A Land March from England to Ceylon, forty years ago ... Illustrated with original sketches

Front matter

FROM ENGLAND TO CEYLON A LAND MARCH FROM ENGLAND TO CEYLON FORTY YEARS AGO, THROUGH DALMATIA, MONTENEGRO, TURKEY, ASIA MINOR, SYRIA, PALESTINE, ASSYRIA, PERSIA, AFGHANISTAN, SCINDE, AND INDIA, OF WHICH 70CO MILES ON HORSEBACK. ILLUSTRATED WITH ORIGINAL SKETCHES. BY EDWARD LEDWICH MITFORD, F.R.G.S., CEYLON CIVIL SERVICE (RETIRED). VOL. II. LONDON : W. H. ALLEN & CO., 13 WATERLOO PLACE, S.W. PUBLISHERS TO THE INDIA OFFICE. 1 884. All Rights Reserved. HERTFORD : PRINTED BY STEPHEN AUSTIN AND SONS. CONTENTS OF VOL. II. Chapter I.— PERSIA. Leave for Teheran ; Lost Road ; French Officers ; Fish ; Grapes ; Demavend ; Teheran ; Vermin ; British Residency ; Ambassador Absent, i. — Mines; Gipsies; Horses, Arabian and Barb ; Ostrich Hunting ; Tea ; Uncivil Governor ; Buy Horse, 7. — Ibrahim Bey; Rough Marching; Pass of Darius, 12.

Chapter II.— KHORASSAN. Illness ; Salt Streams ; Extraordinary Village ; Detained 111 ; Cotton Printing ; Want of Provisions ; Wind Sails ; Danger from Turcoman ; Ibrahim begs for an escort ; Sirdar sends troop of Cavalry ; Caravan from Mushed, 15. — Fright of Escort ; They desert in the Night ; Georgian Colony ; Mirage, 27. — Slept in Ruins ; Lost my Way ; Follow light across Fenced Country ; Village; Nothing to Eat; Nishapour, 30. — English Trees; Despondency ; Jolly Dervish ; Governor of Mushed ; Kind Reception, 33. — Fever; Kind Nursing; Mohammed Reza, 36. — Story of Dottenvich, a German, Took Service with Shah of Herat; Offended Yar Mohammed; Vizier's Revenge; Abandoned on Turcoman Desert ; Repentance ; Army, Arrears of Pay ; Persian Parties ; Respect for Bible, 38. — Intrigues in Afghanistan by Vizier of Herat ; Governor's Suspicions ; The Sanctuary ; Trading and Shops; Reports of Stoddart and Conolly, 43. — Take leave of the Governor and my kind Host ; Suspect Treachery, 49. — Wild Asses ; Turcoman Envoys ; Chief's Eyes Opened; Torbut Sheik Jamy; Morris dancers; Truculent Guides; Fear of Turcomans, 52. — Sleeping Fast ; Night March ; Ghorian; Khan, Son of Governor of Mushed ; Heri Rood ; Persian Antipathy to Afghans ; Herat ; Welcomed by Major D'Arcy Todd, 59.

VI CONTENTS OF VOL. II. Chapter III.— AFGHANISTAN. Mosque ; Destruction of Trees during Siege ; Pottinger's Defence of Herat ; Russian Duplicity ; English Embassy ; Removal of Trade; Tyranny of Yar Mohammed; Afghans; Climate, 66. — Visit to Vizier; Visit the Shah Kamran; In temperance ; Money Thrown Away ; Evening Party ; The Shah of Persia's Band ; Fireworks ; Dances ; Attun ; Hazarehs ; Game and Hawking; Afghans, Arab type, not Jewish, 72. — Canals; No Tribes are Lost, 83. — Difficulty of Cabul Route; Leave Herat; I become a Safe Conduct ; British Influence ; Cloud Scenery, 86. — Subzawar ; Fertility ; Sand Grouse ; Partridges ; Washeer ; Sleep in Tent, 91.— A Nest of Hornets; Danger; Diplomatic Retreat, 96. — A Sheep for Supper; Ghirisk; Helmund River; Seistan Lake, 98. — Fertile Valley of Urgandaub; Kandahar; Sepoys; Welcomed by Resident, 102. — Native Sharp Practice; Sufter Jung; Sirdar; Gilzye Robber, 104. — Old Kandahar; Curious Bowl ; Sporting ; Woodcock and Black Partridge ; The Puppet King; Suttee in Punjaub, 107. — Arrival of General Nott ; March with Colonel Wallace ; Irregular Horse ; Mountain Ranges ; Gradual Ascent to Quetta ; Kojuk Pass ; Bearded Vultures; Christmas at Quetta; Captain Bean; Attack on Station; Moufflon Hunting ; Bolan Rangers ; The Pass ; Change in Fauna and Flora, 1 1 1 .

