this name, cf. d’Ohsson, _op.

cit._ vol. i. pp 36, 37, note.

[353] Thus according to the Chinese authorities. The Mohammedan

historians give the date of his birth as A.H. 550 (1155).

[354] The above remarks on the Mongols have been translated from an

article in Russian by M. Barthold in Baron Rosen’s _Zapiski_, vol. x.

(St. Petersburg, 1897) pp. 107–8.

[355] Rashīd ud-Dīn, _Jāmi`-ut-Tawārikh_, Berezine’s ed. i. 89.

[356] The Chinese and Persian authorities are here again at variance.

[357] They had been converted to Christianity by the Nestorians at

the beginning of the eleventh century. See very interesting note in

d’Ohsson, _op. cit._ i. p. 48. This Toghrul received the title of Oang,

or King, and called himself Oang-Khān. The similarity of this in sound

to the name _Johan_, or Johannes (John), led to the fabulous personage

so familiar in Marco Polo and other travellers, as Prester John. Cf.

Yule’s _Cathay_ and _Marco Polo_, _passim_.

[358] Cf. d’Ohsson, i. p. 47.

[359] Cf. S. Lane-Poole, _loc. cit._

[360] The exact date is uncertain.

[361] This word may be read either _Kuriltāy_ or _Kurultāy_. Cf. Pavet

de Courteille, _Dictionnaire Turk-Oriental_, p. 429.

[362] Cf. d’Ohsson, i. 86.

[363] _Ibid._ p. 89.

[364] Cf. Howorth, _J.R.A.S._, New Series VIII. p. 283.

[365] The above facts are from the _Jahān-Kushāy_. Cf. Bretschneider,

_op. cit._ i. 230, 231; the _Tarikh-i-Rashidi_, p. 289; and d’Ohsson,

_op. cit._ i. 166 _et seq._

[366] Cf. d’Ohsson, i. 170 _et seq._; Bretschneider, _op. cit._ i. 231.

[367] This occupied him between the years 1210 and 1214.

[368] S. Lane-Poole, _loc. cit._ See also Gibbon’s 64th chapter.

[369] Cf. Bretschneider, _loc. cit._; and on the subject of the

religious tolerance of Chingiz, Gibbon, chap. lxiv.

[370] Cf. d’Ohsson, i. 204.

[371] He had put his former ally `Othman to death in A.H. 607 (1210).

See d’Ohsson, i. 183.

[372] Abū-l-Ghāzi, ed. Desmaisons, p. 99.

[373] Abū-l-Ghāzi, ed. Desmaisons, p. 100.

[374] Abū-l-Ghāzi, _loc. cit._

[375] Abū-l-Ghāzi, pp. 101–103 of Desmaison’s text.

[376] The route he took was Kazwīn, Gilān, and Māzenderān

(_Tarikh-i-Mukīm Khānī_).

[377] He is said to have died a lunatic. The island in question has

long since been swallowed up by the sea. Cf. _Tabakāt-i-Nāsiri_, Major

Raverty’s trans., vol. i. p. 278, note.

[378] We refer the reader especially to Müller’s _Geschichte des

Islams_, pp. 213–225.

[379] _Mohammedan Dynasties_, p. 204.

[380] The best account of this offshoot is to be found in an excellent

paper entitled “The Chaghatai Mughals,” by W. E. E. Oliver, in the

Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. xx. New Series, p. 72,

sec. 9. It will be found in a condensed form in Ney Elias and Ross’s

Introduction to the _Tarikh-i-Rashidi_, or “History of the Mughals of

Central Asia.”

[381] _Vide ante_ on p. 155.

[382] In the valley of the Upper Ili, near the site of the present

Kulja.

[383] During the reign of Chaghatāy Khān a curious rising occurred in

the province of Bokhārā. A half-witted sieve-maker, from a village near

Bokhārā, managed by various impostures to gather round him a number of

disciples from among the common people, and so numerous and powerful

did they become that in 630 (1232) they drove the Chaghatāy government

out of the country, and, assuming the government of Bokhārā, proceeded

to put to death many of its most distinguished citizens. They at first

successfully repulsed the Mongol forces sent against them, but were

finally vanquished, and order was again restored in Bokhārā. For this

episode consult Vambéry, _op. cit._ p. 143 _et seq._; Major Price’s

_Mohammedan History_, iii. 2.

[384] _Tarikh-i-Rashidi_, Introduction, p. 32.

[385] Chaghatāy is said to have died from grief at his brother’s death

(_Habīb-us-Siyar_).

[386] For historical data we have already referred the reader to

Mr. Oliver’s paper and Vambéry’s _Bokhara_. S. Lane-Poole, in his

_Mohammedan Dynasties_, gives a list of twenty-six Khāns of this house

who ruled in Central Asia from A.H. 624 to 771 (A.D. 1227 to 1358),

_i.e._ 140 years. The _Zafar-Nāmé_ of Nizām Shāmī (see note below, p.

168) gives a list of thirty-one Khāns of this line.

[387] Cf. Müller’s _Geschichte des Islams_, ii. p. 217.

[388] In A.H. 671 (1273) Bokhārā was sacked by the Mongols of Persia

(Müller, _op. cit._ ii. p. 260).

[389] _Bokhara_, pp. 159–60.

[390] This Khānate embraced the present Zungaria and the greater

part of Eastern and Western Turkestān; but the exact meaning of this

geographical term is still undetermined. The subject has been fully

discussed in the _Tarikh-i-Rashidi_ (_passim_). Cf. also Bretschneider,

_op. cit._ ii. 225 _et seq._

[391] See _Tarikh-i-Rashidi_, Introduction, p. 37.

[392] The Calcutta text of the _Zafar-Nāmé_ of Sheref ud-Dīn `Alī

Yazdī, the famous biographer of Tīmūr, reads throughout _Karān_. S.

Lane-Poole, _op. cit._, gives the date of his accession as 744 (A.D.

1343),--upon what authority it is not clear. Price (following the

_Khulāsat ul-Akhbār_) is in agreement with the _Zafar-Nāmé_. We are,

moreover, expressly told that he ruled fourteen years, and died in 747.

[393] _Zafar-Nāmé_ (ed. Calcutta), i. p. 27.

[394] This took place in the plains round the village of _Dara-Zangi_

(_Zafar-Nāmé_, ii. p. 28).

[395] The third son of Chingiz, who had inherited the kingdom of

Mongolia proper.

[396] _Zafar-Nāmé_ (ed. Calcutta) reads Dānishmand Oghlān.

[397] Perhaps a corruption of the older form _Berūlās_.

[398] The modern Shahr-i-Sabz.

[399] Sheref ud-Dīn affirms that his love of wine was so inveterate

that he was not sober for a week in the whole year (_Zafar-Nāmé_

(Calcutta edition), i. p. 41).

[400] He was born in A.H. 730. In 748 he became Khān of Jatah; in 754

he was converted to Islām; in 764 he died. His history, and the story

of his conversion, is told at some length in the _Tarikh-i-Rashidi_,

pp. 5–23.

[401] Our readers will have traced for themselves the parallel afforded

by France, exhausted by the horrors of the Revolution at the outset of

Napoleon’s career.

[402] The sources for the biography of Tīmūr are plentiful. The

best known, both in the East and in Europe, is the _Zafar-Nāmé_, by

Sheref ud-Dīn `Alī, of Yezd. This was completed in 1424 by the order

of Ibrāhīm, the son of Shāh Rukh, the son of Tīmūr. It was first

translated into French in 1722 by M. Petis de la Croix, whose work

was in turn englished shortly afterwards. It is this history that has

served as a basis for all European historians, Gibbon included. There

is, however, an older biography of Tīmūr, which, owing to its scarcity,

is very little known. The only MS. in Europe is in the British Museum.

It, too, bears the title of _Zafar-Nāmé_, or _Book of Victory_. It was

compiled at Tīmūr’s own order by a certain Nizām Shāmī, and is brought

down to A.H. 806, _i.e._ one year before Tīmūr’s death. The MS. itself

bears the date of A.H. 838 (1434). Owing to the vast interest attaching

to such a contemporary account, Professor Denison Ross has undertaken

to prepare an edition of the text for the St. Petersburg Academy of

Sciences.

[403] He had gained the sobriquet “Leng” from a wound which caused him

to halt through life, inflicted during the siege of Sīstān (Wolff,

_Bokhara_, p. 243).

[404] For example, the names Jalā´ir, Berūlās, and Seldūz are those of

well-known Turkish tribes.

[405] According to the _Zafar-Nāmé_ of Sheref ud-Dīn `Alī Yazdi, and

other historians who follow him, Hāji Birlās was the uncle of Tīmūr.

The _Zafar-Nāmé_ of Nizām Shāmī, however, states that he was Tīmūr’s

brother.

[406] He was at this period about twenty-seven years of age, and had

served with some distinction under Amīr Kazghan (Wolff, _Bokhara_, p.

245).

[407] We refer the reader to Gibbon’s 65th chapter for a striking

account of Tīmūr’s wanderings in the desert, and to Petis de la Croix’s

translation of the _Zafar-Nāmé_ for Tīmūr’s thrilling adventures with

his friend Amīr Husayn.

[408] _Bokhara_, p. 244.

[409] The famous order of dervishes called _Nakshabandi_ was founded

in Tīmūr’s reign by a certain Khwāja Bahā ud-Dīn, who died in A.H. 791

(1388). The three saints held in reverence by the dervishes next after

him are Khwāja Ahrār (whose mausoleum is to be seen a few miles outside

Samarkand), Ishān Mahzūm Kāshāni, and Sūfi Allah Yār. It is a group of

members of this mendicant brotherhood which forms the subject of the

frontispiece to this work by M. Verestchagin. There are two other sects

of dervishes in Samarkand--(1) the _Kādiriyya_, whose founder was `Abd

el-Kādiri Gīlāni, and (2) the _Alf Tsāni_, an order whereof the founder

seems to be unknown, and which is sparsely represented.

[410] “He was of great stature, of an extraordinary large head, open

forehead, of a beautiful red and white complexion, and with long

hair--white from his birth, like Zal, the renowned hero of Persian

history. In his ears he wore two diamonds of great value. He was of

a serious and gloomy expression of countenance; an enemy to every

kind of joke or jest, but especially to falsehood, which he hated to

such a degree that he preferred a disagreeable truth to an agreeable

lie,--in this respect far different from the character of Alexander,

who put to death Clitus, his friend and companion in arms, as well as

the philosopher Callisthenes, for uttering disagreeable truths to him.

Tīmūr never relinquished his purpose or countermanded his order; never

regretted the past, nor rejoiced in the anticipation of the future;

he neither loved poets nor buffoons, but physicians, astronomers,

and lawyers, whom he frequently desired to carry on discussions in

his presence; but most particularly he loved those dervishes whose

fame of sanctity paved his way to victory by their blessing. His most

darling books were histories of wars and biographies of warriors and

other celebrated men. His learning was confined to the knowledge of

reading and writing, but he had such a retentive memory that whatever

he read or heard once he never forgot. He was only acquainted with

three languages--the Turkish, Persian, and Mongolian. The Arabic was

foreign to him. He preferred the Tora of Chingiz Khān to the Koran,

so that the Ulemas found it necessary to issue a Fetwa by which they

declared those to be infidels who preferred human laws to the divine.

