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No. 88.
A RIDE TO KHIVA.
505
the dogs in the garrison, attracted by the noise
and commotion, were collected round the cortege.
The hunting-ground was about eight miles dis-
tant, and away we rode at a rattling pace; the
allop to cover being considered as a part of the
y's entertainment.
The country lay open and flat before. There
‘was not an obstacle to check our course save now
and then a dike, some eight feet wide, which the
horses took in fair style; the Kirghiz and Bokhar-
ans looking back to see how the animal I bestrode
would jump with his leary rider. Never a
stumble, however, and the hardy little beast could
have carried i i i
worthy but obese gentleman had been resuscitated
for the occasion. Now a Bokharan would race by
me with a wild ery, and lash a flagging mongrel,
which, mingling with our pack, and soon out-
strip) by his fleeter brethren, had crossed the
rider’s path. .
All of a sudden the master pulled up his pantin,
steed, and, dismounting, told us t we hi
reached the cover.
vi
A narrow track of bush and bramble-covered
ground was extended right and left of our party,
while over the low brush-wood was seen a broa
erystal streak, like a Venetian mirror set in a frame
of frosted silver. The Oxus lay before us, and the
flakes of snow which covered the banks and sur-
rounding country marked its breadth from shore
to_shore.
We now formed one long line, each horseman
being twenty yards apart from his fellow, and
in this order rode through the reeds and bram-
les.
Presently a wild shout from a red-gowned Kir-
hiz announced that a hare had broken cover, and
ussians, Cossacks, Kirghiz, and self galloped in| with
pursuit of the startled quarry. Straight at the
river went the frightened animal, and after it, in
hot pursuit, our heterogeneous pack. Down the
bank our horses slid rather than scrambled, and
across the river we ra i
his neighbor, Half a mile from the farther shore
jay another dense copse, and it seemed as if, the
greyhounds would be distanced in the chase.
But the rider who bore the falcon now launched
his bird into the air. Another second and the
hawk was perched on its victim’s back, while the
well-trained greyhounds, surrounding their prey,
stood open-mouthed, with lolling tongues, not
daring to approach the quarry. .
The master now galloped u and, dismounting,
took possession of the hare, when in afew minutes
more we were again in full ery. Five hares event-
pally rewarded our exertions, and then, after a
headlong burst homeward, I found myself again
within the precincts of the fort.
I had dispatched a letter to General Kryjinoysky,
the Governor General of Turkistan during Kautt-
mann’s absence from his command; and Colonel
Ivanoff now informed me that two officers, with a
Cossack escort, were about to march to He
also said that if would be as well if I were to ac-
company the party, and receive at Fort Number
One the answer to my request to be permitted
return to St, Petersburg by Tashkent and Western
Siberia, instead of by Orenburg.
Thad a conversation with the colonel the next
evening about the respective merits of the Kirghiz
and English horses; and I left the good-natured
officer in considerable doubt as to my veracity,
neither his staff nor himself being able to believe
that any English horse had ever jumped thirty-six
feet in breadth; while Osbaldestone’s feat of rid-
es in eight hours and a was in
their eyes nothing in comparison to the leap above
mention
People in Central Asia cannot be supposed to be
80 au fait with what goes on in the world as we
denizens of the West, and I eventually succeeded
taining a certain amount of credence, by say-
ing that no one in the room could tie me with a
rope in such a manner that I could not free my-
self. An artillery officer now stepped forw:
and wished my assertion to be put to the proof.
This was done, and the result disconcerted the au-
dience, as the time I took in escaping from my
bonds was not half so longas the officer had taken
in tying me. ;
The following morning the Khan’s treasurer ar-
rived, bringing with him several thousand rubles
asan installment of the war indemnity. He break-
fasted with [vanoff, and managed to eat his food
with a knife and fork, though the management
of the Jatter article appeared to give him a good
deal of trouble.
In spite of his Mussulman creed, the treasurer
had a taste for champagne, which his sovereign
also appreciates. A few dozens of this wine are
frequently sent to Khiva from the fort, the scruples
of the Khan having been allayed by the informa-
tion that champagne was not known to the Proph-
et, and that consequently he could not have laid
down any law prohibiting its use.
