Part 36 (1/2)
Specie, gold and silver 213,969 15,210 375 229,554 Copper 45,776 1,856 2,043 49,675 Iron, hardware, various metals 82,127 9,331 10,979 102,437 Cotton, manufactures in 156,707 58,915 7,559 223,181 Wool, ditto 50,467 25,869 1,976 78,312 Silk, ditto 10,550 4,799 71 15,420 Leather 81,543 37,921 4,069 123,533 Wooden ware 8,595 460 826 9,881 Dye-stuffs and colours 48,635 17,904 693 67,232 Miscellaneous goods 85,416 27,567 2,031 115,012 Total 783,785 199,830 30,622 1,014,237
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Even without these data, a glance alone at the bazaars of Bokhara, Khiva, and Kars.h.i.+ would suffice to convince us of the importance of this branch of Russian trade; and it is by no means any exaggeration to a.s.sert that there is no house, and even no tent, in all Central Asia where there is not some article of Russian manufacture. The most important trade is carried on in cast iron, for the most part consisting of kettles and water cans, and imported from South Siberia; but particularly from the manufactories in the Ural Mountains. In the trade with Bokhara, Tashkend, and Khiva alone, more than three thousand camels are employed in the transport of this one article.
After cast iron come raw iron and bra.s.s, Russian cotton goods, cambric, muslins, tea-kettles, army and miscellaneous cutlery.
IMPORTED.
[Amounts in Pounds Sterling]
Bokhara Khiva Kokan Total Cotton, raw and twist 333,177 76,255 2,718 412,150 Cotton, manufactures in 498,622 88,960 14,180 601,802 Silk, raw, and manufactures in 17,443 3,088 160 20,691 Wool, manufactures in 428 1,322 52 1,802 Madder 7,351 26,201 7 33,559 Furs, lamb-skins 151,773 6,297 1,995 160,065 Precious stones and pearl 17,856 703 ... 18,559 Fruit, dried 27,784 2,147 16,883 44,814 Shawls, Cashmere 24,242 ... ... 24,242 Miscellaneous goods 19,664 4,452 3,941 28,057 Total 1,096,380 209,425 39,936 1,345,741
For further details see 'Reports by Her Majesty's Secretaries of Emba.s.sy and Legation on the Manufactures, Commerce, &c.,' 1862, No. V.
p. 313.
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Cloth, from its high price, meets with few purchasers, and is seldom found. The before-named articles are transported from Bokhara and Kars.h.i.+, not only to the remaining parts of Turkestan, but to Maymene and Herat, and even as far as Kandahar and Kabul. The latter two cities are, indeed, nearer to Peshawur and Karatchi; but give, nevertheless, the preference to the Russian merchandise, although far inferior to that of England.
The circ.u.mstance may seem surprising to the reader, and yet the reasons are simple. Orenburg is just as distant from Bokhara as Karatchi, which, being in the Indian territory of Great Britain, might form the outpost of English commerce. The route thence by Herat to Central Asia would be far more practicable and more convenient than that leading through the desert to Russia. That the English trade is here supplanted by the Russian is, in my humble opinion, to be ascribed to the following causes:--(1) The commercial relations of Russia with Tartary are now several centuries old, and in comparison with it that of England deserves to be denominated new, and it is notorious how tenaciously Orientals cling to old usages and customs.
(2) The Russians occupying adjoining frontiers, in matters affecting the taste and requisitions of the Central Asiatics, are more experienced than the English manufacturers of Birmingham, Manchester, and Glasgow, &c., an evil only to be remedied by European travellers being able to move about more freely in these regions than is the case at the present day, when journeys, not only in Bokhara, {428} but even in Afghanistan, are attended by so much risk and peril. (3) The Herat route, in spite of its possessing every element of convenience, has very much to deter foreign merchants, in consequence of the organised system of what may be styled bandit governments, as may be seen from what was before said upon the subject. [Footnote 156]
[Footnote 156: See Chapter XIV.]
