We reached Shurukhs at sun-rise on the 2d, after having performed a journey of seventy miles in forty-four hours, including every halt. During this period we had only marched for thirty-two hours, and the camels sometimes stepped out at the rate of two and a half miles an hour, which I had never before seen. All the camels were males, since they are believed to undergo fatigue better than females. Our caravan alighted round an old tomb, with a lofty dome, and it was unanimously decided, that so long as the Allamans were abroad, it would not be prudent to prosecute our journey. It was therefore resolved to sleep in Shurukhs (to use a phrase of their own), the greatest haunt of the Toorkmun robbers; a paradox truly, since we were to settle among thieves to avoid the thieves abroad. We, however, possessed but humble influence in the party, and had only to meet the general wish. The merchandize was piled round the tomb, the people took up a position outside of it, and at night the camels and horses formed a triple barrier. Such were the arrangements for our protection, and, as will be seen, not more than were necessary. Detention. The Toorkmuns crowded among us during the day, and brought tunics of camel-cloth for sale, which were readily purchased; but there was not an individual of the caravan who trusted himself at a distance from it: and how could it be otherwise, when we hourly saw the “Allamans” passing and repassing in front of us, and knew that the chief subsistence of the people was derived from these “chupaos?”
Shurukhs.
The Toorkmun settlement of Shurukhs consists of a small and weak fort, almost in ruins, situated on a hillock, under cover of which most of the inhabitants have pitched their tenements. There are a few mud houses, which have been built by the Jews of Meshid, who trade with these people; but the Toorkmuns themselves live in the conical houses or khirgahs, peculiar to their tribe. They are constructed of wood, surrounded by a mat of reeds, and covered in the roof with felts, that become black with soot. Shurukhs is the residence of the Salore Toorkmuns, the noblest of the race. Two thousand families are here domiciled, and an equal number of horses, of the finest blood, may be raised in case of need. If unable to cope with their enemies, these people flee to the deserts, which lie before them, and there await the termination of the storm. They pay a sparing and doubtful allegiance to Orgunje and Persia, but it is only an impending force that leads to their submission. When we were at Shurukhs they had a Persian ambassador in chains, and refused to grant a share of the transit duties to the Khan of Orgunje, which they had promised in the preceding month, when that chief was near them. These are commentaries on their allegiance. The Salore Toorkmuns are ruled by twelve aksukals, the heads of the different families; but they acknowledge no particular allegiance to any individual person. The country around Shurukhs is well watered by aqueducts from the rivulet of Tejend, which is a little brackish, but its waters are usefully employed in fertilising its fields. The soil is exceedingly rich, and possesses great aptness for agriculture; the seed is scattered, and vegetates almost without labour. The harvest is rich, and they reap it, like true republicans, without a tax. The inhabitants repeat a tradition, that the first of men tilled in Shurukhs, which was his garden, while Serendib or Ceylon was his house! There is not a tree or a bush to enliven the landscape, for the Toorkmuns despise gardening. The crops of wheat and juwaree are here most abundant, and the melons are only inferior to those of Bokhara.
Alarms.
