Alexander’s marches.
We, perhaps, have not come to any satisfactory conclusion regarding the ruins of Bykund, and we may not be more successful in elucidating some of the passages of the historians of Alexander; but there are a few facts regarding the river of Bokhara, or the Kohik, which deserve notice. It is always mentioned by the Greeks under the name of Polytimetus, and is thus described by Arrian:—“Though it carries a full stream, it sinks from the sight, and hides its stream in the sand.” Curtius tells us, on the other hand, that “it was received into a cavern, the subterraneous torrent rushing on with a noise indicating its course.” The termination of this river, as given in our maps, is not in accordance with fact, since it is represented as falling into the Oxus; while it really deposits its waters in a lake, as has been before observed.[30] In a great portion of the year the supply is too scanty to force the passage, and it loses itself in sands. I venture, therefore, to observe, that we here verify the text of Arrian, who states it to be lost in the sands; while, on the other hand, we have no contradiction to Curtius, who leads its waters into a cavern or lake,—the modern “Dengiz,” which is about twenty-five miles long. The village in which we were residing stood therefore on classical ground, since we are informed that Alexander, after his detachment had been cut up by Spitamanes, followed him to where the Polytimetus loses itself in the sands of the desert, the scene of that disaster. It required every classical association to dispel the weariness of our protracted stay in this small hamlet. Another passage in Curtius, and of a striking nature, deserves a more particular mention, since I have met with one of similar import in a Persian manuscript, descriptive of Bokhara, which I procured in the country. When Alexander had marched into the district of Bazaria, which is supposed to be the modern Bokhara, or to lie in that direction, the following sentence occurs:—“Of the barbarous splendour prevailing in these parts, there is no stronger mark than the extensive forests, in which are shut up untamed beasts of the grandest kind. A spacious wood, in which numerous unfailing springs give cheerfulness to the scenery, is selected, encompassed with a wall, and interspersed with towers for the reception of the hunters. In one park, it was said, that the game had remained undisturbed during four generations. Alexander, entering it with his whole army, commanded that the beasts throughout it should be roused from their lairs.”—B. 8. C. i. This is the excursion in which Alexander encountered the lion: but the king of the forest does not now inhabit Transoxiana. The Persian paragraph, to which I have alluded, runs thus:—
“This is the account of Shumsabad, which was here built by King Shumsoodeen. He purchased a tract of country half a fursung in extent, and laid it out in gardens, orchards, and houses of surpassing splendour; and he dug canals and aqueducts, and expended a great sum of money; and he called the place Shumsabad. In addition to this he constructed a preserve for animals, and bounded it by walls which were a mile in extent: he brought pigeons and birds of every description, as well as all the domestic animals, and placed them in this preserve; and he likewise introduced the wild beasts of the field,—the wolf, the fox, the hog, the deer, the neelghaee, &c. &c.: and those which were tame he separated from those that were wild; and the latter he enclosed by higher walls, that they might not escape. When King Shumsoodeen died, his brother, whose name was Khizr Khan, succeeded him; and he added to the buildings of Shumsabad, and increased the number of the animals in the preserve which his brother had constructed.” The work from which this extract is taken presents us with some curious information regarding the early condition of the country about Bokhara: it expressly denominates it the Valley of the Sogd, and as having been at one time a hunting thicket. In the amusements of Shumsoodeen, long after the age of the Greeks, we still discover a relish for the “barbarous splendour” which called for the notice of the historians of Alexander.
Reply from the khan of Orgunje.
About midnight, on the 10th of August, when we had almost despaired of the return of our messenger to the Orgunje camp, we were roused from sleep by the shout of “Ullaho Acbar” from five or six Toorkmuns. They accompanied their countryman with the joyful information, that the chief of Orgunje would not offer any obstacles to the advance of our caravan. A dirty scrap of paper from the Yooz-bashee contained the information, the authenticity of which I had no desire to question. Uzbek customs. The solemn shout which awoke us in the dead of night might have at one time excited our alarm; but we now knew that it was nothing more than the blessing, which all Uzbeks and Toorkmuns invariably give to any one they approach. In other Mahommedan countries this is confined to the ceremonies on the death of a relative; but in Toorkistan religion is mingled with every affair of life. If a person visits you, he begins with the “fatha,” or the opening verse of the Koran, happily abridged to an “ullaho!” and a stroke of the beard; if you are to travel, all your friends come and give you the “fatha;” if you take an oath, all the party present say the “fatha;” if you meet an acquaintance, you say the “fatha;” and such good people never, of course, finish a meal without it. One would really believe the Uzbeks to be the most religious people on the face of the earth, uttering as they do the sacred texts of their faith on the most trivial occasions. We seated the Toorkmun and his friends, and heard the news of the Orgunje army, and the prospect of our safe passage among them. We refreshed the messenger with tea and a hookah, which I called for with persevering attention, since no person in Toorkistan must ever exceed a single whiff of the same pipe, which is immediately handed to his neighbour and circulated through the assembly. We settled in our small congress that the Toorkmun had better proceed to Bokhara, and convey the tidings to the merchants of the caravan. He gave us a frightful account of the desert south of the Oxus, and the great difficulties of finding the road, which was now hidden by clouds of sand that were disturbed by the wind. I need not mention his adventures, since we ourselves were about to enter on that inhospitable region. We, however, took his advice, and hired two extra camels, which were to be the bearers of six skins of water, the supply which was deemed necessary to store before we took leave of the Oxus.
Preparations for departure.
Reflections.
Our stay near Karakool had now been prolonged to the middle of August, and were I not more anxious to enter on other matters, I might here give some account of this region of lamb skins, supplying, as it does, the whole of Tartary, China, Persia, and Turkey. The caravan soon collected once more at our quarters; and on the morning of the 16th of August, there appeared about eighty camels to prosecute their journey to the Oxus, all of them laden with the precious skins of the little district of Karakool, where we had passed nearly a month, among Toorkmuns and shepherds, who talked of nothing but fleeces and markets. Receive letters from India. Among the arrivals from Bokhara, we were agreeably surprised and delighted to find a small packet to my address, the contents of which consisted of three newspapers and a most kind letter from my friend M. Allard, at Lahore. The packet had been three months in coming, and afforded us indescribable pleasure, after our long ignorance of what was passing in the world. We had not seen a newspaper since crossing the Indus in the middle of March, and were now indebted to a foreigner for those which we had received. In one of the papers it was curious enough to observe a long paragraph regarding the unfortunate Mr. Moorcroft, who preceded us in these countries. We learned from it, that the world were deeply interested in the lands where we now sojourned, and that the Geographical Society of London had resolved on rescuing the papers of the traveller from oblivion that portion of which they had already published under the superintendence of a high name.[31] With these circumstances before us, and even in the absence of any communications from our own countrymen, we had a pleasing reflection that we should not be forgotten in our wanderings. It was impossible, however, to rid ourselves of all remembrance of the fate of the unfortunate traveller on whose footsteps we had so long trod, placed as it was again in more vivid colours before us, and from a quarter that we least of all expected.
END OF THE FIRST VOLUME.
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