From the Indus to the Tigris

by H. W. Bellew

From Shermurgh our route continued north-westerly up the course of a wide drainage gully, bounded on the left by the snow-streaked Báras range, and on the right separated from the Nímbulúk plain by a low rocky range bare of vegetation. At eight miles we reached a watershed called Gudari Gód, and on the way up to it passed a bend in the hills to our left, in which we saw the villages of Nogirift, Razdumbal, and Mahanj. The elevation at the watershed is about 6075 feet above the sea. From it the descent is gradual, by a path that winds amongst ridges skirting the base of Báras and its continuation, Koh Behud, and crossing the Rúdi Myán Pyáz, traverses a hill slope stretching down to the Nímbulúk plain up to Girimunj. The Myán Pyáz rivulet is a brisk stream that drains Behud to the Nímbulúk plain, and of considerable size. Girimunj contains about two hundred houses clustered round a central fort, and is situated at the entrance to a picturesque glen, in which are seen the villages of Dihushk and Buznábád with their rich orchards and vineyards. The Nímbulúk plain presents a wide valley, extending from north-west to south-east some thirty-five miles by twelve wide. On its surface to the northward are seen the villages of Siláyáni, Mahyám, and Khidri. It is separated from Gúnábád by a long curving range of hills, through which are several passes. The hill range is called Mysúr, and the passes, from south to north, are named Dahna Gharcáb, Mugri, Rijing, Bálághor, and Dahna Sulemán. The first and last are the routes commonly taken by the Turkmans.

Shortly after our arrival in camp, a party of matchlockmen arrived from Dashtí Pyáz to warn Girimunj that Khidri had passed on word to them to be on the alert, as two hundred and fifty Turkmans had this morning swept across Gúnábád, and taken the road to Kakhak, which is our stage beyond Khidri. The news created a considerable stir in the village, and the people warned us to be on the alert during the night, and to continue our route by the hills to Munawáj, and on no account to venture into the open plain. At sunset Sir F. Goldsmid and General Pollock went round our camp, and posted the matchlockmen whom we had hired from the village to protect the approaches during the night, as it was thought we might possibly be attacked by them. We ourselves looked to our arms, and at a late hour retired to rest prepared for an alarm. Morning dawned, however, and no Turkman was seen, and we were inclined to think they were a myth, but for the lively fear and strict caution of the peasantry, which warned us of the necessity of vigilance.

From Girimunj we marched fifteen miles to Dashtí Pyáz. Our route was north-west along the Nímbulúk plain, skirting the Isfyán range of hills (a continuation of Behud) on our left. Out of deference to the Turkmans, we marched in a compact column with the baggage, a party of thirty matchlockmen leading the advance, and a similar party following in the rear.

At a few miles from camp, we came upon the fresh marks of horseshoes across our path. They were followed a little way on to the plain, and unhesitatingly pronounced to be the tracks of Turkmans who had come to reconnoitre our position during the night.

Our Afghan companions, who had some practical knowledge of these people about Herat, were satisfied on this point, and described to us their mode of attack, and how it behoved us to defend ourselves; whilst Hájí Abdullah, Shahrki, a venerable old chief of Sistan, who had joined Sir F. Goldsmid’s party at Kirmán, and used often to entertain us with selections from his stories of traditional lore, propounded in most classical language and with the purest accent, in tones delightful to the ear, and with a captivating manner, was no less convinced of the necessity for caution, and forthwith turned his camel a little closer to the hills, and manfully followed the course of his own selection in solitary dignity, holding his rifle all ready charged with both hands across his lap, and keeping his sharp eyes steadily fixed in the direction of the plain.

We passed two roadside ábambár and three or four little hamlets at the foot of the hills, then crossed a hill torrent, and rising over an upland, at the twelfth mile came to Khidri, a flourishing village of two hundred houses, buried in fruit gardens and mulberry plantations. We halted here for breakfast, whilst the baggage proceeded to Dashtí Pyáz, four miles farther on, at the top of the upland rise.

We halted two days at Dashtí Pyáz, in hopes of the heavy baggage we had left at Birjand here overtaking us. But as it did not arrive, and our Persian mihmandár told so many and such contradictory lies about it—his last report, told us with the coolest effrontery only at Khidri, assured us that we should find all awaiting us at this place, Dashtí Pyáz—we were fain to proceed, leaving it to overtake us farther on.

Dashtí Pyáz is a flourishing village of three hundred houses outside a dilapidated fort, which is also crowded with habitations, and all around are extensive fruit gardens and vineyards. The town is situated at the entrance to a wide glen, formed by a bend in the Isfyán and Koh Syáh hills to the west. It contains several flourishing villages, of which Munawáj and Buthkabad are the chief, and the ruins of an ancient city called Jáhul Fars, the capital of Isfandyár.

13th April.—Dashtí Pyáz to Kakhak, sixteen miles. We were to have marched yesterday morning, but at the last moment the order was countermanded, as the Persian mihmandár refused to consent to our moving unless Sir F. Goldsmid gave him a written and sealed paper exonerating him from all responsibility in case of accident or injury on the road. He stated that he had received intelligence from his scouts that from two hundred to four hundred Turkman horse had been seen last evening on the plain at two farsakhs or parasangs (about eight miles) from the Bálághor Pass, and that they may to-day be expected to raid Gúnábád to Kakhak or this valley of Nímbulúk to-day. The day passed, however, without our seeing anything of them, and our only consolation in the delay was in the unfavourable state of the weather, which set in damp and chill with drenching showers, and the new information we gathered regarding the so-called Turkmans, of whom we have heard so much and seen so little.