Chapter XLVII: Appendix: II (3)

[537] The Kirghiz affirm that they were divided into three Hordes by an ancient chieftain named Alash. The Great Horde wander over Chinese and Russian Turkestān, near Lake Balkash; the Middle occupy the northern and eastern shores of the Sea of Aral; the Little Horde, now more numerous than the others combined, feed their flocks between the Tobol and the Aral Sea. An interesting account is given by Stumm of their manners and character. See _Russia in Central Asia_, pp. 227–34.

[538] Stumm, pp. 20, 21.

[539] Meyendorf, _Voyage d’Orenburg à Boukhara_, p. 285.

[540] For a detailed account of the Khivan expedition, see Hugo Stumm’s _Russia in Central Asia_, chap. ii. p. 26.

[541] It is well known that the Tsar Nicholas, on learning the disasters suffered by the allied forces during the terrible Crimean winter of 1854–55, complacently remarked that there were two generals who fought for Russia--Generals January and February.

[542] Stumm, p. 50.

[543] See Appendix.

[544] The Cossacks numbered only 104, under Sub-Lieutenant Saroff. They made a zariba of their horses’ bodies, and, after repelling incessant attacks for two days, they cut a path through the dense masses of their foes, and joined a relief column from Turkestān. Only nine escaped unwounded, and the killed numbered fifty-seven. Such actions abound in modern Central Asian annals, and they are as glorious as any performed by our own brave troops in India (Ney, p. 213).

[545] Ney, p. 214.

[546] Ney, _En Asie Centrale_, p. 214. Stumm asserts that the Bokhāran Amīr made the exiled Khān named Khudā Yār his Bey, or governor of Kokand (_The Russians in Central Asia_, p. 57).

[547] The chief was Colonel Von Struve, who afterwards attended Kauffman in a diplomatic capacity during his campaign against Khiva in 1873, and, at a later period of his career, was envoy of Japan. Among the other members was Colonel Glukhovsky, who was an ardent pioneer for Russia in these little-known tracts (see Schuyler’s _Turkestan_, ii. 354, 386), and published an interesting account of his mission in the Paris Geographical Society’s _Bulletin_ for September 1868.

[548] This illustrious soldier never regained imperial favour, and died almost unnoticed in August 1898.

[549] See Schuyler’s _Turkestan_, i. 312.

[550] It is to be found _in extenso_ in the _Journal de St. Petersburg_ of 16th July 1867.

[551] 500,000 roubles; equivalent to about £53,000. This ultimatum is omitted in Vambéry’s admirable description of the Samarkand campaign in the _Monatsschrift für deutsche Litteratur_, 1896. He alleges that Kauffman ignored the Amīr’s embassies, and fell unexpectedly on Samarkand when the preparation for the campaign was complete.

[552] Schuyler denies that this affair was really a battle. Judged by his standard, Plassey was a mere skirmish. The two battles closely resemble one another. See his _Turkestan_, i. 242.

[553] Sarts, as we shall presently see, is the Russian term for the sedentary inhabitants of Central Asia.

[554] Schuyler denies that the attack on a small isolated garrison was an act of treachery. It may not have been so on the part of the people of Shahrisabz; but the inhabitants of Samarkand were undoubtedly guilty of the basest dissimulation in welcoming the Russians and then secretly conspiring their destruction (_Turkestan_, i. 246).

[555] This is now a Russian cantonment.

[556] Quoted by Ney, _En Asie Centrale_, p. 221.

[557] Hugo Stumm, _Russia in Central Asia_, p. 104.

[558] The best account is one compiled by the Russian staff,--_The Khivan Campaign_, St. Petersburg, 1873.

[559] Schuyler, who visited the capital just before the annexation, mentions that 500 prisoners taken in one of these emeutes had their throats cut in the bazaar, which literally streamed with blood (_Turkestan_, ii. 16).

[560] Moser, _A Travers l’Asie Centrale_, p. 314.

[561] Moser, _A Travers l’Asie Centrale_, p. 298.

[562] The desert wells are termed _urpa_ when shallow, and _kuduk_ or _kuyu_ when they are deep and afford a constant supply. The only sign of their existence is the tracks converging on them from every quarter. They are mere holes, without kerb or fencing, and the sides are roughly shored up by the branches of desert shrubs (_ibid._ p. 299).

[563] “In the Turkoman Desert is a species of antelope almost as numerous as the wild ass. It is smaller than a sheep, which it resembles in body, neck, and head, and has the delicate limbs, horns, and hair of the antelope; the horn, however, is not opaque but white, and like a cow’s horn. The nostrils are directly in front, and are closed by a muscle acting vertically. The nose is greatly arched, and provided with an integument which can be inflated at pleasure. The head is extremely ugly. The animal ... is called by the natives _kaigh_” (Abbott, _Narrative of a Journey to Khiva_, 1856).

[564] Moser, p. 309. The Kārakūm is the portion of the Turkoman Desert lying between Khiva and the Akkal and Merv oases.

[565] “Our path lay through fields and natural meadows of the richest verdure, among groves of oak clothed in young leaves of the most delicate hues, broken into glades and lawns of velvet” (_Narrative of a Journey through Khorasan in the Years 1821–1822_, by James Baillie Fraser; London, 1825).

[566] M. P. Lessar, whose knowledge of Central Asian geography is profound, affirms that the Paropamisus, as the range was anciently called, offers no difficulty to the engineer. The summit is reached by an almost imperceptible incline. In fact, the traveller crosses the range almost without perceiving that he has done so.

[567] Vambéry, in a lecture delivered in London on 10th April 1880.

[568] See Rawlinson’s _History of Parthia_, 1873.

[569] _Travels in Bokhārā_, 1834.

[570] Kibitka is the Russian term for the nomads’ tent. It is composed of portable felt carpets secured by strips of raw hide to a circular collapsible wooden frame. An old tent, black with age and smoke, is called by the Turkomans “kara ev”; a new one, still whitish-grey, “ak ev.” The kibitka is the Russian administrative unit, and is supposed to connote five inhabitants. A group of kibitkas ranging between twenty-five and fifty is called _aul_, “portable village.”

[571] The subsequent history of this once powerful tribe is a curious example of the process of agglomeration which raised the Tekkes to supremacy. In 1871 the remnant of the Salors were forcibly deported by the former tribe to Merv, and incorporated with themselves. Petrusevitch, quoted by Marvin (_Merv_, p. 80).

