A Ride to Khiva: travels and adventures in Central Asia ... With maps and an appendix [First?] edition

Appendix

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Introduction

. A low room, with but little furniture, and that of the simplest kind ; a few telegraphic instruments scattered about here and there in out-of-the-way corners, and mixed up promiscuously with rifles and wooden boxes, some filled with cartridges, others containing provisions for a journey ; two or three bottles, labelled "Quinine," on a rickety wooden table ; several men of various nationalities all talking at the same time, and a Babel of different languages ; — such was the scene around the writer of this work, who was leaning against the window-sill, and glancing from time to time at an old number of an English newspaper. The host was a German gentleman, now several thousand miles from the Fatherland, which he had been induced to leave by an offer of the post of superinten dent and general manager on a long and important line of recently-constructed telegraph.

A graceful girl, with large dark eyes and pearl-white teeth, but whose olive complexion and Oriental dress showed that she was in no way akin to the fairer beauties of Europe, was engaged in handing round small cups of coffee to the most excited talkers of the party, an Italian, Arab, and Englishman, the former gesticulating wildly in an endeavour to interpret between his two companions, who were evidently not at all in accord about the subject of conversation. A bright sun, its rays flashing down on a. broad stream, nearly the colour of lapis lazuli, which flowed hard by the dwelling, had raised the temperature of the room to an almost unbearable heat. It was the month of February. In England people were shivering beside their fires or walking in slush or snow ; but I was at Khartoum, having just returned from a visit to Colonel Gordon, Sir Samuel Baker's successor, on the White Nile.

It may seem strange thus to commence the narrative of a journey to Central Asia in Central Africa, and yet, had it not been for a remark made by one of the men in the low square room to which I have just referred, in all probability I should never have gone to Khiva. The conversation had lulled, the Arab and Englishman having, by means of the Italian, settled the knotty point as to whether the son of Albion, an officer late in the Khedive's service, was to receive the salary due to him in its entirety or not; the Mohammedan being of opinion that the Christian ought to be paid the amount subject to a deduction, the native Egyptian officials havino always to submit to this system of taxation. However, my English friend did not see it in this light : he had agreed to serve for a certain sum — that sum he must receive — and if the Arab did not pay, why, he would complain to the Khedive.

This last remark having been at length translated to the official, the latter succumbed. My compatriot, the question being settled to his satisfaction, came and looked out of the window by my side. It was indeed a picturesque scene. The Blue Nile,

INTRODUCTION.

. 3 here nearly half a mile from shore to shore, lay smooth and unrippled like a sea of glass almost at our feet. On its vast surface were barges and native boats innumerable, whilst many nuggers — the huge sailing barques of the Arabs, and much used by them in former years when engaged in the slave-trade — were anchored here and there. Gangs of workmen, black as ebony, and stripped to the waist, their well developed muscles standing out like knotted cords, were busily engaged unloading a freight of ivory bound for Cairo. An enormous saqaieh, or water wheel, for irrigation purposes, was slowly revolving, put in motion by the united exertions of a bullock and a donkey. The wild yells of a negro lad, whose duty it was to goad the animals should they ever flag, mingled strangely with the creaking sounds of the ponderous woodwork.

" I wonder where we shall all be this time next year," suddenly remarked my companion. " God knows," was my answer ; " but I do not think I shall try the White Nile again ; if I come to Africa another time I shall select a new line of country." At that moment my eye fell upon a paragraph in the paper. It was to the effect that the Government at St. Peters burg had given an order that no foreigner was to be allowed to travel in Russian Asia, and that an English man who had recently attempted a journey in that direction had been turned back by the authorities. I have, unfortunately for my own interests, from my earliest childhood had what my old nurse used to call a most " contradictorious " spirit, and it suddenly occurred to me, Why not go to Central Asia ? " Well, I shall try it," was my remark.

" What, Timbuctoo ? " said my friend. " No, Central Asia ; " and I showed him the paragraph. " You will never get there ; they will stop you." " They can if they like, but I don't think they will." And this trifling incident was the first thing which put the idea into my head of again attempting to reach Khiva. I had intended to go there some few years ago, when the Russians were about to invade the country. I had even started on my journey, meaning to try and find a way into Khiva, vid Persia and Merve, and, if possible, be with the Khivans at the time of the Russian attack. But this project was never realised. A typhoid fever, caught as I was rapidly travelling through Italy, laid me for four months on a bed of sickness. My leave thus was spent in a very different manner from that originally intended, and I had, as it is commonly termed, a much closer shave for my life than I believe would ever have been the case even if I had been taken prisoner by the most fanatical Turkomans in Central Asia.