Besides these commercial relations with Russia, Turkestan maintains also others, almost uninterruptedly, by the way of Herat with Persia, whither it sends lambs' wool, dried fruit, materials for red colouring, and certain native stuffs, receiving in exchange a great quant.i.ty of opium [Footnote 157] from Meshed, some English wares through the house of Ralli & Company, sugar and cutlery. There is a route from Meshed to Bokhara which can be performed in ten days, but the karavans are forced to take the circuitous way by Herat, which requires thrice as much time. From Kabul is exported to Bokhara a sort of cotton shawl, with blue and white stripes, called by the Tartars Pota, and by the Afghans Lunghi. It is used universally for summer turbans, and looks like an English manufacture, which may perhaps be imported by way of Peshawar; it is the only article having a good sale, because in accordance with the national taste. The Kabuli besides bring indigo and different kinds of spices, receiving in return Russian calicoes, tea, and paper. {429}
[Footnote 157: Opium, called here Teryak, is prepared in the south-eastern part of Persia as follows:--The head of the poppy has incisions made in it lengthways on three of its sides at a fixed time in the evening, and when only half ripe. The next morning after it has been so cut a dew-like substance shows itself at the place; this must be removed before sunrise, and, after having been boiled, the resulting product is the Teryak. It is singular that from the three places where the poppy has been cut issue substances of different quality, and of these that in the middle is most esteemed.]
With China there is only an insignificant trade in tea and porcelain; but these articles are quite different from those seen in Europe. The Chinese seldom set foot over the frontier, the communication here being almost entirely kept up by Kalmucks and Musselmans.
Lastly, let me not omit to allude to the trade carried on in Persia, India, Arabia, and Turkey, by the Hadjis. The reader may think that I am jesting; but still my experience justifies me in saying that this also merits the name of commercial transaction. The fifty or sixty Hadjis who came with me from Central Asia to Herat transported with them about forty dozens of silk handkerchiefs from Bokhara, about two thousand knives, thirty pieces of silk stuff from Namengan, a large quant.i.ty of Khokandi Dappi (caps upon which the turban is wound), &c.
These were the Hadjis upon one route only. As for the imports, account must also be held of the Hadjis; for it is very easy to understand that the largest part of the European cutlery that finds its way to Central Asia has been introduced by them.
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CHAPTER XXIII.
INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL POLITICAL RELATIONS OF CENTRAL ASIA.
INTERNAL RELATIONS BETWEEN BOKHARA, KHIVA, AND KHOKAND EXTERNAL RELATIONS WITH TURKEY, PERSIA, CHINA, AND RUSSIA.
_(a.) Internal Relations._
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, always preserved its superiority, and it is regarded at the present day as the cradle of the civilisation of Central Asia. Khokand and Khiva, as well as the other small Khanats to the south, and even Afghanistan itself, have never ceased to recognise its spiritual supremacy. They praise and extol the Mollahs as well as the Islamite learning: of the 'n.o.ble Bokhara;' but their love of it extends only thus far, for all attempts made by the Emirs of {431} Bokhara to make use of their spiritual influence to increase their political power have failed of success, not only in the Khanats but even in the respective cities.
Near-sighted politicians might infer, from the wars carried on by the Emir Nasrullah with Khiva and Khokand, that Bokhara, from apprehension of a Russian invasion, is disposed to organise an alliance by means gentle or foul. But this is not the case. Bokhara had never any such plans. The campaigns of the Emir are but predatory expeditions; and I am firmly convinced that should Russia proceed actively to carry out her designs on Central Asia, the three Khanats, so far from giving each other any mutual support in the moment of peril, would by their dissensions furnish the common enemy with the very best arms against themselves. Khiva and Khokand are then to be regarded as the constant enemies of Bokhara: still Bokhara does not look for any serious danger in those quarters, and the only rival that she really fears in Central Asia is one that is day by day becoming more formidable to her--Afghanistan.
That this fear reached its highest point during the victorious march of Dost Mohammed Khan towards the Oxus, need scarcely be mentioned.