The paternal Government was alarmed lest I should be murdered by the Persians; and after the extreme solicitude the Russian authorities had shown for my safety when I was travelling to Khiva, I should have been deeply grieved to have given them any more annoyance on my account.
The following morning we left Khoi at daybreak. The city stands on a plain, and is surrounded by a chain of hills, but they are at a considerable distance from the walls.
The latter gradually disappeared, and, after a march of two hours and a half along a good road, we arrived at Kotoor Boghaz, a famous pass which divides the territory of the Sultan from that of the Shah. There is no Persian military station in the neighbourhood. The Turks have built a sort of block-house at the entrance of the gorge. Here I found a small force consisting of one captain, two lieutenants, forty infantry, and twenty-eight cavalry soldiers. Ahmed was the name of the captain. I now discovered that he was the identical officer who, six months previous, had been made prisoner by the Persians, and taken to Khoi. He informed me that one Turkish soldier, Osman by name, had been killed in the fray, and that he himself had been kept in chains for forty days in the gaol at Khoi, during which time he had nothing given him to eat save bread and water. In addition to this he had to sleep on the bare floor. According to my informant, the Persian captives who had been sent to Van had been well treated. They had been given beds in which to sleep, and had been supplied with pillaff.
"What do you think was the cause of the Persians attacking the Turkish village?" I inquired.
"The Russians were the origin of the disturbance," replied the officer. "Whilst I was being taken a prisoner to Khoi, I heard the Persian soldiers say, 'The Russians are our fathers,' and they laughed at me as they said so."
"The sooner we fight Russia the better," continued the speaker. "She will not be half so troublesome to us in open fight as she is at present."
We proceeded onward through the Kotoor Pass. A little stream, called the Kotoor Su, dashed along at our feet, and gradually became wider as it received a succession of small tributaries from the adjacent mountains.
The defile presents a series of magnificent positions for defence. It is in many places not more than 200 yards broad. Precipitous heights look down upon the stream from either hand.
There are several mineral springs in this neighbourhood—some being of a sulphurous nature. These are largely used by the Kurds, who, if unwell, come here during the summer months and drink the waters.
Presently the guide turned off the path; ascending some rising ground, he dismounted by the side of a spring. Taking a tin cup from my holster, I desired him to fill it, after which I tasted the water. It was warm, and reminded me of the Sprudel spring at Carlsbad, but is much stronger. Two glasses full of this Kotoor water are equivalent in their effects to at least four of the Sprudel.