DEPARTURE FROM GÖMÜSHTEPE
CHARACTER OF OUR LATE HOST
TURKOMAN MOUNDS OR TOMBS
DISAGREEABLE ADVENTURE WITH WILD BOARS
PLATEAU TO THE NORTH OF GÖMÜSHTEPE
NOMAD HABITS
TURKOMAN HOSPITALITY
THE LAST GOAT
PERSIAN SLAVE
COMMENCEMENT OF THE DESERT
A TURKOMAN WIFE AND SLAVE
ETREK
PERSIAN SLAVES
RUSSIAN SAILOR SLAVE
PROPOSED ALLIANCE BETWEEN YOMUTS AND TEKKE
RENDEZVOUS WITH THE KERVANBASHI
TRIBE KEM
ADIEU TO ETREK
AFGHAN MAKES MISCHIEF
DESCRIPTION OF KARAVAN.
_Gens confinis Hyrcaniae, cultu vitae aspera et latrociniis assueta_.--
Q. Curtii Ruf. lib. vi. cap. 5.
[Departure from Gömüshtepe; Character of our late Host]
At noon the following day I left Gömüshtepe with my most intimate
fellow-travellers, accompanied for some time by Khandjan and all my
other friends. Kandjan went on foot with us nearly a league on our
way, as is the custom amongst the nomads in the case of very esteemed
guests. I entreated him several times to return, but fruitlessly; he
insisted upon punctually fulfilling all the rules of ancient Turkoman
hospitality, that I might never afterwards have any ground of
complaint against him. To say the truth, my heart was very heavy when
I extricated myself from his last embrace, for I had known in him one
of the most honourable of men. Without any interested motive, he had
not only for a long time entertained me and five other pilgrims in his
own {71} house, but had given me every explanation that I had
required. I feel even now pained that I cannot make him any return for
his kindness, but still more that I was forced to deceive so sincere a
friend by any mystery.
[Turkoman Mounds or Tombs; Disagreeable Adventure with Wild Boars]
Our path was north-easterly, departing more and
more from the sea-shore, in the direction of the two great mounds, of
which one bears the name of Köresofi, the other that of Altin Tokmak.
Besides these mounds, one discovers here and there numerous Joszka
(Turkoman barrows); with these exceptions, the district is one
boundless flat. Scarcely a quarter of a league from Gömüshtepe, we
found ourselves proceeding through splendid meadows, where the grass
was as high as the knee, and of a delicious odour. It all withers away
without being of service to any one, for the inhabitants of Gömüshtepe
are Tchomru (that is, not cattle-breeders). What lovely villages might
flourish in this well-watered district; what animated life might here
reign, instead of the stillness of death! Our small karavan,
consisting of the camels belonging to Ilias and of six horses, kept
close together, for Kulkhan affirmed that there were hereabouts
Karaktchis who were not under his orders, and who would assail him if
they felt themselves strong enough to do so. Ilias, this once, was
pleased to spare me my ride upon the camel; he took from Kulkhan one
of the stolen horses, upon which I was to ride as far as Etrek.
Unfortunately, as it happened, Emir Mehemmed, the Afghan opium-eater
from Karatepe, who had already fastened himself upon our karavan, had
remained on foot, and whenever we had to traverse any puddle or other
wet ground, I could not refuse to take him on my saddle, and then he
grasped my clothes so tightly that I often {72} thought I should be
thrown down. This partnership ride made me run much risk when we were
obliged to cut our way through the great marshes, covered with reeds,
which swarmed with herds of wild boars, numerous beyond conception.
