My brother often had some difficulty in arranging the marches, for the Kirghiz have no notion of either time or distance as we understand it, and could never tell us how long a stage would be unless they could compare it with that of the previous day. As a result we seldom knew when we should arrive at our camping ground, the distance being sometimes considerably greater than we had imagined and at other times much less. But such slight drawbacks matter little to the true traveller who has succumbed to the lure of the Open Road, and to the glamour of the Back of Beyond.
CHAPTER VIII
THE ARYANS OF SARIKOL
A SARIKOLI LOVE SONG
1
Alas, my unfaithful Love!
Alas, my inconstant Heaven!
I am become thin as a blade of grass from craving for thee.
2
Oh, thou heavenly Beauty