Part 8 (2/2)
After we had passed three weeks in Goan our preparations for the onward journey, Khandjan proave up the idea of purchasing ca to the expense it involved, and made up our minds to hire, instead, one camel for every two persons, which would carry at the same time the water and the flour of those two
The latter plan, however, would have been attended with considerable difficulty but for the assistance we got fro, who happened to be the very man anted for our purposes This iously inclined, and being wanting in respect towards our hadjishi+p, but he observed all the more scrupulously the laws of hospitality He was a Turkoed to the tribe of Yomut Once in every year he used to cross the desert and visit this neighbourhood on business, and whilst on these visits enjoyed during his stay in Gomushtepe the protection of Khandjan, without which he would have been no enerally ca with frooods of his own, and partly with goods belonging to others This season he was anxious to take with hi even if they ithout a load, and the conveyance of our party came to him in the nick of tiood care of us ”Thou shalt answer for their safety with thy life, Ilias!” he said, and the latter, fixing his eyes upon the ground, as the Nomads always do when they seem to be in earnest, merely answered: ”Thou knowest old pieces for the hire of every camel ere to use, but that he should convey our water and flour free of charge The ars and cures, would have permitted me to hire a camel by myself, but Hadji Bilal persuaded me not to do so
He represented topity, was the best protection against the Nohtest indication of ease or comfort about a person He mentioned the names of several of our companions ell provided with money, but who, for safety's sake, are co to his representations, I, too, hired a camel in common with another man; with this proviso, however, that I should be allowed toon each side of the ca, with my lame foot cra stations Ilias was not inclined to grantin the desert an additional burden to the camel, but he finally yielded to the persuasions of Khandjan It was a source of additional satisfaction to hbour, or rather counterpoise, for he becaain was concluded we paid Ilias his hire in advance, according to custo s his beard, and answered with an affireed him to hasten his departure, but he wouldupon that of the kervanbashi+ of the Khan of Khiva, as to go in front of the caravan with his buffaloes
In _Etrek_, a place on the river of the same name and the first station on our road, ere to enjoy the hospitality of _Kulkhan_, the _Karaktchilar piri viz_ (gray-beard of the robbers), who just then happened to be in Gorace ere commended by Khandjan This old rascal had a morose and repulsive look about hiuest in Etrek he see whispers with Khandjan appeared not to agree with the others I very soon found out the reason of his distrust In his youth he had travelled all over Russia, had passed considerable time in Tiflis, and had become tolerably familiar with European life He told them he had seen men of various nations, the Osmanlis excepted, that the latter, too, are said to be kinsmen of the Turkomans and to rese in my features to indicate the remotest relationshi+p with either Hadji Bilal remarked to him, in reply, that he was badly infor time in Roum, and had never observed the resemblance spoken of by him Kulkhan was so us that he would leave for Etrek the day after to-morrow, he told us to hold ourselves in readiness for the journey; for, added he, although Etrek was only twelve et there without hi for the return of his son Kolman from the _alaman_ (a predatory venture) He invited us, at the sahen about noon, when his son would return and gladden us with a rare spectacle Not having anything to do I was easily persuaded to go andfor the arrival of their friends Before long eight Turkoallop toward the opposite shore, bringing with theer eyes, full ofhorsehen, reached our shore, disravity their hands to their friends and relations Howeverfelloho in their short riding costu in curls on their shoulders, and with defiant looks, were the objects of general adht evenhis son, who received Hadji Bilal's blessing, we parted in order to attend to the final preparations for our journey
XIX
FROM GOMUSHTEPE TO THE BORDER OF THE DESERT
We left Go day at noon We were accompanied by Khandjan and our other friends and acquaintances They reed of Khandjan to turn back, I could not induce hi the laws of Turko of hied with him a last farewell embrace, for I had learned to love him as one of the most noble-minded men, who, unselfishly and without the least self-interest, had for a considerable time most hospitably entertainedable to rettedbeen compelled to practise deception upon this trustiest of friends by uise and compulsory concealh an endless plain Our s of Ilias's ca been informed by Kulkhan that there were such karaktchis in this part of the country who did not acknowledge his authority, and would feel no hesitation at attacking hiave ot fro on a camel But whenever we came across a puddle I had to share my saddle with one of our companions, on foot, and he would clutch at my clothes with such violence, that