Part 9 (2/2)

Before we had tiht, five horseht towards us at the top of their horses' speed We, too, immediately ran to our arms, and in a second we stood prepared to meet them But the horsemen slackened their pace and the Turko theo with us aswe ca to _Akyap_ (the white canal) At this place we had entirely left behind us the wilderness lying between Gos for the first time, and I found them very kind and friendly people As usual we made, with our visits, the round of all the houses, and earned with our fatihas a plentiful harvest We -place on the same day, but he had his dose of vanity and did not wish us to arrive there unexpectedly We therefore passed the night, within two hours' march of his home, at the house of a rich uncle of his, who entertained us most sumptuously In the interval he sent word of our arrival to his wife, and next e of Akyap The numerous kins us most cordially To me he offered a handsoarden, forfor the shade of trees After a brief rest we resumed our march towards the capital, which we reached in safety on the following day The capital, seen at a distance, surrounded by gardens and sur iate of the city I could not shake off a certain fear of being found out or suspected by the Khan of Khiva, whose cruelty was condemned by the Tartars themselves, and at whose hands I had reason to expect a much sterner treatment than even from the Turkoer suspected by him, and that only recently this had been the sad fate of a Hindoo, alleged to be of princely origin But by this ti my presence of mind I therefore kept perfectly cool, and only busied ht outwit the superstitious tyrant I had collected, on the way, reliable and full information about every prominent man in Khiva who had visited Constantinople The name of a certain Shukrullah Bey, who had there passed ten years in the capacity of an ambassador to the Sublime Porte, was most frequently mentioned, in this connection I had a sort of hazy recollection of having met this man at the house of the Turkish Secretary of State This Shukrullah Bey, I reflected, knows Stae and manners current with its better classes Now I should pretend to a former acquaintanceshi+p with him, and force it upon hihtthe character of a man from Stambul to such a perfection as to impose upon a native of that place, I felt sure that I should not to be suspected by the late aed in a manner to countenance ate, offering us bread and dried fruit For years there had not arrived such a nuaping at us froreeted on all sides by the words, ”Ahiz!” (Happily arrived!) ”Ha shahbazim! Ha arslanim!” (My falcon! My lion!) As soon as we arrived at the bazaar, Hadji Bilal began with a _telkin_ (a hyarment, as if I had been some first-class saint or had just descended fro to the custom of the country, at the caravansary, used at the sa, in search of Shukrullah Bey I had been told that he was noithout any e in a cell at the Medresse of Mehe in Khiva I introduced h one of his attendants as an Effendi co that I had known hih Khiva The old gentlee an occurrence and came out hi before his He nevertheless took me into his rooenuine Sta interest, after his friends at the Turkish capital, the political configurations, the new Sultan, and so forth

When, in the course of conversation, we became better acquainted, Shukrullah Bey thus apostrophized me: ”For the love of God, what has induced thee, Effendi, to come from Stambul, that earthly paradise, to these fearful countries?” I then told hied to an order of dervishes, that my _pir_ (spiritual chief) had sent me on this journey, and that a _murid_ (a novice) is bound to obey the commands of the _pir_, even at the risk of his life My new acquaintance was highly pleased with my explanations, and only wished to know the naed, and when I told him that of the _Nakishbend_, he becae He was desirous of i quarters at the Medresse formy fellow-travellers who to renew my visit very soon

An officer fro with him presents, destined for me, from the Khan, and orders from the latter to , in order to bestow on hi the Hazret's (hisof a dervish co from the Holy Land I told him I should obey I called upon Shukrullah Bey in the afternoon, as he wished to be present at the audience, and was conducted by hiave me directions how to comport myself, and described topresented to the Khan He inforood terms with the _mehter_ (minister), who looked on hiht perhaps injurethe prevailing custom, I nevertheless had myself first introduced to theaudience day, was cramful of people who, on our entrance, respectfullyaside So: ”This is the dervish from Constantinople, ill bestow benediction on our Khan May the Lord hearken to his words!”

