CHAPTER XVII.
| KHIVA, THE CAPITAL |
| PRINCIPAL DIVISIONS, GATES, AND QUARTERS OF THE CITY |
| BAZAARS |
| MOSQUES |
| MEDRESSE OR COLLEGES; HOW FOUNDED, ORGANISED, AND ENDOWED |
| POLICE |
| KHAN AND HIS GOVERNMENT |
| TAXES |
| TRIBUNALS |
| KHANAT |
| CANALS |
| POLITICAL DIVISIONS |
| PRODUCE |
| MANUFACTURES AND TRADE |
| PARTICULAR ROUTES |
| KHANAT, HOW PEOPLED |
| ÖZBEGS |
| TURKOMANS |
| KARAKALPAK |
| KASAK (KIRGHIS) |
| SART |
| PERSIANS |
| HISTORY OF KHIVA IN FIFTEENTH CENTURY |
| KHANS AND THEIR GENEALOGY. |
Les principaux Tartares firent asseoir le Khan sur une pièce de feutre et lui dirent: 'Honare les grands, sois juste et bienfesant envers tous; sinon tu seras si misérable que tu n'auras pas même le feutre sur lequel tu es assis.'
Voltaire, Essai sur les Moeurs, c. lx.
A. KHIVA, THE CAPITAL.
As we are speaking of an Oriental city, what need to say that the interior of Khiva is very different from what its exterior would lead us to expect! First, reader, you must have seen a Persian city of the lowest rank, and then you will understand my meaning when I say that Khiva is inferior to it; or picture to yourself three or four thousand mud houses standing in different directions in the most irregular manner with uneven and unwashed walls, and fancy these surrounded by a wall ten feet high, also made of mud, and again you have a conception of Khiva.
Its Divisions.
The city is divided into two parts: (a) Khiva proper; and (b) Itch Kale, the citadel with its encircling wall, which can be shut off from the outer city by four gates; and consists of the following Mahalle (quarters): Pehlivan, Uluyogudj, Akmesdjid, Yipektchi, Koshbeghimahallesi.
The city, properly so called, has nine gates, and ten Mahalle (quarters). [Footnote 106]
[Footnote 106: That is to say, towards the north, Urgendj dervazesi,(Dervaze, a Persian word, meaning gate.) Gendumghia dervazesi, Imaret dervazesi; towards the east, Ismahmudata dervazesi, Hazaresp dervazesi; to the south, Shikhlair dervazesi, Pishkenik dervazesi, Rafenek dervazesi; and to the west, Bedrkhan dervazesi. There are ten Mahalle (quarters), that is to say,
1. Or.
2. Kefterkhane.
3. Mivesztan, where the fruit is sold.
4. Mehterabad.
5. Yenikale.
6. Bala Havuz, where there is a large reservoir of water surrounded by plane trees, serving as a place of recreation.
7. Nanyemezorama. (This word means 'village that eats no bread.')
8. Nurullahbay.
9. Bagtche.
10. Rafenek.
Bazaars.
Bazaars or shops for sale equal to those which we meet with in Persia, and in other Oriental cities, do not exist in Khiva. The following only deserve any mention. Tim, a small well-built bazaar, with tolerably high vaulted ceilings, containing about 120 shops and a karavanserai. Here are exposed all the cloth, [{331}] hardware, fancy articles, linen, and cotton that the Russian commerce supplies, as well as the inconsiderable produce proceeding from Bokhara and Persia. Around the Tim are also to be seen Nanbazari (bread market), Bakalbazari (grocers), Shembazari (the soap and candle market), and the Sertrashbazari (from ten to twelve barbers' rooms, where the heads are shaved: I say the heads, for the man would be regarded as out of his senses or would be punished with death who should have his beard shaved).
I must also class amongst the bazaars the Kitchik Kervanserai, where the slaves brought by the Tekke and the Yomuts are exposed for sale. But for this article of business Khiva itself could not exist, as the culture of the land is entirely in the hands of the slaves. When we come to speak of Bokhara, we will treat this subject more at large.
Mosques.
There are few mosques in Khiva of much antiquity or artistic construction. Those that follow alone deserve notice. (1) Hazreti Pehlivan, an edifice four centuries old, consisting of one large and two small domes; it contains the tomb of Pehlivan Ahmed Zemtchi, a revered saint, patron of the city of Khiva. Its exterior promises little, although the Kashi (ornamental tiles) of the interior are tasteful, but unfortunately the place itself is dark, and the insufficiency of the lighting of the interior leaves much that the eye cannot distinguish. Both inside the dome and in the courts leading to it there are always swarms of blind practitioners of the memoria technica, who know the Koran by heart from frequent [{332}] repetition, and are ever reciting passages from it. (2) Another mosque is the Djüma-a-Mesdjidi, which the Khan attends on Fridays, and where the official Khutbe (prayer for the ruling sovereign) is read. (3) Khanmesdjidi, in the interior of the citadel. (4) Shaleker, which owes its construction to a farmer. (5) Atamurad Kushbeghi. (6) Karayüzmesdjidi.
Medresse (Colleges).
The number of colleges and their magnificent endowments are, in Central Asia, always a criterion of the degree of prosperity and religious instruction of the population; and when we consider the limited means at their disposal, we cannot but laud the zeal and the readiness to make sacrifices, evinced both by King and subject, when a college is about to be founded and endowed. Bokhara, the oldest seat of Islamite civilisation in Central Asia, is a pattern in this respect; but some colleges exist in Khiva also, and of these we shall particularly mention the following:
(1) Medemin [Footnote 107]Khan Medressesi, built in 1842, by a Persian architect, after the model of a Persian karavanserai of the first rank. On the right is a massive tower, somewhat loftier than the two-storied Medresse, but which, owing to the death of the builder, remains imperfect. This college has 130 cells, affording accommodation for 260 students; it enjoys a revenue of 12,000 Khivan Batman of wheat, and 5,000 Tilla (2,500l. sterling) in money. To give the reader an idea of this institution, I will state the manner in which this revenue is apportioned, in order to show the parties composing the personnel.
[Footnote 107: Abbreviation of Mehemmed Emin.]
| Batman. | Tilla. | ||
| 5 | Akhond (professors) receive yearly | 3,000 | 150 |
| 1 | Iman | 2,000 | 40 |
| 1 | Muezzin (caller to prayers) | 200 | 0 |
| 2 | Servants | 200 | 0 |
| 1 | Barber | 200 | 0 |
| 2 | Muttewali, or inspectors, receive a tithe of the whole revenue; theresidue is divided amongst the students, who form three classes: | ||
| 1st class | 60 | 4 | |
| 2nd class | 30 | 2 | |
| 3rd class | 15 | 1 |
(2) Allahkuli Khan Medressesi has 120 cells, and the yearly revenue of the pupils is fifty Batman and two Tilla (1l. sterling).
(3) Kutlug Murad Inag Medressesi. Each cell produces fifty Batman and three Tilla.
(4) Arab Khan Medressesi has only a few cells, but is richly endowed.
(5) Shirgazi Khan Medressesi.
These Medresse are the only edifices in the midst of the mud huts that deserve the name of houses. Their courts are for the most part kept clean, are planted with trees, or used as gardens. Of the subjects in which instruction is given we will speak hereafter, remarking only by the way, that the lectures themselves are delivered in the cells of the professors, to groups of scholars ranged together according to the degree of their intellectual capacity.
Police.
In each quarter of the town there is a Mirab, [Footnote 108] responsible by day for the public order of his district, in case of any rioting, theft, or other crime. The charge of the city after sunset is entrusted to the four Pasheb (chief watchmen), who are bound to patrol the whole night before the gate of the citadel. Each of them has eight under-watchmen subject to his orders, who are at the same time public executioners. These, in all thirty-two in number, go about the city, and arrest everyone who shows himself in the streets half an hour after midnight. Their particular attention is directed to burglars, or to the heroes of the intrigues proscribed by the law: woe to those caught in flagrante delicto!
[Footnote 108: A Mirab is the same as the Turkish Subashi, a functionary, that has played his part from the Chinese frontier to the Adriatic, and still continues to do so.]
B. THE KHAN AND HIS GOVERNMENT.
That the Khan of Khiva can dispose despotically, according to his good pleasure, of the property and lives of his subjects, scarcely requires to be mentioned. In his character of Lord of the Land, he is what every father is at the head of his family: just as the latter, when he pleases, gives ear to a slave, so the Khan pays attention occasionally to the words of a minister; nor is there any barrier to the capricious use of his authority, except that inspired by the Ulemas, when these have at their head such men as, by their learning and irreproachable lives, have conciliated the affection of the people, and rendered themselves objects of dread to the Khan. Matters stand so with almost all the Governments of Asia, but this is not altogether to be ascribed to the defects or entire absence of forms of government. No; in all times, and in all epochs of history, forms intended for controlling the tyrannical and capricious exercise of [{335}] power have existed in theory, and have only remained inoperative from that weakness of character and that deficiency of the nobler sentiments in the masses at large which have, throughout the East, ever favoured, as they still continue to do, every crime of the sovereign.
According to the Khivan Constitution, which is of Mongol origin, he is
(1) Khan or Padisha, who is chosen for the purpose from the midst of a victorious race. At his side stand the
(2) Inag, [Footnote 109] four in number, of whom two are the nearest relatives of the King, and the two others merely of the same race. One of the former is always the regular Governor of the province of Hezaresp.
[Footnote 109: The literal meaning of the word is younger brother.]
(3) Nakib, the spiritual chief, must always be a Seid (of the family of the Prophet). He has the same rank as the Sheikh-ül-Islam in Constantinople. [Footnote 110]
[Footnote 110: In Constantinople the Nakib-ül-Eshref, the chief of the Seïds, is in rank below the Sheikh-ül-Islam. ]
(4) Bi, not to be confounded with Bey, with which it has only a similar verbal meaning. The Bi is, in the battle, always at the right hand of the Khan.
(5) Atalik, a sort of councillor of state, who can only be Özbegs, and whose number the Khan can fix.
(6) Kushbeghi. [Footnote 111]
[Footnote 111: Vizir, or first Court Minister of the Khan: with him begins the 'corps' of ministers properly so called, holding their place at the will of the ruler.]
(7) Mehter, a sort of officer who has the charge of the internal affairs of the court and country. The Mehter must always be from the Sart (ancient Persian population of Khiva).
(8) Yasaulbashi, two in number, principal guards, whose functions are those of introduction at the Arz (public audience). The Divan, a sort of secretary, at the same time accountant, is of the same rank.
(9) Mehrem, also two in number, having merely the office of chamberlains and confidants, yet possessing great influence with the Khan and his Government.
(10) Minbashi, commander of 1,000 horsemen. [Footnote 112]
[Footnote 112: The collective military forces of the Khan of Khiva were computed, I was told, at 20,000 men, but this number can be doubled in the time of peril.]
(11) Yüzbashi, commander of 100 horsemen.
(12) Onbashi, commander of 10 horsemen.
These twelve divisions form the class of officials, properly so called, and are styled Sipahi. They are also divided as follows: some whom the Khan cannot remove from office, some who have a fixed stipend, and the rest who are only in active service in time of war.
The high officials are rewarded with lands, and the regular troops receive from the Khan horses and arms, and are exempt from all taxes and imposts.
Thus far of the secular officers.
The Ulema or priests, of whom the Nakib is the chief, are subdivided as follows:--
(1) Kazi Kelan, superior judge and chief of jurisdiction throughout the Khanat.
(2) Kazi Ordu, who attends the Khan as superior judge in his campaigns.
(3) Alem, the chief of the five Muftis.
(4) Reis, who is inspector of the schools, and exercises a surveillance over the administration of the laws respecting religion.
(5) Mufti, of whom there is one in every considerable city.
(6) Akhond, professor or elementary teacher.
The first three belong to the higher rank of officials, and on entering upon their functions, are richly provided for by the Khan. The three others draw their stipends from the Vakf (pious foundations) paid to them in money and produce; but it is, besides, the usage for the Khan to make them certain presents every year, at the festivals of the Kurban and the Noruz. The Ulemas of Khiva do not stand in as high repute for learning as those of Bokhara, but they are far from being so presumptuous and arrogant as the latter; and many are animated by a sincere zeal to improve their countrymen as far as they can, and to soften the rude habits contracted by constant wars.
Taxes.
In Khiva these are of two kinds:--
(a) Salgit, corresponding with our land-tax. For every piece of ground capable of cultivation, measuring ten Tanab (a Tanab contains sixty square ells), the Khan receives a tax of eighteen Tenghe (about ten shillings.) From this the following are exempt: the warriors (Nöker or Atli), the Ulemas, and Khodja (descendants from the Prophet).
(b) Zekiat (customs), in accordance with which imported wares pay 2-1/2 per cent, on their value, whereas for oxen, camels, and horses [Footnote 113] a Tenghe per head, and for sheep half a Tenghe per head, were payable yearly.
[Footnote 113: Only those, however, are obliged to pay who have more than ten, which constitute a herd.]
The collection of the Salgit is left to the Kushbeghi and Mehter, who make circuits for the purpose every year through the principal districts, and hold the Yasholu [Footnote 114] responsible for the collection in the particular departments.