Chapter I

Persia. After a compulsory detention of a month, which had not been unprofitably employed, I had now to face the worst half of my journey alone, through Khorassan and the countries beyond. I met here a party of French officers in the Shah's service, who were returning to Teheran, and they invited me to join their party, which I gladly accepted : they were to march the first day with the army, for the purpose of being presented to the Shah, after which we were to take the road to Teheran. Baron Bode had also kindly offered me the use of his tents, in case I accompanied the Shah to Kasbin : the camp was to pitch the first day at Mahran, four farsaks on the Kasbin road, and all the tents and baggage were sent on to that place : I bought a strong black horse for the road, and was mounted and equipped in the same way as on leaving Aleppo, which I had found convenient and not cumbersome.

My fellow-traveller rode out with us on 8th August to the rendezvous at Shavarin, where VOL. II. I took a regretful leave of him, and he departed on his homeward road to Bushire. At sunset, the whole camp was on the march before we were ready, and none of us knowing the path, we several times lost ourselves in the dark; but at length, striking on the high road at the village of Karajaga, we travelled over the plains till near midnight, when we came in sight of the camp fires, which guided us to their position ; but here we were no better off, for the servants, not expecting our arrival, instead of pitching the tents, had gone to pass the night at the village of Mahran : after wandering about the camp in search of our tents until we were tired, as there was no hope of obtaining shelter from the Persians, notwithstanding that Meerza Ali's Secretary was one of our party, we were all fain to lie down in the field, under the starry canopy, and sleep with our bridles in our hands until morning ; I was fortunate in having retained my cloak, my saddle bags having been sent on, and I slept soundly till day break.

A horse will seldom disturb his master in such a case, for after a long march, if he has nothing to eat and his bridle is not taken off, he will sleep and remain almost motionless the whole night. The sun had risen when we rode into Mahran, a large, well-built village, with broad streets, from whence to Kobut Rahang, the next camping-place, is a plain desti tute of water ; the distance is three farsaks : here the camp remained all day, on the open plain, exposed to intense heat, with the exception of the Shah's tents, which occupied the only grove in the plain. The weather had become very hot before leaving Hamadan, the ther mometer had risen to 950 indoors, and on this whit4 waste it was very oppressive, and I felt it the morel from having suffered from illness for the last week. When the troops marched on the morning of the 10th for Kasbin, the French officers were presented to the Shah on horseback, and we then parted company with the remains of the army and struck across country to join PERSIA. 3 the Teheran road, passing a high mound on the right, called Deh Neiss, which the natives said was an artificial ruin.

The peasants were reaping their fields, and as we passed they left their work and came to meet us, presenting handfuls of wheat and barley, a sort of offering of firstfruits, which I have no doubt is derived from very ancient custom. We fell in with three Afghans, who had come on some mission to the court : they formed rather a contrast to the Persians, wearing handsome turbans and silver-mounted arms. We passed a village and mud fort, called Kirdabad, and stopped at Benikabat, where we obtained good lodgings and tolerable fare ; a small stream flows easterly through the village, which is inter spersed with poplar trees ; we had marched three farsaks. At sunrise on the nth travelled across a salt plain, on which grew a great quantity of a species of kelp ; crossed numerous clear rivulets, running from North to South, and stopped at Sere (six farsaks), a large mud village ; the crops of grain on the line between this and Kobut Rahang are very deficient, caused by the poor and salt nature of the soil.

