Part 10 (1/2)
We met for our departure in the cool and shady yard of the Toshebaz The charity and liberality of the inhabitants of Khiva was manifestly traceable in the altered appearance of the mendicant caravan The st the Turkoloone, and the very travelling outfit was far superior to our for, and we experienced great satisfaction in observing that even the poorest of us was provided with an ass, however di black flour with me was now over; its place was supplied by white cakes, and ar The only article I would not change was my dress I had been presented with a shi+rt, it is true, but I did not put it on, thinking that such superfluities, for which the tiht have an effeminate effect upon me It was rather late in the afternoon of the 2nd of June when, having happily got over the never-ending benedictions and farewell embraces, our party left Khiva
The over-zealous ran after us for half an hour, shedding copious tears and saying to us in taking leave: ”Who knohen Khiva will be again so fortunate as to have so uests within her walls!”
_Godshe_ was the naht
Here we put up for the first time at the _kalenterkhane_, that is, an inn for the separate and special accoer community to provide Froh cultivated land In the kalenterkhane at Khanka I found two half-naked dervishes, ere just in the act of abandoning the when I entered
They at once asked oodly dose thereof, and were quite astonished to hear me refuse their kind proffer They were not to be easily baffled in their friendly attentions, and treated me to tea instead While I drank my tea they sed their poppy-seed poison In half an hour's ti had taken effect; they were both in the realms of the happy; but while the face of the one sleeper wore an expression of joy and delight, the agonies of terrible fear were depicted in the countenance of the other
Towards evening on the day of our departure fro rains must have considerably swelled the volu them beyond their ordinary bed; for I found the river ined it to be The yelloater of the Oxus is not so good in its bed as it is in the canals issuing fro more slowly, is apt to cool off sooner Where the sand is settling in the Oxus, there the water for sweetness and purity has no rival in the world Tollthe Oxus, but the payment of it will in itself not pass a person; one must also be provided with a _petek_ (a license to cross) The hadjis had one passport, in coiven a separate one which ran thus: ”Be it known to the guards on the frontier and the collectors of custoranted a license Let nobody molest or interfere with him”
Our transportation across the river commenced at ten o'clock in the forenoon; and it was sundoe reached the opposite shore We hty river itself in half an hour's tiround; the sandbanks, every ten ers and aniht be pushed off into deeper water, andand the unloading of the asses, particularly the stubborn ones, gave no end of troubleso compelled, for the most part, to carry the anihable scene before my eyes at this very moment; how tall, rawboned Hadji Yakub packed his little ass on his back, gathering up in his lists the struggling legs of the frightened animal, which meekly leant its head on the neck of the hadji Our caravan could proceed but very slowly When ere near _Akkamish_ (white reed), the kervanbashi+, two others, and e of the tardy progress of the caravan, and turned aside to visit _Shurakhan_, where the weekly fair was being held, in order to replenish our provisions
Shurakhan consists chiefly of those three hundred shops which are open two days a week, and where the per country and the no to camp there, can obtain the necessaries of life I entrustedof the needful purchases, and sauntered away to the kalenterkhane, outside the place Here I ain with several dervishes whose fraence in _bang_ (opiu ispurposes in Khiva, and the sinful indulgence in it bythe use of wine and other spirituous liquors, the transgression of that coovernment I returned to the fair to join reat difficulty that I succeeded in pushi+ngmultitude Everybody was on horseback, buyers as well as sellers Kirghiz woe prepared fro to see hat dexterity they put theto the lips of their custole drop At the caravan they had been looking out for us with the greatest impatience, and we resumed our ht only As we ht of thecaravan and its fantastic shadows, upon which the pale ht by the Oxus rolling its darkling waters with a hoarseits endless vista Weday, and I seized the opportunity of addressing a feords to a Kirghiz woipsy life of hers ”We cannot be so indolent,” she answered, ”as you mollahs are, and spend the entire day in one place Man must move about, the sun, the moon, the stars, the water, ani; only the dead and the earth liethe -covered shores of the Oxus, ere met by five merchants from Khiva, on horseback, who had made their way froht us the cheering news that the roads were perfectly safe and thatday meet with the caravan they had left
It was at the break of day on the 4th of July e suddenly stumbled upon two men, in an entirely nude state, who in a pitiful voice could only repeat, ”A piece of bread! a piece of bread!” and then fainted away They were at once given so themselves they told us that they were sailors from Hevaves, had been attacked by a band of Tekke-Turko about one hundred and fifty, and had been robbed by the else they had ”For the love of God,” they said, ”run or hide, for you are sure to coh you are pious pilgri and leave you naked in the wilderness, for the Kafir (infidel) Tekke is capable of everything”
No sooner did the kervanbashi+ hear the naave instant orders to retrace our steps We were to retreat as fast as was compatible with the pace of the poor, heavily laden caet aith camels from Turko for one hundred and fifty horsemen to cross the river, and whilst they were cautiously reconnoitring we ht safely reach Tunuklu There we intended to fill our canteens ater and then to turn into the desert of _Khalata_, where we hoped to escape from the pursuit of the Tekkes After tremendous exertions we arrived with our animals quite exhausted in Tunuklu Here we had to remain until our animals were rested and fed, for in their present condition they could not have reached the first station in the desert We passed threeour preparations for the awful journey, and the sun had not set when our caravan ending its way, fro to Khalata
