Travels Into Bokhara (Volume 2 of 3) / Being the Account of A Journey from India to Cabool, Tartary, and Persia; Also, Narrative of a Voyage on the Indus, From the Sea to Lahore, With Presents From the King of Great Britain; Performed Under the Orders of the Supreme Government of India, in the Years 1831, 1832, and 1833

by Sir Alexander Burnes

As we reached our halting-ground in the morning, we had now an opportunity of observing the number and composition of the caravan. There were upwards of eighty camels, and about 150 persons, several of them men of the first respectability, who accompanied their merchandise to the markets of Persia. Some travelled in panniers placed on camels; others rode, some on horses, many on donkeys; but every person, even the meanest, had some kind of conveyance. The horsemen preceded the camels; and, stretching themselves out on the sand with their bridles in their grasp, stole a few moments’ sleep, till the caravan overtook them. The scene was altogether curious and novel. Among the party there were eight or ten Persians, who had passed many years of slavery in Toorkistan, and, after purchasing their liberty, were now returning by stealth to their homes. These people were delighted with our enquiries; and, in the journey, many of them became attached to us. They would bring melons for us; kill a sheep; draw water; and were always at hand. Some of them had been no less than three times captured, and as often had they redeemed themselves; for the Uzbeks are readily imposed upon and cheated by their slaves, who make money in service. I conversed with several of them; and it was equally painful to hear their past sufferings and present anxiety. Their influential countrymen in the caravan had put several of them in charge of a portion of their merchandise, that they might be the less noticed, and considered rather as traders than emancipated slaves; for a Persian merchant in a caravan is generally safe. In spite of all this arrangement, some hard-hearted wretches had told tales on the banks of the Oxus: one individual had been forced to return to Bokhara; and some of the others had crossed with difficulty. One single hint to the people of Orgunje would, in all probability, yet arrest their further progress; but every one had been well tutored. What must be the feelings of some of these men as they approach Persia. One of them told me that he had had a wife and a numerous family when sold into captivity, twenty-two years before; of whom he had not heard any account since that period. If any of them are alive, the parent will show himself among them as an apparition from the tomb. Another of these unfortunate individuals had a tale which was not less touching. He had been seized along with his family, and, indeed, all the inhabitants of his village, near Toorshish; and delivered up, by one of the Khorasan chiefs, to the Toorkmuns, who drove, on this occasion, upwards of a hundred people to Bokhara. At Maimunu, which is on the road, they were disposed of to other Toorkmuns, and at Bokhara finally sold. There this unfortunate man saw his wife sold to one, his daughter and son to others, and himself to a different person. A humane man, hearing of his misfortunes, released him, since he believed it good in the sight of God; and the poor fellow lurked in Bokhara, like a bird near its nest that is robbed, in hopes of relieving the other members of his family. He had failed, and was now travelling into his own country, to excite the compassion and pity of those who had known him in his prosperity. It would harrow up a man’s heart, to listen to all the tales of the woe which is inflicted upon mankind by these plundering Toorkmuns.

Well of Balghooee.

In marching from Karoul, we quitted the high road of the caravans, which leads to Merve, and proceeded westward into the desert, by a way that is altogether unfrequented. We had no option in the selection of such a route, since the officer who commands the Orgunje army sent a messenger to direct our march upon his camp. We were thus thrown into the jaws of the lion, but were helpless; and the merchants appeared to regret it more than ourselves. After the usual halt, we reached the well of Balghooee twenty-four miles distant, on the morning of the 23d. It was a small and single well, about four feet in diameter, as deep as that at Karoul; and the Toorkmuns only discovered it after a zigzag search of some hours. We soon emptied it (for the water was good), and had to wait a night till it again filled.

The desert.

