FOOTNOTES:
[1] Sofi Islam is a sect which originated about thirty years ago. Its founder, a Tadjik from Belkh, was desirous of opposing the ever-increasing influence of the Nakishbendi. In this fraternity prevails the principle of communism and blood relationship. The Sofi Islamites wear a cap trimmed with fur, and are most frequently met with this side of the Oxus, as far as Herat, and also amongst the Turkomans.
[2] Yes, it is he! it is the righteous one! there is no God but he; are the usual forms of prayer which occur in the Zikr.
[3] Kalentor is a corruption of the old Persian Kelanter the greater. In eastern Persia the title is still given to the judges of villages.
[4] Kuddus is derived from Kud, to become mad. Thus, the Arabs call the dervishes Medjnun, i.e., insane.
[5] Keshkul is a vessel formed of half a cocoa nut,—the vade mecum of the dervishes,—in which he plunges all the food he has collected by begging, whether dry or fluid, sweet or sour. Such a dish of tutti frutti would but ill suit our gastronomers; and yet how delicious it tasted to me after a long day's march.
[6] See Noesselt's "Geschichte für Tochter schulen," who also states that many pilgrims, ignorant of the road, allowed themselves to be led by a frightened goose which ran before them.
[7] From Yarkend to Kilian on the boundary line are three days' journey, from there, by way of Tagarma and Kadun, to Tibet, twenty days, and thence to Kashmir fifteen days.
[8] Zemzem is the name of a famous well on the road, of miraculous power, the water of which is exported in small vessels to all Islamite countries, as a single drop of it taken just at the moment of death frees from 500 years of purgatory. The origin of the well is ascribed to Ismail, who, after being left behind by Hagar, stamped his little foot and made the well spring up.
[9] The tea service consists of a can-like vessel made of copper, and is, next to the Koran, the most indispensable vade mecum of every travelling Tartar. Even the poorest beggar carries it, suspended by the handle, about with him.
[10] It is called Hirkai dervishan (the dervish cloak), which even those dervishes that are most comfortably off are obliged to wear over their otherwise good garments. It is the symbol of poverty, and is often composed of countless small pieces of new patchwork, cut round the edge in points of unequal length; and, while it is sewn together on the outside with thick packing thread and large stitches, the lining often consists of silk or some other valuable material. It is the ne plus ultra of hypocrisy; but long before the Romans the wise men of the East have said, Mundus vult decipi—ergo decipiatur.
[11] In Hungary we find the same practice prevailing at the present day, for the custom of tying coloured handkerchiefs to the heads of the horses at marriage feasts most probably has its origin in this ancient usage.
[12] Oveis Karayne is the name of a faithful follower of Mohammed, who out of love to the Prophet had all his teeth knocked out, the latter having lost two of his front teeth in the battle at Ohud, through a blow from the enemy's weapon. After Mohammed's death he even intended to found an Order, with this self-mutilation as a condition of membership; but his efforts proved unsuccessful. The assertion, that he came to Khiva and died there, belongs rather to the region of fiction.
[13] Khodja Ili.—The people of the Khodja, or descendants of the prophets, a considerable number of whom inhabit this part of the country. They have as much a purely Œzbeg physiognomy, as the numerous Seids in Persia bear the stamp of an Iranic origin. The former, however, enjoy considerably more privileges.
[14] In the map to my "Travels in Central Asia," Nöks has by mistake been confounded with Khodja Ili; the former also is full an hour farther from Kungrat than is there stated.
[15] Not Taldyk, as Admiral Butakoff called it in his treatise, read on the 11th of March, 1867, before the Geographical Society in London, nor can I agree with him about the two extreme arms of the Delta, of which he calls the eastern Yenghi, and the western Laudan. It is possible that it may have been so formerly, in consequence of the frequent changes of the water-course; but at present this is no longer the case I learned from the most authentic source, that the name of Laudan is given only to the dry bed of the Oxus, which, beginning at Kiptchak, runs in a westerly direction past Köhne Urgendj. Butakoff designates the middle branch by the name of Ulkun, and here I must remark, that this word meaning "great," is always added to the name of the chief stream. Ulkun, more correctly Ulken, is consequently identical with my Amu Derya.
