Reconnoitring Central Asia: pioneering adventures in the region lying between Russia and India

Front matter

THE TRANSCASPIAN RAILWAY — THE NOMAD AND THE LOCOMOTIVE. [Frontispiece RECONNOITRING CENTRAL ASIA: PIONEERING ADVENTURES IN THE REGION LYING BETWEEN RUSSIA AND INDIA. BY CHARLES MARVIN, Attthor of " The Russians at Mer-v and Herat" " The [Disastrous Russian Campaign against the Turcomans" " The Russian Advance towards Indiat" "Merv, the Queen of the World" "Grodekoff's Ride to Herat" " The Russian Rail-way to India" "Our Public Offices A etc. " I am a great advocate for reconnoitring on all occasions, not only in war, but in peace also." — General Sir Charles MacGregor. LONDON : W. SWAN SONNENSCHEIN & CO. PATERNOSTER SQUARE. 1884. [All rights resejved.] Printed by Hazell, Watson, and Viney, Limited, London and Aylesbury. TO R. RUDDOCK, ESQ., EDITOR OF THE " NEWCASTLE DAILY CHRONICLE," ffi&ig foorfc is iusailifij AS A MARK OF PRIVATE ESTEEM AND PUBLIC RECOGNITION OF THE BROAD AND PATRIOTIC VIEWS HE HAS ALWAYS ADVOCATED IN REGARD TO THE POLICY OF ENGLAND IN- THE EAST.

Preface

. In the following pages I have attempted to give a popular account of the principal pioneer ing exploits in the region lying between the Caspian and India. It would have been easy to have extended the series, so as to have included the very large band of explorers who have laid bare the geographical secrets of Kashgaria and the region adjacent. A moment's reflection, however, served to convince me that I should make it unwieldy by doing this, and that further I should distract the reader by calling away his attention from time to time to a part of Central Asia, having nothing in common with that extending from the Caspian Sea to the river Indus. Besides, Kashgaria possesses little interest for the English public, VI PREFA CE. while the area embracing Askabad and Merv, Bokhara and Meshed, Candahar, Cabul, and Herat, will continue to attract notice for many years to come, until at length the Central Asian Question solves itself by the junction of the frontiers of the two rival empires.

Many of the explorers, Russian as well as English, I know personally ; but this is a circumstance which I have not allowed for one moment to influence my opinions to the detri ment of those with whom I am not acquainted. In my writings on Central Asia I try to arbitrate impartially between Russia and England, Liberal and Conservative, Russo phobe and Russophile, and if I have failed on this occasion to deal with equal fairness, and with equal freedom from carping, ungenerous criticism, in treating of the achievements of the various Russian and English e-xplorers, the fault is neither due to personal bias nor to narrow views of patriotism. My generalizations are not hasty ones. For PREFA CE. VII some years past I have had to deal almost daily with the books mentioned in this volume, in writing for the press and preparing my works on Central Asia.

It was impossible, under such conditions, not to be continually instituting comparisons between the eLxploits of the ex plorers and the effect of them upon contem porary politics ; while constant reference to their books for purposes of information could not but provoke closer criticism than is possible from a single reading for a chance review. Some of the chapters originally appeared in a skeleton form in the columns of the Newcastle Weekly Chronicle, and the work was completed after my return from the Tsar's coronation. While yet engaged revising it I was called away on a journey to the Caucasus and Caspian region, and when I came back the work had the benefit of a second revision, bringing all its information down to date. Grosvenor House, Plumstead Common, Kent. CONTENTS.

