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FROM TEHERAN TO SAMARCAND.*

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RMINIUS VÁMBÉRY is a young Hun- | ly, desired to visit Turkestan (Central Asia), not

garian, lame, but a fearless traveler, and an intelligent observer. Determined, for some years, to penetrate into Central Asia, at all risks, he prepared himself for this undertaking by living several years among the Turks, in Constantinople. Frequenting Islamite schools and libraries, he trained himself until he became a very good Turk, in appearance, and knowledge of the Koran.

Thus prepared, he pushed farther Eastward, upon an adventurous exploration, which he was compelled to make as a dervish, clad in rags, without necessary food, among a people where even the slightest signs of a traveler's curiosity would have exposed him to suspicion, and suspicion to tortures and a cruel death-a people among whom "to hear is regarded as impudence, to ask as crime, and to take notes as a deadly sin;" where, in brief, ignorance is bliss, and 'tis rashness to be wise.

merely to see the only source of Islamite virtue
that still remained undefiled, but to behold the
saints of Khiva, Bokhara, and Samarcand. It
was this idea, I assured them, that had brought
me hither out of Roum (Turkey). I had now
been waiting a year in Persia, and I thanked
God for having at last granted me fellow-trav-
elers such as they were (and I here pointed to
the Tartars), with whom I might proceed on my
way and accomplish my wish."

Hadji Bilal, the chief of the caravan, replied (the conversation reads like a piece out of the Arabian Nights): "We are all ready not only to become your friends, but your servants, but we must still draw your attention to the fact that the routes in Turkestan are not as commodious nor as safe as those in Persia and in Turkey. On that which we shall take, travelers meet often for weeks with no house, no bread, not even a drop of water to drink; they incur, Mr. Vámbéry arrived at Teheran, the capital besides, the risk of being killed, or taken prisof Persia, "somewhat in the condition of a half-oners and sold, or being buried alive under Ponder well, effendi, the step! Here storms of sand. boiled fish," on the 13th of July, 1862. he was kindly received at the Turkish Embassy, You may have occasion later to rue it, and we The traveler in would by no means wish to be regarded as the where he was made at home. cause of your misfortune. Before all things, those slow old Eastern countries needs, first of all, a good stock of patience. After several you must not forget that our countrymen at years spent in preparing himself to travel as an home are far behind us in experience and worldOsmanli dervish, our author was at last ready ly knowledge, and that, in spite of their hospito set out; but at Teheran, at the very outset tality, they invariably regard strangers from afar of his journey, found himself delayed for nearly with suspicion; and how, besides, will you be nine months-months of weary waiting. Thus able, without us and alone, to perform that it was the 28th of March, 1863, when he at last great return journey?" set out upon the interesting adventure which he has modestly recounted in the volume whose title we have given below.

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The traveling companions with whom "the dervish Reshid Effendi," as Vámbéry called himself, at length left Teheran, consisted, as its chief said, of "young and old, rich and poor, men of piety, learned men, and laity," who "live together with the greatest simplicity, since we are all from Khokand and Kashgar, and have among us no Bokhariot-no viper of that race. Twenty-four in number, they were all wild men, but honest; some so poor that they counted on begging their way through a region a large part of which is a desert; none rich To enough to excite the cupidity of robbers. persuade these honest pilgrims to take him for companion he was obliged, of course, to conceal his true motives. "The Oriental does not understand the thirst for knowledge, and does not "I believe much in its existence," he says. told them that I had long silently, but earnest

"I know," rejoined the excellent Vámbéry, "that this world on earth resembles a hotel, in which we merely take up our quarters for a few days, and whence we soon move away to make room for others; and I laugh at the Mussulmans of the present time, who take heed not merely for the moment, but for ten years of onward existence. Yes, dear friend, take me with Such you; I must hasten away from this horrid kingdom of Error, for I am too weary of it." entreaties were irresistible, and accordingly he was hugged and kissed by his twenty-four fellow-pilgrims, strongly advised to leave every thing behind which he could not carry upon his person; and, when duly accoutred in orthodox rags, set out upon the long and dangerous journey, in which he had to keep up a double disguise; for, while his companions knew him only as a Turk, to the people among whom he chiefly traveled even that admission would have made him hateful, and he had to be represented as a Tartar of the Tartars.

Traveling, in the East, is the enjoyment, • Travels in Central Asia; being the Account of a chiefly, of beggars; the wealthy, like "the genJourney from Teheran across the Turkoman Desert on tlemen of England" in the old song, "stay at the Eastern Shore of the Caspian to Khiva, Bokhara, and home at ease." It is fortunate, then, that a year 1863. By ARMINIUS Samarcand; performed in the VAMBÉRY, Member of the Hungarian Academy of Pesth, beggar, if he only lays claim to piety, is, among by whom he was sent on this Scientific Mission. Harper the good Mohammedans, pretty sure of a welcome; and as piety and medical skill are thought

and Brothers.

to go together, if the pilgrim prudently falls in | Effendi took his first lessons in the profession with the prevailing belief, and freely dispenses he had adopted. blessings, charms, and medical advice, he is certain of his reward in the gifts of the faithful. When the caravan landed at Gömüshtepe, on the borders of the Caspian Sea, the chief of that ilk, Khandjan, received them with open arms, and kept them a month, for the mere pleasure of having visitors. Here the dervish Reshid

"Hadji Bilal," he writes, "invited me to take a short walk with him, and when we had got to a short distance from the tchatma he observed to me that it was now high time to lay aside entirely my effendi character, and become body and soul a dervish. You must have already remarked,' said the excellent pilgrim,