[Footnote 114: 'The great of age,' as the grey-beards are denominated in Khiva.]
The collection of the Zekiat is controlled by a favourite Mehrem of the Khan, who visits, attended by a secretary, the tribes of nomads; and, as it is impossible to count the cattle, he every year taxes each tribe at a rate fixed after negotiation with his Yasholu. Of course, in this operation, the principal profit finds its way into the sack of the Mehter; and the Khan last year was made to believe that the Karakalpak had only 6,000 oxen, and the Yomuts and Tchaudors only 3,000 sheep taxed last year, which was, as I heard, only a third of the truth.
Justice.
This is administered in the mosques, and the private dwellings of the Kazis and Muftis, on whom the jurisdiction devolves. But every individual may prefer his complaint before the governor of the city or the province, who then makes his decision after Urf (i. e., as it seems to him right). Each governor, and even the Khan himself, must every day hold a public audience of at least four hours' duration, a duty the neglect of which illness can alone excuse; and, as no one can be excluded, the ruler is often forced to listen to and settle even the pettiest family differences amongst his subjects. I have been told that the Khan finds it fine sport to witness the quarrels of married couples, [{339}] maddened with anger which he himself takes care to foment. The father of the country is obliged to hold his sides for laughter to see, sometimes, man and wife thrashing each other around the hall, and finally falling wrestling in the dust.
C. KHIVA, THE KHANAT.
The Khanat of Khiva, known in history under the name of Kharezm, [Footnote 115] and called also in adjoining countries Ürgendj, is surrounded on all sides by deserts; its extreme frontiers to the south-east are formed by the city of Fitnek, to the north-west by Kungrat and Köhne Ürgendj, to the south by Medemin and Köktcheg. Without attempting to give the superficial measurement of the land occupied by fixed settlers, or ascertain precisely the number of the inhabitants, let me rather content myself by furnishing as complete a description as circumstances admit of the topography of the Khanat, and leave the geographer, if so disposed, to apply himself to the arithmetical calculation.
[Footnote 115: Kharezm is a Persian word signifying warlike, rejoicing in war.]
But we may with less hesitation enlarge upon the extraordinary fruitfulness of the soil, to be ascribed, not so much to appropriate modes of cultivation, as to the excellent irrigation, and the fertilising waters of the Oxus.
Canals.
These in Khiva are of two sorts--(a) Arna, those formed by the river itself, which have from time to time been merely widened and deepened by the [{340}] inhabitants; (b) Yap, canals dug to a width of one or two fathoms, for the most part fed from the Arna. With these the whole of the land that is under cultivation is covered, as with a net. Amongst the Arna deserve particular mention--
1. Hazreti Pehlivan Arnasi, which, breaks in between Fitnek and Hezaresp, passes before Khiva, and is lost in the sand after having flowed through Zey and the district of the Yomuts.
2. Gazavat Arnasi forms a break between Khanka and Yenghi Ürgendj, passes also to the west before Gazavat, and loses itself in the territory of the Yomuts.
3. Shahbad Arnasi has its beginning above Yenghi Ürgendj, passes by Shabad Tash-haus and Yillali, and disappears at Köktcheg.
4. Yarmish Arnasi breaks in opposite Shahbaz Veli, and flows through the districts between Kiat Kungrat and Yenghi Ürgendj.
5. Kilitchbay Arnasi separates Khitai and Görlen, goes by Yillali, and disappears in the sand behind Köktcheg.
6. Khodjaili Arnasi. On the further bank are--
7. Shurakhan Arnasi, which commences from the place of the same name, and disappears to the northeast, after having watered Yapkenary and Akkamish.
8. Iltazar Khan Arnasi, which traverses the land of the Karakalpak.
Divisions.
The political divisions of Khiva correspond with the number of those cities having particular Bay, or governors, this entitling them to the name of separate districts. At this present moment the following [{341}] [{342}] divisions subsist, of which the most interesting are Khiva, the capital, Yenghi Ürghendj, the most manufacturing, Köhne Ürgendj, famous for having long been the capital of the Khanat, but now only a miserable village. There only remain of its former splendour (a) two ruins of towers, one more considerable, the other smaller, designed in the same massive style as the other towers in Central Asia. The legend recounts that these owe their demolition to the fury of the Calmucks, because at a distance they seemed to be near, yet fly before the approaching assailants; (b) the Dome of the Törebegkhan, inlaid with tastefully enamelled bricks; (c) Mazlum Khan Solugu.
Principal Towns or Divisions, with the Villages belonging to them, and their distance from the Oxus.
| Name | Distance from Oxus | Villages | |
| | Tash or mile | ||
| 1. | Khiva | 6 | To the West: Bedrkhan, Kinik, Akyap, Khasian, Tashayak, Töyesitchti. |
| To the South: Sirtcheli, Shikhlar, Rafenek Engrik, Pesckenik,Pernakaz Akmesdjid. | |||
| To the East: Sayat, Kiat, Shikhbaghi, Kettebag. | |||
| To the North: Gendumghiah, Perishe, Khalil, Neyzekhasz, Gauk,Tcharakhshik, Zirsheytan Ordumizan. | |||
| 2. | Hezaresp | 1 | Djengeti, Shikharik, KhodjalarHimetbaba, Bitjaktchi, Ishanteshepe, Bagat, Nogman, Besharik. |
| 3. | Jenghi Ürgendj | 1-1/4 | Gaibulu Shabadboyu, Kutchilar, Oroslar, Sabundji, Akhonbaba, Karamaza Kiptchaklar. |
| 4. | Kungrat | Bank | Kiet, Nogai, Sarsar, Sakar. |
| 5. | Tash-haus | 6 | Kamishli Kuk, Kongrudlar, Karzalar Yarmish boyu, Bastirmali. |
| 6. | Görlen | 1 | Djelair, Yonushkali, Eshim, Vezir, Alchin, Bashkir, Tashkali, Kargali. |
| 7. | Khodja Ili | 2 | Ketmendji Ata, Djarnike Naymanlar (in the woods), Kamishtchali Dervish Khodja. |
| 8. | Tchimbay | On the further bank | |
| 9. | Shahbad | 4 | Khodjalar, Kefter Khane, Kökkamish. |
| 10. | Shurakhan | On the opposite side | |
| 11. | Kilidj bay | 4-1/2 | Klalimbeg Bagalan Alieliboyu, Bozjapboyu. |
| 12. | Mangit | 1/2 | Permanatcha, Kiatlar, Kenegöz. |
| 13. | Kiptchak | On bank | Basuyapboyu, Nogai ishan Kandjirgali, Kanlilar. |
| 14. | Khitai | 1-1/2 | Akkum, Yomurlutam, Kulaulu. |
| 15. | Ak derbendand Djamli | 7 | |
| 16. | Kiet | 2 | |
| 17. | Khanka | 1 | Meder, Godje, Khodjalar, Shagallar. |
| 18. | Fitnek | 2 | |
| 19. | Shabaz Veli | 2 | |
| 20. | Djagatai | 4-1/2 | |
| 21. | Ambar | 5 | Bastirmali Veyenganka Peszi. |
| 22. | Yenghi ya | Opposite bank | Altchin, Vezir. |
| 23. | Nôks | ||
| 24. | Köktcheg | 9 | |
| 25. | Köhne Urgendj | 6 | |
| 26. | Kiat Kungrat [between Görlen and Yenghi Urgendj] | 2 | |
| 27. | Nokhasz [between Khanka and Hezaresp] | 2 | |
| 28. | Rahmetbirdi beg [near Oveisz Karaayne mountain] | Opposite bank | |
| 29. | Kangli | 1 | |
| 30. | Yilali [between Medemin and Tashhaus] | 8 | |
| 31. | Koshköpür | ||
| 32. | Gazavat | 6 |
D. PRODUCTS, MANUFACTURES, AND TRADE OF KHIVA.
The fertility of the Khivan soil has already been several times mentioned; we must, however, allude to the following produce as especially excellent:--corn; rice, particularly that from Görlen; silk, the finest of which is from Shahbad and Yenghi Ürgendj; cotton; Ruyan, a kind of root, prized for the red colour extracted from it; and fruits, the superior merit of which not Persia and Turkey alone, but even Europe itself, would find it difficult to contest. I particularly refer to the apples of Hezaresp, the peach and pomegranate of Khiva, but, above all, to the incomparable and delicious melons, renowned as far even as remote Pekin, so that the sovereign of the Celestial Empire never forgets, when presents flow to him from Chinese Tartary, to beg for some Ürkindji melons. Even in Russia they fetch a high price, for a load of winter melons exported thither brings in return a load of sugar.
With respect to Khivan manufactures, in high repute is the Ürgendj Tchapani, or coat from Ürgendj; the material is a striped stuff of two colours (of wool or silk, often made of the two threads mingled), this is cut to the fashion of our dressing gowns. Khiva is also renowned for its articles in brass, Hezaresp for its gowns, and Tash-hauz for its linens.
The principal trade is with Russia. Karavans, consisting of from one to two thousand camels, go to Orenburg in spring, and to Astrakhan in autumn, conveying cotton, silk, skins, coats for the Nogai Tartars, Shagreen leather, and fruits to the markets of Nishnei (which they call also Mäkariä); they bring back in return kettles or other vessels of cast-iron (here called Djöghen), chintz (the kinds used by us to cover furniture, but here employed for the fronts of women's shifts), fine muslin, calicoes, clothing, sugar, iron, guns of inferior quality, and fancy goods in small quantities. There is a great export trade in fish, but the Russians have their own fisheries, which are protected by three steamers, stationed on the sea of Aral, and which navigate as far as Kungrat, in accordance with a treaty concluded six years ago by the last Russian embassy sent to Khiva. With Persia and Herat [Footnote 116] the trade is inconsiderable; the reason is that the routes leading thither are occupied by the Turkomans. Between Khiva and Astrabad the intercourse is entirely in the hands of the Yomuts, who bring [{345}] with them every year 100 or 150 camels, loaded with box-wood (to make combs) and naphtha. With Bokhara, on the contrary, more important transactions take place. They export thither gowns and linen, and receive in exchange tea, spices, paper, and light fancy goods, there manufactured. For the home trade they hold every week, in each city, one or two markets; even in parts confined exclusively to nomads, and where houses as such do not exist, a market-place (Bazarli-djay), consisting of one or more mud huts, is constructed. A market in this country assumes the appearance of a fair or festival. The Central Asiatic visits it often from a distance of ten or twenty miles, purchasing perhaps a few needles or other trifles; but his real object is the love of display, for on such occasions he mounts his finest horse and carries his best weapons.
[Footnote 116: In Herat, it is true, and in its environs, the Khiva-Tchapani (coat from Khiva) is much appreciated and bought at a high price, but the article itself reaches them through Bokhara.]
MARKET ON HORSEBACK--AMONGST THE ÖZBEGS.
E. HOW THE KHANAT IS PEOPLED.
Khiva is peopled by 1. Özbegs; 2. Turkomans; 3. Karakalpak; 4. Kasak (called by us Kirghis); 5. Sart; 6. Persians.
1. Özbegs.
This is the designation of a people for the most part inhabiting settled abodes, and occupying themselves with the cultivation of the earth. They extend from the southern point of the sea of Aral as far as Komul (distant a journey of forty days from Kashgar), and are looked upon as the prominent race in the three Khanats. According to their divisions they fall into thirty-two principal Taife (tribes). [Footnote 117]
[Footnote 117: As--1. Kungrat; 2. Kiptchak; 3. Khitai; 4, Manghit; 5. Nöks; 6. Nayman; 7. Kulan; 8. Kiet; 9. Az; 10. Taz; 11. Sayat; 12. Djagatay; 13. Uygur; 14. Akbet 15. Dörmen 16. Öshün; 17. Kandjigaly; 18. Nogai; 19. Balgali; 20. Miten; 21. Djelair; 22. Kenegöz; 23. Kanli; 24. Ichkili; 25. Bagurlü; 26. Altchin; 27. Atchmayli; 28. Karakursak; 29. Birkulak; 36. Tyrkysh; 31. Kettekeser; 32. Ming.]
This division is old, but it is very remarkable that even these particular tribes are scattered almost indiscriminately over the ground above mentioned, and it seems astonishing and, indeed, almost incredible, that Özbegs of Khiva, Khokand, and Yerkend, differing in language, customs, and physiognomy, represent themselves nevertheless as members, not only of one and the same nation, but of the very same tribe or clan.
I will here only remark that in Khiva most of the tribes have representatives, and the Khivite has a legitimate pride in the purity of his ancient Özbeg nationality, as contrasted with that of Bokhara and Kashgar. At the very first sight, however, the Khivan Özbeg betrays the mixture of his blood with the Iran elements, for he has a beard, always to be regarded in the Turanis as a foreign peculiarity, but his complexion and form of countenance indicate very often genuine Tartar origin. Even in the traits of his character, the Khivan Özbeg is preferable to his relatives in the other races. He is honest and open-hearted, has the savage nature of the nomads that surround him without the refined cunning of Oriental civilisation. He ranks next to the pure Osmanli of Turkey, and it may be said of both that something may still be made out of them.