[572] O’Donovan, who visited these works in 1880, describes them as follows: “For twenty yards on either side the river-bank was revetted with stout fascines of giant reeds, solidly lashed to stakes planted on the bank to prevent the friction of the current, as it neared the dam, from washing away the earth surface. Huge masses of earthwork closed the narrow gorge by which the stream found exit in the lower level by a passage scarce ten feet wide. The waters rushed thunderously through this narrow gap to a level eight feet below their upper surface. The passage was some fifty yards in length, and, like its approaches, was lined with reed fascines” (_The Story of Merv_, p. 210). Petrusevitch states that the repairs of distributories were provided for by the labour of a contingent of one man in every twenty-four families (Marvin’s _Merv_, p. 80).

[573] O’Donovan saw them in 1881. One was an eighteen, the others six-pounders; all were bronze smooth-bores (_The Story of Merv_, p. 198).

[574] Petrusevitch, quoted by Marvin, _Merv_, p. 81.

[575] Grodekoff found the burial-places full of murdered victims, the villages in ruins, and the fields out of cultivation (Marvin’s _Merv_, p. 207).

[576] O’Donovan, p. 182; Moser, p. 319.

[577] Petrusevitch, quoted by Marvin, pp. 82, 83. For an enumeration of the Turkoman clans the reader is referred to Marvin’s _Merv_, which is a mosaic of quotations from writers of different value. Petrusevitch is by far the most trustworthy.

[578] “Residence among these lawless tribes convinces me more than ever that there cannot be a worse despotism than the despotism of a mob. There is nothing, in my eyes, more pregnant with fatal consequences than the sway and power of an ignorant and uncivilised multitude governed by no other motives than its own maddening impulses” (Wolff’s _Bokhara_, p. 262).

[579] O’Donovan, _Story of Merv_, p. 220.

[580] Nūr Verdi Khān was one of those exceptional men, to be found in widely divergent societies, who acquire the commanding influence which all strong personalities must attain. His death, at the comparatively early age of fifty, just before the Russian invasion, was the death-knell of Tekke independence (Moser, p. 319).

[581] Wolff found a “Calipha,” or high priest, named `Abd er-Rahmān enjoying great influence at Merv in 1843. This was another case of force of character leading to the attainment of greatness (_Bokhara_, pp. 114, 115).

[582] _Sardār_ is a Persian word signifying “head-man.” Tokma Sardār, who had commanded the garrison of Geok Teppe during the memorable siege by the Russians, visited O’Donovan at Merv soon after that event. “He was slightly under middle height, very quiet, almost subdued in manner, his small grey eyes lighting up with a humorous twinkle” (_The Story of Merv_, p. 178).

[583] The weapons were a long flintlock, laboriously loaded with the contents of a powder-horn and leather bullet bag, but the Tekke trusted chiefly to his sabre and a long murderous dagger, called _pshak_ (Moser, p. 296).

[584] Moser, p. 324.

[585] _Ibid._ p. 300.

[586] Moser, p. 247.

[587] _Ibid._ p. 320.

[588] _Ibid._; also O’Donovan, p. 298.

[589] O’Donovan, p. 297. The training consisted in a gradual reduction of the rations of food and water. Dry lucern gave place to chopped straw; barley and juwārī (_sorghum_), to a mixture of flour and matter-fat.

[590] Moser, p. 322. It is remarkable that the Tekke seat is precisely the same as that in use among the nomads of the Mongolian plateau north of the Great Wall, who, according to Mr. E. H. Parker in a letter addressed to the _Pall Mall Gazette_, “always ride with very short stirrups, the knee bent forward almost to the withers, the reins grasped short, and (when there is any speed) the body well over the horse’s neck. Possibly this is the reason why the Mongol saddle always has a high peak, for it prevents the rider being chucked over the horse’s neck.” This method is also identical with that adopted by the jockey Tod Sloan.

[591] The felt blankets were worked by the cavaliers’ women-folk. “The finer the courser’s felt,” ran a Turkoman proverb, “the greater the love of the maker for the horseman” (Moser, p. 331).

[592] Moser, p. 274.

[593] _Ibid._ p. 319.

[594] See chapter iv. of Marvin’s _Merv_, which is a translation of Petrusevitch’s account of the Turkomans.

[595] “The eyes of a cat, with the extremity raised towards the temple” (Ney, _En Asie Centrale_, p. 193).

[596] A Turkoman, while travelling in the desert with Wolff, said, “I smell a caravan of Uzbegs”; and in a few hours one was met with. They can hear conversation at a great distance by flinging themselves on the ground and listening intently (Wolff, _Bokhara_, p. 242). They can name the tribe and even the individual cavalier by his traces on the sand (Moser, p. 300).

[597] “The Tekke is the only woman in Central Asia who knows how to walk. Nothing is more graceful than a girl of this race going to fetch water from a well and carrying the tall amphora on her shoulder.” (Moser, p. 330).

[598] O’Donovan, p. 193.

[599] Moser, p. 330.

[600] O’Donovan, p. 254.

[601] It is generally admitted that these rules are slowly evolved by the community to which the individual who adopts them belongs. There are some still amongst us who looked with complacency at the cruelties once perpetrated in this Christian country in the name of justice. We see our own manners at earlier stages of our growth reflected in those of contemporary savages.

[602] Pilaw, a dish which has now spread over the Eastern world, had its origin in Central Asia. It is a stew composed of hot mutton-fat into which meat has been shredded, carrots and rice, and, cooked as only a Turkoman knows how to prepare it, is a dish fit for a royal table.

[603] Moser, p. 332.

[604] The efforts of Tekke musicians can only be described as grotesque. They perform on long bamboo trumpets, called _twidak_, with an accompaniment of bowings and contortions which is in ridiculous contrast to the bird-like notes emitted.

[605] No Turkoman troubled his head about the ordinary business of life after fifty. His work was then done by the women and younger men; and his attitude was one of ease with dignity. In raids, however, and warfare, he was always ready to take an active part up to an advanced age (O’Donovan, p. 306).

[606] O’Donovan, pp. 307, 308; Moser, pp. 330, 331.

[607] A small mat costs £40, and a work of larger size sometimes as much as £400 (Moser, p. 331). The ordinary kinds were made of sheep’s wool and camel’s hair, with a little cotton; the better, wholly of silk. O’Donovan saw one, eight feet square, priced at £50 (p. 308). Carpets of the highest quality are now not procurable. They are cherished as heirlooms, and all are essential parts of a Turkoman maiden’s dowry. Those of the second grade, but coloured with honest native dyes, fetch 13s. a square yard.

[608] Marvin, quoting Vambéry and Conolly, mentions more ancient forms of marriage customs--the simulated abduction of the bride and the pursuit of her on horseback. These, however, are obsolete. For a considerable time after the fall of Geok Teppe the price of Tekke spouses sank to a low ebb, owing to the fearful slaughter of eligible males.