We left Sere at midnight, over low barren hills, producing nothing but Absinthe ; at daylight we were near a range of barren mountains, which extended in a southerly direction ; along their base were a number of villages, surrounded by thin patches of verdure, where a spring or stream redeemed the spot from the general aridity : crossed a stream which took a southerly course tiown a ravine, and pitched under some trees at Nowara; this was a large village on the side of a hill, supplied by abundant sources of fine water ; a pool formed by one of these was full of large fish, similar to those seen at Orfa ; ibut here, not being sacred, and equally tame, we added (Some of the most patriarchal to our day's fare, to the great amusement of the villagers, who watched our angling, ('although they do not eat fish themselves ; the fish have a rich flavour, and, I should think, were unwholesome, but, in case of a want of provisions, not to be despised by hungry travellers : Nowara is eight farsaks from Sere.

August i j. —Left at dawn through mountains, the gorges and hollows of which were planted with vineyards and fruit trees, and watered by streams : the principal grape of this part of Persia is the Sultana, a small pointed grape, which grows very fine, called by the Persians "Lady's fingers"; there are larger grapes, both black and white, but they are generally watery. The people make wine, but it is always consumed while new, and is never kept after the season ; otherwise, it might make tolerable wine, as is the case at Shiraz, where a good light wine is made, resembling dry Malaga. The men were sitting on watch on the tops of the hills overlooking their gardens, to prevent their fruit being stolen. We marched five farsaks to Cashgai, a small mud village on a rivulet of bad water. Leaving at midnight, we crossed barren plains ; and as the sun rose behind the range of mountains beyond Teheran, it had an extra ordinary effect on the conical peak of Demavend, which it first enlightened, and gave it the appearance of being trans lucent.

Six farsaks brought us to Benikabat, in a district of scattered hamlets ; the water here is very bad, being loamy and brackish. In the evening we started again over dreary plains, travelling all night ; towards morning? the country became more undulating, and, after crossing] a salt stream, we wound through a desolate tract of) ravine, forming a pass which might be easily defended! against an enemy. We reached Robat Kerim, eight farsaks, on the 15th : here is a handsome caravanserai, which was full of soldiers: belonging to the Shah's army : we rested here for an hour, and then rode on across the plain of Teheran, which place we reached after travelling four farsaks : the plain is scattered over with villages, and intersected by water courses, and slopes up to the foot of the mountains ■ it may look well when the crops are green, but now hasi a barren appearance, merely varied by the few orchards] that grow round the town, and a few isolated gardens^ surrounded by mud walls.

The peak of Demavend rises PERSIA. 5 above the mountains, striped with snow. The town is in a sort of hollow, or bay, formed by the mountains ; it is inclosed within a mud wall, and the interior citadel is protected by a moat. The only striking object near Teheran is a large palace on an eminence at the foot of the mountains, called Takt i Kadgar, the throne of the Kadgars, which has a commanding appearance from a short distance, but, on approaching it, the windows are all false, and there is nothing in it to admire : it is a great square pile of building, erected by Fath Ali Shah, now abandoned and out of repair. I was extremely disappointed with this capital of Persia, which is the residence of the Court ; the interior is full of narrow, dirty bazaars, and the whole is a mass of mud bricks and mean houses.

The Shah's palace in the citadel was once handsome, as far as carving and gilding could make it, but was in a miserable state for want of repair : the interior was pretty ; the rooms supported on marble pillars, water running through the halls in canals paved iwith sky-blue tiles, with basins in the centre of the rooms, which, however, were low, and altogether had an .appearance of meanness and insignificance : the open courts had a more pleasing effect, being planted with trees and varied with broad reservoirs of water. I Their towns being built of mud, or sun-dried brick, sphere is always a large deposit of dust from the coninual decomposition of the walls ; this is no doubt l);he cause of the abundance of unmentionable vermin kvhich, aided by their own uncleanliness, infest the [Persians, and forms the chief plague of a traveller (in Persia, and cannot be avoided, even by choosing your company ; it is the same thing whether you repose pn the mat in the hut of the peasant, or the carpet in jthe palace of the Vizier, you are sure to bring away a ijietachment of their loathsome entomology.

