Koochan.
We continued our progress up the valley for sixty miles, and reached Koochan on the third day of our leaving Meshid. This is said to be the coldest part of Khorasan; and it may well be believed, when the thermometer fell to 29° at sunrise in September. As water boiled at 206°, we were about 4000 feet above the sea. The valley varied in breadth from twelve to twenty miles, and there were some verdant spots under the hills, where the finest fruit is produced. Otherwise the country was bare and bleak. The hills have no wood, and are even destitute of brushwood. They rise to the height of 2000 or 3000 feet above the valley. We passed many villages by the way; but they were now deserted, on account of the war against the Koords. The roads were hard and excellent. We met many of the soldiers returning to their homes, since the campaign had terminated. They were a favourable specimen of the troops of Khorasan; for they were provided with arms that had serviceable flint locks, which I had not seen since leaving Cabool. The men were small, but they were merely the “Eeljaree,” or militia of the country.
Camp of the Prince.
We reached the camp of Abbas Meerza a little before noon, and found ourselves once more in European society. So complete was our disguise, that we had to make ourselves known, though we were expected. European officers. We sat down to breakfast with Captain Shee, Mr. Barowski, and Mr. Beek, who now compose the corps of officers in the Prince’s service. How delighted did we feel to hear our native language, and learn the news and events which had been passing in our protracted absence! We had arrived at an eventful moment, as the fortress had but a few days fallen, and we yet threaded our way among fascines and gabions, sap, mines, outworks, batteries, covert ways, and all the other works of a besieging army. Nothing could be more gloomy than the walls of the town. The parapet had been nearly dismantled; some of the towers had been blown up; all were battered; and the soldiery, now relieved from the dangers of the campaign, were filling up the ditch in listless idleness. This fosse was a barrier of a most formidable nature; for it was about thirty-five feet deep and twenty broad, though it narrowed towards the bottom. The Prince’s army had effected a lodgment across it; and a few more hours would have settled the fate of the fortress, when its chief surrendered at discretion. Koochan is a strong fortress, about a mile and a half in circumference, and was defended by a garrison of 8000 men. The assault would have been attended with bloodshed, and its fall is entirely to be attributed to the European officers, whose science and skill had been grafted on the labour and exertion of the Persians.
Introduction to Abbas Meerza.
In the evening, we were introduced to the Prince Royal, by Captain Shee. His Royal Highness was proceeding to inspect his park of artillery, and we met him by the way. He received us in a most engaging and affable manner; offered us his congratulations at the great success of our journey through countries which he had not believed accessible to Europeans. He then assured us, that our troubles were at an end, since we had reached a land where our nation was respected. I thanked the Prince for his kindness, and then briefly replied to the various questions which he put regarding the countries we had visited. By this time we were standing in front of his artillery, while the whole of his court were about fifty yards in rear of us. The Prince gave a signal, and about six or eight persons advanced. He introduced two of them as his sons; another as Ruza Koli Khan, the conquered chief of the proud fortress. There was also another Koord chief; and Yar Mahommed Khan, the minister of Herat. What a sight did the great Koord chief present to us, now standing in homage before his conqueror and the artillery which had subdued him. It appears that the parade had been ordered, to give him a sight of the park, and we had arrived at the opportune time to witness the spectacle. The Prince, turning towards me, said, “You must see my artillery;” and we then passed down the line with his Royal Highness, examining each gun as we approached it. Abbas Meerza took great pains to explain every thing concerning them; and the enquiries and looks of the unfortunate Ruza Koli Khan drew forth many a smiling remark. The chief appeared bewildered, and I thought he feigned insanity. He asked the Prince to give him a large mortar, which we were all admiring; Abbas Meerza told him not now to trouble himself about these things. The guns, which had fallen with the fortress, were drawn up in line, with the other artillery; they were Russian ordnance, cast in 1784, and had been captured from the present King of Persia. The Koord chief pretended not to recognise them; and, when he heard of their history, made a just enough remark, that they were good enough for Koochan. In the place of this chief, I should have considered it no dishonour to be subdued by a park of thirty-five guns, from four to 32-pounders, in the best state of efficiency. The Prince then witnessed the exercise of the corps; bearing the amplest testimony to the merits of Captain Lindsay (now Sir Henry Bethune), the British officer who had organised it, and of whom he spoke with kindness. The ceremony then terminated, and we retired from the scene with much gratification at an interview with a Charles the Second in Persia. I was disappointed in Abbas Meerza’s appearance. He has been handsome, but is now haggard, and looks an old man; he has lost his erect carriage, his eye waters, and his cheek is wrinkled. He was plainly dressed, and walked with a stick in his hand. His eldest son, Mahommed Meerza, was present; but he has not the manners or dignity of his parent, though he is also an agreeable person.
