Historical Reference |
Merv Oasis Vol. II Chapter 35 | ||
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CHAPTER 35. Leaving Kaki - My guardians at fault - A stratagem - A jungle scene - A melancholy solitude - Dushakh - First meeting with Turkmen - A stronghold - Men and women - Adjem Serdar - A first-class residence - Curiosity - Commandant of Sarakhs - Black and yellow Russians - A piece of information - Precautions against thieves - An uneasy night - Starting to the sound of music - Ancient ruins - Fresh difficulties - Wild ass and antelope - Turkmen lies - False and real alarms - 'Peace be with you' - Meneh - Troglodytic dwellings - Ana Murad Kafur - Retaliation - A prisoner - Waiting - A march in the dark - Crossing the Tejun river - Trees and driftwood - Wild boars - Odjar bushes - Kizil Dengli - Rainpools - Looking for water - A chance drink - Entozoa - The 'sandy desert' - A dangerous spot - Shaitli - Salty wells - Rate of marching - A wet couch. I Rode out of Kaka, following the road to Kelat for ten or twelve miles. I knew that I was being narrowly watched from the ramparts of Kaka, and that, acting as I did, the observers would have little doubt that I was making straight for my supposed destination. The Russian agent had unwittingly done me a great service in ridding me of the very people who were charged not to allow me to go towards Merv. Both he and they thought I would never dare venture alone across the desert. Once, however, engaged among the first ravines and hill spurs thrown out by the great mountain chain, I turned my horse's head and rode swiftly in the direction of Merv, directing my steps by compass, and becoming involved in ground where it would not be easy to track me owing to the rocky and gravelly soil, and the number of mountain streams which intersected the way. There was no road or beaten track of any kind. 90 DESOLATION AND LONELINESS. Sometimes I plunged into deep ravines, densely grown with giant reeds and cane brakes. Pheasants rose by dozens at every twenty yards. Wild boars continually plunged with a smashing noise through the reeds, and now and again I caught sight of a leopard or lynx stealing away deeper into the jungle. The entire scene was one of primitive nature. Very probably I was the first European who had ever trodden that way. Indeed, except under such circumstances as those by which I found myself surrounded, there was small reason for anyone, European or native, to wander among those savage recesses. At length, the ground becoming dangerously swampy, I ascended the lower hill slopes in order to gain firmer ground, and at the same time to obtain a view over the plain, and take bearings for my future line of march. From the summit of a grassy hill I had a fine view of the plain, reaching away northward and eastward. Although it was early in the year, the rays of the noontide sun were intensely hot, and the further reaches of the plain appeared of an aerial blue tint, such as in northern climes we are accustomed to associate with the sky rather than with the earth. Far and wide were scattered countless towns and villages - all deserted, their lonely walls and towers standing out, grimly desolate, in the white, mid-day blaze. Scores of ancient mounds dotted the plain. The vast expanse, marked with all these traces of vanished life, quivering and dancing in the mirage, had about it something weird and unearthly, that filled the mind with a sense of desolation and loneliness. I knew well that numerous parties of ruthless bandits were lying hidden among the ruins; and it may be imagined how carefully I scanned the ground with my field-glass as I decided upon which direction I should follow. It was not easy to make a reconnaissance, as, owing to the trembling, heated CHOOSING THE ROAD. 91 atmosphere, one could hardly tell whether an object at a distance of five or six miles were a look-out tower or a Turkmen horseman. After a lengthened survey I decided on my course, and, descending the hill, rode straight towards the only inhabited place within reach. This was Dushakh, marked on maps as Chardeh and Charardeh, though the people inhabiting it recognize it by that name with difficulty. It was about twenty-five miles distant. The tract which I crossed on my way to it was a rich, loamy surface, where streams from the mountains run riot amid luxuriant growths of wild flowers and herbs, grass being of but rare occurrence. Dandelion, sage, fox-glove, thistle, mints of all kinds, and a thousand other plants flourish, but a square yard of grassy sward is a rare phenomenon. Some tufts of wonderfully green grass are to be met with along the verges of the running streams, but where other vegetation abounds grass seems to shun its company. One by one we left behind us the embattled mud ramparts of Beg Murad, Nourek Khodja, Achmet, and Zakadja, all grimly silent as the tomb - not even a stray robber within their walls. As I drew near Dushakh, dark, leaden-colored clouds had come over the sky, and the sun was setting fiery red. To the left