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Br THE SAME AUTHOR.

SPOKT AND POLITICS UNDER A
EASTERN SKY.

Demv 8vo, 21s. net.

Athenaeum. — "A useful contribution to our somewhat scanty sources of informa-
tion about tracts of country invested at this moment with peculiar interest."

St James's Gazette. — "A very varied and fascinating stor^ of travel in some of

the most interesting quarters of Asia The picture of the capital of Seistan, where,

within the last couple of years, a British Agent has been established, and of the covert
conflict of Russian and British interests in this important strategic province are very
interesting to the student of international politics, as well as for the sake of the
entertaining narrative itself. Excellent, too, is the account of the big-game shoot-
ing in the Himalayan highlands."

Pall Mall Gazette.—" We hope Lord Ronaldshay's book will help sluggish thinkers
at home to realise how deeply we are involved, and how little we can afford to relax
our influence on the region that lies between the Afghan frontier and the Persian
Gulf."

Civil and Military Gazette. — "A bright and amusing book of travel The

style is chatty and unpretentious, and the volume will be welcome to those who are
wearied of the rigmarole of political theses which constitutes the stock-in-trade of
the present day magazine-article writer when he discourses upon the affairs of foreign
countries. The photographs — the author's own— with which the book is illustrated
are excellent throughout."

Times. — " Two themes there are which have justified the existence of many books
of travel and seldom fail to wake a sympathetic echo in the mind of the Englishman.
A passion for sport and a taste for politics are innate in him, and a book which
reminds him of either fact or both does not generally make its appeal in vain. Lord
Ronaldshay's book, as its title declares, avowedly makes this appeal ; and by a grati-
fying simplicity of arrangement sport and politics are relegated to distinct halves of
it, so that in perusing it neither the sportsman nor the politician need, unless he
chooses, enter upon alien ground His story is an efifective, if involuntary, testi-
mony to his pluck and powers of endurance, which, on the whole, were very well
rewarded. It will probably attract others besides sportsmen, for the wild regions
above Kashmir and on the confines of Chinese Tibet always fascinate the reader, and
Lord Ronaldshay's narrative, while making no pretentions to literary adornment,
shows that he felt a delighted sympathy with the spirit of the vast solitudes through
which he wandered, and— more essential still— that he really describes things as he
saw them."

Westminster Gazette. — "Lord Ronaldshay's volume stands out from the average
sportsman's record. First of all, there is a ring of enthusiasm for the lonely heights
and the beauty of the wilderness throughout the whole book, which is very refreshing
in its boyishness and candour. Next, the roads chosen, first ou Asiatic hill-tops, and
afterwards from Simla through Beluchistan and the Caspian by land to London, are
almost entirely off what is now becoming the beaten track of the hunter of big game ;
and last, but not least, the author's dauntless and cheerful perseverance in excep-
tional hardships and trials of patience, lend a peculiar interest to every page."

Spectator. — " Lord Ronaldshay has achieved a rare success ; he has written a good
book of travels. The style is simple and well suited to the matter ; the interest is
not sacrificed to a pretence of fine writing ; and the author has sufificient literary
sense to produce the eflect at which he aims, whether he writes as a sportsman or a
politician."

WILLIAM BLACKWOOD & SONS, Edinburgh and London.

>^^p

GEISEL LIBRARY

GEISEL LIBRAKT ,^j-p

ON THE OUTSKIETS OF EMPIKE
IN ASIA

VIEW IN THE THIAN SHAN,

WAYNE S. VUCINICH

ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF EMPIRE
IN ASIA

BY

THE EARL OF RONALDSHAY

F.R.G.S.

AUTHOR OF ' SPORT AND POLITICS UNDER AN EASTERN SKY '

" It is in Asia once again that will be decided the destinies of the world.
In Asia will be founded and will increase great empires, and whoever
succeeds in making his voice heeded in the Far East will be able also to
speak in dominating accents to Europe." — Prince Henri d'Orleans :
Around Tonkin.

WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS

EDINBURGH AND LONDON

MCMIV

AU Eights reserved

PREFACE.

The object and scope of the present volume are set
forth at sufficient length in the opening chapter,
and no further explanation on this score is required
from me here. With regard to arrangement, it has
been my endeavour to place before the public an
account of some of the less accessible countries of
Asia and of the problems to which their existence
and present position give rise, which may appeal
equally to the general reader and to the student of
Eastern questions. With this object in view I have
caused to be inserted a number of illustrations,
reproductions in every case of photographs taken by
myself, in the hope that they may prove of assistance
to the reader in forming a mental picture of the
countries and peoples that I describe. The countries
through which I passed being many and various, I
have divided the volume into sections, each one of
which may be read without reference to the others.
In Section I. will be found a synopsis of the chapters
that follow ; in Sections II. -YI. a description of a
journey the length of an ancient continent ; and in

PREFACE.

the concluding section some account of the political
situation in the East with which this country is con-
fronted at the present time. Sections II. -VI. may be
said to consist in the main of a narrative of travel,
and, since my wanderings led me at one time through
an unrivalled sporting country, I have not hesitated
to include among them a section upon sport ; but
though devoted largely to a description of travel,
some political questions — the Baghdad railway problem
to wit — are discussed in them, something of history
is recalled, and such information as my inquiries in
various directions elicited is adduced for the benefit
of all who take a close interest in the peoples and
politics of Asia. It has been said of travellers — not
altogether without reason perhaps — that they forget
much that they have seen, and remember much that
they have not ! If I plead guilty to the former
charge, I may, I hope, in my own case conscientiously
take exception to the latter, since it has been my
practice, whenever seeing anything of interest or learn-
ing anything of importance from reliable sources, to
take instant note of it upon the spot.

It is, perhaps, hardly necessary for me to add that
I am indebted to many for much willing help and
sympathetic interest shown to me by my own country-
men and by foreigners alike, whether ojB&cial or other-
v/ise, whenever my wanderings have brought me in
contact with them in the remote corners of the East.
In this connection it is also my pleasant duty to
acknowledge my indebtedness to the proprietors of
' The Times ' for the ready assent which they gave

PREFACE.

to my request to be permitted to make use in the
present volume of articles from my pen which have
already appeared in their columns.

In conclusion, may I express the hope that there
may be found in the following pages sufficient of
interest to evoke from the reading public the same
indulgent reception for this, my second and more
ambitious volume, that they so readily accorded to
my first.

RONALDSHAY.

Av^ust 1904.

CONTENTS.

ACEOSS A CONTINENT.
CHAPTER I.

ACROSS A CONTINENT.

Object of the book — Length of journey and method of travel — The
desert — A site of ancient monarchies — Discomfort of travel — The
spell of the East — To the heart of Asia by rail — Performance at
a mosque — Monuments of the past — Central Asian post-roads —
Beyond the bounds of Russia — A great trans-continental railway
— -The political aspect — The return of the West to the East — The
remnants of Portuguese supremacy — The awakening of Russia —
The Powers in Asia — The objects of Great Britain and of Russia
— The policy of Tsar Nicholas 1.— Failure of the same — Ineptitude
of British policy in the past — Importance of British interests in
the East — Lord Curzon's views — The necessity of looking Asiatic
problems in the face .......

TURKEY IN ASIA.
CHAPTER II.

THE GATEWAY OP THE EAST.

Constantinople — The romance of the city on the Golden Horn — The
reality — Monuments of interest — The gulf between Europe and
Asia — Peculiarities of the East — The Haider- Pasha Ismid railway
— A climb to the Anatolian plateau — Lack of comfort on the
present Anatolian railway — Probabilities of the future — Konia —
Its streets — Improvement in the district under the adminstration
of Ferhit Pasha ....... 27

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER III.

ACROSS THE TAURUS.

Difficulties of travel iu the winter— An Eastern road—Th^ Axylon
plateau— Off the road at night— Eregli— Through the Taurus
mountains— The defile at Bozanti— A pleasant Christmas !— A
silver mine — Death of a Icaimakam—Bdidi weather — The Cilician
Gates— An ancient highway of nations— The trac^ of the future
railway not through the Gates— Reach the Cilician plain and
Mersina ,...•••• 34

CHAPTER IV.

CILICIA.

Cilicia, ancient and modern— Mersina, a typical seaport of the Near
East— Natural disadvantages as a port— The ancient harbour of
Tarsus— The ruins at Soli Pompeiopolis— St Paul's Institute at
Tarsus— Course of the Cydnus diverted by Justinian— The Dinek
Tash— Fallacy of the legend that it is the tomb of Sardanapalus
—Relics at Tarsus— The site of the ancient capital— Adana,
capital of Cilicia— Description of— Population of— The American
mission — Turkish rule — Want of public works — Instances of
official corruption— The cotton industry— Climate— Leave Adana
— Ruined castles — A gorgeous sunset — Nature of Eastern Cilicia
— Across the Giaour Dagh — Excavations at Zingerli — Reach
Aleppo .....••• *^

CHAPTER V.

ALEPPO TO DEIR-EL-ZOR.

Aleppo — Its bazaars — Population — Importance as a distributing
centre— More tales of Turkish administration— Routes between
Aleppo and Mossul— The northern route— The southern route—
The proposed railway route — Internal disorder — Reason for
travelling by southern route — Start from Aleppo — Nature of
country— A long march and a scanty dinner— Meskineh— The
lands of the Euphrates— Historical interest of the river banks—
Deir — A visit from a Turkish colonel — I secure an escort—
Road-making— The disadvantages of an absence of road . 53

CHAPTER VL

THE DESERT.

Crossing the Euphrates — The monotonous desolation of the country
—A surprise— A band of Arab marauders— A peaceful conclusion

CONTENTS.

— Arab propensities — The river Gozan of the Old Testament —
Crossing the Khabur river — The Mesopotamian steppe — A well
in the desert— Reach the Jebel Sinjar — The Yezidis — A punitive
expedition — An uncomfortable night — The country between Jebel
Sinjar and the Tigris — The aspect of Mesopotamia in spring and
in summer — Description by Sir Henry Layard . . .62

CHAPTER VII.

THE LANDS OP THE TIGRIS.

Curiosity concerning the past — Collections of ancient records — Time
the destroyer — Koyunjik and Nebi Yunus— Nimrud — The Ger-
mans at Babylon— Mossul — Down the Tigris on a raft — A useful
escort ! — Samara and its objects of pilgrimage — The Malwiyeh —
Latent wealth of the lands of the Tigris— Sir William Willcock's
scheme — British Government must interest themselves — Chaldsea
described by Herodotus— Reach Baghdad — The romance of Bagh-
dad is of the past — A gufa — Described by Herodotus — Baghdad
a commercial centre — Shortcomings of the Turkish Government
— Fate of a public benefactor — Trade of Baghdad — Lack of trans-
port— Extraordinary rates of freight — Great Britain must control
the country from Baghdad to the Persian Gulf . . .70

CHAPTER YIII.

THE BAGHDAD RAILWAY.

Railway projects in the past — The success of Germany— Lack of
interest of British Government in the past — English concessions
pass to other countries — The prophecy of the deputation of 1857
— The German Commission of 1899 — The concession of 1902 —
Proposed route of the line — Branch lines — Description of the
country through which the line will pass — The Taurus barrier —
Possibilities of Asia Minor — Lawlessness of Mesopotamia — Im-
portant towns all lie to the north— The right bank of the Tigris
preferred to the left — Centres of pilgrimage — Points to be re-
membered in criticising the line — The financial prospect— Inter-
national complications — Germanophobia in England — The line as
an alternative route for the Indian mails — The conditions upon
which Great Britain must insist as essential to her co-operation —
The position of Great Britain with regard to the railway— The
state of affairs at the present time . . . .84

CONTENTS.

PEESIA.
CHAPTER IX.

BAGHDAD TO KBRMANSHAH.

Persian characteristics — Methods of travel in Persia — Interesting
monuments of Western Persia — Nature of country on the
Turkish border — The legends of Shirin — Man walled up alive —
The Darcy concession — A strange dinner-party — The ascent to
the Persian highlands — A late winter — Reach Kermanshah —
Strategic position of — Population — Persian amenities ! — The
nakarreh khaneh — The rock sculptures of Bostan — Description of
— Inscriptions — Disfigurement of panels — • Opinion of the late
Shah concerning — Other remains . . . . .107

CHAPTER X.

KERMANSHAH TO TEHERAN.

E«mains at Kangavar — The inscriptions at Bisitun — Deciphered by
Sir H. Eawlinson — Description of the tablet above the inscrip-
tions— Ker Porter's surmise — Names and identities — Another in-
scription— The country between Kermanshah and Hamadan —
Hamadan — Population — Trade — The tombs of Esther and Mor-
decai — The tomb of Avicenna — A beautiful mosque — The Ganj-
nameh — A stone lion — The key to the decipherment of the
cuneiform alphabet — Gold — The question of the site of Ecbatana
of Deioces — The debauches of Alexander the Great — The decay
of Hamadan — The country between Hamadan and Teheran —
Execrable weather — Discomforts of travel — Reach Teher§,n . 121

CHAPTER XI.

TEHERAN.

Recent improvements at Teherfin — The city gates — Days of mourn-
ing— Interview with the Shah and with the Prime Minister — A
visit to the palace — A motley collection ! — The picture-gallery —
An extraordinary ceremony — Religious plays — Nature of the
country round the capital . . . . . .132

CONTENTS.

CHAPTEE XII.

PERSIA IN 1903.

"Tariffs" — Negotiations leading to a revision of the Custom duties
— Adverse effects upon British trade over-estimated — Present
state of affairs due to British insouciance in the past — The treaty
of Erzerum — Provisions of the new tariff — Effect upon Indian
trade — Great Britain's reply — Events on the Afghan border —
The MacMahon mission — Russian intrigue — Ways and communi-
cations^— The situation in the capital — The fall of the Prime
Minister — A tribute to the British Minister . . .137

CHAPTER XIII.

THROUGH THE PORTALS OF PERSIA.

The highroad to Persia — A contrast in scenery — Cost of the chausse
— Disadvantages of — The object of Russia — A huge advertisement
— What the Persian thinks — Leave Teheran — Persian methods
— Teherdn to Resht — The silk industry — Obstacles encountered
between Resht and Enzeli — A false start — Off at last . .147

CENTRAL ASIA.
CHAPTER XIV.

Civilisation again — The commercial aspect of Baku — A weird sight —
Natural fire — An ancient fire-temple — The boilers of Balakhani —
A hundred tons of oil a-day — " Spouters " — The interior of a der-
rick— A calamity at an oil-well — Statistics of the oil trade — A
high excise duty — Price of oil in London and in Russia . 155

CHAPTER XV.

THE TRANSCASPIAN RAILWAY IN 1903.

Origin of the idea of railway communication with Central Asia —
The chimerical conception of M. de Lesseps — With the defeat
of Lomakin, railway schemes are revived — Lack of suitable trans-
port— General Annenkoff's line — England suspicious — The Pend-
jeh incident — Renewal of work on the Transcaspian railway —
Completion of the line — Leave Baku — Krasnovodsk — On board

xiv CONTENTS.

the train— Geok Teppe— A false report— The steppe in spring—
Khiva— Merve— The Murgab branch to the Afghan frontier— A
desert of sand— The bridge over the Oxus— Reach Bokhara . 163

CHAPTER XVI.

BOKHARA THE NOBLE.

New Bokhara— The fascination of Old Bokhara— Its bazaars— A
picture for an artist's brush— A scourge of the East— Monu-
ments of the past— The power of the King of Bokhara— The
citadel— Its ancient clock— A piteous tale— Violent death— The
State prison— Its jailer— The scene inside— Khanikoffs descrip-
tion of the lower dungeon— The story of Stoddart and ConoUy-
Nasrullah, King of Bokhara— The journey of Dr WolflF— The
notorious vermin pit— Bokhara described as it is to-day— Authori-
tative writers on Bokhara . . . . . .178

CHAPTER XVII.

SAMARKAND.

Samarkand one of the great cities of Central Asia— The vicissitudes
through which it has passed— Timur's capital— Description of
Timur— Samarkand taken by the Russians— A brilliant episode
—The buildings of Samarkand— The market square— A meal
in the bazaar— The tomb of Tamerlane— The mosque of Bibi
Khauum— The mosque of "the living king"— Ishak Khan— The
end of the railway ....... 192

CHAPTER XVIII.

ACROSS THE STEPPES OP TURKESTAN.

Russian capital in Asia — Old Tashkent — Its capture by the
Russians— Railway projects— The Tashkent-Orenburg line— The
Tomsk-Tashkent line— Advantages of post-roads— Carriages pur-
chased—Method of travelling— A post-house— Rate of speed at-
tainable—The steppes of Turkestan— The life of the steppe—
Tchimkent — The Chinese frontier — Through Semirechensk —
The Siberian frontier — Monotony of travel — The character of
the steppe borderland— Semipalatinsk— From Semipalatinsk to
Barnaul — Reach Barnaul ...... 199

CONTENTS.

CHAPTEK XIX.

KULJA.

Yakub Khan— Internal disorder in Kulja in the 'Sixties— Eussian
interference— A ghastly holocaust— Report of a Chinese oflScial—
Russian assurances— Tso-Chungt-'ang, a Chinee of "great stead-
fastness of purpose"— The reconquest of Turkestan by China-
Difficulties with Russia— Gordon summoned— The treaty of St
Petersburg— What Russia gained— The position of Kulja to-day
— Suidon — Kulja — Mineral wealth of the province — Tribes,
sedentary and nomadic — Kirgiz and Kalmuk — The Chinese
quarter— A visit to the Taotai— The future of Kulja— Russian
intrigue with Tibet . . . • • • .211

SPOET.
CHAPTER XX.

AMONG THE IBEX OF TURKESTAN.

A sportman's paradise— The way there— A lengthy bargain— To the
Oriyaas valley— Magnificent scenery— A Kalmuk Nimrod— A
48-inch ibex shot— Stormy weather— An evil beast— Vengeance—
A successful right-and-left— Marmots— The disappearance of an
ibex— Its head secured— Extremes of temperature— The luck of
ibex-shooting — A 51|-inch trophy — Kalmuk characteristics —
Another 50-inch head— Flooded rivers— Back to Kulja— Horn
measurements ....... 225

CHAPTER XXI.

AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE SIBERIAN ALTAI.

The Altai— Mr Ney Elias observes numbers of large horns— Major
Cumberland's expedition— The way to the Altai— Time occupied
by the journey— Expense— Kosh-Agach— Nature of the country
—My Kalmuk hunter— The "Happy Valley"— A depressing
day— Rams sighted— A wounded ram— My first head— A move
into Mongolia— A big ram in view— Officious females— Nature's
spell — A desperate race — A terrible disappointment . . 24

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XXII.

SPORT IN MONGOLIA.

A gazelle shot — Pombo's obtuseneas — A long stalk — A flat crawl —
An anxious wait — A big ram wounded — Pombo's jubilation — A
57-inch horn secured — A long ride in the dark — Ammon plentiful
— A pack of wolves — Cold — A 55 inch ram shot — A right-and-
left — Chase after a wounded ram — Stupidity of Kalmuks — The
wounded ram brought to bag — Preparations for leaving the
country — Horn measurements — Smuggling — Reach the Siberian
railway ........ 255

SIBERIA AND ITS RAILWAY.

CHAPTER XXIII.

CENTRAL SIBERIA.

The Government of Tomsk — The Altai mining district — Nature of
the country — An agricultural land — Three years' famine — The
fallow-land system — Absence of English-made goods — The reason
— The Siberian village — The Siberian peasant — The vodka curse
— The Government vodka monopoly — Vodka statistics — Barnaul
— A general store — The Altai highlands — Kosh-Agach — Eusso-
Mongol trade— The city of Tomsk — The mystery of Tomsk —
Feodor Kuzmitch — The mysterious death of Alexander I. —
"Alexander's House" at Tomsk — The university and techno-
logical institute — Population and position .... 267

CHAPTER XXIV.

THE GREAT SIBERIAN RAILWAY.

The spirit of discovery of the sixteenth century — Yermak — The con-
quest of Siberia — The treaty of Nertchinsk — Count Muravieff —
Need of communications in Siberia — Early railway schemes —
The Perm-Tiumen line built — The imperial rescript of March
1891 — The cost of the Siberian railway — The price of a ticket
— Western Siberia — The settlement of Novo Nicholaewsk —
Dairy-farming — The junction for Tomsk — Deficiencies of the
railway track — The monotony of the journey — Irkutsk — Its
origin — Its present position — Its chief buildings — The gold-
smelting laboratory ....... 282

CONTENTS.

CHAPTEE XXV.

THE EAST CHINESE KAILWAT.

Eussia's coup — The line to pass through Manchuria — Great Britain's
reply — The Manchurian railway agreement — A journey over the
Manchurian railway in the autumn of 1903 — Across Lake Baikal
—The frontier of Manchuria — Calibre of the line — Kharbin—
Military occupation — Article II. of the Manchurian Convention
of 1902 — The ambitions of Kharbin — Magnificent crops — Dalni —
Port Arthur — Russia's outlay in Manchuria — Niuchwang — The
Boxer outbreak Russia's opportunity^The situation at Niuch-
wang at the outbreak of hostilities — Mukden and Antung opened
to foreign trade — Peking the end of the journey . . . 299

ENGLAND IN ASIA.

CHAPTER XXVI.

THE NEAR EAST.

England and Russia in the East — The point of view from which
Asiatic questions must be regarded — " Without India the British
Empire could not exist " — The value of prestige — The commercial
and strategic aspects of the Near Eastern and the Par Eastern
questions — Turkey — The long-standing antagonism between
Russia and Turkey — Enter Germany — A novel solution of the
Turkish imbroglio — The Baghdad railway — Persia — Resemblance
between the Persian and Turkish problems — Indifference of Great
Britain in the past — The financial blunder of 1900— The Russo-
Persian railway agreement of 1890 — A policy adopted— The Vice-
roy's visit to the Persian Gulf and the Garter Mission to TeherS,n
— The Koweit incident — Ways and communications — Activity in
the field of commerce — The Nushki-Sistan route— The British
Government should become shareholders in the Imperial Bank
of Persia — The recrudescence of British power . . . 319

CHAPTEE XXVII.

A TIBETAN EPISODE.

A mystery-enshrouded land — Europeans who have seen Lhassa — The
Sikkim Convention of 1893— Waddell's definition of Lamaism—

CONTENTS.

Sarat Chandra Das — Decision of the India Office — Failure of the
negotiations for sending an official mission to Tibet — Tibetan
aggression — Fatuous policy of the British Government — The Cal-
cutta Convention of 1890— Tibetan disregard of the Convention
of 1890 — The sham of Chinese suzerainty — The views of the
Government of India in 1899— The Viceroy's letter to the Dalai
Lama returned unopened — The appearance of Russia — A supposed
Russo-Chinese convention — Negotiations at Khamba Jong — An
advance to Gyangtse sanctioned — Tibetan belief in the support of
Russia — Gyangtse occupied — The advance to Lhassa begun —
The policy of the Government of India— A possible solution of
the Tibetan puzzle — The case of Bokhara an analogy — The
Tibetan dispute must be settled without reference to other
Powers ......•• 344

CHAPTER XXVIII.

THE FAK EAST.

Commerce of the Far East— Great Britain's ideal " the open door "—
Russia's first mouthful of Manchurian ten-itory — The second
phase of the Manchurian question— Events following upon the
conclusion of the treaty of Shimonoseki — England's isolation —
Action of Russia, Germany, and France— The Port Arthur in-
cident— British ignorance of Far Eastern conditions and affairs
—The Intelligence Department— The duty of British statesmen
to stay the disintegration of the Chinese Empire . . 365

CHAPTER XXIX.

THE FAR EAST — Continued.

The British awakening at Peking— The present value of Wei-hai-Wei
— Germany at Kiao Chau — The reform movement — A dramatic
coup d'etat— The Boxer outbreak of 1900— A colossal scheme of
regeneration — Russia's demands as the price of the evacuation of
Manchuria— The Manchurian Convention of 1902— Manchuria
seen once more under the searching light of war — Points to be
borne in mind in weighing the chances of Russia and Japan —
Russian lack of organisation — Official corruption — Capabilities of
the Siberian railway — The Russian army — The soldiers of the
Mikado— Buskido— The patriotism of the people— Victory in the
field likely to attend the Japanese forces— The fate of Russia rests
with the Russian people ...••• 377

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XXX.

LAST WORDS.

The object of British policy— General Chapman quoted— Present con-
ditions cannot be permanent— Professor Vambery quoted— India
the fulcrum of British rule in Asia — Lord Curzon on the internal
condition of India ....... 394

Index .....•••• 399

ILLTJSTEATIONS.

■VIEW IN THE THIAN SHAN .... Frontispiece

THE RUINS OF ANCIENT BABYLON

RUSSIAN EMIGRANTS FOR THE FAR EAST

A TURKISH ROAD

THROUGH THE TAURUS MOUNTAINS

THE RUINS OF POMPEIOPOLIS

THE RIVER JIHUN

A WELL IN THE DESERT

EXCAVATIONS AT BABYLON

THE TOMB OF JONAH (NEBI YUNUS) ON THE MOUND OF THE SAME NAME

BAGHDAD

BRIDGE OVER THE DIALA

KERMANSHAH

THE HARD-WORKED BAGGAGE PONT

THE OIL-WELLS OF BAKU

KRASNOVODSK ...

GEOK TEPPE

BOKHARA

THE CITADEL OF BOKHARA

THE PRISON, BOKHARA .

IN THE RIGISTAN, SAMARKAND .

A STREET IN OLD TASHKENT

A RUSSIAN POST-ROAD IN ASIA .

A BROKEN BRIDUE ON THE POST-ROAD

KIRGIZ YURTS

4

18
34
36

44

50

66

72

74

80

110

116

130

156

168

170

180

182

184

196

200

204

208

216

ILLUSTRATIONS.

BUDDHISTS OF CENTRAL ASIA .

CROSSING THE ILI RIVER

A VIEW IN THE ORIYAAS VALLEY

IN THE ORIYAAS VALLEY

CAMPED IN THE THIAN SHAN .

CROSSING A MOUNTAIN TORRENT

VIEW IN THE SIBERIAN ALTAI .

CAMPED IN THE ALTAI .

LOADING UP THE AMMON

PACKING A PONY

A FINE OVIS AMMON

KALMUK BRINGING HOME AN AMMON .

IN THE SIBERIAN ALTAI

A SIBERIAN VILLAGE

THE NEW RUSSIAN ROAD TO MONGOLIA

CROSSING A RIVER IN SIBERIA .

THE CATHEDRAL, IRKUTSK

STATION ON LAKE BAIKAL

THE GREAT SIBERIAN RAILWAY

MANCHURIAN AGRICULTURISTS .

PEKING .....

NATIVES OP CENTRAL ASIA

A WATCH-TOWER ON THE WALLS OF PEKING

A STREET OP CHIFU

CHIPU HARBOUR ....

VIEW IN THE THIAN SHAN, WESTERN CHINA

THE TEMPLE OF HEAVEN, PEKING

THE ANGLO-CHINESE REGIMENT AT WEI-HAI-WEI

THE WHARF AT TIENTSIN

THE ALTAR OF HEAVEN, PEKING

THE WALLS OF PEKING .

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MAP TO ILLUSTRATE AUTHORS ROUTE

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ACROSS A CONTINENT

" Let US (since life can little more supply
Than just to look about us, and to die)
Expatiate free o'er all this scene of man ;
A mighty maze ! but not without a plan."

— Alexander Pope, Essay on Man.

CHAPTEE L

ACROSS A CONTINENT.

Object of the book — Length of journey and method of travel — The desert
— A site of ancient monaixhies — Discomfort of travel — The spell of
the East — To the heart of Asia by rail — Performance at a mosque —
Monuments of the past — Central Asian jiost-roads — Beyond the
bounds of Eussia — A great trans-continental railway — The political
aspect — The return of the West to the East — The remnants of
Portuguese supremacy— The awakening of Russia — The Powers in
Asia — The objects of Great Britain and of Russia — The policy of
Tsar Nicholas I. — Failure of the same — Ineptitude of British policy
in the past — Importance of British interests in the East — Lord
Curzon's views — The necessity of looking Asiatic problems in the face.

Look how ivide also the East is from the West ! The
feverish throbbing centres of the West take small
stock of those things which lie not to their hand :
the call of the East comes for the most part un-
heeded across the waste. Yet to those who listen is
borne that hum which tells of mighty workings.

The East, indeed, — the real East, that is, and by
the real East I mean more especially those kingdoms
of Asia which can still lay claim, theoretically at any
rate, to political independence of the West, — is known
by personal experience to comparatively speaking so
small a portion of the English public that I make
no apology, however humble be my credentials, for
trying to arouse an increased interest therein, or for
taking up my pen once again in an endeavour to lay

ACROSS A CONTINENT.

before the public mind some idea of those countries
of which I speak, and to call attention to some of
those problems to which their existence has given rise.
And I do so with all the more willingness because of
my firm belief in the truth of those lines which I
have caused to be inscribed on the title-page of this
book, that it is in Asia once again that will be
decided the destinies of the world ; that that nation
which succeeds in making its voice heeded in the
East will be able also to speak in dominating accents
to Europe. If a further excuse for these pages is
demanded, it may be found in the fact that it is
comparatively few to whom is given either the time
or the opportunity, or perhaps even the inclination,
to put away for a prolonged period the ties which
bind them to their own country and, leaving the
highroad of convention, to strike deep along the
devious pathways of alien and not always hospitable
lands.

I have never attempted to deny that the countries
of Asia have for me an extreme fascination, but at
the same time it would be absurd to suggest that
a journey such as that which forms the thread upon
which the following chapters are strung — a journey,
that is, of upwards of 10,000 miles by railway, steam-
boat, raft, wheeled conveyance of many kinds, and
pack-pony, through such countries as Asiatic Turkey,
Persia, Transcaspia, Turkestan, Siberia, and Manchuria
— is by any means one which is productive of unal-
loyed pleasure and amusement. There is nothing even
remotely amusing in long hours in the saddle at
caravan pace across the desert steppe of Mesopotamia.
On the contrary, there is a grim reality about the
limitless and forbidding expanse of an Asian desert
which inspires feelings of anything but merriment.

KINGDOMS OF THE PAST.

The vastness of it lills you with awe, the silence
and absence of life weigh heavily upon you, the
hovering vulture and the staring white skeleton of
pony or camel speak only of death. Everything is
so real and so stern, you feel that to smile or to
laugh would be impossible in these surroundings ; the
inexorable reality of life and death is on all sides
forced upon you. These are the lands where you

" Fold your tents like the Arabs,
And as silently steal away."

But even the desert has an end, and haltingly at
first and then with more confidence signs of humanity
reappear. The waters of a great river roll placidly
by, the most priceless blessing in a thirsty and dry
land. The bleak steppe-land is behind, and before
you rise the remnants of mighty nations. The glory
and magnificence, it is true, are of the past ; the
present is squalid in comparison with what was.
But the mounds beneath which lie buried all that
remains of a remote antiquity stand imperishable wit-
nesses of the splendour of a bygone age. Two thou-
sand five hundred years ago Nineveh, the gorgeous
capital of the Assyrian empire, fell never to rise
again ; but the vast mass of debris which is to be
seen on the left bank of the Tigris to-day is an
object far more imposing than the collection of high-
walled houses and narrow tortuous alleys, which make
Mossul on the right bank a city of the unregenerate
East. To the south the ruins of ancient Babylon tell
of an age so remote as to bewilder the brain as it
tries to gaze down the dim vistas of time at the
achievements of a highly civilised race six thousand
years ago, or peers uncertainly into that earlier period
which hovers darkly through a legendary haze, when

ACROSS A CONTINENT.

Oannes, the fish god, came up from the sea to teach
wisdom to the children of men. Bac^hdad remains now
as the counterpart of the old capitals of Shumir and
Accad, but modern Baghdad is not the Baghdad of
the ' Arabian Nights ' or of the golden days of the
Kalifate. It is, in fact, hopelessly commonplace,
and is of chief interest to the traveller as affording
him an excuse for a rest and the congenial society
of his fellow-countrymen. The halo of romance over
the Baghdad of our imagination has been dimmed
by the exigencies of modern trade and commerce.

As you journey eastward into Persia along the old
highway from Media to Babylonia, you rise at one
bound from the level plains of Assyria and Chaldsea
to the elevated tableland of the Iranian plateau,
ascending the rock walls of the historic " Zagros
Gates." Here, on the western extremity of the Per-
sian highlands, a series of gorges, mountain -ranges,
and elevated plateaux confront you, forming a barrier
as it were between the level stretches of Mesopotamia
on the one side and the vast inhospitable reaches of
Central Persia on the other. No difference will be
found by the traveller in his mode of procedure,
and as you ride slowly along on your daily march
you agree with the sapient remark of the seven-
teenth-century traveller, Tavernier, that "the best
inns are the tents which you carry along with you,
and your hosts are your servants that get ready
those victuals which you have bought in good
towns." There is, however, one great drawback to
a tent, — you cannot always use it. You cannot
pitch your tent in two feet of snow, and even
hoisting it in six inches of mud is a doubtful ex-
periment ; and then you must seek what accommo-
dation is to be had in the serai, if there is one,

THE SPELL OF THE EAST.

or the shelter of some village hut if there is not,
where you will probably have to put up with the
supreme discomfort of having nothing but " the un-
divided twentieth of a shed to sleep under " !

One of the chief causes wherein lies the extra-
ordinary fascination of the Near East is perhaps its
associations with the peoples and the deeds so familiar
to us from our earliest days, and the changelessness of
the East which enables one to realise so forcibly the
conditions of life as depicted in the graphic pages of
the Old Testament. As you journey across the country
in the region of the two great rivers, Tigris and
Euphrates, whole chapters of Genesis assume a new
meaning for you, and you realise how it was that
" as they journeyed in the East they came to a
plain in the land of Shinar, and dwelt there." ^ You
too have journeyed in the East and found a plain —
the same plain — in the land of Shinar, for the land
of Shinar is the Shumir of the inscriptions and the
Chaldsea of to-day.

As you journey over this plain you see spread out on
every side the great stage on which was enacted the
story told in the historical books of the Bible. Whether
you pass by the river of Gozan, where Israel remained
in captivity, or walk in the city of Sennacherib, or
stand among the ruined halls and temples of Nebuchad-
nezzar, or sit by the waters of Babylon, some portion of
the great story is brought vividly before your eyes.
You recognise, too, the local colouring which so sym-
pathetically tinges the language of the Old Testament
writers. It is only after you have toiled from dawn to
sunset over the sand-strewn waste of an eastern desert
that you appreciate the poetic beauty of such verses as
" rivers of water in a dry place, the shadow of a great

1 Gen. xi. 2.

ACROSS A CONTINENT.

rock in a weary land," ^ or that the vivid reality of that
description which tells of " a land of deserts and of
pits, a land of droughts and of the shadow of death, a
land that no man passed through and where no man
dwelt," ^ or of " the parched places in the wilderness, a
salt land and not inhabited," ^ is brought home to you.

For when recalling a picture of the lands of the Near
East, the prevailing tint is always that produced by
vast unbounded stony wastes, staring stretches of
yellow sand, leprous patches of saline efflorescence, and
gaunt ranges of barren mountains. The awful aridity
of Arabia is only too prevalent throughout the thirsty
East. But it is because of this intense sterility that
verdure when it does appear appeals with a force unfelt
perhaps elsewhere. The land is, in fact, a land of con-
trasts which are startling, almost aggressive, in their
suddenness. I know of no sensation which is quite
equal to that caused by coming suddenly and un-
expectedly, after a long da}^ over a sea of sand under
the rays of a burning sun, upon a vision of runlets of bub-
bling water, terraces of bright green barley, and clumps
of shady trees. There is no other contrast that I know
of which strikes quite such divergent chords or excites
quite such a revulsion of feeling. It is in such moments
as these that you learn whence sprang the muse that
stirred the Persian poets to give expression to their
thoughts, that you understand why it is that gardens
in the East are not beds of flowers and ornamental
rockeries, but orchards of shady trees and rivulets of
crystal water, and that you cease to wonder why it is
that fountains of plashing water adorn the courts of
princes and the palaces of kings. But proceed a few
hundred yards on your way and the scene is changed ;
go but a step beyond the influence of the water brought

^ Isa. xxxii. 2. 2 jgj.^ n g, 3 jej.. xvii. 6.

THE NOTE OF PATHOS.

SO laboriously by the hand of man, and you have passed
in a moment from life to death. The line is drawn as
with a ruler, and until you stumble upon just such
another oasis, you journey on through a lifeless wilder-
ness. The oasis may be smaller or larger, but where
water fails the result is for ever the same. Verily, as
Lord Curzon has so aptly remarked, it is a land where
" Nature seems to revel in striking the extreme chords
upon her miraculous and inexhaustible gamut of sound."

But there is still another note which is struck by
a sojourn in the East — the note of pathos. The sight
of failing vitality where once was power and strength is
always a sad one, and here in the lands of the Near
East time broods heavily over her cities. They look
back with the dimmed sight of old age at a youth
which has long since fled, and as they peer drowsily
into the future they see nought but death hovering
near, attendant on life which is all but spent. The
heyday of youth is far past, and decay, indecorously
encroaching ere life is yet extinct, warns them that
they stand trembling on the brink of the grave. When
power sits once more on the thrones where Xerxes and
Darius ruled, it will not be the power of the East, but
an intruder from the more youthful West.

Passing from the Near East into the heart of Asia, so
adaptable do you become under stress of the vicissitudes
of travel you scarcely feel surprise to find that you are
travelling by the aid of steam. Incongruous or not, the
train is there, and you accept it as a matter of course
and are thankful. In reality, when you come to think
it over, it is hopelessly out of place. You may travel
all over India by rail and think nothing of it. There
there stretch vast networks of iron ways connecting
populous towns alive with modern life, where you per-
ceive the spirit of the twentieth century in unquestioned

10 ACROSS A CONTINENT.

dominion. But here you have but a single, long,
isolated arm stretching from the confines of Europe
into the very heart of an ancient continent. Far more
even than the plains of Asiatic Turkey or the plateaux
of Iran, the vast solitudes of Turkomania or the steppes
of Turkestan seem to you a world apart. As you are
borne rapidly along you might, indeed, be travelling on
some witch's broomstick in a fairy tale. Merve, Queen
of the World ; Bokhara, the Noble ; Samarkand, the
capital of Timur, pass before you in quick succession,
overwhelming you with the magnitude of their asso-
ciations. You gaze upon their sights and marvel at
the strange stories which they tell, and you mix with
their peoples for a while, and then pass on. And when
you have passed on and they are no longer before you,
you look back upon them as upon the figures of a
dream. You may have mixed with them and talked
with them, but you are not of them ; their world is not
your world, nor yours theirs.

I remember strolling through the bazaar of a town in
the heart of Turkestan, loitering among the shops and
talking to their occupants. I thought after all that
they seemed very ordinary people, and not so very
different from myself The same night I was present
at a mosque, and before I left I knew that I was wrong.
It was no pretentious building, — a plain structure en-
closed on three sides by severely simple walls, and
open on the fourth to the night. No objection was
made to our presence — two Russian gentlemen and
myself: we were, in fact, to all intents and purposes,
ignored. When a sufficient number had arrived — they
were members of a peculiar sect of dervishes — prayers
were first intoned, the ends of their white turbans,
emblem of the shroud, hanging down, and then a score
or more knelt in a circle on the floor. The scene which

A WEIRD SPECTACLE. 11

followed was absolutely weird. Swaying their bodies
frantically backwards and forwards to a common centre,
they gasped out the words of some sacred formula.
The hands of the clock moved slowly round, but the
movement and refrain of that weird circle never ceased.
From time to time fresh figures appeared mysteriously
out of the night to enlarge the circle. Their arrival
was hardly noticeable ; one only saw from time to time
that the circle had increased. Seated in one corner of
the mosque, I became hypnotised as I gazed fascinated
at the ceaseless movement and listened to the mono-
tonous refrain gasped out in jerks by its frenzied
utterers. So great was the effect it had upon one's
senses that when at length, with no word of warning,
both sound and movement suddenly ceased, it seemed as
though the world itself must have suddenly halted in
its course. An interval followed, during which ex-
hortations were read, rich in the flowery hyperbole of
the East, until stalwart bearded men sobbed and
groaned aloud under stress of their emotion. For
an hour or more full play was given them, and then
as the last speaker ceased the mysterious circle was
formed once more.

Looking back as I left towards midnight, it was to
see the devotees working themselves up with the same
monotonous repetition to a state of ecstatic exaltation
once again. I have seen the howling dervishes at
Cairo, and realised as I watched that their performance
was for show. This was something different — it was
real. As far as we knew, no European had been
present there before. Our presence was tolerated, but
considered of no account. We were given a glimpse of
the strange soul of a people, and as I drove home in the
starlight and pondered on what I had seen, I thought I
understood why it was that there were even now those

12 ACROSS A CONTINENT.

among them who had never set foot in the Russian
town, though that town had stood side by side with
their own for upwards of thirty years.

But apart from the fascination of the people them-
selves, there is an indescribable interest in gazing upon
the vast store of monuments which abound, and which,
if good use has been made of the counsel of Francis
Bacon to the traveller to " carry with him also some
card or booke describing the country where he travelleth ;
which will be a good key to his enquiry," will each tell
some strange story of the past. The mouldering walls
of Geok Teppe tell of the ghastly horror of bloody war ;
the prison of Bokhara recalls the cold brutality of the
inhuman tyrants who once reigned ; the unrivalled
ruins of Samarkand tell of the greatness of a Tartar
king, while the very streets seem to whisper faintly of
a magnificence now gone. And to the student of
modern history the whole country repeats a tale of
the overwhelming advance of a mighty Power from
the north.

Arrived at Tashkent, the Eussian capital of Turke-
stan, and finding no railway to take you any farther,
you cast about in your mind for some other means
of progress, and you learn that the post-road awaits
you. Very good. This suggests at any rate speed,
and remembering always the part of the world in
which you are travelling, perhaps a certain degree
of comfort. But I doubt if the reality altogether
corresponds to your expectation. The best class of
vehicle that is known on the Russian post-road in
Asia is the tarantass, and it has no seats, neither has
it any springs. The first deficiency is in reality an
advantage, because it enables you to wedge yourself
in with cushions and rugs between portions of your
baggage in a more or less recumbent position; but

A VAST DOMINION. 13

the second is a palpable defect which never ceases to
force itself upon your attention, more especially since
the road for nearly the whole of its length is not a
road at all, but merely a track across the steppe : and
after you have driven close upon 2500 miles by this
means, as I did, it is probable that you will be careful
not to repeat the experiment, if by any possible means
you can avoid doing so. Let it be at once admitted
that travelling on Russian post - roads in Asia is a
trial to both mind and body.

Still you must be thankful even for this small mercy,
for Russia, unlike our own country, is not small —
Siberia alone would comfortably take in the whole
of Europe, with a few of its countries thrown in
twice over — and there is no danger of your running
over the edge in your haste. You may start driving
in Russia and go on doing so in a straight line for
days, and still find that you are in Russia at the end
of them ; so I say, be thankful for these same post-roads
in that they make travelling possible.

And when you have driven day after day towards
the rising of the sun, and have at last reached the
bounds of the dominions of the Great White Tsar, what
lies before you then? Four million square miles of
territory, the home of four hundred million souls, whose
delight it is to believe that " there is only one sun in
the heavens and only one emperor beneath the sky."
A nation with a recorded history of close upon four
thousand years ; a people that can boast of the oldest
civilisation of the world, of an exclusiveness that even
now baffles the enterprise of the West, of the distinc-
tion of having been responsible for that greatest
phantasm of modern times, the Yellow Peril ; an empire,
finally, which may yet, by involving the Powers of the
twentieth - century civilisation in an Armageddon of

14 ACROSS A CONTINENT.

nations, be the cause of the greatest cataclysm which
the world has known.

I only peeped at the mysteries which lie behind that
veil, — to probe them would exhaust a lifetime, — gazed
curiously for a moment at the Chinaman and his works,
enjoyed some of the sport which his country so gener-
ously provides, and then hurried north to see some-
thing of the surprising railway which the will of a
single man caused to be built across a continent. An
imperial pen traced a memorandum on the report of a
vice-governor-general,^ a special conference of ministers
was summoned, a special commission received orders to
make surveys, and the great Trans-Siberian railway
came into being. In May 1891 his Imperial Highness
the Grand Duke Tsesarievitch emptied a wheelbarrow
of earth on the embankment of the future Ussuri line
and laid the first stone for the construction of the
Siberian railway : at the present time (1904) the
traveller may step into his carriage at Moscow, and,
with the exception of the short break at present neces-
sitated by the passage of the Baikal, travel by rail,
amid a luxury unsurpassed in any other portion of the
globe, the whole way to Vladivostok, Port Arthur, or
Peking. With a stroke of the pen the terrors of Siberia
have been swept aside, and the capital of the Celestial
Empire has been brought within nineteen days of
London.

Such is the aspect which Asia wears for the traveller.

1 On a report drawn up in 1885-1886 by Count IgnatieflF, the late Tsar
traced with his own hand the following resolution : " I have read many
reports of the governors-general of Siberia, and must own with grief and
shame that until now the CTOvernment has done scarcely anything towards
satisfying the needs of this rich but neglected country. It is time, high
time ! " For details of the preliminary steps to the construction of the
i-ailway see the ' Official Guide to the Crreat Siberian Railway,' published by
the Ministry of Ways and Communications.

THE RETURN OF THE WEST. 15

But it can show another face. Those strange agglo-
merations of sterile wastes and smiling oases, with their
mouldering cities and unfathomable peoples, — Turkey,
Persia, Afghanistan, Transcaspia, Turkestan, China, and
Tibet, — familiar to a large majority but in name, pos-
sess for a few a deep significance, and I have no hesi-
tation in admitting that it is in the part which each
is playing, or is destined to play, in the great silent
struggle for supremacy in Asia which is even at the
present moment engaging a far greater share of the
attention and of the resource of the statesmen of the
world than is apparent on the surface, that I find an
interest far surpassing all other.

For it is hither, to the promising theatre where still
survive on doubtful equilibrium the decaying kingdoms
of the East, that the Powers of the West are driven
by forces altogether beyond control, for the furtherance
of their ambitions, and it is here in the end that the
fierce struggle for supremacy between representatives
of two of the great divisions of mankind — the Slavonic
and the Teutonic — must find its issue. The progress
of events and the march of time serve only to make
it daily more apparent to the observant, that in the
continent of Asia lies the stage whereon the fate of
empires will be sealed and their destinies fulfilled.

The story of the return of the peoples of the West
to those lands wherein was situated the first home and
cradle of their race is one of absorbing interest, and may
be said to have had its origin with the rise of a man
who, born in a little kingdom occupying the south-west
corner of Europe, was destined to set in motion a move-
ment which even at the present day can scarce be said
to have run its course, and which has already played
a determining part in the destinies of the world. For
it is to Prince Henry of Portugal, known to ^history

16 ACROSS A CONTINENT.

as Prince Henry the Navigator, that must be assigned
the responsibiUty for the great movement of discovery
of the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries,
as a result of which, to use the words of his biographer,^
" India has been conquered, America repeopled, the
world made clear, and the civilisation which the Roman
Empire left behind has conquered or utterly over-
shadowed every one of its old rivals and superiors —
Islam, India, China, Tartary."

So it happens that it was the little kingdom of
Portugal that first set rolling the ball of conquest from
Europe to Asia, when her intrepid mariner Vasco da
Gama rounded the Cape of Good Hope and sailed into
the eastern seas; and it was the same kingdom that
planted the first seeds of the future expansion of
modern Europe in the Orient, when her conquering
genius Albuquerque the Great laid hold of the out-
posts of the East and raised his standards in Hindu-
stan. Upwards of four centuries have rolled by since
Bartholomew Diaz first showed to Vasco da Gama and
his successors the way round the Southern Cape, and
with them the brilliant though transitory period of
Portuguese supremacy. The ever-revolving wheel of
fortune has played truant to her former love, and all
that now remain to mark the prowess of the pioneers
are the crippled forts which frown down from the for-
bidding heights of Muscat, and that "monument of
Chinese toleration and Portuguese tenacity," Macao,
which for three hundred years was for foreigners the
gate of the Chinese Empire, but which has been de-
scribed at the present time as being not even an
inspiring monument to the memory of a glory which
is gone.

The scene is changed ; the actors are not the same ;

1 C. R. Beazley in his ' Henry the Navigator.'

THE AWAKENING OF RUSSIA. 17

but the drama which is being played to-day is the
evolution of the curtain - raiser which heralded the
entrance of modern players on an ancient stage, and
the stage, albeit adapted somewhat to the requirements
of altered conditions, is the same stage upon which
the grandees of Portugal rang up the curtain to an
applauding and astonished world four centuries ago.

The actors, I have said, are not the same. Not
even the innate inertia and lethargy of the Slav
proved proof against the ambitious spirit of unrest
awaked in Europe, and slowly, though for this very
reason perhaps the more surely, the growing Power
of Moscow bestirred itself, and looked out with inquir-
ing gaze across the vast and unknown lands that rolled
away from the threshold of its own domain into the
dim distance of the mysterious East. Less than a
century after the first exploits of the Portuguese
discoverers, Eussia had set out upon that path
which has since led her the length of a continent.
The trail of the Slav across Asia from the west is the
natural complement of the fiery invasions of Jengis
Khan and Timur from the East ; the results of the
former are likely to prove equal, if not to surpass, in
importance — certainly in permanency — those of the
latter, though the methods employed to obtain them
have been different. For while the thundering tread
of armies and the smell of battle and of fire, the wail
of the widow and the cry of anguish of the vanquished,
are the dominating features of the one, the slow and
irresistible advance of a j^^oj^le is the leading aspect
of the other. Episodes of violence there have been,
as the records of the holocaust of Geok Teppe, or of
the frenzied garrison who rang a bloody tocsin so
lately as 1900 at Blagoveschensk, proclaim ; but
episodes such as these, though casting a lurid light

B

18 ACROSS A CONTINENT.

across the path of the Russian advance, appear but
details when examined in true perspective in a correct
presentation of the achievements of three centuries.
Russian soldiers, Russian sappers, and Russian engin-
eers have moved forward, it is true, but more than this,
the Russian peasant has moved forward too ; and it
should never be forgotten in dealing with the Russian
advance across Asia that whereas it is only " diplomats
and statesmen, who must deal with temporary situa-
tions, that need be deeply concerned with the purely
military advance of any nation, when a people move
forward it is a circumstance of world-wide significance,
and it is of especial and practical concern to every
people upon whose interests that advance impinges, or
whose future in any direction that advance affects." ^
Russia has come to the Pacific, and she has come to
stay.

It is Russia, then, whom we see in the title-7"o^e in
Northern Asia. It should be hardly necessary to add,
even for the benefit of the most casual Englishman,
that ever since the days of " the Great Commoner " it
is the star of Britain that has been in the ascendant
throughout the south. A strong cast, it must be
admitted, with England and Russia in the leading
parts, and America, Japan, Germany, and France
(with Belgium understudying one of the two lead-
ing performers) starred as the lesser lights upon the
bill. And the denotiment will be in every way worthy
of the players.

How is it with the two leading lights ? Is it com-
munity of interest or irreconcilable antagonism that
characterises their mutual progress ? It would be
absurd to attempt to deny that the two forces
which are of chief account in shaping the course of

1 The Russian Advance. A. J. Beveridee.

THE OPINION OF KING GEORGE IIL 19

events in Asia are actuated by motives diametrically
opposed. The policy of the one has for its object the
opening of fields to the commerce of the world, and
political and strategic supremacy in such parts as are
of vital importance to the safeguarding of her exist-
ing dominions and those lines of communication which
stretch from one part of the empire to another ; that
of the other territorial aggrandisement, closed markets,
and political prestige.

It may be perfectly true that a century ago his
most gracious Majesty King George III. remarked, on
bidding farewell to the E^ussian ambassador Count
Worontzoff, that it would be necessary to take leave
of common - sense, and to enter into the world of
chimeras, to suppose that there could exist any
alliance in the world more natural or more solid
than that between Russia and Great Britain ; that as
their geographical position, which was the basis of
their union, could not change, their union should be
eternal. But if so, it is equally true that in this
instance, at any rate, his Majesty showed a serious
deficiency of foresight, for the very thing which he
supposed impossible has come to pass — their geo-
graphical position has changed. Great Britain in
India has become a Continental nation. Russia has
since that day annexed a whole series of territories,
which may without exaggeration be described as the
heart of a continent. A whole congeries of independ-
ent states have one after another been absorbed, until
at the present time the thousands of square miles
which, in the days of King George, separated Russian
and British dominion have been reduced to a mere
strip in comparison, comprising the kingdoms of
Persia and Afghanistan and the Chinese dependency
of Tibet. At one point, indeed, in the shadowy

20 ACROSS A CONTINENT.

region of the Pamirs, Kussian territory may be said
to be coterminous with our own, though here, thanks
to natural physical causes, we can afford to regard
with equanimity the presence even of so powerful a
neighbour as Russia, for, as Sir Thomas Holdich so
pertinently puts it, "an independent untouched Kafir-
stan is about as solid an obstacle between ourselves
and the Oxus basin as could well have been devised,
as indeed Tamerlane found and recorded for the
benefit of his successors." ^

If the policy as laid down by Tsar Nicholas I. had
been carried out, a policy which had for its object the
prevention of the possibility of conflict between two
Powers " who to remain united require to remain
separated," by scrupulously preserving the peaceful
condition of the intermediate countries, by consolidat-
ing the tranquillity of these countries, by confining the
rivalry to commerce, and by refraining from engag-
ing in a struggle for political influence, — above all,
by respecting the independence of the intervening
countries, then the whole question of Anglo-E-ussian
relations might have presented an entirely different
aspect to what it does to-day. But the policy was
doomed from the first. Russia, defeated in her
endeavour to become possessed of the keys of the
Bosphorus, turned her eyes eastward, for there,
through the little-considered kingdoms of the Near
East, might she not find a backway that would lead
to the goal upon which her heart was set?

Incidentally a great field presented itself for the
civilising influence of a Christian Power ; law and
order were held in defiance in the countries which
bordered on her own, each step forward necessitated
another to teach a lesson to the wild peoples who

1 The Indian Borderland.

THE POSITION OF RUSSIA. 21

successively became her neighbours, and so Transcaspia,
Turkomania, Merve, Bokhara, Ferghana, and Zerafshan
— the countries whose independence was to be so
scrupulously respected — fell before the armies or the
diplomatists of the Great White Tsar. At the same
time there arose a man who breathed new life into the
dry bones of Russian expansion and colonisation in the
Far East, and from the day when Count Muravieff
pricked the bubble of Chinese greatness, which had
so dazzled the timid parties to the treaty of
Nertchinsk, the forward trend of her policy has con-
tinued unchecked, till now at the present day she
frowns haughtily across the waters of the China Seas,
and stands menacingly with fixed bayonet within
striking distance of Peking itself

On whom lies the blame ? Hardly upon Russia,
whose chief crime is repeated success. Indeed I shall
be the first to pay tribute to the great work which she
has done in the interests of civilisation wherever she
has come in contact with the uncultured and barbarous
hordes of Central Asia. Rather, if we have allowed
another Power to acquire a position and a prestige which
is harmful to ourselves, or to usurp a preponderating
influence in the aff'airs of those States which still enjoy
a precarious independence as buflers between the two
nations, should we not look to our own inaction in the
past ? And if we do, we are bound to admit that it
is the fruits of the much-vaunted policy of masterly
inactivity, — a synonym for pitiable neglect, — which
held so long and so disastrous a term of power, that
we are reaping at the present day.