He completed Chingiz Khān’s Tora by his own code, called Tuzukat,

which comprised the degrees and ranks of his officers. Without the

philosophy of Antonius or the pedantry of Constantine, his laws

exhibit a deep knowledge of military art and political science. Such

principles were imitated successfully by his successors, Shāh Baber and

the great Shāh Akbar, in Hindustān. The power of his civil as well as

military government consisted in a deep knowledge of other countries,

which he acquired by his interviews with travellers and dervishes,

so that he was fully acquainted with all the plans, manœuvres, and

political movements of foreign courts and armies. He himself despatched

travellers to various parts, who were ordered to lay before him the

maps and descriptions of other foreign countries” (Wolff’s _Bokhara_,

p. 243).

[411] Shāh Rukh was Tīmūr’s favourite son. He derived his name, which

means “King and Castle,” from a well-known move in chess, which royal

game was one of Tīmūr’s few amusements (Wolff’s _Bokhara_, p. 244).

[412] Cf. Price’s _Mohammedan History_, iii. 492, quoting the

_Khulāsat-ul-Akhbār_. As a fact, Pīr Mohammad only obtained the

government of Balkh, and was murdered in Kandahār in A.H. 809 (1406).

Cf. De Guignes, v. 79.

[413] Cf. De Guignes, v. 81.

[414] De Guignes, v. 81. Khalīl spent some years in Moghūlistan, but,

unable to bear a longer separation from Shād Mulk, joined her in Herāt.

Shāh Rukh gave him the government of Khorāsān, and he died the same

year (A.H. 812).

[415] His astronomical tables are amongst the most accurate and

complete that come down to us from Eastern sources. They treat of the

measurement of time, the course of the planets, and of the position of

fixed stars. The best editions are those printed in Latin in 1642–48 by

an Oxford professor named Greaves, and reprinted in 1767. The remains

of his celebrated observatory still crown the hill known as Chupān Ata

in an eastern suburb of Samarkand.

[416] Shāh Rukh’s authority, to judge by the coins which have come down

to us, extended nearly as far as his more celebrated father’s. We have

his superscription on the issues of mints as widely distant as Shīrāz,

Kaswīn, Sabzawār, Herāt, Kum, Shuster, and Astarābād.

[417] Vambéry’s _Bokhara_, p. 223.

[418] _Ibid._ p. 244.

[419] The young prince was born in 1483, the son of `Omar Shaykh

Mīrzā, whom he succeeded in the sovereignty of the eastern portion of

Tīmūr’s dominions. His conquest of India, and foundation of the Moghul

dynasty of Delhi, do not come within the scope of this work. He was

equally great in war, administration, and literature: perhaps the most

remarkable figure of his age.

[420] A.H. 903 (1497).

[421] An excellent table, showing the ramifications of the Tīmūrides,

will be found in vol. vii. of the _Mohammedan Coins of the British

Museum_.

[422] In the case of possessive pronouns and verbal inflexions, for

example, we find direct and obvious imitations of the Turkish grammar.

[423] The “Great Caan” of Marco Polo.

[424] Cf. Bretschneider, _op. cit._ ii. pp. 139, 140.

[425] Cf. Bretschneider, _loc. cit._

[426] _Idem._ Tūkā Tīmūr, from whom sprang the Khāns of the Crimea,

was the youngest son of Jūjī. Cf. Lane-Poole’s _Mohammedan Dynasties_,

p. 233. Tokhtamish, the inveterate foe of Tamerlane, belonged to the

Crimean branch of the Khāns of Dasht-i-Kipchāk. The Khānate of Kazan

was founded in 1439, on the remains of the Bulgarian Empire, by Ulugh

Mohammed of the same line.

[427] Bretschneider, _loc. cit._

[428] There seems some confusion on this point; I have followed

Veliaminof-Zernof, but Bretschneider does not call this movement

a migration of Uzbegs but a flight of the White Horde, whom he

says were expelled from their original seats by Abū-l-Khayr. Cf.

_Tarikh-i-Rashidi_, p. 82.

[429] The results of M. Veliaminof-Zernof’s careful researches into the

history of the Kazāks were published in three volumes of the _Memoirs

of the Eastern Branch of St. Petersburg Archæological Society_, under

the title of _The Emperors and Princes of the Line of Kasim_. He called

this dynasty the _Kasimovski_, after Kāsim Khān, the son of Jānībeg.

Cf. also Levshin’s _Description of the Hordes and Steppes of the

Kirghiz-Kazaks_, St. Petersburg, 1864. Mīrzā Haydar says: “The Kazāk

Sultans began to reign in A.H. 870 (1465), and continued to enjoy

absolute power in the greater part of Uzbegistān till the year A.H.

940” (1533). See _Tarikh-i-Rashidi_, p. 82.

[430] _Tarikh-i-Rashidi_, pp. 82 and 92.

[431] Thus according to both the _Tārikh-i-Tīmūrī_ and the

_Tārīkh-i-Abū-l-Khayr_, quoted by Howorth, _op. cit._ ii. 695.

[432] There is in the British Museum a silver coin of Shaybānī Khān,

dated A.H. 910: Merv.

[433] An account of this campaign will be found in the

_Tarikh-i-Rashidi_, p. 243 _et seq._ The account of the Emperor Bāber’s

doings at this period are all the more interesting and valuable from

the fact that in the famous _Memoirs of Baber_ a break occurs from the

year 1508 to the beginning of the year 1519; though an account is also

given in the _Tārīkh-i-Ālam-Ārāy_ of Mirza Sikandar, which was used by

Erskine in his _History of India_.

[434] _Lubb ut-Tawārīkh_, book III. pt. iii. chap. vi.

[435] Cf. Veliaminof-Zernof, _op. cit._ p. 247.

[436] _Tarikh-i-Rashidi_, p. 245.

[437] Cf. _Tarikh-i-Rashidi_, p. 259. Cf. also Veliaminof-Zernof (p.

353), who bases his statements on the _`Abdullah Nāmé_ of Hāfiz ibn

Tānish. Copies of this valuable work are very scarce. Its scope and

contents have been described (from a copy in the Imperial Academy in

St. Petersburg) by M. Veliaminof-Zernof. See _Mélanges Asiatiques de

St. Petersburg_, vol. iii. p. 258 _et seq._

[438] “The Seven Wells.” V.-Zernof reads Yati Kurūk, which might mean

“the Seven Walls.” The former reading seems more probable.

[439] On the locality of this place, cf. Vambéry’s _Bokhara_, p. 257.

[440] Cf. _Tarikh-i-Rashidi_, p. 260.

[441] Probably to be identified with Panjakand, in the Zarafshān

valley, forty miles east of Samarkand.

[442] Some distance north of Bokhārā.

[443] Cf. _Tarikh-i-Rashidi_, p. 261. Howorth (ii. 713) says

`Ubaydullah was in this fort.

[444] Mirza Haydar does hesitate to speak thus of the fortunes of his

own cousin Bāber, who had in his opinion sold himself to the heretic

Persians.

[445] As Grigorieff suggested, the name Abū-l-Khayride would fit this

dynasty far better than that of Shaybānide.

[446] “Bokharan and Khivan Coins,” a monograph published in the

_Memoirs of the Eastern Branch of the Russian Archæological Society_,

vol. iv., St. Petersburg, 1859. This excellent and original monograph

is extensively laid under contribution in the present chapter, as it

was also by Sir H. Howorth in his chapter on the Shaybānides, pt. ii.

div. ii. chap. ix.

[447] See note, p. 190.

[448] The _Tazkira Mukīm Khānī_, being a history of the appanage of

Bokhārā, makes no mention of Kuchunji, or Abū Sa`īd, who ruled in

Samarkand, though they both attained the position of Khākān. Cf.

_Histoire de la Grande Bokharie, par Mouhamed Joussouf el-Munshi_,

etc., par Senkovsky, St. Petersburg, 1824.

[449] Their names were--Abū Sa`īd, `Ubaydullah, `Abdullah I., `Abd

ul-Latīf, Nawrūz Ahmed, Pīr Mohammad, and Iskandar. All are described

at some length by Vambéry and Howorth, the latter basing his account on

a great variety of authorities.

[450] P. 284 _et seq._

[451] _Cat. Coins Brit. Mus._ vii.

[452] Cf. Howorth, ii. 876.

[453] Khwārazm had never properly belonged to Chaghatāy’s territories

in Transoxiana, and accordingly it is a common mint name on coinage of

the Golden Horde (_Cat. Orient. Coins Brit. Mus._ vii. p. 26).

[454] _Vide ante_, p. 169.

[455] His genealogy is very doubtful; but, according to the best

authorities, his ancestor was Jūjī Khān, one of the mighty conqueror’s

sons, who had predeceased him (note at p. 304 of Vambéry’s _History of

Bokhara_). Cf. Howorth’s _Mongols_, part ii. p. 744.

[456] Vambéry relates that when, in the great mosque of Bokhārā, the

public prayers were read for the first time for the new ruler, the

whole congregation burst into sobs and bitter tears (_History of

Bokhara_, p. 319).

[457] Vambéry, p. 323.

[458] This prince was famed throughout the East for his love of

letters. He was a poet of no mean skill, and an adept at prose

composition. His end was untimely. Enticed to give a private interview

to some of his brother Subhān Kulī Khān’s party, he was foully murdered

by them (Vambéry, P. 323).

[459] Vambéry tells us that he was a man of amazing corpulence; and

one of his historians avers that a child four years old could find

accommodation in one of his boots! (_History of Bokhara_, p. 325).

[460] Vambéry, _History of Bokhara_, p. 333.

[461] _History of Bokhara_, p. 339.

[462] Page 95, _History of Central Asia_, by `Abd ul-Kerīm Bokhārī;

translated into French by Charles Schefer, Paris, 1876.

[463] This throne was “so called from its having the figures of two

peacocks standing behind it, their tails being expanded, and the whole

so inlaid with sapphires, rubies, emeralds, pearls, and other precious

stones of appropriate colours as to represent life. The throne itself

was six feet long by four broad; it stood on six massive feet, which,

with the body, were of solid gold, inlaid with rubies, emeralds, and

diamonds. It was surmounted by a canopy of gold supported by twelve

pillars, all richly emblazoned with costly gems, and a fringe of

pearls ornamented the borders of the canopy. Between the two peacocks

stood the figure of a parrot of the ordinary size, said to have been

carved out of a single emerald. On either side of the throne stood an

umbrella, one of the Oriental emblems of royalty. They were formed

of crimson velvet, richly embroidered and fringed with pearls. The

handles were eight feet high, of solid gold and studded with diamonds.

The cost of this superb work of art has been variously stated at sums

varying from one to six millions sterling. It was planned and executed

under the supervision of Austin de Bordeaux, already mentioned as

the artist who executed the Mosaic work in the Ám Khás” (Beresford’s

_Delhi_, quoted by Mr. H. G. Keene at p. 20 of the third edition of his

_Handbook for Visitors to Delhi_, Calcutta, 1876). Tavernier, who was

himself a jeweller, and visited India in 1665, valued this piece of

extravagance at two hundred million of livres, £8,000,000; Jonas Hanway

estimated it as worth, with nine other thrones, £11,250,000 (_Travels_,

ii. 383). It stood on a white marble plinth, on which are still to be

deciphered the world-renowned motto in flowing Persian characters: “If

there be a paradise on earth, it is even this, even this, even this.”