[16] Farsakh (i. e., παρασάγγης), a Persian league, about 18,000 feet in length.
[17] Schools thus placed in the middle of the bazaar are also met with in Persia: these are the cheapest schools for children, still it is incredible that the Orientals should suffer such a stupid practice to exist, and that they do not remove these establishments for instruction to some less disturbed situation.
[18] In the eyes of Eastern people, dogs and Europeans are classed together, as making water against the wall. Throughout the East people squat down during the action, for fear lest in a standing position a drop might touch and thus pollute their clothes.
[19] Beng is the name of the poison which is produced from the canabis indica.
[20] The sale of a khanezad is regarded as a disgraceful action, and one who commits such an act is branded as a thief and a robber.
[21] The plain of Sogdiana or the Zerefsha—valley between Bokhara and Samarkand—is spoken of as an earthly paradise, and Hafiz calls the towns of Bokhara and Samarkand the greatest treasure, and yet surpassed by his beloved.
[22] The difference in the harvest time in Turkestan best illustrates the above remark. In Belkh, for instance, and in the neighbourhood of Andkhuj, the harvest is at the beginning of June; in Hezaresp, Khiva, and Karaköl, towards the end of June; in the oasis-countries, in July; in Kungrat, and in the north of Khokand, not before the beginning of August.
[23] Burnes (Travels in Bokhara, ch. ii. p. 188) doubts altogether whether the Oxus had formerly a different watercourse, and, amongst other reasons, supports his view by the opinion of the natives. No one will feel surprised that I heard them assert the very contrary. Among the Turkomans there exist numerous contradictory legends in connection with the former watercourse of the Oxus.
[24] These were formerly let on the system of half-profit, as indicated by the name.
[25] Mitchell. "The Russians in Central Asia," p. 462.
[26] I observe with pleasure, that of the seeds, which I brought with me from Central Asia, several kinds have succeeded in Hungary. These will undoubtedly be the best melons we have in Europe.
[27] "Bokhara, its Emir and its People."
[28] "Relations Politiques et Commerciales de l'Empire Romain avec l'Asie Orientale," p. 197.
[29] Tarichi Narschachi.
[30] Compare "The Russians in Central Asia," p. 462.
[31] Compare "Travels in Central Asia," p. 420.
[32] Compare Ritter, "Erdkunke," viii., 326.
[33] This is very probably the modern Chemket, in the new Russian province of Turkestan.
[34] Almonds and cherries are, now-a-days, not to be met with as a product of Bokhara.
[35] Khatun means in Turkish, woman, of which word we wish to avail ourselves instead of a name, as this is the practice in the MS. before us.
[36] Rigistan means in old Persian, an open space, which is strewn with sand (rig) and kept vacant.
[37] Report says, that Said ben Osman and Khatun, who was a celebrated beauty, loved each other; and even in later years the popular ballads were extant which sung of this adventure.
[38] Klaproth, and Abel Remusat, in his "Researches on the Tartar Languages," counts this stock with the Hindu-Gothic race, which assertion is now considered by every one an error. Castren may, without doubt, be right, if he in his investigations in south Siberia finds relationship in a light-coloured Turkish stock; but these are not Buruts. I believe that even the learned Mr. Schott is deceived, when, following Chinese sources, he favours this opinion, in his treatise, "Upon the Pure Kirghese." Berlin: 1863. It appears that the Buruts are confounded with the Uisuns, who dwell further north, are light-coloured, and probably are the remnant of a Finnish stock. See "The Russians in Central Asia," by Mitchell, p. 64.
[39] That many nomads censured this deficiency in projecting cheek-bones in myself, as a disfigurement, I have already mentioned. This need not astonish us; and it appears to me truly remarkable, that Dr. Livingstone, in his book, "The Zambesi and its Inhabitants," can assert that he has seen African women, from the Makololo race, who, standing before the mirror, strove to lessen the broad mouth, which is common among them, with the intention to make themselves more beautiful.