Khiva is less instructed in the doctrine of Islamism than Bokhara, a circumstance that has had much influence in producing the following result: the retention by the Khivan Özbeg not only of many of the national usages of heathenism, but also of the religious observances of the Parsees. A predilection in favour of music and the national poetry of the Turks, more passionately cultivated by the nomads of Central Asia than by any civilised nation, has been here more strictly maintained than in Khokand, Bokhara, and Kashgar. The Khivan players on the Dutar (a guitar with two strings), and Koboz (lute) are in high renown throughout all Turkestan; and not only is Nevai, the greatest of the Özbeg poets, familiar to every one, but no ten years elapse without the appearance of lyrists of the second or third rank. I became acquainted in Khiva with two brothers; one, Munis, wrote excellent poems, of which it is my purpose later to publish several, and the other, Mirab, had the extraordinary patience to translate into the Özbeg-Turkish dialect the great historical work of Mirkhond to render it more accessible to his son, who was nevertheless acquainted with Persian. The work employed him twenty years, but he was ashamed to communicate the fact to any one, for a man who busies himself with any other branch of learning than religion is there regarded as a very superficial person.
Many centuries have elapsed since their first settlement, and yet the Khivan customs still retain the impress of the early heroic age. Mimic battles, wrestling, and particularly horse races, occur frequently. In the latter very brilliant prizes await the winners. Every wedding of distinction is honoured by a race of 9, 19, 29, which means that the winner receives from the giver of the festival, of all or part of his property, 9, 19, 29, for instance 9 sheep, 19 goats. [{348}] and so on; these often yield him a considerable sum. Smaller races of less importance consist of what is styled Kökbüri (green wolf), of which we have already spoken when treating of the Turkomans. There are festivals and sports in Khiva which have been handed down from the primitive inhabitants, who were fire-worshippers; they once existed in other parts of Central Asia before the introduction of Islam, but they are at the present day quite forgotten.
2. Turkomans.
Of these we have already spoken at large. There are in Khiva (a) Yomuts who inhabit the borders of the desert, from Köhne to Gazavat, the district of Karayilghin, Köktcheg, Özbegyap, Bedrkend, and Medemin. (b) Tchaudor, who wander about also in the land around Köhne, namely, near Kizil Takir, and Porsu, but more to the west, in the country between the Aral and Caspian Seas. Of Göklen there are very few.
3. Karahalpak.
These inhabit the further bank of the Oxus, opposite Görlens, far away up close to Kungrat, in the vicinity of extensive forests, where they occupy themselves with the breeding of cattle; they have few horses and hardly any sheep. The Karakalpak pique themselves upon possessing the most beautiful women in Turkestan; but on the other side they are themselves described as being the greatest idiots, and I have heard many anecdotes confirming this assertion. [Footnote 118]
[Footnote 118: Of this nation I have found ten principal tribes--
1. Baymakli.
2. Khandekli.
3. Terstamgali.
4. Atchamayli.
5. Kaytchili Khitai.
6. Ingakli.
7. Kenegöz.
8. Tomboyun.
9. Shakoo.
10. Ontönturûk.]
Their number is computed at 10,000 tents. From time out of mind they have been subject to Khiva. Forty years ago they rebelled under their leader, Aydost, who invaded Kungrat, but were, at a later date, defeated by Mehemmed Rehim Khan. Eight years have hardly elapsed since they rose again under their chief, Zarlig, who is said to have had under him 20,000 horsemen, and to have committed great devastations until they were utterly routed and dispersed by Kutlug Murad. Their last insurrection took place three years ago, under Er Nazar, who built himself a stronghold, but was nevertheless overcome.
4. Kasak (Kirghis) .
Of these, very few remain subject to Khiva, they having, in recent times, for the most part fallen under the dominion of Russia, We shall speak more fully of this great nomadic nation of Central Asia when we come to treat of Bokhara.
5. Sart.
These are called Tadjik in Bokhara and Khokand, and are the ancient Persian population of Kharezm. Their number here is small. They have, by degrees, exchanged their Persian language for the Turkish. The Sart is distinguishable, not less than the Tadjik, by his crafty, subtle manners. He is no great favourite with the Özbeg, and in spite of the Sart and Özbeg having lived five centuries together, very few mixed marriages have taken place between them.
6. Persians.
These are either slaves, of whom there are about 40,000, or freed men, besides a small colony in Akderbend and Djamli. In other respects, as far as material existence is concerned, the slave in Khiva is not badly off. Craftier than the plain straightforward Özbeg, he soon enriches himself, and many prefer, after having purchased their freedom, to settle in the country rather than return to Persia. The slave is styled in Khiva, Dogma, and his offspring, Khanezad (house-born). The blemish of the captivity to which he has been subjected is only effaced in the third generation.
F. MATERIALS FOR A HISTORY OF KHIVA IN THE 19TH CENTURY.
1. Mehemmed Emin Inag.
On the sudden retreat of Nadir Shah, [Footnote 119] who had, without a blow, rendered himself master of the Khanat, the Kirghis of the small horde (or Üstyurt Kazaghi, or Kasaks of the upper Yurt, as they style themselves) took the lead of affairs in Khiva. They ruled until the end of the last century, at which time an Özbeg chieftain of the tribe of Konrad rose and laid claim to the throne. His name was Mehemmed Emin Inag (1792-1800), by which title he meant to express his descent from the last Özbeg family that had reigned. He succeeded in getting together a small army, and marched against the Kasak Prince. But the latter, who was still in considerable force, defeated his adversary several times, till he finally fled to Bokhara, where he lived some years in retirement. His partisans, [{351}] however, continued the struggle until they gained several advantages; they then despatched a deputation of forty horsemen to inform Mehemmed Emin; whereupon that prince returned and again placed himself at the head of affairs, and this time with better result, for he drove away the Kasaks. Mounting the throne he became the founder of the present reigning family, who were his successors, in an unbroken order of succession, as shown in the accompanying genealogical account.--See next page.
[Footnote 119: After he had, in 1740, conquered Yolbarz (Lion) Shah, and a few months later had retired to Kelat. ]
2. Iltazar Khan (1800-1804).
This prince made war with Bokhara, because the latter supported the sinking power of the Kasaks. Whilst he was occupied in the neighbourhood of Chardjuy, the Yomuts, at the instigation of the Bokhariots, dashed upon Khiva and got possession of the city, and plundered it under the guidance of their chief, Tapishdeli. Iltazar, endeavouring to return with rapidity, was, in his retreat, routed by the Bokhariots, and died in flight in the waters of the Oxus. He was succeeded on the throne by his son,
3. Mehemmed Rehim (1804-1826);
Called also Medrehim. He lost no time in turning his arms against the Yomuts, drove them out of the capital, and made them richly atone for the booty they had taken. Equal success attended him in his dealings with the Karakalpaks. These, led by Ajdost, resisted him at first, but he compelled them to submit. He was not so fortunate in his attack upon Kungrat, where one of his relatives contested the throne with him.
Family Tree
The struggle lasted 17 years. It is remarkable that he continued, during the whole of this time, the siege of the above-named city; and the obstinate defender, laughing at all the efforts of the enemy, called out to him, it is said, one day from the top of the tower: 'Utch ay savun (three months sour milk), Utch a kavun (three months melons), Utch ay kabak (three months pumpkins), Utch a tchabak' (three months fish); meaning thereby that he had food for the four seasons of the year, which he could procure within the precincts of the city; that he had no occasion for bread, and that he could last a long time without being reduced by famine.
To revenge the death of his father, Medrehim marched against Bokhara, where, at that time, Emir Seid, a weak-minded prince who assumed the Dervish character, held the reins of government. The Khivites devastated many cities up to the very gates of Bokhara, making numerous prisoners. The Emir was informed, and he exclaimed, 'Akhir Righistan amandur!' which means that he had still a place of security, Righistan, [Footnote 120] and that he had no occasion to fear. After having committed great ravages, Medrehim returned laden with spoil. Towards the close of his reign, he reduced to subjection, at Astrabad, the Tekke and the Yomuts.
[Footnote 120: A place of public resort in the city of Bokhara.]
4. Allah Kuli Khan (1826-1841).
This prince inherited from his father a well-filled Hazne (treasury), as well as powerful influence amongst the neighbouring nations. His anxiety to preserve it involved him in several wars. In Bokhara the feeble Seid had been succeeded by the energetic Nasr Ullah, who, seeking to avenge the disgraceful defeat of his father, began a war in which the Khivan Crown Prince was routed.
At the time the news arrived that the Russians were marching from Orenburg upon Khiva, and that the hostility of the Emir of Bokhara was only owing to the instigations of the unbelievers, the consternation was great, for it was reported that the Muscovite force amounted to more than eighty thousand men, with a hundred cannon; and as they had waited long in the vain hope of receiving help from the 'Inghiliz' in Herat, the Khan despatched, about ten thousand horsemen, led by Khodja Niyazbay, against the Russians, who had already forced their way from the Ughe plain as far as the lake of Atyolu, six miles distant from Kungrat. The Khivites recount that they surprised the enemy, and that such a slaughter ensued as is seldom heard of. Many were made prisoners; and in Kungrat two Russians were pointed out to me who had remained behind from that campaign as prisoners, had afterwards become public converts to Islamism, and had in consequence been set free by the Khan, who had loaded them with presents: they had even contracted marriages there. [Footnote 121]
[Footnote 121: The above is the version of the affair according to the Khivites themselves. It is, however, well known that the expedition that marched against Khiva, under the command of General Perowszky, consisted of only from ten to twelve thousand men. The principal cause of the Russian disaster was unquestionably the severe cold; still a battle did actually take place, and the Özbegs, to whom Captain Abbot ascribes so much cowardice, did inflict considerable injury upon the corps of occupation after it had fallen into disorder.]
After the victory, the Khan had raised entrenchments in the neighbourhood of Dövkara, on both sides. The garrisons of these were placed under the control of Khodja Niyazbay. These, however, have been abandoned, and have remained in ruins for the last ten years. To return thanks to God for the happy termination of the war with the Russians, Allahkuli founded a Medresse (college), which he richly endowed.
On the other side the war with Bokhara continued; the Göklens were also subdued, and a great number of them sent to colonise Khiva. It is an old but singular custom in this country that a whole tribe is taken altogether and forced to submit to a transportation which transfers them to Khiva itself; there they receive every possible succour, and as their own feelings of animosity continue to exist, there is no difficulty in maintaining over them a close surveillance.
5. Rehim Kuli Khan(1841-1843).
This prince succeeded to his father, and immediately found that he had enough to do with the Djemshidi, a Persian tribe inhabiting the eastern bank of the Murgab, of whom the Khivites had taken 10,000 tents with their chiefs, and had settled there as a colony on the bank of the Oxus, near Kilidjbay. On the other side the Sarik, at that time masters of Merv, began hostilities with the Özbegs. The younger brother of the Khan, Medemin Inag, was sent against them with 15,000 horsemen; but on the dreadful journey between Khiva and Merv, many [{356}] soldiers fell sick. As the Emir of Bokhara was at the same time besieging the city of Hezaresp, the Inag turned his arms quickly against the latter, defeated him, and then concluded a peace. About this time died Rehim Kuli Khan, and
6. Mehemmed Emin Khan (1843-1855)
seized the reins of government, to which not perhaps the law of inheritance (for the deceased Khan left sons), but his former services, gave him a good claim. Mehemmed Emin Khan is regarded as the most glorious monarch that Khiva can boast in modern times; for he restored to the kingdom of Kharezm, wherever possible, its ancient limits which it had lost 400 years before; and at the same time, by the subjection of all the nomads in the surrounding country, he raised the reputation of the Khanat, and considerably increased its revenues.
Two days had not elapsed after his having been raised to the White Felt [Footnote 122]--a proceeding tantamount in Khiva and Khokand to accession to the throne--when he marched in person against the Sarik, the bravest of all the Turkoman tribes; for he longed to bring under his sceptre the fruitful plain of Merv. After six campaigns he succeeded in capturing the citadel of Merv as well as another fortress called Yolöten, in the same vicinity. Scarcely had he got back to Khiva, when the Sarik again rose in rebellion, and put to the sword the officer left in command at Merv with the whole garrison. A new campaign was commenced with great rapidity, in which the Djemshidi, old [{357}] enemies of the Sarik, also took part, and, led on by their chief Mir Mehemmed, were conquerors, and, to the chagrin and vexation of all the Özbeg heroes, made their triumphal entry into Khiva.
[Footnote 122: The enacting of this ceremonial, I was told, has been ever since the time of Genghis Khan, and still is, the exclusive privilege of the grey-beards of the tribe of Djagatay.]
The Sarik was consequently reduced to subjection: nevertheless the Tekke, who at that time dwelt in Karayap and Kabukli, between Merv and Akhal, evincing feelings of hostility by refusing the payment of their yearly tribute, Medemin saw himself forced again to use a sword, still reeking with Turkoman blood, against another of these tribes. After three campaigns, during which many men and animals perished in the sandy desert, the Khan succeeded in overpowering a part of the insurgents, and left a garrison composed of Yomuts and Özbegs, under their two leaders, to keep them in check. By mishap differences broke out between the chieftains; the leader of the Yomuts returned to Khiva, and was there hurled down by order of the offended Khan from the top of a lofty tower.