_Agar Fardawsi ba ruyi zamīn ast:

Hamīn ast, hamīn ast, hamīn ast._

[464] `Abd ul-Kerīm Bokhārī, p. 106.

[465] Vambéry gives the date of this _coup d’état_ as 1737 (p. 343);

but `Abd ul-Kerīm Bokhārī makes it follow the assassination of Nādir

Shāh, the epoch of which is not open to question (p. 110). The dates of

events of the eighteenth century in Bokhārā are strangely uncertain,

contemporary chroniclers rarely deigning to aid posterity by recording

them.

[466] “Bi” is an Uzbeg word meaning “judge.” It is not spelt “bai,” nor

does it mean “superior grey-beard,” as M. Vambéry supposes (_History of

Bokhara_, p. 347).

[467] There are many versions of the death of `Abd ul-Mū`min. The most

probable is that related by `Abd ul-Kerīm of Bokhārā, at p. 115, which

is to the effect that Rahīm Bi had the young prince taken by his own

followers on a pleasure-party, and then pushed into a well while he was

dreamily peering into its depths.

[468] This is the highest degree in the Bokhārān official hierarchy

(see Khanikoff’s _Bokhara: its Amir and People_, p. 239; Meyendorff’s

_Voyage à Bokhara_, p. 259).

[469] Note at p. 120 of Schefer’s edition of `Abd ul-Kerīm Chronicles.

[470] See note at p. 135, _ibid._ The editor corrects an obvious

_lapsus calami_,--A.H. 1148 for 1184.

[471] With characteristic Pharisaism, `Abd ul-Kerīm tells us that “fear

and terror fell upon Ma´sūm’s brethren, even as they had possessed the

brethren of Joseph. He set himself to repress their iniquities, and had

their accomplices in crime put to death. He suppressed prostitution,

and tolerated no disorders condemned by law. Bokhārā became the image

of Paradise!” (p. 125).

[472] `Abd ul-Kerīm, p. 132.

[473] His mother belonged to the noble Salor tribe, _ibid._

[474] `Abd ul-Kerīm, p. 137. For descriptions of ancient Merv the

reader is referred to vol. v. _Dictionnaire géographique de la Perse_,

by C. Barbier de Meynard, p. 526; Burnes’ _Travels into Bokhara_,

London, 1834; Khanikoff’s _Mémoire sur la partie Méridionale de l’Asie

Centrale_, pp. 53, 57, 113, and 128; and Prof. Shukovski’s exhaustive

work referred to on p. 144--note 3, _supra_.

[475] `Abd ul-Kerīm assures us that this prince was the Plato of the

century, a man full of wisdom and knowledge (p. 135).

[476] `Abd ul-Kerīm tells us that the number of families then deported

was 17,000, which would give a total of about 85,000 individuals (p.

142).

[477] Vambéry, _History of Bokhara_, p. 354.

[478] `Abd ul-Kerīm (p. 151) gives the date as Friday, 14th Rajab A.H.

1214. Vambéry is apparently in error in placing it as 1802 (p. 360).

[479] P. 151.

[480] See Meyendorff’s _Voyage d’Orenbourg à Boukhara en 1820_, p. 281;

_Bokhara: its Amir and People_, by Khanikoff, p. 248; Vambéry, _History

of Bokhara_, p. 360.

[481] Amīr Haydar was the first of the present dynasty to assume the

title of Pādishāh.

[482] `Abd ul-Kerīm, pp. 154–156. Vambéry gives a different version

(_History of Bokhara_, p. 462), but we prefer to follow the native

chronicler, who held high diplomatic posts in Bokhārā at the

commencement of the century, and may be presumed to have had personal

knowledge of the events which he records (see M. Charles Schefer’s

Introduction to his Chronicle, p. iii).

[483] `Abd ul-Kerīm, pp. 163, 164.

[484] “He always has four legitimate wives: when he wishes to espouse

a new wife he divorces one of her predecessors, giving her a house and

pension corresponding with her condition. Every month he receives a

young virgin, either as wife or slave. He marries the slaves who have

not given him children, either to priests or soldiers” (`Abd ul-Kerīm,

p. 163).

[485] _History of Bokhara_, p. 365. A long chapter is devoted to Amīr

Nasrullah by Sir H. Howorth. See his _History of the Mongols_, part ii.

pp. 790–809.

[486] “General of artillery.”

[487] Khanikoff, _Bokhara_, p. 296.

[488] The Kushbegi was vehemently suspected of removing him by poison

(Khanikoff, p. 298).

[489] About four shillings.

[490] Khanikoff, p. 301.

[491] _1 Vambéry, p. 366._

[492] Wolff, _Bokhara_, p. 232.

[493] Khanikoff, _Bokhara_, p. 304.

[494] Wolff, _Bokhara_, p. 233.

[495] _Ibid._ p. 233.

[496] Wolff, p. 181.

[497] _Ibid._ p. 232.

[498] “Sed periit postquam cerdonibus esse timenduæs Cœperat” (Sat. IV.

153).

[499] Wolff, p. 248.

[500] Vambéry, p. 372.

[501] Khanikoff, p. 306; Wolff, p. 152, _et passim_.

[502] Vambéry, p. 373.

[503] Under `Abd us-Samad’s advice he had organised a corps of soldiers

who were drilled and accoutred in the European fashion.

[504] Khanikoff, p. 313.

[505] _Ibid._ p. 314. Wolff adds that the unfortunate Khān’s pregnant

wife was also butchered (_Bokhara_, p. 232).

[506] He published an interesting account of his wanderings in his

_Travels into Bokhara, being an account of a Journey from India to

Cabool, Tartary, and Persia in 1831–33_. London, 1834–39.

[507] Wolff, p. 176. It appears that he drew his sword on the court

official charged with the duty of presenting him to His Majesty.

[508] “He delights to hear that people tremble at his name, and laughs

with violence when he hears of their apprehensions” (Wolff, p. 233).

[509] The first regular Russian embassy to Bokhārā was that of M. Regni

in 1820, which was described by Colonel Baron Meyendorff in his _Voyage

d’Orenbourg à Boukhara_, Paris, 1826. The Russian reply to Burnes’

mission were those of Desmaison in 1834, and of Vitkovich in the

following year (Vambéry, p. 380).

[510] The issue of our first attempt to meddle in the affairs of

Afghanistān is too well known for recapitulation. The British forces

left Kābul on January 1842 on their homeward march, and, out of 16,500

troops and camp followers, only one man lived to carry the news of

disaster to Jalālābād. See Kaye’s _History of the War in Afghanistan_,

1851.

[511] Nasrullah was tormented by remorse to his dying day. He told

the Shaykh ul-Islām of Bokhārā that “he had given himself a terrible

wound by having killed Stoddart and Conolly.” And the chief-justice

assured Wolff that the Amīr had more than once exclaimed, “The wounds

of my heart, for having slain these English people, will never heal!”

(Wolff’s _Bokhara_, pp. 176, 233). Even this black heart had one white

spot. But we must not judge a bad man by the good he may do on impulse,

nor a good one by the evil which alloys the finest nature.

[512] Wolff, _Bokhara_, p. 231. It is not exhaustive, for Vambéry (p.

389) mentions a poor Italian watchmaker named Giovanni Orlando as one

of Nasrullah’s victims. Wolff’s work is disfigured by its author’s

eccentricities, and is deficient in information of value as to the

manners and economy of the country. But his courage and self-devotion

are beyond all praise.

[513] Vambéry, p. 391. The date which he gives tentatively, 1840, is

certainly wrong: had it occurred then, details would have appeared in

the works of Wolff and Khanikoff. H. Moser, who twice visited Bokhārā

during his reign, says that he lived in idleness till his father’s

death, the date of which he inexplicably states to have been 1842 (_A

Travers l’Asie Centrale_, p. 156).

[514] Vambéry, p. 391.

[515] H. Moser, p. 156.

[516] It was regarded in Central Asia as a bird of ill omen, and

nicknamed _Kara-Kush_, “black bird” (Vambéry, p. 394).

[517] The Kipchāks are a race of Turkish origin, who, according

to Howorth (_History of the Mongols_, part ii.), settled on the

south-eastern Russian steppes, in the tenth and eleventh centuries.

They afterwards split up into hordes, the “Golden” and the “Eastern,”

but were united under Tīmūr’s great antagonist, Tokhtamish Khān. When

his power was shattered the Kipchāks dispersed over Central Asia, and

large numbers found their way to Kokand, then styled by its present

name, Farghāna.

[518] Vambéry, p. 395.

[519] H. Moser, _A Travers l’Asie Centrale_, p. 156.

[520] Born at Pelusum in Egypt, A.D. 70, and flourished under M.

Antoninus and Hadrian.

[521] Our authority here is Jornandes, more properly styled Jordanes,

who lived at Byzantium under Justinian II. His work, _De Gothorum

Origine et Rebus Gestis_, is to be found in Muratori’s _Rerum

Italicarum Scriptores ab Anno 500 ad 1500_, 27 vols. folio.

[522] The Grand Dukes of Mecklenburg claim a Wendish origin, and are

officially styled “Princes of the Wends.”

[523] Slav, originally Slovene or Slovane, was, according to

Miklositch, _Vergleichende Grammatik den Slavischen Sprachen_ (Vienna,

1879), the tribal name of one of several Aryan clans, whose settlements

stretched from the Arctic Ocean to the Ægæan Sea, from Kamskatka to the

Elbe.

[524] “God” in Sanskrit is Bhagvan. Siva was the devoted wife of the

demigod Rama, who is worshipped by Hindus with a fervour like that

inspired by the Virgin Mary in Catholic lands.

[525] They were judges rather than jurymen of the British type. Their

number was twelve, half of whom were chosen by the plaintiff and half

by the defendant. See Stubbs’ _Constitutional History_, chap. xiii.

[526] Other writers give Cherson as the scene of this historic rite.

Vladimir wears a halo in monkish legend, and is commonly styled the

Saint, or the Great.

[527] According to Ujfalvy, the Mongols were leading a peaceful and

patriarchal life round Lake Baikal in the second century before our

era. Richthofen thinks that the primitive land of the Turks was not in

the Altaï Mountains, as their legends would have it, but rather in the

country below the Anan, the Lena, and the Seleuga (_Les Aryens_ (Paris,

1896), p. 25).

[528] Khwārazm, an old Persian word said to mean “eastwards,” comprises

the embouchure of the Sir Daryā, and is now known as Khiva.

[529] “Horde” is derived from the Old Turkish _Urdu_, meaning

encampment. Hence Urdu, the _lingua franca_ evolved in the progresses

which the Mongolian emperors of India used to make yearly throughout

the peninsula. The people of Samarkand still call the citadel _Urda_,

“the encampment.”