Chapter I. Arminius Vambery's Journey In Disguise To The Khanates Of Central

ASIA. PAGE Commencement of the forward movement of Russia in Central Asia — Condition of the region — Early life of Arminius Vambery — Career in Turkey — Difficulty of assuming successfully a disguise among Asiatics — Conolly's advice on the subject — How Vambery orientalized himself — Anecdotes of the experiences that befell him — The great task Vambery set himself to achieve — His feelings on quitting Europe for the wilds of Central Asia — The horrors of the slave trade — A terrible spectacle — His journey to Khiva across the desert — Reception at Khiva — Denounced as a Frenghi — Blesses the fanatic Khan — Is made to gorge himself by devotees till he wishes himself back in the desert — Gouging out the eyes of Turcomans — Nearly perishes in the desert journey to Bokhara — Boldly confronts the Emir — Makes his way to Afghanistan — Enters Herat a beggar — His interview with Yakoob Khan — " By G , I swear you are an Englishman ! "—Makes his way home vid Meshed — His subsequent career in Europe — His "Travels in Central Asia," and his services to England . . i

Chapter II. Captain Marsh's Ride From The Caspian To India

Russian progress in Central Asia after Vambery's return — English policy — Captain Marsh sets out to ride to COATTENTS. X PAGE India— Remarkable growth of Baku — A new Russia developing in the Caucasus — The three Russian de scents on the East Caspian coast — Seizure of Ashu rada and Krasnovodsk — The railway between London and Teheran— Apathy of the British mission at Teheran — England without influence in Persia — Cha racter of Marsh's ride through Islam — The raids ofthe Turcoman man-stealers — Crucifixion of Turcomans at Meshed — Journey from Meshed to Herat — Experi ences of an English officer at Herat — Yakoob Khan and Captain Marsh — Ride from Herat to Candahar and India — Results of the journey — Sir Charles Mac- Gregor on chupper-ridmg in Persia . . . -54

Chapter III. Colonel Valentine Baker's Visit To The Perso-turcoman Frontier

The Russians on the Atrek — Our lack of knowledge of their operations — Need of an Intelligence Office — ■ The unexplored Perso-Turcoman border — Task undertaken by Colonel Baker, Lieutenant Gill, and Captain Clayton — A ton of luggage — Kindness of the Russian officials in the Caucasus — Arrival at Teheran and journey to Shahrood and Meshed — Baker hindered from going to Herat — Important results that might have attended his journey to that city — Proceeds to Kelat-i-Nadiri — His remarks on Nadir Shah's invasion of India — Growth of Russia's power east of the Caspian — Marvels of her advance — What our policy ought to be — Baker prevents a Persian raid upon the Turcomans — His account of the new Russian border — England negotiates with old maps, Russia with new ones — Baker prevented from going to Merv — His "Clouds in the East" — Value of his survey to England . CONTENTS. XI PAGE 95

Chapter IV

J. A. MACGAHAN'S CHASE OF GENERAL KAUFMANN'S ARMY. The Russian expedition against Khiva — Three Englishmen go to the southern side of Central Asia, three Americans to the north of it — A special correspondent of the Daily Telegraph tries to get to Khiva and fails — Schuyler and MacGahan set out for the Aral region — Finding the Russians already gone from Kazala, MacGahan decides to chase them across the desert — Captain Verestchagin puts his veto on the undertaking — MacGahan succeeds in starting from Fort Petrovsky — How he travelled as a man of peace — Experiences in the Kizil Kum — Fearful character of the desert — The five hundred miles' ride to Khala-ata — Kaufmann gone — Arrested by Colonel Weimarn ; escapes the camp and pushes on — Exciting adventures in stalking the Russian army — Slipping through the Turcomans, he arrives at the Russian camp at the moment of victory — The capture of Khiva — The Turcoman campaign — MacGahan's thirty days' ride as a journalistic achievement — The failure of Robert Ker; his concoction of correspondence — Schuyler's journey and his book on Turkestan — MacGahan's after-career — His friendship with Skobeleff .