But the campaign was over. There would be no fighting to see. Our states men had learned hov/ to appreciate a Russian's promises at their true value. Samarcand had been annexed to the Tzar's dominions, the Black Sea Treaty had been repudiated, and Russian troops were quartered in Khivan territory* According to some politicians Khiva was a long way from India, and it really did not signify to Encdand whether Russia annexed it or not. Again, it was urged by others, if Russia does eventually reach our Indian frontier so much the better for England. We shall have a civilized nation as a neighbour instead of the barbarous Afghans. A third argument brought • See Appendix A, The Russian Advance Eastward, and Appendix D, The Treaty with Khiva.

INTRODUCTION.

. 5 forward to defend the action of the Liberal Govern ment was, that India did not signify so much to us after all, that she was a very expensive possession, and one which we should very likely have taken from us, but one certainly not worth fighting for. This was the opinion of some men who were high in office, and who thus lightly valued one of the brightest jewels in the British crown. The majority of our rulers did not trouble their heads much about the matter. India will last my time was the remark ; Russia is still a long way off ; and our grandchildren must look after them selves. Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof ; and after me the Deluge. Thus the question was allowed to drop, and the minds of our legislators were speedily engrossed in studying the important question as to which would be the better course to pursue — to allow Englishmen to go into public-houses after eleven o'clock at night, or to send them thirsty and supperless to bed.

The following autumn the Carlist War was going on. so I went to Spain. After a time my thoughts were no longer occupied with the state of affairs in Central Asia. It was only when my friend, in reply to my observation, had observed, " You will never get there ; they will stop you," that it occurred to me to ask what possible reason the Russian Government could have for pursuing a line of policy which, easily understood when adopted by a barbarous nation like China, was a singular one for even a semi-civilized power. It was the more remarkable, as, from the days of Peter the Great, the regenerator of Russia, his successors have invariably encouraged the inhabitants of Western Europe to visit and freely circulate throughout the Imperial dominions. If it were not for the German element, which is so largely diffused throughout the governing classes, Russia would never have arrived at even her present state of advancement.

Of all the Tzars of Muscovy during the last 200 years the present Emperor is perhaps the sovereign most keenly alive to the advantage of raising the standard of civilization throughout his dominions, by admitting foreigners, particularly Germans, to every office in the empire. The repressive order to which I have alluded, thus absolutely cutting off Asiatic Russia from almost all contact with the more civilized inhabitants of Europe, was in striking contrast to the line of conduct which had previously characterized his reign. There was, then, something behind the scenes — something that it was desired to hide from the eyes of Europe. What could it be ? Were the generals in Central Asia treating the inhabitants of the conquered districts so cruelly, that the fear of this reaching the Emperor's ears — not through Russian sources, as this would be impossible, but through the medium of a foreign press— was the origin of the order ?

Or could it be that though no absolute cruelty had been shown to the people in the recently -acquired territory, they were being badly governed, and that the bribery and corruption which goes on in Western Russia had taken deeper root when transplanted to the far-off East ? Or was it that the authorities in Turkistan, the enormous territory acquired by Russia within the last few years, were afraid of letting Europe know that instead of having raised the tone of morality amidst the inhabitants of Central Asia, the latter had in many instances brought the Russians down to an Oriental level, and that the

INTRODUCTION.

. 7 vices and depraved habits of the East were actually being acquired by some of the conquerors ? Judging from the accounts* of the few travellers who have succeeded in making a way into this com paratively speaking unknown country, any of the hypotheses above alluded to might have been the origin of the order. But I could not help thinking that there was something more behind the scenes than the mere wish to blind the eyes of Europe to these matters, or to appear as the apostles of Christianity — one of the pleas put forward by the Russian press to defend the system of annexation so steadily persevered in by the Government There was something beyond all this ; and in that something I felt convinced that the interests of Great Britain had a share. Peter the Great's will, or rather wishes, have not been forgotten by his successors.

The proof of this is best shown by looking at a map of Russia as it was in his days and as it now exists ; whilst in a recent staff map of Turkistan, 1875, the compiler has not even dotted in the boundary line from N. lat. 39Q2, E. long. 6q038', to N. lat. 44°4o', E. long. 79°49f', thus showing that the boundary line, in his opinion, has not yet been reached. When will that limit be attained ? When is the Russian advance to be barred, and where ? By the Himalayas, or by the Indian Ocean ? This is a question, not for our grandchildren, nor our children, but for ourselves. * See Appendix B, Report of Mr. Schuyler, and Appendix C, Russian Immorality in Central Asia, Extract from Major Wood's " Sea of Aral."