[530] _A Historical Sketch of Russian Policy in Central Asia_, by

Professor V. Grigorieff; Schuyler’s _Turkestan_, App. IV. vol. ii. p.

391.

[531] For further details consult Howorth’s _Mongols_, pt. ii. div. i.

p. 507.

[532] _Russia in Central Asia_, by Hugo Stumm, pp. 2, 3; _En Asie

Centrale_, by N. Ney, p. 203.

[533] The Cossacks have never been able to shake off the stigma

imprinted by this dire necessity. They are still called “Man-eaters” in

many parts of Central Asia.

[534] _En Asie Centrale_, by N. Ney, pp. 203–5.

[535] Stumm, p. 5.

[536] Tradition has it that the Khān retaliated by tearing in pieces a

letter, subsequently received from Peter, and giving it to his children

to play with (_Peter the Great_, by Oscar Browning, p. 323).

[537] The Kirghiz affirm that they were divided into three Hordes by an

ancient chieftain named Alash. The Great Horde wander over Chinese and

Russian Turkestān, near Lake Balkash; the Middle occupy the northern

and eastern shores of the Sea of Aral; the Little Horde, now more

numerous than the others combined, feed their flocks between the Tobol

and the Aral Sea. An interesting account is given by Stumm of their

manners and character. See _Russia in Central Asia_, pp. 227–34.

[538] Stumm, pp. 20, 21.

[539] Meyendorf, _Voyage d’Orenburg à Boukhara_, p. 285.

[540] For a detailed account of the Khivan expedition, see Hugo Stumm’s

_Russia in Central Asia_, chap. ii. p. 26.

[541] It is well known that the Tsar Nicholas, on learning the

disasters suffered by the allied forces during the terrible Crimean

winter of 1854–55, complacently remarked that there were two generals

who fought for Russia--Generals January and February.

[542] Stumm, p. 50.

[543] See Appendix.

[544] The Cossacks numbered only 104, under Sub-Lieutenant Saroff. They

made a zariba of their horses’ bodies, and, after repelling incessant

attacks for two days, they cut a path through the dense masses of their

foes, and joined a relief column from Turkestān. Only nine escaped

unwounded, and the killed numbered fifty-seven. Such actions abound in

modern Central Asian annals, and they are as glorious as any performed

by our own brave troops in India (Ney, p. 213).

[545] Ney, p. 214.

[546] Ney, _En Asie Centrale_, p. 214. Stumm asserts that the Bokhāran

Amīr made the exiled Khān named Khudā Yār his Bey, or governor of

Kokand (_The Russians in Central Asia_, p. 57).

[547] The chief was Colonel Von Struve, who afterwards attended

Kauffman in a diplomatic capacity during his campaign against Khiva in

1873, and, at a later period of his career, was envoy of Japan. Among

the other members was Colonel Glukhovsky, who was an ardent pioneer for

Russia in these little-known tracts (see Schuyler’s _Turkestan_, ii.

354, 386), and published an interesting account of his mission in the

Paris Geographical Society’s _Bulletin_ for September 1868.

[548] This illustrious soldier never regained imperial favour, and died

almost unnoticed in August 1898.

[549] See Schuyler’s _Turkestan_, i. 312.

[550] It is to be found _in extenso_ in the _Journal de St. Petersburg_

of 16th July 1867.

[551] 500,000 roubles; equivalent to about £53,000. This ultimatum is

omitted in Vambéry’s admirable description of the Samarkand campaign

in the _Monatsschrift für deutsche Litteratur_, 1896. He alleges

that Kauffman ignored the Amīr’s embassies, and fell unexpectedly on

Samarkand when the preparation for the campaign was complete.

[552] Schuyler denies that this affair was really a battle. Judged by

his standard, Plassey was a mere skirmish. The two battles closely

resemble one another. See his _Turkestan_, i. 242.

[553] Sarts, as we shall presently see, is the Russian term for the

sedentary inhabitants of Central Asia.

[554] Schuyler denies that the attack on a small isolated garrison was

an act of treachery. It may not have been so on the part of the people

of Shahrisabz; but the inhabitants of Samarkand were undoubtedly guilty

of the basest dissimulation in welcoming the Russians and then secretly

conspiring their destruction (_Turkestan_, i. 246).

[555] This is now a Russian cantonment.

[556] Quoted by Ney, _En Asie Centrale_, p. 221.

[557] Hugo Stumm, _Russia in Central Asia_, p. 104.

[558] The best account is one compiled by the Russian staff,--_The

Khivan Campaign_, St. Petersburg, 1873.

[559] Schuyler, who visited the capital just before the annexation,

mentions that 500 prisoners taken in one of these emeutes had their

throats cut in the bazaar, which literally streamed with blood

(_Turkestan_, ii. 16).

[560] Moser, _A Travers l’Asie Centrale_, p. 314.

[561] Moser, _A Travers l’Asie Centrale_, p. 298.

[562] The desert wells are termed _urpa_ when shallow, and _kuduk_ or

_kuyu_ when they are deep and afford a constant supply. The only sign

of their existence is the tracks converging on them from every quarter.

They are mere holes, without kerb or fencing, and the sides are roughly

shored up by the branches of desert shrubs (_ibid._ p. 299).

[563] “In the Turkoman Desert is a species of antelope almost as

numerous as the wild ass. It is smaller than a sheep, which it

resembles in body, neck, and head, and has the delicate limbs, horns,

and hair of the antelope; the horn, however, is not opaque but white,

and like a cow’s horn. The nostrils are directly in front, and are

closed by a muscle acting vertically. The nose is greatly arched, and

provided with an integument which can be inflated at pleasure. The head

is extremely ugly. The animal ... is called by the natives _kaigh_”

(Abbott, _Narrative of a Journey to Khiva_, 1856).

[564] Moser, p. 309. The Kārakūm is the portion of the Turkoman Desert

lying between Khiva and the Akkal and Merv oases.

[565] “Our path lay through fields and natural meadows of the richest

verdure, among groves of oak clothed in young leaves of the most

delicate hues, broken into glades and lawns of velvet” (_Narrative of

a Journey through Khorasan in the Years 1821–1822_, by James Baillie

Fraser; London, 1825).

[566] M. P. Lessar, whose knowledge of Central Asian geography is

profound, affirms that the Paropamisus, as the range was anciently

called, offers no difficulty to the engineer. The summit is reached by

an almost imperceptible incline. In fact, the traveller crosses the

range almost without perceiving that he has done so.

[567] Vambéry, in a lecture delivered in London on 10th April 1880.

[568] See Rawlinson’s _History of Parthia_, 1873.

[569] _Travels in Bokhārā_, 1834.

[570] Kibitka is the Russian term for the nomads’ tent. It is composed

of portable felt carpets secured by strips of raw hide to a circular

collapsible wooden frame. An old tent, black with age and smoke, is

called by the Turkomans “kara ev”; a new one, still whitish-grey, “ak

ev.” The kibitka is the Russian administrative unit, and is supposed

to connote five inhabitants. A group of kibitkas ranging between

twenty-five and fifty is called _aul_, “portable village.”

[571] The subsequent history of this once powerful tribe is a curious

example of the process of agglomeration which raised the Tekkes to

supremacy. In 1871 the remnant of the Salors were forcibly deported

by the former tribe to Merv, and incorporated with themselves.

Petrusevitch, quoted by Marvin (_Merv_, p. 80).

[572] O’Donovan, who visited these works in 1880, describes them as

follows: “For twenty yards on either side the river-bank was revetted

with stout fascines of giant reeds, solidly lashed to stakes planted on

the bank to prevent the friction of the current, as it neared the dam,

from washing away the earth surface. Huge masses of earthwork closed

the narrow gorge by which the stream found exit in the lower level by

a passage scarce ten feet wide. The waters rushed thunderously through

this narrow gap to a level eight feet below their upper surface. The

passage was some fifty yards in length, and, like its approaches, was

lined with reed fascines” (_The Story of Merv_, p. 210). Petrusevitch

states that the repairs of distributories were provided for by the

labour of a contingent of one man in every twenty-four families

(Marvin’s _Merv_, p. 80).

[573] O’Donovan saw them in 1881. One was an eighteen, the others

six-pounders; all were bronze smooth-bores (_The Story of Merv_, p.

198).

[574] Petrusevitch, quoted by Marvin, _Merv_, p. 81.

[575] Grodekoff found the burial-places full of murdered victims, the

villages in ruins, and the fields out of cultivation (Marvin’s _Merv_,

p. 207).

[576] O’Donovan, p. 182; Moser, p. 319.

[577] Petrusevitch, quoted by Marvin, pp. 82, 83. For an enumeration of

the Turkoman clans the reader is referred to Marvin’s _Merv_, which is

a mosaic of quotations from writers of different value. Petrusevitch is

by far the most trustworthy.

[578] “Residence among these lawless tribes convinces me more than ever

that there cannot be a worse despotism than the despotism of a mob.

There is nothing, in my eyes, more pregnant with fatal consequences

than the sway and power of an ignorant and uncivilised multitude

governed by no other motives than its own maddening impulses” (Wolff’s

_Bokhara_, p. 262).

[579] O’Donovan, _Story of Merv_, p. 220.

[580] Nūr Verdi Khān was one of those exceptional men, to be found in

widely divergent societies, who acquire the commanding influence which

all strong personalities must attain. His death, at the comparatively

early age of fifty, just before the Russian invasion, was the

death-knell of Tekke independence (Moser, p. 319).

[581] Wolff found a “Calipha,” or high priest, named `Abd er-Rahmān

enjoying great influence at Merv in 1843. This was another case of

force of character leading to the attainment of greatness (_Bokhara_,

pp. 114, 115).

[582] _Sardār_ is a Persian word signifying “head-man.” Tokma Sardār,

who had commanded the garrison of Geok Teppe during the memorable siege

by the Russians, visited O’Donovan at Merv soon after that event. “He

was slightly under middle height, very quiet, almost subdued in manner,

his small grey eyes lighting up with a humorous twinkle” (_The Story of

Merv_, p. 178).

[583] The weapons were a long flintlock, laboriously loaded with the

contents of a powder-horn and leather bullet bag, but the Tekke trusted

chiefly to his sabre and a long murderous dagger, called _pshak_

(Moser, p. 296).

[584] Moser, p. 324.

[585] _Ibid._ p. 300.

[586] Moser, p. 247.

[587] _Ibid._ p. 320.

[588] _Ibid._; also O’Donovan, p. 298.

[589] O’Donovan, p. 297. The training consisted in a gradual reduction

of the rations of food and water. Dry lucern gave place to chopped

straw; barley and juwārī (_sorghum_), to a mixture of flour and

matter-fat.

[590] Moser, p. 322. It is remarkable that the Tekke seat is precisely

the same as that in use among the nomads of the Mongolian plateau

north of the Great Wall, who, according to Mr. E. H. Parker in a

letter addressed to the _Pall Mall Gazette_, “always ride with very

short stirrups, the knee bent forward almost to the withers, the reins

grasped short, and (when there is any speed) the body well over the

horse’s neck. Possibly this is the reason why the Mongol saddle always

has a high peak, for it prevents the rider being chucked over the

horse’s neck.” This method is also identical with that adopted by the

jockey Tod Sloan.