Chapter V. Captain Napier's Secret Mission

English and Russian secret agents in Central Asia — Why should England indulge in cant ? — Daoud Khan's secret survey of Merv — A black man needs no commendation — Russophobe charges against Russia — Captain Napier's secret journey along the Perso- Turcoman frontier — His confidential report — How it came to be offered to the writer — A Russian staff officer on the value of secret surveys — England ought CONTENTS. XII PAGE 129 149 to have no secret reports — Official statement as to the objects of Napier's journey — His itinerary — Cannot blue-books be made more lively ? — Jottings of a native spy — A Persian tailor and a farmer on the position of Russia and England in the East — Results of Napier's survey — England might have had Merv if her states men had been wiser — Merv geographically a part of Afghanistan — Napier's opinion of the evils that will result from a Russian occupation of the Oasis

Chapter VI. Colonel

C M. MACGREGOR'S SURVEY OF KHORASSAN, O. K. and the annexation of Khiva — Progress of events in Central Asia — MacGregor's claim to consideration as an authority on the subject — The absurd order forbidding English officers to travel in Afghanistan compels him to journey six thousand miles instead of one thousand — " Good gracious, this man is a liar! " — Ride from the Persian Gulf to Herat — Ill-treatment by the Afghans — Turned away from Herat and censured by the English Government — Horrors of Turcoman man-stealing— What the people of Khorassan think ofthe Russians — The Government forbids him to explore Merv and the Hindoo Koosh — His bitter disappointment — His journey to Sarakhs, and opinion of its strategical importance — Sarakhs the real key of Herat — MacGregor meets Ayoub Khan at Meshed — Confronts him again at Candahar — Rides along the Perso-Turcoman frontier to the Caspian —The real pillars of the Empire

Chapter VII. Captain Burnaby's Ride To Khiva

Russian operations in Turkestan from the time of Mac- Gahan's return to Burnaby's departure from London CONTENTS. XIII PAGE W 211 — The aim of the English officer — His advantages over other explorers — The railway to Orenburg — Burnaby's journey to the Sea of Aral — The ride thence to Khiva — The exploit not so difficult as com monly imagined— The dangers at Khiva overstated— The Khan of Khiva of Vambery's time, of Mac- Gahan's time, and of Burnaby's time — The interview between the Khan and General Kaufmann— A tiger with pared claws — Burnaby unjust to the Russians— His interview with the Khan of Khiva— The Khan at the Tsar's coronation — Burnaby stops too long at Khiva, and is arrested by the Russians — His e.xperi ences at Fort Petro-Alexandrovsk — His journey home — Review of his "Ride to Khiva" — Value of his exploit — England and her Burnabys .

Chapter VIII. General Petrusevitch And The Turcomans

Events in Central Asia after Burnaby's return home from Khiva — Butler appears on the scene disguised as a Chinaman — Napier's operations — Career of General Petrusevitch — The question of the diversion of the Oxus into the Caspian Sea — Its importance for Russia — The Oxus of the past and the Oxus of the future — General Glukhovsky's explorations — What may come ofthe restoration of the ancient water ways and irrigation canals in Central Asia — Petrusevitch's survey of the Perso-Turcoman border — Political preponderance in Afghanistan the coveted prize of the Caucasus school of administrators — Policy of Stolietoff, Markozoff, Lomakin, and Petrusevitch in the Transcaspian region — Skobeleff on the disadvantages of border conflicts — Anecdote of General Lazareff — Anecdotes of Petrusevitch while at Krasnovodsk — The siege of Geok Tepe — Death of Petrusevitch — ■ Romantic circumstances connected with his end COATTENTS. PAGE 231

CHAPTER LX. CAPTAIN BUTLER, THE SECRET ENGLISH AGENT.

The remarkable siege of Geok Tepe — Excitement occasioned in England and Russia by the fighting — Captain Butler claims that he fortified the place — Never near it — The public and explorers — Butler's journey along the Perso-Turcoman border in 1876 — Sent again in 1878 to lead the Turcomans against the Russians — Butler a wrong agent for a mission of this kind — O'Donovan upon his pretensions — Some of his alleged adventures in Persia — The English Government placed in an awkward position by his disclosures of his mission — Their effect on the policy of Russia in the Akhal Tekke region — The Government throw him over — Fate of Butler — Another of O. K.'s misstatements — Effect of the journeys of Butler, Baker, Napier, and MacGregor on the Turcomans of Akhal and Merv — The trouble they caused Russia, and the barrier they opposed to her operations — What English officers may do to strengthen and defend the Empire .........