Kulkhan and Ilias rode before, to find a circuitous way, to enable us
to avoid hundreds of these animals, whose proximity we perceived, not
only by their incessant grunting, but more especially by the cracking
sound caused by their movements amongst the reeds. Whilst I was riding
on with attentive ear, my horse suddenly shied and took a great bound
sideways. I had hardly time to look round to ascertain the cause, when
I and my comrade lay stretched upon the ground. The loud laughter of
my companions, who were a few paces from us, mingled with a strange
howling. I turned myself round, and found that I had been thrown upon
two wild boars of tender age; it was their mother that had caused our
horse to shy, but now, rendered savage by the cry of her young ones,
she stood showing her tusks at no great distance from us, and would
most certainly have charged us, had not Shirdjan, the cousin of Ilias,
come to our aid, and barred the way with his extended lance. Whether
it was owing to the bravery of the young Turkoman, or the silence of
the young pigs--now liberated from their constrained position--I
cannot say, but the incensed mother beat a retreat, and, with her face
still to the foe, hastened back to her lair, which we had not been
slow to abandon. Kulkhan's son had in the meantime secured our horse,
that had escaped. He restored him to me with the remark that 'I might
regard myself as lucky, for that a death by the wound of a wild boar
would send even the most pious Musselman nedjis (unclean) {73} into
the next world, where a hundred years' burning in purgatorial fire
would not purge away his uncleanness.'
[Illustration]
Intruding upon the Haunts of the wild Boar.
[Plateau to the North of Gömüshtepe; Nomad Habits]
After having continued our way for about four hours in the above-named
direction, amidst marshes and meadows, I noticed that we had gained
the sloping sides of the plateau that extends north from Gömüshtepe,
for not only the elevations, but the Persian mountains on the
frontiers themselves, began gradually to disappear; only a few groups
of tents, in the vicinity of which camels were grazing, were visible
at a great distance, and although, on all the four sides, the most
lovely verdure enchanted the eye, the eastern district which I had
visited before with Kizil Akhond, is far more thickly peopled. There
being no river like the Görghen, the well-water, of which the people
make use, is exhausted by the time the rich meadows have sufficiently
fattened their sheep. Tents, consequently, are only to be seen here in
May and in June. One of these groups of tents, peopled by the
dependents of Kulkhan, was to give us shelter this night, as Etrek was
still six miles [Footnote 17] distant--a whole day's journey for our
heavily-laden camels. Due notice had been given of our approach, and
my hungry fellow-travellers soon saw in the rising smoke the prospect
of a good supper. Although Gömüshtepe is only four miles distant from
this spot, the journey took us nearly eight hours, and this first ride
had tolerably wearied both man and beast.
[Footnote 17: The reader is requested to understand, here and
elsewhere, German miles.]
[Turkoman Hospitality; The last Goat]
The young nephew of Kulkhan advanced ten paces before the tents to
welcome us; and, whilst Ilias and the Afghan were the special guests
of Kulkhan, I was quartered with the Hadjis in the small tent of Allah
Nazr. {74} This old Turkoman was beside himself from joy that heaven
had sent him guests; the recollection of that scene will never pass
from my mind. In spite of our protestations to the contrary, he killed
a goat, the only one which he possessed, to contribute to our
entertainment. At a second meal, which we partook with him next day,
he found means to procure bread also, an article that had not been
seen for weeks in his dwelling. Whilst we attacked the dish of meat,
he seated himself opposite to us, and wept, in the exactest sense of
the expression, tears of joy. Allah Nazr would not retain any part of
the goat he had killed in honour of us. The horns and hoofs, which
were burned to ashes, and were to be employed for the galled places on
the camels, he gave to Ilias; but the skin, stripped off in one piece,
he destined to serve as my water-vessel, and after having well rubbed
it with salt, and dried it in the sun, he handed it over to me.
[Persian Slave]
The arrival of a slave, one of the five of whom I spoke in the last
chapter, who had fallen into the snare so treacherously laid for them,
detained Kulkhan and our party a day. This poor Persian was
transferred, for chastisement, to Kulkhan, who had the peculiar
reputation of being able most easily to ascertain from a captive
whether he possessed sufficient means to enable his relatives to
ransom him, or whether, being without relatives or property, he ought
to be sent on to Khiva for sale.
The former alternative is much the more agreeable one to the
Turkomans, as they may demand any sum they please. The Persian, who is
cunning even in his misfortune, always contrives to conceal his real
position; he is therefore subjected to much ill-treatment, {75} until
by the lamentations which he forwards to his home his captors have
squeezed from his friends the highest possible ransom, and it is only
when that arrives that his torment ceases. The other alternative is
worse for both parties; the robber, after much expenditure, only gets
at last the current price in the slave-market, and the unfortunate
Persian is removed to a distance of some hundreds of miles from his
country, which he very rarely sees again. Kulkhan has, as before
mentioned, great experience in this department; his latest victim
arrived before evening, and the next day the journey was continued,
after I had been warmly embraced by Allah Nazr, who was just as much a
Turkoman as Kulkhan.