[591] The felt blankets were worked by the cavaliers’ women-folk. “The

finer the courser’s felt,” ran a Turkoman proverb, “the greater the

love of the maker for the horseman” (Moser, p. 331).

[592] Moser, p. 274.

[593] _Ibid._ p. 319.

[594] See chapter iv. of Marvin’s _Merv_, which is a translation of

Petrusevitch’s account of the Turkomans.

[595] “The eyes of a cat, with the extremity raised towards the temple”

(Ney, _En Asie Centrale_, p. 193).

[596] A Turkoman, while travelling in the desert with Wolff, said, “I

smell a caravan of Uzbegs”; and in a few hours one was met with. They

can hear conversation at a great distance by flinging themselves on the

ground and listening intently (Wolff, _Bokhara_, p. 242). They can name

the tribe and even the individual cavalier by his traces on the sand

(Moser, p. 300).

[597] “The Tekke is the only woman in Central Asia who knows how to

walk. Nothing is more graceful than a girl of this race going to fetch

water from a well and carrying the tall amphora on her shoulder.”

(Moser, p. 330).

[598] O’Donovan, p. 193.

[599] Moser, p. 330.

[600] O’Donovan, p. 254.

[601] It is generally admitted that these rules are slowly evolved by

the community to which the individual who adopts them belongs. There

are some still amongst us who looked with complacency at the cruelties

once perpetrated in this Christian country in the name of justice. We

see our own manners at earlier stages of our growth reflected in those

of contemporary savages.

[602] Pilaw, a dish which has now spread over the Eastern world, had

its origin in Central Asia. It is a stew composed of hot mutton-fat

into which meat has been shredded, carrots and rice, and, cooked as

only a Turkoman knows how to prepare it, is a dish fit for a royal

table.

[603] Moser, p. 332.

[604] The efforts of Tekke musicians can only be described as

grotesque. They perform on long bamboo trumpets, called _twidak_, with

an accompaniment of bowings and contortions which is in ridiculous

contrast to the bird-like notes emitted.

[605] No Turkoman troubled his head about the ordinary business of

life after fifty. His work was then done by the women and younger men;

and his attitude was one of ease with dignity. In raids, however, and

warfare, he was always ready to take an active part up to an advanced

age (O’Donovan, p. 306).

[606] O’Donovan, pp. 307, 308; Moser, pp. 330, 331.

[607] A small mat costs £40, and a work of larger size sometimes as

much as £400 (Moser, p. 331). The ordinary kinds were made of sheep’s

wool and camel’s hair, with a little cotton; the better, wholly of

silk. O’Donovan saw one, eight feet square, priced at £50 (p. 308).

Carpets of the highest quality are now not procurable. They are

cherished as heirlooms, and all are essential parts of a Turkoman

maiden’s dowry. Those of the second grade, but coloured with honest

native dyes, fetch 13s. a square yard.

[608] Marvin, quoting Vambéry and Conolly, mentions more ancient

forms of marriage customs--the simulated abduction of the bride and

the pursuit of her on horseback. These, however, are obsolete. For

a considerable time after the fall of Geok Teppe the price of Tekke

spouses sank to a low ebb, owing to the fearful slaughter of eligible

males.

[609] The Merv oasis is a wedge driven between Persia and Afghanistān.

Meshed is only 150 miles from the centre, Herāt about 240; and the

Paropamisus range which intervenes was no deterrent in the eyes of

Tekke horsemen.

[610] According to the agents employed by a London relief committee,

a fifth of the population perished (Petrusevitch, quoted by Marvin,

_Merv_, p. 326).

[611] Petrusevitch, quoted by Marvin, _Merv_, p. 321.

[612] Astrabad Consular Report for 1879.

[613] Provisory Ordinance of the 21st March 1874, quoted by Ney, p. 225.

[614] Ney, p. 225.

[615] In 1875 a caravan, fitted out by the energetic Colonel

Glukhovsky, was destroyed between Krasnovodsk and Khiva. In 1877 the

Turkomans looted one proceeding northwards from the Atrak; and a

little later they cut up, near Krasnovodsk, some of their brethren

who had accepted Russian rule, and intercepted many postal couriers

(Petrusevitch, quoted by Marvin, _Merv_, p. 331).

[616] Ney, p. 226. It is now the site of a great railway workshop.

[617] In 1878, when Russia was within an ace of going to war with

England on the Eastern question, it was arranged that columns from

Turkestān and the Caspian should meet at Merv and subdue that almost

unknown region; but the Congress of Berlin rendered the measure

unnecessary (Ney, p. 227).

[618] Geok Teppe, which will for ever be associated with the final

struggle for independence, is the name of a district; Dangil Teppe,

that of the famous entrenched camp. It was originally that of a mound

at the north-western angle.

[619] Ney, p. 240.

[620] Skobeleff was in politics an Anglophobe, though his relations

with our countrymen individually were cordial. There is not an iota of

truth in his belief that Lomakin’s failure was due to British intrigue.

It is fully accounted for by his incapacity. The result was only what

might have been expected. Russian authority in Central Asia was ill

cemented, and it needed but the news of a crushing reverse to produce

the wildest hopes in the Khānates.

[621] He was born in 1841.

[622] General Lomakin started from his base with 12,000 camels, and had

lost the whole of them by the twentieth day of his march (Ney, p. 315).

[623] He wrote from Krasnovodsk in June: “If we wish to recoup our

immense expenditure in Asia we must popularise the desert journey

between the Caspian and the basin of the Amū Daryā; and, after

rendering the steppes safe for transit, we must make a railway to

Askabad and on to the Amū Daryā” (Ney, p. 286).

[624] Moser, p. 315.

[625] According to the official accounts, the artillery taken by the

Turkomans included six mountain guns and three mortars, two of which

were actually dragged within the entrenchment. General Kurapatkine,

however, has stated the number of cannon captured by the Tekkes as

fourteen. All of them, save one, were recaptured by the reserves. The

fourteenth remained in the enemy’s hands until the final assault, when

it was retaken, decked with green boughs, and paraded through the

lines, accompanied by music and the frantic cheers of the troops.

[626] Skobeleff relates that, during one of his nightly rounds, he

heard a private soldier remark to another that the Russians were at

a great disadvantage, for they were huddled in the trenches, while

the enemy hacked and stabbed them from above. He suggested that the

trenches should be left empty, and the troops be posted ten paces

to the rear. The hint was acted on with brilliant results, for the

Turkomans on the following night sallied out in force and leapt into

the trenches, where they were shot and bayoneted with ease (Moser, p.

315).

[627] He was much impressed by the punctilio with which the Tekkes

had observed an armistice agreed on for the purpose of burying the

dead on the 19th January. Skobeleff’s appreciation of the really

noble qualities elicited by severe trial is shared by General

Kurapatkine, who humorously alludes to Tokma Sardār, the commander of

the entrenchment, as _mon vainqueur_, and styles him _un magnifique

soldat_. An account of a visit paid by this leader to O’Donovan shortly

after the siege will be found at p. 274.

[628] _The Story of Merv_, p. 155.

[629] The official list admits only 937 casualties during the siege,

including 268 killed (Marvin, _Merv_, p. 401). An iron tablet on a

white-washed mound in the little cemetery behind the site of the

Russian camp substantiates these figures, but the extent of the three

burial-places which lie to the east of the entrenchment, including

separate ones for the Cossacks and the Stavropol Regiment, would imply

a much greater sacrifice of life. General Kurapatkine states the total

casualties to have been 1200, including 400 killed. The Russians in

Central Asia have adopted Napoleon’s system of minimising losses.

[630] Telegram quoted by Marvin, p. 399.

[631] Ney, p. 249.

[632] Moser, p. 343.

[633] See Moser, p. 344. M. Paul Lessar, who was charged by the Russian

authorities with the duty of surveying the debatable land in 1884,

was the first to dissipate the “Paropamisus myth,” which made these

insignificant hills an impenetrable barrier to the passage of troops.

[634] The meaning of Bādghīs is “windy.” It was suggested by the storms

which sweep over the plateau in winter.

[635] Moser, p. 345.

[636] This very distinguished officer had been educated at the

Petersburg Military Academy. He had seen much service in the Caucasus,

when he had been governor of Southern Dāghistan, and afterwards of

Darbend. He had gained eminence in the fields of archaeology and

ethnology. As an administrator he was equally successful; and Askabad,

the present capital of Transcaspia, owes much to his genius.

[637] It was composed of four companies of Transcaspian Chasseurs,

three squadrons of Cossacks from the Kuban, one of Turkoman militia,

and four guns (Ney, p. 252, note).

[638] Four of them now adorn a monument on the Askabad parade-ground

commemorating Geok Teppe.

[639] The Englishmen were particularly struck by the eagerness shown by

their rivals to support the national sports of the nomads, the liberal

prizes awarded and the careful observance of ceremony in their official

intercourse with Asiatics,--a policy which inspired the latter with a

sense of their liberality and power. This is an attitude which would

do much to consolidate our own power in India (_Report of the Pamirs

Boundary Commission_).

[640] The late Major-General L. M. Annenkoff was then in the prime

of life. He had won his spurs as a railway engineer by the rapid

construction of a strategic line in Lithuania, and was afterwards

appointed chief of the mobilisation department in the Ministry of

War. At the outbreak of the Tekke campaign he volunteered for service

under General Skobeleff, and was wounded at Geok Teppe. On returning

to Russia he was appointed superintendent of transport throughout the

empire (Ney, _En Asie Centrale_, p. 283).

[641] The rails were steel, flat-footed, weighing 68 pounds to the

yard, and cost £16 a ton. The sleepers came from the Baltic and

Caucasus. The rolling stock consisted of 80 locomotives on the Siegl

system, and 1400 cars and waggons. Everything was produced in Russian

workshops.

[642] They earned rather less than £2 per mensem. They were allowed

to work in their own fashion, just as if they were repairing their

_arīks_, or irrigation canals. It is said that in India, when the

contractors insisted on the use of wheelbarrows, the native labourers

carried the vehicles and their contents on their heads.

[643] Ney, p. 321.

[644] It cost 6½ d. per cubic yard.

[645] The moral effect produced by the spanning of the Amū Daryā was

immense and far reaching. General Annenkoff told the members of the St.

Petersburg Technical Society that when the first locomotive, draped

with the imperial flag, crossed the river, loud cheers echoed from the

hosts that lined the banks (Ney, p. 304).

[646] It is interesting to compare the cost of the Russian Asiatic

railways with that of Indian lines constructed under similar

conditions. It averaged £6144 per mile. The report of the Director

of Indian Railways for 1872–1873 gives that of the earlier lines as

£18,000 to £20,000. It is probable that the cost of the three railway

battalions has not been taken into account. But, allowing for that

item, we must admit that the Russian railways were far cheaper than our

Indian trunk lines.

[647] Ney, p. 305.