[609] The Merv oasis is a wedge driven between Persia and Afghanistān. Meshed is only 150 miles from the centre, Herāt about 240; and the Paropamisus range which intervenes was no deterrent in the eyes of Tekke horsemen.

[610] According to the agents employed by a London relief committee, a fifth of the population perished (Petrusevitch, quoted by Marvin, _Merv_, p. 326).

[611] Petrusevitch, quoted by Marvin, _Merv_, p. 321.

[612] Astrabad Consular Report for 1879.

[613] Provisory Ordinance of the 21st March 1874, quoted by Ney, p. 225.

[614] Ney, p. 225.

[615] In 1875 a caravan, fitted out by the energetic Colonel Glukhovsky, was destroyed between Krasnovodsk and Khiva. In 1877 the Turkomans looted one proceeding northwards from the Atrak; and a little later they cut up, near Krasnovodsk, some of their brethren who had accepted Russian rule, and intercepted many postal couriers (Petrusevitch, quoted by Marvin, _Merv_, p. 331).

[616] Ney, p. 226. It is now the site of a great railway workshop.

[617] In 1878, when Russia was within an ace of going to war with England on the Eastern question, it was arranged that columns from Turkestān and the Caspian should meet at Merv and subdue that almost unknown region; but the Congress of Berlin rendered the measure unnecessary (Ney, p. 227).

[618] Geok Teppe, which will for ever be associated with the final struggle for independence, is the name of a district; Dangil Teppe, that of the famous entrenched camp. It was originally that of a mound at the north-western angle.

[619] Ney, p. 240.

[620] Skobeleff was in politics an Anglophobe, though his relations with our countrymen individually were cordial. There is not an iota of truth in his belief that Lomakin’s failure was due to British intrigue. It is fully accounted for by his incapacity. The result was only what might have been expected. Russian authority in Central Asia was ill cemented, and it needed but the news of a crushing reverse to produce the wildest hopes in the Khānates.

[621] He was born in 1841.

[622] General Lomakin started from his base with 12,000 camels, and had lost the whole of them by the twentieth day of his march (Ney, p. 315).

[623] He wrote from Krasnovodsk in June: “If we wish to recoup our immense expenditure in Asia we must popularise the desert journey between the Caspian and the basin of the Amū Daryā; and, after rendering the steppes safe for transit, we must make a railway to Askabad and on to the Amū Daryā” (Ney, p. 286).

[624] Moser, p. 315.

[625] According to the official accounts, the artillery taken by the Turkomans included six mountain guns and three mortars, two of which were actually dragged within the entrenchment. General Kurapatkine, however, has stated the number of cannon captured by the Tekkes as fourteen. All of them, save one, were recaptured by the reserves. The fourteenth remained in the enemy’s hands until the final assault, when it was retaken, decked with green boughs, and paraded through the lines, accompanied by music and the frantic cheers of the troops.

[626] Skobeleff relates that, during one of his nightly rounds, he heard a private soldier remark to another that the Russians were at a great disadvantage, for they were huddled in the trenches, while the enemy hacked and stabbed them from above. He suggested that the trenches should be left empty, and the troops be posted ten paces to the rear. The hint was acted on with brilliant results, for the Turkomans on the following night sallied out in force and leapt into the trenches, where they were shot and bayoneted with ease (Moser, p. 315).

[627] He was much impressed by the punctilio with which the Tekkes had observed an armistice agreed on for the purpose of burying the dead on the 19th January. Skobeleff’s appreciation of the really noble qualities elicited by severe trial is shared by General Kurapatkine, who humorously alludes to Tokma Sardār, the commander of the entrenchment, as _mon vainqueur_, and styles him _un magnifique soldat_. An account of a visit paid by this leader to O’Donovan shortly after the siege will be found at p. 274.

[628] _The Story of Merv_, p. 155.

[629] The official list admits only 937 casualties during the siege, including 268 killed (Marvin, _Merv_, p. 401). An iron tablet on a white-washed mound in the little cemetery behind the site of the Russian camp substantiates these figures, but the extent of the three burial-places which lie to the east of the entrenchment, including separate ones for the Cossacks and the Stavropol Regiment, would imply a much greater sacrifice of life. General Kurapatkine states the total casualties to have been 1200, including 400 killed. The Russians in Central Asia have adopted Napoleon’s system of minimising losses.

[630] Telegram quoted by Marvin, p. 399.

[631] Ney, p. 249.

[632] Moser, p. 343.

[633] See Moser, p. 344. M. Paul Lessar, who was charged by the Russian authorities with the duty of surveying the debatable land in 1884, was the first to dissipate the “Paropamisus myth,” which made these insignificant hills an impenetrable barrier to the passage of troops.

[634] The meaning of Bādghīs is “windy.” It was suggested by the storms which sweep over the plateau in winter.

[635] Moser, p. 345.

[636] This very distinguished officer had been educated at the Petersburg Military Academy. He had seen much service in the Caucasus, when he had been governor of Southern Dāghistan, and afterwards of Darbend. He had gained eminence in the fields of archaeology and ethnology. As an administrator he was equally successful; and Askabad, the present capital of Transcaspia, owes much to his genius.

[637] It was composed of four companies of Transcaspian Chasseurs, three squadrons of Cossacks from the Kuban, one of Turkoman militia, and four guns (Ney, p. 252, note).

[638] Four of them now adorn a monument on the Askabad parade-ground commemorating Geok Teppe.

[639] The Englishmen were particularly struck by the eagerness shown by their rivals to support the national sports of the nomads, the liberal prizes awarded and the careful observance of ceremony in their official intercourse with Asiatics,--a policy which inspired the latter with a sense of their liberality and power. This is an attitude which would do much to consolidate our own power in India (_Report of the Pamirs Boundary Commission_).

[640] The late Major-General L. M. Annenkoff was then in the prime of life. He had won his spurs as a railway engineer by the rapid construction of a strategic line in Lithuania, and was afterwards appointed chief of the mobilisation department in the Ministry of War. At the outbreak of the Tekke campaign he volunteered for service under General Skobeleff, and was wounded at Geok Teppe. On returning to Russia he was appointed superintendent of transport throughout the empire (Ney, _En Asie Centrale_, p. 283).

[641] The rails were steel, flat-footed, weighing 68 pounds to the yard, and cost £16 a ton. The sleepers came from the Baltic and Caucasus. The rolling stock consisted of 80 locomotives on the Siegl system, and 1400 cars and waggons. Everything was produced in Russian workshops.

[642] They earned rather less than £2 per mensem. They were allowed to work in their own fashion, just as if they were repairing their _arīks_, or irrigation canals. It is said that in India, when the contractors insisted on the use of wheelbarrows, the native labourers carried the vehicles and their contents on their heads.

[643] Ney, p. 321.