was a very large ancient mound, crowned by crumbling walls and towers. A long, low rampart enclosed an irregular rectangular space of about a hundred yards square. I now, for the first time, met the Merv Tekkes. Dushakh which is now well within Persian territory, formerly belonged to old Merv, and the soil around it, being fertile and well watered, is still haunted by the descendants of its former owners. These people, some two hundred in number, have their real houses in Merv, and come to Dushakh (Chardeh) only during sowing and harvest time. 92 DUSHAKH. The ground which they cultivate is watered by streams which rise within the oval crater of Kelat-i-Nadri, and as these can at any moment be turned at their source to a new direction, the tillers of Dushakh are at the mercy of the Khan of Kelat. Hence, in return for the water supply, they pay him one-tenth of the total corn produce. Uncouth forms were to be seen upon the ramparts, and curious eyes gazed at me as I galloped up at the head of my slender following. I was evidently taken for the tax- gatherer, coming to assess the newly planted ground. When the rickety gate of unhewn tree-trunks was unbarred, and I stood within the quadrangle, my eyes fell upon a wild sight. Within was an irregular, muddy encampment, where pit-like hollows were half filled with reddish-brown liquid of pestilent odor - the drainings of the camping- ground of camel, buffalo, and human being. Amid this stood what at first sight seemed to be gigantic stacks of corn, but which proved to be the huts of the inhabitants. They were composed of great sheaves of giant reeds, placed in lean-to fashion. A number of camels, looking as raggedly wretched as they usually do on these plains, groaned and grunted. A couple of hundred horses, none of them very remarkable for beauty, stood tethered around. Women with disheveled hair and wild eyes, clad in long, flowing red shirts, which, with the long purple trousers, formed their only attire, gazed round corners at me with a guilty look. Fifty or sixty men, in colossal sheep-skin hats and deep red robes, carbine at back and sword at girdle, came forward to meet me- The chief, Adjem Serdar, stepped out to give me welcome, notwithstanding the fact that he had not a very clear conception of who I was, or of the nature of my business at Dushakh. I was shown into the only habitation which was not a reed hut - a single chamber with earthen walls, partly excavated at the foot of the A PERSIAN COLONEL - VILLAGE THIEVES. 93 ramparts. I could barely stand upright beneath the rough roof of unhewn pine trunks. A fire of camel's dung smoldered at the upper extremity. The room speedily became crammed to suffocation by Turkmen, whose curiosity was little short of ferocious. They literally thrust their noses into my face, and seemed desirous of looking down my throat. The majority were of opinion that I was a Russian spy, but an active minority were in my favor. An
hour after my arrival, the Persian colonel commanding the
garrison of Sarakhs, who was on his way
to Deregez with a present of horses sent by the Prince
Governor of Adjem Serdar came up to where I was sitting, and, in a whisper, imparted to me what he doubtless thought was a new and unforeseen piece of intelligence, viz., that the greater number of the people of his village were thieves, and that it was advisable to look very sharply after my horses. He had, he said, taken the precaution of chaining them together by the fetlocks, and he presented me with a collection of iron instruments, resembling small reaping-hooks and undersized crowbars, which I was informed were the keys of the padlocks which secured the chains. To make matters doubly sure, two trusted henchmen, made specially responsible for the safety of the horses, slept beside them. After supper - the usual mess of greasy rice served in a great wooden bowl, and clawed up, ghoul fashion, by each one with his bare fingers - we lay down to sleep as well as we - 94 YAZTHI TEPE - GUIDES' SCRUPLES. might in a place in which it is no exaggeration to say that nil night long I could hear the huge black fleas springing and dancing around me. We were up an hour before dawn, for I had told the chief that it was possible a party of Cossacks might come that way two or three hours after sunrise, and I wished to be well away on my forward journey betimes. In the angry red dawn I rode out of Dushakh, with an escort of four men, in addition to my two servants, and a mounted musician, who was charged to lighten a mile or two of my way with the strains of a two-stringed guitar, on which he performed briskly. Three miles east of Dushakh is an immense ancient mound, surrounded by domed brick tombs and the remains of what seems to have been an extensive monastic establishment. This hill and its surroundings are known to the people of the locality as Yazthi Tepe. From its summit a commanding view could be obtained, and with the aid of a field-glass it was easy to have timely notice of the approach of Cossack patrols. We made tea, and