CHAP. XVI. HISTORY OF THE TURKOMANS. 375 and Bokhara; often, also, under the banners of Persia. The renown of their bravery, and particularly of their furious charges, spread far and wide; and certain of their leaders, like Kara Yuszuf, who took part with the tribe Salor in the campaigns of Timour, acquired historical celebrity. The Turkomans contributed much to the Turkecizing of North Persia at the epoch when the family of the Atabegs ruled in Iran; and beyond all dispute it is they who contributed the largest contingent to the Turkish population on the other side of the Caucasus, to Azerbaydjan, Mazendran, and Shiraz.* It is remarkable that, in spite of the bitter hostility reigning between the Turkomans and their Shiite brethren in Persia, the former still always especially name Azerbaydjan as the seat of a higher civilization; and whenever the Bakhshi is asked to sing something more than usually beautiful and original, Azerbaydjanian songs are always called for; nay, even the captive Irani, if of Turkish origin, may always expect more merciful treatment, for the Turkoman says, "He is our brother, this unbeliever."+ The last risings of the Turkomans in mass occur *There are even now four or five of the smaller Turkish tribes living a nomadic life in the district around Shiraz. Their ilkhani (chieftain), with whom I became acquainted in Shiraz in 1862, told me that he can raise from them 30,000 horsemen, and some, as the Kashkai and the Allahverdi, had been transplanted hither by Djenghis Khan. In Europe this fact has not been appreciated; and even Burnes, in other respects well informed, thinks he has found, in a place of like name in the vicinity of Samarcand, the Turki shirazi mentioned by Hafiz in his songs. t "Kardashi miz dir ol Kafir." red under Nadir Shah and Aga Mehemmed Khan. Nadir, helped by these tribes and by the Afghans, at the commencement of the last century shook Asia out of her slumber; and the second conqueror above mentioned availed himself of the sword of the Turkomans to found his dynasty. Nomads are well aware of the fact, and make the ingratitude of the Kadjar a subject of frequent complaint, who, since the time of Feth Ali Shah, have, they say, entirely forgotten them, and even withdrawn the lawful pensions of several of their chiefs. To form an idea of the political importance of the nomads, we need only cast a glance at the map of Central Asia. We there see at once that they have become, from their position, the guardians of the southern frontiers of the entire Asiatic Highlands of Turkestan, as they name it themselves. The Turkoman is, without any possibility of contradiction, next to the Kiptchak, the most warlike and savage race of Central Asia: in his rear, in the cities of Khiva, Bokhara, and Khokand, we find the seat of cowardice and effeminacy; and had he not constituted himself, as it were, into a barrier of iron, things would never have remained, in the three countries just mentioned, in the condition in which they were after the time of Kuteibe and Ebu Muszlim,* and in which they still continue. *The former conquered Turkestan in the time of Khalif Omar; the latter, having first been governor of Merv, fought for a long time the battle of independence, in conjunction with the Turkomans and Kharesmians, against his master, the sovereign of Bagdad. CHAP. XVI. CIVILIZATION. 377 Civilization, some may think, has a predilection for the way that leads from the south to the north; but how can any spark penetrate to Central Asia, as long as the Turkomans menace every traveler and every caravan with a thousand perils? CHAPTER XVII. THE CITY OF KHIVA. KHIVA, THE CAPITAL. PRINCIPAL DIVISIONS, GATES, AND QUARTERS OF THE CITY. BAZARS.-MOSQUES.-MEDRESSE OR COLLEGES; HOW FOUNDED, ORGANIZED, AND ENDOWED.-POLICE.-KHAN AND HIS GOVERNMENT.-TAXES. -TRIBUNALS. — KHANAT.-CANALS.-POLITICAL DIVISIONS.-PRODUCE. — MANUFACTURES AND TRADE.-PARTICULAR ROUTES. —KHANAT, HOW PEOPLED.-ÖZBEGS.-TURKOMANS.-KARAKALPAK.-KASAK (KIRGHIS).-SART. HISTORY OF KHIVA IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY.-KHANS AND THEIR GENEALOGY. -PERSIANS. "Les principaux Tartares firent asseoir le Khan sur une pièce de feutre et lui dirent Honore les grands, sois juste et bienfesant envers tous; sinon tu seras si misérable que tu n'auras pas même le feutre sur lequel tu es assis.'”—Voltaire, Essai sur les Mœurs, c. lx. A. KHIVA, THE CAPITAL. As we are speaking of an Oriental city, what need to say that the interior of Khiva is very different from what its exterior would lead us to expect! First, reader, you must have seen a Persian city of the lowest rank, and then you will understand my meaning when I say that Khiva is inferior to it; or picture to yourself three or four thousand mud houses standing in different directions in the most irregular manner, with uneven and unwashed walls, and fancy these surrounded by a wall ten feet high, also made of mud, and again you have a conception of Khiva. CHAP. XVII. KHIVA.-DIVISIONS.—BAZARS. 379 Its Divisions. The city is divided into two parts: (a) Khiva proper, and (b) Itch Kale, the citadel with its encircling wall, which can be shut off from the outer city by four gates; and consists of the following mahalle (quarters): Pehlivan, Uluyogudj, Akmesdjid, Yipektchi, Koshbeghimahallesi. The city, properly so called, has nine gates and ten mahalle (quarters)." Bazars. Bazars, or shops for sale, equal to those which we meet with in Persia and in other Oriental cities, do not exist in Khiva. The following only deserve any mention. Tim, a small well-built bazar, with tolerably high vaulted ceilings, containing about 120 shops and a caravanserai. Here are exposed all the cloth, * That is to say, toward the north, Urgendj dervazesi,1 Gendumghia dervazesi, Imaret dervazesi; toward the east, Ismahmudata dervazesi, Hezaresp dervazesi; to the south, Shikhlar dervazesi, Pishkenik dervazesi, Rafenek dervazesi; and to the west, Bedrkhan dervazesi. There are ten mahalle (quarters), that is to say, 6. Bala Havuz, where there is 10. Rafenek. a large reservoir of water 1 Dervaze, a Persian word meaning gate. 2 This word means "village that eats no bread." |