I found the mehter in a porch, surrounded by his men, who smiled at every word uttered by hi to his chest showed hi hi to his attendants I ravity, and ihts to a dervish After saying the custo his beard, and responding with a loud ”Aed the usual formal courtesies with the mehter

Then he told me that the Hazret--at which word everybody rose frolad if I could produce a couple of lines from the Embassy at Teheran or the Sultan I replied thatof anybody, but that for the safety of ht with ra_ (the Sultan's seal) In saying this I handed the reat reverence, rubbing the seal against his forehead: then he rose and said he would give the docu to me that the Khan was ready to receive me Shukrullah Bey entered first, and I had to wait until the necessary preparations were h I was introduced as a dervish, the Khan had been inforuished pasha in Constantinople After a while I was taken by the arm by two officers, the curtain was drawn aside, and I saw before me _Seid Mehemmed Khan Padishahi Kharezm_, the Khan of Khiva, seated on a terrace-like platfor a short gold sceptre in his other hand Strictly adhering to the ceremonial prescribed for me, I liftede from the Koran, two _alahumu sellahs_ (God be praised) and a short prayer As the Khan was taking hold of his beard in order to respond with ”Amen” at the terai!” (May thy prayer be heard!) Thereupon I drew near the prince, who held out his hand, and after having gone through the _mussafeha_ (the salutation prescribed by the Koran--the two persons in giving a greeting extend an outstretched hand to each other), I retreated a few steps, and there was an end to the ceremony The Khan now commenced to make inquiries about the object of reat desert, and Khiva had reat ht of the _Hazret's djemal mubarek_ (his Majesty's blessed beauty) cos ”I thank Allah,” I continued, ”for allowing ood fortune, and I believe that I ood oress of my journey” I was asked by the Khan if I intended to re time in Khiva, and whether I was provided with the necessary ithal forraves of all the saints reposing in the blessed soil of the Khanate, and that as to being provided with the needful travelling expenses, we dervishes did not trouble ourselves about such worldly trifles; the _nefes_ (holy spirit) which was given to me by my _pir_ (chief of the dervish order) on my journey would sustain life inany food Therefore I had no other wish but that Godhis Majesty's life to one hundred and twenty years

[Illustration: AUDIENCE WITH THE KHAN OF KHIVA]

My words seemed to have pleased his Royal Majesty, for he ordered that I should be given twenty gold pieces and a strong ass I did not accept the money, under the pretext that it was a sin for a dervish to be possessed of , however, the request to select, if possible, a white one, for it was one of that colour which the sacred law prescribed for pilgries I was about to withdrahen I was asked by the Khan to be at least his guest during the short ti this tihes_ (a sixpence) for my board This offer, too, was declined with thanks, and I retired after having given reeted most respectfully with _selam aleiku the courtyard of the palace and the bazaar I did not breathe freely until I found myself in safety within the four walls of my cell

Every feature in the Khan's face betrayed the debauched, worn-out, dull-minded, inhuman tyrant; his eyes were deeply sunken, his lips of a pallid white, and his voice was shaky I was profoundly thankful for his exceptional kindness to me, and was pleased to think that I now could eh the Khanate to my heart's content without any interference

There was not much to be seen at the capital itself, and what little there orthy of note ht have been easily looked at in a couple of days But my tiovernenerally known that I was in the good graces of the king, everybody wished uests It was a real torture for ht invitations a day

I recall with a shudder, to this day, the nu, between three and four o'clock, to a plate of rice swiravy of mutton fat The _Toshebaz_ (the name of the cloister where I was quartered) coe water-tank, and was therefore looked upon as a public building, and continually swarood opportunity of observing the dress, the s, and to become personally acquainted with several of them

The men wear tall pyrae boots of Russian leather of shapeless bulk on their feet, besides which their costu shi+rt The wo of from fifteen to twenty Russian pocket handkerchiefs rolled one into the other, and are coreatest heat, having on their feet tree boots, and muffled up in theirfor a little _khakishi+fa_ (health-powder) which the pilgri with them from _Medina_, froainst all sorts of ailings; or they would beg for a _nefes_ (holy breath) and give a detailed account of their bodily sufferings I had, of course, to co the sore place I blew or breathed on it three tih, and many of them insisted that they immediately felt relieved froratified with the brilliant success of our dealing in the holy breath, for I old pieces for the heavenly article