There is little to be gained by indulging in useless
lamentation for the past. We cannot undo what is
already an accomplished fact, but we may learn wisdom
from the lessons of history, and benefit therefrom as we

ACROSS A CONTINENT.

set our faces to the future. What has to be faced by
the present generation is the fact that Russia is there ;
what has to be reahsed is that "the poUcy of masterly
inactivity, admirably well adapted to the circumstances
of an Asiatic kingdom standing alone, remote from
Russia, and far apparently beyond the zone of Russian
ambition, becomes inarticulate folly when applied to
an Asiatic kingdom contiguous to and leaning on
Russia." 1 The all-important question which sooner or
later must be answered is, How long can Turkey, Persia,
Afghanistan, Tibet, and, if we take the broadest view
of the whole question, China, maintain even the
precarious title to independence to which they can at
the present time lay claim ?

The rapidly increasing importance of the problem of
Asia to the British people was painted in vivid colours
by the present Viceroy of India in the course of a
speech delivered at Calcutta on March 25, 1903.
"Europe," he pointed out, "has woke up, and is
beginning to take a revived interest in Asia. Russia,
with her vast territories, her great ambitions, and her
unarrested advance, has been the pioneer of this
movement, and with her, or after her, have come her
competitors, rivals, and allies. Thus, as all these
foreigners arrive upon the scene, and push forward into
the vacant spots, we are slowly having a European
situation created in Asia with the same figures upon
the stage. ... In Europe we are a maritime Power,
who are merely called upon to defend our own shores
from invasion, and who are confronted by no land
dangers or foes. In Asia we have both a seaboard
and a land frontier many thousands of miles in length,
and though Providence has presented us on some

1 Malleson's ' History of Afghanistan.' I have substituted the words " an
Asiatic kingdom " for the " Afghanistan " of the original.

INDIA'S IMPORTANT POSITION. 23

portion of our land frontiers with the most splendid
natural defences in the world, yet the situation must
become more, and not less, anxious as rival or hostile
influences creep up to these ramparts, and as the
ground outside them becomes the arena of new com-
binations, and the field of unforeseen ambitions."

Is the true significance of the situation, thus set
forth, realised by the English public ? Is the vital
importance of preserving India from attack even dimly
felt by the people of Great Britain ? And still more,
is the importance of her position on the line of these
communications, which are the binding links not only
between Great Britain and her vast commercial
interests in the Far East, but also between Great
Britain and her colonies of Australia and New Zealand,
adequately appreciated ? There are Powers who would
give much to occupy positions of advantage on the
flank of these same lines of communication, these
throbbing nerves of empire.

I have ventured to express the opinion — an opinion
based upon personal investigation on the scene of
action itself, as well as upon the writings of others
competent to pronounce upon such questions — that an
undefined and vacillating policy in Asia is detrimental
to our position throughout the world, and inconsonant
with our high place in the councils of the nations ;
and if the hope which I entertain, that a perusal of
these pages may, in however small a degree, incite the
reader to an increased interest in the problems which
confront our country in the East, and may help, how-
ever imperfectly, to expose the fatuity of the policy of
those who are perpetually belittling the consequences
of a precipitate flight before the aggressive advance of
other nations, and who, with no doubt the best inten-
tions, would have us give way at all costs before the

24 ACROSS A CONTINENT.

ambitions, both expressed and implied, of those who
are, and must remain, our rivals in Asia, be in any way
fulfilled, my object in writing them will have been
obtained.

Let the people of this country — and by the people of
this country I do not mean the select few who have
made a study of such questions — understand that a
policy of unsupported diplomatic protest will not
always prove efficient in retaining that position of
supremacy in Southern Asia which is vital to our
being, and let them be prepared, should it ever be
asked of them, to enforce respect for their legitimate
demands by a display of unmistakable intention.
There is a fund of wisdom in the five short words, si
vis pacem, loara helium, and it is a wisdom which we
shall do well to recognise.

TUEKEY IN ASIA

A laud without any order, —

Day even as night (one saith),
Where who lieth down ariseth not,

Nor the sleeper awakeneth ;
A land of darkness as darkness itself

And of the shadow of death."

— Dante Gabriel Rossetti.

' My name is Ozymandias, king of kings :
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair ! "

— Percy Bysshe Shelley.

CHAPTER 11.

THE GATEWAY OF THE EAST.

Constantinople — The romance of the city on the Golden Horn — The reality
— Monuments of interest — The gulf between Europe and Asia — Pecu-
liarities of the East— The Haider-Pasha Ismid railway — A climb to
the Anatolian plateau — Lack of comfort on the present Anatolian
railway — Probabilities of the future — Konia — Its streets — Improve-
ment in the district under the administration of Ferhit Pasha.

Constantinople 1

What a whirl of thought the word awakens !
What stirring scenes it conjures up of wild romance
and strange vicissitude ! It would indeed be strange
if imagination were not fired or the pulses quickened
on approaching the far-famed Turkish capital. For
from the day, two thousand five hundred and sixty -
nine years ago, when the enterprising little band of
Greeks propelled their galleys up the Hellespont and
landed on the shores of the Golden Horn to build
their town, in obedience to the Delphic oracle, "over
against the city of the blind," up to the present
time, when an Eastern potentate sits on the throne
of the emperors of Byzantium, the stronghold of
the gateway of two continents, whether as Byzan-
tium, New Bome, or Constantinople, has at all times
woven a spell of fascination over the minds of men,
and burned for itself in the scroll of history — as no

28 THE GATEWAY OF THE EAST.

doubt the Emperor Constantine Intended that it should
when he erected the golden milestone from which all
the distances of the eastern world were in future to
be measured — an indelible reputation as the very eye
and centre of the world.

There is no need for apology, then, in admitting
that, as I was borne rapidly towards the city on the
Bosphorus, of which with far more reason than of
Venice might it be said that —

" Once did she hold the gorgeous East iu fee,
And was the safeguard of the West " —

the views presented by the frost - bound lands of
Central Europe and the rugged mountains of the
Turkish highlands sank into insignificance before the
varying scenes of the ever-changing mental picture
which unrolled itself before me. Visions of the early
days of splendour of a city standing proud and alone,
" with all Europe behind and all Asia before," a home
of prodigal magnificence and luxury, despite disastrous
inroads from time to time of the legions of Persia,
Greece, and Macedon ; of the gloomy days of depres-
sion when the dark shadow of the great Power which
had arisen in the West stole over the kingdoms of
the East ; of the rise of a fallen city to a height of
power and magnificence hitherto unknown, as the
capital of the east Koman empire under Constantine
and his successors ; of gradual decay with the decline
and fall of the power of Kome, passing into the final
collapse of the longest lived empire that Christendom
has known when the Emperor Constantine XIV. fell
gallantly fighting in the breach of the walls of his
city ; and of a new era of barbaric splendour ushered
in from the time when an Osmanli Sultan seized
upon the city, and the cry " God is great and

A CITY IN MOURNFUL GUISE. 29

Mohammed is His prophet I " rang through the dome
of the great church which had stood for thirty
generations a monument of the greatness and piety
of its founder, Justinian, — passed in bewildering suc-
cession before me, till at length, as we drew up
alongside of the platform of the station of Stambul,
I was ready to exclaim, in the words of the old king
Athanarich, "Now do I at last behold what I had
often heard and deemed incredible."

Alas for all our dreams ! The glitter of my mental
picture was not there : the reality M^as depressing in
comparison. Dull grey-looking buildings loomed in-
distinctly through mist as I was driven over execrable
streets to the European quarter of the town. The
rock walls of the Bosphorus, undoubtedly one of the
most striking water passages in the world, were but
faintly outlined through falling rain. Even in the
faces of its people was to be seen a reflex of the
city's mournful guise, for there was apparent in
them that gloom which is begotten of a long and
strenuous fast. E-amazan was at its height. Of
course it was all my own fault, as every fresh
acquaintance took good care to impress upon me,
and I listened patiently to the reiterated assertion
that December was not the time of year to see
the beauties of Constantinople. The worst of bad
weather, however, is powerless to divest the Hippo-
drome, with its bronze pillar celebrating the victory
of Platsea, of its historic interest, or the burnt
column on whose continued existence depends accord-
ing to popular superstition the life of the Ottoman
Empire, or the museum which guards the relics of
some of the earliest known races of mankind, or the
great arches of massive masonry which sustain a
water- channel enumerated by the versatile anatomist

30 THE GATE JF AY OF THE EAST.

of Melancholy among the aqueducts of the world/
and till lately the sole water-supply of the capital.
Nor could cold and damp check the flood of admiration
which swept over me at sight of the noble propor-
tions and unadorned magnificence of the Mosque of
St Sophia, or stifle the half-involuntary thrill which
assailed me as I saw here, in the great church of
Justinian, a multitude now bow down as one man at
the word of a priest of Islam.

But it was not with a view to studying Con-
stantinople, still less to writing about it, that I left
England early in December 1902 and travelled with
all the speed and comfort afforded by the " Orient
Express " from one extremity of Europe to the other.
The object which I had in view was destined to
carry me farther afield than the tourist - trodden
streets of Stambul, and after a short stay beneath
the hospitable roof of the British embassy, I turned
my back upon the West and passed through the great
gateway of the East.

Landing on the farther shore of the Bosphorus, your
first reflection is probably that a few minutes have
sufliced to transfer you from one continent to another,
and your second that Asia here differs in no way from
Europe there. The reason is simple. For centuries
the tide of conquest flowed ever backward and for-
ward between East and West, each wave leaving its
mark ere it receded from the shore. The armies of
the turbid races of the East — Persians, Arabs, Seljuks,
Mongols, Tartars, and Turkomans — followers of men
whose names are writ large in a momentous page of
history, — Cyrus, Darius, and Xerxes ; Harun-al-Eas-
chid, Moslemah, and Motassem ; Toghrul Bey, Alp
Arslan, and Suleiman ; Timur the Tartar and the

1 In ' The Anatomy of Melancholy,' by E. Burton.

ACROSS THE BOSPHORUS. 31

Turkoman Uzun Hassan, — rolled in successive waves
from the East to be hurled tumultuously against the
portals of the west ; while from time to time and
with varying success the colonies or legions of Athens,
Sparta, Macedon, Gaul, Rome, and Byzantium, the
fervid bands of the crusaders, and the enterprising
traders of Genoa and Venice, streamed across the
dividing gulf, and raised the standards of the West
among the empires of the East. Finally, fate and
the conquering genius of the Osmanli Muhammed II.
set up on the threshold of Europe the stronghold of
an Asian power, which endures unto this day, and
which, ignoring the arbitrary line of map-makers,
confronts you with the East before you are well
quit of the West. So there are bazaars, and mosques,
and swarthy-visaged easterns on the western shore ;
but there are also telegraphs and railways — and
Germans — to remind you of Europe on the East.

But despite all signs of prosy Western commerce,
the atmosphere is perceptibly of the East. You look
at your watch ; it is mid-day. You glance at the
station clock — if there is one — and you observe that
the hands point to 7.30. You ask for an explanation,
and you learn that in Turkey sunset is twelve o'clock,
that the sun set at 4.30 (European time) the day before,
that it is now nineteen and a half hours after sunset,
and that the hands of the clock therefore point to 7.30 !
You digest this as soon as you can, make a note of it
for future occasion, and w^onder vaguely if you will ever
remember to make the necessary daily alteration to
keep time with the sun.

I looked at my watch after an early crossing of the
Bosphorus on the morning of December 17, and found
that it wanted a few minutes to six, so that if the in-
formation I had received in Constantinople to the effect

32 THE GATEWAY OF THE EAST.

that the train was clue to leave at 1.30 was correct, we
were due to start almost immediately. But it was not
— which fact reminded me that I was in the East.
Making my way through the deserted station, dimly
lit by a flickering oil -lamp, I knocked up a sleepy
official, who indignantly informed me that the train
would leave at 2.30 (7 a.m.). He was quite wrong;
it did not leave until 3.30 (8 a.m.), though this was
admittedly an hour after the advertised time. Punc-
tuality is at a discount when the world of Islam keeps
high fast.

For the first four hours the train steams gaily along
the coast to Ismid, after which it plunges desperately
into a labyrinth of mountain glens and sullen defiles,
to emerge panting later on, 3000 feet higher than when
it started, on the edge of a highland plateau. The
remaining distance to Konia lies across as uninteresting
an expanse as you can well wish to see, which presents
no greater feature in Anatolia than barren plateaux do
in any other part of the world — Tibet for instance.
Little need be said of the existing arrangements on
the line except that consideration for the comfort of
passengers played no part in determining them. The
first day of about twelve hours is occupied in a struggle
to reach Eski Sher, where one is permitted to rest in
such comfort as the accommodation afforded by the
hotel allows until 4 a.m., when the remaining journey
of fifteen hours over a monotonous table-land is begun.
By 7.30 P.M. Konia will be reached, and the weary
traveller will find a welcome at the Greek inn, a few
minutes' walk from the station, which he will probably
sum up as even less inviting than the hotel at Eski
Sher. Luncheon on the first day can be obtained at
Ismid, and on the second at Afium Kara Hissar, five
and three-quarter hours beyond Eski Sher. This ser-

THE TOWN OF KONIA. 33

vice, however, in view of the probable consummation
of the Baghdad railway scheme, may be looked upon as
temporary : when the train de luxe, which is now in
course of construction with a view to future eventual-
ities, is in use, all this will be changed.

Konia, the present terminus of the railway, is a
scattered town of about 40,000 inhabitants, and capital
of a vilayet, though for the moment government-house
was untenanted, the vali, Ferhit Pasha, having left to
take up his duties as president of the Macedonian
Reform Committee, while his successor Tewfic Pasha
had not arrived. I found the tekke of the Mevlevi
dervishes, which contains the tombs of Hazret Meviana,
the founder of the order, and of his successors, and a
semi-ruined building with a ceiling of beautiful enamel
tile-work, a worthy rival of the renowned specimens of
Samarkand, the objects of chief interest ; but on the
whole I was not greatly edified by a morning's wander-
ing in the town, and after persevering through a suc-
cession of filthy lanes and alleys, was quite ready to
agree with the genial companion of my walk, that in
Konia it would be superfluous to name the streets, —
there was, of course, no thought of doing so, — one knew
them by their smells !

It is only fair while speaking of Konia to mention
in passing how greatly the whole district has benefited
under the enlightened rule of the late governor, though
I observed that an excellent scheme of irrigation, pro-
pounded by him some years ago, had, so far, proceeded
no farther than the brain of its deserving originator,
lack of funds no doubt forming a formidable bar to its
practical application.

34 ACROSS THE TAURUS.

CHAPTER III.

ACROSS THE TAURUS.

Difficulties of travel in the winter — An Eastern road — The Axylon plateau
— Off the road at night — Eregli — Through the Taurus mountains —
The defile at Bozanti — A pleasant Chi^istmas ! — A silver mine — Death
of a kaimakam — Bad weather — The Cilician Gates — An ancient high-
way of nations — The trac^ of the future railway not through the Gates
— Reach the Cilician plain and Mersina.

Any one who undertakes under existing circumstances
to travel from Konia to the Cilician plain in the depth
of winter must not expect to find the experience a
pleasurable one. In the event of his being overtaken
by continuous bad weather, as I was, he will find it a
journey productive of a minimum of pleasure and a
maximum of discomfort. The road — where there is any
— is sufiiciently bad to preclude the possibility of pro-
ceeding at anything better than a walk ; the only
shelters in which to spend the night are miserable
hovels, affording no conveniences beyond the walls,
roof, and, as a rule, mud floor, infested by vermin and
indescribably filthy ; and, finally, if unprovided with
cooking-pots, washing-basin, and whatsoever else confers
upon life a modicum of comfort, the traveller will have
to content himself with whatever food his foresight may
happen to have provided him with, cooked in the un-
savoury and uninviting-looking utensil that will be
offered him, and to look forward to a succession of days

THE EOAD OF THE EAST. 35

with an entire dispensation from ablutions. Fowls and
eggs, it is true, may be obtained in the villages on the
Konia plateau, but in winter, when the rigours of
climate have driven away the encampments of nomads,
which are to be found in the mountains duringf the
summer months, nothing can be expected from the
dilapidated khans which serve for stages on the main
artery of communication between the desert uplands
of Western Anatolia and the lowlands of Cilicia and
Mesopotamia beyond.

When I left Konia by carriage on the morning of
December the 20th I had not the benefit of the experi-
ence which I was so shortly to acquire, and I accepted
thankfully and literally the information that there was
a passable road the whole of the way. There is, how-
ever, one road of the West and another of the East, and
it very soon became evident that the road in question
was essentially and unmistakably of the latter. That
is to say, there was no road at all ; but we just drove
over the plain in the direction of our objective, following
more or less faithfully, according to circumstances, the
tracks of others who had gone before. In this case,
Eregli, a village at the foot of the Bulgar Dagh Mount-
ains, was our objective, with the villages of Ismil and
Kara Bunar as intermediate points.

The south - eastern -' corner of the great highland
plateau, known as the Axylon, presents a picture of
mournful desolation. An arid and dessicated expanse
for one-half of the year, it becomes in winter a sea of
mud, producing to all appearances, where it produces
anything at all, a crop of sorry -looking camel-thorn,
such life as there is being presented by small strings of
camels that pass with silent ghostly tread, and here and
there by a small clump of miserable little houses,
dignified by the title of village.

36 ACROSS THE TAURUS.

On the second day of my journey across this uninvit-
ing stretch, night came down to find us still ploughing
through the snow, and I was not in the least surprised
to hear about 6 p.m. that we were off the road! To
complicate matters, the horses of the conveyance, with
my Persian servant ^ and the luggage, now gave in, and
could in no way be induced to move another step. All
round darkness and a driving snowstorm, and the
situation was sufficiently depressing. Fortunately one
of my escort of zaptiehs, who had galloped off to recon-
noitre, returned ere long, having found the track, and
taking Joseph in with me and leaving the cart with the
beaten horses until such time as we might be able to
send assistance, set off once more, reaching Kara Bunar
eventually without further mishap.

As the road approaches Eregli all thought of follow-
ing even the footsteps of those who have gone before
has to be abandoned, since the plain develops into a
very tolerable snipe - bog. Through this my driver
plunged with stolid oriental composure, turning neither
to the right nor to the left, supremely indifferent to the
vagaries of the conveyance as it was dragged along,
now sunk above the axles in mud and water, now
balanced at an angle which threatened every moment
to end in total collapse, and it was vastly to my surprise
and in complete defiance of all the laws of gravity that
we did eventually reach our destination in an upright
position. The village of Eregli, on the fringe of the

1 Joseph Abbas, a native of Tabriz, -who has however for long resided in
England. He first became associated with Englishmen on the Eiisso-
Afghan Boundary Commission in 1885. Before that time he had per-
formed the pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina, and has since talked with the
followers of the murdered Englishman Dalgleish in the heart of Turkestan.
The story of his travels would indeed fill many volumes, and I gladly take
this opportunity of acknowledging the faithful service which he accorded
me during the whole of my journey, till I reached civilisation once more on
the Siberian Eailway.

THROUGH THE TAURUS MOUNTAINS. 37

Axylon plain, is a tolerably large one of 4000 or 5000
inhabitants, occupying houses of sun-dried bricks, which
are in many instances surrounded by well -watered
gardens and orchards.

The remark which appears at this point in the route-
book of Asia Minor, to the effect that "some care" has
been bestowed on the araba-road, will evoke a smile at
the humour of the writer or a sigh of regret at the poor
return there is to show for the care bestowed, according
to the credulity of the reader ! It is, however, possible
that my driver took me straight across country to
Ulukishla, or that the sentence in the route-book was
intended to apply to the road beyond that place, for it
was not until we were a mile or more beyond it that we
got into anything that could by any possible stretch of
imagination be termed a made road.^

From this point we entered the Bulgar Dagh, and
for the remainder of the way to Tarsus passed through
the magnificent mountain scenery afforded by the
frowning peaks and precipitous defiles of the rugged
Taurus range. The wild grandeur of some of the
gorges through which the road passes is striking in
the extreme, notably the narrow passage between per-
pendicular walls of naked rock which gives access to
the vale of Bozanti, and which I have no hesitation in
admitting impressed me to a greater extent than did
even the world-famed defile known to history as the
pass of the Cilician Gates. At the southern end of

1 It is, as Lord Curzon has remarked, due either to " the poverty or the
tyranny of the English vocabulary " that one is obliged to use the word road
in describing the communications of the East. Eoads in reality, in our sense
of the word, except where introduced by European enterprise, may be said
to be non-existent in Asia. Cf. Lord Percy : " The road after passing the
Kara Dagh is a marvel even for Turkey. According to Murray's hand-
book it is just passable for carriages throughout, but if any vehicle ever
accomplished the feat, it must have been at the cost of the lives of its
occupants." — Notes from a Diary in Asiatic Turkey.

38 ACROSS THE TAURUS.

this passage stands Ak Keupri, the "white bridge"
over the Tchakid Su, and a miserable khan. Here I
spent Christmas night, and can corroborate the state-
ment lately made by Professor Ramsay that the new
khan which has been built in the course of the last few
years at the north end of the bridge " is, if possible,
dirtier and more miserable than the old khans on this
route." ^ The fire which I lit in the centre of the
hovel soon melted the accumulated snow on the roof,
which thenceforward dripped steadily through, while a
biting wind whistled shrilly through the many chinks
in the thin wood wall.

A short distance before reaching the defile as one
approaches from the west stands the guard-house of
Chifte Khan, from which runs a road to Bulg-ar Maden,
where a silver-mine is worked under the direction of a
kaimakam, the output amounting to two pony-loads
a- week, according to the information which I was given
on the spot. The chausse leading to it was the delight
of the kaimakam of Marash, to whose energy and pro-
gressive ideas its construction was due. I say ivas,
because — tragic example of the irony of fate — it was
while inspecting the very work of which he was so
justly proud that he met his death, being pitched
over one of the precipices which he had spent his
time in rendering passable a few weeks before I passed
through.

After crossing the Tchakid Su by the bridge at Ak
Keupri, the road runs south-east, and later on south,
passing first through a fine glen, and then ascending to
a small open tableland known as the Tekir Plateau,
at an altitude of about 4300 feet, 20 kilometres from
Ak Keupri. And it is to the summit of this small
plateau that the evolution of modern warfare has trans-

1 Journal E.G.S., October 1903.

THE GILIGIAN GATES. 39

ferred the true line of defence from the narrow neck of
the Cilician Gates, whose perpendicular walls of rock
rise high on either side of the road a few miles to the
south. The bad weather which had pursued me the
whole way showed no improvement as I drove through
the celebrated Gates, and I saw nothing consequently
but a blurred picture of perpendicular walls of rock
through flakes of falling snow. Professor Ramsay
describes the passage as a narrow cleft piercing the
front wall of the main mass of Taurus : " The actual
passage of the Gates is about 100 yards long. On
both sides the rock walls rise almost perpendicularly
(that on the west side literally so, at one point to about
100 feet above the road), and then slope steeply back
towards the towering summit of the ridge. A mediaeval
castle crowns the western summit, evidently a relic
of the long frontier warfare between Byzantine and
Saracen power, 641-965 a.d." ^ In the same paper he
points out the falsity of the legend that Ibrahim Pasha
widened the passage, which before was too narrow to
admit of two loaded camels passing one another, re-
calling the fact that " a road practical for waggons
traversed the Gates at least as early as 400 B.C.,"
while his own estimate of the width of the defile
corresponds exactly with that of Kinneir, who when
traversing it in 1812, before Ibrahim's day, described it
as not more than ten or twelve paces in the narrowest
part. It may further be pointed out that there remains
a rock inscription on either side of the pass dating from
a period many hundreds of years prior to the time of
Ibrahim.

So much for this ancient highway of nations, which
has resounded with the tramp of the armies of Cyrus,
Alexander, Cicero, Harun-al-Kaschid, and Ibrahim

1 Journal E.G.S., October 1903.

40 ACROSS THE TAURUS.

Pasha, and literally rung with the clash of arms during
the prolonged era of Byzantine and Arab conflict. It
must be with a sigh of regret that the sentimental
learn that its day of greatness has all but run its course,
since, contrary to popular supposition, its importance as
a highway is not destined to be revived by the passage
of an iron way, which will leave the present road at
Ak Keupri and descend to the Cilician plain by the
gorge of the Tchakid Su. But of this I shall have more
to say later on in a chapter devoted to a discussion of
the railway question.

After leaving the defile the road passes down a glen,
through superb mountain scenery, and finally debouches
on to the plain from among the low foothills of Taurus,
a mile or two from the nearest point on the Mersina-
Tarsus-Adana Railway, which runs from the coast east-
ward to the capital, over a distance of forty-one miles.
From here another three miles brought me to Tarsus,
whence I took train to Mersina, glad enough after the
discomfort of my eight days' journey through the
Taurus to avail myself of the kind hospitality ex-
tended to me by the British Consul, Colonel Massy.

THE CILICIAN PLAIN. 41

CHAPTEE IV.

CILICIA.

Cilicia, ancient and modern — Mersina, a typical seaport of the Near East —
Natural disadvantages as a port — The ancient harbour of Tarsus — The
ruins at Soli Pompeiopolis — St Paul's Institute at Tarsus — Course of
the Cydnus diverted by Justinian — The Dinck Tash — Fallacy of the
legend that it is the tomb of Sardanapalus — Relics at Tarsus — The site
of the ancient capital — Adana, capital of Cilicia — Description of —
Population of — The American mission — Turkish rule — Want of public
works — Instances of official corruption — The cotton industry — Climate
— Leave Adana — Ruined castles — A gorgeous sunset — Nature of
Eastern Cilicia — Across the Giaour Dagh— Excavations at Zingerli —
Reach Aleppo.

The Cilician Plain consists of two distinct halves : the
western plain, a flat, low-lying expanse of rich stone-
less loam, bounded on the south by the sea, on the west
and north by the Taurus Mountains, and on the east
by the Jebel Nur, which divides it from the eastern
plain. The latter, known also as the Chukur Ova, is
likewise bounded on the north by Taurus, while on the
east it is shut in by the range of the Giaour Dagh,
known to the ancients as Amanus. The whole of the
eastern plain is broken by low hills, the Jebel Nur and
the foothills which run up to Taurus and the Giaour
Dagh, and is in parts marshy. Both parts can boast of
ancient cities and ruins which speak of an early civil-
isation, such as Tarsus in the western and Anazarba in
the eastern plain ; but the Anazarba of to-day retains

42 CILICIA.

none of the importance with which it was once invested
as the capital of Cilicia Secunda in the days of Augustus
and Tiberius ; nor can there be much resemblance be-
tween the ancient Tarsus of a million inhabitants and
the moderate town which bears that name to-day.
Nevertheless, though the glory has departed never to
return, Cilicia may yet rise again from the depths of
obscurity to which it has fallen, and claim for itself in
the future some small share of attention from the
merchant and politician.

At the present time, judged by the modern standards
of trade and commerce, Mersina may be considered the
town of chief importance, since it is the seaport through
which pass the imports to and exports from the district,
while Tarsus and Adana, the capital of the province
and centre of administration, rank next, being con-
nected with the coast by rail. In the event of the
trans - continental rail being constructed as at pres-
ent designed, the importance of Adana will increase,
while Tarsus, deprived of the command of the one
great artery of communication with the interior, must
dwindle in proportion, and Mersina, should a more
suitable harbour be found at the terminus of a branch
from the main line to the coast, sink into comparative
insignificance. For the time being, however, whatever
may be its future fate, Mersina flourishes, and it was
to Mersina that I hurried as soon as the somewhat
scanty service of the M.T.A. railway admitted of my
doing so.

Arrived here, I found a typical seaport town of the
Near East. A central thoroughfare, enclosed on either
side by the familiar shops of an oriental bazaar, which
have the appearance of little square boxes with one
side knocked out ; the vendors squatting idly among
their wares, which are displayed on a counter filling

MERSINA. 43

the open side of the box and as often as not straying
down into the street in front, consisting largely of fruit
and vegetables, bread and a variety of native delicacies ;
here and there on the shady side of the street a little
knot of men, seated on what ought to be the pavement,
engaged in a game of dice or cards amid a group of
interested onlookers, — the whole centre of the thorough-
fare filled during the day with a polyglot collection of
leisurely humanity, strolling ever backwards and for-
wards, with the infinitely superior air of those in whose
calculations of life time has found no place, among
w^hom camels, ponies, and donkeys, laden with the
various products of the country, pick their way with
stoical indifference. Passing through this central bazaar,
an open space, which with a stretch of imagination may
be dubbed a square, will be found, in the centre of
which a caravan of camels may perhaps be seen ; while
beyond this again on the outskirts of the town little
enclosures fill the view, surrounded by straggling hedges
of prickly-pear, amid which, half-hidden by orchards of
fruit-trees, stand the better-built houses of the Euro-
pean residents. Such is a description of many a coast
town of the Nearer East. Such is Mersina.

I have said that its importance is due to its being
the seaport town through which passes the bulk of the
commerce of Cilicia. This is true ; but for the reason
that there is no other, for its natural disadvantages in
this respect are great. Nature, so prodigal of inlets
and harbours on the western extremity of Asia Minor,
has been severely frugal on the south, and the best
accommodation that Mersina can offer is that of an
open roadstead, in which ships have perforce to lie at
distances of from a mile to two miles from the coast.
It cannot compare with the advantages formerly offered
by the land-locked harbour of Tarsus, which went so

44 GILIOIA.

far to confer upon that city its former greatness ; but
the Rhegma, — once a lagoon, later an inland lake, —
which by the aid of human art was made into an
excellent and commodious harbour, is now a marsh,
and the Cydnus, which then flowed through it to the
sea, now passes by on the east, receiving from it but
the overflow of a swamp, which renders useless a large
extent of what might under happier circumstances be
excellent land. For this reason I have said that the
prosperity of Mersina is likely to wane if, as is likely,
a branch line is built from the Baghdad railway to
some point on the bay of Ayas. It is true that the
Pyramus is filling up the latter ; but the day when a
port there would be rendered useless owing to land
encroachment is too far distant to warrant considera-
tion, whereas the silt brought down by the Cydnus
and Saros and deposited in the vicinity of Mersina is
distributed along the coast-line by a strong current
which sets west, so that, though land-encroachment is
greatly retarded, the sea is kept constantly shallow for
a considerable distance.

Farther west along the coast may be seen the remains
of an artificial harbour at Soli Pompeiopolis, but the
facilities oflered by nature are no greater here than
they are at Mersina. Little seems to be known of the
ancient town that stood there. I drove out one morn-
ing over a partially possible road, which, however, had
been made use of in one part by a cultivator of the soil,
who was in the act of ploughing it when I drove by.
Being in Turkey, I could hardly credit it that this over-
sight on the part of the son of toil was due to super-
abundant zeal, and concluded, therefore, that it was
owing to an inability to decide where his field ended
and the road began. In addition to the remnants of
a harbour, already alluded to, there remain parts of an

TARSUS. 45

aqueduct from the mountains to the north, and not far
from the shore a long Hne of stone pillars, surmounted
by well-preserved carved capitals.

The 16|- miles to Tarsus can be covered in fifty
minutes by the railway, and I found a hearty welcome
awaitinof me on arrival from the Kev. Dr Christie, who
presides over a college for young men known as St
Paul's Institute, which boasts of nearly 200 students,
129 of whom at the time of my visit were boarders.
Here I saw Greeks and Armenians being instructed in
French and trigonometry, and competing later in the
sports which one inevitably associates with an English
public school. The present town, which has a large
and well-supplied bazaar, has a population of about
25,000. To the archaeologist and the historian it pre-
sents many problems of the greatest interest — problems
still, thanks to the objection raised by Turkish auto-
cracy to the revelation which excavation invariably
makes of the perished splendour of a former age,
which casts so searching a glare on the decay and
squalor of the present. Oil the eastern side of the
town the river Cydnus forms a fine cascade. At one
time it undoubtedly flowed through the city, but its
course was diverted by Justinian (a.d. 527-563) to
prevent a recurrence of a flood which had on a former
occasion washed away part of the town.

Situated on the outskirts of the town, among the
many gardens of fruit-trees which surround it, stands a
massive rectangular construction of hard concrete, or
rather a series of blocks separated by open spaces,
known as the Dinek Tash or overturned stone, which
has for some reason or other succeeded in arrogating to
itself a certain measure of distinction as the tomb of
Sardanapalus. The futility of any such pretension is
sufficiently obvious in light of the fact that, given to

46 GILICIA.

begin with that there was such a person as Sardanapalus
and that he was buried in Cihcia, it is to Anchiale that
the evidence of the Greek writers would point as the
probable resting-place of his remains. Thus Strabo :
"Anchiale, a little way above the sea, founded by
Sardanapalus, says Aristobulus, who also says there is
there a tomb ^ of Sardanapalus, and a stone figure joining
the fingers of his right hand as if snapping them, and
an inscription in Assyrian writing to the following
effect : ' Sardanapalus, son of Anacyndaraxis, built
Anchiale and Tarsus in one day. Eat, drink, play,
nothing else is worth even that — i.e., a snap of the
finger.'" Another inconvenient objection to such a
pretension is to be found in the fact that the hard
concrete, of which the building is composed, is un-
doubtedly Koman, while the practical will find a still
more cogent reason for disbelief in the almost certain
knowledge that no such person as Sardanapalus ever
existed. His name, it is true, has been identified with
that of Ashurbanipal, one of the greatest of the later
Assyrian kings; but the luxurious and effeminate
character given him by the Greeks in no way cor-
responds to what is known of that monarch, and it is
fairly safe to assume that Sardanapalus, as such, may
be put aside as the creation of a too lively imagination.
The most probable conjecture with regard to the Dinek
Tash is, that it is the core of a Grseco-E-oman temple
from which the marble and stone facings have been
removed.

That it is only necessary to dig anywhere in the
present town to find remains of the Tarsus of old of a
million inhabitants is a well-known fact, and at every
corner large square-cut stones and portions of old stone

1 The word used is M»"?Ma> which might equally and perhaps more probably
mean monument.

ADANA. 47

pillars, built roughly into the foundations of modern
houses, catch the eye. A point of extreme interest is a
mound at the edge of the present town, thought to
mark the site of the ancient capital, and standing on
the summit one would indeed have to be built in a
callous mould to be unconscious of the strange spell
of the romance of history as it is borne in upon one
that here, on this very spot, it in all probability was
that Mark Antony " enthroned i' the market-place did
sit alone whistling to the air," while " the city cast her
people out upon her," to gaze on the syren queen of
Egypt, Cleopatra, whose barge " like a burnished throne
burn'd on the water," as, decked in a wonderful disguise
representing Aphrodite, she sailed up the Cydnus river.
There remains now for me to make a passing refer-
ence to Adana, and the chief towns of the Cilicia of
to-day may be said to have been enumerated. The
morning train from Mersina starts at this time of year
at about 8 a.m., and steaming leisurely eastward across
the absolute level of the western plain, manages to
spend precisely two and a half hours in covering the
forty-one miles to the terminus, a performance which no
doubt appeals to the inherent sense of dignity which
prevades, and is an inalienable attribute of the East.
The town is built partly on an isolated hill and partly
on the plain, on the right bank of the Saros river,
spanned here by an excellent bridge ; and, in addition
to a good bazaar displaying a vast assortment of the
piece-goods of the West, can boast of well-built govern-
ment buildings, churches, and mosques. I gazed in
through the gateway of the most interesting of the
last, said to be built on the site of an ancient church,
but could see but little of the architectural beauty of
the interior, Europeans being prohibited from entering
without special permission. Mr Chambers, the hospit-

48 GILICIA.

able chief of the Adana branch of the American mission,
who was kind enough to invite me to be his guest
during my stay in the town, put the population at
about 50,000, — an estimate, however, which he ad-
mitted was formed without any accurate data.-^

Such in brief are the three chief towns of modern
Cilicia, a country of enormous agricultural potentiality,
which, under good management, could undoubtedly
become, to some extent at any rate, a granary of
Europe.^ But it is to be feared that the same methods
which have made Turkish government a byword for
maladministration and corruption are as prevalent
here as they are in any other portion of the Ottoman
empire. The result is that the peasants, squeezed
beyond endurance to produce a sum of sufficient magni-
tude to satisfy the central government, after it has
been materially reduced at the hands of the different
official harpies who have the handling of it on its

1 The trade of the vilayet of Adana for the year 1903 amounted to
£2,431,844, divided as follows : Imports, £629,450 ; exports, £1,802,394.
Of the imports, goods to the value of £209,907 came from the United King-
dom, India, Egypt, and Cyprus. Of the exports, goods to the value of
£269,365 were destined for the United Kingdom and British dependencies.
The chief articles of import are : Alcohol, cotton cloth, and manufactured
goods, cloth and woollen goods, cotton yarn, hides, iron-ware, indigo, jute
sacks and canvas, machinery, silk stuffs, and sugar. Of export : Barley,
cotton, flour, gum tragacanth, linseed, oats, sesame seed, timber, wheat,
wool, and yellow berries.

It is also satisfactory to observe that whereas the number of steamers
flying the British flag at Mersina in 1901 was 88, the number in 1903
amounted to 111 out of a total of 368.

2 That the country was at one time an exceedingly rich one is certain.
See Schlumberger's ' L'epopee byzantine a la fin du x** siecle ' : " Ce pays de
Cilicie, le pachalik actuel d'Adana, pays aujourd'hui desole, . . . etait a
I'epoque on y penetra I'armee de Nicephore, d'une richesse infinie, d'une
fertilite incomparable. Les Sarrasins solidement etablis dans toutes les
anciennes cites Byzantines, y avaient apporte leurs admirables procedcs
d'agriculture, leur systfeme perfectionne d'irrigation. Toute cette campagne
etait un vaste jardin, et chaque ete les belles moissons Ciliciennes tombaient
abondantes sous la faucille des moissonneurs musulmans.''

TURKISH CORRUPTION. 49

devious way to the capital, give up labouring to pro-
duce more than is sufficient to afford them a bare
livelihood, since there is little or no chance of their
securing any of the profits accruing from a surplus.
Nothing is done by the Government in the shape of
public works of utility, such as schemes for drainage
and irrigation ; nor is any encouragement given to
those who volunteer to inaugurate the very works
which those whose duty it should be to undertake them
so sadly neglect.

It is now some years since a group of Europeans
interested in the Mersina - Adana railway sought a
concession for a scheme of drainage and irrigation.
A petition was drawn up in which it was stated that
a certain sum of money was to be paid for every acre
of land that could be irrigated were the concession
granted, and the vali was approached and asked to
co-operate with the promoters in granting facilities for
the acquisition of the signatures of the agriculturists
of the district. " Oh yes," replied the calculating
governor of the province, " but how much am I to
receive for my assistance ? " The promoters are still
biding in patience, and the land is still unirrigated and
undrained.^ The vali in asking how large his bribe
was to be was doing nothing unusual whatever ;
indeed he would hardly have been a Turkish gov-
ernor if he had not done so. A short time before my
arrival at Adana the public prosecutor, whose duty
necessitated his prosecuting a criminal for murder,
oddly enough found himself at that very time the
recipient of a handsome gift amounting to £200. The

^ At the time of my visit a group of capitalists, possessed of great influ-
ence at Constantinople, were considering the advisability of pressing for
a concession. It is possible, therefore, that an improvement may ere long
be brought about in the condition of the agriculturists of Cilicia.

D

50 GILICIA.

prisoner was found not guilty. Curious coincidence,
muses the ingenuous stranger ; elementary example of
cause and effect scoffs the resident, well versed in the
tortuous byways of Ottoman jurisprudence !

Under these circumstances it is surprising to find
as much commercial and agricultural development as
there is. In spite of every disadvantage a certain
amount of wheat is grown, and the cotton industry is
in a flourishing condition. There are cotton-mills at
Adana, Tarsus, and Hamidiyeh. In the hands of
Messrs Trypanni the factory at Adana does a large
and flourishing business. Founded by the father of
the present proprietors, who made a fortune by the
export of cotton to America during the war of 18 GD-
IS 64, the mills now have an average annual output of
1,800,000 lb. of cotton thread, and employ from 600 to
800 hands. The thread finds its way to various parts
of the country, where it is made up into cloth, and in
a good year the seed extracted from the raw cotton is
exported to England to make cotton-seed oil.

The chmate of the plaints unpleasant in the summer,
when the pests of the insect world issue forth in their
thousands from the low-lying marshes in the vicinity
of Tarsus, and the European population of Mersina
moves in a body to the hills near by. That the heat
is appreciable may be gathered from the fact that an
enterprising company which was a short time ago
formed in Tarsus for making ice, paid no less than
40 per cent the first year, though charging only the
modest sum of |-d. per oha (2f lb.).

Having interviewed the va/i,; [Bahri Pasha, a Kurd-
ish prince who exercises a strong if masterful authority
over his district, and having obtained a huyuruldu or
open letter, and the necessary zaptieh, I continued my
journey on the morning of January 5. The road runs

A GORGEOUS SUNSET. 51

across the rich level plain to Missis, a village on the
Jihun river situated at the foot of the Jebel Nur,
which I have already described as dividing the two
halves of the Cilician plain. A little farther on, on
the far side of the river, which is crossed by a good
stone bridge, the remains of a building of solid masonry
comes into view, one of many such ruins which are to
be seen in the eastern half of the Cilician plain, one
and all bearing eloquent testimony to the severity of
the border warfare of which the country was formerly
the scene.

Towards evening on the second day we passed the
ruins of a famous stone castle, Toprak Kaleh, on the
summit of a low hill ; and a few minutes later, a short
time before reaching Osmaniyeh, a small village where
we intended halting for the night, were treated to one
of those magnificent sunsets which are perhaps char-
acteristic rather of the stormy skies of the wild west
than of the placid serenity which one associates with
the eastern heavens. As we marched steadily east
the snow - clad peaks in front of us were suddenly
suffused with a glow of pink, while to the west a
crimson band shot across the horizon, resting for a
moment on the low hills behind us, to cast a lurid light
across a heavy bank of scowling storm-clouds imme-
diately above ere it gradually faded from view, leaving
the landscape as it went to the neutral tint of night.

The whole of the eastern division of Cilicia presents
a more broken surface than does the western, and
warrants its description by Schlumberger as " un pays
fort accidente." In places I observed the land being
ploughed with primitive implements of wood drawn
by oxen ; in others large flocks of sheep and herds of
goats were to be seen, and sometimes big droves of
cattle. A good deal of scrub is observable in parts,

52 CILICIA.

while in others tall reeds and patches of pampas grass
give evidence of marshy ground.

Osmaniyeh is the last village we passed in Cilicia,
and a short distance beyond the road turns into the
Giaour Dagh Mountains. Crossing by the col above
Hassan Beyli, we descended to the remarkable valley
of the Kara Su, which stretches from Marash in the
north to Antioch in the south, passing on our way
down it the German excavations at Zingerli, which
have laid bare a number of Hittite, Assyrian, and old
Semitic monuments. Crossing the valley to the south
of Islayeh, we made our way over the southern ex-
tremity of the Kurt Dagh to Killis, and thence
through vast groves of olives, and later across smil-
ing acres of corn land to Aleppo, which we reached
on the eighth day after our start from Adana.

THE CITADEL OF ALEPPO. 53

CHAPTEE V.

ALEPPO TO DEIR-EL-ZOR.

Aleppo— Its bazaars— Population— Importance as a distributing centre-
More tales of Turkish administration— Routes between Aleppo and
Mossul— The northern route— The southern route — The proposed
railway route— Internal disorder— Reason for travelling by southern
route— Start from Aleppo— Nature of country— A long march and a
scanty dinner— Meskineh— The lands of the Euphrates— Historical
interest of the river banks— Deir— A visit from a Turkish colonel— I
secure an escort— Road-making— The disadvantages of an absence of
road.

Aleppo, more generally known in the country as Haleb,
is a large town, possessed in one quarter of many well-
built — for Turkey almost imposing — houses. The chief
feature, however, which attracts attention is the castle
or citadel, consisting of a steep artificial mound crowned
by a wall, which encloses the various buildings on the
summit, the whole considered by the inhabitants to be
impregnable. Both the walls and buildings, however,
are in bad preservation, and the best preserved and far
most massive portions now extant are the solidly built
fortification, which gives entrance to certain subter-
ranean chambers, by means of which access is obtained
to the summit, and the stone bridge across the moat
which surrounds the whole mound. The bazaars are
worthy of note, consisting of a labyrinth of covered-in
arcades which run from one into another, and cover a

54 ALEPPO TO DEIR-EL-ZOR.

very large extent of ground. The description of them
given by Dr Kussell upwards of a century ago, in his
' Natural History of Aleppo,' holds good to-day : " The
bazaars or markets are lofty stone edifices in the form
of a long gallery, for the most part very narrow, arched
above, or else roofed with wood. The shops, which are
either placed in recesses of the wall or formed of
wooden sheds projecting from it, are ranged upon each
side upon a stone platform two or three feet high, which
runs the whole length of the gallery. In many of the
old bazaars these shops are so confined as barely to
leave room for the shopkeeper to display his wares and
for himself and one guest to sit conveniently. The
buyers are obliged to remain standing on the outside ;
and when opposite shops happen to be in full employ-
ment it is not easy for a passenger to make his way
through the crowd."

The town has a population of 135,000, including a
Ptussian Consul- General, a Russian Yice-Consul, and
one Russian subject ! and its chief importance lies in
its being a large trade depot and distributing centre for
the surrounding vilayets. It is probable, therefore,
that the advent of the railw^ay will tend to lessen rather
than to increase its importance. From the south it
will eventually be connected with Damascus when the
French line via Homs and Hamah, which has reached
the latter place, is completed. On the north a branch
line will leave the German main line at Tel Habesch,
a little east of Killis, and cover the 60 kilometres
between that place and Aleppo. It has also some
importance as a military centre, and in addition to
the many well-built stone houses belonging to private
individuals in the Azizieh quarter — built of the
excellent stone which is found close by — there are
large barracks where a regiment of cavalry, a bat-

TURKISH ORDER AND JUSTICE. 55

tery of artillery, and two regiments of infantry are
quartered.

Tales of Turkish order and justice are, of course, as
plentiful here as they are in any other part of Turkey.
A company of soldiers had in one town not so very far
off stormed and captured the telegraph - office, and
having put themselves into communication with the
capital, declared their intention of monopolising the
wires until some portion at least of their arrears of pay
had been made good. In another direction I heard
at first hand of a case of a man who had been dead
for upwards of ten years having to pay the military
exemption tax ! But perhaps the most comic example
of Turkish administration which came under my notice
was a little contretemps in connection with the mail-
bags. Some apprehension was being felt lest the plague,
which was prevalent at Damascus, should spread to
Aleppo. Strict quarantine regulations were conse-
quently enforced against that city, among others a
decree going forth that all mail-bags were to be fumi-
gated. Fumigation was carried on with great zest,
and it was probably with far greater disgust than
surprise that the European community, while patiently
awaiting the delivery of their letters, learnt that the
fumigation had gone further than was intended, and
that the whole of their mail had been consumed !

From Aleppo to Mossul the traveller has a choice of
routes. Perhaps the best known and least exposed to
Arab raids is the road by Diarbekr and Mardin, which
is said to be much patronised by caravans for the latter
reason. This is the northern route. Another route,
making a detour to the south, but shorter than that by
Diarbekr, runs straight to the Euphrates at Meskineh,
whence it follows the right bank of the river to Deir-el-
Zor. Crossing the river here by ferry, the track

56 ALEPPO TO DEIR-EL-ZOR.

continues up the right bank of the Khabur river, which
is crossed at Shehdadi, [and then traverses the desert
steppe of Central Mesopotamia to the Sinjar Mountains
and Mossul. It is, however, by neither of these routes
that it is proposed to construct the Baghdad railway.
Running almost due east from Killis, it will pass
through Harran and Ras-el-Ain, and leaving Mardin
to the north reach Mossul by Nissibin. It had been my
intention to travel by this latter route, but circum-
stances decided otherwise. For rumour had been busy
of late, which by the beginning of the New Year left
little room for doubt, that the whole of the country in
the vicinity of Ras-el-Ain, as far south as the Jebel
Abdul Azziz, was in a state of seething irritation. It
was said that Ras-el-Ain itself had become the centre
of a vast encampment of upwards of 15,000 tents,
and that there the arch- brigand Ibrahim Pasha, with
a swarm of Hamidiyeh myrmidons and an allied force
of Anazeh Arabs, M^as waiting in readiness for the ex-
pected onslaught of a horde of Shammar Arabs, they
in their turn accompanied by their Kurd allies.

During the previous year the Shammar tribe had
suffered heavily at the hands of the notorious Ibrahim,
and, acting on the principle of an eye for an eye and
a tooth for a tooth, were now rallying their forces, bent
on retaliation in the form of battle, murder, and sudden
death. Had the prospect been merely that of an inter-
tribal fight among the Arabs, it is possible that a
traveller might have passed through with impunity ;
but from all accounts it mattered little to the Hamidi-
yeh Kurds, who under pretence of serving the empire
bear their royal title, and receive arms and ammunition
from the Government, who fell into their net, all alike
being considered equal and legitimate prey.

I was not altogether surprised, therefore, when on

THE SOUTHERN ROUTE SELECTED. 57

approaching Ali Pasha, the general at the head of the
" extraordinary command " in Aleppo, and asking for an
escort and permission to proceed, I was met with a
polite but firm refusal. Permission, then, to travel by
this route not being forthcoming, there remained the
northern route by Diarbekr and the southern one by
Deir and the Sinjar Mountains. Under certain con-
ditions in the dim future, a branch line is to be con-
structed from some point on the Baghdad line to
Diarbekr, and it was even rumoured in Constantinople
that the main line itself might after all pass that way ;
but despite these facts I decided to travel by the
southern route, since the more northern was already
well known to me from the descriptions given of it
by others, and the country traversed by the southern is
all part of the same plain, and presents the same par-
ticulars as the tract between the Euphrates and the
Tigris vid Harran and E,as-el-Ain, through which the
railway is to be constructed.

Accordingly, after a short rest in Aleppo, I set out
on the morning of the 15th January in a direction
slightly south of east. From Aleppo to the Euphrates
at Meskineh the track lies over vast stretches of un-
dulating ground, practically treeless (except in the
immediate vicinity of the town itself, where groves of
olives and pistachio-trees are seen), though large tracts
of it are under cultivation. Once through the groves
which surround the town, there is nothing to relieve
the monotony of the dreary reaches of an almost
featureless expanse beyond occasional small villages,
resembling bunched-up conglomerations of giant clay
beehives, and a number of artificial mounds which are
scattered over the country, or the saline waters of the
salt Lake Jebul, which may be seen to the south shim-
mering in the sun.

58 ALEPPO TO DEIR-EL-ZOB.

At Deir Hafr, an Arab village, it is usual to spend
the first night out of Alej)po. The march is a long
one, so that with irritating perversity my muleteer
seized the opportunity of making an unusually late
start, with the result that night was upon us long
before we had reached our destination. There being
no moon till late, we were obliged to grope our way at
snail's pace over the plain, with nothing whatsoever to
guide us but a camel-track, which under the circum-
stances was hardly distinguishable. The ponies with
the baggage did not arrive till 11 p.m., after I had
dined off barley bread and a delectable compound of
sugar and grapes, the only food the Arabs could
produce.

As one approaches the Euphrates one passes over a
good deal of uncultivated plain covered with short
grass, on which small flocks of sheep are to be seen
grazing, and on reaching the river, comes upon the
three mud buildinofs which constitute Meskineh. Had
the scheme of navigating the Euphrates from Baghdad
to the latitude of Aleppo proved practicable, Meskineh,
which now affords the shelter of a moderate khan,
might have become an important place as the head-
quarters of the steam navigation. At the present day,
however, the river is only navigated by small native
craft, and the prospects of Meskineh rising superior to
its present unpretentious level are remote.-^

From here on, the road lies sometimes in the river-
plain, sometimes over the great rolling stretches of

1 In ' The Nearer East ' Mr Hogarth says, " The river is not considered
navigable above Eakka, while it is not in point of fact ascended above
Hit." I could not learn that any steam-vessel had ascended the river even
as far as Hit for at least a decade, while if the above is intended to refer
to other vessels, it is equally incorrect, since shallow native craft carry
goods from Birejik to Deir, where they are transhipped into larger boats,
and conveyed down the rivei\

STEPPE-LAND. 59

undulating steppe land which, for want of a better
term, is usually designated desert. In point of fact,
the country through which the Euphrates rolls its broad
placid waters at this period of its journey to the sea
is a vast broken waste, showing here and there rocky
and stony excrescences, covered for the greater part
with short grass and aromatic scrub, capable of afford-
ing subsistence, during some part of the year at least,
for flocks of sheep and herds of goats, but too stony,
and possessed of too precarious a water-supply, to be
considered arable. Yet, — I am speaking of winter,
when I passed through, — despite the covering of
herbage which gives the ground immediately around
one a colouring of green, the general view presented
by the landscape is a dreary brown, such colouring as
I have described becoming merged at a short distance
in an all-pervading neutral tint, produced by a com-
bination of the earth itself and the faded grey of the
ubiquitous desert scrub, wan and sad looking in the
lifeless garb of winter. Along the river-banks them-
selves thick jungle of liquorice, Euphrates poplar, tall,
lank thorn-bush, and kindred growth is always to be
found, while some little colour is here and there infused
into the scene by pale-green patches of tamarisk, and
odd little pieces of riparian cultivation. Humanity is
represented by the squat black tents of the Anazeh
Arabs, with their flocks of sheep and herds of goats and
camels. Such existed in no great quantity at this
season, though I was informed that in the summer
months the whole river-plain between Meskineh and
Abu Hurareh, a ruined fort a day's journey farther
east, is alive with Arabs, who collect to pay their
annual dues to the Government.

Between Meskineh and Deir, a six days' journey,
no places of importance are passed, small mud police-

60 ALEPPO TO DEIR-EL-ZOIi.

stations at intervals of from twenty to thirty miles
being the only form of permanent habitation, if I
except the few small houses which have grown up
round the largest of them — Sabkah. The places of
greatest historical interest are Phunsah and Rakka,
the latter on the left bank close to the junction of the
Belik and the Euphrates. At the former place the
river was forded by the army of Cyrus the younger,
by Darius, both before and after Issus, and by
Alexander in pursuit, while Thapsacus, which stood
on or near the present site, has been identified with
Tiphsah, the eastern boundary of King Solomon's
dominion. The latter, the site of Nicephorium, is
still a fair-sized place, and extensive ruins are visible
around it.

On January 22 I reached Deir, which is described as
" a considerable place in the desert." I found it a
small town with two fair khans, some fairly good
houses, and a long central street and bazaar. An
officer of rank and 500 men are quartered here, in
addition to the usual police, and on arrival I left a
letter of introduction on him, given me by Ali Pasha
at Aleppo. Result : in the midst of general untidiness
consequent on the rearrangement of baggage in the
bare room of the khan, enter a smart uniformed
individual, evidently of high rank, to the discomfiture
of the Englishman in shirt-sleeves, knickerbockers, and
shooting-boots ! The Colonel, however, — for it was no
other, — was affability itself, assured me that there was
no occasion for formality, and intimated that he had
merely come to inform me that, as I intended crossing
the desert to Mossul, an escort would be necessary, and
that, in compliance with the wish of his superior at
Aleppo, he would supply me with the men the follow-
" How many men did he consider

^iV ESCORT ARRANGED FOR. 61

necessary ? " " He could not allow me to proceed
with less than six, and would arrange for a larger
number if I desired it." I groaned inwardly, desired
my interpreter to offer him my profuse thanks for his
kindness, and to beg him not to trouble himself by
making arrangements for sending more than the neces-
sary minimum. " He was at my service, and it should
be as I wished," and for the next half-hour we passed
those little absurdities — the Colonel seated on my only
chair, myself on the bed — which under such circum-
stances have perforce to do duty for conversation.

In the vicinity of the town I found considerable care
being bestowed upon the construction of a metalled
road, which extended for three or four miles in the
direction of Aleppo. This I learnt was the work of a
syndicate of merchants, whose too sanguine subscribers
entertained the hope that it might some day be laid
with rails. Should it be successful in escaping the
usual fate of premature collapse, which overtakes most
schemes of regeneration in Turkey, it will no doubt be
of some service to wheeled traffic, especially if an
experience which I witnessed not far from Deir is of
common occurrence. Rounding a small spur of cliffs
which bound the river-plain, I was startled by vocifer-
ous shouting and a resounding crash, and the next
moment came in sight of an araha lying upside down
in front of me. It required the united efforts of the
spilt party, and of all the king's horses, and all the
king's men, in the shape of my escort, who arrived
upon the scene most opportunely, to set it up again.