In this march the desert was overgrown with brushwood, but the tract was entirely destitute of water; and a few rats, lizards, and beetles, with here and there a solitary bird, were its only inhabitants. Some of the sand-hills now attained the height of sixty feet: but at that elevation they are invariably bare of all vegetation; which, I suppose, cannot thrive in such an exposed situation. The highest hills were about a distance of eight miles from the halting-place, and named “sheer i shootr,” or “the camel’s milk,” from some allusion to that useful animal. There was nothing peculiar in the colour of the sand, which was quartzose. There was no turf, grass, or creeping plants; every shrub grew separately; and the grass, which I before mentioned, was only to be found in clumps. The heat of the sand rose to 150°: and that of the atmosphere exceeded 100°, but the wind blew steadily; nor do I believe it would be possible to traverse this tract in summer, if it ceased to blow: the steady manner in which it comes from one direction is remarkable in this inland country. It is true, that in every direction except the north we have mountains, but they are too distant to impede the winds. Our caravan advanced at a firm and equal pace among the sand; nor can I discover that the progress of a camel is much impeded in the desert. They moved at the rate of two miles and one eighth in the hour (3740 yards); and I have since found, that the judicious Volney assigns the distance of 3600 yards as the hourly journey of a camel in the sands of Egypt and Syria.

Dangers of the desert.

We had before heard of the deserts south of the Oxus; and had now the means of forming a judgment from personal observation. We saw the skeletons of camels and horses now bleaching in the sun, which had perished from thirst. The nature of the roads or pathways admits of their easy obliteration; and, if the beaten track be once forsaken, the traveller and his jaded animal generally perish. A circumstance of this very nature occurred but a few days previous to our leaving Charjooee. A party of three persons travelling from the Orgunje camp lost the road, and their supply of water failed them. Two of their horses sank under the parching thirst; and the unfortunate men opened the vein of their surviving camel, sucked its blood, and reached Charjooee from the nourishment which they thus derived. The camel died. These are facts of frequent occurrence. The Khan of Orgunje, in his late march into the desert, lost upwards of two thousand camels, that had been loaded with water and provisions for his men. He dug his wells as he advanced; but the supply of water was scanty. Camels are very patient under thirst: it is a vulgar error, however, to believe that they can live any length of time without water. They generally pine, and die on the fourth day, and, under great heat, will even sink sooner.

Seerab.

After a day’s detention to rest the camels, we marched at sunrise, and continued our progress, with a short halt, till the same time next day. We journied thirty-five miles, and alighted at a fetid well called Seerab; and from well to well we had no water. We appeared to have lost the great sand hills in our advance westward. The desert, though it had the same features as before, now presented an undulating and uneven country of sand, partially covered with shrubs. The soil was salt in some places; but the water of the well was good enough after it was some time drawn. Our Toorkmun Sirdar made his appearance shortly after our arrival, to claim his cup of tea; and never was a schoolboy more fond of sugar than this hoary-headed Toorkmun. I used to give it to him to have the pleasure of seeing him grind it, though some of the merchants wondered at our wasting it on such a person. I always felt the happier in the company of this man, for I looked upon him as the only bond between us and the barbarians we were to encounter. He used also to tell us the news of the caravan, and all the particulars of the country, which he even knew that we noted down. Ernuzzer did not deceive us, and the tea and the sugar which he consumed, were but a small tax for his service. In return for these favours, he promised to give me a bonne bouche, Camel’s milk. when we reached the first camp of the Toorkmuns; and when I expected nothing else than “kimmiz” or “boozu,” mare’s milk or fermented liquor, he brought me camel’s milk, which is the only drink of the Toorkmuns. The milk is mixed with water, and the cream is then drawn off. It is called “chal,” and has a salt, bitter taste. The thinner part of the milk is considered a grateful draught by the people, but to me it tasted sour and acrid. I believed that the Uzbeks and Toorkmuns drank mare’s milk and fermented liquors; but these are unknown in Bokhara, and only peculiar to the Kuzzaks and Kirgizzes, between that city and Russia.

An Eastern caravan.