[Commencement of the Desert]
This day I took my seat for the first time in my wooden basket on the
camel, having, however, some sacks of flour for my equipoise, as Hadji
Bilal wished on this occasion to deprive himself of the pleasure. Our
route was always in a northerly direction, and we had scarcely
advanced two leagues, when the verdure ceased, and for the first time
we found ourselves in the dismal strong-smelling salt ground of the
wilderness. What our eyes encountered here was a good specimen; a low
foreland called Kara Sengher (black wall) elevated itself at a
distance of about eight miles to the north of Gömüshtepe. The nearer
we approached this hill, the looser the soil became; near to its foot
we fell upon a real morass, and our march was attended by increasing
difficulties in the slippery mud, in which the camels, with their
spongy feet, slid at each step--indeed, mine threatened to upset both
myself and my basket into the dirt. I preferred dismounting _proprio
motu_, and after tramping an hour and a half through the mud, arrived
at last at {76} Kara Sengher, whence we soon reached the Ova of
Kulkhan.
On arriving, I was greatly surprised by Kulkhan's immediately leading
me into his tent, and charging me earnestly not to quit it, until he
should call me. I began to suspect something wrong, when I heard how
he was cursing his women, accusing them of always mislaying the
chains, and ordering them to bring them to him immediately. Searching
gloomily for them he returned frequently to the tent without
addressing a word to me: moreover Hadji Bilal did not show himself--he
who so seldom left me to myself. Sunk in the most anxious reflections,
I at last heard the rattling sound of fetters approaching, and saw the
Persian who had come with us enter the tent dragging with his wounded
feet the heavy chains after him; for he was the party on whose account
Kulkhan was making these preparations. He was not long in making his
appearance. He ordered tea to be prepared, and after we had partaken
of it, he directed me to rise, and led me to a tent which had been in
the meantime set up; he wished it to be a surprise for me. Such was
the object he had in view in his whole conduct. Notwithstanding this,
I could never feel any attachment to him, for how great the difference
between him and Khandjan clearly appeared from this, that during the
ten days I was his guest, this tea was the only repast Kulkhan's
hospitality accorded me. I was afterwards informed of his treacherous
plans, to which he would most certainly have given effect, had not
Kizil Akhond, whom he particularly dreaded, charged him to treat me
with every possible respect.
{77}
[A Turkoman Wife and Slave]
The tent which I now occupied, in company with ten of my travelling
companions, did not belong to Kulkhan, but was the property of another
Turkoman who, with his wife--formerly his slave, sprung from the tribe
of the Karakalpak--joined our party for Khiva. I learnt that their
object in proceeding to Khiva was that this woman, who had been
carried off in a surprise by night and brought hither, might ascertain
whether her former husband, whom she had left severely wounded, had
afterwards perished; who had purchased her children, and where they
now were; and--which she was particularly anxious to know--what had
become of her daughter, a girl in her twelfth year, whose beauty she
described to me with tears in her eyes. The poor woman, by
extraordinary fidelity and laboriousness, had so enchained her new
master, that he consented to accompany her on her sorrowful journey of
enquiry. I was always asking him what he would do if her former
husband were forthcoming, but his mind on that point was made up--the
law guaranteed him his possession. 'The Nassib (fate),' said he,
'intended to bestow on me Heidgul' (properly Eidgul, 'rose of the
festival'), 'and none can withstand Nassib.' There was besides,
amongst the other travellers freshly arrived, who were to journey with
Ilias, a Dervish named Hadji Siddik, a consummate hypocrite, who went
about half naked, and acted as groom to the camels in the desert; it
was not until after we had arrived in Bokhara that we learnt that he
had sixty ducats sewn up in his rags.
[Etrek; Persian Slaves]
The whole company inhabited the tents in common, expecting that the
Khan's Kervanbashi would come up as soon as possible, and that we
should commence our journey through the desert. The delay was painful
to us all. I became alarmed on account {78} of the decrease of my
stock of flour, and I began at once to diminish my daily allowance by
two handfuls. I also baked it without leaven in the hot ashes; for the
produce is greater, it remains longer on the stomach, and hunger
torments one less. Fortunately we could make short mendicant
excursions; nor had we the least reason to complain of any lack of
charity on the part of the Turkomans of Etrek, who are notwithstanding
the most notorious robbers. We passed, indeed, very few of their tents
without seeing in them two or three Persians heavily laden with
chains.