talked of the route to Merv. My conductors exhibited scruples about the advisability of allowing me to go on, lest they should be held responsible for facilitating the advent of a suspected stranger to a place always jealously closed to travelers, and, at such a critical moment, when the immediate possibilities were so menacing, all but unapproachable. They did their best to dissuade me from continuing my journey, and, finding their eloquence thrown away, flatly refused to accompany me any further. I told them that it was a matter of indifference to me whether they accompanied me or not, as in any case I was resolved to go forward. We then parted, and, steering by compass, I made the best of my way towards Meneh. For many miles there was no trace of cultivation; nor did any streams occur, though there were abundant DUSHAKH TO MENEH -INSTINCTIVE LYING. 95 evidences, in the form of old irrigation canals, that the plain had at one time been extensively tilled. A short, crisp grass, watered by rain-falls, grew abundantly on the white loamy surface, and stunted bushes abounded. On every side were indications of the near proximity of the wild ass (colon) and antelope (geran), and here and there were unmistakable rootings up of the soil by wild boars. A well- marked track showed the way across the plain, and at intervals of two or three miles were brick towers and small ruined fortalices, originally constructed for the protection of the caravan route. I had been informed that my immediate destination, Meneh, was about sixteen miles from Dushakh. After traversing double that distance I could see no sign of a halting-place. The true distance turned out to be over forty miles - a fact necessarily well known to the inhabitants, but which their instinctive habit of lying on all occasions prevented them from telling me. As I advanced eastward, the Persian mountains trended away to the southeastward, until they appeared only as faint blue undulations on the horizon. My Kurd, who had hitherto indulged in a good deal of the vaporing and boasting common to most Orientals, began to show marked signs of uneasiness as the wild Turkmen desert widened away before us. My second attendant, a refugee from Geok Tepe, naturally felt at his ease, as every one we might encounter would be tolerably sure to be his countryman. Besides, the horse he rode, and the various articles which he carried, were not his own. Save his dilapidated cotton overall, he had nothing to lose. More than once we experienced false alarms. On one occasion we seemed to see a party of horsemen, three or four miles off, galloping towards us. A long examination through a telescope failed to afford reliable information, 96 AN ALARM. owing to the trembling of the heated layer of air in contact with the plain, which gave to distant objects apparent life and motion. When within half a mile of the supposed horsemen, they turned out to be the fragments of a brick fort. On the occasion of each new alarm it was with the greatest difficulty that I could keep my Kurd from turning back, or flying towards the mountains. He said that I was mad to come into such a place with so slender a following, and that the Khan of Kelat, or anyone in his senses, would not venture out into those plains without an escort of at least five hundred men. An hour or so before sunset came a real alarm. Coming to the brow of a gentle undulation, I suddenly perceived a couple of horses some three miles off; and on drawing nearer two men rose from the ground, where they had been lying, mounted, and rode towards us. When within a quarter of a mile they unslung their muskets and laid them across their saddle-bows, in readiness for action - a movement which we imitated. At fifty yards we halted, and the new comers challenged with the usual salutation of the desert, ' Peace be with you.' This indicated that fight was not desired, at least for the moment. We approached to within half-a-dozen paces, each party eyeing the other intently for fully a minute before breaking silence. The horsemen proved to be two Merv Tekkes from the colony at Meneh, roaming about on the look-out for prey. On learning who I was, and whither bound, they turned back with me, and we rode on far into the night before any signs of inhabitants were apparent. A little after sunset we came abreast of some ruinous old buildings crowned with crumbling cupolas, and styled the Imam Zade of Meneh. They lay about six hundred yards to our left, and my guides, galloping away in front, dismounted before the walls, and remained some little time in prayer. This is an invariable custom among the Turkmen, when passing any place reputed for sanctity. Daring the last two or three hours we stumbled along slowly in the dark, splashing through flooded ground, and falling into deep irrigation trenches. We must have crossed some thousands of acres of cultivated ground before reaching a ruinous old mud-walled fort to which we were guided by some glimmering lights. The women and children, together with the cattle, were