[40] "Description of Kirghese Kazaks," by Alexis de Lewschine. Paris: 1840; page 317.
[41] See the former work, page 300, chapter II.
[42] The Islam of faith was established, according to Fischer ("History of Siberia," pages 86, &c., and elsewhere) towards the middle of the sixteenth century, by one Kutshum. This date is admitted by those in the north, as well as by the dwellers in South Siberia, still in Turkestan that conversion is reported to have taken place much earlier.
[43] Lewschine says the same in his above-named work upon the Kirghis, page 358.
[44] Dr. A. Bastian has found the oracle of the shoulder bone even among the Buruts who profess Shamanism, and it is considered by the Kirghis as a remnant of the same religion. See Ausland, No. 23, 1869.
[45] "Gibbon;" edited by Dr. W. Smith. London, 1862, page 296. Here it is justly remarked, "The Œzbegs are the most altered from their primitive manners. 1st.,—by the profession of the Mohammedan religion; and, 2nd.,—by the possession of the cities and harvests of Great Bucharia.
[46] Radloff also confirms the same in his Report upon the Acad. Imp. of Sciences of St. Petersb. See the bulletin of the society named, vol. vi., p. 418.
[47] Ritter, West Asia. Vol. ii. p. 86.
[48] "The Ethnographical Position of the Iranian tribes." Ausland, 1866, No. 36, p. 853.
[49] Khanikoff's "Memoire sur l'Ethnographie de la Perse." Paris, 1866, page 45.
[50] Above cited work, page 47.
[51] Aimak is a Mongolian word, and signifies a people.
[52] Khanikoff seems to be in error when he considers the Hezareh, as formerly Œzbegs; viz., as the Berlas tribe. "Memoire sur la Patrie Meridionale de l'Asie Centrale." Paris, 1842, pp. 112, 138. I must against this cite the following arguments:—1st. Their own assertion,—that they were the remainder of the army of Djingis, and, moreover, from the statement of Abul Fazl of a troop of Mangu Khan. 2ndly. That a portion, now named the Gvbi Hezareh, which retired into the hills in the neighbourhood of Herat, and has been spared by the Persian elements, speaks a Mongolian dialect, as is proved by Von der Gabelenz, in a periodical of the German Asiatic Society,—vol. xx. p. 326.; and Baber affirms that in his time many Hezareh spoke Mongolian. 3rd. There is nowhere among the Œzbegs such a decided Mongolian type to be found as among the Hezareh, which is the more striking, because the first remain near their old home in more compact masses, while the latter have dwelt under a foreign climate and foreign elements.
[53] From Vah (the river Vah), as the Oxus is called in Bendehesh, may also be derived the modern name, Vachan, Vacks-as-ird, and Vas-ab.
[54] During my sojourn in Kerki I lived with ten Feizabadis (Feizabad is the capital of Bedakhshan) many days in one and the same house. It was a deputation returning from Bokhara, where they wished to raise the Emir to the place of their lately-banished prince.
[55] Slaves prefer rather ten years in the house of an Œzbeg than five years in the house of a Tadjik, because the last, who is considered a man without conscience, makes use of them in every possible way.
[56] The oriental emblem for generosity.
[57] I adopt the orthography of the original, although Kugaul (hunter) Barzagai (master lion) instead of Buruzgay would be preferable.
[58] This same episode occurs in the romance of Yusuf and Zuleikha, where Zuleikha's friends at the banquet are so astonished at the beauty of Yusuf that instead of paring the pomegranates before them they cut off the skin with their fingers.
[59] Up to this moment the Revue des Deux Mondes, alone of all the Continental press, has brought out two special articles on Central Asia. The first, without any acknowledged leaning, points out the critical conditions of the approaching conflict; the second, imbued with a Russian spirit, keeps time to the song of the English optimists; for doing which I would not blame the writer, had he not cited several passages from my book as his own property.
[60] Ished, which the Russians wrongly pronounce Iset, is a usual contraction of "Eish Mehemmed," which signifies "Mohammed's delight."
[61] Query—Hangman's halter? (Trans.)