[648] The following statistics for 1897 have been furnished by Colonel

Brunelli, the much respected commandant of the railway battalion

stationed at Merv:--

Revenue, gross £751,000

” nett 615,000

Train mileage 2,402,625

_Exports._

Raw cotton 81,000 tons

Wool 8,000 ”

Dried fruit 5,000 ”

Barley 2,000 ”

Skins and hides 5,000 ”

Salt 3,000 ”

Miscellaneous 5,000 ”

------------

Grand total 109,000 tons

============

_Imports._

Manufactures 15,000 tons

Sugar 12,000 ”

Tea 6,192,000 lbs.

Metals 5,000 tons

Kerosene oil 5,000 ”

Wool 8,000 ”

Miscellaneous,

including tan,

naphtha, rice,

spices, wine,

brandy, beer,

and thread 22,000 ”

-----------

Grand total 70,000 tons

===========

Intermediate traffic 70,000 tons

Total movement of goods 249,000 ”

[649] Phasis, Φᾶσις, a river of Colchis emptying itself into the

Euxine. Its banks are clothed with forests whence pheasants were

brought to delight Roman epicures (Mart. Ep. xiii. 45, 72).

[650] See an interesting paper read before the London Chamber of

Commerce in 1866, by Colonel C. Stewart, C. B., H. B. M. Consul-General

at Odessa. Sir W. W. Hunter, K.C.S.I., the brilliant historian of

India, has also pointed out the striking correspondence between the

former paths of trade and those mapped out by Russian engineers. It

is, he explains, a question of correspondence rather than identity of

work, but the section between the Black Sea and the Caspian follows the

ancient ways very closely (_History of British India_, p. 32).

[651] Extensive additions to the station accommodation and rolling

stock are contemplated. Estimates have received sanction which place

the cost at two millions sterling. The question will shortly be studied

by a committee of experts.

[652] An officer in command of the post at Kushk told one of the

writers that the friendliest relations prevailed between the Russians

and Afghans. On one occasion the staff of the Amīr’s Regiment, invited

to a banquet by their brethren in arms, arrived in a _grande tenue_ of

second-hand railway uniforms. Thus the colonel’s collar exhibited the

magic words “Ticket collector,” and a major strutted proudly with a

label of “Guard.” The Russians were under the impression that a portion

of our ally’s subsidy was taken out in cast-off accoutrements, but the

fact is that His Highness, being a prince of frugal mind, is a bidder

by proxy at the periodical sales of unserviceable railway stores held

in Upper India.

[653] M. P. Lessar, who surveyed these hills in 1884–1885, states their

height above sea-level as 3140 feet.

[654] Colonel Arandarenko, district chief of Merv, states that only two

assassinations of Russian officials had occurred during the last thirty

years. General Kurapatkine, too, gives numerous instances of kindness

and respect shown to disabled Russians by Turkomans (see Appendix II.).

[655] Messrs. Nobel have works there which produce a thick ropy

petroleum. The out-turn in 1890 was nearly 3000 tons, but had fallen in

1895 to 1300.

[656] The movement by rail in 1896 was upwards of 60,000 tons.

Transcaspian cotton is rapidly ousting the American product, thanks to

protective tariff. It is a remarkable fact that the market price of

cotton is higher in Transcaspia than at Manchester.

[657] The value of exported carpets and rugs in 1891 was 160,000

roubles. In 1894 it had fallen to 60,000, and is now probably 25,000

only.

[658] The official statistics for 1896 give the following

percentages:--Persians, 39.2; Armenians, 32.2; Tartars, 11.7; Russians,

6.8; Jews, 5.0; Turkomans, 3; and “others,” 2.1.

[659] Mr. E. C. Ringler Thomson, late assistant agent to the

Governor-General of India in Khorāsān, who knows General Kurapatkine

well, wrote thus of him in the _National Review_ for February 1898:

“He is still in the prime of life, not yet fifty years of age, has

served from the commencement of his career in Central Asia, has

taken a leading part in its conquest, and has made some important

contributions towards its literature. He thoroughly knows the various

countries, and thoroughly understands the people inhabiting them, and

their modes of diplomacy and warfare. He was chief of the Staff to the

great Skobeleff during the Russo-Turkish War, and greatly distinguished

himself in it. Indeed there is little doubt that some of Skobeleff’s

laurels were won by him. Skobeleff was the dashing, impetuous, reckless

leader; Kurapatkine the cool, patient, calculating corrective who

restrained him. He is a man of indomitable will, of untiring industry,

master of his profession as a soldier, a great civil administrator,

deliberate of speech, exceedingly gentle and modest in manner, and with

a temper always under control. He wears the first class of the Order

of Saint George (equivalent to our Victoria Cross), and his courage

is of the type which does not comprehend fear. He is the strictest of

disciplinarians, but beloved and respected by all, and his own good

qualities are perforce in a great measure reflected in those serving

under him. He is, indeed, the equal in every respect of any commander

we could place in the field to oppose him. General Kurapatkine has

brought Transcaspia in all matters, both civil and military, to a high

state of perfection. He works from sunrise till late into the night,

inquires personally into the minutest details, and finds time to be

constantly making long and fatiguing journeys of inspection throughout

his extensive command. This man, if he took the field against us, would

be hard to beat. He has told me more than once that he has seen too

much of war not to hate it, that neither he nor his Government have

the least desire to fight us, and to suggest that they wish to invade

India is absurd. I believe him. But all the same, he is a Russian

of Russians, and, if he thought there was just cause for it, would

delight in trying conclusions with us. In diplomacy, of course, General

Kurapatkine is a thoroughbred Russian.”

[660] Krasnovodsk has two. They are administered by subordinate

executive officers called _pristavs_.

[661] The Russian equivalent for mayor.

[662] The statistics for 1890–1895 are given below:--

+---------------+-------------------------+---------------+

| | Crimes against | Percentage of |

| District. +------------+------------+ Crime to |

| | the Person.| Property. | Population. |

+---------------+------------+------------+---------------+

| Mangishlāk | 273 | 239 | 23 |

| Krasnovodsk | 147 | 315 | 14 |

| Askabad | 213 | 206 | 27 |

| Tajand | 104 | 416 | 41 |

| Merv | 537 | 913 | 22 |

+---------------+------------+------------+---------------+

| Total | 1271 | 2089 | 25 |

+---------------+------------+------------+---------------+

[663] Murderers are sometimes sent to serve their term of imprisonment

at Chikisliar, a dismal place on the south-eastern Caspian shore, made

to enhance the penalty and also to lessen the opportunity for vendetta,

to which the Turkomans are greatly given.

[664] They numbered, in 1895, 161,618 souls. It is curious to compare

these figures with former calculations. Burnes, in 1832, estimated

the number of Tekkes as 200,000; Vambéry, in 1863, as 180,000; and

Petrusevitch, writing in 1878 on the eve of the Russian conquest, at

240,000. But these figures are mere guesswork. They are based on an

average of five persons to each kibitka, or tent, while experience

shows that four is nearer the mark (chap. iii. Marvin’s _Merv_).

[665] The families of the operatives of the Kizil Arvat Railway

workshops, especially the children, are pallid, anæmic, and a prey to

skin diseases.

[666] The percentages in 1895 were--in Mangishlāk, 11 per cent.;

Krasnovodsk, 11 per cent.; Askabad, 11 per cent.; Tajand, 30 per cent.;

and Merv, 85 per cent. It is a remarkable fact that the hospitals and

dispensaries maintained so generously by Russia at the administrative

centres have conquered the prejudice entertained at first for European

treatment. The applicants for medical and surgical relief in 1890 were

only 6000. In 1895 the number had risen to 34,950.

[667] This would be an object-lesson for the “Conscientious objector,”

were it not that fanaticism is impervious to teaching or argument.

[668] For the system of irrigation before the Russian conquest, the

reader is referred to chap. xviii. of O’Donovan’s _Story of Merv_, and

p. 81 of Marvin’s _Merv_.

[669] Mīrāb, lord of water, an old Persian title.

[670] _Sū_ is a Turkish word for water. It is met with in the

nomenclature of many streams near Constantinople.

[671] A Persian word meaning, primarily, government; secondarily, an

estate or property.

[672] Marvin’s _Merv_, p. 263. The date is there given as 1787; as a

matter of fact, the invasion of Murād, alias Ma´sūm, commonly styled

“Begi Jān,” took place three years earlier.

[673] Maktab, an Arabic word meaning school.

[674] The income from posts and telegraphs is increasing, though the

statistics are still insignificant. It was 82,832 roubles in 1890, and

133,005 roubles in 1895.

[675] Three steamer companies ply on the Caspian; the oldest is the

“Caucasus Mercury,” and the others are termed the “Caspian” and

“Eastern.” The steamers are better suited for goods than passengers.

[676] A verbatim reproduction of this remarkable utterance is to be

found in the Appendix. General Kurapatkine’s great master, Skobeleff,

was equally explicit in a proclamation issued to his troops on the day

after his victory at Geok Teppe. “A new era,” he said, “has opened

for the Tekkes--an era of equality and of a guaranteed possession

of property for all, without distinction. Our Central Asian policy

recognises no pariahs. Herein lies our superiority over the English”

(Ney, _En Asie Centrale_, p. 248).

[677] This is a by-product of petroleum distillation, and termed, in

Russian, astatki. After the more volatile illuminants have passed over,

a residue remains in the shape of a ropy greenish-brown fluid, which

in former days was considered valueless. It is now rapidly superseding

coal as a steam raiser, and the recent rise in the market price of

crude petroleum is in great measure due to the constantly extending use

of astatki on steamers and railways.

[678] This ancient piece, a prize taken from the cowardly Persians,

very nearly cost Skobeleff his life. Moser relates that the general,

while reconnoitring the defences, became a mark for a brisk fusilade

which wounded several of his staff. He was implored not to expose

himself unnecessarily; but his only reply was to call for a chair and

a glass of tea. There he sat indulging calmly in a cigarette while the

bullets whistled round him. When, however, the cannon spoke, and its

projectile plunged deeply into the soil close to his chair, Skobeleff

adopted the “best part of valour.” He rose, saluted the Tekke gunners,

and walked slowly back to his quarters (_A Travers l’Asie Centrale_, p.

315).

[679] This little ceremony is of ancient date in the Russian army.

There is no hard-and-fast rule as to the wording of the general’s

greeting. In some favoured corps, such as the Nijni Dragoons, etiquette

ordains that it shall be followed by the name of the regiment.

[680] _The Story of Merv_, p. 194.

[681] The Central Asian tiger has a shaggier coat than his Bengal

relative, and his disposition is less truculent. He never molests human

beings or shows fight unless attacked. About a year ago one strayed

during the noonday heat into a kibitka near the Sir Daryā, pushed

aside the occupant, a woman who was spinning at the door, and coiled

himself up in a dark corner for a nap. Alas for outraged hospitality!

Information was given at the nearest post, and a party of riflemen soon

arrived and did the poor beast to death.

[682] Three have been identified--Giaur Kal`a, Sultan Sanjar, and

Bahrām `Alī. Some entrenchments are fabled to represent a fourth, older

than the rest, built by Alexander the Great. But, as is well known,

Iskandar Zū-l-Karnayn, “Alexander the Two-horned,” shares with Tīmūr

and the Amīr `Abdullah the credit of having built nearly everything

worth seeing in Central Asia.

[683] Moore’s _Veiled Prophet of Khorasan_.

