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27 chapters
PREFACE.
PREFACE.
I was born in Hungary in 1832, in the small town of Duna Szerdahely, situated on one of the largest islands in the Danube. Impelled by a particular inclination to linguistic science, I had in early youth occupied myself with several languages of Europe and Asia. The various stores of Oriental and Western literature were in the first instance the object of my eager study. At a later period I began to interest myself in the reciprocal relations of the languages themselves; and here it is not surpr
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CHAPTER I.
CHAPTER I.
Je marchais, et mes compagnons flottaient comme des branches par l'effet du sommeil.--Victor Hugo, from Omaïah ben Aiëdz . Whoever has travelled through Persia in the middle of July will sympathise with me when I say how glad I felt at having got through the district that extends from Tabris to Teheran. It is a distance of only fifteen, or perhaps we may rather say of only thirteen karavan stations: still, it is fearfully fatiguing, when circumstances compel one to toil slowly from station to st
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CHAPTER II.
CHAPTER II.
The Parthians held it as a maxim to accord no passage over their territory to any stranger .--Heeren, Manual of Ancient History . Towards the middle of January 1863, I found myself back in Teheran, and again sharing the hospitality of my Turkish benefactors. A change came over me; my hesitation was at an end, my decision was made, my preparations hastened. I resolved, even at the greatest sacrifice, to carry out my design. It is an old custom of the Turkish Embassy to accord a small subsidy to t
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CHAPTER III.
CHAPTER III.
Beyond the Caspian's iron gates. --Moore. On the morning of the 28th March, 1863, at an early hour, I proceeded to our appointed rendezvous, the karavanserai. Those of my friends whose means permitted them to hire a mule or an ass as far as the Persian frontiers were ready booted and spurred for their journey; those who had to toil forwards on foot had on already their jaruk (a covering for the feet appropriate for infantry), and seemed, with their date-wood staves in their hands, to await with
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CHAPTER IV.
CHAPTER IV.
Ultra Caspium sinum quidnam esset, ambiguum aliquamcliu fuit. --Pomponius Mela, De Situ Orbis . Nur-Ullah, an Afghan of distinction, whose acquaintance I had already formed at Sari, conducted me to his house on my arrival at Karatepe; and as I objected to be separated from all my friends, he included Hadji Bilal also in his invitation, and did not rest until I had accepted his hospitality. At first I could not divine the motive of his extraordinary kindness, but I observed a little later that he
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CHAPTER V.
CHAPTER V.
Ad introeuntium dextram Scythae nomades, freti litoribus, insident .-- Pompon. Mela, De Situ Orbis , 1. iii. c. v. After his prayer was ended, Khandjan arose, and as I perceived him standing before me, he was a handsome, tall, and slender man, about forty years of age, dressed in extremely modest attire, with a long beard descending to his breast. He at once approached me, hastily embraced, and gave me a hearty welcome; in doing so he greeted me by my name. He received the Hadjis Bilal and Salih
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CHAPTER VI.
CHAPTER VI.
Gens confinis Hyrcaniae, cultu vitae aspera et latrociniis assueta .-- Q. Curtii Ruf. lib. vi. cap. 5. 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 anci
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CHAPTER VII.
CHAPTER VII.
C'était une obscurité vaste comme la mer, au sein de laquelle le guide s'égarait . . . où périt le voyageur effrayé .--Victor Hugo, from Omaiah hen Aiedz . Without being able to discover the slightest trace of a path indicated by foot of camel or hoof of other animal, our karavan proceeded towards the north, directing its course in the day by the sun, and at night by the pole star. The latter is called by the Turkomans, from its immovability, Temir kazik (the iron peg). The camels were attached
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CHAPTER VIII.
CHAPTER VIII.
On n'y verra jamais que l'heroisme et la servitude .--Montesq., Esprit des Lois , 1. xvii. c. 6. Chiefs of the Uzbek race Waving their heron crests with martial grace . Moore, Veiled Prophet . Thunder, heard for hours at a distance, not coming near to us till midnight, and then only bringing a few heavy drops of rain, was the herald that announced to us the end of our torments. Towards the morning of the 24th May we had reached the extreme boundary of the sand through which we had toiled during
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CHAPTER IX.
CHAPTER IX.
Et nous marchions à l'heure de midi traversant les souffles brûlants et empestés qui mettent en fusion les fibres du cerveau . . . Je m'enfonce dans une plaine poussièreuse dont le sable agité ressemble à un vêtement rayé .--Victor Hugo, from Omaïah ben Aiëdz . At last, having got all ready for our journey, we gradually assembled in the well-shaded court of Töshebaz. I was able that day for the first time fully to appreciate the influence that the pious charity of the Khivites had exercised upon
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CHAPTER X.
