Part 8 (1/2)

We passed two days in Sari My co to sell their asses, for ere to embark at the next station and wished to avoid the trouble of shi+pping and taking the animals with us In Sari we becahan colony, and immediately on our arrival were invited by theuests, han brethren warmly recommended thereatest alacrity, as guides to their native place

_Karatape_ owes its nae, one side of it being inhabited by Persians and the other by Afghans The first thing I did was to clilance at the Caspian Sea Fro concealed by a long and narrow strip of land, running far into the sea, and looking, at a distance, like a line wooded with tall trees All I could descry was the sheet of water between this line and the shore I then hurried back to e to the Turkoood deal of inquiry we heard on the following evening that a Turko, fros of kindness, to take all the hadjis with him He wished us to be ready on the shore early in the e of a favourable breeze Hadji Bilal, Hadji Salih, and ar-caravan, immediately went in search of the Turko man still, with an air of boldness about him He immediately e to wait another day in order that we ht procure the necessary articles of food We had here to provide ourselves with flour, rice and other sustenance to last as far as Khiva; the Turko to this place toof Hadji Bilal and Hadji Salih, and as ere turning to leave he called er Of course I remained He confided to me, with some embarrassment, a case of unhappy and unrequited love, of which he was the victim, and that a very clever sorcerer, a Jeho happened to be just then in Karatape, had promised to prepare for him a very powerful _nuskha_ (talisman) if he would take to him thirty drops of oil of roses fresh fro of the ic for with the the youngest of the chiefs of the caravan, I apply to thee and hope thou wilt coht with theave hiood youth

Early in theday ere all assears' bags, a sack of flour, and, owing to the shallowness of the shore and the consequent distance of the vessel, which lay about a mile off the land, it took considerable time before ere all of us safely carried by boat to the vessel The craft was a so-called _keseboy_, carrying a ht; she had brought oil of naphtha, pitch and salt frohted with a so of produce We had to sit in ts, close to each other, in order to allow Yakub and his two h easily to move about Our situation was not of the pleasantest; it was tolerable during the day, but when at night ere oppressed by sleep, ere often co hadji for hours Two sleepers together would soht and another from the left, yet I dared not wake thereat sin to disturb the slumbers of the Faithful

A favourable westerly wind swelled our sail on the 10th of April, and I enjoyed the sail in theweather as well as I could in ; we anchored near the shore, and each of us in turn prepared his tea at the fireplace of the vessel We arrived on the following day below _Ashurada_, which forms the southernmost point of Russia's possessions in Asia The placefroe Russian men-of-war are permanently in the harbour, for the defence of the Russians in Ashurada and the sailing vessels bound for the place It happened more than once that, in spite of the strenuous exertions of the reat number of unfortunate Persians, and not unfrequently Russian sailors, too, were dragged in chains into slavery to Goht in the Turko from the eastern shore and bound for the shores of Southern Persia, must provide itself with a passport, whichAshurada At such times the vessel is carefully searched for slaves, arms and other articles forbidden to be carried

Our Yakub, too, had his papers, which he produced on the evening we arrived at Ashurada, in order that werather late in the evening, the Russian officer put off his visit to the vessels till nextWe cast anchor not far froht of these Russian officers co to- struck by my European features and complexion I was not afraid of any inhuive up my journey and discover my identity to my companions The pleasant sound of church bells rousedMy companions told me that this was the Sunday of the infidels and their holiday One of the ed all over I observed, after a while, that a boat, manned by sailors in full uniform, was sent from her to the shore, and returned to the shi+p immediately with an officer in full uniform In about ten minutes ere called upon to draw nearer to the Russian vessel, and I perceived that several fair-haired officers were standing near the gangway The nearer I approached the faster beat my heart, and I tried, as well as I could, to place myself in such a way as not to have toa holiday the search wasa feords with Yakub, whilst the officers were ars I heard one of them say: ”Just look, hohite this hadji's co in all probability to me whose face was less weatherbeaten and tanned thananchor, our vessel, favoured by a fair breeze, bravely ploughed the waters In a few hours the Turko line, rose before our eyes Yakub and his able We were about athe two shores of which stretches the ca the appearance of a dense mass of beehives placed close to each other