within the walls ; the men, for the most part, inhabiting strange-looking wigwams without. By the blaze of the camp-fires I could make out some scores of Turkmen standing and lying about, their weapons tied in sheaves around wooden posts planted in rows. The huts were of the most primitive construction, consisting of oblong pits about six feet in depth, rudely roofed over with tree-branches and bushes, on which was piled the rough hay destined for the horses. A steep incline led to the interior, where a fire of brambles and cattle dung gave out an uncertain light and stifling smoke. Saddles and other horse furniture were piled around. Here, in company with fifteen Turkmen closely packed together, I spent a thoroughly miserable night. At dawn the Turkmen went about their various occupations, and I had a little leisure to write. The task was no easy one, for the place swarmed with every kind of vermin, and, early as was the season, flies were present in myriads. They settled in clouds upon the paper, drinking up the ink before it could dry, and blotting the writing with then- feet. I took the bearing of Merv and Sarakhs from Meneh, having carefully ascertained their direction. Merv bears 65° N.E., and Sarakhs 70° S.E. The Merv Turkmen at Meneh, like those at Dushakh, come there only in the sowing and reaping seasons. They, too, pay a tribute of one-tenth of the produce to the Khan 98 ANA MURAD KAFUR-RETALIATION. of Kelat, who commands their water supply, the source of which is within his valley. Formerly, when Merv was a regularly organized state, Meneh was included in its territory. Ana Murad Kafur, the chief of the party, told me that the families of himself and his companions had been settled in this particular district ever since the arrival of the Tekke Turkmen from the northern plains, and that they had annually, without intermission, cultivated the ground. His real home, he explained, was at Merv, where he hoped to renew his acquaintance with me, ' if,' said he, ' you ever get there.' He told me that the Turkmen had generally managed their dealings with the Persians at Kelat-i-Nadri in a satisfactory manner, but that reprisals on his part occasionally became necessary, on account of wanton acts of aggression by the Khan's men-at-arms. He had been obliged, he remarked, to retaliate for the death of his grand-uncle, which had taken place many years previously. That person had been treacherously murdered while on a visit to Kelat-i-Nadri. A descendant of one of the perpetrators happened to fall into the hands of Ana Murad Kafur, who, in a spirit of generosity, abstained from taking his life, only cutting off his ears and nose, and chopping off his fingers in the middle. He seemed to take great credit to himself for his leniency. I must own that this additional disclosure of the amenities of border society by no means reassured me. On the contrary, it doubled my anxiety to make a final plunge, and put myself out of pain once for all. I had everything in readiness to start at midday, and only awaited the appearance of the escort and guides who had been promised me. While waiting, the chief brought in an Akhal Tekke Turkmen, heavily manacled at the ankles. He was a wretched-looking man - a fugitive from A Tekke Delinquent - Delays. 99 Geok Tepe, on his way to Merv. En passant he tried to do a stroke of business at the expense of his congeners at Meneh, and was caught in the act of driving before him some of their sheep and cattle. Filled with virtuous indignation at this unseemly act, the Meneh folk had set upon and ironed him, and Ana Murad Kafur informed me that in compliment to my arrival he would be set free, and would accompany me to Merv. His fetters were removed in my presence, and his arms restored to him. I cannot say that I was perfectly easy on discovering that my escort was to be composed of individuals like this. There were others - a fat, ruddy-faced Turkmen from Merv, just returning from the Deregez, whither he had gone to sell horses to the Khan of that place, and two brothers, who, having completed their agricultural operations at Meneh, were going home. The afternoon wore on, the sun rapidly neared the horizon, and yet I could see no sign of preparation for setting out. I felt very anxious, for, knowing the objections which the people at Dushakh entertained to my going forward, I feared that I was about to experience similar ones at Meneh. I did not care to express my suspicions openly, for I knew that if they set their faces against my expedition it would be impossible for me to make my way thither across a vast, waterless space, with which I was utterly unacquainted, and in the midst of which I should probably perish with thirst, even if I were not cut down by the first party I should meet with on the way. Evening fell, and, unable to restrain my impatience any longer, I asked why the day had been allowed to pass by without any move in the desired direction having been made. I said that I wished to set out at once, but was desired to wait a little longer. It