separate from us; but they were forced to continue their journey, because treachery was apprehended, and, in case of discovery, the Afghans would have confiscated every thing. Although the camels were heavily laden, the journey was continued, without interruption, from noon until eight o'clock next morning. The poor tired brutes were left behind; and great was our joy when we arrived the next morning, without accident, in the Khanat of Maymene. The last station was a harassing one, not merely from these apprehensions, but from the physical difficulties that it presented; for, about nine miles from Andkhuy, the country becomes more and more hilly, until, in the neighborhood of Maymene, it is quite mountainous. Besides this, we had to cross a small portion of the dangerous Batkak (which consists of marshes), where, notwithstanding the heat of the season, there was mud in many places. This caused the camels and asses much suffering. I rode a sturdy little brute; but as his small feet sank so often, he got tired of pulling them out again, and gave me much trouble in shouting, entreating, and tugging before I could get him to advance from the spongy ground.

We encamped at the foot of a small citadel named Akkale, which is distant from Maymene four leagues. The kervanbashi made a present to the hadjis of two sheep as a grateful acknowledgment to God for having happily escaped from the peril to which the caravan had been exposed. As the senior, I was charged with the division of the donation. We ate that whole day, instead of bread, roast meat, and sang to

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gether in the evening some telkins (hymns), to the accompaniment, under my direction, of a zikr-that is, we shouted out to the full extent of our voices two thousand times Ya hoo! ya hakk!

From this spot our arrival was reported in Maymene. Toward evening an officer of the customs-a civil, honest Özbeg-came to us, and wrote down his report. At night we again started, and were in Maymene next morning.

CHAPTER XIII.

MAYMENE.-ITS POLITICAL POSITION AND IMPORTANCE.-REIGNING PRINCE.RIVALRY OF BOKHARA AND KABUL.-DOST MOHAMMED KHAN.-ISHAN EYUB AND MOLLAH KHALMURAD.-KHANAT AND FORTRESS OF MAYMENE.-ESCAPED RUSSIAN OFFENDERS.-MURGAB RIVER AND BALA MURGAB.-DJEMSHIDI AND AFGHAN.—RUINOUS TAXES ON MERCHANDISE.-KALÈ NO.-HEZARE.-AFGHAN EXACTIONS AND MALADMINISTRATION.

"Wild warriors of the Turquoise hills, and those
Who dwell beyond the everlasting snows

Of Hindoo Kosh, in stormy freedom bred,

Their fort the rock, their camp the torrent's bed."

Moore, Veiled Prophet.

BEFORE entering Maymene, let me describe the political state of that country, for, as that city plays a part of great importance, some preliminary observations are here quite indispensable.

The whole tract of land on this side of the Oxus, as far as Hindukush and Herat, has from ancient times been the field of continual quarrels and warfare; and these have involved not only the small predatory states in its vicinity, Kunduz, Khulum, Balkh, Aktche, Serepul, Shiborgan, Andkhuy, Bedakhshan, and Maymene, but the emirs themselves, both of Bokhara and Kabul. These princes, to carry out their plans of conquest, have been ever ready to kindle the flames of dissension; sometimes, too, they have taken an active part in these differences.

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MAYMENE.

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They have striven to gain over to their respective causes some one of the above-named cities, or even actually to incorporate it, and to make use of it for the particular ends they had in view. The emirs were, in fact, the principal rivals in the field. Until the commencement of this century, the influence of Bokhara had almost always predominated; but it has been in more recent times supplanted by the Afghan tribes of the Durani, Sadduzi, and Barekzi; and at last Dost Mohammed Khan succeeded, partly by force and partly by cunning, in bringing under his sceptre all the states I have mentioned, with the exception of Bedakhshan and Maymene. He formed the province Turkestan, naming for its capital Balkh. This city is made the seat of a serdar, who has under his command ten thousand men, partly paltan (regular troops), partly native militia, and three batteries of field-pieces. The possession of the mountainous Bedakhshan was not much coveted by the energetic Dost Mohammed Khan. Its native prince became a vassal, and the Afghan was for the time satisfied. The case stands differently with Maymene. It lies half way on the route to Bokhara, and has been several times besieged, without success, both by Dost Mohammed Khan and by Yar Mohammed Khan. In 1862, when the gray Barekzi prince drew the sword to punish faithless Herat, the whole of Central Asia trembled; but Maymene again resisted, and was again victorious. The bravery of the Özbegs there became proverbial, and an idea may be formed of the proud spirit of this city when she could affirm, with truth, at the death of Dost Mohammed Khan, that

she alone, of all the neighboring states, had refused to do homage to the flag of the Afghans.

The death of Dost Mohammed Khan-an event of the highest importance to the destiny of Central Asia-was thought to threaten it with great change and political revolutions. The Emir of Bokhara was the first who sought to profit by the occasion, and, in spite of his notorious penuriousness, sent a subsidy of ten thousand tilla to the little warlike Maymene; and an agreement was made that the emir should cross the Oxus, and, uniting his forces with those of his ally, should make a simultaneous attack upon their common enemy, the Afghans. The reigning prince of Maymene, however, being a youth of fiery spirit, was too impatient to await his ally's approach, began the struggle with the forces at his own disposal, and succeeded in capturing some small places from the Afghans, a success which enabled him to ornament the gate of his fortress with three hundred long-haired Afghan skulls. During our stay in his city they were making preparations to renew the contest on a larger scale.

When the caravan had encamped here, outside the town, I visited the tekkie of a certain Ishan Eyub, to whom I had letters of recommendation from Hadji Salih. I spared no pains to gain his favorable opinion, for I thought it would be of service to me in the event of a rencontre which I expected to make in Maymene, and which I dreaded, as it might have the disagreeable effect of betraying my identity, and, my disguise once discovered, I might again be exposed to * He is in his 22d year.