Part 7 (2/2)

The interview had lasted for about an hour, and the frank and open manner of the men deepened the favourable ih the characteristic features of their race, their careless and shabby attire, and the effects of the ive thehout the whole interview my mind was busy with the question of the feasibility of undertaking riuides I could possibly obtain, and it was so to be known to them as Reshi+d Effendi, and to have been seen by the and told them of my intention to join their caravan Of course, I was prepared for their putting questions to me about the purposes of my journey, and I was equally clear in my mind that it would be both idle and injurious to tell these men of the scientific researches I had in view They would have thought it ridiculous for an Effendi, a gentleers for the sake of soht have entertained all sorts of suspicions against e which both flattered uests and advancedfor a long time the secret but most ardent wish to visit Turkestan (the only country abounding in genuine Islamite virtues) and the saints of Khiva, Sa desire,” I continued, ”had broughtwaited for a year in Persia for a favourable opportunity to gratify it, I had reason to thank God for having sent th, such men as they were, in whose company I could continue my journey and attain the most cherished object of le I had to overcoht in vain for anotherexperience with Orientals of many countries and of various ranks had fully convinced htforward confession of norant men science and curiosity must be discredited as the chief motors of my errand, and that all my oratorical poould fail to convince thee of a high official of the Sultan was ready to undergo all the hardshi+ps and perils of a distant journey, for the sake of philological inquiries and for ethnographical discoveries

Hard and reluctant as it was, I had to resort to subterfuge, and to assunito

The good Tartars looked atFinally they confessed that they had long ago thought me to be a secret dervish, but that now they were convinced of the truth of their surhly pleased with the distinction I was about to confer upon the them worthy of my company Their spokesman Hadji Bilal said: ”We are all of us ready to be not only thy friends, but thy servants, but I must call to thy mind that the roads of Turkestan are not so safe as those of Persia and Turkey

Often along our roads we do not see a house for weeks, nor can we get a piece of bread, or even a drop of water Besides this, we are kept in constant fear of being killed, made prisoners and sold into slavery, or buried by the sands in a hurricane Therefore ponder this htest repent the step later, and we should not like thee to look upon us as the causers of thy misfortune And, besides, remember that our countrye of the world, and with all their hospitality are apt to regard with suspicious eyes every con lands And hoilt thou return, alone, without us?”

The effect of these words upon ined, but my purpose was not to be shaken I made them easy on the score of their anxiety about ues I had already borne, and my contempt of earthly comforts, particularly of my dislike to the French dress which I was compelled to wear, _ex officio_ I continued that I well knew this world to be nothing but a five days' inn, as our sages say, and that we are hed to scorn those Mussul for the presentto happen years hence ”Oh! take me with you, my friends,” I exclaimed; ”I must leave this nest of errors, of which I a”

My request touched them The chiefs of the dervish-caravan accepted me at once for their fellow-traveller; we embraced and kissed all around, perfor the intolerable stench co But I scarcely looked at such trifles, thebeen secured My next step was to hasten to Haidar Effendi, my benefactor, to tell him of my intentions, and to request him to warmly recommend me to the hadjis I was about to introduce to him He objected at first to the whole plan, and called o to a country from which none of my predecessors ever returned, and in the society of felloere capable ofany one for the sake of a few pence But when uive me every possible assistance Haidar Effendi received the hadjis, settled their ownmy motives in the way I had put them before the hadjis, co that they, in turn, could count upon his friendly service; ”for,” he added, ”he whoe, Reshi+d Effendi, _is the Sultan's civil officer_” I was afterwards told that the hadjis, at the audience where I was not present, had solemnly vowed to fulfil their promises And, indeed, they honourably kept the word they had pledged When the audience was over the Ambassador asked for a list of the names of the old pieces aift to people accustomed to live on bread and water and utterly unused to comforts of any kind The day of our departure was fixed for that day week Hadji Bilal's visits were very frequent during this ti to me all his companions, in turn; and I own that their exterior was not apt to inspire confidence These visits made me suspect that the pious hadji looked on me as a rich prey and was anxious not to lose me But I conquered my suspicions, and showed the hadji, as a mark of confidence in him, the s him, at the same time, to inform me precisely hoas to dress and what mode of life I should follow in order to be as like to my companions as possible, and not attract any undue attention He was highly pleased with ave me his advice in the matter In the first place, he said, I was to shave e my Turkish costume for that of Bokhara; and in the next place, I , linen and similar articles of luxury Of course I followed directions, which could be easily complied with, to the smallest point, and was ready to embark in my perilous enterprise three days before the appointed time I made use of this interval to pay a return visit to the caravansary wherein two small cells, fourteen of them in one, and ten in the other I never saw in edness and dirt crowded into such a small space, and the impression this misery then made upon my mind still lives fresh in my memory Only a few of them were able to perform the journey out of their ownWhen I entered they were busy with athemselves, the loathsome description of which I will spare my reader, but which, alas! I too had to adopt in course of time