Chapter X. Pashino, The Secret Russian Agent

The Russians before Constantinople — Conference in their camp to discuss the utility of striking a blow at England through India — Dispatch of Russian officers from the army to Central Asia — Pashino sent to India to find his way to Cabul — Career of Pashino — Interpreter to the Ameer Abdurrahman Khan — Pashino's journey round the world — An incident at the Tsar's coronation — Private Russian travellers in India — ■ Their fewness — Pashino's views ofthe administration of India — Nonsense written on India by Englishmen CON-TENTS. XV PAGE — Evil results in India and Russia — Pashino, stopped on the Afghan border, returns to Constantinople — By his conduct spoils his subsequent career — Becomes a pauper and a cripple — Rewards given by Russia to her e.xplorers . 252

Chapter XI. Grodekoff's Ride To Herat

Grodekoff and the English fleet at Ismid — Central Asia the best place for settling the Eastern Question — Russia's plan for attacking us in India in 1878 — Grodekoff and the expedition to Khiva — Narrowly escapes death by thirst — Grodekoff small in body but strong in spirit — A school chum of Skobeleff's — Preparations at Tashkent for the march to India — Burnaby's ride and Grodekoff" s compared — Incapable of supporting a disguise — Ride from Samarcand to the Oxus — Quarrels with the Afghans — Brave demeanour of Grodekoff — His perilous position at Mazar-i-Sherif — The Afghan conquest of the Uzbeks — The Russian uniform at Cabul — Grodekoff 's ride to Herat — Reception there — Importance of his survey — His reward — Shares with Skobeleff the last Turcoman campaign — A visit to Grodekoff the morning after Skobeleff's death 264

Chapter XII. O'donovan's Dash To Merv

The Afghan war— The Russian conflict beyond the Caspian — Life of Mr. O'Donovan described by Mr. Joseph Cowen, M.P. — His Fenian experiences — Proceeds to Central Asia — Watches Lazareff' s campaign in 1879 — Is expelled the Russian camp — Wanders about the border — Skobeleff refuses to let him join his expedi- CONTENTS. XVI PAGE tion — Proceeds to Deregez to join the Akhal Tekkes at Geok Tepe — Misses the siege — Decides to ride off to Merv — The Oasis described — The real character of Mr. O'Donovan's great enterprise — His services to the English Government — The very man the country needed on the spot — The ride to the river Tejend— Bivouacking in the desert — Experiences during a storm the night before reaching Merv — Excitement provoked by his arrival — Suggestions to murder him — His sufferings from the curiosity of the people — Examined by a council ofthe chiefs — His five months' residence at Merv — A decorated prisoner — Finally escapes the Oasis — Fate of Merv — Mr. O'Donovan's influence upon the solution of the Merv Question — His e.xploit compared with the achievements of other pioneers — The " Merv Oasis " . . . . . 295

Chapter XIII

colonel Stewart's watch over skobeleff's army. England can always rely upon a supply of Bumabys to rectify the carelessness of her statesmen — English officers "haunting" the Perso-Turcoman border in 1880 — Stewart proceeds to the spot disguised as a horse-dealer — How he elaborated his plans at Ispahan — Success attending his disguise — A good hard ride, with no "comforts" — Beluchi robbers — Their mode of operations — Arrival at Deregez — Lives alongside Mr. O' Donovan for three weeks without his disguise being penetrated — Russia complains, and he is ordered home — Appointed English agent to watch over Herat— Of vital importance to a traveller that he should be able to give a graphic account of his explorations—Inability of Marsh to do this— O'Donovan spoils his book of travels by keeping it back too long — Stewart the only military traveller rewarded by the State CONTENTS. XVII

