CHAP. VII.

SUFFERINGS IN THE DESERT.

139

caravan about two glasses of the precious liquid! The honest Turkoman told us that for years it had been his practice in the desert to keep concealed a considerable quantity, and this he doled out when he knew that it would be most acceptable; that this would be a great sevab (act of piety), for a Turkoman proverb says "that a drop of water to the man thirsty in the wilderness washes away a hundred years' sins." It is as impossible to measure the degree of the benefit as to describe the enjoyment of such a draught! I felt myself fully satisfied, and imagined that I could again hold out three days! The water had been replenished, but not my bread. Debility and want of appetite had rendered me somewhat careless, and I thought that I could employ for firing, not the wood which was at a little distance, but the camels' dung. I had not collected enough. I placed the dough in the hot ashes, and it was not till after half an hour that I discovered the insufficiency of the heat. I hastened to fetch wood, which I set on fire; it was now dark, and the kervanbashi called out to me, demanding "if I wanted to betray the caravan to the robbers." So I was obliged to extinguish the fire and to remove my bread, which was not only not leavened, but was only half baked.

The next morning, May 23d, our station was Koymat Ata. It had formerly a well, now dried up; no great loss, for the water, like that from all the other wells in the district, was undrinkable. Unfortunately, the heat, particularly in the forenoon, was really unendurable. The rays of the sun often warm the dry sand to the depth of a foot, and the ground be

comes so hot that even the wildest inhabitant of Central Asia, whose habits make him scorn all covering for the feet, is forced to bind a piece of leather under his soles in the form of a sandal. What wonder if my refreshing draught of yesterday was forgotten, and I saw myself again a prey to the most fearful torments of thirst! At midday the kervanbashi informed us that we were now near the renowned place of pilgrimage and station named Kahriman Ata, and that, to fulfill our pious duty, we should dismount and walk on foot a quarter of an hour to the tomb of the saint. Let the reader picture to himself my sufferings. Weak and enfeebled from heat and thirst, I was forced to quit my seat and join the procession of pilgrims, to march to a tomb situated on an elevation, at a distance of fifteen minutes' walk, where, with parched throat, I was expected to bellow forth telkin and passages from the Koran like one possessed. "Oh! (thought I) thou cruel saint, couldst thou not have got thyself interred elsewhere, to spare me the terrible martyrdom of this pilgrimage?" Quite out of breath, I fell down before the tomb, which was thirty feet long, and ornamented with rams' horns, the signs of supremacy in Central Asia. The kervanbashi recounted to us that the saint who therein reposed was a giant as tall as his grave was long;*

* The Orientals love to dignify their saints also with the attribute of bodily size. In Persia I have remarked several giant graves; and even in Constantinople, on the Asiatic shore of the Bosphorus, on the so-called Mount of Joshua, exists a long tomb which the Turks venerate as that of the Joshua of the Bible, but the Greeks as that of Hercules.

CHAP. VII.

A BITTER DISAPPOINTMENT.

141

that he had for countless years past defended the wells around from the attacks of evil spirits that sought to fill them up with stones. In the vicinity several small graves are visible, the last resting-places of poor travelers, who in different parts of the desert have perished from the hands of robbers or from the fury of the elements. The news of wells under the protection of the saint overjoyed me. I hoped to find water that I could drink. I hastened so much. that I really was the first to reach the place indicated. I soon perceived the well, which was like a brown puddle. I filled my hands; it was as if I had laid hold of ice. I raised the moisture to my lips. Oh! what a martyrdom! not a drop could I swallow-so bitter, so salt, so stinking was the icecold draught. My despair knew no bounds: it was the first time that I really felt anxiety for the result.

CHAPTER VIII.

THUNDER.-GAZELLES AND WILD ASSES. — ARRIVAL AT THE PLATEAU KAFTANKIR.- - ANCIENT BED OF THE OXUS.-FRIENDLY ENCAMPMENT. — APPROACH OF HORSEMEN. GAZAVAT. ENTRY INTO KHIVA. — MALICIOUS CHARGE BY THE AFGHAN. -INTERVIEW WITH THE KHAN.-AUTHOR REQUIRED TO GIVE A SPECIMEN OF TURKISH PENMANSHIP.-ROBES OF HONOR ESTIMATED BY HUMAN HEADS. - HORRIBLE EXECUTION OF PRISONERS.PECULIAR EXECUTION OF WOMEN.-KUNGRAT. THE AUTHOR'S LAST BENEDICTION OF THE KHAN.

"On n'y verra jamais que l'heroisme et la servitude.”. Lois, l. xvii., c. 6.

-Montesq., Esprit des

"Chiefs of the Uzbek race

Waving their heron crests with martial grace.”

Moore, Veiled Prophet.

THUNDER, heard for hours at a distance, not coming near to us till midnight, and then only bringing a few heavy drops of rain, was the herald that announced to us the end of our torments. Toward the morning of the 24th of May we had reached the extreme boundary of the sand through which we had toiled during three days; we were now certain to find this day rain-water wherever we should meet a subsoil of clay. The kervanbashi had found a confirmation of this hope in the traces of numbers of gazelles and wild asses: he did not betray his thoughts, but hastened on, and was, in effect, the first happy one to discover with his ferret eyes, and to point out to the caravan, a little lake of rain-water. "Su! su!" (water, water) shouted all for joy; and the mere sight,

CHAP. VIII.

AN ABUNDANCE OF WATER.

143

without wetting the lips, satisfied the craving and quieted our uneasiness. At noon we reached the spot. We afterward found, in addition to our previous discovery, other pits filled with the sweetest water. I was one of the first to hurry thither with my skin and vessels-not to drink, but rather to colIlect the water before it was disturbed and converted into mire by the crowd. In half an hour every body in a rapture was seated at his breakfast; it is quite impossible to convey an idea of the general delight. From this station, called Deli Ata, all the way to Khiva, our skins were constantly full, and henceforth our journey in the desert may be styled, if not agreeable, at least free from uneasiness. In the evening we reached a spot where spring reigned in all its glory. We encamped in the midst of countless little lakes, surrounded, as it were, by garlands of meadows; it seemed a dream when I compared it with our encampment of the previous day. To complete our delight, we were here informed that all fear of a surprise, that we most dreaded, was at an end, but it was recommended that for this night we should still abstain from lighting fires. It must not be omitted that the sons of the desert ascribed the unexpected abundance of water solely to our pious hadji character.

We filled our skins and started again in excellent spirits.

This evening we reached the trench for which we had so longed. On the farther side of it is the plateau Kaftankir (tiger field). It marks the commencement of the territory forming the khanat of Khiva.

A wearisome task for man and beast was the as