[644] It cost 6½ d. per cubic yard.

[645] The moral effect produced by the spanning of the Amū Daryā was immense and far reaching. General Annenkoff told the members of the St. Petersburg Technical Society that when the first locomotive, draped with the imperial flag, crossed the river, loud cheers echoed from the hosts that lined the banks (Ney, p. 304).

[646] It is interesting to compare the cost of the Russian Asiatic railways with that of Indian lines constructed under similar conditions. It averaged £6144 per mile. The report of the Director of Indian Railways for 1872–1873 gives that of the earlier lines as £18,000 to £20,000. It is probable that the cost of the three railway battalions has not been taken into account. But, allowing for that item, we must admit that the Russian railways were far cheaper than our Indian trunk lines.

[647] Ney, p. 305.

[648] The following statistics for 1897 have been furnished by Colonel Brunelli, the much respected commandant of the railway battalion stationed at Merv:--

Revenue, gross £751,000
” nett 615,000

Train mileage 2,402,625

_Exports._

Raw cotton 81,000 tons
Wool 8,000 ”
Dried fruit 5,000 ”
Barley 2,000 ”
Skins and hides 5,000 ”
Salt 3,000 ”
Miscellaneous 5,000 ”
------------
Grand total 109,000 tons
============

_Imports._

Manufactures 15,000 tons
Sugar 12,000 ”
Tea 6,192,000 lbs.
Metals 5,000 tons
Kerosene oil 5,000 ”
Wool 8,000 ”
Miscellaneous,
including tan,
naphtha, rice,
spices, wine,
brandy, beer,
and thread 22,000 ”
-----------
Grand total 70,000 tons
===========
Intermediate traffic 70,000 tons
Total movement of goods 249,000 ”

[649] Phasis, Φᾶσις, a river of Colchis emptying itself into the Euxine. Its banks are clothed with forests whence pheasants were brought to delight Roman epicures (Mart. Ep. xiii. 45, 72).

[650] See an interesting paper read before the London Chamber of Commerce in 1866, by Colonel C. Stewart, C. B., H. B. M. Consul-General at Odessa. Sir W. W. Hunter, K.C.S.I., the brilliant historian of India, has also pointed out the striking correspondence between the former paths of trade and those mapped out by Russian engineers. It is, he explains, a question of correspondence rather than identity of work, but the section between the Black Sea and the Caspian follows the ancient ways very closely (_History of British India_, p. 32).

[651] Extensive additions to the station accommodation and rolling stock are contemplated. Estimates have received sanction which place the cost at two millions sterling. The question will shortly be studied by a committee of experts.

[652] An officer in command of the post at Kushk told one of the writers that the friendliest relations prevailed between the Russians and Afghans. On one occasion the staff of the Amīr’s Regiment, invited to a banquet by their brethren in arms, arrived in a _grande tenue_ of second-hand railway uniforms. Thus the colonel’s collar exhibited the magic words “Ticket collector,” and a major strutted proudly with a label of “Guard.” The Russians were under the impression that a portion of our ally’s subsidy was taken out in cast-off accoutrements, but the fact is that His Highness, being a prince of frugal mind, is a bidder by proxy at the periodical sales of unserviceable railway stores held in Upper India.

[653] M. P. Lessar, who surveyed these hills in 1884–1885, states their height above sea-level as 3140 feet.

[654] Colonel Arandarenko, district chief of Merv, states that only two assassinations of Russian officials had occurred during the last thirty years. General Kurapatkine, too, gives numerous instances of kindness and respect shown to disabled Russians by Turkomans (see Appendix II.).

[655] Messrs. Nobel have works there which produce a thick ropy petroleum. The out-turn in 1890 was nearly 3000 tons, but had fallen in 1895 to 1300.

[656] The movement by rail in 1896 was upwards of 60,000 tons. Transcaspian cotton is rapidly ousting the American product, thanks to protective tariff. It is a remarkable fact that the market price of cotton is higher in Transcaspia than at Manchester.

[657] The value of exported carpets and rugs in 1891 was 160,000 roubles. In 1894 it had fallen to 60,000, and is now probably 25,000 only.

[658] The official statistics for 1896 give the following percentages:--Persians, 39.2; Armenians, 32.2; Tartars, 11.7; Russians, 6.8; Jews, 5.0; Turkomans, 3; and “others,” 2.1.

[659] Mr. E. C. Ringler Thomson, late assistant agent to the Governor-General of India in Khorāsān, who knows General Kurapatkine well, wrote thus of him in the _National Review_ for February 1898: “He is still in the prime of life, not yet fifty years of age, has served from the commencement of his career in Central Asia, has taken a leading part in its conquest, and has made some important contributions towards its literature. He thoroughly knows the various countries, and thoroughly understands the people inhabiting them, and their modes of diplomacy and warfare. He was chief of the Staff to the great Skobeleff during the Russo-Turkish War, and greatly distinguished himself in it. Indeed there is little doubt that some of Skobeleff’s laurels were won by him. Skobeleff was the dashing, impetuous, reckless leader; Kurapatkine the cool, patient, calculating corrective who restrained him. He is a man of indomitable will, of untiring industry, master of his profession as a soldier, a great civil administrator, deliberate of speech, exceedingly gentle and modest in manner, and with a temper always under control. He wears the first class of the Order of Saint George (equivalent to our Victoria Cross), and his courage is of the type which does not comprehend fear. He is the strictest of disciplinarians, but beloved and respected by all, and his own good qualities are perforce in a great measure reflected in those serving under him. He is, indeed, the equal in every respect of any commander we could place in the field to oppose him. General Kurapatkine has brought Transcaspia in all matters, both civil and military, to a high state of perfection. He works from sunrise till late into the night, inquires personally into the minutest details, and finds time to be constantly making long and fatiguing journeys of inspection throughout his extensive command. This man, if he took the field against us, would be hard to beat. He has told me more than once that he has seen too much of war not to hate it, that neither he nor his Government have the least desire to fight us, and to suggest that they wish to invade India is absurd. I believe him. But all the same, he is a Russian of Russians, and, if he thought there was just cause for it, would delight in trying conclusions with us. In diplomacy, of course, General Kurapatkine is a thoroughbred Russian.”

[660] Krasnovodsk has two. They are administered by subordinate executive officers called _pristavs_.

[661] The Russian equivalent for mayor.