This act made all the Yomuts enemies of Mehemmed Emin; allying themselves secretly with the Tekke, they were, a little later, the cause of his death. At this time Medemin had collected a force of 40,000 horsemen, consisting of Özbegs and other tributary nomads; of these he despatched a part against the Russians, who were then approaching Khiva, and marching from the eastern shore of the Sea of Aral upon the entrenchments of Khodja Niyazbay. He proceeded with the rest of his forces to Merv, with the intention of putting an end by a decisive blow to the never-ceasing disorders amongst the Turkomans. He speedily took Karayap, and was preparing to assail Sarakhs [{358}] (the ancient Syrinx), when one day, whilst resting in his tent, pitched on a hill in the vicinity of Merv, [Footnote 123 ] in the very centre of his camp, he was surprised by some daring hostile horsemen, and in spite of his cry, 'Men Hazret em' (I am the Khan), his head was struck off, without any of his retinue having had time to hasten to his rescue. At the sight of the severed head, which the Turkomans sent as a present to the Shah of Persia, [Footnote 124] a panic seized his troops, who retired nevertheless in good order, and whilst on their way called to the throne Abdullah Khan.
[Footnote 123: With respect to this hill we are told that it was here also that Ebu Muslim, the mighty vassal and afterwards enemy of the Kahlifs of Bagdad, met with his death.]
[Footnote 124: The Shah, who had reason to dread Medemin--for after the fall of Sarakhs, he would certainly have assailed Meshed--respected the gory head of his enemy, and had a small chapel built for it before the gate (D. Dowlet). But he afterwards had it demolished because it was said that pious Shiites might mistake it for the tomb of an Imamzade, a holy Shiite, and it might so give occasion to a sinful act.]
7. Abdullah Khan (1855-6).
Scarcely had this prince reached the alarmed capital when differences arose respecting the right to the throne, and Seid Mahmoud Töre, a claimant who had some preferable right from seniority, drew his sword in the presence of all the Mollahs and great personages, and avowed his intention to make good his claim by immediately striking the Khan dead. He was first pacified and afterwards placed in confinement. The Yomuts on their side had gained over two princes with the intent to place them on the throne; but their intrigue was discovered whilst it was yet time; the [{359}] unfortunate princes were strangled; and as for the Yomuts, their criminality being plain to all, it was determined to punish them. The Khan advanced against them at the head of a few thousand horsemen but the Yomuts protesting their innocence, and their grey-beards, with naked swords suspended from their necks (symbolising their submission), coming bare-footed to meet him, they were this time forgiven. Two months later, the tribe again beginning to show hostile sentiments, the Khan became incensed, assembled in great haste 2,000 horsemen, and attacked the Yomuts who were in open rebellion. The affair terminated unfortunately. The Özbegs were put to flight; and when a search was made for the Khan, it was found that he was amongst the first that had fallen, and that his body had been thrown with the others, without distinction of person, into a common grave. They named, as his successor, his younger brother,
8. Kutlug Murad Khan (reigned three months only).
He had fought at the side of the late Khan, and was returning covered with wounds. He soon armed afresh to continue the struggle that had cost his brother his life, when the chiefs of the Yomuts made overtures of peace, with the promise that they would appear in Khiva to do homage, and bring with them the cousin of the Khan, who had fallen into their hands in the last engagement, and whom they had proclaimed Khan.
Kutlug Murad and his ministers put faith in these professions. The day was fixed for their appearance, when they appeared accordingly, but with a force of 12,000 men, and bringing with them their best horses and arms of parade. On the morning of the presentation, the Khan received his cousin, and the latter, whilst in the act of embracing him, treacherously stabbed the sovereign with his poniard. The Khan fell to the ground, and the Turkomans rushed upon the royal servants who were present. During the consternation that prevailed, the Mehter ascended the wall of the citadel, and, announcing from the battlements the atrocious crime, called upon the Khivites to put to death all the Yomuts within the walls of the city. The incensed populace attacked the Turkomans, who, paralysed by fear, offered no resistance. They fell, not only by the weapons of Khivites, but even by the knives of the women. The streets of Khiva ran literally with blood, and it took six days' labour to dispose of the dead bodies.
For a period of eight days after this butchery Khiva remained without a sovereign. The crown was tendered to the formerly capable Seid Mahmoud Töre; but his passionate fondness for the indulgence of the intoxicating opium was an obstacle, and he abdicated his rights in favour of his younger brother,
9. Seid Mehemmed Khan (1856--still reigning).
The incapacity of this prince is well known, and the reader has seen many instances of it. During this reign Khiva has been much devastated by the civil war with the Yomuts, and colonies founded by the previous Khans have been ruined and unpeopled. Whilst Yomuts and Özbegs were thus destroying one [{361}] another, and hurrying off mutually their women and children to slavery, the Djemshidi making their way in, according to the proverb, 'Inter duos litigantes tertius est gaudens,' and assailing the unarmed population, plundered the whole of Khiva, from Kitsdj baj to Fitnek, and richly laden with spoil, and accompanied by 2,000 Persian slaves, who had freed themselves in the confusion, returned to the banks of the Murgab.
Poverty, cholera, pestilence, and depopulation led necessarily to a peace; then a pretender to the throne, supported by Russian influence, named Mehemmed Penah, unfurled the banner of revolution, and despatched an embassy by Manghishlak to Astrakhan to implore the protection of the Russian Padishah. The intrigue took wind, and the envoys were put to death on their way. Later, however, when the Russian Imperials (gold pieces) had been expended, Mehemmed Penah was murdered by his own partisans, and the ringleaders were formed into parcels (that is to say, they had their hands bound to their body with wetted leather), and were so forwarded to Khiva, where a cruel end awaited them.
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE CITY OF BOKHARA.
| CITY OF BOKHARA, ITS GATES, QUARTERS, MOSQUES, COLLEGES |
| ONE FOUNDED BY CZARINA CATHERINE |
| FOUNDED AS SEMINARIES NOT OF LEARNING BUT FANATICISM |
| BAZAARS |
| POLICE SYSTEM SEVERER THAN ELSEWHERE IN ASIA |
| THE KHANAT OF BOKHARA |
| INHABITANTS: ÖZBEGS, TADJIKS, KIRGHIS, ARABS, MERVI, PERSIANS, HINDOOS, JEWS |
| GOVERNMENT |
| DIFFERENT OFFICIALS |
| POLITICAL DIVISIONS |
| ARMY |
| SUMMARY OF THE HISTORY OF BOKHARA. |
. . . regnata Cyro
Bactra . . . Tanaisque discors. Horace, Ode iii. 29, 27-8.
The circumference of Bokhara, represented to me as a day's journey, I found actually not more than four miles. The environs, though tolerably well cultivated, are in this respect far inferior to the country around Khiva.
Bokhara has eleven gates, [Footnote 125] and is divided into two principal parts, Deruni Shehr (inner city), and Beruni Shehr (outer city); and into several quarters, the chief of which are Mahallei Djuybar, Khiaban, Mïrekan, Malkushan, Sabungiran. Although we have given [{363}] the reader, in a preceding chapter, some idea of the great buildings and public places, we will here condense in a short account our particular observations.
[Footnote 125: Dervaze Imam, D. Mezar, D. Samarcand, D. Oglau, D. Talpatch, D. Shirgiran, D. Karaköl, D. Sheikh Djelal, D. Namazgiah, D. Salakhane, D. Karshi.]
Mosques.
The Bokhariot pretends that his native city possesses 365 mosques, counting the small as well as the large ones, so that the pious Musselman may find a different one to attend each day in the year. I have not been able to discover more than the half of that number. The following are the only ones that deserve mention:--
1. Mesdjidi Kelan, built by Timour, but restored by Abdullah Khan, which is thronged on Fridays, as the Emir then says his prayers there.
2. Mesdjidi Divanbeghi, built, with the reservoir and Medresse bearing the same name, by a certain Nezr, 1029 (1629), who was Divanbeghi (state secretary) of the Emir Imankuli Khan.
3. Mirekan.
4. Mesdjidi Mogak. This is a subterranean building, in which, according to one tradition, the primitive Musselmans, according to another, the last Fire-worshippers, held their meetings. The former version seems more probable; for, first, the Guebres could have found more suitable spots outside of the city, in the open air; and secondly, many Kufish inscriptions there point to an Islamite origin.
Medresse (Colleges).
The Bokhariot prides himself upon the number of these colleges, and fixes them at his favourite figure, 365. There are, however, not more than 80. The most celebrated are the following:--
1. The Medresse Kökeltash, built in 1426; it has 150 cells, each of which costs from 100 to 120 Tilla. [Footnote 126] The students in the first class receive an annual sum of five Tillas.
[Footnote 126: On the first foundation of a Medresse, the cells are given as presents, but the subsequent proprietors can only obtain them upon the payment of a fixed price.]
2. M. Mirarab was erected in 1529, and has 100 cells, each of which costs from 80 to 90 Tilla, and pays interest 7 per cent.
3. Koshmedresse (pair of colleges) of Abdullah Khan, built in 1372. It has about 100 cells, but not so valuable as the preceding ones.
4. M. Djuybar was erected in 1582, by a grandson of the great scholar and ascetic of the same name. It is most richly endowed; each cell pays 25 Tilla, but it is not very full, being at the extreme end of the city.
5. M. Tursindjan, where each cell yields five Tilla yearly.
6. M. Emazar, founded by the Czarina Catherine, through her ambassador. It has 60 cells, each paying three Tilla.
We may remark, generally, that the colleges of Bokhara and Samarcand are the cause why so high an idea not only prevailed throughout Islam, but existed for a long time even amongst Europeans, as to the learning of the superior schools in Central Asia. The readiness to make the sacrifice which the foundation of such establishments supposes, may by a superficial observer be easily mistaken and ascribed to a higher motive. [{365}] Unhappily, merely blind fanaticism lies at the root; and the same thing occurs here as took place during the middle ages, for, with the exception of what is given in a few books upon Mantik (logic) and Hikmet (philosophy), there is no instruction at all but in the Koran, and religious casuistry. Now and then, perhaps, one may be found who would like to busy himself with poetry and history, but his studies must be in secret, as it is regarded as a disgrace to devote oneself to any such frivolous subjects. The aggregate number of students has been represented to me as about 5,000; they flock thither, not merely out of all parts of Central Asia, but also from India, Kashmir, Afghanistan, Russia, and China. The poorer receive an annual pension from the Emir, for it is by means of these Medresse, and its severe observance of Islamism, that Bokhara is able to exercise a spiritual influence upon neighbouring countries.
Bazaars.
There are none here like those in the chief cities of Persia. Very few are vaulted or built of stone; the larger ones are covered over either with wood or reed mattings laid across long perches. [Footnote 127]
[Footnote 127: They are separated into different parts, as Tirm Abdullah Khan, the above-mentioned prince, had them built according to Persian models on his return from Persia in 1582. Restei Suzenghiran, haberdashers; R. Saraffan, where the money-changers and booksellers station themselves; R. Zergheran, workers in gold; R. Tchilingheran, locksmiths; R. Attari, dealers in spices; R. Kannadi, confectioners; R. Tchayfurnshi, tea-dealers; R. Tchitfuroshi, dealers in chintz; Bazari Latta, linendrapers; Timche darayfurushi, grocers; and so on.]
Each bazaar has its particular Aksakal, responsible to the Emir for order, as well as for taxes. In addition to the bazaars there are, perhaps, altogether about thirty small karavanserais, used partly as warehouses, and partly for the reception of strangers.
Police.
The system of police in Bokhara is more severe than in any other city of known parts of Asia. By day the Reis himself perambulates the bazaars and public places, and he sends out his numerous dependents and spies; and about two hours after sunset no one dares to show himself in the streets, neighbour cannot visit neighbour, and the sick man runs the risk of perishing for want of medical aid, for the Emir has declared that the Mirshebs (night-watchers) may even arrest himself should they meet him abroad during the forbidden hours.
THE KHANAT OF BOKHARA.
Inhabitants.
The actual frontiers of the Khanat are: on the east, the Khanat of Khokand, and the mountains of Bedakhshan; on the south, the Oxus, with the districts on the further side, Kerki and Chardjuy; on the west and north, the Great Desert. The positive line of demarcation cannot be defined, and it is equally impossible to fix the number of inhabitants. Without going too far, they may, perhaps, be set down at two millions and a half, consisting generally [{367}] of those having fixed habitations and those leading a nomad life, or, if we take the principle of nationality, of Özbegs, Tadjiks, Kirghis, Arabs, Mervi, Persians, Hindoos, and Jews.
Özbegs.
The Özbegs, part of the thirty-two tribes, are already particularised in our account of Khiva, but they are sensibly distinguishable from the kindred race in Kharezm, both by the conformation of the face and by the character. The Özbeg Bokhariots have dwelt in closer connection with the Tadjiks than the Khivites have done with the Sarts, and have consequently paid the penalty by losing much of their national type, and of their Özbeg straightforwardness and honesty. As the dominant population in the Khanat (for the Emir himself is also an Özbeg of the tribe Manghit), the Özbegs form the nerve of the army, but the superior officers are rarely taken out of their ranks.
Tadjiks.