[Russian Sailor Slave]
It was also here in Etrek, in the tent of a distinguished Turkoman
named Kotchak Khan, that I encountered a Russian, formerly a sailor in
the naval station at Ashourada. We entered the above-named chief's
abode, to take our mid-day repose; and scarcely had I been presented
to him as a Roumi (Osmanli), when our host remarked; 'Now I will give
thee a treat. We know the relation in which the Osmanlis stand with
the Russians: thou shalt behold one of thy arch-enemies in chains.' I
was forced to behave as if I was highly delighted. The poor Russian
was led in, heavily chained: his countenance was sickly, and very
sorrowful. I felt deeply moved, but was careful not to betray my
feelings by any expression. 'What would you do with this Efendi,' said
Kotchak Khan, 'if you encountered him in Russia? Go and kiss his
feet.' The unfortunate Russian was about to approach me, but I
forbade, making at the same time the observation, I had only to-day
begun my Gusl (great purification), and that I did not want to render
myself unclean by my contact with this unbeliever; that it would even
be more agreeable to me if he disappeared immediately from before my
eyes, for that _this_ nation {79} was my greatest aversion. They
motioned him to withdraw, which he accordingly did, throwing at me a
sharp look. As I learnt later, he was one of two sailors from the new
station at Ashourada; the other had died in captivity about a year
before. They had fallen into the hands of the Karaktchis some years
previously, in one of their night expeditions. Their government
offered to ransom them, but the Turkomans demanded an exorbitant sum
(five hundred ducats for one); and as during the negotiation Tcherkes
Bay, the brother of Kotshak Khan, was sent by the Russians to Siberia,
where he died, the liberation of the unfortunate Christians became
matter of still greater difficulty; and now the survivor will soon
succumb under the hardships of his captivity, as his comrade has done
before him. [Footnote 18]
[Footnote 18: When I afterwards drew the attention of the Russians
to the occurrence, they laboured to excuse themselves, saying that
they did not desire to accustom the Turkomans to such large ransoms,
for that with any encouragement these bold robbers would devote
themselves night and day to their profitable depredations.]
Such are the ever-fluctuating impressions of hospitable virtues and
unheard-of barbarisms produced by these nomads upon the minds of
travellers! Sated and overflowing with their kindness and charity, I
often returned to our abode, when Kulkhan's Persian slave, already
mentioned, would perhaps implore me for a drop of water, as, according
to his tale, they had for two entire days given him dried salt fish
instead of bread, and although he had been forced to work the whole
day in the melon fields, they had denied him even a drop of water.
Luckily I was alone in the tent; the sight of the bearded man bathed
in tears made me forget all risks: I handed him my water-skin, and he
{80} satisfied his thirst whilst I kept watch at the door. Then
thanking me warmly, he hastened away. This unfortunate man, maltreated
by every one, was especially tormented by Kulkhan's second wife,
herself once a Persian slave, who was desirous of showing how zealous
a convert she had become.
Even in Gömüshtepe these cruel scenes were loathsome to me: judge,
then, how my feelings must have revolted when I learnt to regard the
last-named place as the extreme of humanity and civilisation! Tents
and dwellers therein became objects of loathing to me.
[Proposed Alliance between Yomuts and Tekke]
Still no news came of the arrival of the Kervanbashi, although all who
had desired to join our karavan were already assembled. New friends
were greeted and reciprocal acquaintances formed; and very often did I
hear the question mooted as to the route likely to be selected by the
Kervanbashi. We were engaged in one of these conversations, when one
of the Etrekites brought us the cheering intelligence that the Tekke,
whose hostility is the dread of the karavans during the greatest part
of their journey to Khiva, had sent a peaceful embassy to the Yomuts,
proposing, at length, a reconciliation, and an attack with combined
forces, upon their common enemy, the Persians.