Shortly before the arrival of the treasurer, an
envoy from the Emir of Bokhara had been at Pe-
tro-Alexandrovsk., There had been a misunder-
standing about some nomad Kirghiz, who,
said, used to cross the frontier and enter Bokharan
territory when the Russian officials were about to
collect the taxes, Some correspondence on this
subject had ensued between the Emir and General
uffmann. The former, by all accounts, was not
avery enlightened ruler, and it was said of him
that on one occasion he sent to a Russian officer,
each man vying with | ing
it was | tas:
who had been seen looking at the moon through
a telescope, and inquired what it was he could see
there. “Mountains and extinct voleanoes,” was
the answer. “Dear me,” sai Emir, “how
very curious! Pray who is the Khan in the moon?
I should like to make his acquaintance.”
While talking about Bokhara, an officer re-
marked that a Russian and German scientific ex-
pedition was about to visit that city, and subse-
quently survey the country between Samarcand
and Peshawur; a railway to Central Asia being
absolutely necessary for the purpose of quickly
concentrating troops, should it be required. ‘*To
our next meeting,” suddenly observed a young
officer, pledging me in a glass of champagne.
“Where will it be?” “Who knows ?” said an-
other; “I suppose, sooner or later, we shall meet
on the battle-field.” In fact, almost every officer I
met in Central Asia was of opinion that ere long
a collision would take place between themselves
and our troops in India, the general remark being,
“It is a great pity; but our interests clash, an
though capital friends as individuals, the question
as to who is to be master in the East must soon be
decided by the sword.”
I was now busy with Nazar making preparations
for our return march to Orenburg, and laying ina
supply of provisions for the journey. I had pur-
chased two dozen pheasants, these birds being
found in great profusion in Khiva, where they can
be bought for fivepence each,
My little Tartar had a doleful expression on his
countenanee, and on inquiry I found that he was
living with Ivanoff’s soldier-servants, and that they
sold their own rations and lived principally upon
fish, which could be purchased for a mere song at
Petro. Nazar had found that this diet did not agree
i im. He was too stingy to spend some extra
money I had allowed him as board-wages, and
preferred to mess at the expense of the servants,
the latter protecting themselves by sometimes not
letting him know the dinner-hour, and only call-
ing him when nothing was left of their repast
save bones.
“Look here!” said my servant, “I’m askeleton.”
“Why do i not buy something with your
board-wages ?” I inquired.
_ “Buy!” he replied, much surprised at my ques-
tion. “I'm not such a fool as to buy so long as I
can pet any thing to eat without paying for it;
but they are greedy, those dogs of servants, sons
of animals that they are!” and the little man
walked away, not at all pleased with the hospital-
ity of his confreres in the kitchen. .
I was now introduced to the two officers who
were to accompany me to Fort Number One. One
of these, Captain Yanusheff, was an artillery offi-
cer, who had distinguished himself in the Khivan
expedition, and he now commanded the entire
artillery force in the Amu Darya district. @ was
going to Kasala to buy some remount horses from
the Kirghiz. His companion was a Cossack saul,
¢| or captain; he was returning to Tashkent to join
his squadron, These two officers would take with
them an escort of ten Cossacks, and the start was
to | arranged for the following morning. The weath-
er had become much warmer; indeed, when that
afternoon we rode over to Shurahan, a Khivan
town which’ has been annexed to Russia, our road
lay no longer over snow, but over sand, while ac-
cording to all accounts the ice on the Oxus would
soon begin to melt, companions, who did not
fancy a ride to Kasala, determined to take advan-
tage of this change in the weather, and travel in
a tarantass drawn by horses, until they arrived at
a place where snow had f:
then be sent back, and camels harnessed in the
ste:
Carrer XXXVI.
Our start the following morning was a curious
sight to witness. First came the tarantass, an ex-
traordinary vehicle, peculiar to Russia. 1t resem-
bles a hansom-cab without the wheels, and the
carriage then fastened in a brewer's ye ere
were no springs of any kind to prevent jolting,
while some small but very solid wooden wheels
6u ported the body of the cart. Harness, made of
cable was attached to six Kirghiz horses, whose
united efforts could barely move the vehicle more
than five miles an hour. Several officers of the
garrison accompanied their comrades for a mile or
s0,and then wished them “godspeed” on their
journey, which, in spite of the change in the
weather, was looked upon as any thing but alight
undertaking. Soon after leaving the fort we
came to a large village, Here we found several
ladies; among others, the wife of the artillery
officer, who had come to say farewell to her hus-| ¢,
band. Champagne and bottles of vodki were ly-
ing on the ground, and a bonfire had been lighted,
by which the ladies sat warming their feet.