CHAPTER X.
The road led us to the Dervaze Imam, situated to the west, but we did not pass through it, because, as our Tekkie lay to the north-east, we should have been forced to make our way through all the throngs in the bazaar. We preferred, therefore, to take a circuitous route along the city wall. This we found, in many places, in a ruinous state. Entering by the gate called Dervaze Mezar, we speedily reached the spacious Tekkie. It was planted with fine trees, formed a regular square, and had forty-ei
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CHAPTER XI.
CHAPTER XI.
Hinc quarto die ad Maracanda perventum est . . . Scythiae confinis est regio, habitaturque pluribus ac frequentibits vicis, quia ubertas terra non indigenas modo detinet, sed etiam advenas invitat .--Q. Curtii Rufi libb. vii. et viii. Our whole karavan had now, on starting from Bokhara for Samarcand, dwindled down to two carts. In one of these sat Hadji Salih and myself; in the other, Hadji Bilal and his party. Sheltered from the sun by a matting awning, I should have been glad to settle myself
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CHAPTER XII.
CHAPTER XII.
Non succurrit tibi quamdiu circum Bactra haereas? --Q. Curtii Rufi lib. vii. 8. My new travelling companions were from Oosh Mergolan, and Namengan (Khanat of Khokand). It is unnecessary to describe them particularly. They were far from being to me like those friends from whom I had just parted; nor did we remain long together. I attached myself, in preference, to a young Mollah from Kungrat, who had travelled with us to Samarcand, and hoped to proceed, in my company, as far as Mecca. He was a yo
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CHAPTER XIII.
CHAPTER XIII.
Before entering Maymene, let me describe the political state of that country, for as that city plays a part of great importance, some preliminary observations are here quite indispensable. The whole tract of land on this side of the Oxus, as far as Hindukush and Herat, has, from ancient times, been the field of continual quarrels and warfare; and these have involved not only the small predatory states in its vicinity, Kunduz, Khulum, Belkh, Aktche, Serepul, Shiborgan, Andkhuy, Bedakshan, and May
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CHAPTER XIV. HERAT.
CHAPTER XIV. HERAT.
---Isidori Characeni, Mansiones Parthicae, 17, apud Müller. Geograph. Gr. minores . The traveller approaching from the north will certainly be surprised when, on turning round the mountain Khodja Abdullah Ansari, he sees lying before him the beautiful immense plain called Djölghei Herat, with its numerous canals and scattered groups of villages. Although trees, the principal ornament of every landscape, are here entirely wanting, he cannot but be convinced that he has reached the bounds of Turke
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CHAPTER XV. FROM HERAT TO LONDON.
CHAPTER XV. FROM HERAT TO LONDON.
'Tis sweet to hear the watch-dog's honest bark Bay deep-mouth'd welcome as we draw nigh home .--Byron. On the 15th November 1863, I quitted Herat, the gate of Central Asia or of India, as it is usually called, in order to complete my journey with the great karavan bound for Meshed. It consisted of 2,000 persons; half of whom were Hezare from Kabul, who in the greatest poverty and the most abject state of misery were undertaking with wives and children a pilgrimage to the tombs of Shiite saints.
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CHAPTER XVI.
CHAPTER XVI.
Non se urbibus tenent et ne statis quidem sedibus. Ut invitavere pabula, ut cedens et sequens hostis exigit, its res opesque secum trahens, semper castra habitant; bellatrix, libera, indomita. --Pomp. Mela, de Situ Orbis, 1. ii. c. 4. The Turkomans or Türkmen, [Footnote 95] as they style themselves, inhabit for the most part that tract of desert land which extends on this side of the river Oxus, from the shore of the Caspian Sea to Belkh, and from the {302} same river to the south as far as Hera
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POLITICAL CONDITION OF THE TURKOMANS.
POLITICAL CONDITION OF THE TURKOMANS.
What surprised me most during my sojourn amongst this people, was my inability to discover any single man among them desirous of commanding, or any individual inclined to obey. The Turkoman himself {310} is wont to say, 'Biz bibash khalk bolamiz (We are a people without a head), and we will not have one. We are all equal, with us everyone is king.' In the political institutions of all the other nomads, we occasionally discover some sign, more or less defined --some shadow of a government, such a
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SOCIAL RELATIONS.
SOCIAL RELATIONS.
But now to accompany the Turkoman into his home and his domestic circle. We must first commence by speaking of the nomad himself, of his dress, and his tent. The Turkoman is of Tartaric origin; but has only retained the type of his race in cases where circumstances have conspired to prevent any intermixture with the Iranis. This is remarkably the case with the Tekke, the Göklen, and the Yomuts; for amongst them the pure Tartar physiognomy is only met with in those branches and families which hav
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CHAPTER XVII.