As I propose to touch upon this political transaction in the next
chapter, suffice it here to say, that the occurrence was incidentally
of the greatest advantage to us. They explained to me that there were
from Etrek to Khiva three different ways, the choice between them
being determined by considerations as to the numbers forming the
karavan.
{81}
[Rendezvous with the Kervanbashi]
The routes are as follows:--
1. The first, close along the shore of the Caspian, behind the greater
Balkan, which direction it follows for a two days' journey towards the
north from these mountains, and then, after proceeding ten days, the
traveller has to turn to the east, in which quarter Khiva lies. This
way is only accessible for the smaller karavans, as it affords but
little water, but presents as little danger from attacks, except in
times of extraordinary revolutions, when the Kasaks (Kirghis) or the
Karakalpaks send hither their Alaman.
2. The middle route, which follows a northerly direction only as far
as the original ancient channel of the Oxus, and then, passing between
the Great and the Little Balkhan, turns to the north-east towards
Khiva.
3. The third is the straight route and the shortest; for while we
require twenty-four days for the first, and twenty for the second,
this one may be performed in fourteen. Immediately on leaving Etrek
one takes a north-easterly direction, through the Göklen and Tekke
Turkomans. At every station wells of sweet drinkable water occur. Of
course a karavan must be on good terms with the tribes above named,
and must count from two to three thousand men, otherwise the passage
is impossible. How great then was my joy, when one evening a messenger
from Ata-bay brought us the intelligence that the Kervanbashi would
leave his encampment early the following morning, and would give us
rendezvous the day after at noon, on the opposite bank of the Etrek,
whence we were to proceed all together upon our great journey through
the desert! Ilias issued orders for us all to complete our
preparations as speedily as possible. We therefore that very same
evening got our bread ready; we once more salted our large pieces of
camel-flesh, which we had received from the nomads in payment for the
benedictions we had lavished on them. Who then was {82} happier than
I, when the next day I mounted the kedjeve with Hadji Bilal, and in my
creaking seat slowly left Etrek, borne forwards by the wave-like pace
of the camel?
For the sake of security, Kulkhan was pleased to regard it as
necessary to give us his escort for this day; for although we numbered
from fifteen to twenty muskets, it was yet very possible that we might
have to encounter a superior force of robbers, in which case the
presence of Kulkhan might prove of the most important service, as the
greater part of the Etrek bandits were under his spiritual guidance,
and followed his orders blindfold. I had almost forgotten to mention
that our Kulkhan was renowned, not only as the grey-beard of the
Karaktchi, but also as Sofi (ascetic), a title he bore upon his seal:
of the pious appellation he was not a little proud. I had indeed
before my eyes one of the best-defined pictures of hypocrisy when I
saw Kulkhan, the author of so many cruelties, sitting there amongst
his spiritual disciples: he who had ruined the happiness of so many
families, expounding what was prescribed respecting the holy
purifications, and the ordinances directing the close cutting of the
moustache! Teacher and scholar seemed alike inspired. In the confident
assurances of their own piety, how many of these robbers were already
dreaming of their sweet rewards in Paradise!
[Tribe Kem]
To avoid the marshes formed by the overflowing of the Etrek, our route
turned now to the north-west, now to the north-east, for the most part
over a sandy district on which very few tents were visible; on the
edge of the desert we observed about 150 tents of the Turkoman clan
Kem. I was told that this race had time out of mind separated itself
from the Yomut {83} Turkomans, to whom they properly belonged, and had
inhabited the edge of the desert; their great propensity to thieving
is the cause why all the other tribes make war upon them and treat
them as enemies, so that their numbers never increase. Near their
resorts we came upon many stragglers from our karavan, who did not
dare to pass on without our company; and according to all appearances
the Kemites would have assailed us, had they not seen at our head
Kulkhan, the mighty scarecrow.
A quarter of an hour's journey from their encampment farther to the
north, we crossed a little arm of the Etrek, whose waters had already
begun to have a very salt taste, a sign that its bed would soon be
dry. The interval between its farther bank and a second and still
smaller arm of the same river is alternately a salt bottom and a fine
meadow, thickly overgrown with monstrous fennel, which took us a whole
hour to traverse. This deep stream was like a ditch, and on account of
its stiff loamy bank presented considerable impediments to our
progress; several camels fell with their loads into the water: it was
shallow, but still the wetting they received rendered the packs
heavier and added greatly to our labour in reaching the hill on the
opposite side, named Delili Burun. By two o'clock in the afternoon we
had only advanced four miles on our way, notwithstanding our early
start in the morning; nevertheless the resolution was taken to make a
halt here, as it was only the next morning at mid-day that we were to
meet the Kervanbashi on the other side of the Etrek.