Chapter XIV. Lieutenant Alikhanoff's Journey With

A RUSSIAN CARAVAN TO MERV. PAGE Desire of Russia for a survey of her own of the Merv Oasis — Visit of Merv Tekkes to Askabad — Invitation to the Russian traders to visit Merv — Baron Aminoff takes advantage of General Rohrberg's absence to indulge in a little frontier intrigue on his own account — Alikhanoff's previous career — How Caucasians become Russianized — Injustice to the natives of India ■ — March of the Russian caravan along the Atak Oasis — Alikhanoff's survey of the Tejend region — Exciting incidents of the secret night ride into Merv — Fears of treachery — The people awake to find the Russians settled in their midst — Disguised as a Tekke Alikhanoff takes plans of the fortress — PLots of the Tekkes against the Russians — Exploit of Naziroff in riding from the Caspian through Merv to the Oxus at Tchardjui — Merv now completely explored 361

Chapter XV. Lessar's Discovery Of The Easy Road To India

The Transcaspian railway — Explorers sent to report upon its extension to India — Why General Annenkoff chose Lessar as surveyor — Exploration of the country between Askabad and Sarakhs — Skobeleff's reference to Lessar in his Geok Tepe banquet speech — Effect of Central Asian travel upon explorers — The country between Sarakhs and Herat — Lessar's ride across it and discoveries en route — The Sarik Turcomans— Arrives in Afghanistan — The strategical importance of Kusan — Russia and the emancipation ofthe 40,000 slaves in Khiva — Lessar proceeds to Ghurian — Conversation with the Khan — Lessar's journey to Meshed b CONTENTS. XVIII PAGE — His survey of the Oxus— Momentous character of his explorations — Their effect upon the relations of England and Russia in Central Asia. 384

Chapter XVI. The Past And Future Of Pioneering In Central Asia

Changes in Central Asia since Vambery visited the region in 1863 — Nothing now left of importance to explore — Unjust accusation against Russia of keeping the results of her explorations to herself — English and Russian maps of Central Asia — The region quite easy to traverse to-day — Results of its conquest by Russia — Comparison of the exploits of the various pioneers — Special features distinguishing Vambery's, MacGahan's, and O'Donovan's achievements above all others — Impossible for Vambery's exploit to be repeated — Merits of military explorers — The rivalry of Russia and England in Central Asia a trade rivalry as well as a political one — Want of patriotism on the part of English manufacturers — Obligations of Anglo-Indian capitalists to the army — Who may and who may not be relied upon in the hour of danger — • A greater reward than all . . . . . .

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. The Tran<scaspian Railway — the Nomad and the Locomotive Frontispiece Map of Central Asia .... Tu face page i Kirzil Arvat ,, 20 Kirghiz Hunting the Wolf with Whips ,, 106 A Snowstorm in the Desert . . ,, 182 The Khan of Khiva as he appeared at the Coronation of Alexander III. ,, 202 Death of General Petrusevitch . ,, 228 Turcoman Camp ,, 312 Lieutenant Naziroff and his Fellow- Explorers of Merv ... „

Chapter I. Arminius Vambery's Journey In Disguise To The Khanates Of Centr

4.L ASIA. Commencement of the forward movement of Russia in Central Asia — Condition of the region — Early life of Arminius Vambery — -Career in Turkey — Difficulty of assuming successfully a disguise among Asiatics — Conolly's advice on the subject — How Vambery orientalized himself — Anecdotes of the experiences that befell him — The great task Vambery set himself to achieve — His feelings on quitting Europe for the wilds of Central Asia — The horrors of the slave trade — A terrible spectacle — His journey to Khiva across the desert — Reception at Khiva — Denounced as a Frenghi — Blesses the fanatic Khan — Is made to gorge himself by devotees till he wishes himself back in the desert — Gouging out the eyes of Turcomans — Nearly perishes in the desert journey to Bokhara — Boldly confronts the Emir — Makes his way to Afghanistan — Enters Herat a beggar — His interview with Yakoob Khan — " By G .