THE DESERT.

CHAPTER VI.

THE DESERT.

Crossing the Euphrates — The monotonous desolation of the country — A
surprise— A band of Arab marauders — A peaceful conclusion — Arab
propensities — The river Gozan of the Old Testament — Crossing the
Khabur river— The Mesopotamian steppe— A well in the desert —
Reach the Jebel Sinjar— The Yezidis— A punitive expedition— An
uncomfortable night — The country between Jebel Sinjar and the
Tigris— The aspect of Mesopotamia in spring and in summer— De-
scription by Sir Henry Layard.

From Deir the direct road to Baghdad continues down
the right bank of the Euphrates by Hit, but to go to
Mossul the river must now be crossed and a north-
easterly direction taken across the desert plains of
Mesopotamia. After crossing on the morning of the
24th, a lengthy proceeding effected by means of a
cumbrous ferry propelled by a vociferous gang of pre-
historic looking Arabs armed with a motley collection
of oars and punt-poles, we travelled over a country
devoid even of the attraction hitherto afforded by the
narrow ribbon of the jungle - covered banks of the
Euphrates. It is a country in which one may ride on
and on for hours at a time without so much as seeing
a human being or any sign of human habitation, such
life as there is, in the shape of Arab encampments,
clinging closely to the banks of the Khabur river, which
flows sluggishly south to mingle its waters with those

A GREAT LONE LAND. 63

of the Euphrates a little south of Deir. It is in fact
often only by a thin black line of Arab tents stretching
across the plain that it is possible to follow the course
of the stream, which otherwise becomes indistinguish-
able at a very short distance. Where these wanderers
pitch their tents little plots of land will be ploughed and
clumsily irrigated, but away from the river-banks nothing
will meet the eye but waste — dreary, desolate waste.

Often it is across an absolute level that one canters,
hoping against hope that some time that elusive horizon
in front will be reached ; again it is across great billowy
undulations that go rolling away into infinite space,
tempting one always to think that at any rate from the
crest of the next something definite will await one's
gaze. But the summit of the next is reached, and of
the one after that, and there is always just such
another beyond, unrelieved by anything but the meagre
grass and rusty scrub which, while redeeming it from
the utter destitution of the true desert, serves but to
accentuate the hideous forlornness of the whole sur-
rounding. And so one relapses into indifi'erence and
jogs wearily along, one's thoughts wandering absently
to other lands, since there is nothing in the present to
keep them, thankful when night, or some small isolated
police-station, or the squat black tents of some Arab
encampment, apprise one that the end of the day's
march is at hand.

" Ah ! " The short sharp exclamation broke the deep
silence which Nature always preserves in those vast
solitudes of hers where space is infinite and time and
distance have no place. My wandering thoughts came
tumbling back, from a wild flight to distant lands, to the
reality of the present. Mohammed had pulled up, and
was standing like a statue gazing into vacancy.
" What is it ? " I inquired, as I pulled up alongside

64 THE DESERT.

of him. He turned slowly in the saddle and then
pointed towards the horizon in front of him. I stared
hard, but saw nothing but stones and sand and faded
vegetation, and in the distance a small column of dust
— a sand-devil, I thought ; they were common enough.
" I see nothing," I said, as I pulled out my field-glasses
and swept the horizon. Wait a moment though.
Yes, through the field-glasses the little cloud of dust did
look different from the usual sand-devil, which whirled
giddily round like some demented sprite and then
vanished, unstable creation born and destroyed of the
wind. There was something more solid about this,
and, moreover, the cloud which but a moment before
had been but the size of a man's hand was rapidly
assuming alarming proportions.

Mohammed looked anxiously back. The pack-ponies
with the remainder of the escort were crawling leisurely
along some distance behind, as is the manner of pack-
ponies and muleteers when left to themselves. He
signalled to them to hurry on, and then fixed his gaze
in front of him once more. " We must wait here till
they close up," he said. Dark objects began to show
amid the approaching dust-cloud — numbers of them.
The truth dawned upon me like a flash, and the revela-
tion was not an altogether pleasant one. I had not the
slightest doubt now what it was that was coming
racing towards us behind that thin veil of sand, but I
asked all the same. "Yes," came the reply, "Arabs,
and all mounted." I glanced over my shoulder and
noticed that the rest of our party were now close upon
us, and then turned my eyes upon the object in front of
us once more. I admit that my feelings were not those
of absolute composure. When you see a body of forty
or fifty mounted men, all armed with long spears, which
they brandish menacingly over their heads, galloping

AN EXCITING MOMENT. 65

furiously towards you, and are unaware of their exact
intentions, you have some excuse for perturbation ; and
that is what I saw now. Yet admiration struggled for
a little foothold too, for it was a grand sight. The
swarthy Arabs galloping recklessly over the desert
plain, their long white robes streaming in the wind, and
their whirling lances flashing in the sun, made a picture
such as one does not often see. They were so eminently
fitted to their surroundings — wild children of the desert,
free as the winds, born to be lords of the land.

But there was little enough time for musing, for the
Arabs were now within rifle-shot, and seeing the rest of
our party close up they halted too, and one of them
rode forward in our direction a little ahead of his
followers. It seemed that a parley was desired, and
Mohammed rode slowly out to meet him, while we
stayed still where we were. I fingered my revolver
mechanically, and found myself listening for the beats
of the pendulum of time, so slowly did the seconds
pass. At last they met midway, and a period of
strained excitement ensued. How long they talked I
cannot say, probably not more than a few seconds, but
it seemed long enough, and when at last they parted
and a signal from Mohammed warned us to come on,
the cry of the muleteers urging their charges on once
more broke pleasantly across the desert air and relieved
the nervous strain which had hung over all. As we
rode slowly forward the opposing band divided to right
and left while we passed through between them, and
the last that I saw of them as they galloped away into
space was a wild chase, which had all the appearance of
a glorified pig-stick, in which one of the band selected
for the purpose was the pig, pursued at break -neck
speed by a delirious and shrieking band of his fellows
across the plain.

E

$

66 THE DESERT.

It is not always that a caravan will pass by such
a company with impunity, though an afFray with
government soldiers armed with modern rifles is not
altogether to the taste of such roving bands of free-
booters, unless, as is sometimes the case, they are
equally well armed themselves. Wandering over such
a country as is theirs, it is perhaps only to be ex-
pected that an independent and freedom -loving people
such as they should treat the moral authority of the
Porte with scant respect, and I thought more kindly
of my friend the Colonel at Deir for his insisting on
my being in a position to back mere moral persuasion
with a show of force.

The district which one traverses in a northern
direction on the right bank of the Khabur river is
the Gozan of the Old Testament, to which Shalman-
ezer carried the captive Israelites in the reign of
Hoshea, " and placed them in Halah and in Habor
by the river of Gozan." ^ It was once prosperous and
well wooded, but now a few mounds and scattered
remnants of former buildings are all that remain of
its erstwhile prosperity.

About sixty miles up the river is situated a small
isolated police-station, Shehdadi, where the Khabur is
crossed by means of a ferry similar to that at Deir,
and the traveller strikes east into the heart of the
Mesopotamian steppe. A long stretch it seems across
the dreary, almost waterless desert, before the small
settlements which cling to the foot of the Sinjar
mountains are reached. My ponies were weak with
long marching and short rations, and after plodding
steadily along from sunrise on the 27th, we pitched

1 2 Kings xvii. 6. Halah has been identified with Sar-i-pul i Zohab, the
second stage on the Baghdad-Kermanshah route after crossing the Persian
frontier. Vide Mrs Bishop's ' Travels in Persia and Kurdistan,' vol. i.

WATER IN THE DESERT. 67

camp in the middle of the plain shortly after sunset.
A small pool two parts mud and two parts brackish
water which we passed during the day, and at which
we replenished our water-skins, formed the centre of
a large Arab encampment, whose flocks of sheep and
herds of camels were to be seen straying over the
plain in all directions ; but these once passed, all signs
of life vanished once more, and the great silence of
solitude brooded over the land. Once or twice, it is
true, small groups of horsemen, easily distinguishable
in the distance by their long lances, would appear
suddenly on the summit of some mound, but after
taking stock of our party they would as suddenly melt
away again, lost to view in the limitless expanse.

At length on the evening of a cold clear day —
for the winds in the winter are bitter and the ther-
mometer is apt to sink low — we reached the first
villages at the foot of the Jebel Sinjar, a limestone
range which, with the Jebel Abdul Azziz, forms the
only feature in Mesopotamia which can be termed
mountain. All along the footline of the hills small
villages, partly Mohammedan and partly Yezidi,^ are
to be found, whose inhabitants cultivate the land.

1 The Yezidis are a people living for the most part scattered over the
country between Erivan and Jebel Sinjar. Their origin is unknown, and
their religion is described as a mixture of the old Babylonian religion,
Zoroastrianism, Manicheeism, and Christianity, and as having also an
affinity with that of the Ansariyeh. They were at one time much perse-
cuted by the Turks, and owe much of their present freedom to the good
offices of Sir Henry Layard, who in 1848 presented delegates from them
to Sir Stratford Canning, the British ambassador at Constantinople.
"Through his [Sir Stratford Canning's] kindly intercession a firman or
imperial order was granted to the Yezidis, which freed them from all
illegal impositions, forbade the sale of their children as slaves, secured to
them the full enjoyment of their religion, and placed them on the same
footing as other sects of the empire. It was further promised that arrange-
ments should be made to release them from such military regulations as
rendered their service in the army incompatible with the strict observance

68 THE DESERT.

By the greatest bad luck a flying column of
Turkish soldiers, returning to Mossul from a punitive
expedition against the Shammar Arabs, — they had had
an encounter in the desert a few days before, leav-
ing, according to their own account, thirty Arabs dead
upon the field, while they had despatched eight of
their own men severely wounded to be looked after
at Deir, — had elected to pass the night at the very
village which I reached tired and hungry some two
hours after sunset, with the result that every house
was full of men and mules. My baggage was far
behind, and I was unwillingly constrained to make the
best of things in a mud shanty along with half a
dozen Turkish soldiers and an odd villager or two,
who had apparently been ousted from their own
houses and overflowed into ours, as providing the
only available space. This about filled up the room,
and all were settling down comfortably for the night
when the owners, who not altogether unnaturally
seemed to think that they had some claim at least
to standing-room in their own house, appeared upon
the scene. The difficulty, however, was happily solved
by the ejection of the family donkey, who, with
stolid indiff'erence to the unwonted company, was
munching straw in a corner of the apartment. It
was certainly a night to cause one to ponder some-
what regretfully upon the discarded comforts of civilis-
ation, more especially when, to crown all, the occu-
pants insisted on lighting a smoky wood -fire in the
middle of the floor — there was no fireplace or chimney
— and closing the only aperture, the door !

of their religious duties." — ' Discoveries in the Ruins of Nineveh and Baby-
lon,' by A. H. Layard. They seem to have many strange superstitions, and,
according to Dr Wolff, if a circle be drawn round them "they would
rather die within it than attempt to escape out of it unless a portion of the
circle be effaced."—' Bokhara,' by the Eev. Joseph Wolff, D.D., LL.D.

THE ME80P0TAMIAN STEPPE. 69

The country from the foot of the Sinjar Mountains to
Mossul is sHghtly hilly, while an occasional village and
patch of cultivation are to be met v^ith ; but the general
appearance is sufficiently depressing, and it comes as an
intense relief when, from the summit of some slight
eminence, the snow-clad wall of the Tiari heights to
the east of the Tigris becomes visible, an effectual
boundary to the seemingly interminable steppe.

From the description given in the foregoing pages
it will be gathered that the scene presented by the
Mesopotamian desert is anything but exhilarating ; but,
lest a wrong impression be gained, it must be added
that at the time I saw the country it was neither
at its best — nor quite at its worst. In spring much
of the country teems with flowers and herbage, and
presents an appearance of brilliant verdure resembling
rather the broad stretches of an English down than
the arid reaches of an Asian desert. Such viridity,
however, is short-lived, and with the first feverish
breath of summer all vegetation withers, as, under the
fierce glare of an Eastern sun, the land becomes scorched
and burnt, and where for a few short weeks a veritable
garden flourished, nothing remains but a parched and
dessicated waste, presenting all the savage horror of
lifeless and dust-strewn desolation. Few Enoflishmen
have known the country as did Sir Henry Layard, who
has left us a vivid description of the rapid change from
spring to summer : " The change to summer had been
as rapid as that which ushered in the spring. The
verdure of the plain had perished almost in a day. Hot
winds coming from the desert had -burnt up and carried
away the shrubs ; flights of locusts, darkening the air,
had destroyed the few patches of cultivation, and had
completed the havoc commenced by the heat of the
sun."

70 THE LANDS OF THE TIGRIS.

CHAPTER YII.

THE LANDS OF THE TIGRIS.

Curiosity concerning the past — Collections of ancient records — Time the
destroyer — Koyunjik and Nebi Yunus — Nimrud — The Germans at
Babylon— Mossul — Down the Tigris on a raft— A useful escort ! —
Samara and its objects of pilgrimage — The Malwiyeh — Latent wealth
of the lands of the Tigris — Sir William Willcock's scheme — British
Government must interest themselves — Chaldsea described by Hero-
dotus—Eeach Baghdad— The romance of Baghdad is of the past — A
ffufa — Described by Herodotus — Baghdad a commercial centre —
Shortcomings of the Turkish Government — Fate of a public benefactor
— Trade of Baghdad — Lack of transport— Extraordinary rates of
freight — Great Britain must control the country from Baghdad to
the Persian Gulf.

There is deep down in the soul of man an intense
curiosity concerning the past. He reads history and
revels in the deeds of men and nations that are g-one.
But this is not enough. To the student of antiquity
history as we know it is the story of modern times.
Before the dawn of history, what then? Who were
they who dwelt in the earth in those remote times still
hidden beneath the veil of oblivion, or appearing but
dimly through the hazy light of confused tradition?
Whence came they, of what stock, who was there
before them? and if we probe the question to the
bottom, what was the origin of man ? After the ques-
tion " Why am I here ? " there is probably none that

RECORDS OF THE PAST. 71

exceeds in interest that of " Who was here before
me ? " and there can be few who have not been assailed
at some time or other with a burning desire to " wind
the mighty secrets of the past and turn the key of
Time."

It is fortunate, therefore, that there is another trait
common to mankind of all ages — namely, an uncon-
querable aversion to being forgotten. Hence all these
libraries of history, hence, too, the vast collections of
ancient records and inscriptions, which are daily being
added to from the buried cities of the East, all telling
strange stories of kings and nations long since dead.
There is many a monarch who reigned in the narrow
strip of territory between the two great rivers of the
Near East, who might well exclaim with the poet,
" Exegi monumentum vere perennius."

I do not think that any expert knowledge of Assyri-
ology is necessary to arouse one's enthusiasm. I lay
no claim to anything more than the most superficial
acquaintance with the leaves of the great book of the
past, and when those learned in such matters talk
animatedly to me of the achievements of the great
Sharrukin, 3800 years before our era,^ or of that bene-
ficent lawgiver King Khamurabi and his code, I en-
deavour to look wise and at the same time preserve a
discreet silence. Nevertheless in the presence of the

^ I believe that the oldest authenticated date is still that of Sharrukin
(Sargon), King of Agade, which was determined by the discovery of a
cylinder of Nabonidus, the last King of Babylon ( 550 B.C.), whereon he
has described the finding of the foundation cylinder of Naram-Sin, son of
Sharrukin, in the great sun-temple at Sippar, " which for thrice thousand
and twice hundred years none of the kings that lived before me had seen."
This gives 3750 b.c. as the date of Naram-Sin (3200 + 550), and roughly
3800 as the date of his father Sharrukin. I am aware, howevei', that
Assyriologists at the present time — Professor Hilprecht, for instance — are
confident of the tremendously ancient dates of from 7000 to 8000 b.c,
though I know of no discovery which affoids definite proof of such a date.

72 THE LANDS OF THE TIGRIS.

hoar ruins of the past I fall an easy victim to the spell
of antiquity. For we have a strange reverence for all
that is old. As I finger some tablet or cylinder of
clay scored with the curious dashes of the cuneiform
alphabet telling a tale of the past, and realise that
I am handlinof the actual handiwork of some monarch
who reigned five thousand years ago, which has lain
silent in the earth while nations have come and gone,
to hand his fame through the ages to a wondering
posterity, I am conscious of an extreme fascination.
And now as I wandered among the mounds of Nineveh
and Babylon, and trod in the courts of Esarhaddon
and Nebuchadnezzar, I dreamed dreams of the glory of
their day, reconstructed the palaces and temples of
their monarchs and their gods, and pictured dimly to
myself " how the world looked when it was fresh and
young, and the great deluge still had left it green."
And when I returned to earth again and gazed on the
great piles of debris where stood great cities, the
pathos of decay swept over me, and I bowed before
the inexorable power of the destroyer Time. For here,
as elsewhere. Time sadly overcometh all things, and
amid such surroundings the poetic lines of Sir Thomas
Brown held a stran^-e charm for me : —

Time sadly overcometh all things, and is now dominant and
sitteth on a sphinx and looketh into Memphis and old Thebes,
while his sister Oblivion reclineth semi-somnous on a pyramid
gloriously triumphing, making puzzles of Titanian erections, and
turning old glories into dreams. History sinketh, beneath her
cloud. The traveller as he paceth through those deserts asketh
of her who builded them ? And she mumbleth something, but
what it is he heareth not.

But to leave generalities and descend to particulars,
the great mounds of Koyunjik and Nebi Yunus, which
rise within the colossal earthern ramparts that mark

EXCAVATIONS IN CHALD^A. 73

the walls of Nineveh, described by Xenophon as being
upwards of 100 feet in height in his day, and still
standing to a height of from 40 to 50 feet, guard well
the treasures which they conceal. ^ At the mound of
Nimrud farther south, marking the site of a town
founded by Shalmanezer in the year 1300 B.C., which
reached the zenith of its greatness as the capital of
King Asshurnazirpal in the ninth century B.C., there
is far more to be seen than there is at Koyunjik. Here
the tunnels dug by Sir H. Layard are still open, and
the outside casing of huge square blocks of stone of
the observatory tower are still visible and in excellent
preservation.^ A vast store of monuments of the
greatest interest have been removed from here, con-
spicuous among them the famous black obelisk and a
statue of Nebo, which now repose in the British
Museum ; but even so, many carved stones are still
lying where they were found, including the large figure
of a man, the lower half still buried in the earth, and
some beautiful specimens of the great winged bulls
common at the entrance to the courts of Assyrian
palaces.

At Babylon, where German scientists had already
been at work for four years, having built themselves,
with German thoroughness, a house on the spot, still
more is to be seen. The excavations, carried on
systematically and thoroughly, have already laid bare
the pavemented streets and the solid walls of the
palaces and temples of the city described by Herodotus.
In one part there is an excellent specimen of a keystone

1 We may hope, however, to hear of further discoveries at Koyunjik,
since Mr L. W. King arrived there in the spring of 1903 to carry on ex-
cavations on behalf of the British Museum.

2 This is one of the two ziggurats which have been found to have their
sides and not their corners facing the four cardinal points. The other is
the temple of Bel in Babylon.

74 THE LANDS OF THE TIGRIS.

arch, — a crushing blow to the theory that the latter
was a Roman invention ; and in another a wall orna-
mented with figures in has - relief had recently been
discovered.

The present counterpart of ancient Nineveh is Mossul,
which, as may already have suggested itself, has given
its name to one of those fabrics which have found such
favour with the ladies of the West : the connection is
obvious — Mossul-lin, muslin. It stands on the right
bank of the river, just opposite the site of the ancient
city, and of course it is surrounded by walls — no town
would have remained a town for five minutes without
them, encompassed by freebooting Arabs. Seven gates
give access to the town, or nine if you include two
which I think give on to the river. Of course its
interest cannot compare with that aroused by the
stupendous piles of debris opposite, nevertheless it is
possessed of a distinct charm of its own. For it is a
town which first and foremost can only be described
as of the East — Eastern. Absolutely untouched by
Western influence, it remains what it has been ever
since it came into being, affected little more by slight
contact with the Turk in the shape of barracks, and the
governor of the province, of which it is the capital,
than it is by the utter absence of European ideas. The
bazaar is a scene of animated life, but the majority of
the streets, when not mere tunnels through the build-
ings, as is often the case, form a complex maze of
narrow alleys, so narrow in many instances as to make
it difficult for two persons to walk abreast conveniently,
and enclosed by blind walls of such height that the sky
is often only to be seen by craning one's neck upw^ards.
Filth indescribable and unutterable is, needless to say,
the predominant feature of the town, whose sanitary-
arrangements cannot even be described as primitive.

K

DOWN THE TIGRIS. 75

because there are none. I spent three days in the
discomfort of a khan which has doubtless been accum-
ulating dirt for some centuries, one of the " two
scurvy inns" in alJ probability described by Tavernier
in the seventeenth century as the only hostelries of
the place, and then, having had a raft of skins con-
structed, embarked on a journey down the Tigris.

Floating down the Tigris on a raft is a restful and
leisurely mode of progress, more especially when the
wind happens to blow up-stream, in which case the
word progress altogether ceases to be applicable to
the situation, and makes a pleasant change from hard
marching through a desert country. I had huts of
felt stretched over a wooden frame erected on the
raft for myself and Joseph, and before leaving took
the precaution of securing the services of a soldier to
act as escort and walking passport. With really
supreme sagacity the authorities at Mossul, knowing
that I was about to proceed through a country in-
habited entirely by Arabs, selected for this duty a
man who could only talk Kurdish ! As an ornament,
his value was a negligible quantity ; as an article of
practical utility, absolutely nil. On one occasion, while
waiting close to a village on the river-bank, I suggested
that he should clear off the Arabs who were crowding
round and becoming a nuisance by reason of their too
great inquisitiveness, to which he replied with every
symptom of regret that he had no orders from his
Government to shoot down the riparian population !
After this I ceased wasting time and energy in trying
to knock sense through his abnormally thick skull,
and made the best of a bad job by treating him as
a huge joke.

On the evening of the first day we glided over the
great dam which stretches across the river twenty

76 THE LANDS OF THE TIGRIS.

miles below Mossul, and later on passed the mound
of Nimrud already referred to, the village of Kaleh
Shergat close to the ruins of the ancient city of
Asshur, which gave its name to the great Assyrian
empire, and the hamlet of Tekrit, where I changed
raftsmen, tying up on the evening of the fifth day
close to the sacred city of Samara, whose brazen dome
shone like molten gold in the rays of the setting sun.

The town of Samara, situated on the left bank of
the Tigris, not a mile and a half from the river, as
stated in Murray's handbook (I made it just 550 paces
from my raft to the city gate), is the usual collection
of erections of sun - dried brick, surrounded by walls
built by the richer pilgrims to resist the incursions of
pillaging Bedouins. The objects of pilgrimage are the
tomb of Imam Hussein Askar, above which rises the
great golden dome which catches the eye from afar,
and a small mosque and dome, beautifully embellished
with enamelled tile-work, which mark the site of the
disappearance of the Imam Mohammed el Mahdi, who,
according to Moslem belief, will return to earth again
with Christ at the end of the world.

The only other object which stands out in relief
against the dead level of the plain is a curious spiral
tower built of brick, which rises to a height of 163
feet at one end of a ruined madressah, and is known
as the Malwiyeh. The spiral way which leads to the
summit is now devoid of any rail, and presents a surface,
from 2 to 4 feet in width, of brick roughly imbedded in
cement. The portion giving access to the small turret
which forms the apex has been much broken, and at
the present time affords but a narrow ledge, which
would constitute a formidable obstacle to any one with
"nerves" or a bad head for heights. The top of the
turret itself is reached by a short flight of steps, and

A SCHEME FOB IRRIGATION. 77

affords a fine view of the surrounding country. The
whole length of the spiral way is something like 300
yards — that is to say, I counted rather over 300 some-
what uneven paces from the top to the bottom.

The interest of the country south of Samara lies in
its extraordinary agricultural potentialities. South of
a line drawn from Hit on the Euphrates to Samara on
the Tigris is a vast extent of magnificent alluvial soil,
requiring only water to restore to it its pristine harvests.
There are in Upper Chaldaea, according to Sir William
Willcocks, — the famous originator of the great Assouan
dam on the Nile, — no less than 1,280,000 acres "of
first-class land, waiting only for water to yield at once
a handsome return." Here, then, is an opening for
British enterprise and capital. Here is an opportunity
for Great Britain to encourage British capital to develop
the resources of Mesopotamia, " as strengthening her
political claim to consideration and excluding that of
possible antagonists," ^ and to create vested interests
which will refuse to be ignored when the day of the
break-up of the Ottoman Empire is at hand. Sir
William Willcocks gives an idea of the probable cost
of a scheme of irrigation and of its results. £8,000,000,
he says, should suffice for the irrigation of the 1,280,000
acres of Upper Chaldtea — £7, that is, per acre. He
values the land roughly at £38,000,000, and, placing
the rent at about £3 per acre, shows a return of
£3,840,000. Allowing nearly half of this sum for
the up-keep of canals, there is still a net return of
£2,000,000, or 25 per cent on £8,000,000 of capital.

It may be urged that £8,000,000 is a large sum to
sink in such a country as Asiatic Turkey, and that
those who hesitated to risk £5,000,000 in a similar
undertaking in Egypt under an excellent administra-

1 Captain A. T. Mahan.

THE LANDS OF THE TIGRIS.

tion, and who were sceptical of the estimated profits
of such a venture, may well fight shy of investing
capital in Turkey, a country notorious chiefly for its
sublime contempt for anything which savours of order
or justice. But in Egypt the dam is there, and is in
itself a monumental answer to those who doubted. In
the case of Mesopotamia it would certainly be necessary
for the British Government to exert pressure at the
Porte to secure a guarantee for the protection of the
interests of those concerned, after first securing a con-
cession for such an enterprise. Without a knowledge
that the British Government was behind them it would
be absurd to expect British capitalists to move in such
an undertakino;-.

No one will be found to-day to deny the beneficial
results to Egypt of the monster dam of Assouan, and
Sir William Willcocks could hardly have given a more
alluring description of the potentialities of Egypt than
he has of Chaldsea. " Of all the regions of the earth
no region is more favoured by nature for the production
of cereals than the lands of the Tigris. . . . Cotton,
sugar-cane, Indian corn, and all the summer products
of cereals, leguminous plants, Egyptian clover, opium,
and tobacco will find themselves at home as they do
in Egypt." Perhaps, after all, w^e should not accuse
Herodotus of exaggeration when he wrote : " This is of
all lands with which we are acquainted by far the best
for the growth of corn. ... It is so fruitful in the
produce of corn that it yields continually two hundred-
fold, and when it produces its best, it yields even three
hundred-fold. The blades of wheat and barley grow
there to full four fingers in breadth ; and though I w^ell
know to what a height millet and sesame grow, I shall
not mention it, for I am well assured that, to those who
have never been in the Babylonian country, what has

BAGHDAD. 79

been said concerning its productions will appear to
many incredible ! " -^

Perhaps when the schemes of Sir William Willcocks
have been carried out, and corn is yielding three hundred-
fold, and millet and sesame are growing to a height
which even Herodotus would be unwilling to commit to
writing, it will at last begin to dawn upon Downing
Street that the dividends of any future Baghdad Rail-
way will not be dependent solely upon a somewhat
hypothetical through traffic to India.

On the morning of the seventh day after embarking
at Mossul, the buildings of Baghdad came into sight, at
the far end of a long vista of palm-trees, and a few
hours later I left my floating domicile, and installed
myself in the capital.

As I have pointed out already in chap. i. , any one who
comes to the present capital of Chaldsea expecting to
find in it some semblance of the Baghdad of his imagin-
ation will be rudely disappointed. It must be admitted
that the magnificence and romance of Baghdad lie
almost entirely in tradition, — the hopelessly common-
place buildings and bazaars on either bank of the river
afibrding an entirely inadequate setting to the lives of
Harun-al-Baschid and the Khalifs, or to the engrossing
scenes of the 'Arabian Nights.' The palm-trees which
line the river banks and give a certain picturesqueness
to the town cease with abrupt suddenness immediately
the river is left ; and all round, encroaching upon the
very houses of the city itself, the mournful desolation
common to uncultivated ground in lands where, for
half the year, a scorching sun looks down from a brazen
sky, and where 120° in the shade is no uncommon read-
ing of the thermometer in summer, reigns supreme.

As far as the town itself is concerned, there can be

1 Herodotus, Book I. chap. 193.

80 THE LANDS OF THE TIGRIS.

few who will not agree with Sir F. Goldsmid when he
says that " the streets are narrow, dirty, gloomy, and
irregular ; " ^ or again, when he opines that the occa-
sional prettily - domed mosque is, after all, " painfully
like a crockery Jingan, or coffee-cup, of the blue flower
pattern." ^ The river is perhaps the most attractive
feature of the town, being covered with native craft of
all sorts, and presenting a scene of lively animation.
Conspicuous among them are the curious round giiffas,
a form of boat which appears to have remained constant
since the days of Herodotus. From the appearance of
the vessel in question, a specimen of which may be seen
in the foreground of the photograph here reproduced, it
will be observed how accurately the description given
by that historian fits at the present day : " Their
vessels that sail down the river to Babylon are cir-
cular, and made of leather. For when they have cut
the ribs out of willows that grow in Armenia above
Babylon, they cover them with hides extended on the
outside, by way of a bottom ; neither making any dis-
tinction in the stern, nor contracting the prow, but
making them circular like a buckler." ^

Is Baghdad, then, a great commercial centre ? The
answer may be given in the aflirmative, provided you
qualify it with the all-important words " for Turkey."
The whole of the surrounding country is fed by Baghdad,
as also are many of the markets of Western Persia,
notably those of Kermanshah and Hamadan ; but they
are not fed to the extent that they ought to be : firstly,
because of lack of communications other than mule-
tracks ; and, secondly, because of obstruction on the part
of the Turkish Government, where assistance and en-

^ Telegraph and Travel. Sir F. Goldsmid.

-' Ibid.

2 Herodotus, Book I. chap. 194.

THE TRADE OF BAGHDAD. 81

couragement should naturally be looked for. Railways
there are none, if I except the short tramway which
runs a few miles to the Mosque of Kazimin, and which
I believe is a great success financially ; and the number
of steamers which ply between Baghdad and Basra is
limited to four, two of which may generally be counted
on as being hors de combat, since they are run by a
Turkish firm.

Enterprise is likely to meet with a sharp rebuke, as
instanced by the fate of the Pasha who, a short time
ago, built an excellent bridge which spans the river at
the present time. Great were the preparations for the
opening of this work of public benefit. The crowds
assembled, and expectation ran high ; but, alas ! no
governor appeared to perform the opening ceremony.
It was a great pity, but it was inevitable. The broad-
minded governor had been mentioned by the mullah
in public prayer as a benefactor to his country, and his
fame had reached the ears of the Sublime Porte. His
immediate recall was the result. The Sultan can brook
no interference in his monopoly of the deity !

The trade of Baghdad in 1902 amounted to
£2,560,232, divided as follows : Exports, £575,253,
and imports, £1,984,979. This trade might be greatly
increased even at the present time by so simple a pro-
cedure as insisting upon the Porte removing the absurd
limitation of two steamers a-week, which is all that
is allowed to Messrs Lynch. It seems a most extra-
ordinary thing that we should be powerless to effect so
necessary a step. Not very long ago permission was
obtained by Messrs Lynch to draw a barge along with
their steamers, but this was regarded as a great diplo-
matic triumph ! The result, as pointed out by Major
Newmarch, acting British Consul-General, is that the
delay in Basra, more especially since there is a want of

F

82 THE LANDS OF THE TIGRIS.

proper go-downs and cover for goods while waiting
there, is a serious matter, and most detrimental to the
entire trade of the province. I was informed by a
friend that he had seen as much as 8000 tons of
merchandise lying waiting transportation at Basra at
one time ; and it is no doubt perfectly true, as Mr
Whigham has said, that goods are as often six months
on the way from London to Baghdad as not.^

But this is not the only objection to entire absence of
competition on the Tigris. At the time of my visit
competition had lowered the rate of freight from London
to Basra to about 15s. per ton,^ while absence of com-
petition had raised it between Basra and Baghdad to
from £2 to £2, 5s. per ton ! Thus we see the astound-
ing phenomenon of the freight of goods from Basra to
Baghdad, a distance roughly of 500 miles, amounting to
nearly four times the freight of goods from London to
Basra ! On the journey back from Baghdad a different
state of things exists, since native craft carry a good
deal of stuff down-stream, and the charge is reduced to
about 12s.

These few facts alone are sufficient to show that the
trade of Baghdad is not what it might be, even under
existing circumstances. Were the purchasing power of
the people to be increased by the realisation of some
such scheme as that of Sir William Willcocks, it is
obvious that a very large increase would speedily
accrue.

British control from Baghdad to the Gulf should
be the watchword of British diplomacy in this par-
ticular square of the board, and, of course, railway

1 The Persian Problem. H. J. Whigham.

2 This was the figure given me by a merchant. Major Newmarch gives
the figure for 1902 as from £1, 17s. 6d. to £2.

CONTROL FROM BAGHDAD TO THE SEA. 83

construction comes under this head. Why such a
hne was not built years ago is a mystery, but the
fact remains that it was not. The time for monopoly
has gone by ; let us at least see to it that we secure
control of any future extension of the Baghdad rail-
way from that place to the sea.

84 THE BAGHDAD RAILWAY.

CHAPTEH VIII.

THE BAGHDAD RAILWAY.

Railway projects in the past — The success of Germany — Lack of interest
of British Government in the past — English concessions pass to other
countries — The prophecy of the deputation of 1857 — The German
commission of 1899 — The concession of 1902 — Proposed route of the
line — Branch lines — Description of the country through which the line
will pass — The Taurus barrier — Possibilities of Asia Minor — Law-
lessness of Mesopotamia — Important towns all lie to the north — The
right bank of the Tigris preferred to the left — Centres of pilgrimage
— Points to be remembered in criticising the line — The financial
prospect — International complications — Germanophobia in England
— The line as an alternative route for the Indian mails — The con-
ditions upon which Great Britain must insist as essential to her
co-operation — The position of Great Britain with regard to the rail-
way— The state of affairs at the present time.

If there is much that is wearisome in a journey
through the Asiatic dominions of the Sultan, there
is also much that is of considerable interest, as I hope
may have been made clear by a perusal of the fore-
going chapters ; but the problem of supreme interest
to myself, and I have no doubt to many others as well,
which is brought under consideration in the course of a
journey such as I have already described, in that its
solution is likely to have a vital effect for good or
for evil upon the fortunes of Great Britain in Asia,
has yet to be dealt with : and since a desire to ac-
quaint myself as fully as possible with the possi-

EARLY RAILWAY SCHEMES. 85

bilities and probabilities, as affecting this country, of
any future railway to the Persian Gulf alone deter-
mined the direction of my journey, I have no hesita-
tion in setting before my readers the situation in
connection with the so-called " Baghdad railway," as
I understand it at the present time.

And when considering the prospects of a railway
which is to connect Constantinople with the Persian
Gulf, it is impossible to help recalling the long story
of brilliant inception which distinguishes the part
played by Great Britain at intervals during a period
of upwards of sixty years, in an endeavour to in-
augurate a system of direct land communication be-
tween Europe and the seas of Southern Asia, or to
refrain from indulging in a lament at the remorseless
regularity with which the lifelong efforts of more
than one patriotic Englishman were destined to
flicker out in a pitiable succession of unrewarded and
abortive endeavour. The attempts made during the
first half of the nineteenth century to navigate the
Euphrates, a relic of which may still be seen in the
garden of the British Consulate at Aleppo, in the shape
of the small guns with which the steamers were to
have been fitted, followed during the early years of
the latter half by the railway schemes inseparably con-
nected with the names of Chesney and Andrew ; the
reawakening of public interest a few years later in
a short road to the East, which led to the drawing
up of a report by a select committee, and again early
in the last quarter of the waning century, as indicated
by the formation of the " Euphrates Valley Railway
Association," pass successively across the scene, to
terminate in an attempt by a group, chiefly English,
to obtain a concession, up to the very time that the
telegram was despatched to the Emperor William

86 THE BAGHDAD RAILWAY.

at Windsor, granting to a German syndicate a con-
cession to draw up a report concerning the construc-
tion of an iron way, which would pass through the
heart of the Asiatic dominions of the autocrat at
Yildiz, and forge the much-talked-of link which was
to complete the chain of railroad communication from
Paris to the Persian Gulf

I have always regarded it as a cause for regret that,
despite the untiring eftbrts of such pioneers of empire,
England failed to construct the railway advocated.
The British Government could by no means be in-
duced to look favourably upon the scheme, and with-
out the countenance of the Government British capit-
alists fought shy. Moreover, at no time did British
railway enterprise receive that measure of approbation
from the Porte which that body has been pleased to
display towards the schemes of other nations. When
Great Britain was alone in the field, British promoters
paid scant attention to the wishes of the Porte, and
calmly ignored the fact that a railway with its
terminus on the Levant, many hundreds of miles from
the Turkish capital, was regarded with little favour
by the Government through whose territory it was
intended that it should pass.

As time went on rival Powers entered upon the
field of railway expansion in the Near East, and
not only did the proposed trunk line fail to assume
material form, but other railways originally English
passed slowly but surely into other hands, so that,
whereas the Mersina-Adana, the Smyrna -Aidin, the
Smyrna - Cassaba, and the Haida - Pasha - Ismid lines
were all in the first instance built with English
capital and English material and under English man-
agement, the Smyrna- Aidin line is the solitary English
concern remaining at the present day. Such a state

THE PROPOSED RAILWAY ROUTE. 87

of affairs, to whatever it may have been due, — and
it was due to various causes which I need not enter
into here, — has undoubtedly been detrimental to British
influence and trade ; but what is perhaps of even
greater moment at the present time is the fact that
the words of the deputation which waited upon Lord
Palmerston in 1857, to the effect that the Euphrates
Valley Railway would pass into other hands if Great
Britain declined the task, have at length been fulfilled.
Little good, however, is now to be gained by indulg-
ing in lamentation over neglected opportunities of the
past ; rather is it of more profit to make some attempt
to inquire into the probabilities of the future, and to
consider in what way and to what extent the interests
of our own country are likely to be affected by the pro-
ject known as the " Baghdad Railway Scheme."

As a result, then, of the preliminary concession of
1899, a committee was appointed with a view to
surveying and reporting upon the country through
which the line would pass, and was occupied from
the middle of September 1899 to the beginning of
April 1900 in conducting a practical examination on
the spot. As evidence of the success of their labours
came the news of the concession of January 1902 for
the extension of the existing line between Haida-Pasha
and Konia to Baghdad and the Persian Gulf. Now,
in treating of the route to be followed by the future
line, I would qualify any statement that I may make
by the remark that I consider that he would be a
bold seer who ventured to prophesy with any degree
of confidence regarding it; but for the purposes of
the agreement a line was sketched out which will
pass through the country as follows : from Konia it
will pass by Karaman to Eregli, from which point it
will enter the Bulgar Dagh, and by many loops and

THE BAGHDAD RAILWAY.

tunnels compass the descent of the 3400 feet to the
Cilician plain. In the course of this descent of the
Taurus it will not, as popularly supposed, pass through
the famous Cilician Gates, but will follow the course
of a small river, the Tchakid Su, east of the pass,
and thence debouch on to the plain. Crossing the
level expanse of Cilicia by Adana — already connected
with the sea by the Mersina-Tarsus- Adana line, forty
miles in length — it will encounter the only other great
physical obstacle which will be met with, in the shape
of the Giaour Dagh. This range will be crossed either
by the Arslani Bell above Bagche, necessitating an
ascent of upwards of 3000 feet, or by the ridge above
the village of Hassan Beyli to the south of Bagche.
Personally I crossed by the latter, and it appeared to
me that a tunnel might be made here at no very great
cost, considerably lessening the ascent, and the descent
to the valley of the Kara Su on the far side. Having
reached the valley of the Kara Su, a remarkable stretch
of ground extending practically from Marash in the
north to Antioch in the south, part marsh, part culti-
vation, and part woodland, it will turn south to the
extremity of the Kurt Dagh, and rounding the latter,
reach Killis, a small town situated at the foot of the
mountains. Between the valley of the Kara Su and
the Euphrates, which will be crossed about 20 kilo-
metres south of Birejik, the low ridges which enclose
the basins of the Afrin, the Kowaik, and the Sajur
intervene ; but these are of no great height, and will
offer little resistance to the engineers. From the
Euphrates, which will require a considerable bridge,
the line might almost have been drawn with a ruler
to the Tigris at Mossul, passing only the insignificant
villages of Harran, Ras-el-Ain, and Nissibin on the
way. From Mossul to Baghdad the right bank of the

BRANCH LINES. 89

Tigris will be followed ; but from the latter place the
line will turn south-west to the Euphrates, and, cross-
ing that river for the second time, reach the Gulf
by Kerbela and Zobair, the suggested terminus being
Kasima on the bay of Koweit.

So much for the direction to be followed by the
main line. The branch lines included in the con-
cession are as follows : (l) from Tel Habesch, a little
east of Killis to Aleppo, a distance of 60 kilometres ;
(2) from Sadiyeh on the Tigris to Khanikin on the
Persian frontier, 115 kilometres; (3) from Zobair to
Basra, 19 kilometres. A branch line is also to be
built in the future, when the receipts of the main
line admit of it, to Diarbekr, and a temporary line
for construction purposes is to be taken from the
main line in the Cilician plain to some point on the
Gulf of Alexandretta, probably Yumurtalik on the
bay of Ayas. I have already given some description
of the country in the course of the preceding narra-
tive, but before discussing the questions which are
suggested by a consideration of such a line in all its
bearings, it may be well to recapitulate briefly the
particulars of such description which bear directly upon
the construction of the railway.

The direct road from Konia to Eregli lies across the
eastern extremity of the Axylon plain, which presents
to the eye an expanse of savage sterility which can
scarcely claim for itself any other term than that of
desert. For this reason the line makes a bend by
Karaman, more fortunate in being situated on the
fringe of the desert than Karabunar, a small village
which stands in the centre midway between Konia and
Eregli. It is at this latter place that the Bulgar Dagh
will be entered, and between here and Adana that the
descent of the Taurus will present a formidable though

90 THE BAGHDAD BAILIVAY.

by no means insurmountable obstacle to the engineer.
The main artery leading south from the important com-
mercial centre of Kaisariyeh will be cut at Porsuk, and
the long strings of camels — I passed something like
a thousand in the course of a single day returning
lightly laden from the coast — which now bear burdens
of hides and grain, passing with silent ghostly tread
over the highway of conquering armies of the past,
must ere long give place to the iron horse. As far
as the bridge over the Tchakid Su at Ak Keupri it will
follow the existing road, and in so doing will encounter
no engineering difficulty greater than that afforded by
a gradient of, at the outside, 1 in 80 ; ^ but from here
on the caravan road must be left, and the one serious
difficulty of the whole line is soon afterwards en-
countered in a vast mountain wall nearly 2000 feet in
height, with hardly any room for curves in surmount-
ing it, which rises between the valley of the Tchakid
Su and the Cilician plain.^ I was informed by an
engineer who had accompanied the Commission of 1899
that as many as seventy tunnels would be required in
surmounting this obstacle, but the preliminary survey
was admittedly a rough one, and a further detailed
survey will have to be undertaken before this section
of the line is constructed.

Arrived at the foot of the mountains, it is natural to
inquire why, when there is already a railway to the sea,
another line — the temporary branch I have already
spoken of — should be required, tapping the identical

1 Professor Ramsay writes as follows : " Once placed at the northern
end of the pass, the line has a gentle descent down a continuous easy
glen — interrupted only once by a ridge of no serious consequence — for
about 35 miles. In those 35 miles the descent is only about 2200 feet,
giving, without any zigzags, a gradient of 1 in 80, roughly speaking." —
Jouinal of the Royal Geographical Society for October 1 903.

" The Tchakid Su escapes through an undergi'ound channel.

AN INFERIOR HARBOUR. 91

district. The answer is to be found partly in the fact
of some hitch having arisen in the negotiations for buy-
ing up the line entered upon by the German company,
and partly in the unsuitableness of Mersina as a port.
A demand was long since made, it is true, by the pro-
moters of the Mersina- Adana Eailway for a concession
for improving the port by means of a breakwater, but
this, victim perhaps of the intrigue of rival schemes,
still lies with many another in the dead letter office at
Yildiz. From the description given in chap. iv. it will
have been gathered that in Cilicia the Government
have so far displayed an extraordinary aptitude for
burying their talent in the ground, and further com-
ment is unnecessary here. Passing mention has also
been made of the probable line of ascent and descent of
the range of the Giaour Dagh. Though a system of no
great Mndth, the traveller crossing it will find ample
grounds for singing its praises, the snow-bound wall
of the higher peaks standing out in sharp contrast
above the lower slopes, clothed with a mantle of
mountain laurel, box, and ilex bushes.

In the vicinity of Killis vast groves of olives fill the
view, and the rolling expanse between that place and
Aleppo presents a broad smiling stretch of well-
cultivated plain.

From this description it will be gathered that thus
far the line will pass through a country of vast latent
possibilities, which is blessed even now by considerable
agricultural and commercial development ^ and some of

1 As evidence of the development of the countiy by railways, see the
report published by the Public Debt Administration in 1903, wherein it is
estimated that the tithes of the districts traversed or affected by the rail-
ways have increased in the last twelve years by 46 per cent. According to
Consul Waugh, the Angora district, which exported no grain before the
railway was opened, now has an annual export of wheat and barley valued
at from £1,500,000 to £2,000,000.

THE BAGHDAD RAILWAY.

the elements of public security ; but it is to be feared
that from here on to Baghdad the country to be
traversed can boast neither of the one nor of the other.
After crossing the Euphrates and the low ridge of
Jebel Tek-Tek, the line will run through a country
consisting of a practically featureless steppe, whose
rolling undulations succeed one another with mono-
tonous regularity. Nor would it appear that the lack
of natural attraction has been compensated for by the
art of man, the mouldering ruins, which are in keeping
everywhere with the forlorn aspect of the scene, bear-
ing eloquent testimony to the wild depredations of
Kurd and Arab, who from the days of their first con-
tact seem to have regarded the plains of northern
Mesopotamia as a legitimate stage for the enactment
of a drama of wholesale bloodshed and destruction.
Indeed, Ibrahim Pasha, on the west, and, until his
recent violent death, Mustapha Pasha, on the east,
might well congratulate themselves on being far from
unworthy recipients of the mantle of Timur, who five
centuries earlier stamped upon this self-same district
an indelible trail of desolation — inevitable legacy of
his victorious progress through Asia.

On such a line no places of importance will be found.
Harran, the ancient city of Nahor, to which Abraham
migrated from Ur of the Chaldees, consists now of a
low range of mounds on either side of the river Belik,
whose chief object of interest is, probably, the far-
famed well of Pebecca. Pas-el-Ain is only a small
village, and Nissibin a moderate mud town. No
advantage, then, for this route can be claimed on the
grounds of its passing through any large centres of
trade, all of which — Marash, Aintab, Birejik, Urfa,
Diarbekr, Mardin — lie far to the north, and the whole
advantage which it ofi'ers is summed up in directness of

GOODS FLOATED DOWN THE TIGRIS. 93

line and absence of physical obstruction. Such oppo-
sition as will be encountered in this section will be
provided by paucity of water, dust - storms, and
the raids of a lawless and migratory population, more
especially if history repeats itself, and it is found in
the case of the future railway, as has been found
in the case of those already constructed, that, to
use the words of Mr Hogarth, "the primary result
of an extension of railways in Anatolia has always
been an extension of brigandage."

Mossul itself is a town of some importance, being the
largest centre in northern Mesopotamia ; but it is
hardly probable that the goods which are now floated
down the river on rafts will not continue to be so in
the future, more especially since the wood forming a
large portion of the raft is sold at a profit at the end
of the journey. Moreover, the country on the right
bank of the river through which the line will run is
almost entirely desert, roamed over by the Shammar
Arabs, the promoters being of opinion, seemingly, that
the saving of distance and modest opposition aflbrded
by the few dessicated waddies and low ridges en-
countered on the right bank more than compensate
for the greater promise offered by the fertile lands of
the left, more especially since the difference in cost
between the two routes is estimated at approximately
76,000,000 francs. As it is, there is little prospect for
many years to come of any greater effect from its con-
struction in these parts being attained than a slight
increase in the local reputation of the hot baths at
Hammum Ali and some small growth in the few mud
villages which hug the river bank.

South of Baghdad the country between the two
great rivers is too marshy to admit of rails being laid,
and the Euphrates will have to be crossed once more,

94 THE BAGHDAD RAIL JV AY.

and its right bank followed to the Gulf. The great
centres of pilgrimage — Kazimin, Nejef, and Kerbela —
will be passed, and high expectations are set on the
receipts which it is anticipated will accrue from the
vast numbers of pilgrims, estimated at 100,000 annually,
bearing an average number of 60,000 corpses to be
entombed in proximity to the departed saints, — the
Imams Musa, Ali, and Hussein. At first sight it
would appear that land transport could never compete
successfully with the existing water-way from Baghdad
to the Gulf; but it must be remembered that, so far,
British diplomacy has only succeeded in obtaining per-
mission for Messrs Lynch to run one steamer a-week on
these waters, while the only other company running
steamers, being Turkish, need hardly be considered.
Even in face of this puny competition the promoters
have proved their business capacity by securing under
article ix. of the Convention of March 1903 the right
during construction to acquire and use steam and
sailing vessels and other craft on the Shatt-el-Arab,
the Tigris, and the Euphrates, for the transport of
materials and other requirements, while under article
xxiii. the company has the right of establishing ports
at Baghdad, Basra, and the terminal point on the
Persian Gulf.

In making any criticism of such a line, it must be
remembered that those responsible for it were con-
fronted by a variety of considerations. The obvious
route from Adana, for instance, along the coast to the
port of Alexandretta, thence over the Beylan Pass to
Aleppo, had to be discarded on the grounds of its
exposure to attack from the sea, similar considera-
tions being responsible for the refusal of the Sultan to
sanction a permanent branch to the coast. I have
italicised the word temporary in this connection,

A STRATEGIC LINE. 95

because it is impossible to suppose that the shrewd
promoters of the scheme will consent to its removal
when once it has been built, since without such a
branch it would be folly to imagine that they could
compete with the existing camel transport between
Alexandretta and Aleppo.

The most glaring defect, however, which is likely to
strike any one looking at the project from a commercial
point of view, is the persistent way in which all the
large towns of Northern Mesopotamia are left severely
on one side. Here, again, those responsible had much
to take into consideration. On economic grounds, as
far as actual construction was concerned, the more
southern trace was far preferable, avoiding as it did
the mountainous districts in which are situated the
larger towns, while to the Turk, sublimely disdainful
of commercial returns, the shortest route connecting
the 6th army corps at Baghdad with the 1st, 2nd, and.
3rd at Constantinople, Adrianople, and Monastir, and,
when the Damascus- Aleppo line, already constructed as
far as Hamah, is completed, with the 5th at Damascus,
seemed distinctly the most desirable. Nor must it be
for2"otten that that Power which was careful to exact
from the Sultan an agreement for the monopoly of
railway construction in the Black Sea basin has used
its powerful influence at Yildiz to frustrate any scheme
which might form the basis of an effective zone of
defence and offence on the north-eastern frontier of the
Ottoman Empire.^

1 As part of a scheme of Turkish defence, Colonel Mark Bell advocated
in the ' Journal of the Eoyal United Service Institution ' of September 1899
the construction of two main lines as follows : (1) Starting from Iskan-
derun or some neighbouring post on the Mediterranean, and proceeding
via Aleppo, Birejik, and Urfa ; (2) running from the northern post of
Samsun through Tokat, Sivas, Kharput, and Diarbekr, so as to join the
western line at Mardin. Herein is to be found in part the explanation

96 THE BAGHDAD RAILWAY.

As regards the southern extremity of the line, looked
at from the point of view of local development, it may
be said that in the Baghdad and Basra districts there
is a country of vast potential wealth ; but it may with
equal truth be said that until the nomadic propensities
of the population are given up for those of a settled
existence, and the whole country rejoices in the benefits
of law and order to a degree which it is to be feared
will not be attained under the existing regi7ne, there
is little prospect of Chaldaea revelling once more in the
abundant prosperity of an almost forgotten past.

If, then, the probability of immediate returns from
local development is not great, it must not be supposed
that those whose duty it has been to estimate the
prospects from a financial point of view have deceived
themselves as to the probable result. Hard-headed men
of business, qualified to form a right judgment, are of
opinion that working expenses will be covered, though
no surplus will for some time be forthcoming, and it
is unlikely therefore that the line will be built until
these same men of business see where the promised
State guarantee, amounting in all to something like
£1,000,000 per annum, is to come from.

And here it is that complications of an international
nature arise, and here that Great Britain will eventually
have to come to a decision one way or the other — to
assume an aspect of friendly co-operation or of hostile
opposition. For though it was at one time hoped that
a considerable sum might be available for the purposes
of the guarantee from the conversion and unification of
the Ottoman public debt, it is now generally recognised

of the Black Sea Basin Convention, and the southern trace of the German
line. It is worth remembering that the Eussian Tugovitch proposed that
Eussia herself should build the Baghdad line, a suggestion, however, which,
despite the supposed favour shown towards it by M. de Witte, was
negatived by the Cabinet.

ATTITUDE OF THE POWERS. 97

that such guarantee can only be found from an increase
of the import duties, which increase cannot be secured
without the contraction of new commercial treaties.
Any such increased revenue could now be applied to
any purpose the Sultan thought fit, since under the con-
version and unification scheme, recently consummated,
the bondholders gave up the exclusive lien on any fresh
revenue resulting from any increase in the import duty
which was theirs by right of article viii. of the Decree
of Moharrem (December 8, 1881).

At the present time we may safely assume that
Germany is the only Power that has signified her
acquiescence in a revision of the existing commercial
treaty, and that while France, Austria, and Italy are
willing to do so, England and Russia object. There is
no occasion to discuss the attitude of Russia beyond
remarking that a due consideration paid to her large
export of corn and oil, when any future tariif is framed,
will probably suffice to obtain her consent to it. Eng-
land, whose trade with Turkey is far larger than that
of any other single country, has reasonable grounds for
raising objection to any alteration in the existing fiscal
arrangements which may affect her trade adversely.
But let it not be forgotten that such a scheme as this
must be looked at from the broader point of view of
imperial policy, and it is to be hoped that it will be
found possible for us to pursue a course of cordial
co-operation given in return for certain privileges —
in other words, that, in return for our waiving all
objections to a revision of the customs tariff, and for
our providing facilities for the acquisition of a terminus
on the Gulf, we are allotted an equal share of the capital,
and receive adequate representation on the Board.

It is of course impossible to be blind to the fact that
there is in England at the present time a certain school

G

THE BAGHDAD RAILWAY.

of political thought to whose followers the word German
is as a thing accursed, and who are so blinded by their
Germanophobia that the mere suggestion of any enter-
prise undertaken in concert with that Power evokes
from them a chorus of hysterical denunciation. Never-
theless, when a decision has to be made, it must and will
be made without reference to the ephemeral jealousies
of prejudiced politicians. Let me at once admit that I
have no desire whatsoever to see any formal alliance
contracted with Germany, any more than with any other
Continental Power ; but to work in friendly co-operation
with the people of another nation in a mission of civilisa-
tion is a totally different thing from being bound by
the chains of a formal alliance, and to put unnecessary
obstacles in the way of any scheme which tends to
improve and bring the ameliorating influences of civilisa-
tion within reach of a people who are in sore need of
them is to renounce the high mission which it has ever
been the pride of England to uphold. Nor from a
material point of view would such an arrangement be
devoid of mutual benefit. Any scheme which tends to
defer the partition of Turkey — for it must be borne in
mind that I am discussing the line on the assumption
that it is an international enterprise — is to the ad-
vantage of Great Britain, since the integrity of Turkey,
Persia, and Afghanistan has been the dominating note
of her policy in the Near East, nor can any undertaking
which tends to quicken commerce be anything but
advantageous to the nation that holds the lion's share,
provided of course that preferential treatment to parti-
cular nations is disallowed. In addition, the participa-
tion of Enofland would secure for our own manufacturers
orders for a proportion of the requisite material for
construction.