was not safe to start during daylight. All kinds of marauding bands were sure to be abroad, who would espy our course from a distance, and waylay us. The fall of Geok Tepe, and the complete upsetting of the little order that ever existed in these regions, had made the road doubly dangerous. Through utter helplessness I had perforce to wait the pleasure of my hosts. It was some time after sunset when I was told that everything was in readiness for our departure. I emerged from my semi- subterranean wigwam, found the horses saddled, and my escort of four mounted. The night was dark, for the slender moon showed but fitfully behind drifting clouds, and was but three hours from the western horizon. After that time the blackness would be dense, as it usually is, under such circumstances, out on these plains. There was certainly but little fear of anyone, friend or foe, detecting our whereabouts. When all were mounted, we had the half-hour's pause, usual on such occasions, to smoke the water-pipe. This instrument constitutes an important element in the life of a Turkmen. During the day, not half an hour passes but it must be prepared, and he will rise half a dozen times in the night to have a pull at his eternal kalioun. During a journey this constant smoking becomes a serious nuisance, so often is a halt called, and so considerable the delay occasioned by the lighting-up of this confounded tobacco apparatus. At last we started, seven in all - myself, my two servants, and the escort of four Turkmen. I was not favorably impressed by the appearance of these latter, for each of them was as truculent-looking a fellow as I ever met with in any part of the world. Ana Murad Kafur, with half-a-dozen of his horsemen, accompanied us for a mile on our way, to see us off, and also to make sure that no evil befell his guests within his own particular jurisdiction. We picked our way with difficulty among the shallow A NIGHT HALT. 101 pits which served as granaries for the storage of the corn of the Turkmen. The grain is first covered with straw, and then with earth. This system seems to result very satisfactorily, and I have seen corn taken from these receptacles in excellent condition after many months. In the faint moonlight we could see remnants of old buildings, and, to judge from the number of deep irrigation trenches through which we splashed, the water supply must have been very copious indeed. Then the plain widened out, and we were soon in the open Turkmen desert. Accustomed to the darkness, I could make out that for some hours we trod over traces of former cultivation. Then came the naked, marly plain, with stunted bushes of tamarisk and camel thorn, sparsely strewn here and there. Midnight passed, and I thought the dawn long due before a halt was called. 'We were in the midst of slightly raised sand-hills, crowned by low bushes. That which I here speak of as ' sand' is simply drifted marl dust, which, when moistened, turns, unlike siliceous sand, into a thick, clammy mud. My escort told me that we were close to the Tejun river, but that to attempt the passage in the dark was exceedingly dangerous. I lay down to rest among some tamarisk bushes, which at this spot were of unusual dimensions, doubtless owing to the proximity of the river. The rest of the party lighted a fire, and fed the horses. As I lay down, a faint light on the horizon indicated the approach of daybreak. I thought that I had scarcely had time to close my eyes when I was summoned to mount and be off. It was still but red dawn as we rode up to the brink of the river. To the right and left was a long stretch of marly bank, sloping to the water. In front was a sluggish stream about fifty yards wide. Along the bank, especially at the turnings of the stream, at which its direction was forced by the current towards the opposite shore, trees grew plentifully. Many of them were from twenty to thirty feet in height, and four to eight inches in diameter. Everywhere were stranded tree-trunks and masses of brushwood, piled up tier upon tier as they were left by the periodic floods. Between natural growths in situ and this drift-wood there is an immense accumulation of fuel along the lower waters of the Tejun, before they lose themselves in the swamp to the northward. The
stream was barely fordable, and it was only by zigzagging
in the most cautious manner, the horses feeling for the
shallowest portion of the crossing, that we avoided
getting floated altogether. To save our tea and sugar,
the servants knelt on their saddles, carrying the
saddle-bags over their shoulders. Birds of many kinds
filled the bushes on either bank, and from their
whistling and chattering they seemed to be of a species
with which I had not previously met. Huge water-rats
scampered about, and I saw an animal, which I took to be
an otter, plunge into the stream. We crept up the sandy
slopes of the river ravine - for the surface of the water
is from twenty to twenty-five feet below the level of the
surrounding ground - and rode out into the plain beyond.