Chapter 1

Information about Khiva — Cold in Russia— East Wind — Russian Authorities - Count Schouvaloff— General Milutin — Christianity and Civilization — Anglo- Russian Railways in Central Asia— Preparations for the Journey — The Sleeping Bag — Cockle's Pills — Arms — Instruments — Apparatus for Cooking. Having once resolved to go to Central Asia, the next question was how to execute my intention. On returning to England from Africa I eagerly read every book that could be found, and which seemed likely to give any information about the country which I proposed to visit. Vambery's " Travels," Abbott's " From Herat to Khiva," and MacGahan's " Campaigning on the Oxus," were each in turn studied. Judging by the difficulties that the gallant correspondent of the New York Herald had to overcome before he carried his project of reaching Khiva into execution, I felt con vinced that the task I had laid out for myself was anything but an easy one.

The time of year in which I should have to attempt the journey was another obstacle to the undertaking. My leave of absence from my regiment would only commence in December. I had already, in previous journeys through Russia, discovered what the term " cold " really means in that country. After reading of the weather experienced by Captain Abbott when travelling in the month of March, in a latitude a good deal to the south of that which seemed to me the most practicable, I felt certain that very careful prepara- THE RUSSIAN AUTHORITIES. 9 tions must be made for a ride through the steppes in midwinter, or that I should inevitably be frozen. The cold of the Kirghiz desert is a thing unknown I believe in any other part of the world, even in the Arctic regions. An enormous expanse of flat country, ex tending for hundreds of miles, and devoid of everything save snow and salt lakes, and here and there saksaool, a species of bramble-tree, would have to be traversed on horseback ere Khiva could be reached.

The winds in those parts of Asia are unknown to the inhabitants of Europe. When they grumble at the so-called east wind, they can little imagine what that wind is like in those countries which lie exposed to the full fury of its first onslaught. For there you meet with no warm ocean to mollify its rigour, no trees, no rising land, no hills or mountains to check it in its course. It blows on uninterruptedly over a vast snow and salt-covered track. It absorbs the saline matter, and cuts the faces of those exposed to its gusts. The sensation is more like the application of the edge of a razor than any thing else to which it can be compared. There was, besides this, something else to be taken into consideration. I was well aware that no assist ance could be expected from the Russian authorities.

They might not content themselves by indirectly throwing obstacles in my path, but might even stop me by sheer force if they found all other ways fail. The account of the prohibitory order which I had seen published in the English journal was, I had every reason to believe, correct. Should I not find, after crossing the Ural river, and entering Asia, that my long sleigh journey had been to no purpose, and have to retrace my steps through European Russia ? These were my first impressions on arriving in England ; but on talking the matter over with some Russians of my acquaintance, they assured me that I was entirely mistaken ; that, on the contrary, the authorities at St. Petersburg would readily permit English officers to travel in Central Asia. It was observed that the order to which I had alluded referred only to merchants or people who tried to smuggle contraband goods into the recently-annexed khanates.

A few months later I had the honour of making the acquaintance of his Excellency Count Schouvaloff, the Russian Ambassador in London, and formerly the head of the secret police at St. Petersburg. He was excessively kind, and promised to do what he could to further my plans, but in answer to a straightforward question as to whether I should be permitted to travel in Russian Asia or not, his reply was, " My dear sir, that is a subject about which I cannot give you any answer. The authorities at St. Petersburg will be able to afford you every possible information." It was a diplomatic answer — one which bound the Count to nothing — and I went away charmed with the tact and affability of the Russian Ambassador. Apparently there was nothing to be learned officially from Russian sources ; but unofficially, and one by one, many little bits of information crept out.

I now first learned that General Milutin, the Minister of War at St. Petersburg, was personally much opposed to the idea of an English officer travelling in Central Asia, particularly in that part which lies between the boundaries of British India and Russia. According to him, a Russian traveller, a Mr. Pachino, had not been well treated by the authorities in India.* This gentleman had * This I believe to be incorrect, as also the other statement — that Mr. Pachino was not permitted to enter Afghanistan. CHRISTIANITY AND CIVILIZATION. 11 not been permitted to enter Afghanistan ; and, in consequence, General Milutin did not see why he should allow an Englishman to do what was denied a Russian subject. Another peculiarity which I remarked in several Russians whose acquaintance I at that time had the. honour of making, it may here be not out of place to mention.