he nearly pulled h a marsh covered with rushes, which served as a cover for an is or boars Kulkhan and Ilias had ridden in advance in order to discover soht steer clear of these wild ani ave a sudden start; and before I well knehat had happened, ere both of us sprawling on the ground Midst roars of laughter co like a cross between a squeal and a howl, and turning to discover the place whence these sounds issued, I saw before s over which I had stu the squeal of her litter she drew quite near us in a rage, showing her tusks; and she would have made a rush upon us if shi+rdjan, the brother of Ilias, had not perceived our perilous position and placed hih between us and the infuriated anis had, meanwhile, scrambled off, and their mother turned tail and went back to her lair Kulkhan's son caught the runaway horse and brought it back to me with the re killed by a wild hog, for he who receives his death from such an animal enters the next world in a state of uncleanness, no matter how pious a life he had led, and must suffer the fires of hell for five hundred years before he can be purified again, and even then not coroup of tents at a cousin's of Kulkhan
They knew already of our co above the tents, whichupon drawing near, as a sign of coood cheer The other hadjis and myself were quartered in the narrow tent of Allah Nazr This aged Turkoreith joy at Heaven sending hioat was all he possessed, but he killed it to do honour to his guests
The following day he succeeded in getting so which had not been in his house for weeks; and upon seeing us surrounding the plate filled withto with our treed helpmate, who had seated themselves opposite to us, shed tears of joy, in the literal sense of the word Allah Nazr would not retain for himself any part of the animal thus offered up to us; its horns and hoofs, which if burnt to powder are used with effect on the galled sores of caave to Ilias; forfirst rubbed it ith salt, and then carefully dried it in the sun
Next day we resumed our march At this station I took for the first ti sacks of flour placed as a counterpoise in the other basket; for my friend Hadji Bilal wished to deny hi onward for scarcely two hours e lost sight of green fields and caent smell of salt We were in the desert The nearer we approached the her (black wall) the softer did the soil get under our feet, and it beca e cas stretched apart, had every trouble to keep fro upset and left on the ground, basket and all I deemed it wiser to dismount of my own accord, and after a dreadful scra the Kara Sengher, from whence we shortly afterwards reached Kulkhan's _ova_ (tent)
When we arrived there I was rather startled at being i told by hireat emphasis that I should not stir out of it until I was called A fewhis wife and reproaching her with never being able to find the chains when they were needed, and ordering her to find thean to suspect that so about hi a syllable to me My suspicions increased, and all at once it struck e that Hadji Bilal, who but rarely left me to myself, had not been near s overwhel of the chains outside the tent still continued At last I saw thatI found that they were intended for the poor Persian slave who had been dragged with us to this place Kulkhan afterwards prepared tea, and e had partaken of it he beckoned tohis, especially erected for my use This was to have been a surprise, and hence caiven me such a scare
I must confess that this was neither the first nor the last tis of the Turkomans, who afterwards turned out to be my best friends, filled my mind with all kind of horror I never felt quite safe as to my future, and the only consolation left to me was my lameness, which made me quite valueless in the eyes of the slave-dealers Of course, as the tian to be accustomed to this perpetual anxiety, and in spite of the constant danger in which I found ood humour, and my wit and jokes not only exhilarated my hadji fellows, but even the surliest son of the desert, and the usual remark of the Turkomans was, ”That lame hadji of Roum (Turkey) is a jolly fellow; he would make a capital merry-maker”
XX
IN THE DESERT
The road we traversed showed no traces of the feet of eitherthe day, and the polar star during the night, we kept our course straight to the north The Turkomans call the polar star on account of its i line and tied together were led byin the sandy soil without any interruption until late after sunset The sandy soil gradually ceased and we felt indeed the solid and sround under our feet The tramp of the camels sounded at a distance as if they beat ti e stopped, but we had altogether gone but twenty-fourallowed to exert the been delayed, besides, by the slowness of the buffaloes, theparty, ith their huge bodies were unable to keep pace with the caht o'clock in theon thistles and brambles of the desert, we had tiht well call our breakfast an excellent one, for we had a sufficient quantity of water ith to wash down our unleavened bread As ere ca near each other I observed that the kervanbashi+, whilst talking with Ilias and the chiefs of the hadji, had been looking at uess the tenor of their conversation, but pretending not to be in the least concerned, I