The original promoters of the scheme would, on the

THE INDIAN MAILS. 99

other hand, profit by the support England could give
to the traffic in the shape of a contract for the Indian
mails. It is calculated that, provided an improved
service of steamers were run from the terminus on the
Persian Gulf to Kurrachi, a saving of 3 days 16^ hours
would be effected on the present 14 days 16 hours to
India ; and, estimating the subsidy now given to the
P. and 0. Company for carrying the mails to India at
£90,000, an increase of about 500 francs jDer kilometre
would accrue. The tendency of passenger traffic is like-
wise to follow the mails, and in addition to a saving of
nearly four days, it can be shown that the first-class
fare would be reduced from £72 to £61.

It is of course possible that in renewing the
contract with the P. and O. Company the Gov-
ernment might stipulate for a higher rate of speed
than the present 14|- knots, and were 19 knots
attained the post to India would occupy only eleven
days. Many who, in common with myself, have
passed through the irritating experience of having
to slow down to half speed to avoid reaching
Bombay before the appointed day, can testify to
the ease with which the speed of the P. and O.
service might be increased ; but to attain a uniform
speed of 19 knots would doubtless entail an enor-
mously increased consumption of coal and consequent
expenditure, for which there would appear to be no
call.i

From what I have written above it might per-
haps be inferred that I was disappointed at the
decision of his Majesty's Government, made known

1 It is gratifying to learn from Sir E. Law's speech on the Indian
budget in March of this year that the English mail contract with the
P. and O. Company has been renewed for a period of three years, on
condition that the mails are to be delivered twenty-four hours earlier
at either end.

100 THE BAGHDAD RAILWAY.

in the House of Commons on April 23, 1903. Let
me hasten to dissipate any such inference. My
desire to see British co-operation is prompted not
by any quixotic goodwill towards Germany, but by
the necessity, which is plainly apparent, of protect-
ing our own interests. Nothing could be more
fatuous than for us to look quietly on, while a
railway in the hands of two foreign nations, " with
whom," to quote the words of the Prime Minister,
" we are on the most friendly terms, but whose
interests may not be identical with our own," is
being pushed right down to a sea with which we
are so closely concerned as the Persian Gulf. And
so I urge CO - operation, in order that the railway
may become an international undertaking, and that
Great Britain may have that voice in the matter
which, in view of her special interests, she is entitled
to demand. But though I urge co-operation I urge
it upon certain conditions, because I realise that
Great Britain is in a position to dictate. On no
account should the Government consent to further
the undertaking without the certainty of securing
equal powers of construction, management, and con-
trol. I have elsewhere urged that the section from
Baghdad to the gulf should be placed in British
hands ; ^ but should this prove impracticable, the con-
ditions as stated above should, provided we main-
tain our supremacy in the gulf, prove adequate to
safeguard our interests. It was because these con-
ditions were not guaranteed that the Government
refused their support in the spring of 1903, and it
is because I am convinced that in the end these
conditions will be offered that I welcome the
decision which was then come to.

^ In an article written for 'The Times' of April 9, 1903.

THE POSITION OF GREAT BRITAIN. 101

I have said that Great Britain is in a position
to dictate, because I believe that, in spite of the
emphatic declaration of Mr Balfour in the House of
Commons on April 8, 1903, that "the project will
ultimately be carried out, with or without our having
a share in it," it will not see realisation in the face
of the uncompromising opposition of this country.
Great Britain holds two trump-cards : firstly, in the
opposition she can raise to any revision of the customs
— and the Deutsche Bank must eventually realise
that the favourable attitude of Great Britain is a
necessity ; and, secondly, in our position of ascend-
ancy at Koweit. When the extension is built from
Baghdad to the Persian Gulf, it will most assuredly
be of England's grace and not of England's necessity.
We can afford, then, to content ourselves, as our
Russian friends would say, "with quietly awaiting
the further development of events," and we may rest
assured that such further development of events, how-
ever long deferred, will take the form of renewed
advances to Great Britain. When an offer is made
which recognises the principle of equal powers of
construction, management, and control, then will
come the time for Great Britain to take up that
share in the promotion of the Baghdad railway
which, I have not the slightest doubt, is destined
to be hers.

It may be well before concluding this chapter to
explain the position at the present moment. Affairs
have advanced to the extent that a new company has
been created, with the title of the " Imperial Ottoman
Baghdad Bailway Company," and an amended form
of the convention of January 1902 concluded (March
5, 1903). An arrangement, which may be regarded
as temporary, has been arrived at by which France

102 THE BAGHDAD RAILWAY.

and Germany are each responsible for 40 per cent
of the capital sum, in order that the first section of
the extension from Konia may be embarked upon.
This section of 200 kilometres, from Konia to the
village of Bulgurlu, five miles beyond Eregli, is now
in process of construction. By the middle of March
the railhead had reached a point 50 kilometres beyond
Eregli, and was advancing at the rate of a kilometre
a-day ; and the whole distance is likely to see com-
pletion by September of the present year. According
to Consul Waugh, the company receives bonds from
the Turkish Government to the amount of 54,000,000
francs, bearing interest at 4 per cent, with a sinking
fund, which will extinguish the loan in ninety-eight
years, the term of the concession of the railway, in
guarantee of the cost of construction of this section.
He further adds, in his report of the trade of Con-
stantinople and district for 1903, that " failing sufficient
surplus from the receipts of the line, the service of
the loan, which is equivalent to a kilometric guarantee
of 11,000 francs, is to be met by an annual charge of
£106,000 on certain tithe revenues."

So the first section will be built without any diffi-
culty, and, moreover, under the above-mentioned
arrangement, the company expect to reimburse them-
selves for all expenses contracted up to the present
time, so that with the completion of the line to the
edge of the Taurus Mountains, the company will be
in a position to start anew with a clean slate. Whether
any further progress will be made under existing
circumstances is open to doubt, for the difficult and
expensive section through the Taurus Mountains looms
large in the foreground, and I am inclined to think
that if further progress is made it will be in connection
with a section in the vicinity of Aleppo. It might

^.V IMPORTANT STIPULATION. 103

appear that the stipulation that the line is to be
constructed in eight years would necessitate its con-
tinuation without delay ; but it must be remembered
that the convention has been drawn up by wily Ger-
mans, who knew perfectly well what they were about.
This stipulation is, in the first place, dependent on the
punctual fulfilment by the Government of its financial
obligations towards the concessionaire ; and, secondly,
is subject to delays arising from/o7^ce majeure, and the
definition given of force majeure is a curious one :
"Seront egalement consideres comme cas de force
majeure une guerre entre Puissances Europeennes,
ainsi quun changement capital dans la situation
financier e de VAllemagne, de VAngleterre ou de la
France." The convention abounds with curious pro-
visions of a similar nature, safeguarding the C07i-
cessionaire, and it is perfectly easy, as a friend of
mine remarked, to drive a carriage-and-pair through
it anywhere.

Such in brief is the Baghdad railway question. The
review which I have given of it makes no pretension
to being exhaustive, but space does not admit of a
more detailed account. The objects which I have kept
more especially in view have been, firstly, to point out
that the country through which such a railway will
pass cannot fail in the future — though that future
may be a distant one — to benefit enormously by its
construction, from the point of view both of internal
development and of expansion of trade ; secondly, to
explain the position of Great Britain with regard to
it ; and, lastly, to give a warning to any one who takes
any interest in the question against being led astray
from the real issues at stake by the prejudiced utter-
ances of Germanophobe orators, or the irresponsible
ebullitions of a Germanophobe press.

PEKSIA

" Clime of the unforgotten brave !
Whose land from plain to mountain cave
Was freedom's home or glory's grave
Shrine of the mighty ! Can it be
That this is all remains of thee ? "

— Byron.

CHAPTER IX.

BAGHDAD TO KERMANSHAH.

Persian characteristics— Methods of travel in Persia— Interesting monu-
ments of Western Persia— Nature of country on the Turkish border—
The legends of Shirin— Man walled up alive— The Darcy concession—
A strange dinner-party— The ascent to the Persian highlands— A late
winter — Reach Kerman shah — Strategic position of — Population —
Persian amenities !— The nakarreh kha^ieh— The rock sculptures of
Bostan — Description of — Inscriptions — Disfigurement of panels —
Opinion of the late Shah concerning— Other remains.

" The springs of the Teams yield the best and finest
water of all rivers ; and a man, the best and finest of
all men, came to them, Darius, son of Hystaspes, King
of the Persians and of the whole continent." Thus
Darius — at least so says Herodotus, though we are all
of course entitled to our own opinion as to how far
Herodotus wrote history and how far story. I have
recalled the above, because the trait which prompted
a Persian 2400 years ago to cause such an inscription
to be chiselled on stone is so palpable in a very large
number of the dwellers in that country to-day. I was
once discussing various episodes in the history of Anglo-
Persian relations in the past with a gentleman in a
position of authority, and I happened to remark that I
hoped if ever England and Persia were again involved
in war, that it would be side by side that their soldiers
would be fighting, and not in opposition as once before.
" Yes, indeed," replied my friend, " you have good reason

108 BAGHDAD TO KERMANSHAH.

for hoping so, for my men here are certainly the equal
of ten Europeans " ! Without seeing the said men you
could not enjoy the full force of the remark. The noble
bearer of the Garter to his Majesty the Shah, who was
saluted with a broken table-leg on joassing one of the
State sentries on guard, would appreciate it. Another
historian has handed it down that the Persians of his
day were taught to ride, to shoot, and to speak the
truth. Not all these characteristics have withstood
the test of time. I came to an agreement with a
Persian muleteer to supply me with transport, and
personally to conduct me as far as Teheran. The day
fixed for departure came and with it the mule-man,
who begged me to proceed a short day's journey with-
out him as he had business in the town ; and with an
assurance that he would overtake us on the morrow, he
bade us God - speed. That was the last I ever saw
of my Persian friend, which is an example of what I
mean.

But, for the most part, as far as travelling in Per-
sia goes, it might still be the days of the historian
of Halicarnassus. You are in the East unredeemed
and unregenerate. There are not many parts of the
country, for instance, in which you can expect to make
a journey corresponding to that, say, from Edinburgh to
London in much less than a month, and then only at
an expenditure of much labour and forethought. On
the post-roads you may travel fast — fast, that is, for
Persia, and may cover as much as from 90 to 100
miles in a day if you reduce your baggage to a minimum,
and can coax your jaded spirit and weary limbs to
resign themselves to the tender mercies of the Persian
post-horse for so long. But the number of post-roads
is limited, and where there is no post-road, or in the
event of your having more worldly goods than can

ANCIENT INSCRIPTIONS. 109

be conveniently strapped on to a galloping pony, you
must travel as the patriarchs of old, with the immemorial
camel or the hard -worked baggage -mule. It can of
course be claimed as an advantage that travelling thus
one sees far more of the country than would be possible
otherwise ; and the country I was about to travel
through was of exceptional interest, whether looked at
from the point of view of the lover of strange records
from the past, or from that of the speculator as to the
political possibilities of the future. In the magnificent
rock sculptures near Kermanshah the lover of the
antique will find ample reward for his journey ; while
twenty miles farther on, high up on the precipitous
rock-cliffs of Piru, stand inscribed the imperishable
records of Darius, which proclaim to the world to-day,
as confidently as when first cut upon the face of the
rock 2400 years ago, the achievements of one of the
mightiest monarchs of the past. The more practical
mind, bent on inquiry into trade and commercial re-
turns, will find ample material to occupy attention,
while an added interest is to be found in the fact that
here lies the most probable line of a Trans-continental
railway which some of us may yet live to see.

Between Baghdad and the Persian frontier there is
little that calls for remark. You travel for ninety miles
across the level plain of Chaldsea, crossing only three
insignificant ridges as you draw towards the frontier.
Kound Baghdad is displayed a panorama which is
mournful and irretrievably monotonous — one, that is to
say, with which the traveller in the East is likely to
become painfully familiar. Dry, dusty, drab- coloured
desert is the only description that can be given of the
country that stretches eastward from Baghdad, though
desert only because uncultivated. It would probably
be difficult to find soil that would give better value in

110 BAGHDAD TO KERMANSHAH.

return for water and a modicum of labour. Presently
the palm-girt banks of the Diala rise uncertainly on the
horizon, and after crossing the river by a bridge of
boats your way lies through a zone of partial cultivation
which, thanks to the proximity of the river, extends up
to the frontier. The small towns of Yakubieh, Shah-
raban, Kizil Robat, and Khanikin, all buried in palm-
trees, afford you shelter for the night, where solemn,
long-legged storks occupy every house -roof, cutting
quaint figures as they stand motionless with one leg
tucked up, sharply silhouetted against the golden back-
ground of the western sky.

By the time you reach Khanikin you have discovered
several errors in the guide-book ; but let me not be
hypercritical, for after all the wonderful thing is that
there should be a guide-book at all.

After crossing the frontier, which you recognise by a
small round tower, the country becomes broken with
low hills, which culminate in the rugged peaks and
savage mountain gorges of Kurdistan. On the right
bank of the Hulvan, prettily situated on a steep hill-
side, stands Kasr-i-Shirin, the first town encountered
in Persia, and likewise the first place of any interest on
the road from Baghdad, for close by are the substantial
remains of the palace built by the monarch Khosroe
for his beautiful bride Shirin, whose personality is
enshrouded in a veil of the wildest romance. The story
of the great love of Ferhad for the peerless Shirin, of
the colossal works which he undertook as the price of
her hand, of his tragic self-destruction on hearing a
false tale of her death, Is one with which that quaint
enigma, the story-teller of Asia, knows full well he can
still set a cord trembling through the passionate pulses
of the East. One of the buildings still standing is
undoubtedly a fire temple, while the remains of a vast

A TERRIBLE DEATH. Ill

aqueduct, " and of troughs and stone pipes by which
water was brought into the palace and city from a
distance of fifteen miles, are still traceable among the
desolations." ^ This was said to have been one of the
works of Ferhad for Shirin. Excavation might be well
repaid here, for I heard of a native having dug up a
small gold statue ten or twelve years ago. It is per-
haps needless to add that local officialdom found it
incumbent on it to take charge of the said golden
statuette !

Beyond these relics of the past I found another
monument of an entirely different description and of
quite recent construction, having been erected, in fact,
only a few weeks before. This consists of a small oval-
shaped building of brick and plaster, which is of no
particular attraction of itself, and might even pass
unnoticed by a casual observer. There is, however, a
tale attached, a tale which w^as related to me in grue-
some detail, which lost nothing in the telling by an
eye-witness of the scene. For the odd oval -shaped
building, which assumed a ghastly significance as the
horrid details were poured forth, was nothing less than
a cruel shroud wound slowly round a living criminal,
while death still held aloof, mocking his victim with the
unspeakable horror of his slow approach. Incredible
though it may seem, the appalling custom of walling a
man up alive is still practised in the twentieth century !
The victim — he had stolen a bale of cotton — was strong,
his struggles were fierce, the operation long-drawn-out,
and the appreciation of the crowded onlookers great in
proportion. The builders found their task no easy one,
even though their victim was bound, and the order was
finally given to reduce his power of resistance. The

1 I quote Mrs Bishop here, because I did not observe the " troughs and
stone pipes" myself. See her 'Journeys in Persia and Kurdistan.'

112 BAGHDAD TO KERMANSHAH.

only weapon handy was a blunt butcher's knife, the
executioner was intoxicated, and the ghastly terror of
that final scene beyond belief. Let me not dwell upon
the revolting details. Suffice it that the monument is
there — a timely warning to all would-be malefactors.

Within a dozen miles of Kasr-i-Shirin an experi-
mental shaft was being sunk in search of oil. When
one thinks of the forest of derricks and feverish activity
of Baku, the single shed and engine here seems a small
affair. Nevertheless, it may be the beginning of an
important business. That oil exists in many parts of
Southern Persia is well known, and it is a matter for
congratulation that a concession of such vast possibilities
has fallen into British hands. The concession obtained
from the Shah by Mr Darcy is for sixty years, dating
from 1902, and includes the whole of the south of
Persia. I rode out one morning, — passing on the way
the village of Azziz Khan, a monster of iniquity who
had lately shot his own nephew under circumstances
of the greatest treachery, and farther on a group of
villages, all in process of reconstruction after being
burnt in a recent inter-tribal engagement, — and spent
a day at the hospitable camp of the engineer in charge.
Oil had not then been struck, — the borer reached a
depth of 800 feet the morning I was there, — though all
the indications of its presence were observed.^ Galatian
mechanics were at the head of gangs of Persian drillers
from Baku, while the natives were being made use of as
far as their incapacity for skilled labour would allow, in
order to comply with the provision of the concession
which demands the employment of Persian subjects.

1 Early in the present year (1904) one of the borings began to spout,
and oil was sent to England as a sample. The presence of oil in satisfac-
tory quantity having thus been proved, exploration was embarked upon
farther south, and additional progress may no doubt shortly be looked for.

UNFAVOURABLE SITE OF TRIAL SHAFT. 113

If it may be permitted to one who has no expert
knowledge to make a criticism, it is that the site
selected does not appear to be a particularly happy one
to have chosen for a trial shaft. To begin with, it is
unpleasantly close to an extremely nebulous Turko-
Persian border, at a point where the promoters of the
Baghdad railway have mineral rights for a distance of
20 kilometres on either side of their line. But even
supposing there is no possibility of future friction on
these grounds, how is the oil, when it is found, to be
conveyed to the coast ? The only transport is that of
animals until Baghdad is reached, and if, as is sug-
gested, a pipe be laid, it will have to pass through 500
miles of extremely mountainous country, a costly under-
taking in itself, which will be rendered infinitely more
so by the necessity which will inevitably arise of bribing
the various predatory tribes through whose dominions
it must pass. If, as is said, the oil -field extends for
300 miles and touches Shushter and Dizful, it is natural
to wonder why a trial venture was not made there — the
oil found at Shushter is so pure that it is used by the
natives without refining — since the excellent port of
Mohammerah is within such easy reach. It is to be sup-
posed, however, that those whose business it is know
best, and the enterprise is in any case one which every
Englishman will wish a hearty success.

In looking over my notes on Kasr-i-Shirin I find it
put down that I attended a dinner-party there. There
is nothing very remarkable about going to a dinner-
party in an ordinary way, but this one was something
out of the common. Mine host was a Kurdish chief,
Shir Khan by name, and governor of the district. He
it was under whose superintendence the immuration
already mentioned took place. Out of courtesy to me
we dined at a table, a concession which I appreciated

H

114 BAGHDAD TO KERMANSHAH.

all the more when he informed my mterpreter con-
fidentially that he found the position — i.e., seated on
a chair — insufferably uncomfortable. After imbibing
innumerable cups of tea and coffee between 6 p.m. and
8 P.M., a cloth was laid, and large flat slabs of bread
spread all round, a space being left in the centre for
dishes. Bowls of pilao and dishes of mutton were then
placed in the middle, and when we had each been given
a plate, spatchcocked fowls were brought in on skewers,
pulled off, and placed on the table in front of us.
Knives and forks were conspicuous by their absence,
but at the invitation of our host to set to, a dozen
hands were plunged into the rice — rather a greasy
performance, since it was cooked in butter — and dis-
membered the fowls which lay scattered about on the
table. We went ahead merrily, stuffing handfuls of
meat and rice into our mouths until hunger was
appeased and thirst satisfied with the goats' milk
which formed the staple drink, when a servant came
round and poured water over our hands from a brazen
ewer. That brought the meal to an end. Simple but
effective was my reflection after it was finished.
Personally I felt that I was clumsy, from being un-
used to eating everything with my fingers, I suppose ;
but for those accustomed to it, it appears possible to
dispose of a maximum of food in a minimum of time —
if I may judge by the performances of my fellow-guests,
at least !

After leaving Kasr - i - Shirin the track, which is
abominably stony, passes through the filthy little
villag-e of Sar - i - Pul, identified with the Halah of
2 Kings xvii. 6, up a broad valley for a short distance,
through a natural cleft in an abrupt limestone ridge,
said to contain the tomb of David, and along another
valley, at the extremity of which rise the perpendicular

THE HIGHLANDS OF KURDISTAN. 115

walls of rock which constitute the historic Zagros
Gates. The ascent is made by a road which zigzags
backwards and forwards up the steep mountain-side,
and before reaching the summit a marble arch is passed
on the left-hand side, connected in the popular mind
with the story of Ferhad and Shirin, but said by
Layard to be Greek or Roman. ^

Having reached the summit you find that you have
risen by one gigantic step, as it were, from the lowlands
of Chaldsea to the highlands of Kurdistan, and I also
found that I had been incontinently hurried from the
delightful warmth and sunshine of early spring into
the gloomy depths of an abnormally late winter. For
the next four days we ploughed laboriously through a
sea of mud and slush underfoot, while rain, wind, hail,
and snow raged without ceasing overhead. It was
consequently with feelings of intense satisfaction that
I marched into Kermanshah on the 11th March, to be
welcomed and hospitably entertained by Mr H. E,abino,
whom I found in charge of the Kermanshah branch of
the Imperial Bank of Persia, opened here just a year
before.

Varahan lY., at one time Governor of Kerman, and
hence styled Kerman Shah, had an eye to the strategic
advantages of the site when he chose the position now
occupied by the town which bears his name. Situated
midway between Teheran, Tabriz, Ispahan, and Baghdad,
with highways from all of these places meeting at a
common centre, its importance as a strategic position
is assured. Being the first town encountered on the
Baghdad-Teheran trade route, all goods must necessarily
enter it before they are distributed to the various towns

^ " At about two-thirds of the ascent there is a small square building of
large dressed blocks of white marble, consisting of a deep-vaulted recess,
which is Greek or Roman." — Early Adventures, vol. i. p. 220.

116 BAGHDAD TO KERMANSHAH.

to which they are destined, hence its additional im-
portance as a commercial centre. The usual discrepancy
is of course found in the various estimates of its popula-
tion. The province of which it is the capital, and which
bears the same name, is said to have a total population
of from 300,000 to 350,000, and the town itself is prob-
ably responsible for about 50,000. In Lord Curzon's
'Persia' it is put at 20,000, while Mrs Bishop, writing
about the same time, gives 25,000. The information
from the three different sources from which I sought to
ascertain the approximate figure was of doubtful value,
as may be judged by the results : (l) 100,000 (Turkish
Consul); (2) 60,000 (Mr H. Babino) ; (3) 40,000-
50,000 (Baron Weydel, chief of the customs of Western
Persia). The bazaars are fairly large and well stocked
with goods from Europe, though of the whole bulk of
the trade which passes through only a small proportion
remains in the city.

At one end of the town is an open space known as
the gun square, planted with trees, some of which
could tell unpleasant tales. Two poplars growing
close together immediately outside the bank premises
had played the part of an extemporary scaffold
three years before. The criminal, suspended upside-
down, with one leg fastened to each tree trunk, was
slowly cut open with a pair of scissors ! This was in
the days of the Ala-ed-Dowleh, since promoted to the
governorship of Farz, who must be of similar stamp to
the genial governor of Arabistan, who, on hearing that
the British Minister had lost some saddles in his
district, hastened to assure him that there was no
cause for annoyance, since in the event of the saddles
not being immediately restored, the skins of the villagers
would make excellent substitutes ! I was only in the
town a few days, but felt I was lucky not to witness

SALUTE TO THE SUN. 117

any atrocity. My host, while reposing on his balcony,
had witnessed a man deprived of his ears and nose and
then led round the bazaar as a beauty show only a
short time before.

The town is the seat of a royal governor, a fact of
which I was constantly reminded, for my room was
immediately under the nakarreh Jchaneh, or drum-
tower, and every evening at sunset my ears were
deafened by a wild fanfaronade, while

" For leagues and leagues around,
The brazen sound
Eolled through the stillness of departing day,
Like thunder far away." ^

To leave Kermanshah without saying something
about the famous rock-sculptures of Bostan would be
as unnatural as to leave Moscow without seeing the
Kremlin. Four miles from the city rises the perpen-
dicular rock face in which are hewn the arched recesses
known as the Tak-i-Bostan. Writers have laboured to
show that the name is Tak-i-Bostan or arch of the
garden ; but I believe this conclusion, though ingenious,
is wrong, and that the place is not necessarily named
after the gardens in the vicinity, but is in reality Tak-
i-Vastam, which is the reading found in the Persian
manuscripts. Immediately in front of the rock are
two tanks of water surrounded by trees, and to the
right as you face it an ingeniously constructed villa,
the property of the late Yekil-i-Dowleh, who held the
office of British agent. The largest and most modern
of the two arches — the third set of sculptures consists
of a panel and is not surmounted by an arch — has a
height of 30 feet, and a breadth and depth of 24 and
22 feet respectively. On the right-hand side there is

^ Robert Southey.

118 BAGHDAD TO KERMANSHAH.

a large panel representing a stag-hunt, while a corre-
sponding scene on the left represents a boar-hunt. The
back is occupied by two panels, one above the other,
the upper showing Khosroe Par viz (590-628 a.d.) in
the centre, with Shirin and the Emperor Mauritius on
either hand. This is the generally accepted theory,
though it must also be said that there is another which
assigns a mythical character to all three figures. The
lower panel is occupied by a gigantic figure of Khosroe
Parviz on horseback. The second arch, 17 feet high,
1 9 feet wide, and 1 1 feet deep, contains a panel on which
are sculptured the figures of Shapur II. (310-379 a.d.)
and Shapur III. (385-390 a.d.), with inscriptions in
Pehlevi on either side which leave no room for ingenious
conjecture. Here it is set down unmistakably who the
figures are, the inscription on the left reading : " Image
of the worshipper of Mazda, the king Shapur, king of
kings, of Iran and Aniran, whose origin is from the
gods, the son of the worshipper of Mazda, the king
Shapur, king of kings, of Iran and Aniran, whose origin
is from the gods, the grandson of the king Horamazda,
king of kings" — and that on the right: "This is the
image of the worshipper of Mazda, the king Shapur,
king of kings, of Iran and Aniran, whose origin is from
the gods, the son of the worshipper of Mazda, the king
Horamazda, king of kings, of Iran and Aniran, whose
origin is from the gods, the grandson of Narcis, king
of kings."

The third set of sculptures on the right is the most
ancient of the three, and represents Shapur I. (241-273
A.D.) being invested with half the kingdom by Ardeshir,
founder of the Sassanian dynasty (211-241 a.d.) At
one side of the panel is a representation of the god
Ormuz, while a figure lying prostrate beneath Shapur
and Ardeshir is variously described as Artabanus, the

EUROPEAN VANDALISM. 119

last of the Parthian monarchs, and the Emperor
Valerian.

The carving in the largest of the arches is excellent,
and in many parts well preserved ; but the whole
effect is marred, firstly, by a painted sculpture of one
Mohammed Ali Mirza, Dowlet Shah (son of Fath Ali
Shah), sitting in a golden chair, with his son Heshmet-
ed-Dowleh in front, and another son, Emad-ed-Dowleh,
behind, which his chief eunuch, Agha Ghani, caused to
be executed above the boar-hunt ; and, secondly, by an
extraordinary vulgarity which has led innumerable
travellers to inscribe their own unimportant names all
over the place. It is absolutely nauseating, while look-
mg at the excellent carving in the panel representing
the stag-hunt, to find your eye suddenly arrested by
the name Polacco chiselled deep in large letters in the
very middle of the scene ! One wonders whether Mr
Polacco really is under the illusion that his name is of
such vast interest to posterity that it must be inscribed
among the finest rock - sculptures extant in Persia !
Among other names I remember Williams and Barker ;
but these, it must be admitted, are but specimens of
an enormous number of similar disfigurements. The
late Nasr-ed-Din Shah was much disgusted with the
works of these vandals, as is attested by the following
passages culled from his Majesty's diary of his expedi-
tion to Kerbela, 1870-1871 : "Above this panel Agha
Ghani, a native of Talish, Gilan, chief eunuch of
Mohammed Ali Mirza, took the trouble of having an
image of the late prince sitting on a throne, and that
of Heshmet-ed-Dowleh, his son, and that of another of
his younger sons, sculptured on the stone. Ghani him-
self, with his despiseable face, is standing in front of the
prince. It is so badly and coarsely done that he has
really spoiled the arch. It was so badly sculptured

120 BAGHDAD TO KERMANSHAH.

that they had to paint it with various colours. Keally
it has spoiled the arch." There is likewise something
pathetic in the plaint which occurs farther on : " The
inscriptions of people on the rock here have not left a
single place free."

Two carved stone capitals, or possibly fire-altars, and
the upper portion of an enormous stone figure, have
been set up on the far side of one of the tanks. I
have seen it suggested that this figure fell from a plat-
form above the arches, where stone stumps supposed
to be the feet are still visible. I think this is quite
out of the question, since the stone stumps, to begin
with, are of an absolutely different coloured stone to
the statue, and bear no resemblance to feet. They
were probably used to secure the scaffolding at the
time the sculptures were executed. The statue has
been invested with a certain magic power by the hill
tribes, who regard it as a sort of panacea for every ill.
To quote his Majesty's diary once more : " It is said
that the Lur has this statue in veneration, and when
they suffer from chills, fever, and other ailments they
place at the foot of the statue peas and raisins and
other offerings. Most of the time they go away un-
happy. They are foolish and stupid men."

To the right of the sculptures are two small flights
of steps cut out of the rock, which lead on to a sort
of platform above. Before leaving let me correct the
impression which I received when I read of them as a
" flight of several hundreds of steps " ! Niches would
be a more correct term, and the two short flights are
jointly possessed of precisely 102. A far more accurate
idea is gained from the remark of his late Majesty :
"But to go up these steps is not free of danger!"

A TEMPLE TO ARTEMIS. 121

CHAPTER X.

KERMANSHAH TO TEHERAN.

Eemains at Kangavar — The inscriptions at Bisitun — Deciphered by Sir H.
Rawlinson — Description of the tablet' above the inscriptions — Ker
Porter's surmise — Names and identities — Another inscription — The
country between Kermanshah and Hamadan — Hamadan — Population
— Trade — The tombs of Esther and Mordecai — The tomb of Avi-
cenna — A beautiful mosque — The Ganjnameh — A stone lion — The key
to the decipherment of the cuneiform alphabet — Gold — -The question
of the site of Ecbatana of Deioces — The debauches of Alexander the
Great — The decay of Hamadan — The country between Hamadan and
Teheran — Execrable weather — Discomforts of travel — Reach Teheran.

Between Kermanshah and Hamadan, the next town
of importance, there is a good deal of interest. At
Kangavar, three days' journey along the road, I noticed
many remains of ancient buildings, huge square -cut
stones, and in one place portions of colossal round
pillars built into a modern mud building, probably
portions of the temple to Artemis, which is supposed
to have stood here.^ But all else is overshadowed in
importance by the world-famed inscriptions of Darius,
which stand graven in three languages upon a sheer
and inaccessible rock-face of the mountain Piru. Im-

1 See Layard's ' Early Adventures ' : " Kangowar is supposed to represent
the ancient city of Pancobar, where the Assyrian queen (Semiramis) is said
to have erected a temple to Anaitis or Artemis, and to have established an
erotic cult in which, if her reputation be not belied, she was amongst the
most ardent worshippers." — Vol. i. p. 246.

122 KERMANSHAH TO TEHERAN

mediately below is situated the squalid village of
Bisitun or Behistun, and so sheer and to such a height
does the rock cliff rise above it, that it is almost with
a shock that one looks out on waking in the morning
to see so stupendous a mass seemingly overhanging one.
The inscriptions, which were first deciphered by Sir
H. Bawlinson, and record the achievements of Darius's
reign, are at a height of about 300 feet from the
ground. I climbed up to within about 30 yards, but
beyond this found it impossible to proceed without aid.
Above the inscriptions, which occupy a space of 150
feet in length by 100 feet in height, is a sculptured
panel of fourteen figures. On the left are tAvo figures
standing, then one seated, shown by his superior size
to be Darius himself, and then nine figures standing,
chained to one another. These latter represent the
impostors who led the different revolts in Susiana,
Babylon, Media, Sagartia, and Margiana. The last
figure, distinguished from the rest, who are bareheaded,
by a high cap, is the leader of a Scythian revolt con-
quered by Darius, while the sculptures were in progress
of construction. Underneath the foot of Darius is the
prostrate figure of Pseudo-Smerdis, the Magian usurper,
and hovering over all is a representation of the god
Auramazda. In Ker Porter's description of Bisitun I
find the following : " Should the discoveries of time
prove my conjecture to be right, this bas-relief must be
nearly two hundred years older than any which are
ascribed to Cyrus at Persepolis or Parsargadse." But
the discoveries of time have failed him, for his con-
jecture was that the central figure was Shalmanezer,
and the rest the captive tribes of Israel ! And the
elaborate reasoning which he gives in support of his
theory falls to the ground in the light of ascertained
fact.

A HISTORICAL DOCUMENT. 123

When one examines the whole carefully with a glass,
one realises what a wonderful work it is. The labour
which must have been spent, first in rendering so large
a space absolutely smooth, and then in engraving the
gigantic inscription in Persian, Susian, and Assyrian on
the hard surface of the rock, must have been enormous.
A coating of some sort of varnish seems to have been
placed over the whole, which is doubtless responsible
for the extraordinary state of preservation of the writ-
ing to this day. After seeing this strange writing on
the rock and learning the great story which it tells, it
is easy to agree with the remark of Lord Curzon that
here stands " the most important historical document,
albeit in stone, next to the Damietta stone, that has
been discovered and deciphered " in the past century.^

A good deal of perplexity has arisen over the ques-
tion of names and identities. Bisitun is said to mean
" without pillars," and has also been supposed to be a
contraction of the ancient Bagistan. I may mention
that eight or nine miles to the south I noticed remains
of stone pillars and capitals at a village called Hadgia-
bad, which might w^ell mark the site of Bagistan of the
ancients, since the distance of Hadgiabad from Bisitun
agrees with the distance given by ancient writers of
Bagistan from the inscriptions.

To the right altogether of the famous inscriptions is
another tablet containing some rude and hardly recog-
nisable equestrian figures, with an inscription declaring
it to be the work of Gotarzes, the Parthian king (about
50 A.D.) ; and in the centre of this a space has been
smoothed at a later date, and an Arabic inscription
inserted, setting forth the terms on which the revenue
of the two villages has been assigned to the upkeep of
the caravanserai. If one may judge by the state of

1 Persia, vol. i. p. 52.

124 KERMANSHAH TO TEHERAN.

preservation of the said caravanserai, the revenue of the
two villages must be microscopic ! Yet one more relic
is to be seen in the centre of the village in the form of
a carved stone capital, or perhaps fire-altar, similar to
those already mentioned at Kermanshah.

Little more need be said of the journey from Kerman-
shah to Hamadan. It takes you through an elevated
country, along wild valleys and across rugged ridges,
where the climate even at this time of the year is apt
to be cold and stormy. ^ Five days, or six if you are
content with moderate marches, will take you from one
town to the other, the distance, given by the muleteers
as twenty - six farsakhs, being roughly equivalent to
rather more than 100 miles. I reached Hamadan on
the 19th March, to find the surrounding country under
snow and the town itself a quagmire of filth and slush,
and I entered into the feelings of Ker Porter, who,
though not expecting " to see Ecbatana as Alexander
found it ; neither in the superb ruin in which Timur
had left it," has yet put on record that when he did
actually behold it, " it was with the appalled shock of
seeing a prostrate dead body " I

The population is variously computed at from 40,000
to 80,000, but my host, an Armenian gentleman whose
hospitality and kindness I shall long remember, af-
firmed that it was not less than 50,000. In
'Persia' Lord Curzon gives it as "not more than
20,000," but he must have been misinformed, for
there has certainly not been an increase of 30,000
in the last decade. There is a colony of from 3000
to 4000 Jews, and about 50 families of Armenians.

^ I notice that Layard, travelling here in 1840, found snow on the
summits in July. " We were now approaching the loftiest part of the
great range of the Luristan Mountains, and the highest peaks were
still covered with snow." — Early Adventures.

THE BAZAARS OF HAMAVAN. 125

The bazaars are busy and fairly spacious, presenting
the long covered-in arcades with their many rami-
fications, familiar to the traveller in the East. Great
impetus was given to the trade of the town by the
stifling of the transit trade through Caucasia, which
has resulted in much of the trade which formerly
went to Tabriz now reaching Hamadan via Bagh-
dad. I walked through the greater part of the
bazaars, where I found Manchester prints and cottons
everywhere displayed, Kussia supplying only about
10 per cent of such goods at the present time (1903).
With regard to other goods, however, Russia sup-
plies the lion's share. Glass ware, crockery, cutlery,
&c., all come from her, while whereas fifteen years
ago E-ussian sugar was unknown in Hamadan, 80
per cent now bears her trade-mark. I did not see
a single package of Marseilles sugar in the bazaar.
The chief article of local manufacture is leather,
while wine is made from the grapes which grow
abundantly all round, and has a considerable local
reputation. With praiseworthy perseverance, but
quite gratuitously, more than one writer has per-
sisted in extolling the excellence and widespread
reputation of the copper ware of Hamadan. As a
matter of fact there is no copper work in Hamadan,
or at any rate no more than there is in any other
Persian town. The only copper - ware repositories
that I saw were one or two shops in a small side
bazaar, whose copper goods admittedly all came
from Kashan.

The chief objects of interest in the town are the
tombs of Esther and Mordecai, and of Avicenna
(Abu ibn Sena), and a beautiful little mosque of
Seljuk origin ; and through a snowstorm and the
appalling filth of the narrow streets I ploughed my

126 KERMANSHAH TO TEHERAN.

way to see them. I was asked if I did not find
them — the streets — the worst I had ever seen, but
felt obhged to reply that between streets of the
unredeemed Orient I found it difficult to discrim-
inate. It is sufficiently obvious that no great degree
of cleanliness can be postulated for any street that,
in addition to its own duties, has to fulfil the office
of main sewer ! And in no part of Persia that I
have visited have I found any indication that the
Dea Cloacina finds any place in the national
hierarchy.

The tombs of the Jewish queen and her uncle
are in a small building close to the Musjid-i-Jama.
Entering by a low stone door about four feet high,
one finds oneself in an ante - chamber, from which
a still smaller door, through which one can just
squeeze, gives access to the sacred chamber. Here
in the centre, beneath a domed roof, stand two
sarcophagi, each made in three parts, one standing
on the top of the other, of some dark hardwood,
carved all over with inscriptions in Hebrew. In
each case the top and smaller part seem to have
been removed at the time of the Afghan invasion,
and restored at a later date. I have seen it written
that the remains of the deceased repose in these
sarcophagi, but this is incorrect, and the informa-
tion of the Jewish custodian, to the effect that they
were never placed in them, is corroborated by the
epitaph on that of Mordecai : " Those whose bodies
are now beneath in this earth, when animated by
Thy mercy, were great." The italics are mine.
Beneath the floor of the chamber is a vault, and
it is beneath this vault that the corpses are sup-
posed to lie. I was further informed that a lamp
was kept continually burning. Being an inquisitive

THE TOMB OF AVIGENNA. 127

Briton, I asked to be shown the vault, and after
a stone in the floor had been raised, I peered down
into a sepulchral chamber to see a lamp indeed, but
a lamp in which, mirahile dictu, there flickered no
ray from the sacred flame ! I suggested that the
fire should at once be restored, a suggestion which
the aged custodian agreed must immediately be acted
upon. At one side of the central chamber is a small
chancel, recently decorated, beneath which are said
to repose the bones of a Jewish doctor of some fame,
and beneath which is likewise said to be a deep
well into which at one time the bones of deceased
Jews were cast.

The other tomb of interest, that of Avicenna, is
situated in another part of the town, and is marked
by a small monument of stone, on which is carved the
name of the man in Turkish, while another rather
larger tombstone stands beside it in the same small
domed chamber. The ' Encyclopaedia Britannica ' gives
utterance to the following extraordinary statement :
"He [Avicenna] died in June 1037, in his 58th year,
and was buried among the palm-trees by the Kiblah of
Hamadan." It is conceivable that there may have been
palm-trees at Hamadan in the days of Avicenna, though
if there were they must have passed away very soon
after the famous physician; but how a man can be
buried by the Kiblah of Hamadan is a puzzle which
I admit I am unable to solve, the Kiblah meaning
simply the direction of Mecca.

The mosque which I have mentioned as the other
object of interest is now roofless. It has a brickwork
inscription in Kufic round the outside, and the walls
inside are covered with most beautiful stucco-work in
gypsum. The design is intricate and involved, but
seems to be largely floral, much of the ornamentation

128 KERMANSHAH TO TEHERAN.

being of the kind known as honeycomb. Beneath the
floor is an underground chamber in which are several
tombs. There was at one time a legend that from this
chamber there was an underground passage to Mecca,
but a member of the usual crowd which invariably
collects round any European who happens to stop to
inspect anything, taking pity, I suppose, on my cred-
ulity, assured me that this was not the case !

Beyond these objects of interest there are two
tablets with trilingual inscriptions known as Ganj-
nameh, bearing the names and titles of Darius and
Xerxes ; nor must I forget to mention an ancient stone
lion which stands near the Musallah, a mound on the
outskirts of the town, and is said to have been set up
by Belinas, a magician, as a talisman against cold, from
which the city suffers severely. I was unable to visit
the Ganjnameh myself, since, being situated high up on
the side of Mount Elvend, it was deep under snow ; but
according to the accounts of others there are two
square excavations in the face of an enormous block
of red granite, cut to the depth of a foot, about 5 feet
in breadth and much the same in height, each tablet
containing three columns of engraved arrow-headed
writing — a description which agrees with a photograph
which I have in my possession.

Layard describes them as being of special interest, as
having first afforded the key to the decipherment of the
cuneiform writing ; but in this he is incorrect. The
first clue w^as given by the inscriptions of Persepolis,
accurate drawings of which were made by Niebuhr in
1765, and the first man to discover a method by Avhich
the inscriptions might be deciphered w^as the German
Grotefend, who presented a paper upon the subject to
the Gottingen Academy in 1802. By comparing the
inscriptions copied by Niebuhr, he deciphered the names

CUNEIFORM INSCRIPTIONS DECIPHERED. 129

of Hystaspes, Darius, and Xerxes. In 1835, after
correct values had been obtained for rather more than
a third of the Persian alphabet, as a result of the work
of Grotefend and his successors, Sir Henry Rawlinson,
who was ignorant of the details of Grotefend's dis-
covery, set to work on the inscriptions of Hamadan.
Thanks to his knowledge of Zend and Pehlevi, cognate
dialects to the old Persian language, he was rewarded
with a greater measure of success than had fallen to
his predecessors in the same field, and after working for
two years at the inscriptions of Behistun, he forwarded
in the year 1837 a translation of the first two para-
graphs to the Eoyal Asiatic Society, to be followed ten
years later by the publication of a complete translation
of the Persian text of the now celebrated inscriptions
to which I have already referred.

The land all round the town is frequently washed for
gold, which is now found chiefly in the form of gold-
dust. Gold ear-rings and ornaments have also come to
light in the process, and some of the older inhabitants
have found bowls containing coins when digging at the
foundations of their houses, relics no doubt of the days
when the Ecbatana of the Achsemenian kings stood
here. A question still to solve is whether the Ecbatana
of Deioces the Mede, with its seven brilliantly coloured
circular walls, stood where Hamadan stands now, in
spite of a reckless statement by Layard that " Hamadan
is known to occupy the site of Ecbatana, the ancient
capital of the Modes." Whether this be so or not, it is
at any rate agreed that here stood the treasure city of
the Achsemenian kings, and it is likewise certain that
here Alexander indulged in the most riotous living on
his return from his conquests in the East. In the midst
of the wildest scenes of feasting and debauchery Hephaes-
tion, his favourite general, died. The results of the

I

130 KERMANSHAH TO TEHERAN.

king's anger and grief at this misfortune were terrible.
To quote the much -travelled baronet once more, " He
did not shed tears but blood 1 " Orders were given that
the physician who had allowed his beloved Hephsestion
to die should be crucified : all merriment was brought
to an end, and " that the groans and anguish of multi-
tudes might accompany his own, he sallied forth at the
head of a part of his army, attacked a defenceless
neighbouring district, and put all the inhabitants to
the sword : this he called sacrificing to Hephaestion's
ghost ! " In later days Hamadan suffered the usual
fate of cities which happened to lie in the path of
Timur, and, as though this was not enough, Agha
Mohammed swept down upon it to complete the de-
vastation. As one gazes upon the modern town one
feels that it has indeed experienced a blow from which
it has never recovered, and one may even be excused
for indorsing the saying that " Hamadan is the most
hateful of towns ; its children are old men for ugliness,
and its old men are children for silliness," though it
may strike one as invidious that such a description
should be applied to Hamadan in preference to any
other Persian town.

From Hamadan the track lies across a succession of
hills and elevated valleys, which broaden out finally into
the level dust-coloured plains of Central Persia. The
weather the whole way was execrable — an almost con-
tinual blizzard for the first seven days — and the lateness
of the winter was spoken of on all sides as unusual.
At Teheran itself snow lay on the ground so late as the
last week in March, and the villagers all round were
bewailing the rapidity with which their mud -houses
were returning to their primary element. One day it
took us three hours to accomplish four miles in a driving
snowstorm, while underfoot the mud and slush were

REACH TEHERAN. 131

almost up to the mules' bellies. The consequence was
they were perpetually falling down, having to be un-
loaded, picked up again, and reloaded, while we were in
imminent peril of frost-bite. On another occasion, after
braving a galling wind from the north all day, we
reached a small village where I found a room with
fireplace and chimney that did not smoke — a great
luxury. The huge wood-fire which I kept burning was,
however, of little avail, and the thermometer could by
no means be induced to rise above 30° Fahr. all night.
There were no windows, but this defect was made up
for by the door, which when closed did not reach the
wall on one side by several inches, leaving a gap through
which the wind shrieked a high-pitched threnody.
These are the occasions on which one ponders some-
what regretfully on the discarded comforts of civilisa-
tion, which appear possessed of attractions unsuspected
until now. Teheran, however, lay before me, and on
the last day of March, thirty- three days after setting
out from Baghdad, I rode into the capital of the Shah.

132 TEHERAN.

CHAPTEK XL

TEHERAN.

Eecent improvements at Teheran — The city gates — Days of mourning —
Interview with the Shah and with the Prime Minister — A visit to the
palace — A motley collection ! — The picture-gallery — An extraordinary
ceremony — Religious plays — Nature of the country round the capital.

Teheran has been so often and so conscientiously
described that to give any detailed account of it to-day
would be a quite superfluous waste of time. With the
exception of the erection of a large barracks for the
Persian Cossacks, which extend the length of one
side of a spacious parade-ground, and a considerable
increase of buildings in the European quarter of the
town, it would seem that little change has taken place
since the late Shah, Nasr-ed-Din, bethinking him
suddenly that " the ' Point of Adoration of the Uni-
verse ' was framed in a somewhat inadequate setting,"
bade his capital to " burst its bonds and enlarge its
quarters." ^ There is no immediate fear of the city
outgrowing the walls which were then erected, and on
the eastern side of the town I noticed quite a large
area in the vicinity of the Meshed gate under cultiva-
tion ! The city gates, of which tliere are a consider-
able number at intervals in the walls, are one of the
features of the town, being ornamented with designs in

^ Persia. Curzon.

INTERVIEW WITH THE SHAH. 133

modern Persian tile-work, but the care with which
they are closed and barred at night strikes one as
being a wholly unnecessary precaution, since there is
absolutely nothing to prevent any one from walking
across the dry ditch and mud walls — ramparts would
be a more correct designation — should he feel so in-
clined ; indeed, I am assured that in places there is no
difficulty in crossing them on horseback.

Those in high places seemed generally exhausted —
especially the Treasury — after the trip to Europe, and
the fact that I arrived at the beginning of the Ashura,
the first ten days of religious mourning of the Mohar-
rem, was responsible for the unwonted quiet which
brooded over the society of the capital. Under these
circumstances I appreciated all the more the kindness
which prompted both the Shah and the prime minister
to do me the honour of inviting me to an interview.
The appearance of Mozuffer a Din Shah is now familiar
to the English public. On the occasion of my visit he
wore a plain dark uniform with jewelled sword, and
the national crest in diamonds on the ordinary black
sheepskin kolah, and spoke at first in Persian through
an interpreter and then in French when he broached
the congenial topic of sport. As is his custom, he
received me standing, in the centre of a small room
profusely ornamented with the cut-mirror work known
as aineli kari, at one end of which stands the cele-
brated jewel globe,^ while a few Court officials stood
grouped at a short distance.

On another occasion I was shown the principal halls
and chambers of the palace, which contain so extra-

1 See Lord Cnrzon's Persia, vol. i. p. 314: "Upon a separate stand
appears the globe of jewels, which was constructed out of his loose stones
by the reigning Shah (Nasr-ed-Din) at a cost (exclusive of the gems pro-
vided by himself) of £320,000. The alleged value, with the stones (75 lb.
of pure gold, and 51,366 gems, weighing 3656-4 grammes), is £947,000."

134 TEHERAN.

ordinary a collection of objects, ranging from jewellery
and china of enormous value to oleographs, tooth-
brushes, and toys ! The greater number of objects of
real value have been removed to the inner chambers
of the palace, which are, of course, sacred from the
stranger's gaze; but the so-called peacock throne,
which has been so ruthlessly torn from its high estate
by the practical author of ' Persia,' stands at one end
of the great hall, which is a perfect museum for a
heterogeneous collection of the products of the West.
Its appearance is perhaps rather barbaric than beautiful,
the great mass of badly cut gems, indifferently set in
plated gold, giving a somewhat garish effect. A picture-
gallery is situated in another part of the palace, which
is as replete with eccentricities as it is with pictures.
Side by side with really excellent oil - paintings I
observed an advertisement of Brook's cotton, while
a little farther along were two cards covered with
samples of fish-hooks, and yet again was to be seen a
Madonna rubbing shoulders with doubtful illustrations
from a French comic paper ! There was one landscape
which puzzled me for a long time, until it at length
dawned upon me that it was hung upside-down ! The
picture itself was perhaps responsible for this slight
error, and I admit that I have seen daubs to which
such a mishap might excusably occur in other countries
besides Persia, though it is not usual to hang them in
the courts of royalty or the palaces of kings.

If, as I have already suggested, the month of
Moharrem is a quiet one at the Persian capital, it is
nevertheless one which affords the stranger an oppor-
tunity of witnessing a spectacle which he would look
for in vain in any other country or even here at any
other time of the year. For on the last of the ten
days during which the Persians mourn the death of

A WEIRD CEREMONY. 135

their two prophets, Hassan and Hussein, their grief
culminates in the ceremony of the katl or murder. A
large number of people of the lower classes robe them-
selves in white, and then, linked arm in arm and
carrying huge knives, parade the streets calling on
the names of their prophets, while, urged on by the
stirring strains of bands of music, they cut and gash
themselves horribly about the head and face. I watched
these weird processions for long from a house-roof,
while the bands played and the cry "Hassan ! Hussein ! "
rent the air, and the blood flowed till the white robes
of the maddened fanatics were dyed crimson from
head to foot.

It was a nauseating scene in spite of its novelty,
and aflbrded a graphic illustration of the heights to
which fanaticism may rise, recalling inevitably the
old-world custom of the prophets of Baal, who " cried
aloud, and cut themselves, after their manner, with
knives and lancets, till the blood gushed out upon
them." 1

Mourning is also observed by the performance of
religious plays known as tazziehs, to one of which I
was invited. I found it a little difiicult to see, as I
was placed behind a thick perforated curtain, on account,
I believe, of the presence of the royal hareem. The
play must have been of a very touching nature, judging
from the loud wailing and moaning to which the
onlookers gave vent ; but the pathos was quite spoilt
for me when the band suddenly broke into the familiar
strains of the " Sourir d'Avril ! " This, I imagine, was
the result of the recent trip to Europe, and I have no
doubt it was considered to be an excellent funeral
march !

Beyond the city walls the country is bare, brown,

^ 1 Kings xviii. 28.

136 TEHERAN.

and forbidding, leading one to suppose that the author
of the Baluchi proverb, " When God created the world,
Baluchistan was made from the refuse," had not travelled
as far as the present site of the Persian capital. The
insignificant tumuli which are all that remain of the
once glorious city of Bhages, while being doubtless of
vast interest to the expert, have too little to show to
attract the casual traveller ; and though the Persian
wild goat is to be found in the mountains at no great
distance in sufficient numbers to afford excellent sport
to the stalker, it is undoubtedly as the headquarters
of the incalculable intrigue which passes in Persia for
diplomacy, rather than as a city possessed of any
material attraction, that Teheran appeals to the visitor.
It may be well, therefore, if, before leaving the country,
I devote a few words to reviewing the events which
formed the chief topics of interest and discussion in the
political world at the time of my visit.

A NEW COMMERCIAL TREATY. 137

CHAPTEH XIL

PERSIA IN 1903.

"Tariffs" — Negotiations leading to a revision of the Custom duties —
Adverse effects upon British, trade over-estimated — Present state of
affairs due to British insouciance in the past — The treaty of Erzerum
— Provisions of the new tariff — Effect ujjon Indian trade — Great
Britain's reply — Events on the Afghan border — The MacMahon
mission — Russian intrigue — Ways and communications — The situa-
tion in the capital — The fall of the Prime Minister — A tribute to the
British Minister.

On March 4, 1903, I entered Persia. On February 14
the new Customs tariff had come into force, and
"tariffs" proved to be an unfailing source of con-
versation from one end of the kingdom to the other.
" Tariff reform," in fact, was as undoubtedly the topic
of the hour in Persia as it came to be nearer home a
very short time after, though discussion of the subject
in the two cases was of a widely different nature. For
in Persia it was an accomplished fact that had to be
digested — the fact that the neutral markets of the
world had become the poorer by one.

The advent of a change in the fiscal arrangements of
Persia had long been foreshadowed, and when the new
commercial treaty between Persia and Turkey was con-
cluded, no obstacle remained to bar the way to such an
innovation. It must be admitted, however, that on
this occasion the Persians displayed a wholly unex-

138 PERSIA IN 1903.

pected capacity for holding their tongues pending the
negotiations, and the commercial convention which was
concluded between Russia and Persia in November 1901
remained a profound secret for more than a year. In
December 1902 the ratifications were exchanged, and
the British community rudely awakened to the blow
which they had sustained. For a blow it undoubtedly
was, though — thanks to the Anglo-Persian Convention
which was hastily concluded in February 1903 — not of
the overwhelming nature that those responsible for it
had originally hoped and intended.

I have no wish whatsoever to minimise the adverse
results to British interests of this the latest Russian
diplomatic coup at Teheran, for no one can deny that
the tariff has been framed more especially against
British trade ; but while admitting that we are un-
doubted losers by the Russo-Persian Convention of
December 1902, I refuse to attach to it the altogether
disproportionate significance that the ultra-pessimists
would, from their utterances, appear to do, or to see in
this modest triumph of our rivals the presaged collapse
of British empire in Asia.