This was their desire to impress upon my mind the great advantage it would be for England to have a civilized neighbour like Russia on her Indian frontier ; and when I did not take the trouble to dissent from their views — for it is a waste of breath to argue with Russians about this question — how eager they were for me to impress their line of thought upon the circle of people with whom I was the more immediately connected. Of course, the arguments brought forward were based upon purely philanthropic motives, upon Christianity and civilization. They said that the two great powers ought to go together hand in glove ; that there ought to be railways all through Asia, formed by Anglo-Russian companies ; that Russia and England had every sympathy in common which should unite them; that they both hated Germany and loved France; that England and Russia could conquer the world, and so on.

It was a line of reasoning delightfully Russian, and though I was not so rude as to differ from my would be persuaders, and lent an attentive ear to all their eloquence, I could not help thinking that the mutual sympathy between England and Germany is much greater than that between England and Russia ; that the Greek faith as practised by the lower orders in Russia is pure paganism in comparison with the Pro testant religion which exists in Prussia and Great v. Britain ; that Germany and Great Britain are natural allies against Russia, or any other power aggressively disposed towards them ; that Germans .and English men, who are well acquainted with Russia, understand by the term "Russian civilization" something diametri cally opposite to what is attributed to it by those people who form their ideas of Muscovite progress from the few Russians whom they meet abroad ; and that the Honduras railway would be a paying concern to its English shareholders in comparison with an Anglo- Russian line, to be constructed in Central Asia with English capital and Russian directors.

The time was wearing on, November was drawing to a close, my leave of absence would begin on the first of the following month. On that day I must commence my travels. Preparations were rapidly made. Under the advice of Captain Allen Young, of Arctic fame, I ordered a huge waterproof, and, consequently, air-proof, bag of prepared sail-cloth. The bag was seven feet and a half long, and ten feet round. A large aperture was left on one side, and the traveller could thus take up his quarters inside, and sleep well protected from the cold winds. The bag would also be useful in many other ways, and I found it of great convenience for every purpose save the one for which it was originally intended. The manufacturer, not calculating on the enormous dimensions an individual assumes when enveloped in furs, had not made the aperture large enough.

The consequence was that the difficulties, when I attempted to take a header into the recess of my sleeping apartment, were almost insur mountable. Only on one occasion, and when some what lighter clad than usual, I succeeded in effecting an entrance Four pairs of the thickest Scotch fishing cockle's pills. 13 stockings were also ordered ; and jerseys and flannel shirts of a texture to which people in this country are but little accustomed. Then came a suit of clothes, made by Messrs. Kino, of Regent Street, and in which they assured me it would be impos sible to feel cold. The clothes, I must admit, were exceptionally well made, and well suited to be worn under a sheepskin attire, but I cannot wish my worst enemy a greater punishment than forcing him to sleep out on the steppes in . winter time with mere cloth attire, no matter how thick.

Fur or skins of some kind must be worn, or without this precaution the traveller, should he once close his eyes, will undergo a great risk of never opening them again. Two pairs of boots lined with fur were also taken ; and for physic — with which it is as well to be supplied when travelling in out-of-the-way places — some quinine, and Cockle's pills, the latter a most invaluable medicine, and one which I have used on the natives of Central Africa with the greatest possible success. In fact, the marvellous effects produced upon the mind and body of an Arab Sheik, who was impervious to all native medicines, when I administered to him five Cockle's pills, ivill never fade from my memory ; and a friend of mine, who passed through the same district many months afterwards, informed me that my fame as a " medicine man " had not died out, but that the marvellous cure was even then a theme of conversation in the bazaar.

So far as I could learn from the books which related to Central Asia, there would be but little game, and nothing particular in the shape of sport. I determined not to take a rifle. The cartridges would have considerably added to the weight of my luggage, the prime object being to travel as light as possible. However, as it was as well to have some sort of a gun in the event of falling in with wild fowl, which I had been told abounded in some places, I took a favourite old No. 12 small-bore, and amongst other cartridges a few loaded with ball, in case I should encounter any bears or wolves. A regulation revolver, with about twenty cartridges, made up my defensive arsenal in the event of an attack from the Turkomans. The next thing to be thought of was a cooking apparatus. If I had taken the advice of many kind friends, I should have travelled with a batterie de cuisine sufficient for the wants of M. Soyer himself.