The dust is also very troublesome, especially in windy weather, ias happened on the 18th, when we were visited by a (severe storm ; and although doors and windows were, closed, the house in which I was staying was in a few minutes so filled with clouds of dust that it was difficult to see a yard before one's face, and when it ceased, everything was literally buried under a thick deposit ; a heavyj fall of rain, with thunder, at length relieved us from further! inconvenience. The houses are not firmly built, ancjfi appear to rock under a storm ; the next morning muclji devastation was apparent, numerous mud-brick wallsi having been blown down, and the awnings of the bazaars carried away by the wind. At Teheran, I was kindly entertained by the French officers ; these gentlemen had come to supersede the English in disciplining the Shah's troops.

To say nothing of the policy of arming and teaching so unstable ar ally, British officers might be better employed than as drill sergeants to such a set of barbarians, whc could never be made available to face European troops The French officers talk of making great improvements in their manœuvring ; but the Shah is averse to having the English system interfered with, or altered ; in the meantime, the army has no discipline at all, and these gentlemen have no occupation ; I do not consider their) situation at all a pleasant one, owing to the inimical disposition of the people and Governor towards them J and on one occasion an attempt was made to raise a morJ: against them on the common Eastern pretext of their? receiving Persian females in their house : the English! officers being generally men of a higher class (the French all rising from the ranks) were more respected, but even5 we have met with nothing but ingratitude from this con-n temptible people. b The British Residency is a handsome European-built"! house, at the end of a garden, planted with shrubs and'-| shady trees, with a portico on columns surmounted byit a pediment ; it has been closed and sealed since the5 Embassy left ; and on looking through the window, I could15 see it remained furnished as if just abandoned, and a'9! book lay open on the sofa : there is an extensive garden-s' PERSIA. 7 attached to the premises, containing a variety of fruit trees and flowers, which had been laid out and planted by Colonel Willock.

In an adjoining house lived an Armenian, who had been employed in working the mines north of Tabreez : an English miner, who had been occupied at the same place, was staying with him they showed me some specimens of the ore, which were very rich ; one specimen was native copper ; they also in formed me that six weeks ago there had been an earth quake near Tabreez, which had done much damage ; one village, situated under a mountain, being destroyed by the rolling down of the rocks from the summit, by which it was overwhelmed. As in other towns in Persia, there is a great quantity of ice consumed here, and, with the thermometer at 96° it is very delightful to see these glassy piles of ice by the side of the street, and have the crystal lumps bobbing against your nose as you sip your cooled sherbet or wine and water.

Gipsies are common in this part of Persia, particularly at Hamadan, where they are called Susmanni ; their usual name is Karatgi, a Turkish word, signifying vagabonds or wanderers : they are common in Syria, where they are found encamped outside the towns and villages : may not the gipsies be the ancient Elamites ? In the 49th chapter of Jeremiah, verse 36, it is written, " And there shall be no nation whither the outcasts of Elam shall not come." The name Susmanni favours this conjecture, Susa being the capital of ancient Elam. The Turkish language is spoken by the higher classes in Persia, so that a Turkish scholar would have no difficulty in making himself understood along the entire line, from Scutari in Albania to Mushed in Khorassan : the Persian language is soft, but much strengthened and improved by its mixture with Arabic.

The Shah Nameh of Ferdousi is said to be written in such pure Persian as not to contain a single Arabic word. The horses which are chiefly valued here are of course the Arab : the Persian horse is a stiff ill-looking animal ; it can endure fatigue in marching long journeys, but shows little blood : the Turcoman horse is more appreciated, but scarce : it is a tall large-boned horse, with good blood, and well adapted for making forced marches and chappows on scanty fare : such forays generally only last for a short time, when the horses are again left to rest for a season : I do not know how far they may be capable of supporting continual fatigue; it is difficult to account for the superiority of the breed of Arab horses, considering that they are not original or indigenous in the countries that now produce them ; in the time of Israel's power, when a stream of commerce flowed to them through Arabia, and they could command the resources of the Syrian deserts, they sent to a foreign nation for horses ; Solomon brought his horses from Egypt for 150 shekels of silver, and at the same time it is said that horses were brought from the same country for the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Syria, which would hardly have been necessary if the present breed had then existed in Syria ; when Mohammed first marched from Mecca, there were only four or five horses in his army, the Arabs fighting on camels ; I am inclined to think that the Barb, which has been introduced from the coast of Africa at a com paratively modern period, is the original stock of the Arab breed.