[662] The statistics for 1890–1895 are given below:--

+---------------+-------------------------+---------------+
| | Crimes against | Percentage of |
| District. +------------+------------+ Crime to |
| | the Person.| Property. | Population. |
+---------------+------------+------------+---------------+
| Mangishlāk | 273 | 239 | 23 |
| Krasnovodsk | 147 | 315 | 14 |
| Askabad | 213 | 206 | 27 |
| Tajand | 104 | 416 | 41 |
| Merv | 537 | 913 | 22 |
+---------------+------------+------------+---------------+
| Total | 1271 | 2089 | 25 |
+---------------+------------+------------+---------------+

[663] Murderers are sometimes sent to serve their term of imprisonment at Chikisliar, a dismal place on the south-eastern Caspian shore, made to enhance the penalty and also to lessen the opportunity for vendetta, to which the Turkomans are greatly given.

[664] They numbered, in 1895, 161,618 souls. It is curious to compare these figures with former calculations. Burnes, in 1832, estimated the number of Tekkes as 200,000; Vambéry, in 1863, as 180,000; and Petrusevitch, writing in 1878 on the eve of the Russian conquest, at 240,000. But these figures are mere guesswork. They are based on an average of five persons to each kibitka, or tent, while experience shows that four is nearer the mark (chap. iii. Marvin’s _Merv_).

[665] The families of the operatives of the Kizil Arvat Railway workshops, especially the children, are pallid, anæmic, and a prey to skin diseases.

[666] The percentages in 1895 were--in Mangishlāk, 11 per cent.; Krasnovodsk, 11 per cent.; Askabad, 11 per cent.; Tajand, 30 per cent.; and Merv, 85 per cent. It is a remarkable fact that the hospitals and dispensaries maintained so generously by Russia at the administrative centres have conquered the prejudice entertained at first for European treatment. The applicants for medical and surgical relief in 1890 were only 6000. In 1895 the number had risen to 34,950.

[667] This would be an object-lesson for the “Conscientious objector,” were it not that fanaticism is impervious to teaching or argument.

[668] For the system of irrigation before the Russian conquest, the reader is referred to chap. xviii. of O’Donovan’s _Story of Merv_, and p. 81 of Marvin’s _Merv_.

[669] Mīrāb, lord of water, an old Persian title.

[670] _Sū_ is a Turkish word for water. It is met with in the nomenclature of many streams near Constantinople.

[671] A Persian word meaning, primarily, government; secondarily, an estate or property.

[672] Marvin’s _Merv_, p. 263. The date is there given as 1787; as a matter of fact, the invasion of Murād, alias Ma´sūm, commonly styled “Begi Jān,” took place three years earlier.

[673] Maktab, an Arabic word meaning school.

[674] The income from posts and telegraphs is increasing, though the statistics are still insignificant. It was 82,832 roubles in 1890, and 133,005 roubles in 1895.

[675] Three steamer companies ply on the Caspian; the oldest is the “Caucasus Mercury,” and the others are termed the “Caspian” and “Eastern.” The steamers are better suited for goods than passengers.

[676] A verbatim reproduction of this remarkable utterance is to be found in the Appendix. General Kurapatkine’s great master, Skobeleff, was equally explicit in a proclamation issued to his troops on the day after his victory at Geok Teppe. “A new era,” he said, “has opened for the Tekkes--an era of equality and of a guaranteed possession of property for all, without distinction. Our Central Asian policy recognises no pariahs. Herein lies our superiority over the English” (Ney, _En Asie Centrale_, p. 248).

[677] This is a by-product of petroleum distillation, and termed, in Russian, astatki. After the more volatile illuminants have passed over, a residue remains in the shape of a ropy greenish-brown fluid, which in former days was considered valueless. It is now rapidly superseding coal as a steam raiser, and the recent rise in the market price of crude petroleum is in great measure due to the constantly extending use of astatki on steamers and railways.

[678] This ancient piece, a prize taken from the cowardly Persians, very nearly cost Skobeleff his life. Moser relates that the general, while reconnoitring the defences, became a mark for a brisk fusilade which wounded several of his staff. He was implored not to expose himself unnecessarily; but his only reply was to call for a chair and a glass of tea. There he sat indulging calmly in a cigarette while the bullets whistled round him. When, however, the cannon spoke, and its projectile plunged deeply into the soil close to his chair, Skobeleff adopted the “best part of valour.” He rose, saluted the Tekke gunners, and walked slowly back to his quarters (_A Travers l’Asie Centrale_, p. 315).

[679] This little ceremony is of ancient date in the Russian army. There is no hard-and-fast rule as to the wording of the general’s greeting. In some favoured corps, such as the Nijni Dragoons, etiquette ordains that it shall be followed by the name of the regiment.

[680] _The Story of Merv_, p. 194.

[681] The Central Asian tiger has a shaggier coat than his Bengal relative, and his disposition is less truculent. He never molests human beings or shows fight unless attacked. About a year ago one strayed during the noonday heat into a kibitka near the Sir Daryā, pushed aside the occupant, a woman who was spinning at the door, and coiled himself up in a dark corner for a nap. Alas for outraged hospitality! Information was given at the nearest post, and a party of riflemen soon arrived and did the poor beast to death.

[682] Three have been identified--Giaur Kal`a, Sultan Sanjar, and Bahrām `Alī. Some entrenchments are fabled to represent a fourth, older than the rest, built by Alexander the Great. But, as is well known, Iskandar Zū-l-Karnayn, “Alexander the Two-horned,” shares with Tīmūr and the Amīr `Abdullah the credit of having built nearly everything worth seeing in Central Asia.

[683] Moore’s _Veiled Prophet of Khorasan_.

[684] A description of the difficulties encountered has already been given.

[685] Khanikoff’s _Bokhara_, p. 18; _Journal of the Royal Geographical Society_, 8th June 1840.

[686] “Mémoire sur l’ancien cours de l’Oxus,” par M. Jaubert, _Nouveau Journal Asiatique_, Dec. 1833.

[687] Ney, _En Asie Centrale_, p. 300.

[688] The Zarafshān, called by the ancients Polytimætus, takes its rise in a tremendous glacier of the Kharlatau Mountains, 270 miles due east of Samarkand. Its upper reaches are little but a succession of cataracts, and it is too rapid and shallow for navigation. The average width is 210 feet. More than 100 canals are supplied by this source of Bokhārā’s prosperity, some of which are 140 feet broad. The capital is watered by one of them, called the Shari Rūd, which is 35 feet wide, and supplies innumerable smaller distributories (Khanikoff’s _Bokhara_, p. 39; Meyendorff’s _Bokhara_ (Paris, 1820), p. 148).

[689] Moser, _A Travers l’Asie Centrale_, p. 120.

[690] Khanikoff, p. 188.

[691] Throughout Central Asia the unit of surface measure is the tanap, which is equivalent to 44,100 square feet. This pest is termed reh in India, and is fought in a very half-hearted way by the ryots.