This plain is not sandy. It is an argillaceous expanse,
the dust of which is like the sand of western shores.
Wherever the wind gives rest all kinds of grasses and
leguminous plants grow luxuriantly in this shifting soil,
especially in the neighborhood of the river, or after a
series of rainfalls. In fact, it is precisely similar to
the ground which at Dushakh and Meneh gives such abundant
crops when irrigated by the streams from the Kelat
valley. The sand-hills of this so-called desert are but
as the dust- heaps of a much-frequented high road in After an hour's ride from the river we halted to make ON THE PLAINS - THE ODJAR. Page 103 tea. Here the hills of drifted marl dust were of considerable elevation, and, so far as I could see, formed a continuous line, separating the district immediately in contact with the river from the outlying plain. On their slopes was an abundant spring vegetation. I noticed one remarkably beautiful species of lily, of small size, having fleshy, flame- colored petals. This grew very plentifully. Away to the east we could see whole broods of wild boars, feeding, and while tea was being got ready some of my companions indulged in chasing them. Our morning meal consisted of tea, rough griddled bread, and some morsels of indurated white cheese, hardened to the consistency of horn. Under such circumstances half an hour is a long halt. We were soon in the saddle and away again. The plain was a monotonous level, overgrown, in spite of the absence of regular water supply, with tamarisk, whose gnarled stems were often four inches in diameter, and whose withered remains strewed the plain for many a mile with fuel sufficient for a whole army corps. The accumulated growths of half a century were there, mingled with the still living bushes. I noticed in some places small houses built after the fashion of American log huts, and intended as sun shelters for passing caravans. Great heaps of tamarisk stems were piled up as landmarks and as signals to following companions. Whatever the dearth of water in the place might be, there certainly was no lack of the means of producing fire. This tamarisk is termed odjar by the Tekkes, as well as by the Yomud. Towards mid-day the heat became very intense; and though the small water-skin which we had filled at the Tejun sufficed for ourselves, our horses suffered greatly from thirst. Two miles northward is a place called Ki/.il- Dengli, or the ' red sign,' so called from a kind of stout obelisk, built of unbaked brick plastered with loam, and Page 104 SEARCH FOR WATER - KIZIL-DENGLI. erected above a subterranean cistern situated in the centre of a space where the plain formed a basin of about a mile in diameter. Here the rain water accumulates, not only in the cistern, but on portions of the surface, where it remains, during the early part of the year, often for weeks together. We turned in this direction, hoping to find a little water for our horses. At short intervals were immense mole-hills, some being from two to three feet high. They looked like so many heaps of lime, their surfaces being encrusted with an efflorescence of nitre and other saline matter. Wherever there was the least scarping of the ground, the same appearance was noticeable. At Kizil-Dengli we found the cistern quite dry. All around was perfectly bare of vegetation, and covered with cracked segments of thin caked sediment, showing the site of the surface of the water-pools, then quite dried up. Here and there, on slightly elevated ground, were islands of scorched-looking thistles and other weeds. Where the water had lodged, vegetation was even more absent than on the more arid portions of the plain. Though we crossed the waste in very open order, seven of us covering nearly a mile of front, each one scrutinizing sharply on every side of him, not a drop of water could we find. Nothing was left but to regain the original route, from which we had made a considerable deviation. It was only after another league to the eastward, while following a remarkably definite track, scarce a foot in diameter, formed by the continued passage of long camel trains, in single file, and which was sunk three or four inches below the surface, that we succeeded in discovering a little water. It was at a point between two long undulations. The hollow track had served as a kind of drain by which the rain-fall had been led to the hollow, and there, fifty or sixty yards in length, was a narrow pool, occupying the track. It was not more than two inches DANGEROUS WATER - ODJAR THICKETS. Page 105 deep, and the fine marl sediment hung so lightly at the bottom, half suspended in the water, that the horses could take but one draught at a given place, the disturbed silt rushing into their mouths. However, drinking as they walked along, they obtained sufficient to assuage their violent thirst. The men refused to partake of this water, as the stagnant rain-pools almost invariably contain the eggs of entozoan animals, which, as I shall subsequently have occasion to mention, produce serious inconvenience. League