The Tadjiks, the aboriginal inhabitants of all the cities of Central Asia, are represented still in the greatest number here; hence Bokhara is the only place where the Tadjik can point to his origin with pride, assigning as he does, for frontiers to his primitive fatherland, Khorasan, [Footnote 128] Khoten (in China) to the east, the Caspian to the west, Khodjend to the north, and India to the south. It is a pity that this people, in spite of the high antiquity of their origin, and their [{368}] grandeur in time gone by, should have attained the very highest stage of vice and profligacy: if they are to be taken as a specimen of antique Asia, the cradle of our race, it must, indeed, have presented in those early ages a sorry appearance.
[Footnote 128: Khor means 'sun,' and son 'district;' hence the whole word signifies 'district of the sun.']
Kirghis.
Kirghis [Footnote 129] or Kasaks, as they style themselves, are not numerous in the Khanat of Bokhara, but we will, nevertheless, record here a few notes which we have made respecting this people, numerically the greatest, and by the peculiarity of its nomad life the most original, in Central Asia.
[Footnote 129: Kir means field, gis or gez is the root of the word gizmelt (wander). The word Kirghiz signifies, in Turkish, a man that wanders about the fields, a nomad, and is used to denote all nations leading the pastoral life. It is also employed to designate a tribe; but they are only a subdivision of the Kazaks, to be met with in Khokand in the vicinity of Hazneti in Turkestan.]
I have often, in my wanderings, fallen upon particular encampments of Kirghis, and whenever I wished to acquire information as to their number, they laughed at me, and said, 'Count first the sand in the desert, and then you may number the Kirghis.' There is the same impossibility in defining their frontiers. We know only that they inhabit the Great Desert that lies between Siberia, China, Turkestan, and the Caspian Sea; and such localities to move in, as well as their social condition, suffice to show how likely we are to err when we at one time ascribe Kirghis to the Russian dominions, and at another transfer them to the Chinese. Russia, China, Khokand, [{369}] Bokhara, and Khiva, exercise dominion over the Kirghis only so long as the taxing officers, whom they send, sojourn amongst those nomads. The Kirghis regard the whole procedure as a razzia on a gigantic scale, and they are grateful to find that those who commit it are content to receive merely a percentage or some tax that is tantamount. The revolutions that have taken place in the world for hundreds, nay, perhaps thousands of years, have wrought very little influence upon the Kirghis; it is, therefore, in this nation, which we can never behold as one mass, but in small sections, that we especially see the most faithful picture of those customs and usages which characterise the Turani races of ancient times, and which constitute so extraordinary a mingling of savage qualities and of virtues.
We are surprised to perceive in them so great a disposition to music and poetry; but their aristocratical pride is particularly remarkable. When two Kirghis meet, the first question is, 'Who are thy seven fathers--ancestors?' [Footnote 130] The person addressed, even if a child in his eighth year, has always his answer ready, for otherwise he would be considered as very ill-bred.
[Footnote 130: 'Yeti atang kimdir.']
In bravery the Kirghis is inferior to the Özbeg, and still more so to the Turkoman. Islamism, with the former, is on a far weaker footing than with the others I have mentioned. Nor are any of them, except the wealthy Bays, accustomed to search the cities for Mollahs to exercise the functions of teachers, chaplains, and secretaries at a fixed salary, payable in sheep, horses, and camels.
The Kirghis, even after frequent contact, must still, in the eyes of us Europeans, appear wonderful beings. We behold in them men who, whether the heat is scorching or the snow a fathom deep, move about for hours daily in search of a new spot for their purpose: men who have never heard bread even named, and who support themselves only upon milk and meat. The Kirghis look upon those who have settled down in town or country as sick or insane persons, and they compassionate all whose faces have not the pure Mongol conformation. According to their aesthetic views, that race stands at the very zenith for beauty; for God made it with bones prominent like those of the horse--an animal, in their eyes, the crowning work of creation.
3. Arabs.
These Arabs are the descendants of those warriors who, under Kuteïbe, in the time of the third Khalif, took part in the conquest of Turkestan, where they subsequently settled. They retain, however, with the exception of their physiognomy, very little resemblance to their brethren in Hedjaz or Arak. I found very few of them who even spoke Arabic. Their number is said to be 60,000, and they are mostly settled in the environs of Vardanzi and Vafkend.
4. Mervi.
The Mervi are the descendants of the 40,000 Persians transplanted from Merv to Bokhara by the Emir Said Khan, when about the year 1810 he took that city by aid of the Sarik. The race sprang originally from the Turks of Azerbaydjan and Karabag, whom Nadir Shah transferred from their ancient homes to Merv. Next to the Tadjiks, the Mervi is the most cunning amongst the inhabitants of Bokhara, but he is far from being so cowardly as the former.
5. Persians.
The Persians in Bokhara are partly slaves, partly such as have paid their own ransom and then settled in the Khanat. Here, in spite of all religious oppression--for as Shiites they can only practise their religion in secret--they readily apply themselves to trade and handicraft, because living is here cheaper and the gain easier than in their own country. The Persian, so far superior in capacity to the inhabitants of Central Asia, is wont to elevate himself from the position of slave to the highest offices in the state. There are hardly any governors in the province who do not employ in some office or other Persians, who were previously his slaves, and who have remained faithful to him. They swarm even in the immediate proximity of the present Emir, and the first dignitaries in the Khanat belong to the same nation. In Bokhara, the Persians are looked upon as men more disposed to intercourse with the Frenghis; men who have knowledge of diabolical arts: but the Emir would bitterly rue it if Persia threatened him with invasion, which it had already thought of; for with his army in its present state, he could do but little; the chief commanders, Shahrukh Khan, Mehemmed Hasan Khan, also are Persians; and their Toptchibashi, chiefs of artillery, Zeinel Bey, Mehdi Bey, and Lesker Bey, belong to the same nation.
6. Hindoos.
Of Hindoos there are but 500. They form no families, and, scattered throughout the capital and provinces, they have in some wonderful manner got all the management of money into their hands, there being no market, not even a village, where the Hindoo is not ready to act as usurer. Bowing with the deepest submissiveness, like the Armenian in Turkey, he nevertheless all the time fleeces the Özbeg in fearful fashion; and as the pious Kadi for the most part carries on business in common with the worshipper of Vishnoo, it is rarely that the victim escapes.
7. Jews.
The Jews in the Khanat are about 10,000 in number, dwelling for the most part in Bokhara, Samarcand, and Karshi, and occupying themselves rather with handicrafts than with commerce. In their origin they are Jews from Persia, and have wandered hither from Kazvin and Merv, about 150 years ago. They live here under the greatest oppression, and exposed to the greatest contempt. They only dare to show themselves on the threshold when they pay a visit to a 'believer;' and again, when they receive visitors, they are bound in all haste to quit their own houses, and station themselves before their doors. In the city of Bokhara they yield yearly 2,000 Tilla Djizie (tribute), which the chief of their whole community pays in, receiving, as he does so, two slight blows on the cheek, prescribed by the Koran as a sign of submission. The rumour of the privileges accorded to [{373}] the Jews in Turkey has attracted some to Damascus, and other places in Syria; but this emigration can only occur secretly, otherwise they would have to atone for the very wish by confiscation or death. It is surprising what a letter correspondence is maintained by them through the Hadjis proceeding every year from Turkestan to Mecca. My companions also had charge of many letters, which they everywhere delivered at the addresses indicated.
Government.
The form of government in Bokhara has retained very few of the primitive Persian or Arabian characteristics, the Turco-Mongolian element predominating, and giving its tone to the whole. Although powerfully influenced by its hierarchy, the constitution is a military despotism. At its head stands the Emir, as generalissimo, prince, and chief of religion.
The military and civil dignitaries are divided into (a) Kette Sipahi (higher functionaries), (b) Orta Sipahi (middle functionaries), and (c) Ashaghi Sipahi. To the first two classes it is the rule to admit only Urukdar (personages of good family), for they are nominated on account of Yerlik (handwriting), or Billig (insignia). [Footnote 131] A practice, however, of appointing emancipated Persian slaves is of old date.
[Footnote 131: Yerlik and Billig are old Turkish words, the former signifying 'writing'--the root is yer, Hungarian ir, Turkish yaz; the latter meaning 'mark,' in Hungarian bélyeg.]
The following list or sketch furnishes a view of the different functionaries, from the Emir downwards:--
| a. | Kette Sipahi |
| 1. Atalik. | |
| 2. Divanbeghi (Secretary of State). | |
| 3. Pervanedji, the 'butterfly man,' as he is termed at Court, becausehe is sent about by the Emir in different directions, on importanterrands. | |
| b. | Orta Sipahi |
| 4. Tokhsabay, properly Tughsahibi (one who has as a banner a Tugh or horse's tail). | |
| 5. Inag. | |
| 6. Miakhor (Constable). | |
| c. | Ashaghi Sipahi |
| 7. Choragasi, properly Chehre agasi (the 'face-man'), so called because at the audience he stands facing the Emir. | |
| 8. Mirzabasbi (Principal Writer). | |
| 9. Yasaulbeghi and Kargaulbeghi. | |
| 10. Yüzbashi. | |
| 11. Pendjabashi. | |
| 12. Onbashi. |
Besides these, we have still to mention the officers about the Emir's person and court. At their head stands the Kushbeghi, or Vizir, the Mehter, Desturkhandji (steward), and Zekiatchi (receiver of the customs). The latter, in his quality of finance minister, is also chief master of the Emir's household. Next come the Mehrem (chamberlains), whose number varies with circumstances. These are sent, upon extraordinary occasions, as commissioners into the provinces. Every subject, if not content with the decision of the Governor as to his right, can appeal to the Emir, whereupon a Mehrem is assigned to him, as attorney, who travels back with him to his province, examines the affair, and lays it before the Emir for his final decision. There are, besides, Odadji (door-keepers), Bakaul (provision-masters), and Selamagasi, [{375}] who on public processions return, instead of the Emir, the salutation 'Ve Aleïkum es selam.' These functions and offices exist only nominally under the present Emir, whose aversion to all display or pomp has made him leave many vacant.
The Political Division of the Khanat.
The political division of the Khanat, like that of Khiva, is based upon the number of its large cities, and Bokhara consists at present of the following districts, which we here prefer to classify according to their size and population:--1. Karaköl; 2. Bokhara; 3. Karshi; 4. Samarcand; 5. Kerki; 6. Hissar; 7. Miyankal, or Kermineh; 8. Kette Kurgan; 9. Chardjuy; 10. Djizzak; 11. Oratepe; 12. Shehri Sebz. The latter equals Samarcand in size, but, owing to its continual struggles with the Emir, cannot be considered as wholly subject to the Khanat.
Governors of the rank of Divanbeghi, or Pervanedjis, have allowed to them a fixed share in the revenue of the province under their administration, but in extraordinary emergencies they are obliged to forego the claim. Under the direct orders of each Governor there is a Tokhsaboy, a Mirzabashi, a Yasaulbeghi, and several Mirakhor and Chohragasi.
Army.
The standing army of the Khanat is stated to consist of 40,000 horsemen, but can be raised to 60,000. Of these troops Bokhara and Karshi are said to supply the greater proportion; the former are especially renowned for their bravery. Such is the account of their numbers current in Bokhara, but I have found it exaggerated; because the Emir, in his campaign against Khokand, where his army never exceeded 30,000 men, was forced to maintain an auxiliary force at a heavy expense--an expense which the stingy Mozaffar-ed-din never would have incurred, if the foregoing computation had been correct. The pay, only made in time of war, consists of 20 Tenghe (about 11s. 2d.) monthly, with which the horseman has to keep himself and horse. In addition to this, half the booty made belongs to the soldiery.
It is really singular that, with the great population subject to him, the prince sets no greater native force on foot; singular, also, that he takes no auxiliaries from the 50,000 Ersari who are tributary to him, but prefers applying to the Tekke, or even taking Sariks into his service, at a yearly expense of 4,000 Tilla.
Short Outline of the History of Bokhara.
Efrasiab, the great Turani warrior, and one of the greatest heroes of ancient Iran, is regarded as the founder of Bokhara. Extravagant fables form the basis of its earlier history. Of the accounts which they embody, we only accept the following fact, that the incursions of the Turkish hordes were from the oldest times the terror of those districts whose Persian population had separated themselves from their brethren in Iran so early as the epoch of the Pishdadian. The first thread of real history, properly so called, only begins at the epoch of the occupation by [{377}] the Arabs; and we can only regret that these daring adventurers have not transmitted to us more notices than those which we find scattered in the pages of Tarikhi Taberi and some other Arabian authorities. Islam did not so easily as in other countries strike its roots in Mavera-ül Nehr (the land between the Oxus and the Jaxartes), and the Arabs found, on their return to the different cities after an absence of any duration, that the work of proselytism had ever to be begun afresh. Up to the time of its conquest by Djenghis Khan (1225), Bokhara and Samarcand, as well as the city, at that time considerable, of Merv (Mervi Shah Djihan or Merv, 'king of the world'), Karshi (Nakhsheb), and Belkh (Um-ül Bilad, 'mother of cities'), were regarded as belonging to Persia, although the government of Khorasan, as it was then called, was the subject of an extraordinary firman of investiture from Bagdad. On the invasion of the Mongols, the Persian element was entirely supplanted, the Özbegs everywhere seized the reins of government, and Timour, the lame conqueror from Shehri Sebz (green city), was satisfied with nothing less than making Samarcand the capital of all Asia. The design perished with him, and the special history, properly so called, of Bokhara begins with the house of the Sheïbani, whose founder, Ebulkheir Khan, broke the power of the descendants of Timour in their hereditary dominions. A grandson of the last Sheïbani Mehemmed Khan enlarged the limits of Bokhara from Khodjend to Herat; and when he ventured to attack Meshed also, he was defeated by Shah Ismael, and perished in 916 (1510), in the battle. One of the ablest amongst his successors was Abdullah Khan (born 1544). [{378}] He conquered Bedakhshan, Herat, and Meshed afresh, and, from his efforts in favour of civilisation and commerce, deserves to be placed at the side of the great sovereign of Persia, Shah Abbas II. In his time the routes of Bokhara were provided with karavanserais and fine bridges, the ways through the deserts with cisterns for water; and the ruins of all his constructions of this description still bear his name. His son, Abdul Mumin Khan, 1004 (1595), was unable to retain long his seat on the throne; he was murdered; and after the invasion of the Kirghis chief Tököl, who laid all the country waste, fell even the last offspring of the house of Sheïbani.