But canteens could not be thought of for a moment, on account of the extra weight, so I limited myself to two soldiers' mess tins, and admirable little utensils they are too, whether for cooking over a spirit-lamp or on a fire, and far superior to any of the more costly and cumbersome articles especially invented to get out of order and perplex the traveller. A trooper's hold-all, with its accompanying knife, fork, and spoon, completed my kit, and with a thermometer, barometer, and pocket sextant by way of instruments, I was ready to start. Even this amount of luggage was much more than was desirable, and when placing the baggage for my journey — consisting of the sleeping sack, a pair of saddle-bags, railway bag, and gun — into the scales, I found that it weighed exactly eighty-five pounds.

An officer in the Foot Guards — my friend K. — wished very much to accompany me in my journey. He would have been a most cheery and agreeable com panion, as he was accustomed to travel, and capable of roughing it to any amount, but he was ignorant of Russian. By this time I was thoroughly aware of the difficulties that would most likely be thrown in my COUNT schouvaloff. 15 way, and ofthe little chance I had of getting to Khiva alone, so I was compelled to decline his proposal.* The day before my departure from London I received a very courteous letter from Count Schou valoff. He said that as I was provided with letters to General Milutin, the Russian Minister of War, and to General Kauffmann, the Commander-in-Chief of the Forces in the Government of Turkistan, it only remained for him to give me a letter of introduction to his brother at St. Petersburg, and to wish me God speed on my journey.

He also added that he had sent off a despatch to the Minister of Foreign Affairs at St. Petersburg, asking him to do everything he could to aid me in my proposed journey. And so at the last moment I began to flatter myself things looked a little brighter, but some observations from Mr. MacGahan, whose acquaintance I was so fortunate as to make at the house of a mutual friend, a few even ings previous to my departure, made me still rather doubtful of success. " You will get on very well as far as Fort Number One," had been the remark, " and then you will have to pull yourself together and make your rush, and again in the same way when you leave Russian territory for India; but it is to be done, though the odds are rather against you." He had also given me some valuable hints about acquiring a knowledge of the Tartar language, and travelling as light as possibles * K. was determined not to be idle during his leave, and, as he could not go with me to Russia, went by way of a change to Abyssinia, where, I believe, he had some interesting adventures. f To Mr. MacGahan, and subsequently to Mr. Schuyler, Fiist Secre tary at the Russian Embassy at St. Petersburg, I am greatly indebted for much valuable information with reference to my journey.

Chapter II

Waist-belt for Gold— A Servant an Encumbrance when Travelling— Cologne- Russian Diplomatic Agent — The Nord Newspaper — Mr. Disraeli and the Sue- Canal Shares— Baron Reuter — Strausberg— Examination of Passports— Ol Sleeping Bag — Railway Travelling in Russia— Refreshment Rooms— Russian disregard of Time— Officials easily Suborned— St. Petersburg— Sleigh Drivers — No Russian Piece in any Theatre — A Russian's Dislike to his own Language — His contempt for anything purely Russian — Military Rank — A Village Drinking Establishment— Jonka — Table d'hdte — Fish Soups — India and Education — Agitators — General Kauffmann's Dislike to Publicity — Mr. Schuyler— Bismarck and the Russian Language — All have their Price— Gold an Open Sesame — Letter to General Milutin — Count Schouvaloff s Brother not in St. Petersburg.

The 30th November, 1S75, broke cold and damp. It was one of those disagreeable days that depress and lower the barometer of the human spirit to a semi despondent level ; but I had finished all my regimental duty, and having provided myself at Thornhill's with a strong waist-belt to contain the amount of gold I thought necessary for my journey, and which by the way was a most uncomfortable bedfellow, I drove to the Victoria Station, to start by the night mail. I had determined not to take a servant — they are generally in the way, unless they know something of the country travelled in. Under other conditions master and man have to change places. I must say, however, that I was sorry to leave behind my faithful fellow ; he had been with me in several parts of the world, and was able to make himself understood by signs and the few broken words of the language he might pick up, in a manner to me quite incomprehen- A RUSSIAN DIPLOMATIC AGENT. 17 sible, but Russian moujiki (peasants) and Tartar camel drivers would have been too much even for him.

Besides, he was a married man, and I did not wish to be saddled with his wife and family in the event oi a disaster. Our iron horse galloped merrily over the distance between London and Dover. The passage to Ostend was a favourable one, and the following afternoon at 4 p.m. I found myself again in the familiar old station of Cologne. Two or three hours' delay, waiting for the night express to Berlin, and once more en route. The capital of Germany was reached the following morning, but I had no time to stop, much as I should have liked to visit the many well-loved old nooks and corners familiar to me in my student days. As it was, I could barely catch the train for St. Petersburg, when I found the carriages very much overcrowded, and with difficulty secured a place. Two Russian gentlemen were in the same carriage.