Two days after our arrival at Shurukhs, and when I venture to say we had often congratulated ourselves at the near prospect of successfully terminating our journey, we experienced an alarm that at least showed our congratulations were premature. One of the Toorkmun chiefs of the place appeared in our part of the encampment, and summoned the Hajee, one of our people, to attend him, near enough for me to overhear their conversation. He commenced a long list of interrogatories regarding us, and stated that he had heard from persons in the caravan that we possessed great wealth, and had travelled into the remotest parts of Toorkistan. Such being the case, continued he, it was impossible for him to grant us permission to prosecute our journey, until the commands of Ullah Koli, Khan of Orgunje, were received concerning us. This formidable announcement would even have appeared more frightful, had not the Toorkmun added on his departure, that his fellow chiefs were ignorant of our presence in the caravan, and that we might perhaps consider his good wishes not unworthy of being purchased. The matter was however serious, since it discovered that there were persons in the caravan who were ill-disposed towards us, and it was certain that the Toorkmuns had the power of enforcing all which the person in question had threatened. Immediate measures were necessary, and I lost no time in adopting them. There were five or six merchants of respectability in the caravan, and I went to the two principal persons, whom I have before named, and related the affair to them with perfect candour. I should have gone to Ernuzzer the Toorkmun, but he had in former days lived at Shurukhs, and, in his change to the life of a citizen, had forfeited much of the influence he might be supposed to possess among his countrymen; nor did I even unfold to him the circumstances till we reached Meshid. I observed that the communication equally excited the uneasiness of the merchants, and once more discovered that these people were really concerned for our safety. They poured forth their wrath against the informer, and expressed in unequivocal language the fears which they entertained from the Vizier of Bokhara on one side, and the Prince Royal of Persia on the other. One of the merchants advised that I should immediately produce the firman of the King of Bokhara; but in this I differed, and the opinion of the other was more in consonance with my own judgment. Abdool undertook to negotiate the feeding of the dog of a Toorkmun; but it may be imagined that there was little to cheer us under such circumstances. A cheerful countenance was, however, indispensable, that we might the better meet the difficulties, and, if possible, frustrate the hopes of the villain who had betrayed us.
Dissipation of them.
The first piece of intelligence which assailed us on the following morning was the loss of a beautiful little black pony, which had been stolen from his pickets during night. It is customary in this country to chain the horse’s leg to the iron pin, and then padlock it; but we had not adopted this precaution. I regretted this loss more than I might have done a more serious misfortune. The sturdy little creature had followed me from Poona in the centre of India, had borne me in many a weary journey, and I cannot tell how much it vexed me to leave him in such a country, and in such hands. The whole caravan assembled to express their regret at the theft, and assured me that I should either have the pony or his value; but they did not understand that in my estimation he stood above all price. I was obliged to turn to other matters, and it was a more solid source of consolation to find that we had satisfied the demands, and silenced the threats of the Toorkmun chief at a most moderate sacrifice. He became master of our stock of tea, and we should have added the sugar, had it been worth presenting; and this peace offering, crowned with two gold tillas (each valued at about six and a half rupees), satisfied a chief who had us in his power. Doonmus, for so he was named, was the “Aksukal” of 300 families, and one of those who share in the plunder and taxation of Shurukhs. We were much indebted in this difficulty to Abdool, who happened to be an acquaintance of the Toorkmun, and whom we had brought over to us by some acts of civility. We might not have escaped so readily from the talons of any of the others; and it was curious that the fellow who had wished to profit by us was the friend of the merchant with whom we were most intimate.
Toorkmun customs.
This sunshine of our prosperity admitted of our entering with greater spirit into our enquiries regarding the Toorkmuns, and I gathered some characteristic incidents of the people. They are as romantic in their customs of marriage as in their habits of plunder. They do not enter into the conjugal state with the simple forms of Mahommedans; for the communication between the sexes is unrestrained, and attachments are formed that ripen into love. But the daughter of a Toorkmun has a high price, and the swain, in despair of making a legitimate purchase, seizes his sweetheart, seats her behind him on the same horse, and gallops off to the nearest camp, where the parties are united, and separation is impossible. The parents and relatives pursue the lovers, and the matter is adjusted by an intermarriage with some female relation of the bridegroom, while he himself becomes bound to pay so many camels and horses as the price of his bride. If the person be rich, these are generally paid on the spot; but if, as more often happens, he is without property, he binds himself to discharge his debt, which is viewed as one of honour; and he proceeds on forays to Persia, till he has gained enough to fulfil his engagement. His success in these generally converts him into a robber for the rest of his days; and the capture of the Kuzzilbash has now become indispensable to settle in life the family of a Toorkmun. The young lady, after her Gretna Green union, returns to the house of her parents, and passes a year in preparing the carpets and clothes, which are necessary for a Toorkmun tent; and, on the anniversary of her elopement, she is finally transferred to the arms and house of her gallant lover.
Fortitude of a slave.