In the long disturbance and civil war that ensued, the candidates who disputed the throne were especially Veli Mehemmed Khan (a remote collateral representative of the Sheïbani), and Baki Mehemmed Khan; and as the latter, 1025 (1616), fell in battle at Samarcand, the former founded his dynasty, which is said to have survived at the time of Ebul Feïz Khan, who, in 1740, was compelled to implore Nadir Shah for peace. In the period that succeeds, the sovereigns who have most distinguished themselves have been Imamkuli Khan, and Nazir Mehemmed Khan. By their liberal support of the Ishan class, they have contributed much to the religious fanaticism that exists in Bokhara, and which has reached there, as well as throughout Turkestan, such a point as was never before attained by Islam in any age or country. Ebul Feïz was treacherously murdered by his own Vizir Rehim Khan, as was also his son after him. Subsequently to the death of the murderer, who had governed under the title of Vizir, but with independent authority, Danial Beg, of the race of the Mangit, seized the reins of government. He was succeeded by the Emirs Shah Murad, Said Khan, and Nasrullah Khan.
As the history of the three last-mentioned sovereigns has been already handled by Malcolm, Burnes, and Khanikoff, and as we can adduce no fresh materials, we leave that period untouched. But we propose in a subsequent chapter to treat of the war waged by Bokhara with Khokand during the last three years.
CHAPTER XIX.
KHANAT OF KHOKAND.
| INHABITANTS |
| DIVISION |
| KHOKAND TASHKEND |
| KHODJEND |
| MERGOLAN |
| ENDIDJAN |
| HAZNETI TURKESTANA |
| OOSH |
| POLITICAL POSITION |
| RECENT WARS. |
Khokand, or Fergana as the ancients style it, is bounded on the east by Chinese Tartary, on the west by Bokhara and the Jaxartes, on the north by the great horde of Nomads, and on the south by Karateghin and Bedakhshan. Its superficial extent we cannot positively affirm; but it is certainly larger than the territory of either Bokhara or Khiva. It is also better peopled than the latter Khanat.
Judging by the number of cities and other circumstances, Khokand, at the present day, may be said to contain more than three millions of inhabitants, consisting of the following races:--
(1) Özbegs form that part of the population having fixed habitations; and, as I remarked when I spoke of Khiva, they have a type quite distinct from the Özbegs either of that Khanat or of Bokhara. As the Özbegs have been for hundreds of years the dominant race in Turkestan, and adopted the institutions of Islam earlier than any other nomad people of these parts, the name itself has become invested with a certain prestige of [{381}] breeding and bon ton, so that the Kirghis, Kiptchak, and Kalmuk, from the moment that they settle in cities, generally abandon their several nationalities, and assume the denomination of Özbegs. In Khokand this has been also long the case, and it may be affirmed, without exaggeration, that half of those who so style themselves are to be regarded merely as a mixture of the nomad races just referred to.
Judging from his outside appearance, as he presents himself in his clumsy loose clothes, the Özbeg of Khokand seems a very helpless person. We had many opportunities of witnessing his unexampled cowardice, and had it not been for the protection of the nomads, his cities would have long fallen under the dominion of China, Russia, or Bokhara.
(2) Next to the Özbegs come the Tadjiks, who, although they may not constitute a more numerous, still form a more compact population here than in the Khanat of Bokhara, and, as is nowhere else the case, people entire villages and towns. Accordingly, the city of Khodjend, the villages Velekendaz and Kisakuz (near Khodjend) are exclusively inhabited by this primitive Persian race, and the important cities of Namengan, [Footnote 132] Endigan, and Mergolan, are said to have belonged to them more than four hundred years ago.
[Footnote 132: These three words respectively signify (1)Nemengan (originally Nemek kohn), salt mine; (2) Endekgan, from Endek, small; and (3) Murghinan, hen and bread. These etymologies I learnt from my friends; perhaps they are not to be received as absolutely correct, but their Persian origin is unquestionable.]
As far as their national character is concerned, the Tadjiks of Khokand are not much better than those of the same race in Bokhara. The sole circumstance I find noticeable is that their language, both in its grammatical forms and its vocabulary, is purer than that of the other Tadjiks. This is particularly the case in Khodjend, the inhabitants of which make use of a dialect that has retained many of the forms of expression observable in the writings of the oldest Persian poet Rudeki, by birth a Bokhariot. In the other cities of Khokand, particularly in those on the Chinese frontiers, Tadjiks are rarely met with.
(3) Kasaks form the majority in the Khanat. They lead a nomad life in the mountainous districts between the lake of Tchaganak and Tashkend, and pay to their prince the same amount of tribute as they do in Khiva to the Khan. Amongst the Kirghis of Khokand some are in affluent circumstances, possessing in Hazreti Turkestan, or in other places, houses, which, however, they do not themselves inhabit. In other respects, in spite of their superiority in number, the Kirghis have, owing to their want of bravery, little influence in the Khanat.
(4) Kirghis--or the Kirghis properly so called, a tribe of the great Kasak horde--live in the southern part of the Khanat between Khokand and Sarik Köl, and from their warlike qualities are always made use of by the different factions to carry out their revolutionary projects. Their tents are said to be fifty thousand in number, consequently they are about as numerous as the Tekke Turkomans.
(5) The Kiptchak are, in my opinion, the primitive original Turkish race. Amongst all the branches of this great family, spread from Komul to as far as the Adriatic Sea, the Kiptchaks have remained most faithful in [{383}] physiognomy and character, language and customs, to their ancestral type. The name, the etymology of which has been clouded with fables by Rashideddin Tabibi, has little interest for the reader. There is said to have been formerly a mighty nation bearing the same designation, and the Kiptchaks of the present day, although counting only from five to six thousand tents, pretend that Deshti Kiptchak, [Footnote 133] as Turkestan is named in the documents of Oriental history, was conquered, and peopled by their ancestors. Notwithstanding their small numbers, the Kiptchaks continue to exercise, even at the present day, the greatest influence upon political affairs in Khokand. They nominate the Khans, and sometimes even dethrone them; and often five hundred of their horsemen have taken possession of a city, without the Khan daring to resist them. I have not been able to detect, in the Turkish that they speak, a single Persian or Arabic word, and their dialect may be regarded as the best point of transition from the Mongolian language to that of the Djagatai. The same remark may be made respecting the type of their physiognomy as of their language; for these stand in a similar relation to those of the other races of Central Asia. In their slanting eyes, beardless chins, and prominent cheekbones, they resemble the Mongols, and are for the most part of small stature, but extraordinary agility. In bravery they stand, as was remarked before, superior to all nations of Central Asia, and form, incontestably, the truest specimen remaining to us of the immense hordes that revolutionised all Asia.
[Footnote 133: Deshti Kiptchak as far as the frontiers of Bolgar (in Russia?) is the denomination most in use.]
With respect to its divisions, the Khanat of Khokand falls into different districts, designated here, too, only by the names of the most remarkable cities. Its capital is Khokand, [Footnote 134] or Kokhandi Latif ('enchanting Khokand'), as it is termed by the natives. It lies in a beautiful valley, and is in circumference six times as large as Khiva, three times as Bokhara, and four times as Teheran. The southern portion of the city, in which the Khan has his palace, was not, until recently, surrounded by a wall. The northern part is open. The number of inhabitants and houses is proportionately small. The latter are surrounded by large orchards, so that one often requires a quarter of an hour to pass by ten or fifteen houses. As for the architecture, the Khokandi is in the habit of admitting the superiority of that of Bokhara; and from this circumstance one may easily form an idea of the architectural beauty of the city. Only four mosques are of stone, as is also a small portion of the extensive bazaar. In this they expose for sale, at low prices, exclusively Russian merchandise, and the native silk and woollen manufactures; besides which tasty articles in leather, saddles, whips, and equipments for riding, made in the capital, enjoy a high repute.
[Footnote 134: The word Khokand is said to be derived from Khob-kend, 'beautiful place' or 'village.']
After Khokand, Tashkend deserves to be mentioned. It is the first commercial town in the Khanat, and, as I heard on all sides, is at present the residence of many affluent merchants, having extensive trading relations with Orenburg and Kizildjar (Petropavlosk). Tashkend, which has the transit trade between Bokhara, Khokand, and Chinese Tartary, is one of the most [{385}] important cities of Central Asia; and at the same time the object towards which Russia is quietly striving, and from which her most advanced frontier (Kalè Rehim) is within a few days' journey. Once in possession of Tashkend, a place important also in a military point of view, Russia would find little difficulty in possessing herself of the Khanats of Bokhara and Khokand, for what might prove difficult for the Russian bayonet would be facilitated by intestine discord, the flames of which the Court of St. Petersburg never ceases to foment between the two Khanats.
After Tashkend the following are the most remarkable places: Khodjend, that has about 3,000 houses, many manufactories for Aladja (a sort of cotton stuff), eighteen Medresse, and twice that number of mosques; Mergolan, a large city, the principal city of Khokandi learning and the present residence of the Khodja Buzurk, chief of the order of the Makhdum Aazam. This dignitary refused his blessing to the present Emir of Bokhara on his triumphant entry into the city, and the latter did not venture, nor was he in fact able in any way to punish him. Endidjan, where the best Atresz (heavy substantial silks) in the Khanat are manufactured; Namengan, about which the Kiptchaks are located. The following also deserve mentioning:--Hazreti Turkestana with the grave there, in high repute, of Khodj Ahmed Jaszavi, the author of a book (Meshreb) [Footnote 135] upon morals and religion, which is even at the present day a favourite work both amongst the nomads and the settlers in Khokand; [{386}] Shehri Menzil and Djust, where the famous knives are manufactured which, after those of Hissar, fetch the highest price in Turkestan; Shehrikhan, a place where the best silk is produced; and Oosh, on the eastern frontier of the Khanat, called Takhti Suleiman, Suleiman's throne, which is visited yearly by a great number of pilgrims; the place of pilgrimage itself consists of a hill in the city of Oosh where, amidst the ruins of an old edifice built of large square stones and ornamented by columns, the visitor is first shown, not only a throne hewn out of marble, but the place where Adam, the first prophet (according to the teachings of Islam), tilled the ground. The latter fable was introduced very apropos, as the inventor wished to accustom the nomads to agriculture through the medium of their religion.
[Footnote 135: I was able to bring back with me to Europe a copy of this very original book written in Turkish, which I hope to publish with a translation.]
Anyhow, Oosh is not without interest to our antiquarians. The ruins themselves, and particularly the columns, as they were described to me, lead to the suspicion of a Grecian origin; and if we were searching for the most eastern colony founded by Alexander, we might readily suppose Oosh to be the very spot where the daring Macedonian marked by some monument the most easterly frontier of his gigantic empire. [Footnote 136]
[Footnote 136: Appian mentions (De Rebus Syriacis, lvii.) many cities founded by the Greeks and by Seleucus, amongst others one [Greek text], of which Pliny (vi. 16) seems to speak when he says: 'Ultra Sogdiana, oppidum Tarada, et in ultimis eorum finibus Alexandria ab Alexandro magno conditum.' That point or its vicinity seems to have marked the extreme limit of progress on that side of all the great conquerors of classical antiquity; for there, says Pliny, were altars placed by Hercules, Bacchus, Cyrus, Semiramis, and Alexander: 'Finis omnium eorum ductus ab illâ parte terrarum, includente flumine Jaxarte, quod Scythae Silin vocant.' And indeed with respect to the city 'Alexandreschata' Arrian (Exped. Alexand. 1. iv. c. i. 3, and c. iv. 10), agrees with Pliny, telling us that this great hero intended it as a barrier against the people on the further bank of the river, and colonised it with Macedonian veterans, Greek mercenaries, and such of the adjacent barbarians as were so disposed. This city was built on the banks of the Jaxartes, and most consider it to be the modern Khodjend. What if Oosh should have been the spot where stood the columns of Alexander (Curtius, vii. 6)? And yet the supposition that Alexander firmly possessed himself of any land beyond the Jaxartes is hardly consistent with the account of Arrian. Curtius (1. vii. 9) describes the remains of the altars of Bacchus as 'monuments consisting of stones arranged at numerous intervals, and eight lofty trees with their stems covered with ivy.']