XVIII

GOMUSHTEPE

We had to wait out in the sea for a while, until the boats were sent by Yakub to take us to shore We were conveyed in small detach the last When we stepped on land ere informed that Yakub had already announced our arrival to Khandjan, the chief of the Go to receive us at once He was kneeling a few steps fro done, he rose and came towards us with hurried steps He was a tall, slenderly built, very plainly dressedhis breast He e me by my name, cordially bade me welcome Then came Hadji Bilal's and Hadji Salih's turn, and our whole caravan being together we all followed him to the tents The news of our arrival had already spread, and wos prori to their mollahs (priests), by their race, and sharers, to soe The scene before , that I did not knohich way first to turn my attention; the oddly constructed cloth tents, and the wo to their heels, claih to do to satisfy the hundreds of friendly hands extended toand the old, children and woet near our persons in order to touch the hadjis, to whose gar We arrived in front of the chief Ishan's (priest's) tent quite exhausted by the devout and hospitable reception

We collected in one group waiting for quarters to be assigned to us The inhabitants ere gathered there aluests; every one wished to be the host of one of the poor pilgrims, and much as I had heard of the hospitality of the Nomads, it was all exceeded by what I had now an opportunity of witnessing The women especially were vociferous in their rivalry, so much so that Khandjan hi by ri to our own set into his own _ova_ (tent) In order to reach his tent, which was at the very end of Go on both sides of the river Gorghen This river rises far away in thein fish to such an extent as to render its waters almost foul at the best of times, and quite undrinkable in summer Twice I washed in it, and each ti was approaching e arrived, tired and exhausted, at Khandjan's tent, hoping to get a little rest Vain hope!

True, there was the tent destined for us, standing near that of Khandjan, on the shore of the Gorghen, but scarcely had we taken possession of it, with the custo at each of the four corners, than visitors ca into the narrow space They re us thousands of questions which it taxed our whole strength to answer properly Our host at length took pity on us, and called upon our visitors to leave us to ourselves in order that weof boiled fish and sour ht us meanwhile by Khandjan's son, a boy twelve years old, called Baba Djan--_ie_, literally, the father's soul The e wooden platter by a Persian slave, who dragged a heavy chain after him He was relieved of the dish by Baba Djan, who placed it before us, and sat down by his father's side, while both looked at us with genuine satisfaction as we fell to with our keen appetites upon the dishes before us After the meal was over we said our prayers in the customary way Hadji Bilal raised his hands, every one present following his exa his hand over his beard and saying, ”Bismillah,” Allah Ekber, his action was repeated by everybody Then Khandjan was congratulated on all sides on account of his guests, and the visitors dispersed

On the following hly refreshed and invigorated by a night's sound sleep on a tolerably co bythe walk he ser me that it was time I should doff the rank of Effendi, and become a dervish body and soul ”Thou must have observed,” he continued, ”that both I and all our coe, have said our _fatiha_ (blessing) on the men This thou too must now look to I know that it is not the custom to do so in Roum, but here people ish it of thee, and they will find it very strange that thou, professing to be a dervish, dost not fulfil the duties of a dervish Thou knowest the for; utter it with confidence and a proper expression of devoutness Thou mayest bestow the _nefes_ (holy breath) too, if called to the bedside of the sick; but ever remember to hold out thy hand, for well do these people know that we dervishes live by our holy trade, and that a present is never a dared to instruct me, but, added, that he ed to him for his advice and observations, which were proenuine interest he took in me

On this occasion my friend toldabout me, with a peculiarly reat difficulty only, in persuading them that my journey possessed no official character whatever The Turko to Khiva and Bokhara on some secret and confidential anti-Russian mission of the Sultan Hadji Bilal was too sensible to flatly contradict their i that they hold the Sultan in high respect, and that I should be benefited by hly of me

We returned to our quarters, and found Khandjan with his whole fa for us He brought to us his wife and his agedWe blessed everybody present, one by one Khandjan then declared that, guests being according to Turkoo about without let or hindrance not only ast that of Yomut, and that if any of them should so much as dare to touch a hair of our heads, he would kno to obtain satisfaction for such an outrage ”You er, at least,” continued our host, ”until soo to Khiva Take now your rest, visit the other tents; a Turkoman never allows a dervish to leave his tent with an empty hand, and it will do you no har journey froladly followed his advice During the first day I went visiting at several of the tents, in the company of Khandjan, or his brother and friends of the fas, or visiting the sick in company of Hadji Salih, who dabbled considerably in the art of healing Whilst he gave theon the patient, and was rewarded for it by the gift of a small piece of cloth, dried fish and other trifles Whether it ing to my successful cures or to the curiosity of the people to see the hadji from Roum, I do not know, but certain it is that patients catalisht ly doubted my dervishshi+p, but I paid very little attention to the, the st them The friendshi+p of Kizil Akhond, whose real nareat service to uished scholar, as universally respected, opened the way everywhere He had in his possession a book which he got, while studying in Bokhara, treating of Mohay, written in Otto; and I had a chance of obliging hi the proper key to it He was very much pleased with hest tere of the books of Islah Akhond, another highly respected priest When I first ave thanks to Providence, in a special prayer, for having permitted him to behold, in my person, a Mussulman from Rou in his presence on the whiteness of my complexion, he insisted that this was the real _nur-ul-Isla froht of the Western faithful only Nor did I fail to cultivate the friendshi+p of Mollah Durdis, as invested with the rank of a chief judge (Kazi Kelan), for I soon found out that the ulemas were the only class who could exercise any influence over this savage people As a sort of scholar, I, too, shared in the general estee instance There were ancient Grecian ruins on the territory of Gomushtepe, probably of a fort built by Alexander the Great, which gave a name to the settlement These ruins contain the only stone walls to be hbourhood It was considered proper, Go the principal settlement of the Yomuts, to raise there a temple to God, built of stone, particularly as the materials necessary for the same were furnished in abundance at the ruins near by I was selected by Kizil Akhond, in my capacity of the most learned and experienced dervish, to determine the place and the proper position, in the direction of Mecca (Kibla), of the altar (_mihrab_), a task which I very readily accomplished