[692] Khanikoff, _Bokhara_, p. 9. This author, who wrote in 1845, gives as the average price of good land a sum equivalent to £20 of our currency (p. 154). Forty years later the Russians paid £16 per acre for land required for their railway (Ney, _En Asie Centrale_, p. 311).

[693] According to Wolff, it numbered 180,000 in 1843 (_Bokhara_, p. 163).

[694] They are named Imām, Samarkand, Mazār, Kārshi, Salahkhānā, Namāziyya, Shaykh Jalāl, Kārākul, Shīr-Gīrān, Talipash, and Oghlān.

[695] For the ethnology of Bokhārā the reader should consult Meyendorff, p. 189; Khanikoff, chaps. vii., viii., and ix.; and Moser, _A Travers l’Asie Centrale_, p. 68.

[696] The etymology of Bokhārā is also a moot point. There can be little doubt, however, that the word is derived from the Sanskrit _vihára_, or hermit-cell, which was adopted by the Buddhists and became _búhára_ in Mongolian. The city clustered round the retreat of an early ascetic.

[697] Ujfalvy states that the Tājiks of the plains, as distinguished from their brethren of the hills, and the branch called Galchas inhabiting the Pamirs, have a triple origin. They are (_a_) descendants from the Iranian aborigines of Bactriana and Soghdiana, who remained in the level country throughout the successive invasions of Turko-Tartars, Mongols, and Arabs; they accepted the domination of each new-comer, and were compelled to give their daughters in marriage to the conquerors; (_b_) immigrants who from time to time arrived in Bokhārā from Khorāsān; (_c_) mixed alliances between the wealthier inhabitants of the Khānate and Persian slaves brought thither during many centuries by Turkoman freebooters. This author adds that many Tājiks show signs of Arab blood in their aquiline noses and brilliant eyes (_Les Aryens_, Paris, 1896).

[698] An Uzbeg proverb has it: “When a Tājik tells the truth he has a fit of colic!”

[699] The Kirghiz style themselves _Kazāk_, “warriors.” They roam over the Khānates, and love to shelter themselves from the icy blasts in the long reeds lining the banks of the Sir Daryā. They are cruel, treacherous, and given to rapine. Government is exercised by hereditary Khāns, but the personal equation is everything, and the Khān who derogates is lost. Fighting men are called _Bahādurs_; the relatives of the tribal Khān, _Sultāns_.

[700] A native chronicle called “Nassed Nameti Uzbekia,” giving a catalogue of these clans, is quoted by Khanikoff, _Bokhara_, p. 74.

[701] Wolff’s _Bokhara_, p. 163. The doctor states that their synagogue possesses an ancient version of the Prophet Daniel, giving the variant “2400” in the place of “2300” in chap. viii. ver. 14.

[702] As is well known, the Mohammedans everywhere are ranged into two sections. The Sunnis are the orthodox, and owe their name to their adhesion to the traditionary teaching, _Sunna_, of the Prophet. The Shī`as reject it; and are also champions of the claim to succeed Mohammed of `Alī, his cousin and son-in-law, and of his sons in their turn, Hasan and Husayn. With the exception of the Persians, who are Shī`as, almost the whole of the Mohammedan world is Sunni. The two sects hate each other with the true _odium theologium_.

[703] These unhappy victims were British officers sent to Bokhārā on diplomatic service. After a long imprisonment they were cruelly beheaded by order of the Amīr Nasrullah in 1843. See Wolff’s _Bokhara_, _passim_.

[704] This neglect of one of the chief duties of government--the protection of its subjects abroad--is universal in Central Asia. We have no consul farther east than Baku. The Russians excuse their persistent refusal to grant an exequatur to a consul at Tiflis by the allegation that we would not permit them to establish such agencies on our Indian frontiers.

[705] The local phrase for turban is “salla.” A Russian-made one costs 1½ roubles; the cheapest Manchester turban being 3½, and the dearest 15 roubles.

[706] Called “paranji.” It has balloon sleeves meeting at the shoulders.

[707] Bokhārā stands in lat. 39° 46′ N., in the same parallel as Northern Spain, Naples, and Philadelphia. It is 1200 feet above sea-level, and exposed to Siberian blasts which make the winter climate very severe. The average winter temperature of London is nearly twice that of Bokhārā. In February heavy rains usher in a springtime as glorious as that which clothes our English woods, but suffocating summer heats follow which are broken by a fortnight’s rain in October. The climate is one of extremes (Khanikoff, _Bokhara_, chap. v).

[708] Bacha, a Persian word signifying the young of any animal.

[709] It is a curious fact that M. P. Lessar, while Resident at Bokhārā, anticipated Sir D. Barbour’s financial policy in India by inducing the Amīr to close his mint. The stiffening effect which might have been expected was not attained. Before the great recoinage of 1834 Indian silver underwent similar oscillations. The difference in weight and intrinsic value between rupees of different descriptions gave native brokers an opportunity of feathering their nests. They met in secret conclave periodically, and decided how many copper coins should be exchanged against each species of rupee. A recoinage, or adoption of the Russian monetary system, is the only possible remedy.

[710] In 1872 M. Petrofsky, agent of the Minister of Finance, visited Bokhārā in order to study the commercial system. He stated, in the _European Messenger_ for March 1873, that the city was then an entrepôt for English and Afghan wares. Green tea in those days arrived by way of Afghanistān, and was distributed throughout the Khānates from Bokhārā. “Who can guarantee,” he asks plaintively, “that with our carelessness with regard to the Bokhāran market, all the trade with Central Asia will not pass into the hands of the English and Afghans?” This fearful contingency has been obviated by protective tariffs and the Transcaspian Railway.

[711] Schuyler, _Turkestan_, vol ii. p. 90.

[712] Schuyler, p. 92.

[713] For a detailed account of the curriculum the reader is referred to Khanikoff, chap. xxix.

[714] The leader in the serious rising in Farghāna last spring was named Ishān Mohammed `Alī Khalīfa. In July 1898 a Russian was murdered at New Bokhārā, and the life of another was attempted by one of these fanatics.

[715] Schuyler retails an old scandal to the effect that the 40,000 roubles which the Madrasas cost were bestowed by the empress on a Bokhāran envoy at her Court after a _liaison_ with him (_Turkestan_, ii. p. 93).

[716] Moser, p. 151; Khanikoff, pp. 101–2.

[717] Meyendorff writes: “The lot of slaves in Bokhārā is terrible. Nearly all the Russians complain of being badly fed and severely beaten. I met one whose master had cut off his ears, driven nails through his palms, flayed his back, and poured boiling oil on his arms” (p. 286).

[718] “Amīr ul Mu´minīn,” the title adopted by the Caliphs.

[719] Fath `Alī, Shāh of Persia, asked a European, who told him that his sovereign’s acts were subject to public approbation: “Wherein lies the pleasure of ruling if one can’t do exactly as one pleases?”