I was very cordially received by the to their custoreen tea for me, of which it took all reen liquid without sugar being the worst thing s for me they offered me another cup of tea--but I politely declined,me that it would refuse to take in any eneral e; I was looked upon by all of them as their brother, and had this affectionate title bestowed upon me; and, finally, after I had broken bread with every one of them separately, we sat down to settle the definite details of our route We had two roads to choose fro through the desert where the Turkomans are at home One of the roads by way of Meshed, Merv and Bokhara was less fatiguing, it is true, but it would have taken us through territory inhabited by the Tekke Turko nobody and ould sell the Prophet himself into slavery if he ever fell into their hands The other road runs through a country inhabited by the Yomut Turkomans, an honest hospitable people; but this road included a desert, where for twenty stations not a drop of drinking water could be obtained After exchanging our views on the subject we decided in favour of the latter road ”It is better,” said the chief of the caravan, ”to brave the rudeness of the elements than to expose ourselves to the wickedness ofin His ways, and surely He will not desert us” Our decision was now ratified by an oath recited by Hadji Bilal Whilst he spoke we held up our hands towards Heaven, and when he had finished speaking every one took hold of his beard and said a loud ”Amen” to it Then we rose fro of the day after next in order to start on our journey When I returned to the Embassy a last attempt was made by ic fate of Conolly, Stoddart, and Moorcroft, and the case of Blocqueville who had fallen into the hands of the Turkomans and was rescued from slavery only by a ransom of ten thousand ducats But the sad fate of others had no terrors for o

I took leave of my friends at the Turkish Embassy on the eve of my departure Only two persons knew of the real destination of oing to Meshed

XVII

FROM TEHERAN TO THE LAND OF THE TURKOMANS

According to appointment, I made my appearance at the caravansary on the 28th day of March, 1863 Those of my friends who could afford to hire a mule or ass to take them to the Persian border were ready, booted and spurred; the poorer, with pilgrinal of departure I observed with astonishared for other fardown in a thousand tatters and fastened by reat surprise, that the miserable dress worn by them in toas their best holiday attire, which was now laid aside in order to save it But yesterday I fancied ar inamidst my co on our journey, and we had not fairly seized our beards and said our customary Amens, when those of our party ere to walk on foot et ahead of us ere seated on ht of a lance, as the Orientals say, when I turned to give a last farewell look at Teheran, gilded by the early sun, whilst ris They did not take a them, for they knew that the people of Rouht up in such a strict religious way as those of Turkestan, but they hoped that in their society I should soon learn to be ious observance

The caravan numbered twenty-three besides myself; they were all froar, Tashkend and Aksu Their chiefs were Hadji Bilal, of whom I have already spoken, Hadji Sheikh Sultan Mahe from a renowned saint, and Hadji Sali Khalifa, as endeavouring to obtain the rank of an Ishan (the title of Sheikh), and belonged to the half-priestly class They honoured me with their friendshi+p, and we four were looked upon as the chiefs of the caravan

My name henceforth ceased to be Reshi+d Effendi and became Hadji Reshi+d

We proceeded without any hts of the mountain chain of Elburz _Ke but a half-ruined hut of mud, in the ive way at any h the chinks of the roof, and it was difficult to find a hand-breadth of dry ground It was dusk e arrived, and everybody hurried to get a dry place in the caravansary,crowd My friend Hadji Bilal set to preparing the _pilar_, and for want of fat, he poured on it grease obtained bydown some tallow candles I was of course invited to take my part of this lusciousthe side of ars and Persian ht, listening to the howling wind and beating rain outdoors in the dark night, of ht at the palace of the Turkish E at a sulass freely circulating ast my friends And now I should have deeh to stretch ed, dirty, ill-s in a variety of little rovers, were affectionately leaning on me; and, to cap the cliout, sat down nearwith pain, whilst stentorian snoring was going on all aroundith the rain, and Ias if with a fit of ague No wonder I could not closethat I could hardly keep my seat decently in the saddle