Although the modifications of climate, culture, and training have established many points of difference between the two races, you occasionally see the type of the original race completely restored in the Arabian ; the Barb is certainly the most showy horse in appearance it has a broader chest than the Arab, the neck is longer and better set on the shoulders ; it has a greater profusion of hair on the mane and tail, and has a much more graceful and beautiful action ; but the clean muscular legs, the well-formed barrel, the small head, with the blood and fire, are common to both. The powerful bit and heavy saddle of the Bedouins and Moors of Barbary, together with their rough mode of riding, have had a great effect in modifying the form of their horses, by PERSIA. 9 weakening their hinder parts, giving them what is called a goose rump ; but at the same time it developes the muscles and gives a finer carriage to the chest and neck.

The Arabs of Arabia and Mesopotamia use very light saddles, and often ride with a mere halter, or very easy bit, and give the horses their head to go as they please ; by which means they acquire a slouching gait, and being accustomed to plains, when the ground is at all rough, they are continually tripping; their chests become narrowed, but their hind quarters beautifully developed in proportion. It is well known that the Godolphin, the origin of some of our finest English blood, was a Barb : the Barb horses of the Province of Abda in Morocco are trained by the Arabs of the great Sahara desert for ostrich hunting, by being inured to live on nothing but dates and camel's milk ; as not more than one in six survive this training, the value of those that live rises in proportion, from sixty to IOOO dollars, and they are usually held in partnership by several persons, who equally divide the profits on the sale of the ostrich feathers which they may procure in hunting.

The horses thus trained can abstain from water, and are very swift and long-winded, but to the eye of a stranger to these circumstances, would appear unpre possessing and out of condition. I before mentioned that the common beverage in Persia is black tea, and is much superior to the tea we have in Europe, which undergoes the deteriorating process of a sea-voyage : in saying Europe, I should have excepted Russia, which receives its tea from China by land, and supplies the Persian market ; Eastern Persia receives tea from China through Kashgar, Samarcand, and Bokara, and, although only packed in several folds of paper, it possesses a flavour and aroma unlike any I have tasted in England. Some trade is carried on here in Kirman and Cachemire shawls, carpets, arms, and swords ; their engraved seals are also beautifully executed : this is an art which has been practised from ancient times in the East, when seals were always in use, and, at the present day, no letter, covenant, or document, of any sort, is considered valid without sealing.

The carpets of Hamadan are very beautiful and cheap, but realize high prices in other parts of Persia, and in Khorassan. The Khorassan blades have obtained a name, but the best blades are made at Shiraz, where they seem to have acquired the art of tempering and watering swords, formerly practised at Damascus : they turn out beautiful weapons, but the prices are exorbitant. It is a curious peculiarity that the copper money in almost every town in Persia is different, the money of one town not circulating in the next : this is a great drawback to local trade and intercourse, the only people who gain by the impolitic arrangement being the money-changers, and the little communication and limited traffic carried on between one place and another must be partially owing to this inconvenient system.

Teheran is infested with scorpions and tarantulas ; the latter, a large white spider, with claws on each side of the head, is a disgusting insect, but is not the venomous tarantula. As the custom is to sleep on the ground, it is common to find scorpions between the pillow and the wall of a morning. The Governor or Sirdar, Khan Baba Khan, bears a worse character than most of the Persians, if all that is said of him be true ; he is in the habit of retiring eveiy day to a garden outside the town, with a few companions, for the purpose of drinking, in consequence of which he is unfit to make his appearance in durbar till midday.

Awaz Beg, the Golaum or Tchapparcona, a sort of post courier, who came with me from Hamadan, not wishing to proceed, on the plea of having lost a relation, I applied to the Sirdar to send me another man in his place ; I found him as uncourteous and brutal as the rest of the Persians ; he eventually promised to order me another guide ; but with their customary falsity, as soon as I left him, he thought no more about it, and none was sent ; after waiting two or three days I procured a note to be written in Persian, which I sent to him, but only obtained fresh promises, and in the mean time I was detained ; I PERSIA. 11 began to suspect he had orders from his Court to prevent my proceeding : however, on the 25th I went to the palace, as soon as the durbar was opened, determined not to come away without my despatch ; I sat down with the circle round a reservoir, in the centre of the room, until the Sirdar had disposed of several cases or applications, when he condescended to notice me, and after hearing my business, explained to him by one of his people (with which he was already well acquainted), said he would not fail to send the man in the morning ; but seeing that I had no intention of moving, he sent a messenger to the Menzil Khaneh, to order the attendance of a courier to accompany me at once ; in a short time a man made his appearance, whom I ordered to be in readiness before sunrise the following day.