[720] Moser, p. 160.

[721] A very elaborate description of the old Court régime is given in chaps. xxiv. and xxv. of Khanikoff’s _Bokhara_.

[722] Khanikoff, p. 233.

[723] Since the opening of the Transcaspian Railway this has become a staple export, and it has ousted the produce of the United States. The term for unripe cotton is _gūza_; that for pods ready for export is _pakhta_.

[724] The genealogy of the reigning house is not quite so clear as such matters usually are in Eastern countries. The founder was an Uzbeg general of the tribe of Mangit, named Mahammad Rahīm Bi. He was succeeded by his nephew, Dāniyāl Bi, whose son, Shāh Murād, alias Ma´sūm, commonly styled “Begi Jān,” was a soldier of the type of Chingiz Khān. He conquered Merv in 1784, and raised Bokhārā to a pinnacle of glory to which it had never attained since the spacious days of the Amīr `Abdullah, a contemporary of our own Elizabeth. Murād attained sovereignty in 1796, and died about 1801. His successor, Mīr Haydar, was a capable soldier, and the military caste had things entirely their own way during his reign, which ended in 1826. His successor was Nasrullah, a moody and treacherous tyrant, who gained an infamous reputation in England by the cruel slaughter of our envoys Stoddart and Conolly. His son Muzaffar resembled his father in cruelty and fanaticism. The story of his overthrow by the Russians has already been told.

[725] The official figures for each district in 1896 were--

Dessiatines of 2½ acres
District under cotton.

Samarkand 5,252
Katta Kurgan 8,920
Jizāk 1,188
Khojend 2,784
------
Total 18,144

In round figures, 45,000 acres. This is about 5 per cent. of the entire cultivated area of the province of Samarkand, which is officially stated as 364,200 dessiatines.

[726] There were, in 1896, twenty, nine of which were worked by steam or oil engines, ten by water, and one by horse-power. Three hydraulic and seventeen hand-screw presses were at work.

[727] The exact measurements of this stone are 6′ 4¼″ × 1′ 3¾″ × 1′ 5½″ deep. Round the edge is an Arabic inscription giving Tīmūr’s style and title, his genealogy, and the date of his death,--807 A.H., or 1405 of our era.

[728] M. Schuyler states this man’s name as Mir Seid Belki Shaikh, and the date of his death as two years after Tīmūr’s, _i.e._ 1407 (ii. p. 253).

[729] Schuyler, ii. p. 252. Tilā = gold.

[730] Khanikoff, p. 134. In a note he adds that a Russian named Efremoff, who visited Samarkand in 1770, saw this gigantic book.

[731] Schuyler’s _Turkestan_, i. p. 250.

[732] This Philistinism has its parallel in India. We believe it to be a fact that a Viceroy proposed the sale of the Tāj Mahāl at Agra to serve as a quarry for marble. The same Vandal had a vast number of seventeenth-century cannon at Allahabad broken up and disposed of as old metal.

[733] Not, however, in 1323, as Schuyler asserts (i. p. 247), for he was not born till fourteen years afterwards.

[734] M. Simakoff, a distinguished Russian archæologist, and the author of _Central Asian Art_, has arrived at the conclusion that the Persian ornamentation, which has hitherto been considered original, is but an imitation of that introduced by the Mongols into Central Asia. Moser, _A Travers l’Asie Centrale_, p. 118.

[735] Three versts and 100 sajenes in circuit (Khanikoff, _Bokhara_, p. 131).

[736] For a detailed account of this splendid feat of arms the reader is referred to Schuyler’s _Turkestan_, i. p. 224.

[737] Schuyler gives a very brief biography of this excellent man at p. 267 of his _Turkestan_. Like Kurapatkine, he was equally great in war and in civil life, and of that very high type of officials produced only in the Panjāb and Turkestān. The earnestness and keen sympathy with the people which characterised Henry Lawrence, Montgomery, and Herbert Edwardes shine conspicuous in the “Chernaieff school,” so called from an illustrious soldier and statesman who inspired his lieutenants with his own devotion. His unmerited disgrace, which followed a display of splendid moral courage, and his old age spent in the cold shade of imperial neglect, are not the most creditable episodes in Central Asian annals.

[738] Nestorius, a Syrian priest, became Patriarch of Constantinople in the fifth century; but his views as to Christ’s personality were declared heretical by a General Council held at Ephesus in 431. He was deposed from his high office, and his followers were driven from Europe.

[739] Afrāsiyāb is synonymous in Persian legend for anything of extreme antiquity.

[740] Moser was present when the Russian researches began. Every stroke of the spade, he says, revealed new treasures. Enamelled bricks of the finest designs, coins, a lamp like those exhumed at Pompeii, but covered with brilliant enamel, an urn splendidly adorned, and many other discoveries worthy to occupy a _savant_, were made in twenty-four hours (p. 116).

[741] No attempt has yet been made to exploit these regions; but the Russian Government is ready and willing to encourage prospectors. An Englishman is now engaged in searching for the precious metals, and has met with every possible assistance from the authorities.

[742] During Mr. Skrine’s stay at Samarkand a large gang started for this remote destination. Most of them were native bandits, who regarded their expatriation with true Oriental phlegm. But among the group who squatted on the station platform in their sheep-skin cloaks, from which their heavy manacles protruded, were several who inspired more sympathy: a young European girl, who clung piteously to her only treasure--a China teapot; a middle-aged man, evidently belonging to a higher social stratum than the rest, was deeply moved by the prospect of exile. The cause was but too apparent, for a little son clung to him, a sharer in his grief; while among the silent crowd, which was kept at a distance by a ring of soldiers with fixed bayonets, was his unhappy wife, come with her three young daughters to bid him a long farewell.

[743] Khanikoff enumerates 13 as grown in his time (_Bokhara_, p. 156).

[744] The local term is Chāy Kâbūd, or blue tea, a more faithful rendering of the colour. Like that drunk in Bokhārā, it is imported from China by steamer and rail; and absorbed from porcelain bowls, whence the spent leaves are deftly thrown on the floor by a practised jerk.

[745] See the description of ancient Samarkand by the Emperor Bāber in Schuyler’s _Turkestan_, p. 239.

[746] Colonel Kulchanoff now holds these functions. He is a Tartar from Orenburg, and is a perfect mine of information on the history and usages of the province. Though a Mohammedan, he lives in European style, and associates freely with his colleagues. Madame Kulchanoff presides at table, and converses with a charming grace with strangers who know Russian.