The last adieux had been said. Yanusheff had
torn himself away from his fond surroundings,
and we were once more en route, Ina few hours
or 80 We caine again n the snow. It covered
the ground so thickly that the horses in the taran-
harnessed in their place.
In the mean time I had ridden on with my
guide and Nazar. Presently we halted by the
ruins of an old castle, which had been built by r
one of the Khan’s ancestors to defend his country
against a Russian invasion.
After waiting some time for the tarantass,
en; the horses could
fr ju
taken out, and a couple of camels | f
whichdid not arrive, we continued the journey,
hoping to encounter our baggage camels, which
had been sent forward the previous day with the
Cossacks, After marching for another hour, we
stopped at a well about forty iniles from Petro-
Alexandrovsk. It wasbitterly cold; there was a
great deal of wind, nothing to eat, and, what was
worse, the brambles and brush-wood were too
damp to make afire. “ What had become of our
aggage camels?” was the question each man
put to his neighbor; “had we passed them in the
dark, or were they still in front of us ?”
was uselsss going on or going back,and the
only thing to do was to sit it out, and persuade
ourselves that we were neither cold nor hungry.
Imagination is a wonderful thing, but it has its
limits, and the more I tried to persuade myself that
Thad just dined, the more I thought of the fiesh-
pots of Egypt and all their accompaniments,
while visions of turtle-soup and champagne came
floating up before me, and stimulating afresh the
Keen rage of a ravenous appetite. The guide
cursed his fate, and, to cheer up his spirits, com-
menced singing.a ditty about the beauties of a
sheep and the delights of roast mutton. How-
ever, the night sped by, and, lying down on the
snow, we got what sleep we could, till at day-
break we were joined in the tarantass.
My fellow-travelers, who had slept in the car-
riage, and were provided with thick furs, had
passed the night a little less uncomfortably than
ourselves, although they too cursed the cold “in no
very measured terms,
Soon afterward we came up with the Cossacks
and baggage camels the escort haying bivouacked
a few versts beyond the well.*
The artillery captain ordered his driver to stop,
and, getting out of the vehicle, proposed that we
should have breakfast.
Presently he produced fromthe boot in the
tarantass a square tin box, with a large cork in-
serted in one of its sides. The vessel contained
about four gallons of the strongest vodki, He then
took a beaker, which held about half a pint, and
called out, “Children, come here!”
The Cossacks, who were looking on at the opera
tion with great interest,ran up, and my com-
panion, filling the measure, gave each man in
turn a dram: this the soldiers tossed off at one
gulp, and then returned to their horses. I tasted
some of the vodki, which was more like liquid fire
than anything else to which it can be likened, and
spirits of wine or naphtha would have been a cool-
g draught in comparison. However, the artil-
lery captain had no intention of testing the
strength of the Cossack’s fire-water. His servan
bringing up some bottles of Maderia, and vodki o
another quality, poured us out a less potent stimu-
lant, which, in the keen air we were then breath-
ing, was not unpalatable, thoughin England two
or three glasses of the mixture would have put
most men under the table.
The Cossacks were fine, well-built fellows,
averaging about eleven stone in weight, their
marching weight being over eighteen stone, this
including twenty pounds of barley for their horses
(barley being preferred to oats in these parts), and
six pounds of biscuits, a sufficient ration for a man
for four days. For arms they carried short breech-
loading rifles and swords, while they were shortly
o
up artillery and reserves. Theme’
ftheir own particular sectio: in e~
hindthem are piled their rifies. The Cossack horse-lines
are inthe rear of the line of the and behi
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the horse-lines, and hobbled. For the defense of a
camp, both day and by night, itis necessary
outa chain of dismounted posts. These
m sac!
@ camels and horses, or to seize
z an. In former times the detached Cossack posts,
pickets, and small forts along the Siberian line protect.
rowing out sentries on command-
e Caucasus—! rom the shores
Black Sea, where the employment of dogs was in general
use, and where these animal d
and trained. S were regularly rations
*