Part 11 (1/2)
”Yes, takhsir (sir)! and, besides, to be edified by thy blessed beauty”
”Strange; and hast thou no other object in co here from such distant lands?”
”No, takhsir! It has ever been the war Saround, as is justly observed by Sheikh Djelal, men should ith their heads rather than their feet Besides, this is h the world for h the world)
”How is this, a djihangheste with thy lae indeed”
”Letyour pardon, sir”) Thy glorious ancestor Timur--may he rest in peace--was afflicted in the sahir_” (a conqueror of the world)
Having bantered me in this preliminary conversation, the Emir inquired what sort of impression Bokhara and Samarkand had made upon me My answers, which I took occasion to interlard with copious citations of Persian poetry, seemed to make a favourable impression upon the Emir, as a mollah hiether sure yet of my success with him After the audience had lasted for a quarter of an hour he su in a cautious undertone he badeposture and followed as I had been bid
The servant led h a number of yards and halls, whilst ivings as toup pictures of horror and seeingon the road to the rack and that dreadful death which was ever present toabout, into a dark roon that I should expect hiuess I counted the ain A few seconds yet of suspense and the servant approached at last, and by the light of the opening door I saw hihtful instruments of the executioner, a parcel carefully folded up In it I found a highly orna, and an amount of money destined for my onward journey, sent to me as a present by the Emir
As soon as I obtained possession of the parcel I hastened away to my colad of my success as I myself had been I subsequently learned that Rah report about me, in consequence of which I was received with diffidence at first by the E his ue
My fellow-hadjis now advised me to leave Samarkand at once, and not even to sojourn at _Karshi+_, but to cross over as quickly as possible to the other side of the Oxus, and await there in the midst of the hospitable _Ersari-Turkomans_ the arrival of the caravan bound for Herat I took their advice The hour of parting was at hand I feel ive an adequate picture of the parting scene For six ers connected with travelling in the desert; we had in co eleer and thirst No wonder then that the barriers of position, age and nationality were all broken down, and that we had coined hat heavy hearts we looked forward to the sad mo more painful to the heart of a true man than to see those ties severed which coe of mutual acts of friendshi+p and devotion, have firether
And ht of the double-dealing I had to practise upon these friends of mine--the best I had in the world, who had preservedthem in the dark as to my identity But those who know the fanaticiser I should have exposedthe truth even at the moment of farewell, will surely find no fault with my reserve
XXV
FROM SAMARKAND TO HERAT
I did not re with my new fellow-travellers from the Khanate of Kokhand But I attached rat by the nao with me to Mecca He was a kind-hearted youth, as poor asupon e me
The road from Samarkand follows the direction of the road to Bokhara up to the hill whencethe city for the first time The next day found us already in the desert In truth, however, coh which I had passed, it rassy plain or a prairie Oneto the nus have their tents erected The wells are for thereservoirs for water, of stone or wood, at which the cattle are watered To avoid the fatiguing labour of draater froly small, the herdsmen attach the rope of the bucket to the saddle of athus thewater Quite a picturesque scene is presented by such a well, the flocks of sheep wandering or resting near it with their serious shepherds, and I was forcibly reary On the second day after our departure wefrom Karshi+, near one of the wells One of this caravan, a young woman who had been sold by her husband to an old Tadjik, and had discovered the infa her hair, bitterly wailing and crying, and upon catching sight of me she frantically rushed up to where I stood and exclaimed: ”My hadji, thou hast read books: where is it written that a Mussulman may sell his wife, the mother of his children?” In vain I told the Tadjik that to do so was to coe at Karshi+ apparently not having shared my views, the buyer felt quite sure as to the validity of the bargain
We proceeded but sloing to the excessive heat, and it took two days and three nights to reach _Karshi+_ Nakhsheb was the ancient name of Karshi+, and as a city it ranks second in the Khanate of Bokhara in extent and co by the naiven me a letter of introduction I found him and was very cordially received by hi very cheap in Karshi+, and to purchase with lass beads, Bokhara-ht here frost the no our road All the hadjis do the salass beads you get bread and ood rat mollah to make the intended purchases One half of my khurdjin was full of my manuscripts, ht in the bazaar of Bokhara; the other half was used by me as a storehouse for my wares, and thus I became at once an antiquarian, a dealer in fashi+onable articles, a hadji and aan additional source of income from the sale of benedictions, nefesses, amulets, and similar wonderful articles
After a stay of three days I left, in company of the mollah Ishak and two other hadjis, for Kerki, about fifty-six miles distant fro we reached the Oxus in the , at a place where there was a small fort on our side of the shore, and on the opposite side on a steep height the frontier fort surrounded by the s between the two forts is here nearly twice the width of the Danube near Budapest, but owing to its rapid current, which drove us considerably out of our course, it took us fully three hours to cross over The boat of us for ferrying us over But scarcely had we placed our feet on the shore when the _deryabeghi_ (the river officer) of the governor of Kerki stopped us, accusing us of being runaway slaves intending to return to Persia, and coe and things to the castle of the governor My surprise and terror ined Three of my coin were allowed to go free before long I did not fare quite so well; things would not pass off so s all kinds of objections; but finally I flew into a rage, and exchanging the Turco-Tartar dialect I had been using for that of Constantinople, I e overnor) at once, or upon being taken into his presence
At the noise I made the _toptchubashi+_ (an officer of artillery), as of Persian origin, said sohi
Then he took one several times to Stambul, fro to Rouht be perfectly quiet, as no harer ation; for as slaves who had becoold pieces at the border, there were uises to steal unrecognized over the frontiers The servant who had takenback with hiovernor had sent me