Part 2 (2/2)

This perspicacity of theirs caused s as a dervish

Apart fro national, interest in the study of the Eastern Turkish language, on account of the rich Eastern Turkish vocabulary to be ue

Sta pheno of weariness in , in less than half an hour, from the innermost recesses of Asiatic life to the turht have continued attractive tome an opportunity for the cost the very men whom I happened to meet, in this Babel of European nationalities, there were some who fanned the fire within h European in spite of an Orientalizing of several years, to the execution of the boldest feats And did I require these urgings on--I, who, at the bare mention of the names of Bokhara, Samarkand, and the Oxus, was in a fever of exciteement seens Indeed, I was quite familiar with the literature of travel of that day, and the only s I felt were on the score of the perils of the undertaking

I had just been revolving in h Asia, when I was noarian Academy This nomination was to be a reward for my translation of Turkish historical authorities, but it proved an all-powerful incentive, urging me on to the consues had by this tiary; and when, upon returning in the spring of 1861, after an absence of several years, I went to Pesth, in order to deliver entle intimation on the part of the then President of the Acade stipend of a thousand florins in bank notes, a to six hundred florins in silver At home, of course, there were many sceptics who expressed their doubts as to the success ofjourney, with scanty entle in Asia required neither legs nor ht attention to such coave me a letter of introduction and recos of Tartary, and drawn up, for the surer enlightenallows or executioner's sword, forsooth, this documentthe Oxus The then governh to furnish me with a passport for my journey to Bokhara I did not thwart those ood intentions, and left Pesth, after a stay of three months, for Constantinople, fro, on ions of Central Asia

My preparations, which took me another six months, had eaten up nearly one half of the six hundred silver florins, and consisted, chiefly, in visits to places, where travellers and pilgriated and could be met with These people, ere, for the most part, poor, I remunerated as well as I could, for every piece of inforot from them; for I must observe, here, that already, at the outset, I was tolerably well acquainted with the colloquial language of the countries on the Oxus

Indeed, I ion in the distant Moha, as is the capital on the Seine to a European who has been a reader of French novels forwas the manner in which my worthy Stambul friends looked upon my preparations for far-off Turkestan A journey proe is characterized by the modern Mohammedans as, to say the least, eccentric; for the days of Masudi, Yakut, Ibn Fozlan and Batutah have passed away, ever so long ago But if any one purposes to undertake a journey through inhospitable, barbarous and dangerous countries, they declare such an enterprise a piece of sheer madness I can very well recall how these effeminate Effendis shuddered, and the look of unspeakable pity they bestowed upon , with the h the deserts ”Allah Akillar” (God lend hi A person ill voluntarily leave the delightful Bosphorus, give up the con the char, a ood people were deeply concerned to sh path, and to retard the certain destruction before me, as much as lay in their power Persia was to be the first country on ether with his suite, had been residing, for years, at Teheran, and the then plenipotentiary of the Sultan, Haidar Effendi, happened to be a friend of the family of my patron, I received, in addition to the official recommendation of Aali Pasha, a collective letter fro unhappy me, in the warmest terms, to his protection I obtained also firh Turkish territory, in all of which I was mentioned as the traveller Reshi+d Effendi Of s, not the slightest mention was made in these documents, and all I had to do was to act up to the letter and spirit of their contents; indeed I could do little else if I wished to pass enuine Turk and Effendi from Constantinople

So much for the practical portion of my preparations As to the mental condition I was in, I need not say that the nearer the ing, the itated became my mind What I had dreamt of as a child, ana-like, during h the literatures of the Occident and Orient, I was to attain at last, and feast upon it hty wave, is rolling in upon us, we turn a deaf ear to the voice of reason and prudence All I could dread, after all, was bodily want, the fight with the eleht of failure, that is, of death, never entered my mind And now I ask my friendly reader, what vicissitudes, what privations could I undergo, which I had not already been subjected to by the hard fate of hteenth year, and want of necessary clothing had been the order of the day with me, since my earliest youth I had learned to know the whims and foibles of arb was nearly the same as man in the civilized European dress; yea, I had met at the hands of the forhtful picture of these barbarians, as drawn by our literature, was far froht be taken into consideration, with reference to the undertaking I had on hand, that, after having already tasted the sweets of affluence and repose, I was about to venture anew upon a life of les For I had done well, quite well in Constantinople, during these years I had comfortable quarters and a luxurious fare, and there was even a saddle horse atthat ed all these, of ood Heavens! where could we not be led, if spurred on by ambition? And what is our life worth if ambition is not known, does not exist or has been blunted? Wealth, distinction and dignities are gaudy toys which cannot a, and of which sound common sense must tire sooner or later The consciousness, however, of having rendered to ht, is a truly noble and exalting one; for what is thereable to enrich even by a single letter the book of intellectual life lying open before us?