I swear you are an Englishman ! " — Makes his way home via Meshed — His subsequent career in Europe — His " Travels in Central Asia," and his services to England. "The sight of a map with blank spaces on it produces in me a feeling of mingled shame and restlessness. Of course it is not any particular fault of mine that maps have blank spaces on them, but I always feel the glaring whiteness of the blanks looking reproachfully at me. Judging from my own I RECOANOITRING CEA'l'RAL ASIA. 2 feelings, I think it would be a good plan if the Geographical Society were to have all unexplored tracts painted on their maps some conspicuous colour, say scarlet, as the sight of these burning spots, thus prominently brought to their notice, would, I feel sure, rouse much of the latent energy of young Britons, and perhaps divert a good deal of it from mooning about the Row to more useful wanderings to unknown regions." — General Sir Charles MacGregor (Wander ings in Balochistan, page 2).

In 1S63, the public in England were greatly excited at the aggressive operations of the Russians in Central Asia. Three years pre vious had commenced afresh the forward movement towards India that had marked the reign of the Emperor Nicholas, but which had been suspended during and immediately after the Crimean War. In 1S60, the Russians had taken the Khokandese fortresses of Tokmak and Pishpek ; Kolpakovsky had routed 20,000 Khokandese at Uzun-Agatch; and the Oren burg authorities had established a naval station at Kazala, on the river Syr Daria. The following year the fortress of Yani Kurgan had been taken, and a post established at Julek. In 1862, the Khokandese had again experienced several defeats, and Russia was known to be organizing an expedition at Orenburg to renew the war the following spring.

At this juncture, ARMINIUS VAMBERY'S JOURNEY, ETC. 3 when the eyes of England were fixed upon the menaced khanates of Khokand, Bokhara, and Khiva, a lame Hungarian took upon himself the task of trudging in disguise across the deserts of Central Asia, to a.scertain for this country what the Russians were doing in the mysterious region beyond. For nearly twenty years the expanse lying between Russia and India had been left unvisited by European travellers. Previous to this nearly every portion of Central Asia had been overrun by explorers, of whom the names of Baillie Fraser, Arthur Conolly, Alexander Burnes, Wolff, Abbott, Shakespear, Taylour Thomson, and the Frenchman Ferrier, rise readily to the lips. But the collapse of the English expedition to Afghanistan, and the cruel murder of Stoddart and Conolly in Bokhara, had given Central Asia an evil reputation.

Travellers had avoided it. By degrees mists had gathered over the khanates, and the public of Europe had come to regard Central Asia as an uncanny region, a prey to anarchy and murder, in which no Frenghi could show himself without risking a cruel and lingering death, or what was perhaps worse, lifelong RECONNOITRING CENTRAL ASIA. 4 slavery among thousands of other unfortunates in Khiva and Bokhara. Only in 1860 the Turcomans of Merv had conquered and cap tured a Persian army, 20,000 strong, to a man, and after storing its cannon in their fortress — where they exist to this day — had sent nearly the whole of the captives to be sold as slaves in Central Asia. Such was the dread which, acts like these inspired, that no Englishman dared venture beyond the Persian frontier to see what the Russians were doing on the i\ral, and it is a question whether even the intrepid Arminius Vambery would have undertaken his dangerous journey but for being able to perform it in disguise.