kept on turning the leaves of the Koran with great devotion for a while; and then, closing the book, I rose and directed my steps towards the little coood Ilias and Hadji Salih hastened tome aside informed me that the kervanbashi+ suspected me and was determined not to take me with him to Khiva He was especially afraid of the wrath of the Khan, for he had brought with hii envoy to Khiva, who hadto his infernal skill, a single well or hill The Khan burning with rage at this, had iiven the traveller information, and spared the life of the kervanbashi+ only because of some very influential protection the latter had succeeded in enlisting in his favour ”After a good deal of coaxing,”upon him to take thee with him, on condition that thou shalt allow thyself to be searched, in the first place, in order to see if thou dost not carry any drawings or wood pens (lead pencils) with thee such as the Frengis usually have about them; and in the second place, that thou shalt promise not to make any secret ree to this he will leave thee behind him in the middle of the desert” I listened to their speech with the utmost patience, but as soon as they were done I assu to Hadji Salih I said in a voice, loud enough to reach the ears of the kervanbashi+: ”Hadji, thou sawest me in Teheran and knoho I am Tell Amandurdi that it ill becometh an honest man like him to listen to the words of a drunken _binahan It is not perion, and if he calls i infidel I shall show him in Khiva what manner of man I am” I spoke the last words in such a loud key as to be heard by every one in the caravan, and ed that, if I had not kept them back, they would have fallen on the spot upon the sottish opiu to excite the kervanbashi+'s suspicions against me Amandurdi more than any other was startled by this scene, and I heard hi to every person who came near him to inquire about the occurrence, ”God knows!” He was by no means a bad man; on the contrary, he was of a kind disposition and very clever; but like all thoroughbred Orientals he was attracted by anything that looked mysterious, and it was this tendency that h he never failed to apply toheard in Gomushtepe of my reputation as a scholar I had succeeded this tier, but I felt that the distrust of ly difficult to htest memoranda even of my travels I could not even directly inquire after the names of the several stations, and only in a roundabout way, by hook and crook, could I gain so or other and set it down afterwards, with great secrecy in my notes I han who set up his mind to cause my ruin, was a runaway from Kandahar at the time when Sir Henry Rawlinson was in command of that place Mir Mohaainst every European, and particularly against the English; and he, supposing able in his efforts to penetrate uise and to denouncearmy
After a short rest we continued our journey, but I observed that after we had been an to slacken pace A couple of Turkomans had disating right and left the low reat number of which could be seen everywhere around us I was informed that Eid Mehe to discover the grave of a brother of his, who had fallen hereabouts, last year, in an attackheroically defended hiht a coffin with hiht have been two o'clock in the afternoon when the grave was found and the exhuun After the customary prayers and the recital of stray verses from the Koran, ceremonies in which I too had to take part in the most devotional s and placed in the coffin When the funeral ceremonies were over Eid Mehe us We started again, going always north We had to iven by the kervanbashi+ to ht The weather was fine and, craht at the starry firmament, the like of which, for transcendental beauty, can be seen nowhere but in the desert But sleep soon asserted its rights I had not been asleep an hour when I was roused by several people shouting at me: ”Hadji, look at thy _kiblenuma_ (compass), we seem to have lost our way” I i sparks with it lit the tinder, by the s east instead of north The kervanbashi+ was frightened, thinking we had coerous marshes, and determined not to ht track only half an hour before when the sky was clouded In spite of the delay we reached in time the station ere bound for, and turned our tired animals loose to feed upon thistles and sih a wild country, intersected, in every direction, by ravines The poor careat deal to suffer
They are attached to each other in such a manner that one end of the rope is tied to the tail of the camel in front, and the other end is fastened at the nose, through a hole perforated for that purpose, of the ca it Now if the poor beast stops fro away at his nose, in such an unmerciful way, that I have often seen the rope broken To relieve the poor aniing through the deep sand
There were three different roads by which the desert norance as to which of these the kervanbashi+ would choose Owing to the caravan's being liable to be pounced upon by marauders at any minute, it is quite necessary to keep the real route a secret But at the present stage of our journey it was easy to foretell that we should take theout; and the tank of water of which we stood in great need lay along that route This night ere favoured by good fortune on ourbroken but twice