The episode may yet be productive of good if we are
only willing to learn by experience and to observe,
before a worse thing befall us, the inevitable results of
a policy of drift. For it is thanks only to our ow^n
want of foresight in the past that British interests lay
open to any such attack. At the conclusion of the
Anglo-Persian war an article concerning our commercial
relations was inserted in the treaty of peace concluded
at Paris in 1857, which article read as follows: "The
high contracting parties engage that, in the establish-
ment and recognition of Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-
Consuls, and Consular Agents, each shall be placed in
the dominions of the other on the footing of the most

THE TREATY OF EEZERUM. 139

favoured nation ; and that the treatment of theh^
respective subjects and their trade shall also, in every
respect, be placed on the footing of the treatment of the
subjects and commerce of the most favoured nation."
And the most favoured nation under the treaty of
Turkomanchai was Kussia, our bitterest rival in the
East ! Why, it is natural to ask, was no specific
agreement come to under the aforesaid treaty of Paris ?

If we relied upon Turkey, who, after Eussia had
agreed to the Customs duties being raised, would, under
the treaty of Erzerum, have been the most favoured
nation, we relied upon a broken reed ; at least, the
result proves that if British influence was brought
to bear at Constantinople with a view to preserving
the treaty of Erzerum, it was not strong enough to
prevail against pressure from the North. It is always
well to bear in mind when dealing with Turkey that
there is still a balance of something like £T24,000,000
owing to Hussia on account of indemnity for war ! The
only other country that might possibly have been put
forward as having a commercial treaty with Persia that
would hold good was Egypt ; but that Egypt, which
had been granted the right of concluding commercial
treaties with foreign Powers by a firman issued on
June 8, 1873, could be looked upon as an independent
party to the treaty of Erzerum was evidently not
entertained.

So the way was clear, and the tariff" was brought in.
Its provisions are many and intricate, and any enumera-
tion of the different charges on the various objects of
import and export, and the different methods of apply-
ing them, would fill many pages, and serve only to
weary any one not intimately concerned with the trade
of Persia. Imports are divided into no less than
forty-two general headings, each one of which is sub-

140 PERSIA IN 1903.

divided into innumerable minor classifications. The
heading matieres textiles, for instance, includes no less
than twenty-six subdivisions, the majority of which
require a paragraph of description, and some of which
are themselves divided up again into lesser groupings.
For a large number of imported articles there is a fixed
charge by weight, the recognised unit for this purpose
being the hatman of Tabriz ( = 640 Persian miskals,
7*27 Russian pounds, 2 French kilogrammes 970
grammes, 6 '49 English pounds), while there is a new
tariff in place of the old 5 per cent for such goods as
are still charged ad valorem. Most Manchester goods,
such as cottons, calicoes, shirtings, &c., are charged
according to weight, the duty working out at from
4 to 10 per cent according to quality. It is obvious
that under such a system the more expensive class
of goods is greatly favoured, and therein is visible the
part that was played by Russian influence in the com-
pilation of the tarifl", for it is the more expensive goods
that form the bulk of Russian imports. The cheaper
goods, which come almost exclusively from Manchester,
are of course at a proportionate disadvantage. Again,
the duty on sugar, which under a liberal system of
bounties floods the Persian market from Russia, works
out at about 2\ per cent, or rather less than half that
in vogue in the past, whereas the duty on tea, which
comes chiefly from India, has been increased by 95 per
cent ; spices, another Indian staple, are charged at
an exorbitant rate, and the duty of 10 krans per hat-
man on indigo is almost prohibitive. One might almost
suppose that these figures had been drawn up with the
deliberate object of stifling the Nushki-Sistan trade-
route, which seems to have become an absolute night-
mare to Russian politicians.

The following table of the imports and exports

STATISTICS OF TRADE.

141

between Persia and England and Persia and India by
the Baghdad-Kermanshah route between January 1902
and January 1903 shows the duty paid according to the
old arrangement and the amount that would have had

to be paid under the new tariff

Articles.

Where from.

Value in
kians.

Duty Duty

under under

old tariff, new tariff.

Cotton goods —

Various

Bleached .
Woollen goods
Silk goods

Sewing thread, cotton .
Woollen thread
Metals —

Iron and steel bars

Tin sheets .

Zinc bars .

Copper bars

Worked iron and steel
Tea ... .
Indigo ....
Spices and pepper .

Imports.
England

India

20,066,000

13,850,000

53,200

107,900

196,000

3,200

107,600

8,500

187,500

321,700

39,800

1,527,700

73,700

1,350,000

993,3501

692,000/

2,660

5,300

37,100

160

5,320
420

9,370
16,400

1,990
76,380

3,650
68,000

2,041,000

4,250

12,800

66,000

72

4,600

830

6,650

14,600

2,520

638,640

50,000

300,000

37,892,800

1,912,100

3,141,962

Gum, native .
Grain and seeds
Wheat .
Wool, raw
Opium .
Carpets .

Exports.

England

England and Hongkong
England, America, and
Baghdad

2,434,980

1,470

164,700

40,700

2,387,500

1,318,800

121,740

70

8,450

2,050

119,350

65,940

no duty

160

91,500

no duty

430,300

no duty

6,348,150

317,600

521,960

From the above table it will be seen that the net
increase to the Persian Government, on trade valued
roughly at £750,000, would have been 1,434,222 krans,
or £28,684, of which £15,959 w^ould have been levied
on a trade of £700,000 with England, and £12,725 on
a trade of £50,000 with India. The comparison is

142 PERSIA IN 1903.

sio-nilicaut, and shows the extent to which India suffers
under the new arrangement.

Such in brief is the new tariff as it exists, and it is
fortunate that British diplomacy was successful in ex-
tracting a pledge from the Persian Government that it
should go no further. For it was common property in
Teheran that the tariff of 1903 was put forward ten-
tatively— a thin edge of the wedge — and that ere long
further changes were to have been made which could
have proved nothing less than disastrous to British
trade. The convention which was drawn up and signed
by Sir Arthur Hardinge on behalf of Great Britain, and
M. Naus on behalf of Persia, February 9, 1903, has
at least prevented the evil from spreading, and has
locked the stable - door upon what is still left. The
duties levied upon British goods, in common with those
of other nations, can in the case of Great Britain be
raised in the future only with her consent ; while in the
event of any other country at any time securing ad-
vantageous treatment she will be entitled, in virtue of
the most favoured nation clause, to claim equal rights.

But Teheran was by no means the only scene of
political activity during the opening months of 1903.
Away to the east, on the nebulous borders of Afghan-
istan, the Indian Government were displaying an activ-
ity which left no room for doubt as to the part which
they considered themselves entitled to play in those
parts of Persia which abut upon the outposts of their
empire. The boundary defined under such difficulties
by the Commission of 1872, under the able direction of
Sir F. Goldsmid, which seems to have possessed the
distinction of displeasing the Persians only a degree
less than it did the Afghans, had ceased to constitute a
practical line of division, as was perhaps only to be
expected when so unstable a quantity as the river

THE MAGMAHON MISSION. 143

Helmund formed so important a part of it. So far
back as the end of 1900, when I was myself in Sistan,
both Afghans and Persians were indulging in hostile
incursions into the disputed tracts of the rapidly dis-
solving border, which led to highly strained relations, if
not, indeed, to actual bloodshed; and early in 1903 a
Commission under Colonel MacMahon, who had dis-
tinguished himself in defining the Afghan - Baluch
boundary in 1896, proceeded from India, via the Hel-
mund, accompanied by an escort and a large number of
followers, to meet the Persian Commissioner on the
scene of actual dispute.

The susceptibilities of the Russians were of course
grievously outraged, and it was whispered that when
they found themselves unable to adduce any adequate
reason for being represented upon the Commission them-
selves, the Persian delegate received telegraphic instruc-
tions to fall ill, and to summon to his aid a E-ussian doctor
residing at the Russian consulate at Nasratabad ! The
immediate result was that a deadlock ensued, and the
Persian Government, realising that the situation had
become absurd, issued instructions for the recovery of
their commissioner once more. Like most thing's in
Persia, the operations have proceeded — if indeed such
a word may be used — with appropriate dignity and
delay ; and the summer of 1904 has come round, to find
the Commission still biding in Sistan, in thorough en-
joyment, no doubt, of the attractions of that place as
provided by the inconceivable variety of the insect
world which it displays and the distracting persistency
of the "wind of 120 days."

In other parts of the kingdom ways and communica-
tions seemed to be attracting some attention — not before
it was needed, would be an appropriate comment. The
difficulties between Messrs Lynch and the Bakhtiari

144 PERSIA IN 1903.

chiefs, with regard to the payment for the new Ahwaz-
Ispahan road, were amicably settled, and a " Persian
road company," recently formed in London, gave evid-
ence of an intention to do something on the Teheran-
Kum road, some day to be prolonged to Ispahan and
Shushter, the concession for which was taken over from
the original holders, the directors of the Imperial Bank.
In another direction the road question was being taken
up by concessionaires from the north, and Russian
engineers appeared at Tabriz, in connection presumably
with a road from Julfa to Kazvin. Road concessions
here include ways from Kazvin as their centre to
Teheran, Hamadan, and to Julfa on the frontier, the
latter having the prospect of developing at some future
time into a railway. In this connection it may be pointed
out that a branch line from the Batum-Tiflis-Baku
Railway already runs to Erivan, within three days'
march of the frontier ; and it will be interesting to see,
when 1905 comes round, whether the clause in the
Russo-Persian Railway agreement, giving the option of
a further five years' extension, will be taken advantage
of. Be that as it may, there can be little doubt that
sooner or later the direct road to Persia will run via
Julfa and Tabriz.

In the capital itself the Chancellor of an exhausted
exchequer was trembling at the prospect of having to
find the wherewithal for a proposed royal procession
to Meshed, with a possible repetition of the European
expedition looming like a nightmare in the distance !
while the chances of his being able to maintain a hold
upon his precarious grasp of office afforded a daily —
almost hourly — subject of discussion. The journey to
Meshed has so far been staved off", nor does there ap-
pear to be any immediate prospect of a return of the

THE FALL OF THE PRIME MINISTER. 145

Shah to Europe ; nevertheless, the said Prime Minister,
the courteous, if ambitious, Atabeg-Azam, who so
kindly granted me an audience while at Teheran, has
since found it convenient, as it is euphemistically put,
to embark upon a prolonged pilgrimage to Mecca !
And the Ain-ed-Dowleh, formerly governor of Teheran,
now reigns in his stead.

It has not been my purpose in the present chapter
to portray Persia as a piece, acting in conjunction with
other pieces, upon the international chess-board of the
East, — that I hope to do in a subsequent chapter. I
have merely made mention of such passing events as
happened to take place during my visit to the country
in the spring of 1903, because such events, however
small in themselves, are the factors which combine to
determine the direction of any move — even if it be
but the move of a pawn — which may subsequently be
made. Let me dwell but one moment longer, before
leaving the country, to offer praise to whom praise is
due for those signs of a recrudescence of British pres-
tige which it was impossible not to observe. If Sir
Arthur Hardinge had done no more than to force
upon the British Government the necessity of adopt-
ing a policy with regard to Persia, he would indeed
have deserved well of his country ; but I may further
add, without, I hope, incurring a charge of imperti-
nence, that all those whose desire it is to see Great
Britain assert herself once more in the councils of the
East may congratulate themselves on the capable way
in which their interests in Persia are at the present
time being handled. No one whose lot has cast him
among the strange places of the East can fail to
have had brought home to him, as never before, the
real significance of the phrase, "the heart and fibre

K

146 PERSIA IN 1903.

of the British people," or to have learnt, as has
been said by a well-known writer, that it is indeed
in Asia that one realises best what Great Britain is,
and that it is there that one sees " the pick of her
sons living the larger and nobler life that men should
live." 1

1 Mr E. F. Knight.

A RUSSIAN BO AD. 147

CHAPTER XIIL

THROUGH THE PORTALS OF PERSIA.

The highroad to Persia — A contrast in scenery — Cost of the cAa?me— Dis-
advantages of— The object of Russia— A huge advertisement— What
the Persian thinks — Leave Teheran — Persian methods — TeherSn to
Resht— The silk industry— Obstacles encountered between Eesht and
Enzeli — A false start — OS at last.

You cannot pass imperceptibly out of Persia into
Russia, as you would out of Italy into Switzerland, for
instance. She makes her presence undeniably felt right
up to the last, and you inevitably miss something when
you leave her. Though I had entered Persia twice
and left her once, I had never passed through what I
suppose may be described as the usual entrance, and I
found the journey instructive. The road is Russian,
built at enormous cost and so far at considerable loss,
but the service is Persian — eminently so.

The most striking feature is the extraordinary change
in the scenery as one enters the lower slopes of the
mountains of Ghilan. Behind lies the staring sterility
with its crude outHnes and harsh contours, — "a vast
rocky horrid wilderness," — which, to any one who has
seen, and who therefore accepts the rhapsodies of Moore
with the indulgence they demand, means Persia. A
sudden descent down a precipitous mountain - road,
round sharp corners, and along a valley where flows a

148 THROUGH THE PORTALS OF PERSIA.

mud-coloured torrent, and behold, the sterility is gone !
All round vast forests have sprung up, where all the
trees of Europe grow in wild profusion. Soft-coloured
hills melt away imperceptibly into space, and a filmy
blue haze fills in the distance. The undergrowth is
tropical in luxuriance, English in its character. Wild-
flowers which thrive in the woods and lanes of England
crop up in all directions. No Aladdin's lamp or genie's
ring could transfer one more effectually from one world
to another than do the ragged ponies and decrepit
phaetons of the Teheran-Resht post-road.

The road, as I have said, is Russian ; but I must
admit that it was some time before I in any way
realised what it was that Russia expected to gain when
she embarked on an undertaking which involved an
outlay out of all proportion to any tangible result.
Nearly £500,000, three-fourths of which were found
by the Russian Government, were expended in the
construction of an indifferent carriage-road 225 miles
in extent, of which 94 miles, lying over a level plain,
were already in existence prior to the advent of Russian
enterprise, and can claim to have received but scant
attention from the engineer ever since.

As a military highway the road is inadequate, and,
in view of the lines of entry from Russia, both on the
north-west and on the north-east, superfluous ; as an
adjunct to the comfort of the traveller or as a means of
reducing the time expended on the journey, it is scarcely
an unqualified success, — I myself had to spend some
time kicking my heels on the road, while wood-cutters
were engaged in removing an obstruction in the shape
of a large tree, — and as an instrument for assisting
trade it can only be looked upon as a failure, since the
cost of transport has risen by fully 10 per cent since
the road was built.

A HUGE ADVERTISEMENT. 149

But the object aimed at — an object, too, which has
undoubtedly been achieved — did occur to me at last.
The whole concern from beginning to end is a huge
advertisement. From the time that you set foot on the
road at one end to the time that you leave it at the
other, the one word which is incessantly brought before
your mind is Russia. At every turn there are posts
decked out in the colours of Eussia. There are toll-bars
at which you are confronted with toll- collectors — from
Eussia. When you drive up to the rest-houses on the
road you pass between gate-posts painted with the
black-and-white bands which you instantly recognise as
identical with the same objects which you meet with on
the post-roads in Eussia, and it is even said that in the
first instance the flag that flew from every suitable
point, until the practice was discontinued owing to the
awakened susceptibilities of Persia, was the flag of
Eussia.

And the Persian travelling along the road sees the
might of Eussia flaunted in the face of Persia, and,
seeing it, takes it for granted with Persian indiflerence.
Kismet — it is fate ; and if anything passes through his
mind at all, it is probably the thought that after
all he would not be any worse ofi" under any other
government, while he might possibly be better.
Is it worth the money? Well, that is for Eussia to
decide, and she appears to think that it is, and when
Eussia thinks anything worth spending money on, she
does not hesitate to spend it. There is no troublesome
House of Commons with its still more troublesome
Opposition to put spokes in the wheels of autocratic
ambition in Eussia.

I got into my carriage with a fourgon in tow for the
luggage on April 14, and as I was driven at reckless
pace down the " Boulevard des Ambassadeurs," through

150 THROUGH THE PORTALS OF PERSIA.

the gun square and into the slums beyond, I supposed
that I had started. Not at all. By the time we
reached the carriage depot, just outside the town walls,
my driver (oh, clever one !) discovered that we had no
lamps, and when the lamps were found to be missing
it was further discovered that there were no brackets
to hold them even if there had been any. I spent an
interesting half- hour watching a cautious carpenter
drilling holes, putting in screws, and finally, when,
more Persico, he found he had drilled holes too large
for the screws, tying everything up with string, and
then at last we started. It was all a silly, useless
waste of time, because the lamps, like those of the
foolish virgins, when required for use were found to
contain no oil ! These are the little matters which
keep you informed that you are in Persia.

For the first half of the journey the road runs over
a level plain and passes through Kazvin, a fair-sized
town, and centre, so to speak, of recent E-ussian con-
cessions for road -making. Thirty miles beyond, one
plunges headlong down the mountains along a fairly
well-planned mountain road, which presently launches
you through a belt of olives into the riotous profusion
of the woods below, and finally on to a jungle-covered
plain which stretches from the mountain base to the
shores of the Caspian Sea. At one end of this plain is
situated Resht, the capital of Ghilan, a town of 70,000
inhabitants and centre of the silk industry, which since
its recovery in 1893, after a period of extinction due to
disease, has steadily increased, and is now carried on
on a larger scale than at any previous period of its
history, the disease difiiculty having been got over by
importing all the eggs from Europe and Asia Minor.
Here the carriage service ends, which again calls to
your mind the fact that you are in Persia, because you

EMBARKED AT LAST. 151

are still a long way from where you want to get to
before you can embark.

In order to get from Kesht to Enzeli a series of
operations are required. First, you must bargain with
a carriage owner to take you over the four or five
miles of execrable road to Pir-i- Bazaar, a crowded
wharf on the banks of a small river. Here more
bargaining with a perspiring crowd of native boat-
owners, the possessors of an extraordinarily variegated
vocabulary, before you can be transferred to the mouth
of the river, where you may catch a small steamer if
you are lucky enough to hit upon its moment of de-
parture, which will then take you across the lagoon to
Enzeli. My river -boat failed to effect a connection
with the steamer, so I had perforce to be rowed across
the lagoon. Finally, I was officiously hurried on board
a small steam-launch which lay alongside the Custom-
house at Enzeli ; there was a piercing screech from the
steam-whistle, and we pushed pompously off for our
ship, which was said to be lying anchored in open
water close by.

You would now suppose that your troubles were
really at an end ; but no, — once more were we to put
up with hope deferred. After steaming aimlessly
about in the open water a short distance from the
lagoon in a vain endeavour to find our ship, it was
decided that she had not arrived, — this was perfectly
obvious from the shore, since not a speck was visible
on the water, but I suppose it had not occurred to
any one to look first, — and we returned once more to
spend another weary hour or two on the landing-stage
at Enzeli. It was not till near 10 p.m. that we made
another attempt, and were at last successful in our
efforts to embark. " Alhamdu lillah ! " breathed a
weary passenger. " Amen," said I.

CENTKAL ASIA

" 'Tis the clime of the East, 'tis the land of the Sun,
Can he smile on such deeds as his children have done ?
Oh wild as the accents of lovers' farewell
Are the hearts which they bare and the tales which they tell."

— Byron.

CHAPTER XIV.

BAKU.

Civilisation again— The commercial aspect of Baku — A weird sight —
Natural fire — An ancient fire -temple — The boilers of Balakhani — A
hundred tons of oil a-day — " Spouters" — The interior of a derrick — A
calamity at an oil-well — Statistics of the oil trade — A high excise
duty — Price of oil in London and in Russia.

To be travelling once more by the aid of steam, after
four months almost incessant caravanning, was certainly
a pleasant sensation, and the pleasure was infinitely
added to by the extraordinary interest of the journey
that lay before me. Behind lay the bleak stretches of
the Mesopotamian steppe, the crude outlines and harsh
contours of the Persian mountains, the long days of
monotonous marching, the hard fare of the wanderer
in desert lands, and the miserable accommodation of
the Turkish khan and the Persian serai. The tran-
sition from such surroundings to Baku is positively
startling. A short journey in a comfortable little
steamer up the Caspian, and behold, you step ashore
amid what appears to you after your long exile the
acme of civilisation. Imposing stone buildings confront
you in whichever direction you turn, commodious shops
display their wares behind plate-glass windows, a strik-
ing green spire with gilded cupola glittering in the
sun rises high above the rest from a spacious cathedral,
— unmistakable evidence that you are in a Bussian

156 BAKU.

town, — and, above all for you, an excellent hotel, with
first-class restaurant and most of the appliances which
modern civilisation has devised to make life livable,
extends a cordial welcome to the traveller.

That is one aspect of Baku, but there is another
far more important, because it represents the sole
excuse for the city's existence. As all the world
knows, Baku and its 150,000 inhabitants exist upon
oil. If there were no oil there would be no Baku.
So, in addition to the Baku of lofty houses, well-stocked
shops, and spacious streets, there is a ville noire, where
thousands of tons of crude oil are daily reduced to
kerosene, benzine, lubricating oil, and residues for fuel ;
and there are also at a little distance from the town
vast forests of derricks, queer grimy -looking pyramidal
erections, under cover of which are carried on those
mysterious operations of boring and pumping which
disgorge the wealth-bringing oil from the bowels of
the earth. I think Balakhani, with its 2000 derricks
packed as closely to one another as the trees of a forest,
presents one of the weirdest sights it has ever been
my fortune to behold.

A curious feature connected with the oil-fields is the
escape of inflammable gas which is observable in various
places. It is possible literally to set the Caspian on fire
on a calm night in certain spots near the peninsula,
and there are places where it is only necessary to make
a hole in the ground with your stick to let loose a jet
of gas giving a flame of several feet in height.-^ This
phenomenon was observed and recorded of old by one
Guthrie, a traveller in Persia, who wrote that "in
Taurida, in any piece of ground where springs of naphtha

^ In ' Telegraph and Travel ' Sir F. Goldsmid writes : " To say that these
fires are curious or worth seeing is to say nothing. They are marvellous,
and worthy of classification among natural wonders."

THE FIRE-TEMPLE AT SURAH KHANI. 167

obtain, by merely sticking an iron tube in the earth
and applying a light to the upper end, the mineral oil
will burn till the tube is decomposed, or for a vast
number of years." Small wonder that in such sur-
roundings the creed of the Zend Avesta^ took root
and flourished, or that a glamour of romance should
still hang over the old fire-temple at Surah Khani,
where there abound fissures in the earth where the
mere application of a lighted match is all that is
required to restore the once holy flame of the disciples
of Zoroaster ; but the revered figure of the aged high
priest, a once familiar sight in the precincts of the
temple, is now no more seen, and with the removal of
the last of the fire-worshippers twenty years ago, the
care of the sacred flame came to an end, all sentiment
being finally destroyed by an enterprising company,
who now collect the gas and send it by a pipe to
Balakhani, there to be used as required at the wells !
There is something pathetic in the sight of the hallowed
places of the past converted into a means of assisting
the universal craze of modern money-making, and I
hastened from this scene of dissipated religious fervour
to the noisy activity of the wells themselves, which at
least are devoid of illusion, and make no pretence to
having ever been anything else but what they are.

As I have said, the oil-fields present an extraordinary
sight, and as you breathe in the lurid atmosphere of
Balakhani and gaze on the weird scene which sur-
rounds you while you listen to the uncanny noises
which proceed from the interior of the grimy derricks,
you might well be excused for supposing that you had
inadvertently tumbled prematurely into some peculiar

^ The Bible of the Parsees, by whom, however, it is called simply Avesta,
the word Zend being especially employed to denote the translation and
exposition of a great part of the Avesta which exists in Pehlevi.

158 BAKU.

form of Hades. This impression is in no way lessened
by a visit to the boiler-house, where steam for working
the drills and pumps is generated. Here stand a row
of cylindrical boilers, very much the same as boilers any-
where else, but with this difference — there is no coal
and there are no ashes, and there is no dirt. At the
mouth of the furnace, where, in the case of an ordinary
boiler, coal is put in and ashes are raked out, are fixed
the mouth-pieces of two small pipes. By means of these
a spray of petroleum is driven into the furnace by a jet
of steam, and a roaring, all-devouring tongue of fire
races from one end of the chamber to the other. The
flame thus produced is possessed of a violent vitality,
and the roar and hiss is as of the sound of the rushing
of many waters.

Mere prosy facts, however, are here as astonishing as
abstract impressions. I stood and watched the rich,
slimy, dark-green fluid, with its pink glittering froth,
being discharged by the great baler of one of the bor-
ings on the Bibi Eibat field, and became fascinated
when I learnt that I was watching an implement which
was alone raising upwards of 100 tons of oil a-day t
Later I learned something of " spouters," and the plod-
ding: baler Avith its hard-earned reward of 100 tons
seemed a poor thing in comparison. I was not fortu-
nate enough to see one myself, but I caught something
of the enthusiasm of those who had. A spouter is
gloriously indifferent to restraint, and often blows the
derrick to matchwood ; but then it throws up anything
from 7000 to 10,000 tons of marketable oil — say
roughly from £350,000 to £500,000 i— in the course of
twenty-four hours, and what is the cost of a mere
derrick as compared to this ? Some one who thought

^ On the basis of 8'11 kopecks a pood, the average price of raw naphtha
at the wells in 1901.

INSIDE A DERRICK. 15&

it a pity that anything should be lost — a Scotsman
no doubt — invented an apparatus for controlling the
spouter. It took the form of a steel cap, against
which the spouter was to play, but the spouter simpl}^
laughed at so puerile a device. At least I know of
one which bored a hole as clean as a drill through a
9-inch steel plate in three hours !

Having seen the raw product discharged into re-
servoirs constructed for the purpose, I next entered a
derrick to see what was happening inside. The boring
is quite small, only a few inches in diameter, growing
smaller too as it descends, and when you come to con-
sider that it will as likely as not go down 2000 feet
or more into the bosom of the earth, you realise the
extraordinary difficulties which may beset the searcher
for oil. One of the worst calamities that can befall
him is for something such as an implement to fall clown
the narrow shaft and get stuck at the bottom. Days
of patient and anxious labour may be expended in an
endeavour to fish it up again or pound it to powder if
this proves impracticable, and, if the worst comes, the
well may have to be abandoned and the work begun
all over again. One company fished for implements
thus fallen for five months, and then gave it up and
bored a new well. It is on record that the remarks of
the said company on the subject of choked wells were
not good to hear. The average cost of boring a well is
£5000.

It is difficult to give any adequate idea of the air of
bustle and activity which pervades the oil-fields which
surround the town. Perhaps the following facts may
serve to assist the imagination. In 1902 the aggregate
depth bored in sinking new wells and deepening old
ones reached a total little short of 46 miles, a fiofure
which was surpassed in each of the four preceding

160

BAKU.

years, and actually reached the astonishing amount in
1900 of 94 miles 84 yards ! In the course of the year
1902, 1895 wells on the Ansheronsk peninsula yielded
10,266,594 tons of naphtha — an average, that is to say,
of 5417f tons per well. Of this amount l,528,706j-
tons were given by fountains.

Statistics for the year 1901 show an output of
10,822,580| tons from 1924 wells, of which 7,837,096f
tons were exported in the form of kerosene, lubricants,
naphtha residues, and raw naphtha, in the following
amounts: kerosene 2,075,806j tons, lubricants 206,451|-
tons, naphtha residues 4,988,709f tons, and raw naphtha
566,129 tons.i

The number of inactive wells must necessarily increase
rapidly, and of late years this increase has been very
marked, as many as 1273 wells having become ex-
hausted in the course of 1901, as compared with 842
in the previous year and 594 in 1899, the average
yearly number thrown out of work from 1892 up to
that time being about 400. Nevertheless, the supply
exhibits small signs of becoming exhausted, the output

1 For the benefit of those who are sufficiently interested, I append the
following comparison between the Baku and American oil-fields :—

Output of Baku oil-fields, 1901,

Exports from Baku, 1901—
Kerosene
Lubricants .
Naphtha residues .
Raw naphtha

Average daily yield of the
wells of the Ansheronsk
peninsula, 1901 .

Tons.
10,822,5805

2,075, 806J
206, 451 J

4,98S,709|
566,129

7,837,0961

29,661

Tons.

Output of American oil-flelds
1901—
Pennsylvania
Lima ....

Exports from America, 1901
Kerosene .
Lubricants
Naphtha residues .
Raw naphtha .
Benzine and gaseous

Average daily yield of the
wells of the United States,
1901

4,116,129
2,393,54SJ

6,509, 677J

2,453,225f

250,000

90,322^

377,419J

135,4831

3,306,451^

18,198

STATISTICS OF THE OIL TRADE. 161

for 1901 showing an increase of 1,145,161 tons on the
previous year, and of 10,467,742 tons on the output of
twenty years ago. The capital sunk has of course
largely increased, as is shown by the fact that in
December 1902 there were 1423 wells yielding oil, as
compared with 324 in the same month ten years ago,
564 new wells being bored in the course of the year
1902, as compared with 200 in 1892, while in 1900 as
many as 1010 wells were sunk.

Oil from Baku naturally travels far, the rival wells
of Pennsylvania and Lima being situated at a comfort-
able distance on the other side of the globe ; and the
first thing I saw on the outskirts of Irkutsk, in far-off
Siberia, was a large oil-tank bearing the name of Nobel
of Baku, and one of the last things I noticed at the
end of my journey was an office of the same firm at
Dalni on the confines of the Far East. The huge
export, soon to be further assisted by means of a
government pipe laid from Baku to Tiflis, similar to
the one already existing between Tiflis and Batum —
in 1901, 1,198,387 tons of naphtha products were
exported abroad from Batum as compared with 51,613
tons to Russia — is, however, to a certain extent arti-
ficial, the high excise duty of 60 kopecks per pood
(about 4|d. per gallon) being responsible for the prices
in Russia being as high and sometimes higher than
they are in London ! Thus, though the average price
of kerosene at Baku^ in 1901 was about Id. a gallon,
the excise duty brought it up to over 5d., the price in
London in December of that year varying from 6^d.
to 6|-d. a gallon. For further comparison take the
prices of kerosene in December 1900, which were at
Baku 2 1 J-d. a gallon, at Tzaritzin in South Russia 6|^d.
a gallon, and in London 5|-d. to 6^d. a gallon. At the

^ Actual price free on waggon. 2 ibid.

L

162 BAKU.

same time, the price of kerosene in New York was
Sjd. a gallon.

I have been at some pains to give statistics of the
oil trade, partly because, owing to the difficulty of
obtaining reliable data, they are seldom placed be-
fore the public, and partly because, without adducing
figures, it is impossible to give any idea of the
magnitude and importance of the industry.^ Let me
now invite any one who is wearied by the contem-
plation of so imposing an array of statistics to accom-
pany me across the Caspian to that land where facts
and figures have ever been shrouded by a veil of
mystery and romance.

1 It is worth while drawing attention to the rapidly increasing demand
for liquid fuel Engines on the Transcaspian railway and steamers on the
Volga have long been driven by naphtha residues. It is already in use in
the Russian navy, and is being experimented with in more than one ship
in our own.

GENERAL ANNENKOFF'S VIEWS. 163

CHAPTER Xy.^

THE TRANSCASPIAN RAILWAY IN 1903.

Origin of the idea of railway communication with Central Asia — The
chimerical conception of M. de Lesseps — With the defeat of Lomakin,
railway schemes are revived — Lack of suitable transport — General
AnnenkoflF's line — England suspicious — The Pendjeh incident —
Renewal of work on the Transcaspian railway — Completion of the
line — Leave Baku — Krasnovodsk — On board the train — Geok Tep^^e
— A false report — The steppe in spring — Khiva — Merve — The
Murgab branch to the Afghan frontier — A desert of sand — The
bridge over the Oxus — Eeach Bokhara.

" The great difficulty Russia has to contend with
in Central Asia consists in immense distances, inter-
sected by waterless wastes, which impede the progress
of armies. In overcoming this, the camel, however
useful for peaceful caravan purposes, has been tried
and found utterly wanting." ^ And Russia wanted
above all things to send armies into Central Asia,
so with commendable wisdom she lost no time in
making such arrangements as would enable her to
do so.

^ For the facts concerning the construction of the railway I am
indebted to Lord Curzon's 'Eussia in Central Asia,' Messrs Skrine
and Ross's ' Heart of Asia,' and Mr C. Marvin's ' Russians at Merve
and Herat ' ; while to the proprietors of ' The Times ' I am also indebted
for permission to make use of an article of my own descriptive of the rail-
way at the present day, which has already appeared in their columns.

- ' The Akhal Tekke Oasis and Roads to India.' General Annenkoff.
Translated by Charles Marvin.

164 THE TRANSGASPIAN RAILWAY IN 1903.

The idea of rapid communication between Russia
and her recently acquired possessions in Central
Asia had been mooted long before the days of the
advance from the Caspian, it is true ; but it was
the lack of suitable transport required by the
expedition which was to be hurled against the
Turkoman horde to revenge the defeat of Lomakin
in 1879 that was responsible for the actual con-
struction of the Transcaspian railway.

When Tashkent became a Russian possession in
1865, the streams of the Sir Daria, and, after the
conquest of Khiva and practical absorption of Bok-
hara in 1873, of the Oxus were looked to to supply
the need of rapid communication between Russia
proper and Turkestan, and it was not until the
difficulties of navigation on these rivers proved the
scheme impracticable that the project of a Central
Asian railway was seriously thought of With
Tashkent, in the heart of Turkestan, in the hands
of the Russians, and the fierce and unruly tribes
of Transcaspia still beyond the zone of Russian
ambition, it was only natural that that place should
have been the objective of the earlier schemes of
railway extension, and in 1873 a Russian official was
ordered to prepare a report on the possibility of a
line from Orenburg. Out of these suggestions grew
the chimerical conception of M. de Lesseps of a rail-
way from Calais to Calcutta — a project, however,
which soon sank into oblivion with the cold re-
ception of England, and the departure of its origin-
ator to Panama. The less ambitious though, never-
theless, costly undertaking of uniting Orenburg and
Tashkent by a line across the many hundreds of
miles of unpopulated and unproductive desert, in
spite of the patronage of General Kaufmann, was

THE TRANSPORT DIFFICULTY. 165

likewise regarded with little favour by the Gov-
ernment at St Petersburg, and soon fell into the
background, where it was doomed to slumber till
wakened thirty years later by the powerful hand
of M. Witte.

With the failure of such schemes the idea of a
railway to Central Asia was for the time being
banished, and it was not until 1879, when Lomakin
suffered a severe defeat at the hands of the Turk-
omans, that the project was again brought to the
forefront of Russian policy in Asia, this time to
take definite form, and to come into being in after-
years in the shape of the military Transcaspian
railway.

The reverse suffered by the Russians at the hands
of an Asiatic foe was one which shook the whole
fabric of Muscovite power in Central Asia, requir-
ing an immediate and decisive campaign of revenge
to re-establish the shaken structure on a firm base
once more, and operations were at once taken in
hand to repair the damage which had been sustained.

The chief difficulty encountered was occasioned by
the want of suitable transport, the utter futility of
relying upon camels for this purpose having already
been amply demonstrated by the expeditions of 1879
and 1880, in the former of which two-thirds of the
camels used had succumbed, while only 350 out of
a total of 12,596 had survived the advance of 1880.^
To overcome this difficulty a service of traction-engines
was proposed by General Petrusevitch, and later on
the construction of a tramway between Tchikishlar

1 These are the figux^ea given in Lord Curzon'a 'Eussia in Central
Asia.' In General Annenkoff's 'Akhal Tekke Oasis,' already quoted, he
says: "During the Akhal Tekke expedition of 1879 as many as 9600
camels perished out of 10,000."

166 THE TRANSCASPIAN RAILWAY IN 1903.

and the edge of the Tekke oasis was mooted ; but
a far more important project came into being when
General Skobeleff, who had taken with him General
Annenkoff, the controller of military transport, decided
in favour of Krasnovodsk as aofainst Tchikishlar as
his base of operations. A hundred miles of steel rails,
lying idle at Bender, which had been purchased and
stored "for use in the Balkan peninsula in 1878 in
the event of the collapse of the Congress of Berlin," ^
were transported to the eastern shore of the Caspian,
and the first link of the railway which now runs
for over 1200 miles to Andijan and Tashkent, and
is destined in the future to join hands with the
great trans - continental railway in the north, was
forged under the powerful influence and able direc-
tion of General Annenkoff.

The line which had thus been built solely w4th a
view to affording the transport necessary for the army
advancing against the Turkomans failed in its im-
mediate object, since Skobeleff" had secured his great
victory of Geok Teppe before the line was completed.
But the far-reaching possibilities of a railway running
east along the frontiers of Persia and Afghanistan had
at length begun to dawn on the minds of Russian
statesmen, and though the original reason for its con-
struction was no longer there, the building of the line
was nevertheless carried out; and in December 1881,
eleven months after the collapse of the Turkoman
power, the first train steamed into Kizil Arvat.

At this point the railway rested for three and a half
years, the suspicions of England, aroused by the
surveys of Lessar on the Afghan borderland, and
the opposition of the Turkestan party, headed by
the governor of Tashkent, General Tchernaieff, who

^ Russia in Central Asia. Lord Curzon.

THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE RAILWAY. 167

regarded with unconcealed disfavour a scheme which
could not fail to enhance the importance of the Trans-
caspian territories at the expense of their own, consti-
tuting the chief obstacles to a further advance ; but in
the spring of 1885 occurred the Pendjeh incident on
the Afghan frontier, which determined once for all the
future of the Transcaspian railway, and from this time
the policy of railway extension in this part of the world
"emerged as a menace to England and a warning to
Asia."

And so it happened that while the British were con-
structing the railways of Hurnai and the Bolan in
Baluchistan, the Russians were steadily pushing their
long steel arm into the heart of Asia.

Work began on June 30, 1885, the rolling camp
which carried the staff, workmen, and material moving
forward at the rate of four miles a-day as the line
was laid. Beyond Kizil Arvat 22,000 Tekke labourers
levelled the soil, with a result that Merve, which had
succumbed to the intrigues of Alikhanoff and the bravado
of Komaroff early in 1884, was reached in a period of
fourteen months. In August 1886 work was begun on
the section between Merve and Chardjui on the Oxus,
and in spite of the terrible difficulties experienced from
driving sand, the whole distance of 141 miles was com-
pleted in little more than four months, and the railway
brought into working order throughout the 664 miles
from the Caspian to the Oxus.

The river here is at the present time spanned by a
fine steel girder bridge ; but such an undertaking was
considered out of the question in 1887, and a huge and
cumbrous wooden viaduct was carried across the water
on piles driven into the river-bed. The engineer who
was responsible for this extraordinary structure was a
Pole, Bielinski by name — and when it comes to be con-

168 TEE TRANSGASPIAN RAILWAY IN 1903.

sidered that he laid a way 4600 yards in length, includ-
ing 2270 yards of water-way, resting upon no less than
3330 wooden piles, between June 1887 and January
1888, for the very moderate sum of £44,000,^ he must
certainly be credited with an excellent performance.

In September 1887 the 216 miles between the Oxus
and Samarkand were taken in hand, the latter place
being reached in May 1888, and by June 1 trains were
running regularly from the Caspian to the ancient
capital of Timur, a distance of 879 miles. Here for
the moment the railway halted; but in 1895 works
were begun for the prolongation of the line to Andijan
and Tashkent, a distance altogether of 401 miles, and
at the present time trains run regularly to both these
places. In addition to the main line, a branch of 192
miles has been built from Merve to Kushk on the
Afghan frontier, which has been open to traffic since
1899.

Such in brief is the history of the construction of
the Transcaspian railway ; let me now invite the reader
to accompany me in a journey over it as it exists at
the present day.

At five o'clock one evening towards the end of April
I boarded the steamship Skoheleff, a new vessel belong-
ing to the Mercury and Caucasus Steam Navigation
Company, lit throughout with electric light, and pos-
sessed of comfortable cabins and an excellent cuisine,
and two hours later we left noisy, smelly, money-
making Baku behind and steamed eastward into the
night. Seventeen or eighteen hours is ample time to
cross the Caspian in fine weather, and by midday, the

1 This is the sum given in Messrs Skrine and Eoss's ' Heart of Asia ' as
the actual cost, without the pay of transport, and of the railway battalion
engaged in erecting it. In Lord Curzon's ' Eussia in Central Asia ' the cost
is stated to have been only £30,000.

,.rfA^A-< ^-'>

'^iJ-M

KRASNOVODSK. 169

day following we were disembarking on the landing-
stage at Krasnovodsk, the point of departure of the
Transcaspian railway, with whose clean-looking white
houses, pretentious railway - station, and forbidding
setting of bare brown hills previous wanderings had
made me familiar. There is no cause to envy any one
whose fate dictates a sojourn at Krasnovodsk. Just as
oil is the raison d'etre of Baku, so the necessity for
the Transcaspian railway having a starting-point some-
where is alone responsible for the existence of Krasno-
vodsk. They have another point in common — namely,
entire absence of fresh water, and in both towns the
whole population is supplied from a huge distillery.
Of course, there is not a blade of grass or sign of vege-
tation of any sort, while it would be difficult to imagine
a spot into which the noonday rays could beat down
with greater fury, or where you could receive a more
vivid impression of a land parched and stricken by the
sun. If, as is commonly reported, you can cook eggs
by merely laying them on the sands of Baluchistan,
you should find no difficulty in frying bacon on the
pavements of Krasnovodsk !

Towards evening the white carriages of the train, so
soon about to start on its wonderful journey, drew up
alongside the platform, and a short inspection revealed
the fact that innovations had lately been made. Until
quite recently there were no first-class carriages on the
line, and loud have been the complaints by travellers of
the inconveniences they have suffered. Now, however,
I found a first-class carriage and restaurant car attached,
and as we steamed out of the station punctually at five
o'clock everything promised well for a comfortable jour-
ney. The blue waters of the Caspian remained in
sight till dark, and then we turned east and held our
way steadfastly for the heart of Asia.

^:

170 THE TRANSGASPIAN RAILWAY IN 1903.

In the small hours of the morning the great railway
depot and workshops of Kizil Arvat were passed, and
dawn revealed a desolate land all round, broken only
by a chain of sullen mountains on the Persian frontier
to the south. At ten o'clock we steamed slowly into a
small wayside station — Geok Teppe. What a tumultu-
ous whirl of thought the two small words set going.
We were passing through the district which held out
to the last against the advance of the great white
power from the North. One by one the khanates had
succumbed. Turkestan, Tchimkent, and Tashkent fell
within a single year, Samarkand and the rich province
of Zerafshan were long since gone, then came Khiva and
Khokand. But the fierce Turkomans, brought up in an
atmosphere of blood and pillage, fought desperately to
the end. Here, within 50 yards of the railway-station,
the Russian general Lomakin was defeated with heavy
loss. The result was a severe blow to Russian prestige
and a check in their advance. The day of reckoning
went back two years, but when it came it was decisive.
What need to recall the elaborate precautions of the
Russians as they advanced under the genius SkobelefF,
or the terrible three weeks during which 35,000 Tekke
Turkomans were besieged in their stronghold Dengil
Teppe? It is now over twenty years ago,^ but the
horror of the death-grip when Russians attacked and
Turkomans attacked back, and the ghastly terror of
the last pursuit, will live for centuries. Twelve hundred
Russian soldiers lay dead or wounded ; nine thousand
Turkoman warriors went where dead Turkomans go.
Inside the ramparts the ground is now covered with
grass and scrub. A monument surmounted by a cross,
and smaller crosses at other points, stand in memory of

1 The Eussians captured the fort, if it can be described as such, on
January 24, 1881.

THE STEPPE IN SPRING. 171

the Russian slain. All is now perfect peace. The
Turkoman of to - day examines the mouldering mud
walls curiously, and saunters through the museum, a
small building of white stone containing Turkoman
arms, pictures of the onslaught, and portraits of the
leading men concerned, erected between the ramparts
and the station. The train is an odd accessory and
seems out of place, but it is an unmistakable sign of
the times.

Close upon Geok Teppe comes Ashkabad, the capital
of Transcaspia. From here there is a highroad to
Meshed. I have seen it somewhere described as
good, — in a Foreign Office report I think, — and so it
is as far as the frontier. Let the man who would
eulogise the Persian section travel over it. I have,
and the memory lives ! There is another fallacy about
Ashkabad and the Persian frontier, that they are con-
nected by rail. ■ I was myself under this delusion not
so very long ago, having been informed of the fact by
an eyewitness ! There is no branch line from Ashkabad
or any other point on the railway until the famous
Murofab is reached.

After Ashkabad, quiet for a space ; one requires it
after the sensation of Geok Teppe. Looking out of the
window the mountains still run parallel on the south,
the lower slopes covered with grass, the higher peaks
patched with snow. Everywhere else a vast sea of
waving grass, scarlet poppies, and other flowers. This
is the steppe in spring, and is but a transient phase of
the wild limitless plain. A little later the riotous
verdure will be gone and the land will revert to its
usual state, a parched white wilderness. That is in-
evitable in a land where the sun beats for six months
from an unflecked sky.

As you steam steadily on, your mind ponders on

172 THE TRANSGASPIAN RAILWAY IN 1903.

many things. You remember that far away across the
desert to the north lies Khiva, A man once made a
reputation by riding there : no one would do so now —
save perhaps for folly. For Khiva, like Bokhara, has
had its day, and the revolving wheel of fortune has
consigned its khan to the unambitious position of a
nonentity. When the world forces come to be summed
up in Asia, Khiva need no longer be taken into account
even as a pawn upon the board. Still it was not
always thus, as the records of Russian expeditions
could tell. Three centuries ago the Yaik Cossacks,
pirate scourges of the Caspian Sea, set forth for the
rich province called Khowarizm or Khiva, to sack its
capital Organtsh.^ But they reckoned without their
host. Cut off from water by the exasperated Khivans,
they fell fighting desperately against overwhelming
odds, quenching their thirst while life remained with
the blood of the slain. A second expedition met with
no better fortune, but the culminating disaster was
left for yet a third under the leadership of the ataman
Schemai. Lost in the pathless steppe, stranded finally
on the inhospitable shores of the Aral Sea, their pro-
visions exhausted, they found themselves in a sorry
plight. It is on record that " at first the unhappy
ones killed each other, in order to have human flesh
to eat ; but at last, when brought to the very verge of
perishing, they summoned the Khivans and voluntarily
surrendered themselves as slaves."

The early years of the eighteenth century saw a
whole Bussian army cut up and its leaders massacred

1 Organtsh, the town we speak of as Khiva, described by one M'Gregor,
Secretary to the Board of Trade in the 'Forties, as "a town of mud huts,
with three stone mosques and a mud palace." Dr Wolflf describes how
when he was travelling in Bokhara he heard the cry from the watch-
towers of that country, " "Watch ! watch ! for the people of Organtsh may
come, kill your cattle, and destroy the child in the mother's womb ! "

EXPLOITS OF THE KHIVANS. 173

by the cunning of its khan. The head of its leader,
Prince Bekovitch, was despatched as a gift to a neigh-
bouring khan, while those of his staff served for
ornaments to the city walls. It is further said that
the khan, actuated no doubt by the same desire for
a vindictive revenge which led Agha Mohammed to
have the bones of his persecutor Nadir Shah removed
from their resting-place at Meshed and placed beneath
the threshold of his palace, in order that he might have
the exquisite delight of walking over them, caused a
large drum to be made of the prince's skin, that he
might have the supreme satisfaction of hearing his
enemy beaten ! While the expedition under Perovski
was retreating to Orenburg in 1839, having ignomini-
ously failed to get more than half-way, two English
officers. Captain Abbott and Sir Eichmond Shakespeare,
who had penetrated to the khanate, effected the chief
object of the ill-starred expedition from the north, by
obtaining the release of the Russian prisoners by
diplomacy,^ and a few years later Khiva was given a
certain international importance as being one of the
countries which the Tsar Nicholas agreed to leave
" to serve as a neutral zone interposed between Russia
and India, so as to preserve them from dangerous
contact."

So late as 1872 a Russian force under General
Markosoff suffered defeat at the hands of the Khivans
at Igdy ; and in the following year the now historic
expedition, which was " to punish acts of brigandage,
to recover fifty Russian prisoners, and to teach the

1 According to Dr Wolff it was thanks to the diplomacy of Sir R.
Shakespeare that the Russian prisoners were liberated. In his ' Bokhara '
he writes : " Mr Abbott, who preceded him (Shakespeare), was foolish
enough to advise the King of Khiva not to give up the Russian slaves
until he had treated with the Russian emperor ; but Shakespeare was
wise enough to recommend their immediate cession."

174 THE TRANSCASPIAN RAILWAY IN 1903.

khan that such conduct on his part could not be con-
tinued with impunity," brought about that ruler's
downfall. So great was the stir caused in England
by the advance of Kaufmann's expedition that it was
deemed necessary to reassure the British Government,
and Count Schouvaloff was instructed to inform Lord
Granville that " not only was it far from the intention
of the emperor to take possession of Khiva, but positive
orders had been prepared to prevent it." Nevertheless,
Khiva fell ; a most unjustifiable massacre of the Yo-
raud Turkomans was indulged in by way of an extra
military flourish, and a treaty signed with Bokhara,
which gave over to Russia all Khivan territory on
the right bank of the Oxus, opened the river to free
navio-ation, and the whole of the khanate to Eussian
trade.

At 11 P.M. I awoke with a start. We were just
drawing up alongside of a brightly lit platform. I
knew in a moment where we were — we were at Merve.
Merve is a name which has rung through England.
Not the Merve of ancient splendour as capital of
the world of Islam, when the Kalifs ruled from the
Mediterranean to Tibet, and from the Caspian Sea
to the Persian Gulf— though the ruins of this Merve,
too, may be seen ten miles away from the present
town, close to the station of Bairam Ali — but the
Merve where, in 1881, O'Donovan saw from 7000 to
8000 Turkomans working daily on the vast earth-
works of Kushid Khan Kala, which was to raise an
impenetrable barrier to the Russian advance. But
neither the Turkomans nor the frightened protests
of an awe-struck Cabinet in London saved the strong-
hold of the Turkomans from the Russian maw. In-
dignant denials of any intention to take it, from St
Petersburg, were thankfully swallowed by the trem-

THE MURGAB BRANCH. 175

bling politicians at Westminster, and Merve was left
to her fate. Nor had she very long to wait, for the
expedition of the disguised Russian officer, AlikhanofF, to
Merve in 1882 was followed by another of a similar
nature in the early days of 1884, when England had
her hands conveniently full elsewhere, which resulted in
the fall of the place with the firing of scarcely a shot.
And that is how it happens that Merve is to-day a
Russian town, and an important cantonment for Rus-
sian troops.

Beyond the zone of light afforded by the station
lamps all was dark, silent, and mysterious, and then
suddenly out of the darkness and silence of the night
loomed a ghostly engine speeding from the south.
Here was material for another train of thought, for
that line to the south runs to the Afghan frontier,
and is as jealously guarded from foreign gaze as is
the Tibetan oracle of Lhassa. The Russian advanced
post at Kushk corresponds exactly to our own at
Chaman, and without a doubt Russian rails could be
laid to Herat as soon as ever our own could be to Kan-
dahar. It is whispered that the terminus of the line
is to be found inside the walls of a heavily armed fort,
garrisoned by a number of troops which at least reaches
four figures, and with barrack accommodation for even
more. There is also said to be a light railway running
over the twelve miles between Kushk post and Chehel
Duckteran, while it is asserted that the length of
rails stored within the fort is greater than is the
distance to Herat. Some day, when Afghanistan as
such has ceased to exist, here will lie the direct over-
land route to India — but not yet.

After Merve, peace again ; and when I wake up in
the morning miles upon miles of sand ! Sand as far
as the eye can see — and a great deal farther. Parallel

176 THE TBANSCASPIAN RAILWAY IN 1903.

with the Hne on either side runs a small quick-set
fence, or rather the top of one, for the roots are far
down in the sand, binding it and keeping it from
burying the line. Had it not been for the curious
properties of this shrub — saxsaul — it would have been
wellnigh impossible to have built and held the line ;
even as it was it must have been heart-breaking work.

Suddenly the sand gives way to a cultivated oasis,
and ere long we pull up at Chardjui on the banks of
the Amu Daria (ancient Oxus). I remember reading
recently that it had been rechristened Amu Daria
after the famous river on whose banks it stands ; but
Chardjui is still writ in large letters over the centre
of the building. Here the engineer has been recently
at work, for the old wooden viaduct, on its 3330 wooden
piles, has been replaced by a fine steel girder bridge a
verst and a half in length, which we crossed in four
minutes — a great improvement on the twenty minutes
required for the passage of the older construction.
Having with much difficulty and labour driven the
huge wooden stakes into the bed of the river, they
would give a good deal now to remove them again,
but some few have up to the present time resisted
every effort to displace them, and stand a source of
constant irritation to the helmsman responsible for the
safe passage of the craft of the Oxus flotilla.

Once beyond reach of the life-giving water, sand
again. Not an even yellow expanse, but great ugly
corrugated bluffs and hummocks, like the churning
pits and mountains of an angry sea, the small isolated
stone buildings forming the stations looking terribly
lonely in the vast reaches of the desert ; but before
very long we run into an oasis once more, thanks
to the proximity of the Zerafshan, and by midday I

REACH BOKHARA. 177

have alighted at the station over which stands the
word Kagahn. Kagahn suggests Uttle enough, but
Bokhara suggests a great deal, and Kagahn is the
name given to the station at New Bokhara since the
Russians took courage and constructed a branch line
two years ago, which now deposits the traveller under
the very walls of Old Bokhara itself.

M

178 BOKHARA THE NOBLE.

CHAPTER XYI.

BOKHARA THE NOBLE.

New Bokhara — The fascination of Old Bokhara — Its bazaars — A picture
for an artist's brush — A scourge of the East — Monuments of the past
— The power of the King of Bokhara — The citadel — Its ancient clock
— A piteous tale — Violent death — The State prison — Its jailer — The
scene inside ^Khanikoff's description of the lower dungeon — The
story of Stoddart and Conolly — Nasrullah, King of Bokhara — The
journey of Dr Wolff — The notorious vermin pit — Bokhara described
as it is to-day — Authoritative writers on Bokhara.

I THINK Bokhara is one of the most fascinating places
which I have seen in the East — real Bokhara, of course,
that is. There is nothing in the smallest degree
fascinating about New Bokhara, which is simply a
Russian town. It has its conveniences certainly, and
that is something to be thankful for, even though they
be devoid of attraction. For there is a hotel at New
Bokhara, and it is even tolerably clean. It is not kept
by a Russian if I remember right, but you at once
realise that you are in a Russian town by the huge
penny-in-the-slot musical-box, which is the most con-
spicuous piece of furniture in the apartment set aside
for meals. It does not seem to matter to a Russian in
the least what the music is like, so long as there is
music of some sort to accompany him through his
repast.

But to return to Old Bokhara, eight miles away

THE BAZAARS OF BOKHARA. 179

across the plain. I do not know why it is that it
should attract one more than other cities of the Orient ;
I only know that it is so. There is an atmosphere per-
vading it which defies analysis. For from the moment
that you pass through its mouldering gates to stroll
through the dust of its time-worn streets, or stand
beneath the domes of its sombre-lit bazaars, you live
in another world. No breath of the West penetrates
the musty atmosphere that you breathe here, heavy
with the weight of years.

It is pleasant enough in the softened light of these
same bazaars, and cool, too, compared with the glare
and the heat outside. A dark-skinned Hindu, with
bright orange caste-mark flaming upon his brow, sits
solemnly surveying the scene. You may purchase odd
coins of the country from him, for the Hindu is the
money-changer of the East. All round you, sitting or
reclining after the manner of their kind in the box-like
little shops of the Arcade, are the merchants and their
clerks, ready to bargain with you for their silks and
their velvets, their khelats and their souzayiis, their
nahs boxes and ornaments, their kalians and beauti-
fully worked ewers of brass. And on all sides rises
that hum which is an inseparable accompaniment of an
Eastern crowd.

Side-walks branch off in all directions, where the
stranger might soon be lost, but we have a native
jliigit to guide us, kindly lent by the Russian resident
at New Bokhara, and we follow him as he picks his
way nimbly through the crowd, to emerge presently in
an open square surrounded by shops and shady trees,
while stone steps lead down to a large tank of water,
which fills the whole of the centre of the enclosure.

