Noble scenery.
At length we cleared the valley of the Goorgan river, and debouched upon the plain eastward of the Caspian. The landscape was very imposing. To our left, the hills, now running in a range, rose up to a great height, clad to the summit with forest trees and foliage. To our right, the extensive plains, which are watered by the rivers Atruk and Goorgan, and richly verdant, were studded with innumerable encampments of Toorkmuns, and diversified by flocks and herds. In our front, at a distance, we descried the lofty mountains of Elboorz, that seemed to shut up an otherwise boundless plain. Such a scene would have delighted any one; much more a wanderer from the deserts of Scythia.
The Khan, before I took my departure, gratified my curiosity on the subject of Toorkmun minstrelsy, by sending two “Bukhshees,” or Bards, to amuse me with their lyre and lays. The instrument was a rude two-stringed sitar, to which they sung the national airs in Toorkee. They first gave me an “Attack of the Tuka Toorkmuns on the Persians;” and the following literal translation will give some notion of a Toorkmun war song:—
Toorkmun national songs.
THE TUKA TOORKMUNS TO THE KOORDS.
Lootf Ali Khan! Your greatness is gone, it is time to lead you away captive, Begler![11] It is time to marshal our forces at night, and prepare for a “chupao”[12] in the morning.
The dust of your fields shall blow away under the hoofs of the Toorkmuns.
The Tukas will bear off your daughters arrayed in velvet.
Thanks be to God, my name shall abound unto the skies.
If you know the year of the goat[13], know that I shall then plunder Meshid.