With respect to the political position of the Khanat of Khokand, its independence dates as far back as that of Bokhara and Khiva. The present reigning family pretends to descend in a direct line from Djenghis Khan, which is very improbable, as his family was dethroned by Timour; and after Baber, the last descendant of Timour in Khokand, the Sheïbani, as well as other chieftains from the races Kiptchak and Kirghis, seized alternately the reins of government. The family at present on the throne, or perhaps, I should rather say, now disputing its claim to it with Bokhara, is of Kiptchak origin, and has only been 80 years at the head of affairs. The institutions in Khokand bear very slight traces of Arabian or Persian elements, and the Yaszao Djenghis (code of Djenghis) is the legal authority which they follow. Here also a singular ceremonial deserves notice. The Khan at his coronation is raised in the air upon a white felt, and shoots arrows to the north, south, east, and west. [Footnote 137]
[Footnote 137: It is singular that this custom exists even in the present day at the coronation of kings in Hungary. The king on the Hill of Coronation, on horseback, and invested with all the insignia of royalty, is required to brandish his sword respectively to the four points of the compass.]
A.
THE WAR BETWEEN BOKHARA AND KHOKAND IN THE TIME OF THE EMIR NASRULLAH.
The animosity between Khokand and Bokhara is of ancient date. After the Sheïbani family began to take the head of affairs in Turkestan, Khokand, with the exception of some cities still held by the Kiptchaks, was incorporated into the Khanat of Bokhara. It tore itself away again afterwards, and during its independence attached itself to its neighbours, Kashgar, Yarkend, and Khoten, then also still independent; but after these latter States had been themselves incorporated by the Emperor of China into his dominions, Khokand, as its enemies to the east seemed too powerful, thought itself bound to recommence its differences with Bokhara, and the war that was going on during our stay in Central Asia was only a continuation of the struggle that Mehemmed Ali, Khan of Khokand, and his rival the Emir Nasrullah, had begun.
Mehemmed Ali Khan is termed by the Khokandi their greatest monarch in recent times. Whilst this prince, by extending the frontiers and by advancing internal prosperity, had on the one hand contributed much to lend a certain splendour to his Khanat, yet on the other he had in the same degree stimulated the envious cupidity of the wicked Emir Nasrullah. [{389}] But what most displeased the latter was that the Khan should have formed a friendly alliance with Khiva, the principal enemy of Bokhara, and should have given a friendly reception to the Emir's own uncle and rival, who had fled to Khokand for safety. Others also assign as an additional cause the hospitality they had shown to Captain Conolly; but in any case abundant ground of dissension existed, and a rupture was regarded as inevitable.
In 1839, Mehemmed Ali, having defeated the Russians at Shehidan, [Footnote 138] considered a contest with the Emir as near at hand; and, himself preferring to be the assailant, marched towards the frontiers of Bokhara in the vicinity of Oratepe, and was already threatening Djizzak and Samarcand, when the Emir, after vainly trying intrigues, marched against him with a superior force of Özbeg horsemen and 300 of the newly-formed militia (Serbaz), under the conduct of their chief and organiser Abdul-Samed Khan. Upon this Mehemmed Ali held it prudent to retreat. Nasrullah laid siege to Oratepe, which, after three months, he took; but his treatment of the inhabitants made them his bitterest enemies: and scarcely had he returned to Bokhara, when, having a secret understanding with Mehemmed Ali, they fell upon the Bokhariot garrison and massacred all, soldiers as well as officers.
[Footnote 138: According to the account of this affair given by the Khokandi, a strong detachment of Cossacks, after having gone round Hazreti Turkestan from the right bank of the Jaxartes, had advanced towards Tashkend, and on their march were surprised and dispersed by the Khokandi with great loss.]
As soon as the intelligence of this event was conveyed to Nasrullah, he in the greatest haste, and in still greater anger, called together all his forces and marched against Oratepe. Mehemmed Ali again retreated, and was accompanied by a great part of the inhabitants who feared the incensed Emir; but this time escape was impossible: his enemy followed him step by step until he could retreat no further. In the battle which then took place at Khodjend, he was defeated, and the city became the prize of the conqueror. The Khan again retreated, but, finding himself still pursued and even his capital menaced, he sent a flag of truce to his victorious enemy. A peace was concluded at Kohne Badem, by which Mehemmed Ali bound himself to cede Khodjend with many other places. That such conditions were little calculated to lead to a sincere reconciliation is easily intelligible. The malicious Emir, intending still further to offend his vanquished enemy, named as governor of the conquered province the brother and rival of Mehemmed Ali, who had previously fled to Bokhara. But nevertheless he was here wrong in his calculation. The mother of the two Khokandi princes reconciled them, and before the Emir had got wind of what had occurred, Khodjend and the other cities united themselves again with Khokand, and he had now to measure himself with two enemies instead of one.
The fury of the Bokhariot tyrant knew no bounds, nor is it difficult to understand that his thirst for revenge would prompt him to make extraordinary armaments. In addition to his ordinary army, consisting of 30,000 horsemen and 1,000 Serbaz, he took into his pay 10,000 Turkomans of the Tekke and Salor tribes, and hurrying with forced marches towards [{391}] Khokand, he took Mehemmed Ali so by surprise that he was even obliged to fly from his own capital, but, overtaken and made prisoner near Mergolan, he was, with his brother and two sons, executed ten days afterwards in his own capital. [Footnote 139]After him most of his immediate partisans fell by the hands of the executioners, and their property was confiscated. The Emir returned to Bokhara laden with booty, having first left Ibrahim Bi, a Mervi by birth, with a garrison of 2,000 soldiers in the conquered city.
[Footnote 139: To excuse this act of shame, Nasrullah spread the report that Mehemmed Ali had married his own mother, and had consequently been punished by death.]
Three months had scarcely elapsed when the Kiptchaks, who had until now observed a neutrality, weary of the Bokhariots, took the city, made its garrison prisoners, and set on the throne Shir Ali Khan, son of Mehemmed Ali. [Footnote 140] In order to prevent being a second time surprised as before, the Khokandi now conceived the idea of surrounding a portion of the city, where the residence of the Khan was, with a wall; the plan [{392}] was soon carried out by the forced labour of the prisoners of war, who had formed part of the Emir's garrison. It was to be anticipated that the Emir would seek his revenge; no one, therefore, was surprised to see soon after this occurrence 15,000 Bokhariots, under the conduct of a Khokandi pretender to the throne, an old protegé of Nasrullah, make their appearance before Khokand. But even on the march Musselman Kul (so he was named) appeared to have reconciled himself with his countrymen; the gates of the city were soon opened to him; and although Nasrullah had sent him hither with the promise of making him Khan, his first step was to turn his arms against that prince, and, joining with his countrymen, to put to flight the Bokhariots who had escorted him thither.
[Footnote 140: The genealogy of the reigning house in Khokand, beginning with Mehemmed Ali, is as follows:--]
Mehemmed Ali (1841).
|
Shir Ali
|---------------------------------
| |
(a) By first Wife. (b) By second Wife.
| |
Mollah Khan. ----------------------------------
Sofi Beg. | | |
Sarimsak. Sultan Murad. Khudayar.
| |
Shah Murad. Several young children.
The Emir, although now four times overreached, still would not give way, but again sent an army under the command of Shahrukh Khan, who already held the rank of commander-in-chief. [Footnote 141] But the latter did not advance beyond Oratepe, for the news that the Emir had fallen sick at Samarcand, and had subsequently returned to Bokhara, put an end to the whole campaign. A few days after the illness had attacked the prince, the world was freed by his death of one of the greatest of tyrants.
[Footnote 141: The infamous Abdul Samed Khan, the murderer of Conolly, Stoddart, and Naselli, had in the meantime been overtaken by a righteous punishment. The Emir, who had sent him to Shehri-Sebz, was at last convinced of his treason, and, not being able to reach him by forcible means, sought to employ artifice to get possession of his person. Abdul Samed evaded his fate a long time, but finally fell into the snare laid for him, and, aware of the presence of the executioner in the ante-room, he rent up his belly with his own poniard, to irritate by his death a master so like himself in character.]
I heard from good authority that the death of the Emir Nasrullah was solely owing to a paroxysm of rage at the constant ill success that attended his campaigns against Khokand, and the unprecedented obstinacy with which the city of Sheri-Sebz [Footnote 142] resisted, for although he had taken the field thirty times against it, and had been then besieging it six months, it was all without effect. Upon this occasion his adversary was a certain Veliname, whose sister he had married to obtain by the connection a faithful vassal in the brother of his wife. Now it happened that the news of the capture reached the Emir when on his deathbed; although half senseless, the tyrant ordered his rebel brother-in-law to be put to death with all his children. But as circumstances prevented him from feasting his eyes with that spectacle of blood, in the evening, a few hours before his death, he summoned to his presence his wife, the sister of Veliname; the unhappy woman, who had borne him two children, trembled, but the dying Emir was not softened--she was executed close to his couch, and the abominable tyrant breathed his last breath with his glazing eye fixed upon the gushing blood of the sister of his detested enemy.
[Footnote 142: Sheri-Sebz, previously named Kesh, is the native city of Timour, and renowned for the warlike character of its inhabitants.]
B.
THE WAR BETWEEN BOKHARA AND KHOKAND WAGED BY THE EMIR MOZAFFAR-ED-DIN.
In the meantime affairs in Khokand had taken a different turn. Musselman Kul had been put to death, and in his place Khudayar Khan had been raised to the 'white felt.' At his first accession, the latter showed great ardour and activity. He was engaged victoriously in several combats with the Russians, who were pressing on from the Jaxartes. Whilst he was thus occupied on the frontiers, Mollah Khan was nominated Khan in his capital; but as he had only inconsiderable forces to oppose to those of his rival, he thought it better to fly to Bokhara, and seek the aid of the Emir Mozaffar-ed-din for the recovery of his throne. This prince, immediately after the death of his father, besieged the city Sheri-Sebz, which, in spite of the vengeance of which it had already been the object, and the blood that had flowed there, was again in open revolt. He was before the walls of Tchiragtchi, a stronghold belonging to Sheri-Sebz, when the intelligence reached him that the governor of Oratepe, a native of Sheri-Sebz, had allied himself with the Khokandi, and that Mollah Khan was already marching at their head against Djizzak.
The Emir Mozaffar-ed-din, urged on by his guest and protegé , Khudayar Khan, could not restrain himself. He abandoned his position before Sheri-Sebz, although he was pressing it hard, and rushed at the head of 15,000 men against Khokand, whose Khan (Mollah Khan) threatened, from his acknowledged ability, to prove a formidable antagonist. Adopting the unscrupulous policy of his father, Mozaffar-ed-din caused him to be assassinated in a conspiracy which the Emir had himself set on foot. In the great confusion that ensued, he next made himself master of the capital, and then set Khudayar at the head of the government, after the legitimate heir, Shahmurad, had fled to the Kiptchaks.
Khudayar Khan had scarcely exercised four months the royal functions so new to him, when the Kiptchak, with Shahmurad at their head, assailed, and forced him a second time to fly to Bokhara. The Emir, seeing himself so slighted and mocked at in his character as protector, hastily assembled all his forces to wreak his vengeance upon Khokand in some exemplary manner; and after having sent on before him Shahrukh Khan with 40,000 men, and Mehemmed Hasan Bey with thirty pieces of artillery, he hastened after them himself, escorted by a few hundred Tekke, with the fixed design not to return until he had reduced under his sceptre all as far as the frontiers of China.
In Khokand the firm intention of the young Emir was well known, so also was his cupidity; and he met, accordingly, with the most resolute resistance. The Ulemas pronounced the Emir, who was invading their country, to be Kafir (an unbeliever), and preached against him the Djihad (war of religion). All flew to arms, but in vain. The Emir attached to his own dominions not only Khokand, but all the territory as far as the Chinese frontiers. The greatest resistance which he met with was from the Kiptchaks, under their chieftain Alem Kul. These were attacked by the Turkomans; and the combat that ensued must have proved highly interesting, for two of the most savage of the primitive races of Tartary stood there face to face. After the death of the Alem Kul in the battle, his wife set herself at the head of the horde. The war was continued; but at last a peace was made with the [{396}] Emir. The Khanat, from which the conqueror had sent all the cannon, and immense stores of arms and treasures, to Bokhara, was divided into two parts. Khokand fell to the share of Sahmurad, the darling of the Kiptchaks, Khodjend to Khudayar Khan. Mozaffar-ed-din returned to his capital. I met him on his way thither on August 15, 1863.
Since this time, yet so recent, Khokand has probably experienced several other changes. Similar dissensions formerly occurred between Kashgar, Khoten, and Yarkend; and as those continued until all their territory was incorporated by China, so is it here probable that Russian occupation will soon put an end to these miserable civil wars.
CHAPTER XX.