Interview with Abbas Meerza.
On the following morning we paid our respects to the Prince Royal in his tents, and found him transacting business with his minister, the Kaim Mukam, and several other persons who were standing round him. There was no state or pomp to mark so great a personage. When the Prince had settled some matters on which he was engaged, he gave us a dose of politics, and talked of the incomparable advantages to England of upholding Persia, and begged I would explain in my own country his present situation; which, though at the head of a successful army, was most embarrassing, since he had no money to pay it. I told the Prince that I regretted to hear such a detail of his difficulties, and I could only hope that he would surmount them all. I did not tell him, as I have ever felt, that I consider the payment of money to such a cabinet as derogatory to the name and honour of Britain; since it has tended more to lower our reputation in Asia than our most martial deeds in India have done to raise it. There was not, however, wanting a share of cant in the Prince’s oration; for he gravely assured me that he had now taken the field to suppress the sale and capture of his subjects as slaves by the Uzbeks. The motive was praiseworthy; but mark the conclusion:—“I am entitled, therefore, to the assistance of Britain: for if you expend annually thousands of pounds in suppressing the slave trade in Africa, I deserve your aid in this quarter, where the same motives exist for the exercise of your philanthropy.” I was pleased with the ingenuity and earnestness of the reasoning, which his Royal Highness had, no doubt, derived from some English newspaper or English friend. The Prince now turned to other matters, and asked regarding my education, and the notes which I had taken of the unknown country I had visited. “I am aware of your custom to do so,” said he; “and it is this general observance of it which has exalted your nation in the scale of civilisation.” He enquired if I had met with any potatoes in my travels; and, on my replying in the negative, he produced a basketful of his own rearing, with evident satisfaction. They were a fair specimen, and do most decidedly entitle his Royal Highness to be elected an honorary member of a horticultural society. In the true spirit of a courtier, the Prince returned to the Uzbeks and the different countries of Toorkistan with which he thought me best acquainted. He asked, if I had met with any explanation of those passages in the History of Timour, where the undermining of a tower is described, and its then being destroyed by fire. I was not prepared for such a question, and mentioned the Greek fire used at the siege of Constantinople, and the circumstance of Timour’s vicinity to China, where it is believed that the art of making gunpowder was then known. I had not at this time heard that the undermined towers were supported by wooden frameworks, which, when set fire to, ceased to support the bastion, and it consequently fell. I next replied to the Prince’s queries regarding the customs of the Uzbeks. He smiled at their abomination of tobacco; since they sold it publicly, and mentioned that the servants of an envoy, whom he had lately received from Orgunje, caught the smoke as it came out of their master’s mouth. I had not seen such barbarism in Bokhara. When I related to the Prince the spiritual notions of the Uzbeks, and some instances of their hearing witness against themselves, he related to us a similar occurrence in the life of Ali:—A female, who was enceinte, called for death, as an atonement for her sins. The Caliph desired her to appear when her offspring was born. She did so, and again accused herself; and he gave the command for her being stoned to death, but prohibited every one from lifting a stone who was in the least impure. The Caliph put the woman to death himself. I told his Royal Highness that I regretted I had not heard the tale, that I might have replied to the Uzbeks. The Prince then requested me to give him some notes on the resources of the country about Shurukhs, which he shortly intended to visit. I gave them without hesitation. Abbas Meerza, during this interview, spoke of geography and mathematics by these names, and evinced a tolerable proficiency in the first of these sciences. He spoke of New Holland; but he did not enlighten me on one of his favourite plans, by which he purposes to consign all his brothers and nephews to that country on his accession to the crown.[9] Never was any thing more visionary. I now intimated my wishes to prosecute my journey among the Toorkmun tribes to the Caspian Sea; and the Prince, with great urbanity, assured me that I might visit any portion of the Persian dominions. He spoke of the danger of journeying among Toorkmuns; but desired his secretary to prepare a “rukum,” or order, which would ensure protection, and suggested our accompanying a Khan, who was proceeding in that quarter. He also offered a letter to his brother, the Prince of Mazanderan, and had it intimated to his son, who was then in his camp, that I would proceed in that quarter. We then took our leave of Abbas Meerza, much gratified by the interview. I cannot say that I was strongly impressed with his talents; but they evidently rise above mediocrity, and he is said to be swayed in his councils by others; he is, in every sense of the word, a perfect gentleman.
Acquaintances.