I soon had occasion to beco to injure me for no other reason except that he hated Shukrullah Bey, who patronizeda Turk, but he endeavoured to make the Khan believe that I had put on the dervishshi+p as a mask merely for so to Bokhara Information of his perfidiousness had already reached ain invited to the Khan's court, a few days only after e company was present, and he received me immediately with the question, if it was true that I was versed in worldly knowledge too, and that I could write in a flowery style He wishedfor him in the fashi+on of Stambul, which he was very desirous to see I very well knew that the request was ainstclever in fine and floriting and hadhty and terrible king and lord! I, thy poorest hu before my eyes the proverb that every fine writer is a fool, have hitherto occupiedOn the other hand I recalled that other saying, that every fault becoe to write down these lines”

These high-sounding titles pleased the Khan very much, but the mehter was too stupid to perceive the drift ofbeen treated with bread and tea, called upon by the Khan to come and talk with him Politics were, this ti faithful to the character of a dervish, showed but little interest in the matter, and every word had to be forced out ofand keenly scanning the expression ofto justify his suspicions, but it was all to no purpose The Khan sent races, and told me to draw upon his treasurer for my daily stipend He ordered a _yasaul_ (a court officer) to take me to the treasurer I found the treasurer, who paid ularly e the _khilat_ (robe of honour), that is, those garments which were destined to be sent to the camp in order to invest with them the heroes, in reward of their bravery There were four different sorts of silk suits of clothing, all of the colours, richly eroups, he called them suits of four heads, suits of twelve heads, suits of twenty and of forty heads

This nomenclature struck htest trace of a head to be seen on those gar e public square on the followingI was there at the appointed time I found about a hundred horsemen, who had just arrived fro a couple of prisoners, ast them women and children, ere tied either to the horses'

tails or the saddle-bows, each horse with him, besides, a sack which was thrown across the saddle As soon as they arrived each of theht with hirandee of the land; then they re hold of the two sides of the one end they spilled their contents on the ground as one does with potatoes But these were huhtered ene at the feet of the official rote down their nuht by each horse thealloped aith their receipts, which were drafts upon the treasurer for their respective rewards, in the shape of robes of honour of four, twenty or forty heads

[Illustration: A ROAD IN CENTRAL ASIA]

The Yasaul as to takeso, another order to attend to; I was therefore obliged to go with him

There were three hundred Tchaudor (a Turkoman tribe) prisoners of war in the third courtyard, and it was in reference to these that the Yasaul had received the Khan's orders These unfortunate people were all covered with rags, and looked, owing to their fear of death and the starving they had to undergo for days past, like dead raves They were already divided into two groups, those under forty years of age ere fit to be sold as slaves or to beto their position or advanced age are looked upon as _aksakals_ (graybeards or chieftains), and were subject to the punishments meted out by the Khan Those of the first class were led away by their escorts, in bands of fifteen tied to each other by iron collars The second group were anticipating with patient resignation, like sheep taken to the slaughter-house, the horrible fate in store for theht of thee, lay down on their backs at a hint from the executioner In this situation their hands and feet were tied, and he, kneeling on their chests, and stabbing with a sharp knife the eyes of each of theht

After he had accomplished his cruel task he wiped his bloody knife on the grey beard of one of his victiht to see these miserable people, after the fetters had been re atteainst one another, others sank to the ground again froround with their feet in their agony I shall think with horror of this scene as long as I live

I bestowed upon the Khanleave He asked me to come back by the way of Khiva as he wished to send with me an ambassador to Constantinople, whose mission it would be to obtain from the new Sultan the customary confirmation for himself I replied that it was sinful to think of the future, but we should see by and by what _Kismet_ (fate) ordains I then took leave of every one whose acquaintance I hadmy stay of one month in Khiva

XXII

FROM KHIVA TO BOKHARA