In some strange sort, were the land’s portion. ‘See
Or shut your eyes’—said Nature peevishly—
‘It nothing skills: I cannot help my case:
The Judgment’s fire alone can cure this place,
Calcine its clods and set my prisoners free.’”
Lake Aral, like the Caspian Sea, is salt: at present it covers more than 26,000 square miles, but it is always shrinking. There is a considerable fishing industry on it, and freshwater fish are found, but its shores are so barren that they are practically uninhabited. The Steppes which bound it on the north are inhabited by a nomad population of Kirghiz and Uzbegs living in felt tents (called kibitkas), whose main occupation is breeding cattle, horses, camels, and sheep. In the winter time they go to the more sheltered regions of Syr Daria, the province through which the line next passes.
We crossed the Syr Daria River, better known as the classic Jaxartes, and the only town of any size that lay on the route was Turkestan or Hazret. It still possesses one superb monument of the past, the mosque of Hazréti-Timur, built in 1404 by order of Tamerlane, which is said to be one of the finest monuments of that epoch, and is visited by many pilgrims.
As we neared Tashkent we felt a certain amount of anxiety lest we should only have reached the goal to be ignominiously turned back by the police, despite our special permit; but apparently our appearance was disarming, and at Tashkent they did not even inquire for any thing beyond our passports. At Samarkand we handed them over as usual on arrival to the proprietor of the hotel, and the next day he said the police wished to know if we had the proper authorisation to visit Turkestan. We produced our note verbale, which evidently they were unable to read, as it was in French; they looked us up and down, from head to toe, asked if we had nothing more to show, and on being assured that we had not, and that the note verbale gave full permission for travel, they somewhat reluctantly took their departure. At Kazan (Bokhara) they got a Russian lady to look at our permit, who was able to assure them it was quite en règle, for they admitted they could not read it themselves. We heard that had we wished to go anywhere off the railway line we should not have been allowed to do so.
The district round Tashkent was a wonderful contrast to the dreary desert through which we had come, and prepared us in some measure for the wealth of foliage in which that town is embowered. Along the line were trees all decked in the vivid colouring of early spring; the air was filled with the fragrance of their blossoms, and the sound of running water and rustling leaves whenever we halted, made a happy change from the monotonous harshness of railway noises. The afforestation work of the Russian authorities has already produced a marked difference in the rainfall, and they are keeping a much needed check on the cutting down of trees for firewood throughout the province.