RECEPTION BY TURKOMAN CHIEF ON THE CASPIAN SHORE.

when he reached the land of the one-eyed na-
tion, to put himself upon an equality with them,
kept one of his eyes closed." But not only had
he to act the part of dervish, he had to conceal
carefully his curiosity about the people or the
country. They have as strong an aversion to
political preachers in Turkestan as they used to
have in the South. "I had only to touch upon
a question relating to ordinary life, or to show
a curiosity for some matter or other, to make
men wonderingly ask what a dervish, whose
proper business was only God and religion, had
to do with the affairs of this transitory world."
At last they set out for Khiva, and at the out-
set of the journey met with a curious adventure,
which well exhibits the wildness of these "Eld-
er lands."
Some great marshes they had to
pass through were filled with wild hogs, and
our traveler incautiously rode into the nest of a
fitter of pigs, at whose shrill squeals the mother
hog ran up, furiously showing her tusks to the
two travelers who had been unhorsed and lay
upon the ground. Fortunately they were saved
from attack by the spears of their companions.
One of these presently brought him back his
horse, with the remark, that "I might regard
myself as lucky, for that a death by the wound
of a wild boar would send even the most pious
Mussulman nedjis (unclean) into the next world,
where a hundred years' burning in purgatorial,
fire would not purge away his uncleanness."

age and brutal of man-stealers and slave-masters, but at the same time honest in their dealings with each other and hospitable to strangers. Some of their superstitions have the smack of extreme humanity; a basket, in the desert, must not be destroyed, because it had once formed the seat, on a camel's back, of a man, and, said these people, to destroy what had held men was regarded as a sin. But the very person who told Vámbéry this was a monster of cruelty, who denied water to a poor slave whom he had fed for two days upon salt-fish; and while a basket which has held a man is too sacred to be destroyed, the life of man is so endangered by their unbridled passions that they found a poor wretch living in a cave in the desert, like a wild beast, to escape his tribesmen, who had sworn to murder him. He had lived there solitary for many years. "Amanbol"— peace be unto thee-murmured this poor wretch, as he slunk back into his lair, when he found the travelers meant him no harm.

They fell short of water in the desert. Each watched jealously his decreasing store. It was rumored that the kervanbashi had concealed an extra supply, and while greedy and suspicious glances were cast at the leader, no doubt many of the company conceived the idea of robbing him. But no one was so foolish as to ask his neighbor for the charity of a drink. When they halted, one evening, all were in extremity. "This evening my appetite left me. I had not the slightest craving even for the smallest piece of bread: my sensations were those of extreme debility; the heat of the day was indescribable. My strength was gone, and I was lying there extended, when I perceived that all were pressing round the kervanbashi; they made a sign to me also to approach. The words' 'Water, water,' gave me fresh vigor. I sprang up; how overjoyed and how surprised I was when I saw the kervanbashi dealing out to each member of the caravan about two glasses of the precious

Presently they reached the borders of the desert, and carefully filled their goat-skins with water. When they had got a day's journey into the desert the kervanbashi suddenly came to the cheerful conclusion that the dervish Reshid Effendi was none other than a Frenghi-European-in disguise, and proposed to leave him just there to perish as a spy. Fortunately Vámbéry's friends were faithful, and on their remonstrances the chief at last consented to take him along, "on the condition that thou wilt, first, permit thyself to be searched to see if thou hast any drawings or wooden pens (lead-liquid! The honest Turkoman told us that for pencils), as the Frenghis generally have; and, secondly, that thou promise to take away with thee no secret notes respecting the hills and routes." The poor kervanbashi was much annoyed with the contrary advices he received on this matter; but he referred the whole matter elsewhere, repeating to himself continually "Khudaïm bilir!"-God knows.

On their way to Khiva they frequently fell in with the nomadic tribes who wander over this country. To many individuals of these our traveler became serviceable because he could write; he was employed, when they halted, to draw up for them notes of indebtedness. These, he remarks, when duly signed by the debtor in the sight of the creditor, were carefully pocketed by the debtor. "When I questioned the creditor as to this remarkable manner of procedure, his answer was, 'What have I to do with the writing? The debtor must keep it by him as a reminder of his debt.""

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." This was the man who intended, without hesitation or compunction, to leave our traveler to perish in the desert!

This humane monster's suspicions were allayed, but not satisfied. When they entered Khiva, all were called to an audience of the Mehrem or principal officer of the khan. To him said the kervanbashi, "We have brought to Khiva three interesting quadrupeds (buffaloes), and a no less interesting biped," pointing at the dervish Reshid Effendi. To be suspected is to die, in those countries; and our traveler, thus held up to general attention, heard the multitude about him whisper, "Spy," "Frenghi," "Urus"These Turkoman tribes are the most sav- Russian-any one of the three accusations fatal.

Khiva, the capital of Kharesme, is better | civilization to make them narrow-minded, boastknown to us, perhaps, as the scene of some in- ful, and vicious. Luckily for Vámbéry, there teresting missionary operations than for any thing else. It lies near the River Oxus, in a wide plain; its people are fanatical Mohammedans, and it is a commercial centre of the wandering Turkoman tribes. Its sovereign and people keep up little connection with the outer world-they are savages, with just enough of VOL. XXXI.-No. 181.-B

resided here one Shukrullah Bay, an officer who had in previous years lived at Constantinople. Him our traveler sought, and by his knowledge of persons in the head-quarters of Islamism, was able to establish a character as a veritable Turk, which saved his life, and made him free from suspicion.