Knowing the terrors of the desert as we did, one s myself and h the desert We had travelled from Gomushtepe to Khiva in the month of May, and noere in July; then we found some rain-water, noe should not find even salt-water With what longing did we look at the Oxus, on whose bosoht, as it receded, to the right, froht The very animals, dumb as they were, kept their eyes continuously in that direction The sky was covered already with stars e reached the sandy desert We proceeded as noiselessly as possible for fear of attracting the attention of the Turkoht not to be far off They could not possibly see us in the darkness of the night, and the round prevented the noise of the tra we apprehended was that one of our aniive us a speci did not descend on any of theht we reached a place where all of us had to dis knee deep in the fine sand
Our station on the an_, that is,objects was sufficient to prove the propriety of this appellation As far as the eye could reach, nothing but sand, sand, now like the storain presenting the spectacle of the rippling caused by gentle breezes on the bosom of a calm lake No bird can be seen in the air, nor insect on the earth; all the eye can discover here and there are the sad signs of decay, the skeletons of lost men and animals, which are placed in a heap by the travellers in order to serve theuide Here, of course, ere safe from the Turko the distance of one station through this sand According to our kervanbashi+'s stateenerally took six days, three through the sand and three on solid ground, covered here and there with grass We had to fear then, altogether, one day's or one and a half day's want of water But I observed on the very first day that the water of the Oxus we had with us upset all our calculations, as it dihtful rapidity in spite of our utmost economy, a phenouards his skin s it close to his bosom when asleep We marched six hours every day in spite of the dreadful heat, wishi+ng to get out of the sandy desert as soon as possible; for if we happened to be caught dozing in the sand for only a few seconds by the murderous _tebbad_ wind, the lives of the whole caravan would be in danger, whilst on the solid ground of the desert beyond, such a tebbad visitation involved only an attack of high fever The forced march had worn out our camels to such an extent that two of them died on the 6th of July
Our toilso heat enervated us all and reduced our strength Two of our poorer co to the inferiority of their anie by their side on foot, had consumed all the water they had, and became, for want of it, so sick that they had to be tied to the backs of the caht They were covered up besides As long as their voices did not desert the for water It is the pitiful truth, alas! that their best friends denied the elixir, and it was reserved for grienerous and relieve one of the, at which place he expired I was near the unhappy ue had turned quite black, his throat was of a grayish white, but his features were not over to the shrunken state of his lips I a of water would have been of any benefit to the poor fellow, but the thought that nobody atte him one sater did not cease to haunt me for many a day to come The father hides his liquid store from his son, the brother from his brother, for every drop of it not only represents life but relief from the dreadful torture of thirst, the fear of the latter banishi+ng that self-sacrifice and generous-mindedness which we often have an opportunity to witness on other occasions of danger and peril
The Khalataof the hard-soiled desert, were not yet within sight Our caue necessitating a further stay of one day, the fourth day, a sand of the desert My store of water was reduced to about six glasses of water, which I kept in my leather flask; of this I durst not drinkthat I was constantly suffering from thirst To my horror I discovered a black spot in the ue, and this was sufficient to ht I was saved, but on the followingsensation accompanied by a violent headache made itself felt, more and more, and by the time the Khalatablue clouds, radually failed me The nearer we drew to the erly looking out for some herd or shepherd's hut All of a sudden some one called the kervanbashi+'s attention to an approaching cloud of dust, who seeing it becaht, and exclaimed: ”This is the tebbad”
Every one dismounted at once from the camels The ani wind and had knelt down, roaring loud, on the ground, laying down their long necks flat before the to hide their heads in the sand We used the ani down near them, and hardly had we time to do so when the wind swept over our heads with a deep roar, covering us with a layer of sand of the thickness of half an inch, its first grains burning as like drops of fiery rain Had we been attacked by the tebbad five miles more inland, we should have been all irretrievably destroyed I did not observe the sy which are said to be the effects of this wind, but the atmosphere became sensibly heavier and more oppressive
We scrambled up when it was over, and found to our intense satisfaction after a short while that the sand was gone Froe of the sandy desert to Bokhara we chose the shortest one, and resu, across several wells that had not been visited, even by herdsmen, this year The water we found in them was unfit for man, but the animals drank their fill froes of exhaustion, and nothing but hope kept up the spark of life within our enfeebled fraet off my aniround I felt a dreadful internal fire and my head stupified by the violence of the headache My pen has no power to describe the tortures of thirst unallayed which I underwent at that moment, nor do I think there is any more painful mode of death, for I had hitherto bravely faced all kind of dangers, keeping up my manhood--but noas completely broken down; I felt my power of resistance had deserted ht
Towards noon we took up ouron the 10th of July I found round in abeards whonized as natives of Iran They first administered to me tepid milk, then I had to take some sour milk mixed with salt and water, called _ayran_ by theth froes I now learned that, together with uests of a couple of Persian slaves ca here, in the desert, at a distance of forty e flocks of sheep, but being very sparingly provided with bread and water, so as to prevent the an attempt to escape Yet these Persians, poor slaves as they were, had the broad charitableness which gives water to their ancient and inveterate foes, the Sunnite mollahs They beca theht of a child-boy only five years old, as also a slave, inspired s of profoundest pity He had been taken prisoner two years ago, together with his father; and being asked the particulars of his life he answered: ”My father has bought (ransomed) himself; nor am I to remain a slave above two years, for my father will earn the necessary money to setto cover his nakedness, and his skin was as dark as tanned leather
XXIII
IN BOKHARA