[747] Lord Cornwallis encountered similar difficulties in fixing the demand on which the Permanent Settlement in Bengal was based. An eminent Hindu reformer, who at that period (1793) was head native officer in the district of Rangpur, is said to have received a bribe of a lakh of rupees (£10,000) for omitting a cipher in the reported gross revenue of a single estate.

[748] By far the best work done by the Civil Service of India is that which is known as Settlement, _i.e._ the land valuation on a vast scale. The Russians would gain enormously could they obtain the service of a few of the younger men who have taken up this branch of executive duty.

[749] The dimensions of some of the ancient works in Samarkand are stupendous. In one case the wells attain a maximum depth of 420 feet, and are connected by a tunnel in which a man can walk upright.

[750] See a very interesting note at pp. 258–9, vol. ii. of Schuyler’s _Turkestan_.

[751] Lord Curzon’s great work on Central Asia is considered by the Russians themselves as a text-book, though they vigorously combat his views on their policy.

[752] See Appendix, p. 425.

INDEX

Abbās the Great, Shāh, 267.

`Abbāsids, the, genealogy of `Abbās, 80 _note_;
rise of dynasty and increase in power, 78, 80–85;
emissaries sent to Khorāsān, 75;
black standard raised in Khorāsān by Abū Muslim, 80;
Abū-l-`Abbās (Es-Saffāh) proclaimed Caliph, 85.

`Abd el `Azīz, 196–98.

`Abd el-Jabbār, revolt against El-Mansūr, 91.

`Abd el-Melik, 43–44.

`Abd el-Melik II., 118.

`Abd er-Rahmān (brother of Kutayba), 57, 59, 65.

`Abd er-Rahmān ibn Muslim (_see Abū Muslim_).

`Abd ul-Ahad, 257.

`Abd ul-Kerīm, _cited_ 204 _note_, _passim_.

`Abd ul-Latīf, 176, 177.

`Abd ul-Latīf the Uzbeg, 191 _note_.

`Abd ul-Mū´min, assassinated, 204.

`Abd us-Samad Khān, 215, 218, 219.

`Abdullah (brother of Kutayba), 65.

`Abdullah ibn `Āmir, 38.

`Abdullah ibn Kazghan, 166.

`Abdullah ibn Khāzim, 38, 43.

`Abdullah ibn Rabī`, 39.

`Abdullah ibn Tāhir, 100, 101.

`Abdullah ibn Zobayr, 43.

`Abdullah Mīrzā, 177.

_`Abdullah Nāmé_ of Hāfiz ibn Tānish, _cited_ 186 _note_.

`Abdullah (uncle of Abū-l-`Abbās), 85, 86, 87.

`Abdullah I., 191 _note_.

`Abdullah II., genealogy of, 190;
reign, 191–92.

Abramoff, General, defence of Yani Kurgān, 252;
appointed governor of Samarkand, 255;
Katti Tūra defeated and completion of Bokhāran conquest, 256.

Abū `Alī Sīmjūr, 117.

Abū Bekr, 36.

Abū Dā´ūd Khālid ibn Ibrāhīm, 88, 91.

Abū Ja`far (_see El-Mansūr_).

Abū-l-`Abbās (_see Es-Saffāh_).

Abū-l-Fayz, 199.

Abū-l-Ghāzi Khān (grandson of Abū-l-Fayz), 205.

Abū-l-Ghāzi, Khān of Khiva, revolt against Bokhārā, 197.

Abū-l-Husayn Nasr I. (_see Ilik Khān_).

Abū-l-Khayr, 183, 190.

Abū Muslim, early life, 81;
black banner raised in Khorāsān by, 80;
entry into Merv, 82;
enmity of Caliph towards, 86;
murder, 88.

Abū Sa`īd Khān, 189, 190.

Abū Sālama, 84.

Afrāsiyāb identified with Būkū Khān, 115, 397.

Āgha Mohammad, 267.

Ahmed ibn Asad, 101.

Ahmed Khān, 121.

Ahmed, Sultan, 178.

Akkal Oasis, 265, 268.

`Alā ud-Dawlé, war with Ulugh Beg, 176.

`Alā ud-Dīn Mohammad, revolt against the Gūr-Khān, 147, 148, 156;
extent of possessions on downfall of Kara-Khitāys, 157;
rupture with Chingiz Khān, 157;
flight and death, 159.

Alakush-Tekin, 155.

Alexander the Great, conquest of Persian Empire, 4–9.

Alexander II., Tashkent captured contrary to orders of, 248;
annexation of Kokand authorised by, 260;
conference with Skobeleff, 289.

Alexandria, 7, 11.

Al-Hakam ibn `Āmir al-Ghifārī, 38.

`Alī ibn `Isā, 96, 99.

`Ali ibn Talha, 101.

`Ali, Sultan, 178.

Alikhanoff, 298.

Almāligh, made his capital by Chaghatāy, 161.

Alp Arslān, 130.

Alptagin, 112.

Altagin, 132.

Altuntāsh, 123.

Amīn, 96, 99.

Amīr `Abd ul-Ahad, 257.

Amīr Bāyazīd Jalā´ir, 167.

Amīr Haydar (Sayyid Haydar Tura), 208–10, 384 _note_.

Amīr Husayn, 169.

Amīr Kazghan, 165.

Amīr Tīmūr (_see Tīmūr Leng_).

`Amr ibn Layth, Ya`kūb succeeded by, 105;
career and death, 105, 109–11.

Amū Daryā, crossed by Alexander, 6;
boundary between Turkish and Persian dominions, 30;
Al-Hakam first Arabian general to cross, 39;
course, 358;
shifting of bed, 263;
navigation, 358;
viaduct over, 310–312, 359.

Amūya, ancient name for Charjūy, 144.

Amyntas, 10.

Andakhūy, 8.

Andarāl (Drapsaca), 6.

Andijān, Kokandis defeated at, 260.

Annenkoff, General, Transcaspian railway constructed by, 307–10.

Antes, 225.

Antiochus I. and II., 11.

Anūsha Khān, Bokhārā invaded by, 197.

Anūshirawān (_see Chosrau I._).

Aornos (Gori, Khulum), taken by Alexander the Great, 6.

Apaoki (T’ai-tsu), 137 _note_.

Arabia Felix, origin of name, 34 _note_.

Arabs, rise of Islām and spread of conquests, 34–44;
Arabic literature, 180.

Arachosia (_see Kandahār_).

Arbela (Gaugamela), battle of, 5.

Ardashīr, 22.

Ardavān (Artaban), battle with Ardashīr, 23.

Arimazes, 8.

Arsaces, Andragoras overthrown by, 11;
Arsacidæ dynasty founded by, 12;
Kābul partly possessed by Arsacidæ, 19.

Arslān Khān, 120.

Artabanus II., 12.

Artaxerxes IV. (Bessus), 5.