CHAP. XIII. DANGEROUS ROUTE.-DISAPPOINTMENT.

309

mense masses of wood which we lighted to warm us. The third day we descended continually: there are some very dangerous places, the path passing close to the edge of the precipice, being only a foot broad; a false step may plunge man and camel down into the ravine below. We reached, however, without accident, the valley at Sertcheshme, whence, it is believed, springs a strong stream, that, after bathing Herat on the north side, falls into the Heri-Rud. On the fourth day we arrived at Kerrukh, which belongs to Herat, and is distant from it four miles.

Herat was still besieged by Dost Mohammed Khan when the caravan had set out for Bokhara in the spring. Six months had now elapsed; the report of their native city having been taken and plundered had reached them, and the reader may imagine the anxiety felt by every Herati to seek his house, property, family, and friends! Notwithstanding this, all were forced to wait here another day, until the officer of the customs, whose appearance on the scene, with his arrogant Afghan air, took us early in the morning by surprise, had got ready an exact list of all that had come and every thing they had brought with them. I had pictured to myself Afghanistan as a land already half organized, where, through long contact with Western influence, at least something of order and civilization had been introduced. I flattered myself that I was upon the eve of getting rid at once of my disguise and sufferings. I was cruelly deceived. The Afghan functionary, the first whom I had yet seen of that nation, threw into the shade all the inhumanity and barbarity of similar officers

in Central Asia; all the dreadful things I had heard about the searches as to customs among the Afghans was only a painting "couleur de rose" compared with what I here witnessed. The bales of goods that owners would not open were sent under guard to the town; the baggage of the travelers was examined, and written down article by article; in spite of the coldness of the weather, every one was obliged to strip, and, with the exception of shirt, drawers, and upper garment, every object of dress was declared liable to duty. The brute taxed the hadjis most severely; he did not even spare their little stock of haberdashery; and, what is unheard of, he exacted five krans per head for the asses, animals for which so much had been already paid for duty, and which were themselves worth from twenty to twenty-five krans. As many were really so poor as to be unable to pay, he caused their asses to be sold: this revolting proceeding wrung me very hard; it left me, in fact, almost without resources.

Toward evening, when we thought that the plundering was over, the Governor of Kerrukh, who has the rank of a mejir,* made his appearance also to receive his whip-money. He was somewhat exacting too, but his genuine soldier-like bearing, and his uniform buttoned tight over his chest (the first object that had greeted my eyes for so long a time that re

* Mejir corresponds with the English "major," from which it is borrowed. I devoted much attention to the words "djornel" and "kornel" used by the Afghans in their army, until it at last occurred to me that the former sprung from general, and the latter from colonel.

СНАР. ХІІІ.

BATOR KHAN.-TRADE.

311

called European associations), produced upon me an indescribably cheering impression. Even now I laugh at the pettiness of my feelings, but I could not regard with indifference the end of the entire jest of which I had been the author. Bator Khan (that was his name) had remarked my look of surprise. This made him regard me more attentively; he was struck by my foreign features, and questioned the kervanbashi; directed me to seat myself near him, and treated me with affability and consideration. In the course of the conversation, which he continually turned upon Bokhara, he laughed in my face, and yet so that he was not observed by others, as if to congratulate me upon the accomplishment of my object, for he thought that I had been sent upon a mission; and although I persisted in supporting the character I had so long assumed, he extended to me his hand at his departure, and wished to shake mine à l'Anglaise, but, seeing his design, I anticipated him, raised my arms, and was about to give him a fatiha, when he withdrew laughing.

Next morning our caravan was to enter Herat, having spent more than six weeks on the way hither from Bokhara, a journey that may be easily ac complished in from twenty to twenty-five days.

From the details already furnished, it is apparent that trade on this route is not in a very splendid condition. We will now sum up, in tenghe, the amount paid altogether for slaves, goods, and cattle at the different places:

When we say, besides, that the interest of money at Herat is twenty per cent., we may form an idea of what the selling price must be to remunerate the merchant for his trouble!

CHAP. XIV.

HERAT.

313

CHAPTER XIV.

HERAT.

HERAT. ITS RUINOUS STATE.-BAZAR.-AUTHOR'S DESTITUTE CONDITION.THE SERDAR MEHEMMED YAKOUB KHAN.-PARADE OF AFGHAN TROOPS.INTERVIEW WITH THE SERDAR-CONDUCT OF AFGHANS ON STORMING HERAT. NAZIR NAIM, THE VIZIR.-EMBARRASSED STATE OF THE REVENUE.— MAJOR TODD.—MOSALLA, AND TOMB OF SULTAN HUSEIN MIRZA.-TOMB OF KHODJA ABDULLAH ANSARI AND OF DOST MOHAMMED KHAN.

“Εντεῦθεν "Αρεια, σχοῖνοι β ́. Ενθα Κανδὰκ πόλις καὶ ̓Αρτακάναν καὶ ̓Αλεξάνδρεια ἡ ἐν ̓Αρείοις· κῶμαι δὲ δ.”—Isidori Characeni, Mansiones Parthica, 17, apud Müller. Geograph. Gr. minores.

THE traveler approaching from the north will certainly be surprised when, on turning round the mountain Khodja Abdullah Ansari, he sees lying before him the beautiful immense plain called Djölghei Herat, with its numerous canals and scattered groups of villages. Although trees, the principal ornament of every landscape, are here entirely wanting, he can not but be convinced that he has reached the bounds of Turkestan, and with it of Central Asia, properly so called; for of this Herat is rightly named the gate, or key. Without going so far as the Orientals in styling it "djennetsifat" (like Paradise), we can not, nevertheless, deny to the surrounding country the character of loveliness and of fertility. Its natural advantages, united with its political importance, have unhappily made it an apple of discord to ad