[Illustration: A DERVISH FEAST]

We passed the following night e called _Ghilar_ We divided into smaller troops, and I joined Hadji Bilal and his inti to a peasant, ain to take supper with hiot over ent towards the nasty smell of the dish and the dirty hands ofthe I rose with renewed strength, after a refreshi+ng sleep, and began, with less anxiety, to look the future in the face

I was considerably a htedness, were quick to discover that I was neither a Tartar, nor even an Os myself of the society of dervishes in order to visit Central Asia, a land almost inaccessible to Europeans But of these their surle word to my companions; the Persian shi+-ites' hatred of the Sunnite Central-Asians being such that nothing affords thereater pleasure than to see their mortal enemies imposed upon

On the fourth day we reached an elevated plateau on which the town of _Firuzkuh_ lies at the foot of a mountain topped by a fine ruin I was char country, the houses especially challenging my admiration for the neatness of their architecture A wide and deep h the little town in three different directions Many and large caravans carry froar-canes, and other products of the Caspian Sea, to Shahrud and Teheran, returning heavily laden with corn, an article of food alion

Beyond Firuzkuh our road took us through aendlessly, the far-sounding roar of the hugebetween precipitous ine I saw the most beautiful Alpine scenery of Europe before me Even my companions, whose sense of appreciation of the beauties of nature was but slightly developed, became quite enthusiastic We breakfasted near the ruins of _Div-Sefid_ (_ie_, the white spirit), crowning a rocky peak One of our Persian fellow-travellers remarked that this rocky habitation in the air was once the favourite resort of the White Giant whoends) conquered and drove to the shores of the Caspian Sea; that spirits of the deep then inhabited alone this paradise-like country; and that it was fortunate that there were heroes at that time who could expel these spirits, for surely the e to accomplish the deed

The Persian travellers who had come with us as far as _Surkh-Abad_, _ie_, Red Abode, there took leave of us The abundant wood and excellent water we found caused iht to ht of them would cook by one fire, now each of them kindled a separate fire whereby to prepare his tea Theythe tight a piece of clothing at a tiently beat it with a s seemed to me rather , now hissing, soon showed that this was ato death by fire victims innumerable The practice, when I first saw it, filled ust; the time arrived, nevertheless, when, for cleanliness' sake, I indulged in it as zealously as any of those present We were nearly exhausted by our longapproached ere all of us looking for some place to rest in We should have stopped at many a place in the woods if some Persians had not warned us that the forest was full, particularly at this season, of wild aniht attack strongly built houses, not to speak of hu in the open air We were especially warned against tigers In spite of fatigue ere coht, e ca apart and called _Heftten_; we settled down near thee fire during the whole night, and that each of us should in turn keep watch near the fire Our nightly fire soon lit up the entire landscape; but the thicket close to us still resounded with the stealthy tread and deep roar of our ferocious ene out for their prey, and the only way to keep the at intervals our fire-arms at them The jackals showed a our sticks These animals atch you when you are too absorbed in conversation to keep your eyes on your food or clothing, and catlike pounce upon either, in an unguarded ht passed, however, without any ht for a _penabad_ (about two pence and a half) ten large fine and savoury pheasants My Tartar co of the to their inability to rise in the air in the dense woods, they are killed with sticks by the thousand For days the excellent roast, furnished by their succulent and finely flavoured flesh, supplied the place of bread, which is very expensive

We entered _Sari_, which rises in the middle of ato the miserable roads on which we had to pass The inhabitants, Persian shi+-ites, laughed at our sad appearance, and a troop of urchins pursued us with insults and cries, until we reached the gate of the caravansary On entering the bazaar, several ears, stood still at our approach, raising their hands and looking at us with great respect They were Turko here, ished to receive from us, their Sunnite brethren, just co) while it was still fresh We had passed scarcely an hour at the caravansary when a nuifts of food for ourselves and our ani the exa, which he rewarded by a gift of tobacco worth a couple of shi+llings I afterwards told Hadji Bilal of it, and he took occasion to re eyes: ”Yes, Effendi, we shall be free before long; we are co to the land of the Turkomans, our brethren in faith, and asus there as we have to suffer shame, contumely and contempt at the hands of the Persians” I had become such a Sunnite, by this ti, as all the while I did, the frightful stories I had heard about the savageness and cruelty of the inhabitants of the desert

[Footnote 3: _Fatiha_chapter of the Koran, and is recited as a blessing]