[Friendly Encampment]
This evening we continued our onward march, not without caution, and who happier than I when we next morning saw on our right hand and on our left groups of tents, and everywhere as we passed we were greeted with the most friendly cry of 'Aman geldingiz' (welcome)! Our comrade Ilias, having friends amongst those encamped here, proceeded at once to fetch some warm bread and other Kurban presents (holiday dainties). He came back richly laden, and shared amongst us flesh, bread, and Kimis (a sharp acid drink made with mare's milk). Although we only passed here one brief hour of repose, many God-fearing nomads approached us to realise by the pressure of our hands their holy aspirations. In return for four or five formulae I received a quantity of bread and several pieces of flesh of camel, horse, and sheep.
[Approach of Horsemen]
We crossed many Yap (artificial trenches for irrigation), and arrived by midday at a deserted citadel named Khanabad, whose high square walls had been visible at a distance of three miles. We passed there the afternoon and evening. The sun was glowing hot. How refreshing was it to slumber under the shade of the wall, although the bare earth was my bed, and a stone my pillow! We left Khanabad, which is distant twenty-five miles from Khiva, before daybreak, and were surprised during the whole day's march that we did not perceive a single tent. We even found ourselves in the evening below large hills of sand, and I fancied myself once more transported to the desert. [{119}] We were occupied taking our tea, when the camels sent to pasture began to run wildly about; we suspected some one was chasing them, when five horsemen came in sight, who proceeded immediately at a gallop towards our encampment. To exchange the tea-things for muskets, and to present a line of fire, was the work of an instant; the horsemen in the meantime approached slowly, and we discerned by the pace of the horses that fortunately we had mistaken, and that instead of having to deal with enemies we should have a friendly escort to accompany us as far as Khiva.
The next morning (30th May) we reached an Özbeg village, belonging to Akyap. And here the desert between Gömüshtepe and Khiva terminated entirely. The inhabitants of this village were the first Ozbegs that I had an opportunity of seeing; we found them excellent people. In accordance with the practice of the country we visited their houses and reaped a rich harvest with our Fatihas. I now again saw, after a long interval, some articles coming from the beloved west, and my heart leapt within me for joy. We might still have reached this day the habitation of Ilias, for here begins a village [Footnote 27] peopled by Khivan Yomuts, and called Akyap, but our friend the cattle-dealer was a little indolent, or did not wish us to arrive unexpected guests; we consequently passed the night two leagues from his house at his uncle's, Allahnazr Bay, [Footnote 28] who was a man in opulent circumstances, and gave [{120}] us a most hospitable and distinguished reception. This afforded an opportunity for Ilias to inform his wife of our arrival. We made our formal entry next morning (1st June), a countless host of members of his family and relatives having first hastened to meet and welcome us. He offered me a neat tent for my habitation, but I preferred his garden, for there were trees, and for shade my soul pined! Long was it since I had seen any!
[Footnote 27: Village is here called Aul or Oram; it does not correspond with our idea of a number of continuous houses, but a district where the people belonging to one Aul encamp and dwell in a scattered manner about their meadows and lands.]
[Footnote 28: Bay or Bi; in Turkey, Bey means a personage of distinction.]
During my two days' sojourn amongst the half-civilised Turkomans--by which I mean those who were only half settled, half fixed in their abodes--what most surprised me was the aversion these nomads have to everything in the form either of house or government. Although they have dwelt now several centuries side by side with the Ozbegs, they detest the manners and customs of the latter, avoid their company, and, although of kindred origin and tongue, an Özbeg is as much a stranger in their eyes as a Hottentot is in ours.
[Gazavat; Entry into Khiva]
After we had taken a little repose, the karavan proceeded on its way to the capital. We traversed Gazavat, where the weekly market was being held, and had a first glimpse at the Khivan mode of living. We passed the night in a meadow, before Sheikhlar Kalesi. Here I encountered a species of gnat, larger and more impudent than any I ever met with. We were plagued to death, both man and beast, the whole night long, and I was not therefore in the best of spirits when I was forced again to mount my camel in the morning without having for so many hours closed an eye. Happily, we soon forgot what we had suffered from sleeplessness in the impression derived from the magnificent productions of spring. The vegetation [{121}] became more and more luxuriant and abundant the nearer we approached Khiva. I, at first, thought that the only reason why Khiva seemed so very beautiful was the contrast it presented with the desert, of which the terrible form still floated before my eyes. But, ah! the environs of Khiva with its small havlis, [Footnote 29] in the form of strongholds shaded by lofty poplars, with its fine meadows and rich fields, seem to me still, after I have visited the most charming countries of Europe, as beautiful as ever. Had the Eastern poets tuned their lyres here, they would have found a more worthy theme than in the horrid wastes of Persia!
[Footnote 29: Havli means literally radius, but here taken in the sense of our word court. It contains the tents, the stalls, store-room for produce, and such like things which pertain to the homestead of an Özbeg countryman.]