TRAVELS IN CENTRAL ASIA.*
ARSIINIU8 VAMBERY, a Hungarian gentleman, born, as he says, on an island in the Danube, had from his boyhood devoted him- self to philological studies, especially in the languages akin, or supposed to be akin, to the Magyar. Removing to Constanti- nople, he remained several years in Turkish houses and mosques, either affecting or embracing Islam, until his friends pronounced him an Effendi, a learned doctor in all Malrommedan law. Still pursuing his studies into the affinities of his own tongue, he re- solved to study the Turco-Tartaric dialects, and with this ob- ject to penetrate into the little known region which lies between Persia Proper and the deserts of Chinese Tartary. Furnished with funds by the Hungarian Academy and with special firmans by the Sultan, he travelled as a dervish of Constantinople, and penetrated without suspicion into the region from which so few Europeans have escaped alive. He saw Samarcand and the "noble Bokhara," Khiva and Khokand, as a Mussulinen, walk- ing about where he would unmolested, hearing all the residents said, watching them, and their creeds, and their dialects as no European has ever been permitted to do. It was a grand oppor- tunity, but there were drawbacks. It was scarcely possible for M. Vambery to take notes ; he was obliged to trust almost ex- clusively to his memory, and he devoted that faculty chiefly to the dialects he had risked so much to study. His prelhuinary book of travels is therefore less complete than with his advan- tages it ought to have been, is somewhat scrappy in design, and though remarkably well written, sometimes tedious from an absence of minute detail. The volume is, however, full of infor- mation, all given at first-hand, abaut places and tribes of which as yet Europe knows exceedingly litde,—the Turcomans, the Southern Kirghis, and the horrible barbarians who misgovern the great tract which it suits Englishmen to denominate par excellence Central Asia. The phrase ought to cover a very much wider region, but Anglo-Indians always apply it to the great tract lying between Russian Tartary on the north, Persia on the west, Chinese Tartary on the east, and Afghanistan on the south, the tract which was the seat of the Tartar Empire, from which all the streams of the second great Mussulinan out- burst took their rise. It is now divided into three klianats- Bokhare, Khiva, and Khokand—called in most maps Kokan,— each ruled by a chief who acknowledges the spiritual authority of the Sultan of Turkey, and professes to give commands as an officer of his Court, but who is really an independent prince, a strict Mussulrnan, and on most points an utter barbarian. The nominal suzerainty over the whole belongs to Bukhara, whose Khan terms himself without authority a descendant of Tirnour, an elder branch of the race which lost the last of its many thrones when an English officer sentenced its representative to transportation for life.
Samarcand, the ancient seat of the dynasty, the chosen home of .''rnour, is now within the domain of Bokhara, and like all great A.sm._tic cities falling rapidly into decay. It still, however, contains • Trasels in Central Asia. By A. Yambery. Londou: John Murray. the hall or court in which Timour received the envoys of con- quered nations, in which stood the horsemen always waiting to
bear his orders to the four quarters of the world, and in which is the Koktash, the mighty block of green stone which he used as a throne, and which is said to have been brought from Broussa, the Asiatic capital of the House of °Litman. The tomb of the great conqueror is an octagonal chapel ten short paces across, and containing two tombs, one, that of the Emir covered with a very fine dark green stone, time other, that of his religious teacher, with black stone :—" As for the interior of the chapel, arabesques in alabaster, whose gildings are in rich contrast with a lovely azure, bear evidence of taste truly artistic, and produce an effect sur- prisingly beautiful It reminds us, but can give only a faint idea, of the inside of the sepulchre of Meesume Fatma in Kom (Persia). Whilst the latter is too much filled, the former is simply and modestly beautiful. At the head of the graves are two Rabic (table with two leaves, upon which, in the East, are laid sacred volumes), where the Mollalis day and night read in turn the Koran, and contrive to extract from the Vakf (pious foundation) of the Turbe a good salary. They, as well as the Mutevali (stewards), are taken from the Nogai Tartars, because the Emir expressed in his will the desire that the watch over him should be entrusted to this race, which had always been particularly well disposed towards him." No one dare disregard his orders, for to the people of Samarcand the reign of their great Emir is what the Empire is to the modern Romans, and " Timour is spoken of in Samarcand as if the news of his death had only just arrived from Otrar, and the question was put to me
as Osmanli, what my feelings were on approaching the tomb of a sovereign who had inflicted upon 'our ' Sultan so terrible a de- feat." The old city is full of domes and mosques and stately
buildings, which the citizens are diligently destroying, cutting out, for example, the splendid mosaics with which a Chinese wife of Timour adorned a splendid Medresseh (college) built out of her private purse. Another century or two and Samarcand will have passed away, but at present it stands, with its lofty buildings, and glorious gardens, and citadel, towards which from every part of Northern Asia, China, Turkey, and Eastern Russia, converge ruined post roads, marked with square milestones all broken, all arranged by order of the man who only 450 years ago was absolute master from the Sea of Okhotsk to the Bos- phorus and the Ural. One can scarcely wonder that the people of the city believe the wretched chief who now rules them is about to conquer Russia and all of the world which does not already obey the Khalif. Bokhara itself is a fine city, falling gradually into ruin, but still occupying in the minds of the Tartars the place which Paris occupies in that of Europeans. Imagine this scene in a city planted in the central " desert " of Asia :—