What a picture for an artist's brush ! What a
perfect presentation of the unregenerate East ! A

180 BOKHARA THE NOBLE.

white -turbaned Mullah brushes haughtily by; little
groups of Bokharans, picturesque in long gaudy-
coloured robes, squat on the house -roofs or on the
stone steps in the shade of the trees, leisurely sipping
green tea and smoking the kalian. Here and there a
scantily clad figure, attracted by the cool depths of the
water, sits dangling a not too clean foot in it, while he
performs sundry ablutionary operations for an equally
not too clean body. Presently he is joined by a friend
with his water-skin, who passes the time of day with
him as he allows it to fill. The water is for drinking,
and might suggest unpleasant thoughts elsewhere, but
you see nothing strange in it here.

It does not do, indeed, to look too closely or too
critically at the men and manners of the East. You
look here for the whole effect of the picture, not
individually at its component parts. It is the golden
sunshine from an azure sky, the brilliant colouring
and graceful outline, the deep contrasts in light and
shade that fill the imagination and delight the eye.
To look too closely would be to reveal the brazen
sky of an Eastern summer, the dirt and squalor of
mud-built shanties, the ghastly horror of unthinkable
disease.

For here more, perhaps, than elsewhere have the
people been chastised for the abomination of their lives
and the unutterable evil of their ways. The scourge of
the rishta lies heavily upon them,^ the terrible wasting
and putrefaction of the flesh caused by leprosy and other
kindred disease is only too painfully in evidence, and men
sink prematurely to the grave, stricken with that "curse

^ A worm which installs itself under the skin, causing unsightly dis-
figurement unless carefully and adroitly extracted. " So common is this
malady in Bokhara," writes Lord Curzon, " that every fifth person suff'ers
from it." — Eussia in Central Asia.

VICISSITUDES OF BOKHARA. 181

from God," under stress of which it is said that "the
skin becomes dry and shrivelled, the hair of the body-
falls off, the nails and teeth tumble out, and the whole
body assumes a horrible and unseemly appearance." ^
And this is the city of which its priests delight to
declare that whereas in all other parts of the globe light
descends upon earth, it ascends from holy Bokhara !

But the bazaar and its inmates are not solely re-
sponsible for the fascination of Bokhara. There are
monuments which recall stirring tales of the past. On
one side of the Bigistan or market square rise the
massive walls and gateway of the ark or citadel, built
more than eight centuries ago by Alp Arslan, " the
valiant lion," and it is borne in upon you that this is
"Bokhara the Noble," the city which has seen great
days, and whose rulers have made whole pages of the
strange history of the ancient world. There is some-
thing which inevitably appeals to you in the strange
vicissitudes through which it has passed. Here, long
ago, in the days of the Amir Ismail, was the capital of
a vast empire and far-famed seat of learning and cul-
ture. Nine centuries passed, and great changes were
sweeping across the map of Asia : rival Powers from
the West were bidding for the ancient kingdoms of the
East, and the first half of the nineteenth century saw
both British and Russian aspirants at the Court of
Bokhara.

Those were the days of the bloody Nasrullah. The
prolonged torment undergone by the two English emis-
saries, Stoddart and Conolly, as they languished in the
foul depths of a vermin-infested dungeon, and their
eventual decapitation in the market-place in 1843,
caused the name to stink in the nostrils of Englishmen.

^ Travels into Bokhara. Sir A. Burns. He describes this disease as a
peculiar kind of leprosy, which he calls mukkom or kolee.

182 BOKHARA THE NOBLE.

No light has ever been thrown on the mystery of the
inaction of the Government on that occasion, who, not
content with doing nothing of themselves to inquire
into the fate of their two emissaries, put every sort of
obstacle in the way of others who were willing to under-
take the task of discovery. The description of the
adventurous journey eventually made with this object
by the eccentric missionary, the Rev. Joseph Wolff, is
one which is of unsurpassed interest even at the present
day, though his arrival was too late to effect their
release.

There is, I believe, no actual reason why such atroci-
ties should not occur at the present day, for the reigning
Amir has the power to do what he will with his own
subjects. Indeed, Lord Curzon, writing in 1889, tells
of a captive, who had himself committed a cold-blooded
murder in the town, having his eyelids cut off and his
eyes gouged out, and being then tied to the tail of an
ass and dragged to the market-place to be quartered
and thrown to the dogs, only a short time before his
visit. ^ But beyond the privilege of disposing of his
own subjects, little real power is left to the ruler of
Bokhara, for when Bokhara is spoken of as an inde-
pendent State, it is but in name, be it understood,
that its independence exists.

There was a rumour current in native circles when I
was in those parts that the lord of Bokhara had decided
to make a pilgrimage to Mecca. The difficulties and
fatigue of such a journey were pointed out to him by
his kind friends the Russians, and he was strongly
advised not to go. With reflection, however, the desire
of his soul to behold the great centre of the Moham-
medan universe — towards which he turned in daily
prayer — increased many fold, and he at length made it

^ Russia in Central Asia.

THE PRESENT STATUS OF BOKHARA. 183

known that he would go. What happened then ?
Why, the iron showed through the velvet of the glove,
and he was peremptorily forbidden to leave his king-
dom ! And the Amir now realises — what all the rest of
the world realised long ago — that the ruler of Bokhara
the Noble has fallen from his high estate.

I have mentioned this because it gives a correct idea
of the status of Bokhara to-day. There is no reason
why it should not remain independent to this extent for
many years to come — indeed there are two very good
reasons why it should : firstly, because it suits the
Russians to enjoy all the advantages of practical pos-
session while they suffer none of the disadvantages
entailed by the responsibility of actual occupation ; and,
secondly, because it is affirmed that at the time of his
coronation the reigning Emperor gave his word to the
Amir that the position of Bokhara should remain un-
changed so long as he was Tsar of all the Bussias,

But I am wandering away from the citadel which
rises straight in front of us as we cross the Biofistan.
The accompanying illustration shows the great gateway
which gives access to it, constructed by Nadir Shah in
1742, and high above the entrance, midway between
the two round towers which support it, may be seen
the dilapidated dial of an ancient clock. It is a
curiosity in Bokhara, and it ticks out a piteous tale
of woe.

An Italian of Parma, Giovanni Orlandi by name, had
the misfortune to fall into the hands of Nasrullah, King
of Bokhara. It is said that he was sold with the con-
nivance of a Bussian of Orenburg, who grew rich on
the profits of an illegal and infamous slave traffic. On
his refusing to become a convert to Islamism, he was
thrown into prison and condemned to die ; but on
promising to construct for the Amir a machine for

184 BOKHARA THE NOBLE.

measuring time, he was pardoned, and the clock which
he then made still stands as a witness to his mechanical
genius. For a time all went well, Orlandi was granted
his liberty, and became the artificer of the king. But
it chanced that one day, when in a state of intoxica-
tion, he offended his master, by whom he had been
summoned to repair a telescope which he had recently
made for him. Imprisonment for a second time now
became his lot, and a renewal of the command that he
should join the followers of the Prophet was issued.
This time his fate was sealed, and in the year 1851 he
was led out to execution. As a foretaste of what was
to come the skin of his throat was first cut, and he was
taken back to his cell to ponder during the long hours
of darkness on the advisability of his renouncing his
religion. It speaks volumes for his stoutness of heart
that even now he remained steadfast in his faith, and
on the following day the sentence which, with fiendish
cruelty, had already been in part carried out, was com-
pleted.^

At no very great distance another building catches
the eye in the shape of a gigantic tower called the
Minar Kalan. Of course it has horror connected with
it — what building is there in Bokhara that has not ?
It rises to a height of upwards of 200 feet, is circular,
tapering slightly towards the top, and is covered with
beautiful designs in carved brick. Imagine a flight
through 200 feet of air, bound hand and foot, with the

^ There seems to be some confusion as to the exact story of the ill-
starred watchmaker. Modesto Gavazzi, an Italian who visited Bokhara in
1863, and who is responsible for the above details, says, " Twelve or fifteen
years back there lived at Orenburg" the Russian who, he says, was re-
sponsible for Orlandi's captivity. But Wolif speaks of Orlandi as being in
Bokhara when he was there in 1843, and whereas, according to Gavazzi, he
was unwavering in his determination not to renounce Christianity, Wolff
speaks of him as having turned Mussulman.

THE PRISON OF BOKHARA. 185

hard ground and a yelling mob at the end of it ! That
is what criminals in the Bokhara of old had to look
forward to ; for they were taken to the summit, bound,
and precipitated from one of the apertures which look
out over the market-place beneath. I was not so
fortunate as to observe, as did Mr Henry Norman, the
depression in the ground at the foot of the tower,
caused by the fall of generations of victims, but I
shuddered as I stood and gazed up all the same.

But there is another building which, could it speak,
would tell tales which might well wring tears from a
stone, and that building is the zindan or state prison.
Built on the top of a low mound, surrounded by
crumbhng brick walls, with low unpretentious wooden
doors, it presents no imposing appearance, but the
scene which confronts you within is not good to see.
The jailer was corpulent and altogether evil-looking,
and an unpleasant smile stole over his vicious physiog-
nomy as he invited me to come in. Perhaps he was
thinking of the excruciating torture which the accursed
infidel had gone through in Bokhara in the past ; but
the smile w^hich such recollections conjured up served
only to illuminate the peculiar villainy which shone
from what Sheridan would no doubt have described as
" an unforgiving eye and a damned disinheriting coun-
tenance ! "

The scene which presents itself at the present day is
enough to make one's flesh creep at the thought of
what was in the past. After passing through a sort of
guard-room and across an open yard, I came upon two
cells, one opening out of the other. Both were small,
absolutely bare, filthily dirty, and sepulchrally gloomy—
for light, it would appear, is not considered a necessary
element in the existence of the criminal of Bokhara.
But it was the inmates that afforded the crowning

186 BOKHARA THE NOBLE.

spectacle in this picture of inconceivable misery. Packed
tightly together, occupying every inch of the bare mud
£oor, lay a reeking mass of worn-out, hope-forsaken
humanity. The moment that the low door was opened
and I stood hesitating on the threshold, a dozen
wretches pushed themselves up into a sitting posture
to stare vacantly at the intruder, and whenever any
one moved there was a grim rustling and clanking of
chains, for one and all were burdened with huge fetters
and manacles of iron.

I am not of a particularly squeamish disposition — I
have seen too much of what has been described as the
" frank indecency of the East " to be that — but I admit
that as I picked my way among the piteous inmates of
this foul cell and peered into the gloom of the dungeon
beyond, conscious all the time of the presence of the
hateful personality of the jailer, who stood surveying
his victims with a cruel leer, I experienced a sensation
of extreme repugnance. The inner cell was a replica of
the outer, only more so, and in the centre was a sug-
gestive depression in the floor, to which a heavily
chained criminal drew my attention, with every sign of
satisfaction at my evident discomfort. Here was the
lower dungeon which was filled up twenty years ago
at the instigation of the E-ussian Tcharikoff, and it
was while gazing at this that I realised that bad as
is the present there had yet been a state of affairs
incomparably worse in the past.

Let me quote the description of this den given by the
Russian Khanikoff, who resided in Bokhara for eight
months in the 'Forties : " The zindan or dungeon is to the
east of the ark, with two compartments : the zindan-
i-bala (the upper dungeon) and the zindan-i-poin (the
lower dungeon). The latter is a deep pit, at least three
fathoms in depth, into which culprits are let down by

NASRULLAH, KING OF BOKHARA. 187

ropes ; food is lowered down to them in the same
manner. The sepulchral dampness of the place in
winter as well as in summer is said to be insupportable,
according to the testimony of eyewitnesses." Such
was the place ; imagination will supply the details as
to the condition of its victims.

Was this the den where the two Englishman, Stoddart
and ConoUy, dragged out the last miserable days of
their lives ? It may be that it was, though the evidence
would seem to point to an even more refined chamber
of torture within the walls of the citadel itself as the
scene of their confinement.

The whole story is one of supreme interest for English-
men, and I cannot pass from Bokhara without giving in
brief outline the facts of the case as far as they have
ever been ascertained.

In the year 1826 died Seyid Haydar Tura, Amir of
Bokhara, and Hussein Khan reigned in his stead. But
Hussein was cursed with a brother, Nasrullah, who
had set his heart upon the throne, and after a reign
of fifty days the king died — not without suspicion of
poison. The summary methods characteristic of Eastern
despots now showed themselves in Nasrullah. Omar,
who had succeeded the deceased Hussein, was betrayed
by his prime minister and cast into prison; thirty of
his partisans were instantly put to death, his three
remaining brothers expelled from the city and murdered,
and a chief of the city hurled to his destruction from
the palace gates. Thus was the man who, to quote a
recent historian,^ " epitomised the vices which flourished
unchecked in Bokhara," borne through a sea of blood of
his own making to the throne which he stained with
his presence for a period of thirty-four years.

The cruelty and depravity of his character is attested

1 Professor E. D. Ross.

188 BOKHARA THE NOBLE.

by all who had occasion to come into contact with him.
Thus the eccentric missionary, Dr Wolff, who had
ample opportunity of forming an opinion, wrote that
" he delights to hear the people tremble at his name,
and laughs with violence when he hears of their appre-
hensions "; and he throws further light upon the matter
when he quotes the remark of a Turkoman that " he
(Nasrullah) drank the milk of a man-eater; for the
Cossacks in the desert are accused of eating the bodies
of dead men, and it is for that reason that he is such a
bloodhound." It was an evil hour for Bokhara when
the priests gave their sanction to the lust of their king,
and from the day when the High Priest caused it to be
cried from the house-tops that " the king is the shep-
herd : the subjects are the sheep. The shepherd may
do with the sheep as he thinks proper ; he may take
the wife from the husband, for the wife is the sheep of
the king as well as of her husband, and he may make
use of any other man's wife just as he pleases," he
plunged into a career of reckless and indescribable
debauchery. It is not surprising that such a monster
of iniquity should be found indulging in his lust for
blood up to the very last, or that the closing scene of
his life should display the beheading of his own wife in
his presence as he lay upon his deathbed.

Such was the monarch, advised and assisted by his
prime minister and brother in iniquity, the inhuman
Persian, Abd us-Samad, into whose hands fell the luck-
less Englishmen, Stoddart and Conolly. Despatched
by the Indian Government to enter into negotiations
with the ruler of Bokhara, they were treated as the
basest of criminals. At length came the rumour of
their death. Indignation at the callous behaviour of
the Government ran high ; and when at length the
already-mentioned traveller and missionary, Dr Wolff,

THE FAMOUS VERMIN PIT. 189

came forward and volunteered to go in person to Bok-
hara, he met with a ready support. The last authentic
news of the condition of the missing officers was sup-
plied by a letter from Captain Conolly to his brother, in
which he stated that "for four months they had no
change of raiment, their dungeon was in a most filthy
and unwholesome state, and teemed with vermin to a
deo-ree that rendered life a burden. Stoddart was
reduced to a skeleton, and his body was covered with
putrid sores." ^ It appears that the first rumours of
their death were incorrect, though they were eventually
taken from their cell and beheaded in the market-place
some time later, and prior to the arrival of their would-
be rescuer. " For the quietude of soul," wrote the rever-
end doctor, " of the friends of those murdered officers.
Colonel Stoddart and Captain Conolly, I have to observe
that they were both of them cruelly slaughtered at Bok-
hara, after enduring agonies from confinement in prison of
the most awful character — masses of their flesh having
been gnawn off their bones by vermin, in 1843."

I have said that the evidence points to a dungeon,
no longer existent, but which formerly stood within
the walls of the citadel itself, as the scene of their
confinement. Let me call to witness the Russian
KhanikofP once more : " From hence to the right of
the entrance [i.e., of the Ab-Khaneh in the ark] a
corridor leads into another prison, more dreadful than
the first, called the Kana-Khanah, a name which it has
received from the swarms of ticks which infest the place,
and are reared there on purpose to plague the wretched
prisoners. I have been told that in the absence of the
latter some pounds of raw meat are thrown into the
pit to keep the ticks alive ! " This, then, was the
notorious vermin pit, and from Conolly's information

1 Bokhara. Wolff.

190 BOKHARA THE NOBLE.

that " their dungeon was in a most filthy and un-
wholesome state and teemed with vermin,'' and from
Wolff's statement that " masses of their flesh had been
gnawn off their hones by vermin,'' one is led to the con-
clusion that it was in this loathsome hole that they
dragged out the terrible days of their confinement.
Whether it was in the one or the other, however, is
after all a matter of small importance — the glaring fact
remains that two British officers on official duty were
foully done to death without so much as a protest
being raised by the Government that had sent them
to their doom ; and no amount of explanation, had
explanation been given, could have wiped out the foul
blot which must for ever cast a stain upon the annals of
British government.

I have written of Bokhara as I saw it, as any traveller
would see it who chanced to visit there to-day, and I
have recalled some of those stories which are insepar-
ably connected with its name. I have made no attempt
to give any comprehensive description of the town, or
to enumerate its mosques and madressahs, or its baths,
or its bazaars. All this has been done before, often
and well, and any one who is desirous of detailed in-
formation concerning them will find it in the works of
men so well qualified to give it as Burnes, Wolff,
Khanikoff, Vambery, Schuyler, or Lansdell, to mention
but a few of those who have written upon the subject.
Nor have I amassed statistics of its trade, for such
trade is of little interest to Englishmen to-day. Once
upon a time Bokhara enjoyed a trade to the amount
of 3000 tons a-year with India, importing indigo, tea,
and English manufactures along the trade-routes of
Afghanistan,^ but the Transcaspian railway and — to
make use of the most euphemistic appellation — a scien-

^ AH the Eussias. Henry Norman.

RUSSIAN MANUFACTURES AT BOKHARA. 191

tific tariff have altered all that. To-day there is no
room for European merchants other than Russian in
those countries which lie immediately north of the
Pamirs or the Hindu Kush, where '* Russian prints,
calicoes, and cottons are successfully competing with
the far more beautiful native materials, and hideous
brocades from Moscow debauch the instinctive good
taste of the East ! " '

^ Eussia in Central Asia. Lord Curzon.

192 SAMARKAND.

CHAPTER XVII.

SAMARKAND.

Samarkand one of the great cities of Central Asia — The vicissitudes through
which it has passed — Timur's capital— Description of Timur — Samar-
kand taken by the Russians — A brilliant episode — The buildings of
Samarkand — The market square — A meal in the bazaar — The tomb of
Tamerlane — The mosque of Bibi Khanum — The mosque of "the
living king" — Ishak Khan — The end of the railway.

" Samarkand is the face of the earth : Bokhara the
marrow of Islam : were there not in Meshed an azure
dome the whole world would be merely a ditch for
ablution," — which saying testifies to the honour in
which were held the two great cities of Central Asia.
For if Bokhara is one of the great names which ring
through the history of Central Asia, Samarkand is
assuredly the other, the fame of which, suffused with
a halo of glory, comes echoing from a remote antiquity
clown the dim corridors of time.

A large and flourishing city, with walls 70 stadia in
circumference when it succumbed to the military genius
of Alexander the Great, the victim of the wildest
vicissitudes, it passed by fire and sword from one
conqueror to another till, adorned and beautified as
the capital of Timur, it reached the highest pinnacle
of its magnificence. Alexander the Great, Seyid ibn
'Othman, Harthama, Jengis Khan, Tamerlane, and

THE CAPITAL OF TAMERLANE. 193

Baber, — such are the names which stand emblazoned
upon the victorious scroll of its conquerors. Small
wonder, then, that though the day of its greatness is
long passed, it should even in its ruin remain one of
the most impressive cities upon earth.

The journey thither from Bokhara is to-day one of
the simplest things in the world. You step into the
train at midday and you reach Samarkand, if you are
lucky, some hours before midnight — how long before
depending of course upon the punctuality or lack of it
of your train. I arrived at 11 p.m., but then we had
started two hours late.

It is, of course, as the immortal capital of Tamerlane
that you think of Samarkand to-day, because it is
the ruins of the great mosques and madressahs and
mausolea which he built, and which merit the appli-
cation of the encomium of a Persian poet that " even in
this broken state they are still better than 100,000
intact ones," which are responsible for its world-wide
fame. You may look ujDon a jumble of insignificant
debris close by and be told that you are in the pre-
cincts of the city of Afrasiab, that hero of ancient
myth, " strong as an elephant, whose shadow extended
for miles, whose heart was bounteous as the ocean, and
his hands like the clouds when rain falls to gladden the
earth," or you may pause for a moment to think of the
Marcanda that fell to the hero of Macedon ; but when
you stand before the great buildings which are the
glory of Samarkand, it is to their renowned founder
that your thoughts are inevitably recalled.

Tamerlane, we are told, was a man of an inordinate
ugliness, though enjoying, it would seem, as Cardinal
De Betz says of De Bouillon, " with the physiognomy of
an ox the perspicacity of an eagle." He was certainly
lame, as his name suggests, — Timur leng, Timur the

N

194 SAMARKAND.

lame, whence our Tamerlane, — and he was blind in one
eye. One day while being waited upon by the barber
he chanced to catch sight of himself in the glass, and
was so struck by his appearance that he began to weep
violently, in which he was joined by his companion
Chodscha. At the expiration of two hours the king
ceased weeping, but Chodscha then began wailing in
good earnest. Timur, surprised, demanded the reason
of his renewed lamentation, to whom Chodscha replied,
" If thou hast only seen thy face once, and at once
seeing hast not been able to contain thyself, but hast
wept, what should we do — we who see thy face every
day and night ! " So say the Persians. It would seem
from the above that, as the Persian poet Saadi once
said of a compatriot, he was "so ugly and crabbed
that a sight of him would derange the ecstasies of the
orthodox ! " In which respect he resembles another
great monarch, who was so adverse to seeing his own
likeness that he was at last unwilling that it should
appear on his country's coins. Wherefore it is the
two-headed eagle of Byzantium that is stamped on
the rouble of Russia.

But whatever can be said against Tamerlane on the
grounds of his personal appearance, nothing can be said
against his success as a conqueror or against his accom-
plishments as an architect, whereby his city became
one of the proudest in the world and the beloved resort
a century later of the renowned Sultan Baber.

The city fell into the hands of the Russians under
General Kaufmann in May 1868, and was the scene of
what has been described as being " one of the brightest
and most glorious pages in all the history of the
Russian advance in Asia.''^ A small garrison under
Major Stempel, left to hold the city by General Kauf-

^ Turkestan. Schuyler.

THE MONUMENTS OF SAMARKAND. 195

maim, who had set out with the main army in pursuit
of the Amir of Bokhara, found itself surrounded by a
hostile force of 20,000 men from Shahrisabs. For five
days, during which the greatest heroism was displayed
by the beleaguered party, the position remained critical ;
but at length the one messenger who escaped with his
life out of seven who were sent, succeeded in apprising
General Kaufmann of the desperate plight of the de-
fenders. No time was lost ; the general returned post-
haste with his troops, and the enemy were smitten hip
and thigh. Thousands of prisoners, we are told, were
massacred in cold blood, and the city was given over
for three days to pillage.

The city of to-day is, of course, not the city of the
fourteenth century, when, embellished by its Tartar
king, its glory was at its height ; but nevertheless, in
spite of the vandalism of Usbeg and Turk, of the shock
of earthquakes and of the Russian occupation, its monu-
ments even in their ruin stand unique and whisper
faintly of a greatness that is past. The most celebrated
buildings are the three stupendous madressahs which
form three sides of the E,igistan, — the noblest public
square, according to Lord Curzon, in the world, — the
mosque of Shah Zindeh, the madressah of Bibi Khanum,
the Chinese wife of Timur, and the Gur Amir, or tomb
of Tamerlane himself All these buildings originally
were, and to a great extent still are, covered with a
network of designs in brilliantly coloured enamel tile-
work, presenting a picture of kaleidoscopic beauty in
the flashing rays of an Eastern sun.

The three madressahs above alluded to are known,
as has been set forth by every writer upon Samarkand,
as those of Ulug Beg the grandson of Timur, of Shir
Dar the lion-bearing, and of Tillah Kari the gold-
plated, and date from the years 1421, 1601, and 1618

196 SAMARKAND.

respectively. Their massive proportions and grandeur
of design compel the gaze and burn a picture upon the
tablets of the brain which can never be effaced. Grand,
solemn, impressive, are the epithets they conjure up,
and all round, in the space which they enclose, the
thronging multitudes and noisy booths seem small,
puny, inconsequent in comparison.

Yet there is much that attracts here also, when the
mind has had its fill of these enduring monuments, and
can focus itself upon the trivialities of the present.
Seated upon the ground in a corner of this colossal
square was a specimen of that strange genus the story-
teller of the East. As his voice rose on the still morn-
ing air, a little crowd of long-robed gaudy-coloured
humanity thronged round him, jostling one another,
chattering trivialities, or listening wide-eyed to the
speaker's tale. I listened, and, understanding not,
took a surreptitious photograph (see illustration), and
passed on. A cook-shop suggested food and refresh-
ment. Was there any place where I could lunch ?
Certainly not. I was pressed for time, and had not
delivered my letters of introduction to Russian officials.
What did that matter ? I was in Rome, and would do
as Rome did, so I ate shashlik in the bazaar, alternate
nobs of mutton and fat roasted on skewers, one skewer
to each mouthful, and drank sherbet out of small incon-
venient handleless bowls. It was all eminently in keep-
ing with my surroundings, and I would not have had it
otherwise.

I feel that I ought to say something about the other
striking ruins of Samarkand, though it has all been
said far better than I can say it many times before. I
visited them all, of course : the tomb of Timur, the
mosque of Shah Zindeh, the mosque and madressah of
Bibi Khanum, and even a gigantic cenotaph at some

THE TOMB OF TAMERLANE. 197

distance from the city, reputed to mark the tomb of
Daniel. I mildly suggested that it was Daniyal Bi, of
the house of Mangit, who ruled over Bokhara in the
eighteenth century that was meant, but was indig-
nantly scoffed at, and informed that it was the prophet
Daniel.

In the Gur Amir a vast slab of green jade stands in
his memory on the floor above the vault, beneath which
the last remains of the great Tamerlane lie. A great
crack in the block shows where it was once cut in half
by some avaricious khan, I was told, who expected to
find treasure inside, though this desecration has also
been attributed to Nadir Shah. The two pieces have
been joined with cement ; but only two years ago the
mausoleum was broken into once more, certain tomb-
stones being carried off, and the cenotaph of Timur
itself, though not removed, coming in for rough
handling.

The gigantic proportions of its arches and dome are
perhaps the most striking feature of the great building
which bears the name of Bibi Khanum, as is the ex-
quisite tile work of the mosque of Shah Zindeh, the
living king. This latter structure was raised by Timur
in the year 1323 on the spot where one Kasim Ibn
Abbas preached Mohammedanism, and was martyred
1266 years ago. So at least said the Mullah in charge.
There w^as a prophecy that he would appear to defeat
the Russians when they came ; but, as Mr Schuyler
remarks, " Samarkand was occupied, and Shah Zindeh
appeared not, so that his fame has of late somewhat
fallen off." ^ Nevertheless, it is still supposed that
Shah Zindeh will come again when the triumph of
Islam shall* have extended to the uttermost ends of
the earth.

^ Turkestan. Schuyler.

198 SAMARKAND.

Of quite another kind is the interest which attaches
to Samarkand as the home of Ishak Khan, pretender
to the Afghan throne, and compulsory guest of his
Russian hosts. The feeHngs of the small party of
Russian officers who were inspecting land on the Oxus
banks at the time of the death of the late Amir Abdur
Rahman Khan, himself a former refugee at the same
city, must have been of a mixed description when the
rumour reached them that Ishak had escaped. Happily
the rumour proved untrue, and Ishak still lingers at
Samarkand.

Beyond here the railway penetrates to Andijan, in
the heart of the cotton country, passing by Tcher-
nayevo, Khokand, and Marghilan, and from Tcher-
nayevo a branch runs north to Tashkent, the capital
of Turkestan, and for the time being terminus of a
railway which has played a part in the pacification of
the wild peoples of Central Asia, the development of
their country, and the consolidating of the Russian
power, which may well surpass even the sanguine
hopes of its enterprising promoter.

TASHKENT. 199

CHAPTER XVIII.

ACROSS THE STEPPES OF TURKESTAN.

A Russian capital in Asia — Old Tashkent — Its capture by the Russians —
Railway projects — The Tashkent-Orenburg line — The Tomsk-Tash-
kent line — Advantages of post-roads — Carriages purchased — Method
of travelling — A post-house — Rate of speed attainable — The steppes of
Turkestan — The life of the steppe — Tchimkent — The Chinese frontier
— Through Semirechensk — The Siberian frontier — Monotony of travel
— The character of the steppe borderland — Semipalatinsk — From
Semipalatinsk to Barnaul — Reach Barnaul.

When one speaks of Tashkent at the present day, one
refers to a modern Russian town with a population of
between 40,000 and 50,000, which has not yet seen its
fortieth anniversary. Broad, airy streets, with channels
of running water and avenues of tall poplar- trees, behind
which rise rows of well-built houses and excellent shops,
everywhere meet the eye ; while shady public gardens,
an imposing-looking college, where, among other accom-
plishments, the rising generation are taught the English
tongue, and an excellent Government House, which has
sheltered men with names writ large in the records of
Russian expansion in Asia, and where now, beloved
and respected by all around him, General Ivanoff
resides in his capacity of Governor-General of the
vast district of Turkestan, further serve to apprise

200 ACROSS THE STEPPES OF TURKESTAN.

one that he has reached a capital and centre of
administration.^

Adjoining the modern town is the old Tashkent of
100,000 inhabitants, close to which rise the earthern
ramparts of the old fort stormed and captured by
General Tchernaieff in 1865 — the ardent general hav-
ing carefully omitted to read the despatch from Tsar
Alexander 11. forbidding him to attack the city until
after he had captured it ! — and now occupied by Russian
soldiers ; but, unlike Bokhara or Samarkand, it can
boast of no historic buildings or mosques and madres-
sahs of special note, so that, as I have said, it is of the
chief town of a Russian province that one thinks when
mention is made of Tashkent. For similar reasons there
is little to be found there of any great interest for the
traveller ; and after the best part of a week spent at
the chief numera — the very moderate substitute for a
hotel which is to be found in the chief Russian towns
in Asia — owing to unavoidable delay in obtaining the
conveyances necessary for my further journey, I was
glad enough to take my leave of the capital and to
start on my journey once more. I should, however, be
guilty of gross ingratitude were I to fail to acknow-
ledge before leaving the kindness and hospitality of
the Russian officials whose acquaintance I was fortun-
ate enough to make. Should these lines ever chance to
meet the eye of the gentleman to whose genial company
are due my pleasantest recollections of Tashkent, may
he read in them the sincere, though wholly inade-
quate, expression of gratitude of a wanderer in a
strange land.

For the present, unless you wish to return the way

1 It may be of interest to the advocates of afforestation to leam that
since the Eussian occupation, when trees— poplars and Turkestan elms —
were largely planted, the rainfall has increased by 250 per cent.

THE TASHKENT - ORENBURG LINE. 201

you came— ^.e., along the Transcaspian railway — you
must give yourself up to the tender mercies of the
tarantass and the post-road. I say for the present,
because the railways which Eussia has built in Asia m
the course of the last twenty-five years will ere long be
increased by lines which will connect her vast terri-
tories in Central Asia with European Russia on the
one hand and with the great Trans-Siberian railway
system on the other.

The first of the two great lines of railway which she
has in view is the Tashkent- Orenburg Hne, to be com-
pleted by January 1 (14), 1905. Running north from
Tashkent to Tchimkent, and thence north-west via
Turkestan to Orenburg, where it will join the railway
system of European Russia, it will cover in all a dis-
tance of 1600 versts, or 1056 miles. It will be seen
that, in constructing this line, Russia is merely giving
material shape to her original scheme of a railway to
Central Asia, the project, that is, which was ofiicially
reported upon in 1873, and vigorously advocated by
General Kaufmann, the Governor of Tashkent at that
time, and which was taken up with feverish energy in
the more grandiose guise of an overland route to India
by the indefatigable de Lesseps, long before the present
Transcaspian railway had even been thought of The
large outlay which it was at that time recognised would
be necessary to construct and maintain a railway across
many hundred miles of unpopulated and unproductive
steppe no longer appears to constitute an obstacle to its
construction, while the objection to the line on the
grounds of its becoming a damaging rival to the Ivans-
caspian railway seems to have disappeared, or at any
rate to have been overruled, since it is now well on the
road to completion. The necessity of bringing water
from a distance has proved a source of difticulty and

202 ACROSS THE STEPPES OF TURKESTAN.

delay at the Tashkent end of the line, where 130
versts had been finished at the time of my visit,
while I was informed that at the Orenburg end a
distance of 200 versts had been completed and was
ready for traffic.^

The second great line which is being discussed is
that known as the Tomsk-Tashkent line, which will
follow the direction of the post - road over which I
travelled via Tchimkent, Verni, Semipalatinsk, and
Barnaul, whence it is suggested that it should make a
bend in order to take in the government coal and iron
mines at Salaiire. From here a branch would be built
to Kunetzsk, and the main line would have its junction
with the Siberian system at the station of Polonosh-
naya. It is not proposed, however, to embark upon
this line until the Tashkent-Orenburg line is finished,
when the Minister of Finance has promised the scheme
his serious consideration. I may point out, that in
addition to the obvious strategic importance of such
lines, they will possess the further advantage of putting
the valuable cotton -growing lands of Ferghana into
close touch with the great corn-growing districts of
Siberia,^ and then, when no apprehension need be felt

* A telegram from Orenburg at the end of June of the present year
(1904) states that the navvy ing work on the section of the line linking
the northern and southern stretches is approaching completion, and that
900 versts of the line have already been successfully laid from the Oren-
burg end, virhile 540 have been laid from the Tashkent end. Passenger
trains run twice a- week from Orenburg to Aktiubinsk, and, adds the
telegram, in a few days' time the railway will be opened to " commercial "
traffic between Tashkent and Perovsk.

' The system of charges on Russian railways, whether for passengers or
goods, is known as the zone system, which necessarily favours long journeys,
the charges for long distances being relatively much lower than those for
short ones. To such an extent did this system favour the corn-growers
of Siberia, that it was found necessary, in the case of the Siberian railway,
to break the tariff at Cheliabinsk, to prevent an outbreak among the
farmers of the Volga basin, owing to the market being upset by the low

CARRIAGES PURCHASED. 203

on the score of famine, and the whole of the lands of
Ferghana can consequently be given up to the pro-
duction of cotton, Russia will be on the highroad to
realising one of her ambitions — namely, to supply from
her own dominions the whole of the increasing demand
of those cotton factories which have sprung up in recent
years to make Moscow a modern manufacturing city.

Until these lines are built, however, recourse must
be had to the post-roads to carry one over the huge
expanse of steppe -land of Turkestan and Southern
Siberia. Let me try and give some idea of what travel-
ling on a post-road in Asia is like.

First, if, as in my case, you have much baggage, it
is advisable to purchase vehicles for yourself and your
belongings. For any one travelling light these can be
found at each post-station ; but if not, unpacking and
packing up the baggage involves much trouble and
delay, and it is better to have your own. I bought a
tarantass and another cart of similar construction for
£10 apiece, and, as I subsequently drove close upon
2500 miles in them, consider that they were cheap at
the price. The tarantass is not an ideal carriage for
comfort, being possessed neither of seats nor of springs ;

prices of Siberian corn. The system is explained by Vladimir in his
' Eussia on the Pacific ' : —

" The price of tickets on Eussian railways is charged per verst only up
to a distance of 300 versts ; greater distances are charged according to
zone,

of 25 versts for distances from 301 to 500 versts.
30 M .. 501 II 710 II

35 n 11 711 II 990 II

40 II II 991 II 1510 II

For distances above 1510 versts, the zones are of 50 versts. Above 325
versts the price of each zone is 20 kopecks third class, 30 kopecks second,
and 50 kopecks first class. As the zones increase, the cost therefore rela-
tively decreases : thus to travel 1000 versts (over 660 English miles), from
1510 to 2510 versts in first, second, and third class, costs respectively 10, 6,
and 4 roubles."

204 ACROSS THE STEPPES OF TURKESTAN.

but, like everything else, to get used to it is merely a
matter of time. I frequently travelled day and night,
and found that with a little practice I was even able
to sleep tolerably well.

The recognised method of travelling is with the
troika — three horses abreast — and the charge is 3
kopecks per horse per verst (a fraction over a penny
a mile) in Turkestan and 1|- kopecks in Siberia, with
an additional payment of 10 kopecks per horse per
stage, as government dues. The post-houses exist at
intervals of from 15 to 30 versts — say 10 to 20 miles —
and are quite innocent of any attraction. A room with
a screen or partition, behind which will be found a
hard couch, or sometimes, at the larger stations, two
rooms with bare whitewashed walls, form the accom-
modation which awaits the traveller. A huge stove
built into the wall is the feature of the furniture, the
remainder being made up of a table, bench — sofa is too
euphemistic a term — and two or three chairs. The
bareness of the whitewashed walls is in every case
accentuated by coloured prints of the Tsar and Tsarina,
a photograph of the governor -general of the province,
a few sets of rules and regulations in black wooden
frames, and the inevitable ikon. Occasionally to these
adornments was added an advertisement proclaiming
the excellence of the MacCormick reaper and other
agricultural implements manufactured by that company.
In the rooms which form the remainder of the house
live the postmaster and his wife and family. Nothing
is obtainable except eggs, milk, and hot water — the
samovar is found everywhere — and, unless you happen
to arrive at a post-house when the postmaster is taking
his daily meal of broth, you must live on tea and eggs,
supplemented by such provisions as your forethought
may have prompted you to bring with you.

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SPEED ATTAINABLE ON POST- ROADS. 205

The rate of speed attainable varies according to
circumstances. If you are a Russian official you travel
fast, for both postmaster and driver stand in awe of
officialdom, and you have preference over ordinary
travellers in the matter of horses. One gentleman in
an official position told me that before the days of the
railway in Siberia he once travelled 1000 versts (660
miles) in forty-eight hours ! And a lady, the wife of
an official, travelled from Verni to the Chinese frontier,
a distance of 237 miles, in thirty-five consecutive hours,
while I was at Kulja. My own rate of speed, however,
rose little above an average of 100 versts a-day, horses
being scarce in parts, and long dreary waits at the miser-
able post-houses frequent. Thus I find that I occupied
thirteen days and two hours in driving from Tashkent
to Kulja, a distance of 1224 J versts, or 808 miles, of
which time 124|- hours were spent waiting for horses
at various post-stations, including a wait of 17|- hours
at Verni while my passports were undergoing exam-
ination. Allowing a further average wait of an hour
at each post-station while horses were being changed,
meals taken, and, as was often the case, the convey-
ances being repaired, I was on the move for 133|-
hours, which gives an average speed while actually
travelling of a fraction over six miles an hour; this
low rate of speed being due chiefly to the badness of
the road and to the slow progress we made at nights.
I remember reaching a post-station one evening with
both carriages in urgent need of repairs. On arrival
I immediately requested the postmaster to send for
the blacksmith. " Very good," he replied ; "I will
bring him if he is not drunk ! " I suppose he was — it
was Sunday evening — as nothing was done till next
morning.

The country which one traverses is possessed of a

206 ACROSS THE STEPPES OF TURKESTAN.

terrible monotony. Day after day the far-reaching
steppes of Turkestan spread out their carpet of luxuriant
grass before one, splashed here and there with patches
of brilliant colour, formed by masses of poppies and
magnificent tulips ; but it is only at long intervals,
where a settlement has grown up round a post-station,
that trees or houses appear to give any variety to the
uninterrupted landscape. Kanges of mountains are
always visible to the south, now nearer, now farther
away — at first the Alexandrovski Mountains, and farther
on the spurs of the Alatau ; and looking out to the
right after passing Verni, you might imagine that you
were gazing at the Grampians, until a glance to the
other side dispels the illusion — there is no room in Scot-
land for the endless expanse which here meets the eye.

Sometimes you see in the distance collections of what
you take to be trim little hay-cocks, until a nearer
acquaintance apprises you of the fact that they are
Kirgiz yurts, the curious tents of grey felt, stretched
over wooden frames, in which these nomads live. At
others you meet long strings of camels carrying away a
whole village of yurts on their backs, a desire for change
having prompted their owners to seek new lands and
pastures for their flocks. Indeed, camels were the
beasts most in evidence — they were even being used
in the plough in one or two places; but large flocks
of sheep, droves of cattle, and herds of horses are
also to be seen, though hardly in the quantities one
would expect in so magnificent a pastoral country.
In addition to the Kirgiz, one may see long lines of
wooden carts moving along at funereal pace, or out-
spanned by the roadside — Russian emigrants these,
seeking new homes and fortunes in the East.

After leaving Tashkent, the road runs north for a
distance of seventy-six miles to Tchimkent, stormed by

THE CAPTURE OF TGHIMKENT. 207

the combined forces of Colonels Tchernaieff and Veref-
kin in the days of the Kussian advance, and then turns
east, passing through the small towns of Aulie Ata and
Pishpek to Verni, now a considerable town grown up
round the original fort constructed in 1854 between
Lakes Balkash and Issi Kul, distant from Tashkent 509
miles. The old fort still stands at Tchimkent, and
made an impressive picture as I gazed at it in the grey
light of dawn from the vicinity of the post-house.
There is a story of a curious mistake which led to its
capture by the Russians. A soldier who had been
slightly wounded at the beginning of the operations
called out for the surgeon, " Dok-tu-ra." His comrades,
hearing only "u-ra!" — the Russian hurrah — flung
themselves to the assault, and carried the citadel with
a loss of only five men.^

After leaving Verni the road turns north to the Hi
river, which it crosses 555 miles from Tashkent, and
then north-east into the mountainous country on the
east of Semirechensk — the land of seven rivers. At
Altin Imel, a small station 632 miles from Tashkent,
the road to the Chinese frontier at Khorgos branches
off, and after passing the frontier proceeds to the
Chinese town of Kulja, 62 miles farther on, and 808
miles from Tashkent.

Of the chequered history in recent years of this
remote appanage of the " Son of Heaven," and of its
present position, I shall have something to say in a sub-
sequent chapter, omitting to do so now in order that,
for the sake of convenience, I may here complete the
sketch of my journey along the post-road.

From Altin Imel, then, you travel on northwards
through mountainous country for some distance, passing
the small town of Kopala, a short distance beyond

^ See Schuyler's Turkestan, vol. ii. p. 75.

208 ACROSS THE STEPPES OF TURKESTAN.

which you emerge on to the level plains east of Lake
Balkash. Here a stretch of sandy desert is crossed,
where the various scrub and herb life which one learns
to look for in sandy soil take the place of grass ; but
after the zone of sand is passed the scene again pre-
sents the same grass-covered treeless expanse which has
accompanied you the whole way. The last town in
Turkestan is Sergiopol, and 17 miles farther on, and 1003
from Tashkent, the frontier of Siberia is reached. The
next 160 miles, as far as the town of Semipalatinsk,
are perhaps the most dreary of the whole journey, if,
indeed, it is possible to discriminate in such a country.
I often drove 20 miles at a stretch without seeing a
sign of life beyond an occasional vulture soaring high
overhead, or sitting brooding on a telegraph-pole, and I
was consequently not in the least surprised to learn
that the population of Semipalatinsk averages only 1*7
to the square verst. The intense monotony of journey-
ing across a country such as this can easily be con-
ceived. As hour after hour went by, the quaint
refrain of one of Whyte - Melville's songs thumped
and hammered through my brain, keeping exaggerated
time with the perpetual jolts and bumps of my crazy
carriage : —

" Kext came the Moor-land,

The Mooi'-land, the Moor-land —
Next came the Moor-land,

It stretched for many a mile."

Substitute Steppe-land for Moor-land, and you have an
exact presentation of the scene.

The soil, as in other parts of the Siberian steppe
border-land, varies from fertile black earth to sands,
clay, gypsum, marl, and salt marshes, with a flora
characterised by dwarf bushes, often thorny and some-
times covered with grey foliage, dwarf almond, wild

8EMIPALATINSK. 209

cherry, hawthorn, and saxsaul, while among the her-
baceous vegetation wormwood, willow-herb, feather-
grass, and reeds are conspicuous. Agriculture is hope-
lessly handicapped by the climatic conditions : want of
rain and irrigation, the high temperature which is usual
by the end of May, sand-storms which sweep across the
plain in summer, and blizzards which devastate the
country in winter. Industrial development in so thinly
populated a country is naturally insignificant, and the
rearing of live-stock, being the only form of husbandry
to which the land is suited, forms the chief occupation
of its people. So vast is the country and so scattered
the population that one observes no great quantity of
cattle as one travels through it, but, according to sta-
tistics compiled a few years ago, there were upwards
of three million head of live-stock in the Semipalatinsk
district, of which more than half consisted of sheep, the
remainder being made up of horses, cattle, camels, and
goats.

At last a thin line of trees becomes visible, marking
the course of the Irtish river, and the roofs and spires
of Semipalatinsk rise on the horizon. After what one
has become accustomed to for days, the town seems
almost magnificent ; but its magnificence is comparative.
There are a few good houses of brick, and the churches
and cathedrals, with their whitewashed exteriors and
green cupolas and gilded spires, produce a certain efiect ;
but the large majority of the houses are small and built
of wood, and the whole population does not exceed
30,000. The ground all round is flat and sandy, and
the climate liable to be unpleasantly hot in summer
and intensely cold in winter.

The few^ shops are tolerably well supplied with
European goods, thanks to the communication with
Omsk on the Siberian railway afforded by the Irtish

0

210 ACROSS THE STEPPES OF TURKESTAN.

river, down which steamers ply twice a-week during
the summer, when the river is not frozen. In the
winter communication is maintained with the same
place by a post-road 479^ miles in length. Alabaster
is found near the town, and some years ago very rich
beds of manganese were discovered not far off in the
Arkalik Mountains, though this is but a small item of
the vast mineral wealth that abounds in these remote
dominions of the Tsar.

North of Semipalatinsk I found the country much
more populous, — large villages of log-built houses at the
end of every stage and sometimes in between, trees
growing in many places, especially along the river-
banks, and the country altogether presenting a more
promising appearance. I had in fact reached one of the
most fertile tracts of Siberia, whose possibilities are
enormous ; but let me at once say that I was not very
greatly impressed with the settlers there. They struck
me as being rude, uneducated peasants, — even the
master of the post-horses could seldom read or write,
a clerk as a rule being attached to the post-station for
this purpose, — and hardly the stamp of men to found a
colony. They may be a degree more enlightened than
the Cossacks, who were the first settlers in these
territories ; but that is not saying a great deal, and I
do not think that there is much chance of the most
being made of this country of magnificent possibilities
by its present occupants.

Three hundred and eleven miles beyond Semipalatinsk
and 1542 beyond Tashkent stands Barnaul, the capital
of one of the districts of the Tomsk Government ; but
some account of this and of the adjoining districts of
Biisk and Zeminogorsk, whose development is so in-
timately connected with the Siberian railway, will be
better reserved for another chapter.

THE SEEDS OF DISSENSION. 211

CHAPTER XIX.

KULJA.

Yakub Khan — Internal disorder in Kulja in the 'Sixties — Eussian inter-
ference— A ghastly holocaust — Eeport of a Chinese official — Russian
assurances — Tso-Chungt-'ang, a Chinee of " great steadfastness of pur-
pose " — The reconquest of Turkestan by China — Difficulties with Russia
— Gordon summoned — The treaty of St Petersburg — What Russia
gained — The position of Kulja to-day — Suidon — Kulja — Mineral
wealth of the province — Tribes, sedentary and nomadic — Kirgiz and
Kalmuk — The Chinese quarter — A visit to the Taotai — The future of
Kulja — Russian intrigue with Tibet.

I MUST now retrace my steps for a moment to the
Chinese province of Kulja. Like most parts of Central
Asia, Kulja has enjoyed a chequered career, and has
been the scene in modern times of at least its fair share
of Eastern disorder and intrigue. While Yakub Khan,
after raising his master to the throne of Khokand and
then deposing him in his own favour, was parading
himself before the Central Asian world in the character
of the "Athalik Ghazi" or "Champion Father," the
seeds of dissension, which he had so successfully fos-
tered, spread north of the Thian Shan, where, thanks
to the juxtaposition of rival creeds and conflicting
interests, the flame of rebellion was soon fanned into a
very tolerable conflagration.

The thread which runs through the tale of massacre
and strife, which fills up the page of history devoted to

212 KULJA.

Kulja in the 'Sixties, is to be traced in the antagonism
existing between the Mohammedans and the Chinese,
thouo-h often obscured, it must be admitted, beneath a
cloud of intrigue and civil strife among the parties
themselves, carrying with it its inevitable concomitant
of bloodshed and atrocity. For a time the Russians
preserved the attitude of interested spectators along
the border-line of their recently acquired territories ;
but the time at length came when it appeared to them
that their turn for creating a diversion had arrived.
Marauders were plying their trade along the borders
with unabashed audacity, while the stormy petrel,
Yakub Khan, was engaged in a promising war against
the Dungans — the descendants of a race settled in very
early times in the provinces of Han-su and Shen-si,
Chinese in all save religion — of Urumtsi and Turfan,
which would in all probability result in his eventual
occupation of Kulja. So wrote the Russian oiEcials,
determined on acquisition, in a specious despatch to
St Petersburg.

An affray between a Russian outpost and a body of
Tarantchis — Mohammedan natives of Kulja — presented
an opportune excuse for an immediate advance, and in
the course of eleven days an army of 4000 Tarantchis
had been defeated, two cities occupied, the submission
of the Tarantchi sultan accepted, and the capital en-
tered by General Kolpakofsky.

But the Tarantchis were determined upon one final
holocaust, and, despite the proximity of the Russians,
succeeded in drenching the grave of their supremacy in
a veritable sea of blood. Enrag'ed at the surrender of
their chief, they fell upon the wretched Dungans and
Chinese in the city and its neighbourhood, and massacred
upwards of 2000 of them in the course of a single night,
no less than 500 corpses being found next morning in a

KULJA OCCUPIED BY RUSSIA. 213

canal in the precincts of the city. The Chinese official
Lu-tsu-han, in a report written for his Government,
which fell, however, into the hands of the Russians,
says : " There were many instances that in lonely places
they actually caught Mantchus and Chinese and killed
them. Happily Heaven did not permit the human race
to end. Now the leader of the great Russian empire,
the Dzian-Dziun of Semiretch, with his army inspired
with humanity and truth, has quieted every one. This
petty foreign Power (Russia !) saved the nation from
fire and water, it subdued the whole four countries
without the least harm, so that children are not fright-
ened, and the people submitted not without delight and
ecstasy ! " ^

How vastly more entertaining would our own consular
reports be, were they permeated by a similar sense of
humour !

The Russian expedition was an undoubted success,
and had, therefore, to be approved by the statesmen
on the Neva, who were in reality far from pleased at
these further acquisitions and consequent responsibili-
ties. The Government at Peking were informed of the
occupation, and assured of the readiness of the Russian
Government to restore the province to its rightful
owners, as soon as a Chinese force of sufficient strength
to occupy and preserve order in the district should
arrive.

For once China showed herself capable of a deter-
mined and wholly unexpected fixity of purpose. Tso-
Chungt-'ang, the general to whom the task of reconquer-
ing Turkestan was delegated, was a man, as Professor
Douglas remarks, " of proved ability and of great stead-
fastness of purpose." Before him stretched a dreary
waste, dotted at distant and lonely intervals by small

1 Schuyler's Turkestan, vol. ii. p. 188.

214 KULJA.

oases ; beyond again lay Turkestan. With a contempt
for time, which was as delightful as it was character-
istic, but with an altogether unlooked-for tenacity, the
general embarked upon his task. His soldiers became
husbandmen, the land was ploughed, seed was sown,
and in due season crops were reaped, and the danger of
famine thus averted — hey, presto ! the Celestial farmers
became the soldiers of the green banner once more, and
the expedition resumed its way.

The result was a complete success. Urumtsi and
Manas soon fell — not without hideous slaughter in the
case of the latter : the notorious Yakub was compelled
to fly : Aksu, Yarkand, Kashgar, and Khoten capitu-
lated, and by the year 1878 the task of conquest had
been completed.

Seven years, however, had elapsed since the occupa-
tion of Kulja by Russia, who was no longer in a mood
to restore the lost property without ample remunera-
tion, and a leisurely diplomatic duel ensued. A treaty
concluded at Livadia by the Chinese official Chunghou
— the same that had been sent to France in 1871 to
apologise for the massacre of sixteen French sisters of
charity at Tientsin — so incensed the Court at Peking
that it was immediately repudiated, and its unfortunate
author handed over to the tender mercies of the Board
of Punishments, while Gordon of imperishable fame was
called in to lend the lustre of his reputation as stiffen-
ing for a Chinese army to be hurled against the might
of Russia. His mission was rendered abortive by his
repeated declaration on his way to the capital of his
intention to induce China to make peace — the very last
thing for which he had been summoned ; and eventually
the question, after dragging its tedious length along
the obscure channels of oriental diplomacy and intrigue,
found a solution in the treaty of St Petersburg, con-

THE TREATY OF ST PETERSBURG. 215

eluded in February of the year 1881, with the assist-
ance and advice of the British Government, by the
Marquis Tseng.

With regard to the treaty, it must be observed that,
however much the authorities at St Petersburg may
have declared themselves opposed to the action of their
subordinates on the spot in 1871, and however loud
their protestations of their readiness to restore the
province to its rightful owners, they did not hesitate
to make the most of the advantageous position in
which they found themselves in 1881. The western
half of the country remains Russian to this day. Nine
million metallic roubles were paid by China for the
restoration of the eastern half. The towns in which
Kussia had the right of appointing consuls were added
to, and the exclusive rights of navigating the rivers of
Manchuria, accorded to the subjects of Russia and
China by the treaty of Aigun (1858), were confirmed.

The position of Kulja to-day — Chinese in name,
Russian the moment it pleases her that it should be so in
fact — is the natural outcome of the proceedings already
recorded, which culminated in the above treaty. After
crossing the frontier you very soon receive intimation
of your having entered the dominions of the " Son of
Heaven," for the road leads through a walled enclosure
— the Chinese custom-house, where you dismount while
a Chinese scribe traces incomprehensible hieroglyphics
on your passport. Forty versts farther on you come
to Suidon, once an important place as the seat where
that high official the governor - general of Chinese
Turkestan held court, and kept his soldiers and his
guns and all his munitions of war. When the Russian
came, however, and built his post-road and his Cossack
post, Chinese exclusiveness rebelled ; but, being unable
to oust the " foreign devil," retired a few miles into the

216 KULJA.

wilderness and built a new Suidon, where he now
reigns sheltered from foreign curiosity.

The town of Kulja itself affords an unmistakable
illustration of the status of the province. Russian
reality is there in the shape of a Russian consul and a
Cossack escort, a Russian post and telegraph office, and
the insurmountable fact that half the inhabitants of
the town are Russian subjects, while the dignity and
prestige of the Son of Heaven are ostentatiously dis-
played in the person of a Taotai or provincial governor,
and the whole gamut of minor officials and hangers-on.

I spent some days in the town of Kulja itself, and
had an opportunity of seeing something of the sur-
rounding country. The town is situated on the Hi
river, which here flows through a broad and fertile val-
ley enclosed by parallel ranges of handsome mountains.
There is no doubt that these mountains are possessed
of considerable mineral wealth. Coal is found not very
far off", and is worked, as far as I could gather, in a
desultory way by any one who feels inclined to go so far
to gather his supply of fuel. I was also told by some
of the nomad tribes that they found gold ; but this fact
they kept sedulously hidden from the authorities at
Kulja, for they said, " if the Chinese knew that there
was gold in the mountains, they would make us work it
for them, and we should never receive any of the profits
for ourselves." As it is, when these nomads are in
want of a little money, they send one of their number
down to Kulja to dispose of a nugget of gold in the
bazaar. If any questions are asked, the individual
replies that his father has died and left him a family
ornament (the gold) which has been in his family for
generations, but which he is obliged to dispose of for
want of funds.