{84}
The hill above named, which is but a sort of promontory jutting out
from a long chain of inconsiderable hills stretching to the
south-east, affords an extensive and fine view. To the west we
discover the Caspian Sea like a range of blue clouds; the mountains of
Persia are also distinguishable: but the greatest interest attaches to
the mountain plain to our south, whose limit the eye cannot discern,
on which the scattered groups of tents in many places have the
appearance of mole-hills. Almost the whole of Etrek, with the river
flowing through it, lies before us, and the places where the river
spreads over both banks produce upon the eye the effect of lakes. As
we were near the encampment of the Kem, we were counselled by Kulkhan,
who thought proper to tarry with us this one more night, to keep a
sharp look-out; and evening had not closed in before we posted
watches, which, relieved from time to time, observed every movement
around us.
Understanding that this station formed the last outpost towards the
Great Desert, I profited by the opportunity which the return of our
escort afforded, and spent the afternoon in writing letters whilst my
companions were sleeping. Besides the small pieces of paper concealed
in the wool of my Bokhariot dress for the purpose of notes, I had two
sheets of blank paper in the Koran which was suspended from my neck in
a little bag: upon these I wrote two letters, one to Haydar Effendi,
addressed to Teheran, and the second to Khandjan, requesting him to
forward the former. [Footnote 19]
[Footnote 19: Upon my return I found at the Turkish Embassy this
letter, acquainting my friends with my being about to commence my
journey in the desert, as well as other communications which I had
sent on from Gömüshtepe. My good friend Khandjan had forwarded them
with the greatest zeal and exactitude.]
{85}
The next morning a four hours' march brought us to the banks of the
Etrek, properly so called. A good deal of time was devoted to finding
the shallowest points where the river could be most readily forded, a
task by no means easy, for although the usual breadth of the river is
only from twelve to fifteen paces, this was now doubled by the water
having overflowed its banks, and the softened loamy ground caused a
real martyrdom to the poor camels, so that our Turkomans were
justified in their long hesitation. The current, indeed, was not very
strong, still the water came up to the bellies of the camels; and the
uncertain wavering steps of our labouring, wading animals dipped our
kedjeve now on the right side, now on the left, into the troubled
waters of the Etrek: one false step and I should have been plunged
into mud and dirt, and at no small risk have had to make my way by
swimming to the opposite bank. Happily all crossed in good order, and
scarcely had we come to a halt when the anxiously-expected karavan of
the Kervanbashi came in sight, having in its van three buffaloes (two
cows and a bull), to whose health-promising advent the sick Lord of
Khiva could hardly look forward with greater impatience than we had
done.
The reader will remember that Hadji Bilal, Yusuf, some foot travellers
and myself, had been obliged to separate from the main body of our
Dervish karavan, because the others had found greater difficulties
than myself in finding camels to hire. As we had heard no tidings of
them in Etrek, we began to be anxious lest these poor people might
have no opportunity of following us. We were, therefore, greatly
rejoiced to see them all coming up in good condition in the karavan
that now joined us. We kissed and hugged one another with the
heartiness of brethren who meet {86} after a long separation. My
emotion was great when I once more saw around me the Hadji Salih and
Sultan Mahmoud, and all the others too; yes, all my mendicant
companions; for, although I regarded Hadji Bilal as my dearest friend,
I was compelled to avow to myself my warm attachment to them all,
without distinction.
[Adieu to Etrek]
As the river Etrek afforded us the last opportunity of sweet water
until, after twenty days' journey, we should refresh ourselves on the
banks of the Oxus, I counselled my companions not to let the
opportunity slip, but at least, this last time, to drink our fill of
tea. We therefore brought forward the tea-vessels, I proffered my
fresh-baked bread, and long afterwards did we remember the luxury and
abundance of this festival held in honour of our meeting.