"He complied, and conducted me through the Timt,cho Tchay Furnshi (Tea Bazaar) to the renowned place Debi Ham Divanbeghi (bank of the reservoir of the Divanbeghi). For Bokhara I found this. a most attractive spot. It is almost a perfect square, having in the centre a deep reservoir, 100 feet long and 80 broad ; the sides are of square stones, with eight steps leading down to the surface of the water. About the margin stand a few fine elm trees, and in their shade the inevitable tea booth, and the Samovars (tea-kettle) looking like a colossal cask of beer. It is manufactured in Russia expressly for Bokhara, and invites every one to a cup of green tea. On the other throe sides, bread, fruit, confectionary, and moats warm and cold are exposed for sale on stands shaded by cane mats. Tho hundreds of shops improvized for the occasion, around which crowds of longing mouths or hungry customers hum like bees, present us with a very characteristic spectacle. On the fourth side, that to the west, which is in the form of a terrace, we find the mosque Mesdjidi Divanbeghi. At its front there are also a few trees, where Dervishes and Moddah (public reciters) recount in verse and prose, and actors represent simultaneously, the heroic actions of famous warriors and prophets, to which performances there are never wanting crowds of curious listeners and spectators."
Khiva is scarcely described, the only information given of general interest being that the Oosbegs (Uzbeks) who inhabit it are fanatic Mussulmans, that the Emit punishes every breach of the law with death, and rewards his soldiers by granting them robes of honour according to the number of human skulls they have brought in. Vamb6ry saw the heals brought in for the rewards rolling about time square as they were poured out of long sacks :—
" Next morning I did really see about a hundred horsemen arrive from the camp covered with dust. Each of them brought at least one prisoner with him, and amongst the number, children and women, also bound either to the tail of the horse or to the pommel of the saddle ; besides all which, ho had buckled behind him a largo sack containing the heads of his enemies, the evidence of his heroic exploits. On coming up he handed over the prisoners as presents to the Khan, or some other great personage, then loosened his sack, seized it by the two lower corners, as if he were about to empty potatoes, and there rolled the bearded or beardless heads before the accountant, who kicked them together with his feet until a large heap was composed, consisting
of several hundreds. Each hero had a receipt given do him for the number of heads delivered, and a few days later came the day of payment."
M. Vambery adds some information on Chinese Tartary, not first hand, and not very valuable, and an account of the Turco- mans, who, he says, are divided into nine clans, of different strength, and scattered from the Caspian to China. They are all nomads—nothing, they say, is still but the earth and a corpse, —all without form of government, all warriors, and all utterly contemptuous of any race but themselves. They beat the Per- sians in particular with ease, and it was they who filled up the armies of Nadir Shah. They are all Mussulmans, but are really guided by a creed older than Mahommed, the belief in the sanctity of" Deb" or custom, the unwritten imprescriptable law, which they never violate, and which enables them to keep together as societies. M. VambSry seems to believe that Russia will ultimately acquire a sovereignty over these regions, and warns Englishmen not to believe that she will give up her design of forming a grand Tartar Empire. He seems to thiuk that a formidable prospect, but for ourselves we are grateful to Provi- dence for any rule or invasion which can be expected to put a final stop to scenes like these at Khiva
"In the last court I found about three hundred Tchandors, prisoners of war, covered with rage; they were so tormented by the dread of their approaching fate, and by the hunger which they had endured several days, that they looked as if they had just risen from their graves. They were separated into two divisions, namely, such as had not yet reached their fortieth year, and were to be sold as slaves, or to be made use of as presents, and such as from their rank or age were regarded as Aksakals (gfey beards) or leaders, and who were to suffer the punishment imposed by the Khan. Tho former, chained together by their iron collars in numbers of ten to fifteen, were led away ; the latter submissively awaited the punishment awarded. They looked like lambs in the hands of their executioners. Whilst several were led to the gallows or the block, I saw how, at a sign from the executioner, eight aged men placed themselves down on their backs upon the earth. They were then bound hand and foot, and the executioner gouged out their eyes in turn, kneeling to do so on the breast of each poor wretch ; and after every operation he wiped his knife, dripping with blood, upon the white beard of the hoary unfortunate. .&h! cruel spectacle ! As each fearful act was completed, the victim liberated from his bonds, groping around with his hands, sought to gain his feet ! Some fell against each other, head against head; others sank powerless to the earth again, uttering low groans, the memory of which will make me shudder as long as I live."
"If Russia can stop that let Russia advance" ought to be the prayer of every civilized man.
Previous page