[684] A description of the difficulties encountered has already been

given.

[685] Khanikoff’s _Bokhara_, p. 18; _Journal of the Royal Geographical

Society_, 8th June 1840.

[686] “Mémoire sur l’ancien cours de l’Oxus,” par M. Jaubert, _Nouveau

Journal Asiatique_, Dec. 1833.

[687] Ney, _En Asie Centrale_, p. 300.

[688] The Zarafshān, called by the ancients Polytimætus, takes its

rise in a tremendous glacier of the Kharlatau Mountains, 270 miles due

east of Samarkand. Its upper reaches are little but a succession of

cataracts, and it is too rapid and shallow for navigation. The average

width is 210 feet. More than 100 canals are supplied by this source of

Bokhārā’s prosperity, some of which are 140 feet broad. The capital is

watered by one of them, called the Shari Rūd, which is 35 feet wide,

and supplies innumerable smaller distributories (Khanikoff’s _Bokhara_,

p. 39; Meyendorff’s _Bokhara_ (Paris, 1820), p. 148).

[689] Moser, _A Travers l’Asie Centrale_, p. 120.

[690] Khanikoff, p. 188.

[691] Throughout Central Asia the unit of surface measure is the tanap,

which is equivalent to 44,100 square feet. This pest is termed reh in

India, and is fought in a very half-hearted way by the ryots.

[692] Khanikoff, _Bokhara_, p. 9. This author, who wrote in 1845,

gives as the average price of good land a sum equivalent to £20 of our

currency (p. 154). Forty years later the Russians paid £16 per acre for

land required for their railway (Ney, _En Asie Centrale_, p. 311).

[693] According to Wolff, it numbered 180,000 in 1843 (_Bokhara_, p.

163).

[694] They are named Imām, Samarkand, Mazār, Kārshi, Salahkhānā,

Namāziyya, Shaykh Jalāl, Kārākul, Shīr-Gīrān, Talipash, and Oghlān.

[695] For the ethnology of Bokhārā the reader should consult

Meyendorff, p. 189; Khanikoff, chaps. vii., viii., and ix.; and Moser,

_A Travers l’Asie Centrale_, p. 68.

[696] The etymology of Bokhārā is also a moot point. There can be

little doubt, however, that the word is derived from the Sanskrit

_vihára_, or hermit-cell, which was adopted by the Buddhists and became

_búhára_ in Mongolian. The city clustered round the retreat of an early

ascetic.

[697] Ujfalvy states that the Tājiks of the plains, as distinguished

from their brethren of the hills, and the branch called Galchas

inhabiting the Pamirs, have a triple origin. They are (_a_) descendants

from the Iranian aborigines of Bactriana and Soghdiana, who remained in

the level country throughout the successive invasions of Turko-Tartars,

Mongols, and Arabs; they accepted the domination of each new-comer, and

were compelled to give their daughters in marriage to the conquerors;

(_b_) immigrants who from time to time arrived in Bokhārā from

Khorāsān; (_c_) mixed alliances between the wealthier inhabitants of

the Khānate and Persian slaves brought thither during many centuries by

Turkoman freebooters. This author adds that many Tājiks show signs of

Arab blood in their aquiline noses and brilliant eyes (_Les Aryens_,

Paris, 1896).

[698] An Uzbeg proverb has it: “When a Tājik tells the truth he has a

fit of colic!”

[699] The Kirghiz style themselves _Kazāk_, “warriors.” They roam

over the Khānates, and love to shelter themselves from the icy blasts

in the long reeds lining the banks of the Sir Daryā. They are cruel,

treacherous, and given to rapine. Government is exercised by hereditary

Khāns, but the personal equation is everything, and the Khān who

derogates is lost. Fighting men are called _Bahādurs_; the relatives of

the tribal Khān, _Sultāns_.

[700] A native chronicle called “Nassed Nameti Uzbekia,” giving a

catalogue of these clans, is quoted by Khanikoff, _Bokhara_, p. 74.

[701] Wolff’s _Bokhara_, p. 163. The doctor states that their synagogue

possesses an ancient version of the Prophet Daniel, giving the variant

“2400” in the place of “2300” in chap. viii. ver. 14.

[702] As is well known, the Mohammedans everywhere are ranged into

two sections. The Sunnis are the orthodox, and owe their name to

their adhesion to the traditionary teaching, _Sunna_, of the Prophet.

The Shī`as reject it; and are also champions of the claim to succeed

Mohammed of `Alī, his cousin and son-in-law, and of his sons in their

turn, Hasan and Husayn. With the exception of the Persians, who are

Shī`as, almost the whole of the Mohammedan world is Sunni. The two

sects hate each other with the true _odium theologium_.

[703] These unhappy victims were British officers sent to Bokhārā

on diplomatic service. After a long imprisonment they were cruelly

beheaded by order of the Amīr Nasrullah in 1843. See Wolff’s _Bokhara_,

_passim_.

[704] This neglect of one of the chief duties of government--the

protection of its subjects abroad--is universal in Central Asia. We

have no consul farther east than Baku. The Russians excuse their

persistent refusal to grant an exequatur to a consul at Tiflis by the

allegation that we would not permit them to establish such agencies on

our Indian frontiers.

[705] The local phrase for turban is “salla.” A Russian-made one costs

1½ roubles; the cheapest Manchester turban being 3½, and the dearest 15

roubles.

[706] Called “paranji.” It has balloon sleeves meeting at the shoulders.

[707] Bokhārā stands in lat. 39° 46′ N., in the same parallel as

Northern Spain, Naples, and Philadelphia. It is 1200 feet above

sea-level, and exposed to Siberian blasts which make the winter climate

very severe. The average winter temperature of London is nearly twice

that of Bokhārā. In February heavy rains usher in a springtime as

glorious as that which clothes our English woods, but suffocating

summer heats follow which are broken by a fortnight’s rain in October.

The climate is one of extremes (Khanikoff, _Bokhara_, chap. v).

[708] Bacha, a Persian word signifying the young of any animal.

[709] It is a curious fact that M. P. Lessar, while Resident at

Bokhārā, anticipated Sir D. Barbour’s financial policy in India by

inducing the Amīr to close his mint. The stiffening effect which might

have been expected was not attained. Before the great recoinage of 1834

Indian silver underwent similar oscillations. The difference in weight

and intrinsic value between rupees of different descriptions gave

native brokers an opportunity of feathering their nests. They met in

secret conclave periodically, and decided how many copper coins should

be exchanged against each species of rupee. A recoinage, or adoption of

the Russian monetary system, is the only possible remedy.

[710] In 1872 M. Petrofsky, agent of the Minister of Finance, visited

Bokhārā in order to study the commercial system. He stated, in the

_European Messenger_ for March 1873, that the city was then an entrepôt

for English and Afghan wares. Green tea in those days arrived by way of

Afghanistān, and was distributed throughout the Khānates from Bokhārā.

“Who can guarantee,” he asks plaintively, “that with our carelessness

with regard to the Bokhāran market, all the trade with Central Asia

will not pass into the hands of the English and Afghans?” This

fearful contingency has been obviated by protective tariffs and the

Transcaspian Railway.

[711] Schuyler, _Turkestan_, vol ii. p. 90.

[712] Schuyler, p. 92.

[713] For a detailed account of the curriculum the reader is referred

to Khanikoff, chap. xxix.

[714] The leader in the serious rising in Farghāna last spring was

named Ishān Mohammed `Alī Khalīfa. In July 1898 a Russian was murdered

at New Bokhārā, and the life of another was attempted by one of these

fanatics.

[715] Schuyler retails an old scandal to the effect that the 40,000

roubles which the Madrasas cost were bestowed by the empress on a

Bokhāran envoy at her Court after a _liaison_ with him (_Turkestan_,

ii. p. 93).

[716] Moser, p. 151; Khanikoff, pp. 101–2.

[717] Meyendorff writes: “The lot of slaves in Bokhārā is terrible.

Nearly all the Russians complain of being badly fed and severely

beaten. I met one whose master had cut off his ears, driven nails

through his palms, flayed his back, and poured boiling oil on his arms”

(p. 286).

[718] “Amīr ul Mu´minīn,” the title adopted by the Caliphs.

[719] Fath `Alī, Shāh of Persia, asked a European, who told him that

his sovereign’s acts were subject to public approbation: “Wherein lies

the pleasure of ruling if one can’t do exactly as one pleases?”

[720] Moser, p. 160.

[721] A very elaborate description of the old Court régime is given in

chaps. xxiv. and xxv. of Khanikoff’s _Bokhara_.

[722] Khanikoff, p. 233.

[723] Since the opening of the Transcaspian Railway this has become a

staple export, and it has ousted the produce of the United States. The

term for unripe cotton is _gūza_; that for pods ready for export is

_pakhta_.

[724] The genealogy of the reigning house is not quite so clear as

such matters usually are in Eastern countries. The founder was an

Uzbeg general of the tribe of Mangit, named Mahammad Rahīm Bi. He

was succeeded by his nephew, Dāniyāl Bi, whose son, Shāh Murād,

alias Ma´sūm, commonly styled “Begi Jān,” was a soldier of the type

of Chingiz Khān. He conquered Merv in 1784, and raised Bokhārā to a

pinnacle of glory to which it had never attained since the spacious

days of the Amīr `Abdullah, a contemporary of our own Elizabeth. Murād

attained sovereignty in 1796, and died about 1801. His successor,

Mīr Haydar, was a capable soldier, and the military caste had things

entirely their own way during his reign, which ended in 1826. His

successor was Nasrullah, a moody and treacherous tyrant, who gained an

infamous reputation in England by the cruel slaughter of our envoys

Stoddart and Conolly. His son Muzaffar resembled his father in cruelty

and fanaticism. The story of his overthrow by the Russians has already

been told.

[725] The official figures for each district in 1896 were--

Dessiatines of 2½ acres

District under cotton.

Samarkand 5,252

Katta Kurgan 8,920

Jizāk 1,188

Khojend 2,784

------

Total 18,144

In round figures, 45,000 acres. This is about 5 per cent. of the entire

cultivated area of the province of Samarkand, which is officially

stated as 364,200 dessiatines.

[726] There were, in 1896, twenty, nine of which were worked by steam

or oil engines, ten by water, and one by horse-power. Three hydraulic

and seventeen hand-screw presses were at work.

[727] The exact measurements of this stone are 6′ 4¼″ × 1′ 3¾″ × 1′ 5½″

deep. Round the edge is an Arabic inscription giving Tīmūr’s style and

title, his genealogy, and the date of his death,--807 A.H., or 1405 of

our era.

[728] M. Schuyler states this man’s name as Mir Seid Belki Shaikh, and

the date of his death as two years after Tīmūr’s, _i.e._ 1407 (ii. p.

253).

[729] Schuyler, ii. p. 252. Tilā = gold.

[730] Khanikoff, p. 134. In a note he adds that a Russian named

Efremoff, who visited Samarkand in 1770, saw this gigantic book.

[731] Schuyler’s _Turkestan_, i. p. 250.

[732] This Philistinism has its parallel in India. We believe it to

be a fact that a Viceroy proposed the sale of the Tāj Mahāl at Agra

to serve as a quarry for marble. The same Vandal had a vast number of

seventeenth-century cannon at Allahabad broken up and disposed of as

old metal.