I had taken a fancy to a grey horse, which one of the French officers had ridden from Hamadan, and struck a bargain with him for my black horse (which I judged was not equal to the journey) and seven or eight tomans ; the grey was a cross between the Persian and the Arab, with good spirit and strong, and I was much pleased with my exchange : this time I looked on my horse as the only companion I should have on a long solitary march through Persia and Afghanistan, and I was anxious to have an animal I could depend on. Proceeding on my former plan, I carried nothing but my saddle-bags, a quilt fastened over the saddle, a cloak, a pair of pocket pistols in a belt, and my gun slung at my back ; I had a map and compass, and I had managed to add a small sketch-book to my light equipment ; this, although of not much use in making effective drawings, as sketches could only be taken by stealth, owing to the jealousy of the people, at any rate would answer the purpose of taking outlines, which would hereafter recall different scenes to my recollection.

Taking leave of my French friends, by whom I had been so hospitably entertained, I went to the Menzil Khaneh, where I found my Golaum smoking a farewell pipe with his friends, and I started from Teheran an hour after sunrise on the 27th. My present courier, Ibrahim Bey, was a dashing fellow, with much more of the Koordish than Persian physiognomy; I was much prepossessed in his favour, and he afterwards confirmed my good opinion : it is a favour which these post-couriers covet, to be sent with a traveller with a firman, because this document usually contains a list of provisions to be furnished daily, enough for half a dozen people, and, as this is not levied, the courier receives an equivalent in cash : as the Vizier had prevented my travelling my own road, he insisted on franking me through without expense ; this was nominal in my case, because I paid for my supplies ; but, as the man carried the firman, he did not fail to make them pay him, and considered himself generous if he did not exact the whole.

Here is a list of what was specified in this document, which he showed me, but I could not persuade him to give up to me, evidently having orders to see that I followed the road prescribed : — 5 Batteman Barley, 25IDS. 10 Chopped Straw. I Ock Butter, 2\. 1 Batteman Rice. 10 Eggs. 2 Fowls. Bread, etc. Had I been disposed to give way to anticipations of evil, the prospect before me was certainly most dreary ; I had a distance of a thousand or fifteen hundred miles of a desolate country in perspective, and much of this road was reported to be infested by wandering Turcomans, from whom nothing was to be expected but a lingering slavery, worse than death ; I did not know what reception I might experience in Afghanistan, nor on what footing our force stood with the natives, and the native reports were not encouraging ; in case of danger, treachery, or sickness I was entirely alone, without assistance, and no one to exchange an idea with ; and yet, notwithstanding all this I had little apprehension, and a feeling of assurance PERSIA. 13 that God's providence that had protected me thus far, would bring me through every danger in safety to the end of my journey.

I traversed the plain of Nuromeen towards the Sirdara pass, the mountains lying on my left ; I could see several villages in the gorges of the moun tains ; I passed between the range and an isolated spur which stretched across the S.E. of the plain of Teheran : a march of five farsaks of desert country brought us to Aserami, where my Golaum changed his horse, and we struck across, two miles west, to the large village of Palash ; the only living things we had seen were three black vultures, sitting by the remains of a goat, and a few crested larks, which are always found in the most stony districts : this village was surrounded by trees and a little cultivation, and composed of low mud houses. I was pretty well lodged and entertained, although the Kethoda examined the firman very scrupulously, to en deavour to discover a flaw : in these villages I generally obtained supplies pretty freely, consisting of rice, fowls, butter, and eggs, with barley and straw for my horse ; I always made the people at the Menzil Khaneh cook for me, and, as my Golaum was rather a respectable man, I allowed him to eat with me, to give him an interest in providing good fare.