In the co four days, into the territory of one of the tribes of the Yo to the east, and the Goklen Turko ere told that Hadji Kari Mesud, one ofin a tent used as a mosque, had been robbed The stolen articles were searched for everywhere, but could not be found Finally the Sheikh or Imam caused it to be publicly announced that he would pronounce a curse against the thief, unless the stolen property were restored to its rightful oithin a given time

The threat had its effect, for scarcely twenty-four hours had passed when the thiefwith him not only the stolen property, but some presents of expiation besides About the saard to a caravan which was to go to Khiva The Khan of Khiva, whom the physicians had ordered to drink buffalo milk for his health, had sent his _kervanbashi+_ (chief of the caravans) to Astrabad to buy two buffaloes, there being no such animals in his doh Gomushtepe, and ere to join his caravan and start at once with hiuide we could not desire, for there was not a ht it very strange that h these poor people were entertained in the most hospitable manner ”It is impossible for us,” they replied to er the cruelties perpetrated against these poor Persian slaves It is true they are heretics and that we have to bear h their country, but what these poor people ine what the fate of these Persian slaves under their Turkoman masters must have been, if even my Tartar companions, who, it is true, know of no slave trade in their own country, had their cos Usually these poor people are forcibly torn, during the night, froed here covered ounds The poor man, once a prisoner, has his clothes taken away, and receives instead a few scanty rags barely sufficient to cover his nakedness, and heavy chains are placed upon his li him cruel pain at every step he takes

In this way he continues for weeks to drag out a miserable existence on coarse food, and to prevent hira_) is placed around his neck by which he is chained to a stake, the clanking of his chains betraying his slightest ht until he is either ransomed by his relations or sent to Khiva or Bokhara to be sold

There is hardly a Turko of the chains of a couple of slaves is not heard Khandjan had also two slaves, youths frohteen to twenty years old, andtheir heavy chains after the cohtest sympathy shown to them would have roused suspicion in my host, particularly as they addressed e of their language The younger of our two doed ofthem, for the love of God, to sell their house and sheep, and ransoht I could pass him, unobserved, a cup of tea, but as he was about to take it from my hands some one entered the tent I did not, however, lose countenance for one minute; I pretended to have only teased hi a cup of tea, had to put up with a few gentle blows froht passed duringheard fro the arrival of a slaver

The inhabitants of Goement of feasts for devotional purposes, and on such occasions the entire hadji-company had to be present I once wished to excuse myself, but was ushered out of my tent by a violent poke in the ribs fro a rule of Turkoman etiquette that ”the harder the thrusts, the more cordial the invitation” Upon these festive occasions it is the custom to spread in front of the host's tent a few pieces of cloth, or if the thing is done in great style, carpets, upon which the invited guests seat the a circle Each of these groups gets a large wooden platter, the contents of which vary in quantity according to the ages and nuuests, and every one helps hi them into the plate until they reach its bottom As to the quality of the dishes, the less said about them the better; I will only mention, in parenthesis, that horse's and cauests of Khandjan he celebrated by a feast the betrothal of his son, a boy of twelve years, with a girl of ten; and, of course, we had to be present at this feast Originally the betrothal was to have taken place in the following autu for the young couple A rather remarkable man was the Karaktchi, by whoed in honour of our party Thison foot, took three Persians prisoners, and drove theave us, as our share, a tenth part of the plunder, being the tithe belonging to the priests and a, blessing him, the fatiha, the man was beside himself with joy