after league of plain was traversed without any new
feature becoming apparent, but at length we reached a
district where the marl had drifted into long ridges,
which lay across our path, and were separated by
intervals of two to three hundred yards. Here the odjar
bushes increased in size, and on the slope of the undulations was
the freshest looking vegetation I had seen since leaving
the Tejun. Why the marl dust should have accumulated
in heaps at this particular spot it is hard to say. The Turkmen
style this part of the ground the ' sandy desert,' though
it is the most fruitful of the entire expanse up to the
point at which the influence of the As we crept along in the gloom, stumbling over fallen 106 SEVERE MARCHING. trunks, we started all kinds of wild animals from our path. Some I knew, by their grunting, to be boars, which abound here in incredible numbers. Others, by their pattering trot, I recognized to be jackals; and a few that bounded away lightly were either lynxes or leopards. This point is called Shaitli. Here there is a well, or rather a deep subterranean cistern, of very brackish water, so exceedingly charged with saline matter that recourse is only had to it under the most desperate circumstances, for even camels and Turkmen horses will drink it with hesitation. This water is only accessible by means of nose-bags, lowered by a rope through a small aperture. We halted several times, and took our bearings from the few visible stars. Often we were completely at fault, but these Turkmen like North American savages, possess an unerring instinct which invariably sets them right in the end. We had been riding pretty briskly, generally at a trot, when the nature of the ground allowed, and frequently at a canter. I calculate that, on the whole, we made over six and a half miles an hour during our entire journey. After midnight dense blackness came on, and the atmosphere became stifling. We had now been riding almost continuously for one entire day and the better part of two nights, and I must admit that I was very tired, especially as our only refreshment had been a crust of bread and a little all- but-uneatable cheese, washed down with weak sugarless tea. Once or twice I suggested a halt, but in whispered tones was informed that there was no knowing when ogri (robbers) might appear. This I thought rather good, considering that I was in the company of as select a party of thieves as could be found hidden in any desert bush or crumbling ruin. In the end, even the horses seemed incapable of going any further. The men seemed to be made of iron. We reined in for a consultation. It was decided to turn aside a A BIVOUAC. 107 hundred yards, so as to be away from the accustomed track, and thus lessen the risk of being attacked by any passing brigands. Amid the dense growth of tamarisk and other bushes we found a comparatively open space, where we determined to make a brief halt. As we dismounted, a bright flash of sheet lightning lit up the ground, and some heavy rain-drops fell splashingly. It was clear that a heavy shower was coming on. Still, I was so fatigued that I did not pause to think of this. I only asked somewhere to stretch my wearied limbs. A horse-cloth, a leopard skin, and an old ulster which had seen a great deal of service, constituted bed and bedding. ' With a saddle for a pillow did I prop my weary head,' and in half a minute I slept as only the wayworn traveler can sleep. Chapter 30 - Chapter 31 - Chapter 32 - Chapter 32 - Chapter 33 - Chapter 34 - Chapter 35 - Chapter 36 - Chapter 37 - Chapter 38 - Chapter 39 - Chapter 40 |
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are my notes on some important historical works. I have
edited and where possible standardized spellings. The
subject of the works has not and will not change but they
are not word for for word identical with the originals.
For instance in the case of General Mikhail_Dmitrievich
Skobelev I adopted the more common use of Skobelev
rather than Skoboloff. If this presents a problem then
find another source. Barry O'Connell Some other works:
Last count I have over 29,000 web pages in my notes. My main sites are www.SpongoBongo.com and www.PersianCarpetGuide.com
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