The population in the vicinity of Kulja itself consists

KIRGIZ AND KALMUK. 217

chiefly of Tarantchis living in villages of mud houses,
and resembling the Turkish races of Central Asia
rather than the Chinese. In other parts — in the
Tekkes valley, for instance, higher up the river — the
population is composed exclusively of nomads, Kirgiz
and Kalmuks, living in villages of felt tents. Both
peoples are of Mongol origin and both lead the life of
nomads, herding and pasturing their flocks ; but while
the Kalmuks have retained their connection with their
ancestors both in appearance and religion, the Kirgiz
have drifted apart, disdaining to wear a pig-tail, and
practising, in name at least, the precepts of the Koran.
I had occasion more than once to spend the night in
a Kirgiz or Kalmuk yurt, and found them exceedingly
comfortable. I remember one in particular, the property
of the headman of a Kirgiz village, which was an ex-
cellent abode. Thick felts were spread on the ground,
and warm carpets over these. On one side were couches
of rugs and cushions, boxes containing the family pos-
sessions, and the simple household utensils in daily use.
In the centre, on the ground, blazed a cheerful fire;
and opposite us, on the far side, huge hunks of horse-
flesh were hanging from the roof. My host possessed
large herds of horses, amounting to 4000, while his
father, who had died two years before, had at one time
been the owner of as many as 10,000. I doubt if the
remarks made by Stumm in description of the Kirgiz
whom he met farther west, that " meat is only eaten on
holidays and at banquets in the very severe cold of
winter, or on an extraordinary occasion, when perhaps
some old or maybe sick camel or horse is found in the
camp which is of no further service for transport pur-
poses," ^ would be applicable to the Kirgiz of Hi. One
of the favourite drinks of these nomads, not only here

* Russia in Central Asia. Herr Stumm.

218 KULJA.

but in parts of Siberia as well, is kumiss or mare's milk,
which is supposed to be extremely nourishing and in-
vigorating, and is considered very good, though I am
bound to say that, speaking from personal experience, I
should think that the taste, as far as Europeans are
concerned, must be an acquired one. Another beverage
is made by distilling milk, the result being a colourless
liquid of no very pronounced or inviting flavour.

The Kirgiz women were bright and hospitable, and,
though Mohammedans, did not cover the face in the
presence of a stranger, but, on the contrary, welcomed
me and entertained me hospitably. Primogeniture
appears to be unknown, but a system of tenure, some-
what similar to that known as borough- English, is in
vogue, the youngest son remaining at home, and at his
father's death inheriting his fortune.

To return to the town of Kulja itself. The race
variety here is considerable. You may in the course of
a single morning see Kalmuks and Kirgiz come in to
make purchases in the bazaar ; Russians on official
duty, Sarts and Tartar merchants in pursuit of trade,
Chinese Mohammedans, and, lastly, the true Chinese,
living together in one quarter of the town. Here you
may stroll through the Chinese bazaar and see the
Chinaman as he is. Little groups of pig-tailed in-
dividuals are loitering about, eating odd messes at the
cooking shops with still odder-looking chop-sticks, and
drinking everlasting cups of tea. Huge streamers
covered with strange hieroglyphics hanging in front of
the shops tell of the goods to be obtained within —
birds' nests and jelly-fish, and a hundred other delicacies
dear to the Celestial soul ; trinkets and furs, and the
huge spectacles of dark -coloured crystal affected by the
Chinaman, together with a heterogeneous collection of
Chinese manufactured goods.

A VISIT TO THE TAOTAI. 219

Of course I called on the Taotai, or Chinese pro-
vincial governor. Passing through gateways and court-
yards emblazoned with representations of fearful demons,
dragons, and antediluvian monsters of the most ap-
proved type, I reached the hall of audience. I found
the Taotai a delightful, fat, good-natured Chinaman,
whose large round face was suffused with a perennial
smile. Delicacies of all sorts were placed before us,
which he of course ate with chop-sticks, though he was
thoughtful enough to provide his barbarian guest with
a two-pronged fork. Whenever any morsel, in any of
the many dishes, struck him as being of specially en-
ticing appearance, he seized it with his fingers and
placed it on my plate — the high-water mark of Chinese
politeness.

Later in the day he returned my call. The procession
was delightful. First walked a Chinaman in scarlet,
holding up an enormous scarlet umbrella, the emblem
of officialdom. Then came various retainers on foot
and on horseback, clothed in scarlet and purple, with
enormous soup plates embroidered on their backs ;
and last came the Taotai himself, in the most extra-
ordinary little Chinese cart, drawn, as is customary,
by a mule.

As to the future, Kulja has every prospect of remain-
ing in statu quo for many years to come. E-ussia has
nothing to gain by an immediate advance in this
direction, and, moreover, she was careful to see that
the province was at her mercy before she withdrew
under the treaty of 1881. The mineral wealth is there
in the earth, and is likely to remain there, for China
will most assuredly not develop it herself, and Russia
has enough, and more than enough, undeveloped
mineral wealth in Siberia and elsewhere to keep her
occupied for many a year to come. There are, besides.

220 KULJA.

other gateways into the land of old Cathay, which
hold out greater attractions than does the road
through Kulja. Mongolia is, no doubt, for the most
part, a land of singular unattractiveness ; but the
shortest and most direct and most practicable route
from Russia to Peking lies across the level stretches
of the Gobi Desert. Urga, the most important town
in all Mongolia, is dominated by and permeated by the
leavening Russian yeast, and plans and surveys have
been made for a line from the Siberian railway to
Peking via Kiachta, Urga, and Kalgan.^ To the
south, again, the mystery - enshrouded highlands of
Tibet hold out irresistible inducements to international
flirtation and intrigue, and evidence has been suffici-
ently apparent of late that the Russian bear is by no
means insensible to the charms of coquetting with the
hierarch of the Mecca of Central Asian Buddhism.
The mission from Tibet under the able guidance of the
Siberian Buriat Dorjieff, which arrived at Odessa in
October 1900, and was received by the Tsar himself at
Livadia a short time after, cannot be regarded as a
mere pleasure-trip, undertaken at the fancy of pleasure-
seeking officials ; nor are the subsequent Tibetan mission
to St Petersburg, bearing an autograph letter from the
supreme pontiff of Lhassa to the Tsar of Russia, or
the expedition of the Russianised Buriat, Professor
Tsybikoff, to the Tibetan capital, or the fact that rifles
bearing the stamp of the Russian Government factory
of Tula were found on the bodies of the Tibetans who
fell in the recent onslaught against the Indian political

^ I was informed by a Russian oflScial that the construction of this line had
been decided on, the 850 miles through Mongolia from Kiachta to Kalgan
to be built by Russia, and the remaining section from Kalgan to Peking
by China.

RUSSIAN INTRIGUE WITH TIBET. 221

mission in the Ohumbi valley, devoid of a distinct
significance.^

The southern regions of Chinese Turkestan, while
as much probably at the mercy of Russia as the less
important province of Kulja, have the supreme attrac-
tion, not possessed by the latter, of lying in contact
with the semi-independent States which border upon
the Indian Empire ; and the possibility of controlling
what Mr Chirol describes as " a great politico-religious
orsfanisation, whose influence can and does make itself
appreciably felt all along the north-eastern borderland
of India," is far more likely to appeal to the imagina-
tion of the chauvinist statesmen of Russia than an
advance into a part of the Chinese Empire which could
scarcely be deemed either necessary or advantageous,
as likely to lead, for the present at any rate, to any
further advancement in a policy of territorial aggran-
disement and acquisition.

1 The following passage from Prince Ukhtomski's account of the travels
of the Tsesarievitch in the East, is of considerable interest in this con-
nection. Speaking of the Buddhists in Eussia he says : " Every year
thousands of them go on pilgrimage to Mongolia and to the centres of
Tibetan learning. Pioneers of Russian trade and Eussian good fame,
representatives of the Eussian name in the depths of the yellow East,
are these simple little men in their worn garments, with their shaggy little
horses and their camels. These nameless natives march on to . . . the
mysterious Tashe-Llunpo and the highlands adjoining India, with as much
ease and briskness as we do in our suburban excursions. Everywhere
this intelligent element . . . quietly bears into this Asiatic wilderness
ideas of the White Tsar and the Muscovite people. . . . These sturdy
travellers bear also the idea, vague as yet, that the Christian West is
called on to regenerate through us the effete civilisation of the East.
Scarce any one in Eussia guesses as yet what a valuable work is being
carried on by the modest Eussian Lamaites, at a distance of hundreds
.of miles from the Russian frontier."

SPOET

A DIGRESSION

"The days spent in the chase are not counted in the length of hfe." —
A rah proverb.

"They are the most voracious people of prey that ever existed. The
more vigorous run out of the island to Europe, to America, to Asia,
to Africa and Australia, to hunt with fury by gun, by trap, by harpoon,
by lasso, with dog, with horse, with elephant or with dromedary, all the
game that is in nature." — Emerson, English Traits.

CHAPTER XX.

AMONG THE IBEX OF TURKESTAN.

A sportsman's paradise — The way there — A lengthy bargain — To the
Oriyaas valley — Magnificent scenery — A Kalmuk Nimrod — A 48-inch
ibex shot — Stormy weather — An evil beast — Vengeance — A successful
right-and-left — Marmots — The disappearance of an ibex — Its head
secured — Extremes of temperature — The luck of ibex-shooting — A
51|-inch trophy — Kalmuk characteristics — Another 50-inch head —
Flooded rivers — Back to Kulja — Horn measurements.

Far away in the heart of Asia, where remote Cathay-
holds shadowy dominion over nomad Kirgiz and
Kalmuk, the waters of a great river roll placidly
through a broad grassy plain. On either side fine
ranges of mountains rise, and at their foot and along
the river-banks small collections of yurts are to be
found, the homes of Kirgiz and Kalmuk, who find
ample pasturage in every direction for their flocks
of sheep and vast herds of horses. They call both
the river and the district Tekkes, though the former
has a wider reputation under the name of Hi, which
it assumes after taking a sudden turn in a direction
from north - east to north - west, before it flows past
Kulja, and on till it empties itself into Lake Balkash.
But it is with one of its tributaries which race
down from the mountains on the south-east that I
am concerned in the present chapter. Of these there
are several, each one of which flows through a land
infested with game, the Geok Su or Blue river,

P

226 AMONG THE IBEX OF TURKESTAN.

the Kara Su or Black river, the Ak Su or White
river, and the Oriyaas, up which I journeyed rifle
in hand during the first half of June 1903. I
believe there is no spot known to the European
sportsman which can lay juster claim to the title
of " sportsman's paradise " for the particular game
it produces — the ibex, Asiatic wapiti, and Asiatic
roe-deer — than the wooded slopes and grassy corries,
the steep ravines and rocky precipices, which here
abound in what may be described as the mountain
pendants of the great central system of the Thian
Shan. In the days of long ago, when Kashmir was
first exploited by the sportsman, the sport obtained
may have come up to that now obtainable in the
Thian Shan, but I doubt if the barasingh ever car-
ried so massive and heavy a horn as the Asian
wapiti, or if there was ever the same number of
ibex with heads equal to those which range the
mountains in the vicinity of Tekkes.

This land, like most lands of plenty, is a distant
one, and cannot be reached without a considerable
expenditure of time and forethought. Mr Church
has given an admirable description of the long days
of weary marching, even after the stupendous Him-
alayan and Karakoram ranges are crossed, which
await the traveller journeying hither from India. ■'■
From the west, however, far less difficulty is en-
countered. Permission once obtained from the
authorities at St Petersburg to carry rifles, the
Transcaspian railway lands one at Tashkent in
Turkestan, whence a post-road is available to Kulja.
Allowing a month for the journey to Kulja, a delay
there, varying according to circumstances, while ob-
taining transport for the remainder of the journey,

^ Chinese Turkestan.

A LENGTHY BARGAIN. 227

and from eight to ten days' caravanning to the
upper reaches of the Oriyaas stream, and in from
six weeks to two months after leaving London the
sportsman will find himself camped in the cream
of his shooting.

The prospect of securing transport speedily at
Kulja is dependent on the demand and supply of
horses. There is a caravan route from Kashgar
which passes by the town of Aksu over the Muzart
Pass, and through Tekkes to Kulja, and it was
from a caravan - hashi who had travelled up along
this route that I obtained my ponies. I offered
him twenty roubles a -month per pony — excellent
pay, since after reaching the Oriyaas river they
would have little to do except rest and grow fat
on the rich pasturage on the river-banks. The man,
however, was a true Oriental, and having ascer-
tained that there were very few ponies in the
town, promptly demanded thirty, finally, with great
magnanimity, saying that as I was no doubt anxious
to proceed without undue loss of time, he would clinch
a bargain, and supply me with ponies at twenty-five
roubles a-head per month. I metaphorically kicked
him out of the house, and told him that he might
come back when he came to his senses, when I
might possibly still be willing to offer him twenty
roubles. He smiled and went, and the days passed,
and any morning I might see him idling contentedly
in the bazaar, but he made no attempt to renew
negotiations. I think I knew all along in my heart
of hearts the fatuity of any European attempting
to compete with an Asiatic in a game of waiting !
The keep of his horses cost him nothing, — indeed
they lived sumptuously on the luxuriant vegetation
of the Hi valley, — his last journey had brought him

228 AMONG THE IBEX OF TURKESTAN.

sufficient means for subsistence for many days to
come, and rather than climb down from the position
he had taken up he would, I am convinced, have
waited with absolute complacency until either des-
titution or the crack of doom constrained him to
move. I, unfortunately, had not the unlimited time
at my disposal which he appeared to have, and at
the end of a week I bowed to the inevitable, gave
him his twenty-five roubles, and proceeded on my
way.

There is, of course, no bridge over the Hi river —
Why should there be ? the Chinaman would probably
ask — and the same inconvenient ferry-boat which has
somewhere been aptly described as a " muddy box,"
and which has been handed on from prehistoric times
of the past, to continue in all probability to a cor-
responding period in the future, is the only means of
getting across. From here, striking south-east, we
crossed the spur of mountains rising between Kulja and
Tekkes, and on the evening of the fifth day reached the
Hi once more and halted for the night in a yurt put at
our disposal by the headman of a Kalmuk aoul (village
of yurts). Here a day's halt was necessary while en-
gaging Kalmuks as guides and hunters, and buying a
small flock of sheep to drive along with us for our food-
supply, for the Oriyaas valley is uninhabited ; but on
the last day of May I reached the gorge where the
river escapes from the mountains, and, crossing a low
ridge, found myself at the foot of the mountain valley.

I wish I could give a description even approaching
the reality of the extraordinary beauty of the scenery
through which the Oriyaas flows. Photographs may
give the outline, but they cannot reproduce the wonder-
ful colouring, to which is perhaps to be chiefly attributed
the extraordinary charm of the view. The river's source

M^

MAGNIFICENT SCENERY. 229

must be looked for among the primeval ice and snows
of the innermost recesses of the Celestial Mountains,
but after leaving the frozen world of its birth it flows
through a perfect garden of delight, the grassy lawns,
planted here and there with picturesque clumps of fir-
trees, which line its banks resembling rather the neat
slopes of artistic and well-kept pleasure-grounds than
the untrimmed reaches of a natural wild. From the
green levels of the river-banks steep mountains rise on
either side, carpeted with grass and flowers, and in many-
parts well wooded with many kinds of bush and hand-
some fir, while above the line of trees weird crags and
pinnacles of rock protrude, throwing a sharp serrated
outline against the sky, and above all glistens a pure
white roof of eternal snow. As one turns each fresh
corner in one's onward march a new vista of beauty
opens out, combining in a single picture the wild
beauty familiar to those who have roamed among the
mountains on the west coast of Scotland, the wooded
magnificence of Kashmir, and the jagged outlines which
are so conspicuous a feature of the rugged Taurus
Mountains. I have seen many scenes which have im-
pressed me more with a sense of forbidding grandeur, —
the stupendous cone of Persian Demavend, the colossal
mountain masses on India's north-west frontier, the
extraordinary mountain labyrinths of Baltistan, and
above all, perhaps, the unequalled spectacle which
meets the eye as one gazes up at the gigantic peaks
reared aloft in every direction round the Bunji plain, —
but I can call to mind no prospect which has satisfied
the eye with quite the same sense of content as the
varied loveliness of the Oriyaas valley.

The hunters of the country are the Kalmuks, like the
Kirgiz a race of Mongolian origin, but one which has
better preserved its type. Like the Kirgiz, too, they

230 AMONG THE IBEX OF TURKESTAN.

live in villages of grey felt tents, but, unlike the former,
who are Mohammedans, are Buddhists by religion, their
priests or lamas easily recognisable by their scarlet
and yellow robes. Their features are of the true Mon-
golian type, with little hair upon the face, while they
wear the orthodox Chinese pig-tail hanging far down
their backs. Among the Kalmuks of Tekkes was one
who, like Nimrod of old, was " a mighty hunter," and
so great was his reputation in this respect that, though
usage among the Kalmuks demands that the younger
shall serve the older, men of greater age than he would
unhesitatingly obey him in the chase. I was not sur-
prised, therefore, to hear that he was away hunting in
the mountains ; but luck was with me, for he too had
selected the Oriyaas valley as his hunting-ground, and
on June 3 I ran him to ground, and secured his services
during the time that I was shooting. My quarry was
of course the ibex, since the horns of the wapiti, like
those of the red-deer, do not reach a state of perfection
until August or September. Not so with the Kalmuks.
Their hunting is for existence, not for sport, and by an
unlucky chance for the persecuted stag, the medicinal
property of the unformed horn commands a high price
throughout China, — as much as ten roubles (over 21s.)
a pound, — so that during the months of June and July
he is hunted and pursued with relentless perseverance.
A fixed salary, however, and the promise of a present
for every big head that fell to my rifle, was sufficient
temptation to induce Nurah — the Kalmuk Nimrod — to
leave for a time the less certain occupation of hunting
wapiti ; and having engaged two other Kalmuks, Hoh-
Hah and Jergol, to make themselves useful on the
hillside and in camp, I lost no time in trying my luck
after ibex.

As already stated, the sport obtainable is of the best,

>V. 2

KALMUK HUNTERS. 231

and in thirteen days' actual shooting I accounted for
fifteen ibex, among which were some magnificent heads.
Let me take a day or two's sport at random from the
pages of my diary.

June 4. — Leaving camp early in the morning we
rode up the right bank of the river, spying the steep
mountain-sides above us as we went. Before long we
came to a turbulent mountain torrent which hurled
itself down a bed of rock, and, like the waters at
Lodore, came " dashing and flashing and splashing and
clashing" till it tumbled headlong into the channel of
the main stream. High up on a steep mountain-face
overhanging this turbulent torrent, sparsely covered
with low bushes, but plentifully with long slippery
grass, we saw a herd of ibex, and among them more
than one carrying horns, which appeared through the
glass to be of enormous size. Tying up the ponies, we
proceeded to climb up the rocky banks of the stream,
crouching along under cover of the low bushes with
which it was fringed. While thus engaged I made
more than one discovery : first, that the Kalmuk hunter,
unlike the stalker on a Scotch deer-forest or the shikari
of India or Kashmir, has no sort of idea of burdening
himself with your rifle ; and, second — a far more dis-
agreeable surprise— that nothing will induce him to go
hunting without his own rifle on his back, a fearful
weapon, with long forked attachment as rest, which,
as he crouched along in front of me, was continually
threatening to disgorge one of my eyes !

At length, after much patient crawling over rock and
boulder, we succeeded in putting a ridge between our-
selves and the herd, and were able to assume an up-
right position once more, and to take a breath before
starting on the steep ascent in front of us. Half an
hour's struggle up a steep mountain-side covered with

AMONG THE IBEX OF TURKESTAN.

long slippery grass, which made climbing very arduous,
brought us level with the ibex, and worming our way to
the top of a ridge, we found ourselves in an excellent
position a bare hundred yards from the nearest beasts.
I selected my animal while Nurah crawled up close
behind me, and as soon as he turned broadside, fired.
Immediately there was a loud report in my ear, and I
turned round to see the Kalmuk's rifle smoking within
a foot of my head ! Two ibex lay dead on the ground,
and when I came to measure them I found mine had
a splendid head of just over 48 inches, while Nurah's
carried a horn of 42 inches. I found it was quite
impossible to prevent Nurah shooting when in sight
of game, so came to an arrangement with him by which
he agreed not to shoot until I had had my shot, and
then not to fire at the big ones. This he was quite
willing to do, since the horns were of no value to him,
and he only cared about the body and the skin, the
former of which he ate, and with the latter of which he
clothed himself.

I was agreeably surprised to find that there was no
necessity for very early starts in the mornings. I have
vivid recollections when shooting in the Himalayas of
being dragged reluctantly out of bed in the grey light
of dawn, when dawn broke at 4 a.m., and sometimes
before, to begin clambering up the mountains by the
dim light of the paling stars. But here I seldom left
camp before 7 a.m., and never before 5 a.m., since
the amount of snow lying on the mountains deterred
the ibex from seeking the seclusion of the distant and
often inaccessible rocks which rose above the woods and
grassy corries of the lower slopes. Indeed, though it
was June, the weather was a strange mixture of summer
and winter. There vvas nearly always a sharp frost at
night, and heavy storms of rain, turning to snow, at

AN ERRATIC CLIMATE. 233

sundown were common. On the night of May 26 the
thermometer registered 13° of frost, and from 6° to 8°
was the usual amount during the first half of June.
From the 4th to the 11th we experienced frightful
storms, which came on every afternoon with clockwork
regularity, lasting well on into the night, and leaving a
covering of snow even down in the valley bottom where
we were camped. The variations in the temperature
were violent in consequence. From early morning to
noon, when the snow-clouds began to gather, the ther-
mometer would rise steadily. Then, as soon as the sun
was obscured, and snow and rain came driving down
the mountain-sides, down would come the mercury with
a jump, falling 70° or 80° in half as many minutes, and
readings such as I find I have recorded on June 14,
when the thermometer stood at 26° Fahr. early in the
morning, and a few hours later in the sun at 112°, were
common. The winter, no doubt, had been an unusually
late one here, as it appears to have been throughout
Asia, and when I left the upper reaches of the Oriyaas,
early in the third week of June, bushes and shrubs were
only just breaking into bud.

On June 5 I explored the ground up a tributary
stream to the south, and saw ibex on the hills on
either side. Much of the ground is excellent stalking-
ground, which is as well perhaps for the sportsman,
for the ibex is no fool, and takes excellent precau-
tions against surprise, a fact of which I was afforded
evidence on this occasion. I was climbing up one
side of a steep ravine, well out of sight of the herd
I was after, when suddenly on the sky-line opposite
us appeared a pair of horns. We — Nurah, Hoh-Hah,
and myself — dropped to earth where we were, and
watched anxiously while the animal came slowly into
full view, while it stood like a statue gazing down

234 AMONG THE IBEX OF TURKESTAN.

towards the valley below. We were constrained to
remain motionless too, in a most irksome position,
and when, after standing like stone for a quarter of
an hour, the evil beast lay down where he was, the
situation became acute. A fragment of rock was
grinding into my back, a stone was gradually be-
coming loosened under pressure of my foot, and, be-
fore long, precisely what I was expecting came about
— the stone gave way, and went rumbling down the
hill with those aggravating resounding bumps which
rolling stones delight in when one is particularly
anxious to avoid attracting attention. I grabbed at
the nearest rock to prevent myself following in its
track, and the author of this unfortunate situation
sprang to his feet and came racing like a beast pos-
sessed down towards the valley bottom.

That was where he made a grave mistake, because it
brought him within easy range of three exasperated
men, two of whom happened to be carrying loaded
rifles. I fired, and Nurah fired, six cartridges I think
we expended between us while you could have counted
ten, and a whoop of savage triumph rent the air as he
tottered and then fell headlong, the mangled remains
of what a moment before had been a joyous living ibex.
Does it sound ugly now this tale of wilful wicked tak-
ing of life ? I admit it, it was a desire for vengeance,
cruel, vindictive vengeance, that actuated me, for, truth
to tell, I knew full well his horns were not worth the
powder expended on them. Perhaps it was Nurah
who fired the fatal shot, and maybe he is happier
where he is, roaming the ghostly mountains of some
wild Valhalla, where ibex ghosts delight to be.

Later in the day fortune favoured us, for we came
across a herd towards evening grazing in a grassy
hollow quite unsuspicious of danger lurking near. The

AN EXCITING STALK. 235

stalk was not a long one, for we were above them when
we saw them, and within an hour of the time when I
started after them I had secured a right-and-left — two
fine heads of 46 and 49 inches respectively.

A day or two later I moved farther up the Oriyaas
stream. All along the river-banks that curious little
rodent the marmot swarmed, sitting bolt upright over
his hole, uttering his weird, shrill little note, and dis-
appearing like a jack-in-the-box whenever we approached
too close. Once Nurah made out the tracks of a big
wapiti, and went nearly mad with excitement until I
told him he could go and try his luck after it. He
went off towards dusk and spent the rest of the night
in the gloomy depths of the forest, but no success
rewarded his efforts.

A day or two after this I had a most exciting stalk
in wild rocky ground, where, in a long past geologic
era, some convulsive spasm of nature had torn great
rents and thrown up odd excrescences. Grass grew
here where it could, and trees and bushes seemed to
find foothold in the rock itself, and ibex revelled to the
utmost in projecting crags and sheltered hollows. They
were there on this occasion, a dozen beauties, and off
we went to circumvent them. The climb was steep, as
is generally the case when a big ibex is at the other
end of it, and an hour had passed before we found our-
selves in a position to crawl up for a shot ; but so far
all was well, for they had not moved from the spot
where we had first caught sight of them.

I crawled flat to the top of a little ridge, and straight
below me, at a distance which I judged to be 200 yards,
stood a fine beast, while others were lying down or
cropping grass close by. I held my breath, pressed the
butt hard against my shoulder, and then fired. The
usual confusion which follows a shot ensued. Ibex

236 AMONG THE IBEX OF TURKESTAN.

were springing up in all directions, disappearing and
reappearing among the crags and boulders through
which they picked their way. The beast I fired at
sprang high in the air and then vanished, as though
the earth had opened and swallowed him up. A hoarse
" Shot ! " from Nurah (this was his one word of Eng-
lish) set me wondering whether he wished to convey
the idea that I had shot the beast or that I should
shoot again. Taking it for the latter, to be on the
safe side, I drew a bead on another beast, which ap-
peared bewildered and undecided which way to go, and
pressed the trigger. " Shot ! " again came from close
behind me, and this time there was no doubt what was
intended, for I saw the beast fall dead myself.

Certainly one head, perhaps two, — not so bad for one
morning, I thought. But things were not quite so
bright as they had seemed, for when we reached the
fallen beast which I had brought down with my second
shot, we found that he had a horn of little more than
40 inches, and number one was nowhere to be found.
I went up to the spot where he had been standing, and
found myself on the very brink of a yawning chasm,
which gave seemingly into the bowels of the earth,
whence there issued a rumbling of subterranean waters.
Climbing a short way down the side, I peered into the
abyss below, and after becoming accustomed to the
darkness, made out with the aid of my glasses a pair oi
horns, wedged evidently between two rocks in the very
middle of an angry torrent, whose waters roared and
hissed, and threw up great jets of foam as they raced
through a tunnel to the open mountain-side beyond.

The horns had all the appearance of being very large
ones ; but their size remained a matter of conjecture —
for the time being — for not even a Kalmuk would
trust himself unaided into the swirling cauldron far

AN IBEX RETRIEVED. 237

below. Nothing, therefore, remained but to return to
camp, and to devise some means for securing the dead
beast on the morrow. This was soon decided on, and
early the following morning we returned to the scene
of our stalk, provided with ropes. The ibex was still
visible, wedged between the same two rocks, and
making the rope secure round the Kalmuk Jergol, we
let him down hand over hand into the gulf below.
Once safely down he found foothold among the rocks,
and having succeeded in cutting off the head, signalled
to us to hand it up. This we did, and immediately
afterwards pulled up Jergol, landing him safely on
terra Jirma once more.

There was much excitement when I drew out the
tape to measure the horn, one and all who had gazed
at it while it remained safely out of reach declaring
that it must be well over 50 inches. I laid the tape,
carefully counting the inches as it reached towards
the tip, forty-four, forty-five, forty-six — and a half!
Exclamations of incredulity burst forth all round, but
the tape could not lie, and 46J- inches was the utmost
that it would concede. So the great head, which I had
dreamed about all night, and which had been rescued
at the expense of so much difficulty and trouble, turned
out after all to be not so very great, and to fall short
by 3|- inches of the limit which constitutes a really
good head for the Thian Shan.

The middle of June was now fast approaching, much
ground still remained to be covered before my pro-
gramme of Asiatic travel was completed, and though
I should be sadly disappointed at having to leave
without carrying a 50-inch trophy away with me, I
decided that two more days were the most that I could
afford to give up to the attempt to secure one. As
Joseph lucidly remarked, " If git, git ; if not git, not

238 AMONG THE IBEX OF TURKESTAN.

git, can't help," which being interpreted meant, if we
got one, well and good ; if we did not, we had at any
rate done our best, and there was no help for it.^

I started early on the morning of the 14th, while the
thermometer still stood 6° below freezing-point; but
the cold soon changed to heat, for the sun shone
fiercely from a cloudless sky, and the mercury had
mounted to 112° (Fahr.) before I returned to camp.
We rode along as usual, Nurah in front, myself and
another Kalmuk behind, — all clinging to our stout
little ponies as they struggled up the steep mountain-
sides, or scrambled down to the depths of some inter-
venino- ravine, our attention constantly occupied in
preventing our saddles from slipping oif over our
ponies' tails, or precipitating us unawares over their
heads.

Suddenly Nurah slid off his pony as if he had been
shot, and I pulled mine on to his haunches in an
endeavour to do likewise. The ponies were dragged
down into a hollow, and Nurah pointed excitedly
down into a corrie in front of us, whispering " Tekke "
(ibex). Sure enough we had stumbled almost on top
of a small herd of males, lying quietly on a steep
sloping hillside before us. It was all very sudden and
unexpected, but there we were, actually within shot
of them ; and a few seconds later an ibex was lying
dead to the first shot, and another was moving slowly
ofP, evidently damaged somewhere by the second. I
ran to intercept him farther up the ravine, and ten

1 For the benefit of the uninitiated I must point out that whereas there
would in reality appear to be very little material difference between a horn
which measured 49^ inches and one which measured 50 inches, the paltry
half-inch does, as a matter of fact, in the eyes of any one who has gone in
for collecting trophies, constitute a vast and insufferable gap ! To have
shot a 50- inch ibex is to have achieved a success with which the slaying of
a 49^-inch beast could never compare 1

A 50-INGE HEAD SECURED. 239

minutes later was fortunate enough to bring to bag the
much-coveted 50-inch head.

It was a fair illustration of the luck connected with
ibex - shooting. To begin with, we had dropped on
them quite accidentally, and then the beast carefully
selected as the largest, which fell to the first shot,
proved to have a horn of only 43|- inches, while the
second, picked out hurriedly as the herd moved off,
turned out to be a far finer beast, carrying a horn of
5 If. The first bullet, which seemed to daze him, I
found imbedded in the horn.

Nurah and the other Kalmuk were gleefully happy,
and laughed and shouted with delight as they cut up
and skinned the two beasts, and then they loaded
them upon the ponies and carried them down to a
sheltered hollow, and were soon giving material proof
of their satisfaction. A fire was lighted, a cooking-
pot and a large chunk of green brick tea produced —
most things necessary for Kalmuk life were generally
to be found strapped somewhere on one of the ponies —
and the marrow-bones thrown on to the embers to
roast. This savoury repast finished, they betook them-
selves to the joy of chewing nahs, a compound of
powdered tobacco and ashes, expectorating thoughtfully
on the ground at brief intervals in emphasis of their
appreciation. Chewing nahs is a habit which appears
to be pretty general among the tribes of Turkestan,
and frequent expectoration a necessary part of the
practice. A Kalmuk expectorates at all times and
under all circumstances indiscriminately, whether he
be in his yurt or in the open ; wherefore, when I called
my hunters to my tent for consultation, they had to be
content with sitting outside.

It was quite early, but we had done well enough
for one day, and after the marrow-bones had all been

240 AMONG THE IBEX OF TURKESTAN.

picked clean, and the horns and skins had been tied on
to the ponies, we made our way back to camp.

Fortune is proverbially a fickle goddess, but she
smiled on me during these last two days of my sporting
expedition, for having vouchsafed to me a 5 If -inch
ibex as narrated above, she was further pleased to
bestow upon me another 50-inch head on my last day's
shooting. Two 50-inch heads in the last two days, after
having spent the previous eleven in fruitless endeavour !
It was all very satisfactory, and every one was pleased,
more especially when I doled out bricks of tea and bags
of nahs, of which I had laid in a stock at Kulja, to
celebrate the successful termination of the trip.

On June 16 we struck camp and started on our
return march down the Oriyaas valley. The melting
snows had converted all the streams into foaming
torrents, which raced angrily over uneven rocky beds,
making it difficult and sometimes even dangerous for
the baggage - ponies to cross. By marching at very
early hours, however, while frost still held their source
in check, we reached the Tekkes plain without mishap,
though even here, despite its comparatively sluggish
flow, the river was a power not to be despised. We
crossed successfully in the ferry, our ponies, freed from
their pack-saddles, swimming across after us ; but a
body of Kalmuks who happened to be crossing at the
same time were not so fortunate — one of their ponies
being drowned while struggling against the current.
The mishap, however, appeared to please them rather
than otherwise, for the body was fished out of the
stream lower down, and the last I saw of them they
were making a hearty meal ofl^ the sodden carcass !

On June 23, exactly one month after leaving, I
marched back into Kulja. A more enjoyable sporting
trip it would be difficult to imagine, and the time will

HORN MEASUREMENTS. 241

be far distant when memory fails to recall the pleasant
camps, the magnificent scenery, and the grand sport
which I enjoyed among the rock-crowned peaks and
the smiling valleys of the Thian Shan.

The measurements of my seven best heads were as
follows: 51|, 50, 49^ 48^, 47^, 461 and 46 inches;
the length of the six record heads, either picked up or
shot, recorded up to the present time in Mr Rowland
Ward's standard work on horn measurements being
56f (picked up), 56 (picked up), 54f, 54f (picked up),
.and two of 54 inches each.

242 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN TEE SIBERIAN ALTAI.

CHAPTEH XXL

AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE SIBERIAN ALTAI.

The Altai — Mr Ney Elias observes numbers of large horns — Major
Cumberland's expedition— The way to the Altai— Time occupied by
the journey— Expense — Kosh-Agach — Nature of the country — My
Kalrauk hunter— The "Happy Valley"— A depressing day— Rams
sighted — A wounded ram — My first head— A move into Mongolia
— A big ram in view — Officious females — Nature's spell — A desperate
race — A terrible disappointment.

My earliest recollections of the Altai are associated
with a small book called, I think, ' Geography without
Tears,' or some equally deceptive title, wherein it was
laid down that the chief mountain-ranges of Asia were
the Himalayas, the Hindu Kush, and the Altai. There
may have been others included in the list, but these
are the three that impressed themselves on my
memory. Subsequent reading confirmed the accuracy
of this information, for I learned that the Altai high-
lands embrace a superficial area of something approach-
ing 144,140 square miles, or, to give a better idea
perhaps, " the Altai," as we call it, is a vast highland
plateau, intersected by numerous mountain-ridges, into
which you would have no difiiculty in getting nine or
ten Switzerlands. When, therefore, I am asked if I
have seen the Altai, I reply with some diffidence that I
have seen some small portion of that country. I have

MAJOR CUMBERLAND'S EXPEDITION. 243

other rather vague memories concerning the Altai :
that there is a theory that here was the cradle of the
human race ; that here, in the heart of the mountains,
old Tubal Cain forged his swords and his ploughshares ;
and that, at any rate, whatever grounds there may be
for such surmises concerning prehistoric times, there is
no doubt whatever that here, buried in the bosom of
the earth, almost fabulous mineral wealth awaits the
pick and spade of the prospector.

It was not, however, with pick and shovel that I
travelled to the confines of Mongolia. Thirty years
ago an intrepid traveller, whose name is a widely
known and honoured one in political circles in Asia,
Mr Ney Elias, travelled through China and Siberia, and
observed, among other things, the number of large
horns of the great wild sheep of Mongolia which lay
rotting along the banks of the streams in the valley
bottoms and on the steep shaley hillsides which it
frequents. Little came of it at the time ; but twenty
years later a well-known sportsman. Major Cumberland,
came across Mr Ney Elias, and hearing from him of
the possibilities of the Altai from a sporting point of
view, immediately made arrangements for an expedi-
tion there, and in 1895 an English sportsman found
himself, for the first time, rifle in hand, in search of
wild sheep on the bare highlands of the Altai, From
various causes few trophies rewarded his first efforts ;
but a second expedition the following year was crowned
with success, and resulted in the arrival in London of
the horns of wild rams which were described by Mr
Rowland Ward as the finest he had ever seen. Such, in
brief, is the history of the discovery of the Altai as a
sporting country, and it is needless to say, perhaps,
that other sportsmen were not slow to follow in the
footsteps of the pioneer. Prince Demidoff has devoted

244 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE SIBERIAN ALTAI.

a whole volume to an account of an expedition under-
taken in company with Mr Littledale, and I could name
a dozen other sportsmen who have shot there on vari-
ous occasions since 1895. This, however, is not far off
the sum-total, and the head of a first-class Ovis Ammon
is in all probability at the present day one of the rarest
trophies to be found among the museums and private
collections of horns in Great Britain.^

And now, how to get there will probably be the first
query of the curious sportsman. Those who have
serious thoughts of undertaking an expedition will
probably invest in a copy of Prince Demidoff's ' After
Wild Sheep in Mongolia and the Altai,' ^ or of a more
recent work by Major H. G. C. Swayne, entitled
' Through the Highlands of Siberia,' published since my
return, which will supply him with all the information
he will require, and I need do no more than briefly
indicate here the means at present available for the
use of travellers. A choice of routes, then, is open as
far as Moscow, which may be looked upon as the start-
ing-point of the expedition, since here is the terminus
of the great Trans-Siberian railway, along which it is
necessary to travel for the next 3391 versts to Ob, on
the river of that name. No difficulty need be appre-
hended thus far, and, indeed, travelling on the Siberian
railway may be described as journeying with a maxi-
mum of comfort at a minimum of expense. From Ob
steamers ply frequently to Barnaul, capital of one of

^ I distinguish between the wild sheep of Mongolia, which I believe to
be the true Ovis Ammon, and the wild sheep of Tibet (0. Hodsoni\ usually
miscalled the Ammon.

2 Published by Rowland Ward. The reduction of versts to miles is some-
what inaccurate. For instance, I find on page 36, " 150 versts, or about
120 miles." Now, since a verst is '66 of a mile, it is obvious that 150 versts
cannot possibly be more than 100 miles. This is an error, however, which
the sportsman will easily correct for himself.

THE WAY TO THE ALTAI. 245

the seven divisions of the Tomsk government, and
thence on to Biisk, the chief town of another district,
where the river must be left and recourse had to
wheeled conveyance. There are good shops at both of
these places, where ordinary stores — such as jam,
biscuits, and a certain assortment of tinned goods — are
obtainable, though, for my own part, I prefer always
bringing such goods with me from London. From Biisk
there has been a post-road for many years as far as the
village of Onguidai, a distance of about 250 versts, and
for the last two years the Bussian authorities have been
engaged in constructing a road for small light carriages
from Onguidai to the frontier at Kosh-Agach, a dis-
tance of another 250 versts, which was almost com-
pleted when I left the country at the end of August
1903. I must warn the traveller, however, that the
Biisk -Kosh-Agach post -road differs from other post-
roads in Asiatic Bussia in that there is no fixed tariff
for the hire of horses, — government horses not being
obtainable by the ordinary traveller, — and he will find
himself in the unenviable position of having to pay
whatever is demanded by the peasants owning horses
at the various villages on the way. Between Onguidai
and Kosh-Agach the country is inhabited only by
Kalmuks, living scattered widely in yurts, and it is
advisable to hire horses at Onguidai for the whole of
the remainder of the journey. Once at Kosh-Agach
there only remains to engage pack-ponies and Kalmuk
guides or hunters, and to make a day's journey into
the mountains to the south, to find oneself on one's
shooting-ground.

Time occupied by the journey? Well, three days
from London to Moscow, a day or two there according
to fancy, and five days on to Ob — say from ten days to a
fortnight to the end of the railway. Three or four days

246 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE SIBERIAN ALTAI

by steamer to Biisk, and a day or two there to make
arrangements for the road, brings the total up to from
sixteen to twenty days ; and if you do not waste too
much time bargaining for horses on the road, another
four days will take you easily to Onguidai. A day or
more may possibly have to be spent here while securing
horses to Kosh-Agach, which can be reached in from
five to eight days, according to the state of the road
and whether you decide to drive or take pack-ponies.
If you have not a great deal of baggage, I would re-
commend wheels as the quickest. This brings the
total time from London to Kosh-Agach up to, roughly
speaking, a month.

Expense? That is a question which I would not
venture to advise upon. You might be back in London
in three months from the time you started, having
accomplished your trip for £250 ; but you might, on the
other hand, have spent £500, — expenditure is so largely
dependent on personal idiosyncrasy, as well as on a
whole host of minor circumstances. ^ This, then, must
suffice for my duties as a guide.

I have said that the horns of the Ovis Ammon make
one of the rarest trophies obtainable at the present
day ; I might also add that the beast that carries them
is about the most difficult animal to stalk successfully
that I have ever come across. This shall be my excuse
for describing a few days' sport of my own ; and lest I
render these pages tedious with an unduly lengthy
description of the country, I will omit all account of my
journey there, and begin at once at Kosh-Agach, close
to the scene of action. For a week I had been marching
through magnificent mountain scenery, where dense

1 Major Swayne gives much useful information concerning outfit, expense,
&c., in an appendix to his book. He there works out the expenditure on a
three months' trip in detail, arriving at a total of £256.

THE KOSH-AGACH PLATEAU. 247

forests of fir and cedar clothed the hillsides, and grass
and wild-flowers grew in riotous profusion ; and when
one morning I emerged from a wooded valley along
which the river Chuya worms its way, and was con-
fronted by the Kosh-Agach plateau, the change of
scenery came as a shock. Tree-life ceased abruptly, as
though a line had been drawn beyond which Nature
dared such things to pass ; a bleak uninviting expanse
stretched away to the east, and all round bare brown
hills filled in the view, recalling the triumphant sterility
of Tibet. This first impression was a little misleading
it is true, for a closer acquaintance revealed the fact
that the lower slopes of these hills are covered with
grass and a mass of gorgeous wild-flowers ; but above
the zone of grass and flowers rise cones of black and
brick-red shale, which at a little distance fill the eye
and stamp the impress of their horrid nakedness upon
the whole surrounding.

The settlement of Kosh-Agach, consisting of a few
wooden houses built by merchants trading with Mon-
golia, a wooden church and a custom-house, has no
attraction of itself; and as soon as pack -ponies and
Kalmuk hunters were engaged, I hastened into the
mountains to the south, pitching my tents on the even-
ing of the second day at the foot of an odd detached ofi"-
shoot of the main range called "Tuzzi" or "the chest/'
close to the junction of the streams which flow down
valleys called Chagan Burgaza and Bain Chagan.

Every sportsman knows that feeling of keen anti-
cipation which assails him when, after many days of
monotonous journeying thither, he at last finds himself
in the land of his desire. Excitement at the pos-
sibilities of the morrow, fear lest after all the quarry
may not be there, a still more disagreeable reflection
that if it is he may get a shot and miss ! combine to

248 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN TEE SIBERIAN ALTAI

produce a sensation which is almost too keen to be
pleasant. At 4 a.m. the following morning I was up
and dressed, and before 5, when the sun was just
casting his first rays over the tops of the mountains
above my camp, I started, followed by two Kalmuks
— one, reputed a cunning hunter, to accompany me
when game was found, the other to hold the ponies,
— for we always started on horseback. A Kalmuk
would never dream of going anywhere on his own legs
when he could make his pony do their work for them, —
that, he says, would obviously be foolish, wherein he
undoubtedly shows a certain practical common-sense.
It must be admitted, however, that here his common-
sense stops short : in general a block of wood would
be a mass of intelligence in comparison, and there-
fore, lest by any possibility I do him any injury in
railing at his obtuseness, my hunter shall rejoice in
a fictitious name, and Pombo he shall be to the end
of the chapter.

This, my first day after the great wild sheep, was
not encouraging : it was worse, it was gloomily de-
pressing. I started up the Bain Chagan, Demidoff's
" Happy Valley," and searched it from top to bottom,
and when I reached the watershed went on over the
shaley slopes which overlook Mongolia ; but there was
nothing in the least degree felicitous about it on this
occasion, for not a sign of a beast did I see, and passing
on along the summit of the ridge I returned by the
Chagan Burgaza, reaching camp once more, tired and
dispirited, at 7 p.m., after a futile fourteen hours in the
saddle.

Pombo looked wise when I consulted him as to what
was to be done on the morrow, said we would start up
the Bain Chagan again and take a turn over the hills
to the east instead of the west as we had done to-day.

RAMS SIGHTED. 24^

What did he think of our chances of finding game
there? Well, he thought we might see something,
though, of course, on the other hand, we might not.
Of course I could have told him that much myself, and
I did tell him he was an ass— I was not in a very good
temper — which he of course did not understand, so he
smiled idiotically, and then betook himself to his tea
and his slumbers.

The next day was a great day, because on it I secured
my first ram. It was not a big one, quite a moderate
head in fact, measuring only 42 inches ; but I was wildly
delighted when I secured it, all the more from havings
to put up with much anxiety, which at one time turned
to despair, before becoming finally possessed of it.

We had seen four small rams moving slowly across
the heights on the eastern side of the valley, and I had
been examining them curiously through the glass, for they
were the first I had seen, but I soon realised that they
were very small, — far too small to be worth shooting, —
and was beginning to wonder if to-day was going to be as
yesterday, when Pombo suddenly exclaimed Koshkhor!
— the native name of the ram. I jumped up and hur-
riedly scanned the hillside, and sure enough there, far
away close to the horizon, was a herd of rams. I could
not make out if there were big ones or not, they were
too far ofi", but Pombo said there were, so off we went.
We were successful in getting above them ; but for
some reason, just when we were starting to crawl into
sight for a shot the whole herd bolted, and I had to
take a snap-shot at the nearest flying beast. I heard
the welcome thud which tells of a bullet gone home,
and ran on to the spot where the beasts went out of
sight ; but when I got there, search as I would, no
dead sheep was to be found. Presently a dark red
stain caught my eye, and then ensued one of those

250 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE SIBERIAN ALTAI

stern-chases which so often end in failure. Over end-
less piles of shale we tracked the wounded beast, until
at last the sun sank behind the hills in the west, and
the chill shadow which enveloped the land sank deep
into our own souls as we made up our minds that
we must return home without him.

One of the Kalmuks led the ponies slowly down
the hill, while I and Pombo walked on, intending to
join them lower down the valley. Suddenly, half an
hour later, just as we were scrambling down to the
valley bottom,, Pombo quite unexpectedly stumbled on
the tracks of the wounded beast again, and at the
same moment I heard a rattling of stones, and looking
up saw the wounded ram just on the other side of a
narrow valley in front of us. I threw up the rifle,
pushed up the 200 yards' sight, fired, and brought him
down, all before Pombo had time to realise what I
was doing ! And that was how I secured my first
pair of horns. It was a fortunate shot in more ways
than one, for when I got back to camp I found that
the man whom I had sent off the day before to buy
sheep had not returned, and we had literally exhausted
our supply of meat, the last bone having just been
boiled down to make soup for dinner.

Another futile day on the Siberian side of the frontier
decided me to change my quarters and make a move
into Mongolia. Accordingly, having issued instructions
for camp to be moved across the watershed and pitched
on the banks of a stream at a spot known to the
Kalmuks, I started off across the mountains to the
south. It is fortunate that a benigfn Providence has
decreed that man remain in ignorance of what awaits
him. Had I foreseen the disappointment and exaspera-
tion which was awaiting me I should probably never
have started on that particular day's sport, but have

FOUR LARGE RAMS SEEN. 251

rested content with plodding along in the wake of my
pack-ponies. Certainly I should not have been in the
high spirits that I was. To enjoy hunting wild sheep
to the full you must be possessed of a whole host of
virtues — endurance, good temper, an inexhaustible stock
of patience, perseverance, and an unlimited capacity
for putting up with disappointment. I do not say
that I possess these qualities, I merely remark that
this is the equipment which the hunter ought to have.
But to return to the story.

We had toiled all the morning and seen nothing, and
I was looking disconsolately round through my field-
glasses when my attention was arrested by something
moving on a distant sky-line. I was not given long to
examine it, for it disappeared almost immediately ; but
the sight of a beast at all was enough to encourage us,
and off we went up the steep shaley hills in front of us,
clinging in various attitudes to our stout little ponies,
till we reached a small hollow near the summit, where
we left them and proceeded on foot to examine the
ground that lay before us. Nor did we have to go
very far, for after creeping across the bare hill, and
crawling a little way down the far side, I became
aware of the presence of a beast lying down straight
below me. As I put my glass on to him, I felt
my heart begin to thump against my ribs with sup-
pressed excitement. I was gazing at a magnificent
ram not more than a few hundred yards away from me.
It was the first really big ram I had seen, and through
my powerful Zeiss glasses he appeared to be almost at
my feet. However, the immediate question of the
moment was how to get within shot. A careful survey
revealed the presence of three more rams, all lying
down, and we were worming our way with infinite
caution and patience down towards them, when sud-

252 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE SIBERIAN ALTAI.

denly four officious females stalked slowly into sight,
and stood complacently surveying the scene, two
hundred paces beyond the rams. Here was a horrible
dilemma. The rams were beneath us, just visible when
we craned our necks upwards to their utmost extent,
but the females were in full view, and commanded the
situation, for to move either backwards or forwards now
would be to court instant detection.

It would be useless to try to give any real idea of
the next two hours, for it is only the hunter who has
tasted the joys and the bitter disappointments which
assail him as he pursues his occupation amid the soli-
tudes of a great lone land who can know the depths to
which his feeling can be stirred, and no description
is required to add to the picture which he himself will
conjure up. As the sun slowly approached his cradle in
the mountains of the west, an intense silence fell upon
the earth, and the spell which Nature always weaves for
the mortal who is fortunate enough to find himself alone
with her came irresistibly upon me. Even the restless
females at length gave themselves up to the peace of
their surroundings, and lay down where they were,
while observing the precaution of fixing their gaze each
in a different direction. For an hour I lay in one
position, scarcely daring to move lest I should disturb
the stillness which reigned, and then a small bird flew
down and perched on a stone close by. He looked at
us, hopped a little nearer, and looked again. Then he
tapped on a stone with his beak, and the tap, tap, tap
sounded curiously loud to my strained senses. But his
curiosity was quickly satisfied, for he soon flew away
again, and when he was gone an unbroken silence
enveloped us once more. Once or twice one of the
sheep got slowly up, stretched himself, nibbled lazily at
some infinitesimal blade of grass, and perhaps moved a

EXASPERA TION ! 253

few paces before scratching at the earth preparatory to
lying down again.

In the meantime the sun had sunk far down behind the
mountains, casting long shadows towards the darkening
east, and at length the patience of Pombo had reached
its limit. He pointed to the west and shook his head,
and then he dragged his hand along the ground, and
nodded towards a slight depression twenty yards away.
I nodded acquiescence, and we started, worming our
way painfully after the manner of the serpent, and
removing every stone that might become displaced. At
last we reached our goal, took one last look at the
recumbent sheep, and then crawled laboriously back up
the shallow depression till we regained the hill-top,
whence we had started two hours before. Then I ran,
with the blood thumping through my veins, and my
breath coming in short sharp gasps, for I was racing
against time, and our chance lay in reaching the cover
of a ridge which ran down on the opposite side of the
hill to that by which we had tried to make our first
approach.

We reached the friendly cover, and Pombo raised his
head, slowly at first, and then less cautiously. I re-
leased the safety-bolt of the rifle, and raised myself
slowly too. Pombo stood upright, gazed right and left,
and then looked back at me. I saw disgust, hopeless
and unutterable, written on every feature. " What is
it ? " I said. He picked up a handful of dust, tossed it
in the air, and watched it float slowly away in front of
us. " The wind," I said. Pombo disdained an answer,
turned, and walked slowly back towards the ponies,
and began leading them dolefully down the hill. I
sat down and groaned. For two mortal hours had I
crouched within 300 yards of four magnificent rams,
unable even to cover them with my rifle. And then,

254 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE SIBERIAN ALTAI.

having with much labour crawled out of sight once
more, I had made one wild desperate rush to get round
them, reached my goal, and looked from behind my
cover, to see — nothing. For not a sign of a living
creature was to be seen ; rams and ewes alike had
vanished as completely as if the earth had opened and
swallowed them up, and the day which had begun so
brightly ended in a dreary dismal ride in the dark over
the miles of execrable ground that lay between us and
camp.

MOVE INTO MONGOLIA. 255-

CHAPTEH XXII.

SPORT IN MONGOLIA.

A gazelle shot — Pombo's obtuseness — A long stalk — A flat crawl — An
anxious wait — A big ram wounded— Pombo's jubilation — A 57-inch
horn secured — A long ride in the dark — Amnion plentiful — A pack
of wolves — Cold — A 55-inch ram shot — A right-and-left — Chase after
a wounded ram — Stupidity of Kalmuks — The wounded ram brought
to bag — Preparations for leaving the country — Horn measurements
— Smuggling — Reach the Siberian railway.

With my move into Mongolia my bad luck soon came
to an end. I sent a man off with my Chinese passport,
a gorgeous foot or more of decorated parchment, to the
nearest frontier guard, a movable institution that lived
in a yurt, and having obtained permission to wander
where I would, and the services of a Mongol fighting
man as a witness of my being under official protection,
marched along the foothills on the Mongolian side of
the range, halting for two or three days at distances of
ten or twelve miles, and shooting over the mountains in
the vicinity of my camp.

Here and there on the lower ground I came across
large herds of gazelle, and shot a fine buck one day,
while on another occasion I had a desperate hunt after
a huge wolf, without, however, succeeding in bringing
him to bag. Still, big rams seemed difficult to find,
and when found, still more difficult to approach, and I

256 SPORT IN MONGOLIA.

began to wonder if the fears which so often assailed me
were destined to come true. But a great day was
coming, one of those red-letter days which stand
out so clearly in the life of a sportsman.

It was the 13th of August, and the sun was just
rising in a cloudless sky as we left our quarters on the
banks of a tiny stream. But there was that hard cold
look in the heavens which tells that you need expect
no warmth from the dazzling sun, shine he never so
brightly, and ere long a wind swept over the bare
bleak hillsides, which made progress against it a severe
■effort, and chilled the blood in our veins, till feet and
hands became numb, and the teeth chattered with the
cold. We toiled long and hard and saw nothing, and
at length at one o'clock, as I sat shivering under the
lee of a rock, making the most of the slices of cold
gazelle which made my lunch, Pombo crept up to me,
and after shaking his head pointed repeatedly in the
direction of camp. The temptation was great, to hurry
back to the shelter of our tents ; but I had been look-
ing round, and through my glasses had just caught
sight of a herd of rams.

I pointed in their direction. Pombo gazed blankly,
^nd then, "Stones," he said. "Koshkhor" (rams), I
answered. Pombo shook his head, took my glasses, and
stared into vacancy. " Koshkhor," I said again. He
looked at me, wavered, and then, " Malinka" (small).
Our means of carrying on a conversation intelligible to
both parties were limited — a few words of Russian,
English, and Kalmuk, and a large assortment of gesticu-
lations. "Bolshoi" (big), I maintained. Pombo re-
fused to give way, so I took matters into my own
,hands, tethered the ponies in a hollow, — the other
Kalmuk was not with us, — and signed to Pombo to
follow me.