[733] Not, however, in 1323, as Schuyler asserts (i. p. 247), for he

was not born till fourteen years afterwards.

[734] M. Simakoff, a distinguished Russian archæologist, and the author

of _Central Asian Art_, has arrived at the conclusion that the Persian

ornamentation, which has hitherto been considered original, is but an

imitation of that introduced by the Mongols into Central Asia. Moser,

_A Travers l’Asie Centrale_, p. 118.

[735] Three versts and 100 sajenes in circuit (Khanikoff, _Bokhara_, p.

131).

[736] For a detailed account of this splendid feat of arms the reader

is referred to Schuyler’s _Turkestan_, i. p. 224.

[737] Schuyler gives a very brief biography of this excellent man at

p. 267 of his _Turkestan_. Like Kurapatkine, he was equally great in

war and in civil life, and of that very high type of officials produced

only in the Panjāb and Turkestān. The earnestness and keen sympathy

with the people which characterised Henry Lawrence, Montgomery, and

Herbert Edwardes shine conspicuous in the “Chernaieff school,” so

called from an illustrious soldier and statesman who inspired his

lieutenants with his own devotion. His unmerited disgrace, which

followed a display of splendid moral courage, and his old age spent

in the cold shade of imperial neglect, are not the most creditable

episodes in Central Asian annals.

[738] Nestorius, a Syrian priest, became Patriarch of Constantinople

in the fifth century; but his views as to Christ’s personality were

declared heretical by a General Council held at Ephesus in 431. He was

deposed from his high office, and his followers were driven from Europe.

[739] Afrāsiyāb is synonymous in Persian legend for anything of extreme

antiquity.

[740] Moser was present when the Russian researches began. Every stroke

of the spade, he says, revealed new treasures. Enamelled bricks of

the finest designs, coins, a lamp like those exhumed at Pompeii, but

covered with brilliant enamel, an urn splendidly adorned, and many

other discoveries worthy to occupy a _savant_, were made in twenty-four

hours (p. 116).

[741] No attempt has yet been made to exploit these regions; but the

Russian Government is ready and willing to encourage prospectors. An

Englishman is now engaged in searching for the precious metals, and has

met with every possible assistance from the authorities.

[742] During Mr. Skrine’s stay at Samarkand a large gang started

for this remote destination. Most of them were native bandits, who

regarded their expatriation with true Oriental phlegm. But among the

group who squatted on the station platform in their sheep-skin cloaks,

from which their heavy manacles protruded, were several who inspired

more sympathy: a young European girl, who clung piteously to her only

treasure--a China teapot; a middle-aged man, evidently belonging to a

higher social stratum than the rest, was deeply moved by the prospect

of exile. The cause was but too apparent, for a little son clung to

him, a sharer in his grief; while among the silent crowd, which was

kept at a distance by a ring of soldiers with fixed bayonets, was his

unhappy wife, come with her three young daughters to bid him a long

farewell.

[743] Khanikoff enumerates 13 as grown in his time (_Bokhara_, p. 156).

[744] The local term is Chāy Kâbūd, or blue tea, a more faithful

rendering of the colour. Like that drunk in Bokhārā, it is imported

from China by steamer and rail; and absorbed from porcelain bowls,

whence the spent leaves are deftly thrown on the floor by a practised

jerk.

[745] See the description of ancient Samarkand by the Emperor Bāber in

Schuyler’s _Turkestan_, p. 239.

[746] Colonel Kulchanoff now holds these functions. He is a Tartar

from Orenburg, and is a perfect mine of information on the history

and usages of the province. Though a Mohammedan, he lives in European

style, and associates freely with his colleagues. Madame Kulchanoff

presides at table, and converses with a charming grace with strangers

who know Russian.

[747] Lord Cornwallis encountered similar difficulties in fixing the

demand on which the Permanent Settlement in Bengal was based. An

eminent Hindu reformer, who at that period (1793) was head native

officer in the district of Rangpur, is said to have received a bribe of

a lakh of rupees (£10,000) for omitting a cipher in the reported gross

revenue of a single estate.

[748] By far the best work done by the Civil Service of India is that

which is known as Settlement, _i.e._ the land valuation on a vast

scale. The Russians would gain enormously could they obtain the service

of a few of the younger men who have taken up this branch of executive

duty.

[749] The dimensions of some of the ancient works in Samarkand are

stupendous. In one case the wells attain a maximum depth of 420 feet,

and are connected by a tunnel in which a man can walk upright.

[750] See a very interesting note at pp. 258–9, vol. ii. of Schuyler’s

_Turkestan_.

[751] Lord Curzon’s great work on Central Asia is considered by the

Russians themselves as a text-book, though they vigorously combat his

views on their policy.

[752] See Appendix, p. 425.

INDEX

Abbās the Great, Shāh, 267.

`Abbāsids, the, genealogy of `Abbās, 80 _note_;

rise of dynasty and increase in power, 78, 80–85;

emissaries sent to Khorāsān, 75;

black standard raised in Khorāsān by Abū Muslim, 80;

Abū-l-`Abbās (Es-Saffāh) proclaimed Caliph, 85.

`Abd el `Azīz, 196–98.

`Abd el-Jabbār, revolt against El-Mansūr, 91.

`Abd el-Melik, 43–44.

`Abd el-Melik II., 118.

`Abd er-Rahmān (brother of Kutayba), 57, 59, 65.

`Abd er-Rahmān ibn Muslim (_see Abū Muslim_).

`Abd ul-Ahad, 257.

`Abd ul-Kerīm, _cited_ 204 _note_, _passim_.

`Abd ul-Latīf, 176, 177.

`Abd ul-Latīf the Uzbeg, 191 _note_.

`Abd ul-Mū´min, assassinated, 204.

`Abd us-Samad Khān, 215, 218, 219.

`Abdullah (brother of Kutayba), 65.

`Abdullah ibn `Āmir, 38.

`Abdullah ibn Kazghan, 166.

`Abdullah ibn Khāzim, 38, 43.

`Abdullah ibn Rabī`, 39.

`Abdullah ibn Tāhir, 100, 101.

`Abdullah ibn Zobayr, 43.

`Abdullah Mīrzā, 177.

_`Abdullah Nāmé_ of Hāfiz ibn Tānish, _cited_ 186 _note_.

`Abdullah (uncle of Abū-l-`Abbās), 85, 86, 87.

`Abdullah I., 191 _note_.

`Abdullah II., genealogy of, 190;

reign, 191–92.

Abramoff, General, defence of Yani Kurgān, 252;

appointed governor of Samarkand, 255;

Katti Tūra defeated and completion of Bokhāran conquest, 256.

Abū `Alī Sīmjūr, 117.

Abū Bekr, 36.

Abū Dā´ūd Khālid ibn Ibrāhīm, 88, 91.

Abū Ja`far (_see El-Mansūr_).

Abū-l-`Abbās (_see Es-Saffāh_).

Abū-l-Fayz, 199.

Abū-l-Ghāzi Khān (grandson of Abū-l-Fayz), 205.

Abū-l-Ghāzi, Khān of Khiva, revolt against Bokhārā, 197.

Abū-l-Husayn Nasr I. (_see Ilik Khān_).

Abū-l-Khayr, 183, 190.

Abū Muslim, early life, 81;

black banner raised in Khorāsān by, 80;

entry into Merv, 82;

enmity of Caliph towards, 86;

murder, 88.

Abū Sa`īd Khān, 189, 190.

Abū Sālama, 84.

Afrāsiyāb identified with Būkū Khān, 115, 397.

Āgha Mohammad, 267.

Ahmed ibn Asad, 101.

Ahmed Khān, 121.

Ahmed, Sultan, 178.

Akkal Oasis, 265, 268.

`Alā ud-Dawlé, war with Ulugh Beg, 176.

`Alā ud-Dīn Mohammad, revolt against the Gūr-Khān, 147, 148, 156;

extent of possessions on downfall of Kara-Khitāys, 157;

rupture with Chingiz Khān, 157;

flight and death, 159.

Alakush-Tekin, 155.

Alexander the Great, conquest of Persian Empire, 4–9.

Alexander II., Tashkent captured contrary to orders of, 248;

annexation of Kokand authorised by, 260;

conference with Skobeleff, 289.

Alexandria, 7, 11.

Al-Hakam ibn `Āmir al-Ghifārī, 38.

`Alī ibn `Isā, 96, 99.

`Ali ibn Talha, 101.

`Ali, Sultan, 178.

Alikhanoff, 298.

Almāligh, made his capital by Chaghatāy, 161.

Alp Arslān, 130.

Alptagin, 112.

Altagin, 132.

Altuntāsh, 123.

Amīn, 96, 99.

Amīr `Abd ul-Ahad, 257.

Amīr Bāyazīd Jalā´ir, 167.

Amīr Haydar (Sayyid Haydar Tura), 208–10, 384 _note_.

Amīr Husayn, 169.

Amīr Kazghan, 165.

Amīr Tīmūr (_see Tīmūr Leng_).

`Amr ibn Layth, Ya`kūb succeeded by, 105;

career and death, 105, 109–11.

Amū Daryā, crossed by Alexander, 6;

boundary between Turkish and Persian dominions, 30;

Al-Hakam first Arabian general to cross, 39;

course, 358;

shifting of bed, 263;

navigation, 358;

viaduct over, 310–312, 359.

Amūya, ancient name for Charjūy, 144.

Amyntas, 10.

Andakhūy, 8.

Andarāl (Drapsaca), 6.

Andijān, Kokandis defeated at, 260.

Annenkoff, General, Transcaspian railway constructed by, 307–10.

Antes, 225.

Antiochus I. and II., 11.

Anūsha Khān, Bokhārā invaded by, 197.

Anūshirawān (_see Chosrau I._).

Aornos (Gori, Khulum), taken by Alexander the Great, 6.

Apaoki (T’ai-tsu), 137 _note_.

Arabia Felix, origin of name, 34 _note_.

Arabs, rise of Islām and spread of conquests, 34–44;

Arabic literature, 180.

Arachosia (_see Kandahār_).

Arbela (Gaugamela), battle of, 5.

Ardashīr, 22.

Ardavān (Artaban), battle with Ardashīr, 23.

Arimazes, 8.

Arsaces, Andragoras overthrown by, 11;

Arsacidæ dynasty founded by, 12;

Kābul partly possessed by Arsacidæ, 19.

Arslān Khān, 120.

Artabanus II., 12.

Artaxerxes IV. (Bessus), 5.

Aryan race, Pamirs birthplace of, 3.

Asad ibn `Abdullah el-Kasrī, 71, 75–77.

Ashras ibn `Abdullah (the Perfect), 72.

`Āsim ibn `Abdullah, 75.

Askabad, 345–9.

Astatke, 340 _note_.

Astrakhan conquered by Russia, 236.

Astrakhan dynasty, 194–203.

Atsiz, revolt against Sanjar, 138, 139;

death, 140.

Ayāz Topchi-bāshi, 211, 213.

Bāber (_see Zahīr ud-Din Bāber_).

_Bachas_, definition, 369.