[Footnote 104: 'Kardashi miz dir ol Kafir.']
The last risings of the Turkomans in mass occurred under Nadir Shah and Aga Mehemed Khan. Nadir, helped by these tribes and by the Afghans, at the commencement of the last century, shook Asia out of her slumber; and the second conqueror above mentioned availed himself of the sword of the Turkomans to found his dynasty. Nomads are well aware of the fact, and make the ingratitude of the Kadjar a subject of frequent complaint, who, since the time of Feth Ali Shah, have, they say, entirely forgotten them, and even withdrawn the lawful pensions of several of their chiefs.
To form an idea of the political importance of the nomads, we need only cast a glance at the map of Central Asia. We there see at once that they have become, from their position, the guardians of the southern frontiers of the entire Asiatic Highlands of Turkestan, as they name it themselves. The Turkoman is, without any possibility of contradiction, next to the Kiptchak, the most warlike and savage race of Central Asia: in his rear, in the cities of Khiva, Bokhara, and Khokand, we find the seat of cowardice and effeminacy; and had he not constituted himself as it were into a barrier of iron, things would never have remained, in the three countries just mentioned, in the condition in which they were after the time of Kuteibe and Ebu Muszlim, [Footnote 105] and in which they still continue.
[Footnote 105: The former conquered Turkestan in the time of Khalif Omar; the latter, having first been Governor of Merv, fought for a long time the battle of independence, in conjunction with the Turkomans and Kharesmians against his master, the sovereign of Bagdad.]
Civilisation, some may think, has a predilection for the way that leads from the south to the north; but how can any spark penetrate to Central Asia, as long as the Turkomans menace every traveller and every karavan with a thousand perils?
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.