CHINESE TARTARY.
| APPROACH FROM WEST |
| ADMINISTRATION |
| INHABITANTS |
| CITIES. |
The traveller who journeys on during twelve days in an easterly direction from Oosh, will reach the Chinese territory at the point where stands the city of Kashgar. The way thither leads him over a mountainous country, where the Kiptchaks are wandering about with their herds. No villages, it is said, ever existed in this district, except in the time of Djenghis Khan, and then only here and there. At the present day it is not possible to trace even their ruins. Places blackened by fire and heaps of stones indicate the spots used by travellers and karavans for their stations. Although the Kiptchaks are wild and warlike, they do not attack solitary travellers. Large karavans coming from China are bound to pay a moderate tribute, in other respects no one is disturbed. At the distance of a single day's journey from Kashgar one arrives at a blockhouse, the first post of the Chinese, occupied by 10 soldiers and an accountant. No one is permitted to proceed unless furnished with a pass drawn up by the Aksakal in Namengan, who acts as a sort of paid agent for the Chinese. After [{398}] the traveller has exhibited his pass, he is interrogated in detail respecting everything that he has seen and heard in foreign parts. The accountant makes two copies of the report, one is given to the nearest post to be compared with the answer to a similar interrogation there; this document is forwarded to the governor whom it concerns. According to the statements of Hadji Bilal and my other friends, in Chinese Tartary it is most advisable on such occasions to employ the formula 'Belmey-men' (I know not). [Footnote 143] It is not the practice to force a man to reply in detail, and indeed no one has power to compel him to do so, and the accountant himself prefers the shorter answer, which lightens the functions he has to perform.
[Footnote 143: The Chinese have besides a proverb quite in accordance with this rule, for they say:
'Bedjidu yikha le
Djidu shi kha-le.'
'I know not, is one word; I know, is ten words,' that is to say, 'Saying "I know not," you have said everything; but saying "I know," your interrogator will put more questions, and you will have necessarily more to say.']
Under the name of Chinese Tartary we generally understand that angular point of the Chinese Empire that stretches away to its west towards the central plateau of Asia, and which is bounded on the north by the great hordes of Kirghis, and in the south by Bedakhshan, Cashemir, and Thibet. The country from Hi to Köhne Turfan is said to have been subject to the sovereignty of China for several centuries; but it is only 150 years since Kashgar, Yarkend, Aksu, and Khoten have been [{399}] incorporated. These cities had been continually at war with one another, until several of the leading personages with the Yarkend chief, Ibrahim Bey, at their head, desirous to put an end to the dissensions, called in the Chinese, who, after long hesitating, assumed the sovereignty, and have governed these cities upon a different system from that in force in the other provinces of the Celestial Empire.
(a.) Administration.
As I heard from an authentic source (for as I have stated, my friend and informant, Hadji Bilal, was the chief priest of the governor), each of these provinces had two authorities, one Chinese and military, the other Tartar-Musselman and civil. Their chiefs are equal in rank, but the Tartar is so far subordinate to the Chinese that it is only through the latter that one can communicate with the supreme authority at Pekin. The Chinese officials inhabit the fortified part of the city, and consist of
1. Anban, who is distinguished by a ruby button on his cap, and by a peacock feather. His yearly salary is 36 Yambu, [Footnote 144] about £800. Under him are the
[Footnote 144: A Yambu is a massive piece of silver with two ears or handles, in form like our weights. In Bokhara it is taken for forty Tilla.]
2. Da-lui, secretaries, four in number, of whom the first has the superintendence of the correspondence, the second the administration of the expenditure, the third the penal code, and the fourth the police.
3. Dji-zo-fang, keeper of the archives.
The court of the supreme Chinese officer is denominated Ya-mun, and is accessible at all times to every one who wishes to prefer his complaint against any subordinate officer for maladministration, or in any other case of supposed failure of justice. And here we meet with a characteristic trait of Chinese government. Immediately before the gate of the court stands a colossal drum; this every plaintiff strikes once if his desire is to summon a secretary, whereas he must beat twice if his intention is to see the Anban himself. Whether it be day or night, summer or winter, the sound of distress must be attended to, or at least very rarely is it neglected. Even in Europe such a mode of summoning, I think, might be desirable in the case of many a drowsy functionary of justice.
The Tartar-Musselman corps of officials intrusted with the administration of justice in civil cases, with the collection of the taxes and customs, or other such functions touching their domestic concerns, and which do not devolve upon the Chinese authorities, are as follows:--
1. Vang, or Hakim, upon the same footing as the Anban, both as to rank and pay.
2. Haznadji, or Gaznadji as he is designated by the Tartars, who has the control and inspection of the revenue.
3. Ishkaga (the word signifies doorkeeper), a sort of master of ceremonies, chamberlain, and chief intendant.
4. Shang Beghi, a kind of secretary, interpreter, and functionary, serving as medium between the Chinese and Musselman authorities.
5. Kazi Beg, the kadi or judge.
6. Örtengbeghi, postmaster, responsible for all the post-houses existing in his district. The system of posts in the country has much resemblance with the Persian Tchapar; the Government farms out certain roads, and it is the duty of the postmaster to take care that the farmers of them everywhere provide good horses for the public service. The distance from Kashgar to Komul is reckoned 40 stations, which the Örteng performs generally in 16, but on extraordinary emergencies, in 12 or even 10 days. From Komul to Pekin is counted 60 stations, which may also be performed in 15 days, consequently the whole distance from Kashgar to Pekin, which is a journey of 100 stations, is usually performed by the courier in about a month. [Footnote 145]
7. Badjghir, collector of customs.
[Footnote 145: It is remarkable that the postilions, almost always Kalmuks, are able to accomplish these sharp rides, consisting each of thirty days and thirty nights, several times each year. With us such a performance on horseback would be regarded as something extraordinary. The ride of Charles XII. from Demotika to Stralsund, and that of the Turkish courier, from Szigetvar (in Hungary, where Solyman the Magnificent died) to Kutahia in eight days, are famous in history. For the first see Voltaire's 'Life of Charles XII.,' and for the second 'Saadeddin Tadj et Tevarikh.']
(b.) Inhabitants.
The greater part of the population of Chinese Tartary, that is to say, of the four provinces, occupy fixed habitations, and busy themselves with agriculture. With respect to nationality, they style themselves Özbegs, but the first glance detects their Kalmuk [{402}] origin. Özbegs, in the sense understood in Bokhara and Khiva, have never existed in Chinese Tartary. When the word is used here, it signifies a mixed race that has sprung from the union of Kalmuks, who invaded the country from the north, and of Kirghis, with the original inhabitants of Persian race; and it deserves particular mention, that in places where the ancient Persian population was thicker (now it has entirely vanished), the Irani type is more dominant than in the contrary case. Next to these pseudo-Özbegs come the Kalmuks and the Chinese. The former are either military or lead the life of nomads; the latter, who occupy themselves with commerce and handicrafts, are merely to be found in the principal cities, and there only in insignificant numbers. Lastly, we must also name the Tungani or Tongheni, who are spread over the country from Ili to far beyond Komul. In nationality they are Chinese; in religion, however, Musselmans, and belonging all to the Shafeï sect. [Footnote 146] Tungani or Tongheni means, in the dialect of Chinese Tartary, converts (in Osmanli Turkish, dönme), and, as is confidently asserted, these Chinese, who count a million of souls, were converted in the time of Timour by an Arabian adventurer, who came with the above-named conqueror from Damascus to Central Asia, and roamed about in Chinese Tartary as a wonder-working saint. These Tungani distinguish themselves not only by their gross fanaticism, but by their hate for those of their countrymen who are not Musselmans; and in spite of their constituting the most advanced post of Islam on the side of the East, they nevertheless send every year a strong contingent of Hadjis to Mecca.
[Footnote 146: The Sunnites number four Mezheb (sects) amongst themselves, i.e. Hanifeï, Shafeï, Maleki, and Hambali. All four stand in equal estimation, and to give the preference to any one is regarded as a sin.]
As for the general character of the population, I found the Chinese Tartar honest, timid, and, to speak plainly, bordering upon stupidity; his relation to the inhabitants of the other cities in Central Asia is about the same as that of the Bokhariot to the Parisian or the Londoner. Extremely modest in their aspirations, my fellow-travellers have yet often delighted me by the enthusiastic terms which they used when they spoke of their poor homes. The splendour and lavish expenditure discernible in Roum and Persia, and even Bokhara, displease them; and although they are governed by a people differing from themselves in language and religion, still they prefer their own to the Musselman government in the three Khanats. But it would really seem as if they had no cause to be dissatisfied with the Chinese. Every one from the age of fifteen years upwards, with the exception of Khodjas (descendants of the Prophet) and Mollahs, pay to Government a yearly capitation tax of five Tenghe (three shillings). The soldiers [Footnote 147] are enlisted, but not by compulsion; and the Musselman regiments have besides the advantage of remaining unmixed and forming a single body, and, except in some little external points, [Footnote 148] are not in the slightest degree interfered with. [{404}] But the higher officials do not escape so easily; they are obliged to wear the dress prescribed to their rank, long moustaches, and pigtail; and, most dreadful of all, they must on holidays appear in the Pagodas, and perform a sort of homage before the unveiled portrait of the emperor, by touching the ground three times with the forehead. The Musselmans assert that their countrymen filling high offices hold on such occasions, concealed between their fingers, a small scrap of paper, with 'Mecca' written upon it, and that by this sleight of hand their genuflection becomes an act of veneration, not to the sovereign of the Celestial Empire, but to the holy city of the Arabian Prophet.
[Footnote 147: I am told, that there are at present in the four districts of Chinese Tartary about 120,000 soldiers, forming the garrisons of the four principal towns. One part of them, armed with spear and sword, is called Tchan-ping, the others, who bear muskets, are known by the designation of Shüva.]
[Footnote 148: Such, for instance, as (1) the robes being made to reach the kaees, and of blue linen, a costume regarded by the Musselmans with abhorrence as distinctive marks of the Chinese; (2) the permitting the moustache to grow, whereas Islam rigidly enjoins that the hair covering the upper lip shall be cut close.]
In social matters it is easy to conceive how two such discordant elements as the Chinese and Musselmans live together. Warm friendly relations seem, under the circumstances, impossible; but I fancy that I can discern, nevertheless, that no peculiar animosity exists between the two classes. The Chinese, who are the minority, never allow the Tartars to feel that they are rulers, and the authorities distinguish themselves by the greatest impartiality. As conversion to the dominant religion is singularly displeasing to the Chinese, it is not surprising that their efforts carefully tend not only to make the Musselmans exact in the performance of their religious duties, but to punish severely those who, in this respect, offend. Does a Musselman omit to pray, the Chinese are wont to say [{405}] to him, 'Behold how ungrateful thou art; we have some hundreds of gods, and, nevertheless, we satisfy them all. Thou pretendest to have but one God, and yet that one thou canst not content!' Even the Mollahs, as I often had occasion to observe, extol the conscientiousness of the Chinese officials, although they deal with their religion in the most unsparing terms. So, also, the Tartars are never tired of praising the art and cleverness of their rulers, and there is no end to their laudatory strains when they once begin to speak upon the subject of the power of the Djong Kafir (great unbelievers), i.e., the genuine Chinese. [Footnote 149]
[Footnote 149: The taking of Pekin by the Anglo-French army has not remained hidden from them. When I asked Hadji Bilal, how that was reconcilable with the boasted omnipotence of the Chinese, he observed, that the Frenghis had employed cunning, and had begun by stupefying all the inhabitants of Pekin with opium, and then had naturally and easily made their way into the slumbering city.]
And is it not again most astonishing that all the followers of Islamism, including those who are farthest to the west, as well as those to be found on its most distant eastern boundaries, whether Turks, Arabs, Persians, Tartars, or Özbegs, ridicule and mock at their own faults just in the same degree as they praise and extol the virtues and merits of the nations not Mohammedan? This is the account I heard everywhere. They admit that taste for the arts, humanity, and unexampled love of justice are attributes of the Kafir (unbelievers), and yet you hear them, with their eyes glancing fire, using an expression like that attributed to a Frenchman, after the battle of Rosbach, 'God be praised that I am a Musselman! [Footnote 150]
[Footnote 150: 'El hamdü lilla ena Müszlim.']
(c. ) Cities.
Amongst the cities, of which we give a list in the account of routes in Chinese Tartary, the most flourishing are Khoten and Yarkend. The largest are Turfan Ili and Komul; and the objects of most pious veneration, Aksu and Kashgar. In the last, which boasts 105 mosques (probably, however, only mud huts destined for prayer), and twelve Medresse, there is the venerated tomb of Hazreti Afak, the national saint of Chinese Tartary. Hazreti Afak means 'his highness the Horizon,' a phrase by which is meant to be expressed the infinity of the talents of the saint. His actual name was Khodja Sadik. He contributed much to form the religious character of the Tartars. It is said that Kashgar originally was more considerable, and that its population was more numerous, than is the case at present. This decay is owing alone to the invasion of the Khokandi Khodja, who every year surprise the city, drive the Chinese into their fortifications, and remain there plundering and despoiling, until the besieged garrison have despatched their formal interrogatory to Pekin, and have obtained official permission to assume the offensive. The Khokandi Khodja, a troop of greedy adventurers, have thus for years been in the habit of plundering the city, and yet the Chinese never cease to be Chinese.