CHAPTER XVII.
Les principaux Tartares firent asseoir le Khan sur une pièce de feutre et lui dirent: 'Honare les grands, sois juste et bienfesant envers tous; sinon tu seras si misérable que tu n'auras pas même le feutre sur lequel tu es assis .' Voltaire, Essai sur les Moeurs, c. lx. As we are speaking of an Oriental city, what need to say that the interior of Khiva is very different from what its exterior would lead us to expect! First, reader, you must have seen a Persian city of the lowest rank, and then y
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CHAPTER XVIII. THE CITY OF BOKHARA.
CHAPTER XVIII. THE CITY OF BOKHARA.
The circumference of Bokhara, represented to me as a day's journey, I found actually not more than four miles. The environs, though tolerably well cultivated, are in this respect far inferior to the country around Khiva. Bokhara has eleven gates, [Footnote 125] and is divided into two principal parts, Deruni Shehr (inner city), and Beruni Shehr (outer city); and into several quarters, the chief of which are Mahallei Djuybar, Khiaban, Mïrekan, Malkushan, Sabungiran. Although we have given {363} t
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CHAPTER XIX. KHANAT OF KHOKAND.
CHAPTER XIX. KHANAT OF KHOKAND.
Khokand, or Fergana as the ancients style it, is bounded on the east by Chinese Tartary, on the west by Bokhara and the Jaxartes, on the north by the great horde of Nomads, and on the south by Karateghin and Bedakhshan. Its superficial extent we cannot positively affirm; but it is certainly larger than the territory of either Bokhara or Khiva. It is also better peopled than the latter Khanat. Judging by the number of cities and other circumstances, Khokand, at the present day, may be said to con
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CHAPTER XX. CHINESE TARTARY.
CHAPTER XX. CHINESE TARTARY.
The traveller who journeys on during twelve days in an easterly direction from Oosh, will reach the Chinese territory at the point where stands the city of Kashgar. The way thither leads him over a mountainous country, where the Kiptchaks are wandering about with their herds. No villages, it is said, ever existed in this district, except in the time of Djenghis Khan, and then only here and there. At the present day it is not possible to trace even their ruins. Places blackened by fire and heaps
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CHAPTER XXI.
CHAPTER XXI.
Of all the foreign countries with which Central Asia is in relation, Russia is that with which it has the most active correspondence. ( a ) From Khiva the karavans proceed to Astrakhan and Orenburg, whence many wealthy merchants reach Nishnei Novogorod, and even St. Petersburg. ( b ) From Bokhara an uninterrupted correspondence--particularly active in summer--is kept up with Orenburg. This is the most usual journey, and is performed in from fifty to sixty days. Extraordinary circumstances may, i
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CHAPTER XXII. GENERAL VIEW OF AGRICULTURE, MANUFACTURES, AND TRADE.
CHAPTER XXII. GENERAL VIEW OF AGRICULTURE, MANUFACTURES, AND TRADE.
Taken altogether, it is incredible how fertile all the cultivable land is in these three Khanats, which rise like oases out of the monstrous deserts of Central Asia. In spite of the primitive system of culture adopted, fruit and corn are luxuriantly abundant, one might even say, in many places, superabundant. The excellence of the fruit in Khiva has been already mentioned; and although Bokhara and Khokand cannot be placed, in this respect, in the same rank with Khiva, the following produce of th
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CHAPTER XXIII. INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL POLITICAL RELATIONS OF CENTRAL ASIA.
CHAPTER XXIII. INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL POLITICAL RELATIONS OF CENTRAL ASIA.
From what I have said in the previous pages upon the subject of the recent history of Khiva and Khokand, one may form a tolerably good idea of the terms upon which the different Khanats live with each other. I will, nevertheless, here collect a few facts to render it easier to appreciate the whole situation. Let us begin with Bokhara. This Khanat, which, even previously to the introduction of Islamism, played a capital part, has, notwithstanding all the revolutions that have since occurred, alwa
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CHAPTER XXIV. THE RIVALRY OF THE RUSSIANS AND ENGLISH IN CENTRAL ASIA.
CHAPTER XXIV. THE RIVALRY OF THE RUSSIANS AND ENGLISH IN CENTRAL ASIA.
Rivalry between England and Russia in Central Asia I heard in England, on my return, affirmed to be an absurdity. 'Let us,' it was said, 'hear no more of a question so long ago worn out and out of fashion. The tribes of Turkestan are wild, rude, and barbarous; and it is a matter upon which we congratulate ourselves, if Russia takes upon herself the onerous and meritorious task of civilisation in those regions. England has not the slightest cause to watch such a policy with envy or jealousy.' Ful
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