Arminius Vambery was born in 1832, at Duna Gzerdahely, situated on one of the largest islands in the Danube. " Impelled," he says, " by a particular inclination to linguistic studies," he had in " early youth occupied himself with several languages of Europe and 4<\sia." This led him later on to proceed to Constantinople, where several years' residence in the Turkish houses, and frequent visits to Islamitic schools and libraries, soon transformed him into a Turk, if not an Efendi. For six years he acted as ARMINIUS VAMBERY'S yOURAŒY, ETC. 5 translator in the Turkish Foreign Office, all the while increasing his mastery of the Oriental philology and acquiring a minute knowledge of the language and religion of the Eastern countries he meant some day to explore. In 1862, he left Constantinople for Persia, where he spent nearly a year, patiently familiarising himself with the people and country before taking in hand the enterprise, on which would be staked his liberty and life.

At length he felt himself fit for the disguise he intended to assume — that of a dervish, which would enable him to travel to Central Asia in company with one of the bands of holy mendicants that were constantly passing between Khiva and Mecca. Of the difficulty of sustaining a disguise among Asiatics, the explorer Conolly, who tried the role of desert trader in the Turcoman region, himself bears witness: — " If I were to travel again in such countries in the disguise of a native, I would take the character of a poor one ; but I think that a European can hardly hope to escape detection, for, though he may be conversant with the idioms, his mode of delivery, his manner even of sitting, walking, or riding — in short, his tout ensemble. RECOANOITREYG CENTRAL ASIA. is different from that of an 4A.siatic, and the very care he takes not to betray himself gives him an air that causes him to be noticed.

A man may, I think, get on best in the character ofa French or Italian doctor. These itinerant gentry are sometimes met with, and as their country is supposed to be somewhere about the antipodes, they are not viewed with distrust. Among people so ignorant a Sangrado may pass for a great hakeem ; the simplest medicines will cure their ailments, and you may tell those beyond your skill that it is not their nusseeb (fortune) to be cured. No character will gain you such good treatment, and it has this great advantage — that it does not oblige you to con ceal your religion, or, what is worse, to affect the Mahomedan. Few will question you, and you may make free use of the names of their most esteemed hakeems — Solerat and Bokrat, Sokman and Aboo Allee Seine ; but if you should happen to meet a man of as great pretensions as yourself, and he should begin to try you with queries, ask him whether a shiver ing fever is a cold or hot disease."

The task the lame man Vambery set himself to achieve was no easy one. It was simple ARMINIUS VAMBERY' S JOURNEY, ETC. 7 enough to assume the rags and dirt of a dervish, to wear a felt jacket and patchwork robe, to twine strips of ragged linen round his feet, and fix on his head an immense turban, " serving as a parasol by day and a pillow by night " ; but when it came to associating with the holy beggars, he found it a most anxious task to suppress his European habits, for, as he says, " we Occidentals eat, drink, sleep, sit, and stand, nay, I feel inclined to say, laugh, weep, sigh, and gesticulate, otherwise than Eastern people. I shudder even now when I think back of the fatigue I underwent during the first few days, and how much I suffered from the wet and cold, the uncleanliness — which makes one's hair stand on end — and the never ending, harassing worry with the fanatic Sheeahs during our long and tedious daily marches in the Persian province of Mazenderan.

Some times it rained from early in the morning until late in the evening, and, whilst not a thread of my tattered garments remained dry, I was obliged to wade for hours knee-deep in mud. Being conscious of my habit of gesticulating with my hands when speaking — a habit peculiar to many Europeans, but strictly forbidden in RECONA'OITRING CENTRA L A STA . 8 Central Asia — and fearing lest I should commit this mistake, I adopted a coercive remedy. I pretended to suffer from pains in the arms, and strapping them down to the body, they soon lost the habit of involuntary movement. In like manner I seldom ventured to make a hearty meal late in the evening, for fear of" being troubled with heavy dreams, which might cause me to speak some foreign language. I bore in mind the words of one of my com panions, who observed one morning with great naivete' that my snoring sounded different from that of the Turkestanis, whereupon another interpreter informed him : ' Yes, thus people snore in Constantinople.' ' In one of his works he tells us of a droll incident, fraught with danger of discovery, which occurred to him in Bokhara.