[Afghan makes Mischief]
In the meantime also arrived the Kervanbashi who was to be our leader
and protector in the desert. As I attached great importance to being
presented to him under good auspices, I went amongst the others
accompanied by Hadji Salih and Messud, who had mentioned me to him on
the way. Let the reader then picture to himself my wonder and alarm
when Amandurdi (such was his name), a corpulent and good-tempered
Turkoman, although he greeted my friends with great distinction,
received me with striking coldness; and the more Hadji Salih was
disposed to turn the conversation upon me, the more indifferent he
became: he confined himself to saying, 'I know this Hadji already.' I
made an effort not to betray my embarrassment. I was about to
withdraw, when I noticed the angry glances that Ilias, who was
present, darted at the Emir Mehemmed, the crazy opium-eater, whom he
thus signalised as the cause of what had just occurred.
{87}
We withdrew, and hardly had the occurrence been recounted to Hadji
Bilal, when he grew angry and exclaimed, 'This wretched sot of an
Afghan has already expressed himself in Etrek to the effect that our
Hadji Reshid, who was able to give him instructions in the Koran and
in Arabic, was only a Frenghi in disguise' (thereupon adding, three
different times, the phrase Estag farullah! 'God pardon me my sins');
'and in spite of my assuring him that we had received him from the
hands of the ambassador of our great Sultan, and that he had with him
a pass sealed with the seal of the Khalife, [Footnote 20] he still
refuses to believe and persists in his defamation. As I remark, he has
gained the ear of the Kervanbashi, but he shall repent it on our
arrival in Khiva, where there are Kadis and Ulemas; we shall teach him
there what the consequence is of representing a pious Musselman as an
unbeliever.'
[Footnote 20: Follower of Mahomed, that is, the Sultan of
Constantinople.]
I now began to understand the whole mystery. Emir Mehemmed, born at
Kandahar, had, after the occupation of his native city by the English,
been compelled to fly on account of some crime he had committed. He
had had frequent opportunities of seeing Europeans, and had recognised
me as a European by my features. Consequently, from the very first
moment he regarded me as a secret emissary travelling with hidden
treasures under my mendicant disguise, one whom he might succeed in
plundering at any time he wished, as he would always have at his
service a formidable menace, namely, 'denunciation.' Often had he
counselled me to separate from those mendicants, and to join his own
society; but I never omitted replying that Dervish and merchant were
elements too {88} heterogeneous to offer any prospect of a suitable
partnership; that it would be impossible to speak of sincere
friendship until he had given up his vicious habit of opium-eating,
and devoted himself to pious purifications and prayers. The resolute
stand I took--and indeed I had no other course--made him furious; and
as from his impiety he was the object of the Hadjis' aversion, I can
only regard his notorious enmity as a particular instance of good
fortune.
[Description of Karavan.]
About two hours after this occurrence, the Kervanbashi, who now
assumed the command over the whole karavan, pointed out to us that
everyone ought to fill his water-skin with water, as we should not
come to another well for three days. I therefore took my goat-skin and
went with the rest to the stream. Never having hitherto suffered much
from the torment of thirst, I was filling it carelessly, when my
colleagues repaired my error with the remark that in the desert every
drop of water had life in it, and that this fount of existence should
be kept by everyone as the 'apple of his eye.' The preparations
completed, the camels were packed, the Kervanbashi had them counted,
and we found that we possessed eighty camels, that we were forty
travellers in all, amongst whom twenty-six were Hadjis without
weapons, and the rest tolerably armed Turkomans of the tribe Yomut,
with one Özbeg and one Afghan. Consequently we formed one of those
small karavans, that set out on their way in right Oriental fashion,
leaving everything to fate.
When we had all seated ourselves, we had still to take leave of our
Turkoman escort, who had led us to the margin of the desert. The
Fatiha of the farewell was intoned on the one side by Hadji Bilal, and
on the other by Kulkhan.
{89}
After the last Amen had been said, and had been followed by the
inseparable stroking of the beard, the two parties divided in contrary
directions; and when our late escort had recrossed the Etrek and lost
sight of us, they sent a few shots after us as a farewell. From this
point we proceeded in a straight direction towards the north. For
further information on the political and social relations of the
Turkomans, I beg to refer the reader to the Second Part of this
volume.
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