Thus I felt and thus I thought, and in these feelings and thoughts I found the strength to subreater than those I had been subjected to hitherto

Such were the conditions of my life, under which I left the peaceful harbour of Constantinople for e to the Black Sea Unaccompanied by any friends or parents, I bade farewell to the Golden Horn and to the Bosphorus as to the place where I enjoyed so reeable days of useful preparation for ood shi+p turned towards the Asiatic shore, I ventured only to look with a furtive glance towards the West, uncertain whether I should see it again in my life!

IV

FROM TREBIZOND TO ERZERUM

The booreeted us, as our shi+p was approaching the harbour of Trebizond This solemn reception was not intended for ar's staff in hand, to roah an extensive portion of classic Asia The ovation was meant for Emir Muhlis Pasha, the newly-appointed Governor of Trebizond, who had been our fellow traveller from Constantinople to this place The people, very likely, indulged in the hope that he would bring in his train a happier state of things than they experienced, and relief from past misery, but they were, in all probability, doomed to be disappointed in him, as they had been disappointed in his numerous predecessors before

Trebizond, the ancient capital of Mithridates, presents a rather fine appearance, when looked at from the sea Upon closer inspection, the city proves finer, by far, than most of the Turkish sea-towns Muhlis Pasha, whose acquaintance I hadthe whole of my stay in that town I mounted one of the horses held in readiness on the shore, joined the pasha's retinue, and proceeded with the festive procession towards the governor's palace, lying to the south Our troops passed, highly pleased, through the thronging crowds The pasha caused sost the populace There was a great rush and eager scra for the coins, and the lucky ones were loud and voluble in the expression of their gratitude I remained only three days in Trebizond I employed this short ti requisites, in the hiring of a horse--in short, in supplying s through Turkey and Persia which I was about to undertake I resolved to keep up the part of an Effendi as far as Teheran, but thereafter I wished to pass ht appeal to the hospitality of the authorities My entire luggage consisted of a _khurdjin_ (carpet-bag), containing a couple of shi+rts, a few books, some trifles, two carpets, one to be used as a , a small kettle, tea service and cup The pasha repeatedly pressed upon me the offer of an escort by two _kavasses_ (policemen), not so much as a matter of safety as from considerations of display, customary in these parts I declined his kind offer with thanks, and in the company of an Armenian _surudji_ (an owner and driver of horses), left the Turkish seatown on the 21st day of May, 1862, wendingto the east

The sun had already risen pretty high I advanced, at a slow pace, along the highway, extending to about an hour's walking distance froe of a valley My Ar near the valley we should soon lose sight of the sea I stopped on the height, for a few ive a farewell look to it However stor as calm and peaceful before my eyes as the water of a lake I felt at thisin wait for azed upon the dark, endlessly-stretching waves of the Euxine, to affect me most deeply There, at my feet, was Trebizond; I could clearly discern the whole harbour, and as I caught sight of the Austrian shi+p in which I had co a farewell toof deepFor six mortal hours on that day I continued, without interruption, my march on horseback They were aand beautiful all aroundextreme weariness in alla rather painful thing, but it is infinitely ed to hire the horse one rides from a surudji These men ee, and the horses have, in consequence, such a jostling gait that their riders , and they are so indolent, besides, that one ood use of one's hands and feet to make them move on Near Kopri I put up at a _khan_ (an inn) I had to sleep, no to ue, sleep would not co with horses and mule-drivers, of who, and others again chat It seeot up to disturbposture, where I had been lying, and sadly reflected upon the fatigues to come

After a short nap, I was called by my Armenian ”Bey Effendi,” he said, ”I think you ues of yesterday's march

Our road to-day will be harder; you will not be able to sit comfortably in the saddle in the mountains of Trebizond, and you will therefore do better to walk up, leisurely, to the top, before it gets warmer” I left my couch at once and followed the steepat thethe top, with their heavy loads, whilst, to me, on foot, without any incu line of overloadedamidst the wild screaht to watch the, with the utmost care, without any accident, upon the slippery path cut into the rock, scarcely two spans wide, flanked by the botto for athe path If ever it happens it is in winter The danger is greatest when two caravans happen tobells, heard at a great distance, are used by the the caravans to keep out of each other's way

The continuously steep ascent lasted over four hours There is hardly a worse road in all Asia; yet this is the only commercial road which connects Ar the su this route, going and co, loaded with the products of Asia and the manufactures of Europe

I was indebted toquarters at the tolerably crowded Khan at our next station Before retiring to rest I took the advice of Hadjator, and bathed in salt water those parts ofexertions; the sensation was at first a stinging one, but sitting in the saddle next day was not quite so unco the third station, on the 23rd of May, two Aran to speak first French, and then English with me He was a land onto his native town We became quite intireeable to me as he knew very well the route on which ere to travel together for a considerable ti the Khoshab Bunar , we met a shi+raz caravan on our way I was struck by the shape of the tall hats of the side of their mules, loaded with the produce of their native country, and I was delighted to hear the songs of Hafiz sung by the leader of the caravan, the youths ere following hi in chorus every now and then

These were the first Iranian (Persian) words which I heard from the natives themselves I wished to enter into a conversation with the they toiled uphill on the rough road, because, as I was afterwards told by uide, the ani