A DESPERATE STALK. 257

It was a long weary way before the rams could be
approached, for the wind drove me to the top of a range
of shaley hills, along the summit for about a mile, and
then down again, above the spot where I had last seen
them lying. To make a long story short, I found my-
self, at the end of about two hours, in a fairly favourable
position ; and, after taking a thorough survey through
the glasses, began crawling carefully on with a view to
the final approach. But the end of my stalk was by
no means at hand, for five minutes later what should
happen but that the sheep should get suddenly up,
stretch themselves after their siesta, and then rush
helter-skelter down the mountain-side across the valley
bottom to some low foothills on the far side, where they
proceeded to graze on such scanty herbage as succeeded
in maintaining a precarious existence among the stones.

I heard a hoarse demoniacal chuckle behind me,
and turned round to see the Kalmuk's ugly saturnine
countenance at full e^rin. That decided me. I be-
came desperate, and determined at all costs to be
even with him. Putting a ridge between myself and
the rams on the far side of the valley, I ran down
to the bottom, where I was confronted with a flat
open space, half a mile across. The case certainly
appeared hopeless ; but a little lower down I noticed
a shallow gorge in the valley bottom, where a
stream flowed down the mountain - side into the
main stream in the middle. That, at any rate,
would take me half-way across if it afforded suffi-
cient shelter. Shall I ever forget the crawl along
that stony water-channel ? It was shallow, so shallow
that I had to follow the tactics of the serpent, wrig-
gling but a yard or so at a time, and keeping my
glasses fixed on five busy heads, lying like a log
whenever one of them was raised suspiciously from

R

258 SPORT IN MONGOLIA.

the ground. It passed unnoticed at the time, but
I observed, when it was all over, a dozen bleed-
ing cuts on hands and knees. Somehow I reached
the main stream, where a fairly high bank allowed
a few minutes' rest in an upright position, and
then peering anxiously over the top I saw the
five big rams still grazing quietly about a quarter
of a mile from me.

But more satisfactory still was the fact that they
were grazing slowly away from me, and that im-
mediately in front of them rose a low ridge, so
that, provided they continued in their present
direction, they must soon pass out of sight, and
so give me a chance of covering the few hundreds
of yards of open ground which still lay in front
of me. Pombo, who had been left some way be-
hind, now came up, and seeing how near I was to
getting a shot, forgot his " I-told-you-so " attitude
— he got a bonus on every big head which I secured
— and became as keenly interested in the proceed-
ings as I was. How slowly the beasts moved !
And evening was fast settling down. Sometimes a
blade of grass would catch the eye of one of them,
and he would turn back to crop it, causing a delay
of several precious minutes. At last, however, the
summit of the ridge was reached, and they began
moving out of sight on the far side. For some
minutes the last of them stood gazing round on
the crest, but once satisfied he too went on, and
the way was clear. Now was my chance ! I pulled
myself together, climbed out of the river-bed, and
then ran ; ran as though my life depended on it,
across those few hundred yards of flat, stony, cover-
less ground, till I was on the very ridge which the
rams had just crossed. A moment to get breath,

DEATH OF A BIG RAM. 269

and then — but all thought of the next step was
instantly banished. A puff of wind or the sound
of a falling stone reached the still invisible rams,
and the next moment they were streaming back
across the valley.

The first shot brought one down. " Malinka,"
hissed Pombo, and I aimed again. But now they
were travelling fast, and try as I would I could
not cover one. The hoarse bark of a wolf came
from behind me. The rams hesitated, pulled up
for a second, and looked round. I had the 300
yards' sight up, and fired at the leader, a grey-
haired beast with a massive head. He went on
for a few yards and then sank down, while the rest
disappeared up the mountain-side. Pombo shrieked
a triumphant war - whoop, and nearly spoilt every-
thing by dancing a wild fandango across the valley
bottom and half-way up the hillside opposite, for,
as I soon discovered, the beast was very far from
being dead ; and after capturing the Kalmuk and
subduing him by threats of summary justice with
the butt-end of my rifle, I proceeded to make a
careful stalk after the wounded beast, and was
lucky enough to get up unobserved and give him
a death - shot at six o'clock.

He was a magnificent beast, with a perfect horn
57 inches along the curve, and 20 inches in cir-
cumference at the base. But there was no time
to waste, for night was upon us, and camp was
a long way off. I sent off Pombo to fetch the
ponies from the hollow where we had tethered
them, and occupied the interim in skinning and
cutting up the beasts. By the time we had loaded
up the horns and turned our heads towards camp
it was quite dark, and for the next two hours

SPORT IN MONGOLIA.

we picked our way at funereal pace over ground
which it was often as much as I cared to do to
ride over in broad daylight. But what did that
matter while I had a 57-inch ammon head tied on
at the back of my saddle ! What did it matter if
I did not reach camp until ten o'clock, after 15^
hours of toil over mountains of shale ! The joy
which it is given to the hunter to know is deep,
and I was tasting it to the full. I even abstained
from railing at Pombo for trying to persuade me
to turn back early in the day !

It would be easy to dwell at length upon every
stalk which I enjoyed during my sojourn in Mongolia,
for the details of every one are all burned deep into
my memory ; but it would be as tedious for my readers
as it would be easy for me. The ammon are plentiful,
and big heads are far from being scarce, though owing
to the bareness of the ground they are difficult to ap-
proach. The extraordinary weight of the horns of an
old ram seems to be a handicap in the race for life, a
fact which the packs of wolves which frequent the
country no doubt thoroughly appreciate. I came across
a regular Golgotha one day, many of the horns being in
excellent preservation, and carried off a horn measuring
58 inches from among them. Looking round through
my field-glasses I lit upon a pack of wolves on a hill-
side not far off, and counted no less than eleven in
one place. No doubt it is largely due to the presence
of these beasts and to their carnivorous tendencies that
the rams are always so much on the alert and so sensi-
tive to the presence of danger.

Camp-life is pleasant enough, if you are not averse
to a little cold, for except for occasional snowstorms —
which, however, are indescribable while they last ! —
I found the climate fine and dry. The cold in the

CHASE AFTER A WOUNDED RAM. 261

winter must be intense, for on August the 17th, 18th,
19th, and 20th the thermometer registered 22°, 19°,
7°, and 15° of frost respectively, and I observed on
the first of these days that it was freezing 15° while
I was partaking of breakfast. I was fortunate enough
to secure another ram on that day, with a very fine
head measuring 55 inches and 20 inches in circum-
ference, though I came across him quite by accident
when starting to stalk a herd which I had spied some
distance away.

A more exciting and even more satisfactory day was
the 20th, on which I was lucky enough to secure a
right-and-left, both rams carrying horns over 50 inches
in length ! Not, however, before I had passed through
some anxious moments. The first ram fell dead to
the shot, struck at the base of the neck, but the
second went gaily away with a broken hind-leg ; and
a ram with a broken leg is, as I very soon found out,
by no means an easy beast to get on terms with,
especially when you have the inherent stupidity of
two Kalmuks combined to reckon with as well.

Having watched him till he lay down, I pointed him
out to Pombo, gave him the glass, and impressed upon
him by signs and forcible expressions that I desired
him to remain where he was to keep an eye on the
wounded ram, while I proceeded to stalk him. I then
started off, but I had reckoned without Kalmuk number
2, who seized the opportunity before I had gone very
far of leading a white pony along the sky-line behind
us. Of course the ram was up and away like a flash ;
but he soon lay down again, this time mercifully out of
sight of both Kalmuks, who evidently imagined that
he had gone off for good, and set to work to skin and
cut up the dead beast. I marked down the spot where
he was lying, and then went off as hard as I could to

262 SPORT IN MONGOLIA.

get round him. There was a valley to be crossed and
a long climb up a steep shaley mountain-side to be
effected, and it was not till an hour later that I found
myself crawling down towards the spot which I had
so carefully marked. To my satisfaction I was soon
able to make out a horn straight down below me, and
I knew that he was still there. A few more yards
and I should be in a position to shoot ; but the next
moment, to my consternation, I saw the ram spring
up and bolt, and looking for some cause I descried the
evil features of Pombo appearing over a ridge straight
in front of me ! He was evidently blissfully ignorant
of the presence either of myself or of the wounded ram,
but there was no time to be lost, and, running on to
a slight eminence, I apprised him of the position by
emptying the contents of the magazine after the flying
beast. By a stroke of good luck I brought him down,
and the next minute was standing exultant beside
him. He carried a fine horn of 51 inches, and as
this first also had a horn of just over 50 inches, I
congratulated myself on bringing my trip after wild
sheep to a highly satisfactory conclusion.

The following day, August 21, I stayed in camp
packing the horns and head-skins, and making various
preparations for leaving the country on the morrow. I
had been out shooting exactly fourteen days, and during
that time had shot ten rams and a gazelle, an excellent
bag, considering the bare nature of the country and
the wildness of the game. I need hardly add, perhaps,
that we had worked hard to secure this result. Per-
sonally I had not taken a rest once during the fortnight,
and the day's work cannot have averaged less than
fourteen hours during the whole of that time, my
habit being to leave camp at 5 or 6 a.m. and to get
back again by dark or as soon after as possible.

HORN MEASUREMENTS. 263

The trophies which I had secured were all fine heads,
with the exception of one small one which I discarded,
and included four heads of over 50 inches, as follows :
50f, 51, 55, and 57 inches; the measurements of the
six best heads given in the latest edition of Mr
Rowland Ward's ' Horn Measurements ' being 62, 60,
59|-, 59, 56|-, and 55 inches.

On the 22nd, I bade farewell to my Mongol soldier,
who, by the way, had just concluded an agreement
with my Kalmuks to meet them at a spot known to
them in the mountains on the frontier, with 30 bricks
of tea, for which he was to be paid 25 roubles. By
thus evading the vigilance of the Russian Custom
oflficials at Kosh-Agach they no doubt expected to do
a good stroke of business, the price of this particular
brand of tea in Russia amounting to 1 rouble 40 kopecks
per brick.

Two days later I reached Kosh-Agach, whence a
march of eight days brought me to the Russian
village of Onguidai. Here I was able to get post-
horses again, and reached Biisk on wheels in five days
more, taking steamer from here down the river Ob to
the Siberian railway.

SIBERIA AND ITS RAILWAY

' Clime of the East ! that to the hunter's bow
And roving herds of savage men wert sold—
Their cone-roofed wigwams pierced the wintry snow,
Their tasselled corn crept sparsely through the mould,
Their bark canoes thy glorious waters clave,
The chase their glory and the wild their grave-
Look up ! a loftier destiny behold."

— L. H. SiGOURNET.

"Railroad iron is a magician's rod, in its power to evoke the sleeping
energies of land and water."— R. W. Emerson.

CHAPTER XXIII.

CENTRAL SIBERIA.

The Government of Tomsk— The Altai mining district— Nature of the
country— An agricultural land- Three years' famine— The fallow-land
system— Absence of English-made goods— The reason— The Siberian
village— The Siberian peasant— The vodka curse— The Government
vodka monopoly— Vodka statistics— Barnaul— A general store— The
Altai highlands — Kosh-Agach — Eusso- Mongol trade — The city of
Tomsk— The mystery of Tomsk— Feodor Kuzmitch— The mysterious
death of Alexander I.—" Alexander's House" at Tomsk— The uni-
versity and technological institute— Population and position.

Immediately north of the region of " steppe border-
land," known as Semipalatinsk, lies that portion of
Siberia embraced by the government of Tomsk.
Bounded on the west and north-west by the Akmo-
linsk territory and the Tobolsk government, and on the
east and north-east by Mongolia and the Yeniseisk
government, it comprises an area of upwards of 331,000
square miles, or, to give a better idea, is one and a half
times as large as France. Through the centre of this
province runs the middle link of the great Siberian
railway, and south of the line are situated four of
the seven unequal divisions into which, for purposes
of internal administration, it is divided, known as
the Barnaul, Biisk, Kuznetsk, and Zeminogorsk dis-
tricts, forming the property of his Imperial Majesty's
Cabinet under the name of the Altai mining dis-
trict. This property, already one of the richest in

268 CENTRAL SIBERIA.

Siberia, is certain to advance still further in import-
ance, especially when the proposed Tomsk-Tashkent
railway is taken in hand, and merits a few words of
description.

The surface of the country is varied, a vast level plain
constituting the western and northern portions, while
on the east and south-east rise ranges of the Altai
Mountains. Throughout the lowlands rich black earth,
which has proved to be the most fertile soil of Siberia,
abounds, and hence doubtless the attraction which has
brought settlers to these parts in such large numbers
during recent years. For long, attempts were made to
protect the Altai lands from the intrusion of immi-
grants ; but since 1865, when the district was first
opened to colonisation, the influx of settlers has steadily
increased, as many as 300,000 being said to have settled
in the Cabinet lands of his Majesty within the last ten
years of the past century. Agriculture is consequently
the predominant occupation of the people, and though
only a fraction of the total arable land is sown, a large
surplus of grain is available in normal years for export
to Eastern Siberia and other parts of the empire. The
recent three years' famine caused by drought has there-
fore been a severe blow to the prosperity of the country,
and though the harvest of 1903 promised to be a fair
one, it could only go a part of the way towards recom-
pensing the settlers for the heavy loss which they have
recently sustained. But later events — the war in the
Far East — are likely to bring about a still greater
measure of depression, if, as is probable, troops are to
be levied in Siberia, a proceeding which, in the opinion
of well-qualified judges, would mean the depopulation
of whole villages.

The system of husbandry adopted is characterised by
the fallow-land system, and to the eye of the English-

SIBERIAN AGRICULTURE. 269

man, accustomed to the neat enclosures of an agricul-
tural district in his own country, which once led an
American critic to describe it as having the appearance
of being finished with a pencil rather than with a
plough, the land has a ragged and untidy appearance.
Hedges and ditches there are none, but patches of corn
alternate with tracts of grass or waste land, with no
apparent method or order. Driving from the foot of
the Altai Mountains to the town of Biisk, a distance of
upwards of fifty miles, in September, I received the
impression of passing over a continuous patch -work
quilt, masses of golden corn shining in a setting of
grass and flowers, alternating with patches of newly-
stacked hay.

There are no signs of manure of any sort being in
use, the fertility of the soil, and the vast amount of
virgin land merely awaiting the plough, being con-
ducive no doubt to apathy and carelessness on the part
of the farmer with regard to the future. " The land,"
as Mr Simpson remarks, " is very rich, and there is a
royal waste of everything — of time, of space, of natural
products."^ Your Siberian peasant sows | his seed and
then sits down and placidly waits for it to grow and
ripen. It does not seem to occur to him, as it does to
the onlooker, that however fertile the soil the phos-
phates must some time become exhausted, and that
however plentiful the virgin land, a day will come
when its limit will have been reached. When these
things come to pass he will doubtless learn wisdom ; in
the meantime he is blissfully content.

This is not all that strikes the Englishman, however,
if he happens to be of an observant turn of mind. For
to any one who takes the trouble to note it, the absence
of English-made agricultural implements is painfully

^ Sidelights on Siberia. J. Y. Simpson.

270 CENTRAL SIBERIA.

obvious. Ploughs that are not of Russian manufacture
bear the names of American and German firms, while
M'Cormick reapers and Deering mowers bear witness
on all sides to the success which has attended the
energy and enterprise of our cousins across the Atlantic.
Siberia is a vast agricultural country, which must offer
a steadily increasing market for agricultural machinery
— a fact which does not seem to have been appreciated
by our own manufacturers. So, as I found before long,
with everything else. You may travel far in Siberia
with the fixed intention of finding something of Eng-
lish make, and fail. I think a Merry weather fire-engine,
the chemical balances used in the gold-smelting labora-
tory at Irkutsk, and the " Morgan " crucibles of world
renown used in the same place, about exhaust the list
of English articles which I saw.

And when you begin to wonder why, and to search
for the reason, you are reluctantly compelled to admit
that the fault lies at our own door. No trouble is
taken to comply with the requirements of the people.
Catalogues, when they are sent at all, are almost in-
variably sent in English — I know of only one honour-
able exception — and might just as well be written in
Sanskrit. -"^ Specimens of the article required are re-
fused, a ridiculous economy, since nothing will induce
the Siberian to buy what he is unable first to see
working for himself; and further, long credits, which
are invariable in the country, are rigorously tabooed.
So the wily German and the astute American " travel-
ler " steps in, and before we realise what has occurred
the market is gone.

^ The same lament comes from other quarters. Compare the report of
the British Vice-Consul at Resht for 1902-3, in which he states that cata-
logues sent to him from the United Kingdom are in the majority of cases
useless, owing to the fact that Persians cannot read them.

SIBERIAN VILLAGES. 271

After agriculture the rearing of live-stock forms an
important element in the husbandry of the country,
horses, cattle, and sheep being raised in large numbers,
especially in the Barnaul and Biisk districts. Bee-
keeping, too, is largely practised, enormous quantities
of honey and wax being produced in the Biisk and
Zeminogorsk districts, and when travelling through the
country I often obtained excellent honey from the
villagers. The villages are invariably composed of
wooden houses built of rough unsquared logs, moss
and earth being forced into the interstices to keep out
the cold. The windows are double for the same reason
— a good enough reason, too, when we remember that
the thermometer drops to 70° below zero (Fahrenheit),
without causing surprise to any one.^ Originality
plays no part in their construction, one being like
unto another ; " indeed," to quote Mr Simpson once
more, " they only differ in one respect — their linear
extent ; otherwise they are all at the same stage of
development." I saw the interiors of many such dwell-
ings, often spending the night in the house of some
villager when travelling, and was struck with the
uniformity of their appearance. The rooms, of which
there were generally two or three, were always fur-
nished on the most simple plan — a table standing
against a bare wall, a few chairs, and a large wooden
bed piled up with cushions and blankets, constituting
the bed- and sitting-room, while a huge whitewashed
brick stove and oven combined monopolised the greater
part of the other, which served as kitchen. The walls
were seldom adorned with anything beyond an ikon
and print of the Tsar and Tsaritsa, and never once did I
see a sign of those odds and ends, such as ornaments,

At Novo Nicholaewsk on the Siberian railway the greatest amount of
cold registered is usually 46° Keamur = 103° of frost Fahrenheit.

272 CENTRAL SIBERIA.

pictures, photographs, &c., which make the lares and
penates of an English cottage.

The villager himself is a sad-looking man, which is,
perhaps, not to be wondered at, for he only reflects the
circumstances of his existence. The excessive length
of his hair and the fulness of his bushy beard give
him a somewhat wild and uncouth appearance, and his
mirth is as brief as the short summer he enjoys, the
usual hard expression which he wears being but a
reflex of the long gloomy winter which broods over his
land. He wears a cotton blouse, generally of scarlet,
or one of the many shades which scarlet assumes
under the influence of sun and rain on its road to an
ultimate neutral tint, thick baggy trousers, whose
shape is the result of chance rather than design, and
the ends of which are tucked into big top-boots made
for comfort rather than for elegance. In addition to
a trouser end, a long-stemmed pipe is, as a rule, kept
in one, and a wad of tobacco, rolled up in an indescrib-
able rag, in the other, besides other small odds and
ends which might be found in an ordinary being's
pockets. He gets solemnly drunk on vodka when he
has nothing better to do, which is mostly, and is apt
to become aggressive under its influence.

Vodka, indeed, is likely to prove the curse of Siberia.
I have related in a previous chapter how the post-
master one Sunday evening told me he would bring
the blacksmith to repair my tarantass if he was not
drunk, and on another occasion I found the postmaster
himself gloriously intoxicated at nine o'clock in the
miorning. Once in the small town of Zeminogorsk I
came to blows with an inebriated peasant, and narrowly
escaped being locked up by an oflicious police-ofiicer
for setting upon an inoflensive(?) subject of the Tsar !
To prove that I was not the victim of chance, it is only

THE GOVERNMENT VODKA MONOPOLY. 273

necessary to have recourse to the writings of other
travellers in Russia and Siberia. Mr Henry Norman,
for instance, writes of the Russian peasant that " he
gets wildly drunk at Easter for joy to think that
Christ is risen, and at other times for no reason at
all " ; 1 while Mr Simpson, in his ' Sidelights on Siberia,'
records that " Sunday evening is usually spent in
rioting and drunkenness. . . . From Tomsk onwards it
was not once or twice merely that we passed men lying
in the centre of the village road ; and often late in the
evening small groups of inebriates stumbled along the
uneven track, unduly emphasising with each loss of
balance sundry snatches of their weird minor airs."

It has been suggested by some that the Government
vodka monopoly, which is gradually being introduced
throughout the Russian Empire, will tend to lessen
drunkenness. I am bound to admit that I am quite
unable to agree with this far too sanguine expectation.
To begin with, where the monopoly is in force, vodka
may not be consumed on the premises where it is sold.
Result : the peasant cannot buy a glass of vodka, so
he buys a bottle, walks outside, empties the bottle
(down his throat!), returns to the shop, and receives
back value in money for the empty bottle. At the
settlement of Novo Nicholaewsk — of which more anon
— the monopoly came into force in November 1902.
In the course of the first ten months the takings
amounted to Ij million roubles ! That is to say,
taking fifty kopecks a pint as the average price paid
for vodka, the amount consumed in ten months was
375,000 gallons! I have secured the figures for the
province of Moscow, with a population of just under
24 millions, during the year 1902, which are equally
instructive. Six hundred and eleven Government

1 All the Eussias.

274 CENTRAL SIBERIA.

shops retailed 8,139,530 gallons of vodka, having a
total value of £3,242,341, the clear profit amounting
to £2,410,568. This shows an increase of profit over
the previous year of £1,252,528, or nearly 100 per
cent ! Excellent for the Chancellor of the Exchequer,
no doubt, though hardly an inspiring outlook from the
temperance point of view. What a pity the anti-
compensationists — et hoc genus omne — don't live in
Russia !

But my discussions on the Russian peasant and his
faults are carrying me away from the subject in hand,
which is the government of Tomsk. If the villages
are severe in their simplicity, the towns show signs of
a higher ambition. Barnaul, capital of the district of
the same name, comes as a surprise. Here large build-
ings of brick and stone are plentiful, there are broad
streets and commodious shops, a substantial, almost
magnificent. Government House rises in the centre of
the town, and the churches, of course, form conspicuous
objects. Altogether, the town wears an air of pros-
perity and progress. Houses of wood still exist in
parts, but in many places these may be seen in process
of demolition, while superior buildings of brick are
rising, phoenix-like, from their ashes. I went into one
of the chief shops, which displayed an assortment of
goods from bicycles to tooth-brushes. A map was my
modest requirement, and a courteous shop-walker sent
off an assistant to unearth the maps from the stationery
department. In the meantime, was there anything else
he could show me ? He had several excellent gramo-
phones, recently imported — there were half a dozen on
the counter, one of which was braying forth what I
took to be a Russian comic song, in the harsh metallic
cadence common to gramophones. No, I was in no
need of a gramophone at the moment. Well, then, a

A LAND OF WOODS AND MOUNTAINS. 275

bicycle or revolver ? No, I did not require the former,
and was already provided with the latter. I saw
machinery, tools, glass-ware, silver- ware, jewellery,
hats, clothes, boots, toilet accessories, saddlery, oilman's
stores, and confectionery looming large behind gramo-
phone, bicycle, and revolver ; but fortunately the maps
were produced at this moment, and I was spared
further inspection of goods for which I had no possible
use.

Beyond Barnaul, that is to say higher up the river,
is Biisk, which is Barnaul on a smaller scale, with
electric light and a bishop's house thrown in, and
beyond Biisk rise the wooded slopes and snow -clad
peaks of the Altai highlands. The face of the country
here assumes a complete change. You pass from a
level almost treeless plain into a land of woods and
mountains, of rushing streams and frost-bound heights,
of lovely valleys, where grass and wild-flowers grow in
riotous profusion, and where villages nestle snugly in
sheltered hollows. Agriculture is less conspicuous here :
herds of horses and flocks of sheep form the wealth of
the people, and trapping and hunting are among their
favourite occupations. The last Russian village of any
importance is Onguidai, 250 versts from Biisk, beyond
which the population is reduced to wandering Kalmuks,
who live scattered widely over the country in round felt
tents. After travelling for 500 versts from Biisk, yet
another change comes over the land, tree -life ceases
abruptly, agriculture becomes quite impossible, and you
debouch on to a bare bleak plateau on the Mongolian
frontier.

Kosh-Agach — such is the name of the district we
have reached — began with a church, erected upwards of
thirty years ago for the benefit of the Kalmuk converts
to orthodoxy. Then the prospect of trade with the

276 CENTRAL SIBERIA.

Monofols attracted the merchant, who built him wooden
houses on the banks of the Chuya river. Now there
are ten merchants, forming a little colony on the edge
of the bleak plateau, pushing their trade into Mongolia,
and buying the produce of that country in return.
Manufactured and millinery goods, iron and copper
wares, tanned leather and maral horns pass into Mon-
golia, and in return furs, wool, skins, brick tea, silk
stuffs, and small wares of Chinese manufacture are
brought into Russia. This trade, which has so far
attained a value of only a few hundred thousand
roubles, is likely to show an increased development
before long, since the authorities have been engaged
during the past two years in constructing a road, at a
cost of 65,000 roubles (roughly £6500), from Onguidai,
which is now sufficiently near completion to admit of
the passage of light vehicles for the whole distance
to the frontier, whence a caravan route leads to Kobdo,
Uliissatai, and Urga, the chief centres of Mongolian
trade. ^ At present Mongolia can only be described as
a poor country ; but a great future lies before it when

^ Since writing these words, I learn from Siberia that the road has
already given a considerable impetus to Eussian trade with Mongolia,
whence increasing quantities of sheep's wool, camel hair, prepared felt,
hides, and skins are being obtained. Trade with this country is also being
stimulated by the opening up of a water route via the lower Irtish, the
Nor-Zaisan Lake, and the Black Irtish river, up which steamers and barges
have now been run for three years in succession by three merchants of
Semipalatinsk, who have established a station at the mouth of the Kaldjir
river, a tributary of the Black Irtish. In the course of last season 8000
tons of merchandise were thus carried, and two new steamers are being
built with a Grovernment subsidy, to be launched in the present year. The
present station at the mouth of the Kaldjir river is 45 miles from the
Russian town of Zaisansk, 150 miles from the Mongolian town of Tchu-
gutchak and 375 miles from Kobdo. A party of surveyors and scientists
were under orders to proceed on an expedition of exploration with a view
to finding the best I'oute to this latter town ; but owing to the outbreak of
war and the consequent withdrawal of all extraordinary expenditure on the
part of the Government the expedition has been postponed.

TOMSK CAPITAL OF SIBERIA. 277

the untold mineral wealth of which it is known to be
possessed comes to be extracted from the bosom of the
earth, and it requires no great powers of perception to
perceive to whom the bulk of it will fall.

Such in brief is the Government of Tomsk, a vast
territory embracing some of the richest and most pros-
perous tracts of Siberia, or rather, I should perhaps say,
those parts of Tomsk which I had opportunities of
visiting. I have given some description of the country
and its people ; it remains for me before concluding this
chapter to say a few words about its capital.

Tomsk — so called from its situation on the river
Tom — has a mystery of its own, but it is in
no way connected with the railway. The so-called
mystery of the railway, — why Tomsk, the univer-
sity town, the most populous city in Siberia, and
prospective capital of 5,000,000 square miles of terri-
tory, was severely left on one side when the great rail-
way came to be built, — is in reality no mystery at all,
least of all to the inhabitants of the city concerned.
The said inhabitants were proud — their position they
thought was unassailable — and they shouted defiance at
the engineers when they demanded their price for in-
cluding Tomsk in their scheme of railway construction.
But they forgot that they were in Russia and were
dealing with Russian engineers, so Tomsk was left out
in the cold, and is to this day left at the terminus of
a branch 59 miles from the main line. Now they would
willingly give twice the amount originally demanded,
but it is too late. The whole business is not a creditable
one, and casts a serious reflection on the honour of the
engineers who built the line, and perhaps the less said
about it the better.

The real mystery of Tomsk centres round the tomb of
a pious hermit, one Feodor Kuzmitch, who died in 1864,

278 CENTRAL SIBERIA.

and was buried by the monks of the Alexis monastery
in the town, leaving behind him a memory which at the
present day is held in reverent awe by the people. But
there was something more than the extreme piety and
asceticism of his life to excite the worship which is now
accorded him ; and herein lies the mystery, for there is
no doubt whatsoever that, whoever the wanderer who
reached Tomsk in 1849 to make it his final home may
in reality have been, the vast majority of its inhabitants
are firmly convinced that in the person of the lonely
monk there was living among them no less a personage
than the abdicated monarch, Alexander I.

The story is one of absorbing interest, and is worthy
of a foremost place among those strange romances with
which the annals of Russian history are fraught.

As far as recorded history goes, we are led to believe
that Alexander I. died in November, in the year 1825,
at the town of Taganrog, whither he had repaired for
the benefit of his health. But, as is not unusually the
case in the history of Russia, there is much that requires
explanation and elucidation in connection with what is
described by the historian Bambaud as " the premature
and mysterious death of Alexander." The circumstances
attendant on his departure from his capital are suffi-
ciently strange. " At the moment of his departure
he appears to have been shaken by gloomy presenti-
ments, and insisted on a requiem mass being said at the
monastery of Saint Alexander Nevski. In broad day-
light, lighted tapers were left in his room. ... At
Taganrog Alexander received circumstantial accounts
as to the conspiracy of the Society of the South and its
schemes of regicide. Cruel recollections of 1801 may
have mingled with his melancholy. He thought sadly
of the terrible embarrassments which he would bequeath
to his successor ; of his lost illusions ; of his liberal

AN UNKNOWN MONK. 279

sympathies of former days, which in Poland, as in
Russia, had ended in a reaction ; of his broken pur-
poses and changed life." ^

His body was of course carried to St Petersburg for
burial, but the people of Tomsk will tell you that
spurious corpses are easy to obtain in Kussia, and that
whosoever it may have been, it was not the body of
Alexander over which was read the royal funeral service
of 1825. An old Cossack officer told Mr Simpson that
he was a boy in St Petersburg at the time when the
remains of the deceased emperor were brought up from
the south ; and that he remembered distinctly how it
was quite openly remarked that the body was not that
of Alexander, and how it was a cause of comment at
the time that people were not allowed to pass by and
look on the face of their late emperor as he lay in state,
according to custom ; ^ and I was told stories to the
same effect in Tomsk. So much for the accredited
history of the death of Alexander. Now for the version
which is not to be found in the chronicles of recognised
historians.

Not very long after the supposed death of that
monarch, a vagrant, having in his possession a horse of
a quality which did not, in the opinion of the police,
coincide with his humble status, turned up on the
eastern borders of Russia, and, as he refused to explain
how he came by his property, was beaten and despatched
across the frontier to Siberia. The first years of his life
in that country were spent in the neighbourhood of
Krasnoyarsk ; but in 1832 he moved to a village twenty
miles from Tomsk, where he lived a retired and ascetic
life for seventeen years. In 1849 he came to Tomsk
itself, to spend the remainder of his life amid the humble

^ History of Eussia. Alfred Eambaud.
2 Sidelights on Siberia. J. Y. Simpson.

280 CENTRAL SIBERIA.

surroundings of a small wooden house, 18 ft. by 20 ft.,
which is known to this day as "Alexander's House."
The simple furniture he used is still preserved, but the
simplicity and gloom of the apartment are now relieved
by many gilded ikons, and by portraits of Alexander I.
and Feodor Kuzmitch, placed side by side to accentuate
their strong resemblance. The place is looked upon as
holy ground, a shed has been raised over the whole
building to protect it, and services are held there every
Sunday.

Papers proving his identity are said to have been
taken to St Petersburg after his death at his own
request by his landlord, Khromov ; and I was told of a
curious incident which is likewise held to be proof of
his being no other than the abdicated monarch.

While heir to the throne, it is asserted that Alex-
ander II., during his tour in Siberia, visited the lonely
monk near Krasnoyarsk. For long he was closeted
with him, until at length the curiosity of the village
priest, in whose house the interview took place, could
no longer be restrained, and gazing through the key-
hole he saw to his astonishment the heir to the throne
of all the Russias humbly kneeling before the myste-
rious monk !

Be the story right or wrong, no amount of argument,
however forcible, will persuade Siberia that she was not
the unwitting host of a royal guest ; and almost the
last thing I saw in Tomsk was a humble citizen bowing
and praying before the small chapel which is now being
erected above the grave of the deceased ascetic.

But even without a mystery Tomsk would be a
notable town. It has a university — the only one at
present in Siberia — with faculties for medicine and
jurisprudence, and the prospect of others to come, at-
tended at the time of my visit by 600 students. It has

THE TECHNOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 281

botanical and zoological museums. It boasts of its
electric light and telephones, and it parades before you
rows of massive buildings, which are in reality composed
of brick and stucco, but which look like stone. It
provides fine shops for you, and is building arcades ; it
has theatres and hotels, and, last but not least, it is
possessed of a technological institute of which any city
in the world might be proud. This latter building is
magnificent. It is four storeys high, and covers a large
area of ground on both sides of a wide street. Drawing
and elementary instruction had been started for three
years ; chemistry was being begun when I was there,
and physical science and mineralogy were shortly to be
embarked upon. Buildings for engineering were being
added, and altogether it was expected that additions
would be made during the next five years. The whole
institute is lighted with electric light and artificially
heated, and the laboratories are fitted with all the
latest appliances from German manufactories.

I have said much that is good about Tomsk : there
are some things that are bad also. The shops are in-
ordinately expensive, and the streets and roads recall
the horrors of Constantinople. But on the whole Tomsk
has every right to be proud. Its 50,000 inhabitants
place it alongside of Irkutsk, as the two most popular
cities in Siberia, and its university will ensure its re-
maining one of the chief cities of the country, even
should its present unfortunate position involve its
decline in commercial activity before others more for-
tunately placed.

282 THE GREAT SIBERIAN RAILWAY.

CHAPTER XXIV.

THE GREAT SIBERIAN RAILWAY.

The spirit of discovery of the sixteenth century— Yermak— The conquest of
Siberia— The treaty of Nertchinsk— Count Muravieflf— Need of com-
munications in Siberia — Early railway schemes- The Perm-Tiumen
line built— The imperial rescript of March 1891— The cost of the
Siberian railway — The price of a ticket — Western Siberia — The
settlement of Novo Nicholaewsk— Dairy-farming— The junction for
Tomsk — Deficiencies of the railway track — The monotony of the
journey — Irkutsk — Its origin — Its present position — Its chief
buildings — The gold-smelting laboratory.

The sixteenth century is one which has left an indelible
mark in the annals of Western nations. The spirit of
unrest which had long lain dormant in the peoples of
Europe burst forth simultaneously in half-a-dozen
countries, impelling men irresistibly to leave their
homes and penetrate to the uttermost ends of the
earth. A veritable lust for discovery set in, fostering
in the hearts of the intrepid adventurers of the day
seed which was destined to give birth in due course
to the empires of the world. So it happened that
while the world was still marvelling at the discoveries
of John Cabot and Christopher Columbus beyond the
Western seas, and speculating on the possibilities
opened up by the successful outcome of the daring
voyage of Vasco da Gama in the East, there arose, in
a wild and lawless district bordering the banks of the
Volga and the Don, a man who was destined to set

THE CONQUEST OF SIBERIA. 283

going on its long career the natural tendency of the
Slav race towards the East, and by force of char-
acter and his own extraordinary personality to start
the rapidly awakening power of Russia ^ on the thorny
road to empire.

Vassil, the son of Timothy Povolski, known to the
world by his curious nickname, Yermak (millstone),
given him by his fellow -boatmen, pervaded by the
same spirit of unrest which was stirring the pulses of
"Western Europe, early developed from boatman into
Cossack chief, a synonym in those days for pirate
king. A career of successful piracy on the Volga was
brought to an abrupt termination when news of the
doings of the chief and his desperadoes was brought
to the ears of Ivan the Terrible, who, incensed at such
flagrant defiance of law and order, despatched an army
to put an end to the freebooters. Thus does the fate
of men and nations hang ever on the trend of small
events. Driven from his former haunts, compelled to
seek safety on the confines of the country, the pirate
chief came under the eye of the merchants Stroganoff,
already grown rich and powerful on possessions on the
Kama : and entering- their service, volunteered to lead

'CD '

an expedition for them across the Urals in quest of the
rich furs of the coveted land of Yugra. On New
Year's Day 1581 (then September 1st), he started at
the head of 800 men for the unknown land beyond
the mountains : in less than two years he had won an
empire for his sovereign and a pardon for himself.
Such was the beginning of the movement which has
given five million square miles to a Russian Tsar, and
won for a nation still young — fit compensation for the
stormy days of childhood passed under the galling yoke

1 The first man to assume the title of autocrat of all Russia was Ivan III.,
son of Vassil II., Grand Duke of Vladimir, a century before (1462).

284 THE GREAT SIBERIAN RAILWAY.

of the Golden Horde — the proud heritage of one of the
greatest empires of the world !

The story of the exploits of Yermak up to the day
of his violent death in the frenzied waters of the
Irtish, while trying to swim to safety from a disas-
trous night -attack at the hands of his old enemy, the
Tartar chief Kutchum, and of the daring feats and
heroic endurance of the Cossack bands who took up
the task thus started, as they pressed steadfastly on
towards the East, harassed by the savage tribes they
encountered, cut off by vast stretches of inhospitable
country from their base, and exposed to the rigour of
the terrible Siberian winter, is one of surpassing in-
terest, but one which it would be beyond the scope of
the present chapter to portray. Suffice it to say that
little less than half a century after Yermak had led
his band across the Urals, thanks to the dauntless
courage and perseverance of these pioneers, the limit
of the continent was reached on the Sea of Okhotsk ;
while, in strong contrast to this activity and progress
in the north, stands the indifference of the Government
at Moscow and the incompetence of their envoy in the
Amur region on the south, who, baffled by the ability
of a Jesuit priest,-^ signed away the ground won under
exceptional difficulties by a succession of heroes, and
put a check upon Russian expansion in the direction
of the Pacific, which was only removed a century and
a half later by the genius of a man who did for E-ussia
in the Far East all and more than Yermak had done
for her in the West.

^ The treaty of Nertchinsk, the first ever concluded by China with a
foreign power, was signed in 1689 by the Russian envoy Golovin and the
Jesuit fathers, Gerbillon and Pereira, who accompanied the Chinese Pleni-
potentiary. By its terms Russia gave up the Amur and retired behind
the river Gorbitza, the line of mountains bounding on the north the basin
of the Amur and the river Argun.

COUNT MURAVIEFF IN THE EAST. 285

Count Muravieff, appointed Governor -General of
Eastern Siberia in 1847, broke the long spell of in-
activity which had sterilised Russian enterprise east
of the Baikal for 160 years, and, in spite of violent
opposition from headquarters, and innumerable obstacles
on the spot, succeeded, before he laid down his staff
of office, in wiping out the inglorious treaty of Nert-
chinsk, in bringing the whole of the Amur region
under the yoke of Russia, and establishing her firmly
on the Pacific seaboard as far south as the borders of
Korea, thus putting the finishing touches to the great
movement begun three centuries before, which has had
for effect the inclusion of half a continent in the
dominions of the Tsar,

I have given this short sketch of the Conquest of
Siberia because it explains the circumstances which
have led up to the subject of this chapter, the con-
struction of the greatest railway which the world
has seen. Towns and villages followed in the wake
of Cossack pioneers, and with the establishment of a
sedentary form of occupation, the necessity of improved
communication, without which the administration of law
and order in such wide regions was impossible, forced
itself upon the attention of the central Government at
St Petersburg. 1 Post-roads, such as still afford the
only means of communication in many parts of Asiatic
Russia, were inaugurated, stretching from town to
town, until the links were at length forged into a
great chain, which reached across Asia from the Urals
to the Pacific. Later on a further advance was made
by the introduction of steam traffic on the principal

1 The centre of administration was moved from Moscow to St Petersburg
in the days of Peter the Great, who assumed the reins of government on
September 12, 1689, a fortnight after the conclusion of the treaty of Nert-
chinsk.

286 THE GREAT SIBERIAN RAILWAY.

waterways of Siberia, and when at last a man arose
to put fresh life-blood into the stagnant veins of Russian
activity in the East, it was in great measure due to the
defects inevitably attaching to the navigation of rivers
themselves frozen for half the year, flowing into a
remote and almost impracticable sea, that the project
of constructing railways, to at least assist existing
communications, took definite shape.

The earliest definite suggestion seems to have come
from an English engineer, who proposed to build a
gigantic horse tramway, extending from Nijni-Novgorod
to the Pacific Ocean ; but, as Mr Henry Norman re-
marks, "it is not surprising that the Russian Govern-
ment passed over in silence so fantastic a scheme,
unsupported by any estimates." ^ Another proposal
made in the same year was that of Colonel Romanoff,
for a carriage-road, to be transformed later into a rail-
way, between Sophiisk on the Amur and De Castries
Bay. The idea of railway communication having once
taken root, a whole host of proposals of varying merit
immediately sprang up, including one by an American,
Collins, to unite Irkutsk and Chita ; a gigantic scheme
for traversing the whole region by three Englishmen,
Morrison, Horn, and Sleigh ; and the equally colossal
project of Sophronoff, to build a line from Saratof
across the Steppe via Semipalatinsk to the Amur and
Peking.

After this many schemes of a less ambitious nature
were propounded, the first tangible result appearing
in the shape of a line built solely to satisfy the demands
of the Ural mining industry, a special commission,

1 In his ' Peoples and Politics of the Far East.' The facts concerning the
proposals for and eventual construction of the trans-Siberian railway are
taken from the above book, Vladimix-'a 'Russia on the Pacific,' and the
ofl&cial ' Guide to the Great Siberian Railway.'

THE NOTE OF STATE SECRETARY VON HUBBENET. 287

organised for the purpose of selecting the most suitable
route to satisfy the requirements of the mining industry
and Siberian transport, having come to the conclusion
that the two interests were incompatible. This line,
projected by Colonel Bogdanovitch, had for its starting-
point Perm, and reaching Ekaterinburg in 1878 was
completed as far as Tiumen in 1884 ; and it was not
until 1891 that the much-discussed scheme for a great
trans-continental railway was finally decided on. By
this time there were three lines, any one of which could
be extended east beyond the Urals, and the choice
eventually adopted was made in accordance with a
detailed note presented by the then Minister of Ways
and Communications, State Secretary Von Hubbenet,
on November 15, 1890.

After pointing out that the possible points of de-
parture of a trans-Siberian line to Nizhneudinsk were
(1) Tiumen on the Ural line, (2) Orenburg on the
Orenburg line, and (3) Mias on the Zlatoust-Mias line,
he demonstrated the advantages of a line starting from
the last-named as being the shortest from Moscow, the
cheapest to construct, and the one passing through the
most populous localities of Western Siberia ; while he
objected to the Orenburg line on the grounds of its
great length and cost owing to technical difficulties,
and to the Tiumen line as necessitating the further
construction of a costly line of 1000 versts from Perm
to Nijni-Novgorod to preserve its commercial import-
ance. Urged by the Ministers of War and Foreign
Affairs, he also attached great importance to the con-
struction of the Ussuri line for connecting Vladivostok
with the Amur Basin, which, at the instigation of
Count Ignatieff and Baron Korf, had already been
sanctioned by the Emperor in 1887.

As a result of these representations, the Committee

288 THE GREAT SIBERIAN RAILWAY.

of Ministers issued an order, sanctioned by the Emperor,
in February 1891, (l) to approve the direction of the
Ussuri hne from Vladivostok to Grafskaya station,
(2) to commence the construction of the Mias-CheHa-
binsk line in 1891, and (3) to conduct surveys in the
same year from Cheliabinsk to Tomsk or some other
point of the mid - Siberian section, and from the ter-
minus of the first section of the Ussuri line to Khar-
barovsk, and by an imperial rescript issued in March
1891 the question of the construction of the great
Trans-Siberian railway was definitely settled.

It must be admitted that in constructing a line across
Asia, Russia has become responsible for one of the
achievements of the world. An English officer, whose
lot has been cast for the most part in the East, once
said to me that Russia had done two big things — she
had carried on the Russo-Turkish war and she had
built the Siberian railway, and there can be few who
will deny that, as far at any rate as the latter is con-
cerned, he was undoubtedly correct. In little more
than ten years 6000 miles of railway have been built,
and the journey from London to Shanghai, even with
the present imperfect running, has been reduced from
upwards of a month via the Suez Canal to nineteen
days. The cost has, of course, been enormous — far
greater indeed than it ought to have been, and the
estimate rose as the line progressed. At one time
£40,000,000 was suggested as the probable cost of the
undertaking; but by the end of 1899 £53,000,000 had
already been spent, and the total official estimate rose
to £82,500,000. By the end of last year (1903) even
this stupendous sum had been exceeded, and an official
publication, commemorating the tenth anniversary of
the Imperial Committee of the Siberian Railway, was
issued, which placed the total cost of the line through

THE PRICE OF A TICKET. 289

Siberia and Manchuria to Vladivostok and Port
Arthur at 940,000,000 odd roubles, or £99,000,000,
which works out at something like £16,600 per mile.
This will have still to be added to by the time that
the difficult circum-Baikal branch is completed.

Travelling is luxuriant in the extreme, the car-
riages— particularly the newest ones, which have been
constructed for the Trans-Baikal and Manchurian sec-
tions— being very high and roomy, fitted with electric
light, a movable electric reading-lamp, and electric
bells, and being connected by a corridor with a smoking
saloon, dining saloon, and bathroom. Small plate-glass
flanges are fitted at right angles to the windows, which
prevent sparks, &c., blowing in when open, and electric
fans give additional ventilation when required in the
smoking and dining car. With all these comforts you
naturally expect to have to pay handsomely for the
privilege of travelling on the line, and it comes as a
surprise to you when you learn the ridiculously low
price of a ticket. It was originally ofiicially predicted
that the cost of a first-class ticket by fast train, in-
clusive of government tax and sleeping accommodation,
from Moscow to Port Arthur, a distance of something
like 5300 miles, would be 114 roubles, or a fraction
over £12, and, though this estimate has in point of fact
been largely exceeded, the present price of 270 roubles
78 kopecks, or £28, 16s., can only be described as
exceedingly moderate. There is, however, one thing
which it struck me might be altered with advantage,
not only to the passengers but also to the receipts of
the railway, and that is, the time of duration of a
through ticket. When it is remembered that forty-five
days are allowed for the journey on a through ticket
from London to St Petersburg, it strikes one as a little
absurd that twenty- four days should be the limit

290

TEE GREAT SIBERIAN RAILWAY.

allowed for the journey from Moscow to Port Arthur,
and fifteen and eleven from the two chief towns in
Siberia — namely, Tomsk and Irkutsk. It is to be
hoped that the authorities will see their way before
long to remove so annoying and unnecessary a limit-
ation.

The following list of fares may be of Interest to the
traveller : —

^ Calais
London to J „

Port Arthur via j Ostend

C Calais
London to J »

Vladivostok „ j Ostend

C Calais
London to ; „

Peking . • " i Ostend

What is to be seen in the course of a journey through
this far-oif land, from which tales of terror used to
come as from some lonely land of inexorable exile,
where misery, pain, and death alone awaited its un-
happy visitors? Thanks to the Russian railway and
the accounts of many modern travellers, such fantastic
pictures, depicting Siberia as the country of despair, no
longer obtain credence even among the least informed.
Convicts and prisons, with an undue share perhaps of
human misery and suffering, no doubt exist, but these
are far away in the inhospitable regions of Yakutsk,
and form but a small part of the Siberia of to-day ; nor
do the horrors of the Arctic prison come under the pur-
view of the traveller on the railway. The prospect
which meets the traveller's gaze is of a very different
kind.

Class.

Francs.

£

s.

d.

1st

1024-G5

40

12

5

2nd

693-40

27

9

9

1st

1013-70

40

3

7

2nd

685-65

27

3

7

1st

944-20

37

8

7

2nd

642-60

25

9

5

1st

933-25

36

19

9

2nd

635-85

25

4

0

1st

1037-95

41

2

9

2nd

723-60

28

13

7

1st

1027

40

14

2

2nd

716-85

28

8

2

THE SETTLEMENT OF NOVO NIGHOLAEWSK. 291

Of Western Siberia I cannot speak from personal
experience. The picture which hngers in my mind
from the accounts of other travellers is a simple mono-
chrome. Uninterrupted plain from dawn till noon, and
from noon till dusk, and from dusk till dawn again,
hundreds and hundreds of miles of it. In September a
sea of waving golden corn spread out all round, and
tree-life in the shape of alder, birch, and willow. My
own acquaintance with the line began at the settlement
of Novo Nicholaewsk on the right bank of the Ob river,
and it is at Novo Nicholaewsk, therefore, that I must
ask the reader to step on board the train with me.

First, however, a word about the settlement itself
In countries like Siberia towns spring up as if by
magic ; where there was nothing one day there may
be as likely as not a town the next, and Novo
Nicholaewsk is an apt illustration of this pheno-
menon. Nine years ago a vast virgin forest covered
the banks of the great Ob river, through which the
railway forced its way. Now a settlement of 30,000
inhabitants, which is awaiting only an imperial edict,
constituting it a town, to become a great deal larger,
flourishes on the site of fallen pine and birch, and
bids fair ere long to force its way to the forefront of
Siberian cities. The advantageous position which it
occupies at the junction of the railway and the great
Ob waterway, and the fact that it is situated in the
heart of the richest of the Siberian governments, are
sufficient guarantees of the future which lies before it.
A large government biscuit factory for the supply of
troops, which is in process of construction, points to
the probability of its shortly becoming an important
military depot ; and the fact that in one or two
instances large buildings of brick are at this moment
being raised to replace existing structures of wood, is

292 THE GREAT SIBERIAN RAILWAY.

sufficient evidence of the belief of those concerned that
a release from the ties attaching to imperial Cabinet
property is at hand, and that it is on the verge of
becoming a town. It may interest the British con-
sumer to learn that at the present time this little set-
tlement is exporting something like 54,000,000 lb. of
butter a - year, part of which finds its way direct to
London, while a considerable portion of the remainder
passes through Denmark, where it is remade, finally
reachino: the London market as " best Danish butter." ^

Between this point and Lake Baikal, a distance
of 1173|- miles, lies the middle link of the Siberian
railway. Seated in an easy - chair in the comfort-
able saloon of the " International," which runs once
a-week from Moscow to Irkutsk, you gaze out on
an almost uninterrupted expanse of pine, fir, and
birch, in the midst of which the occasional small
clearings where settlers have built themselves houses
and tilled the land are dwarfed into insignificance.
The vast gloomy depths of a limitless virgin forest
confront you on every side, and the three days'
struggle which you enter upon to free yourself
from the monotony of unending forest is a futile
one, for from first to last fir, pine, and birch are
gloriously triumphant, forcing upon you a sense of
your own insignificance and of their unquestioned
dominion.

As day fades into night after leaving the Ob,
the ' gloomy jungle opens for a space, and you
glide slowly into Taigar. A few years ago Taigar
was what its name still suggests — virgin forest.

^ The dairy -farming industry, with special reference to the manufacture
of butter for export, has in a few years made rapid strides in Western
Siberia, which now exports annually to Baltic ports for shipment abroad
butter to the value of over £3,500,000.

THE JUNCTION FOR TOMSK. 293

Now it is the junction for Tomsk, which lies on
a branch line 59 miles to the north, and wears
an air of importance in consequence. The line
expands mysteriously into a dozen sidings, red
wooden buildings with green roofs spring up all
round, numerous engines with quaint bulbous-shaped
spark-arresters surmounting their funnels — for wood
still forms the greater part of the fuel on the
Siberian railway — puff officiously up and down,
while a large brick engine - house shelters a dozen
more. Long rows of red waggons occupy many of
the sidings, with here and there a water - tank
among them. And thereby hangs a tale, for
Taigar, to say the least of it, was inconsiderately
chosen, there being practically no water, and the
supply having consequently to be brought by rail.
Indeed the whole line seems to have been built
with an astonishing lack of foresight. The water-
supply in many cases appears to have been con-
sidered only after the rails were laid, the rails
themselves were far too light for what was re-
quired of them, and were speedily replaced by
heavier ones, which in their turn are proving all
too light for the amount of traffic which has
rapidly sprung up. No provision was made when
the embankments were thrown up for the future
doubling of the line ; the cuttings are so narrow
and so steep that you expect every shower to
bring a ton of earth rolling down on to the line,
and all the bridges have been built to admit only
of a single rail. No doubt the traffic, which sprang
up as if by magic, far exceeded all calculations,
and while work is being pushed forward to enable
the existing line to cope with the demands made
upon it, such as the replacing of the wooden

THE GREAT SIBERIAN RAILWAY.

bridges across small streams by superior erections
of stone and the addition of sidings at all the
larger stations, the necessity of doubling the line
is under consideration. In this connection it may
be mentioned that, in view of the difficulties which
stand in the way of doubling the existing line,
serious consideration is likely to be given to a
scheme which has been suggested, for building an
entirely separate line at a considerable distance to
the north. In such a scheme would lie the sal-
vation of Tomsk.

Beyond Taigar the line passes by several towns
of importance — Mariinsk, Achinsk, Krasnoyarsk, and
Kansk — while gradually passing from the level plains
of Western Siberia into the more mountainous lands
of the districts of Yeniseisk and Irkutsk. Here the
configuration of the country has been followed with
ridiculous faithfulness, the result being a succession
of curves, over which our pace, attaining at the
best a modest average of twenty miles an hour,
becomes a crawl. To the uninitiated, indeed, the
serpentine alignment appears wholly unnecessary,
recalling vivid impressions of the twists and turns
of another railway nearer home, which is said to
have lined the pockets of a certain baron of Hebraic
descent, while at the same time rendering him an
object of anathema on the shores of the Golden
Horn.

Long before Irkutsk is reached the monotony of
the journey is brought home to one, for there is
little to divert one's attention on the way. Once
we passed another " International " on its way back
from Irkutsk, and greetings were exchanged before
we moved on, and sometimes we overtook trains
carrying convicts, easily recognisable by their closely

REACH IRKUTSK. 295

barred windows. At every wayside station we jumped
out in company with our fellow-passengers — Germans,
Russians, Frenchmen, Swedes, and Danes — to stretch
our legs during the liberal waits, and on one occa-
sion two of our companions indulged in a little mild
revolver practice in the forest close by, by way of
passing the time ! At last, however, on the morn-
ing of the fourth day after leaving Ob, we ran into
a large suburb with busy station harbouring a number
of trains, crept cautiously across the Angara by a
wooden bridge plastered with notices forbidding smok-
ing, and liberally supplied with barrels of water, to
draw up finally alongside of the stone buildings of
the station of Irkutsk beyond.

The train goes on for another forty odd miles to
Baikal ; but Irkutsk is worthy of some remark, and
before continuing my journey across the great lake
and through Manchuria, I must conclude this chapter
by devoting a few words to it.

Irkutsk, like most towns in a new country, began
life in a humble way. One Ivan Pakhoboff reached
the river Irkut in 1652 while engaged in collecting
tribute from the Buriats in the shape of furs, and
established an intrenched post on its banks, where-
fore it is called Irkutsk to this day. It was not
destined, however, to remain on its original site, for
it was afterwards transferred to the banks of the
Angara, and in 1686 became a town. Now it is the
second city in all Siberia, and far the most imposing in
appearance, the seat of a governor-general of 2,807,626
square miles of territory, the proud possessor of up-
wards of sixty houses of worship, of the very credit-
able number of forty-five educational institutions, of
an admirable museum, of a theatre that cost close
upon £30,000, and of a gold-smelting laboratory which

296 TEE GREAT SIBERIAN RAILWAY.

has smelted since it came into being in 1870 the very
respectable amount of 64 3 1 tons of gold, having a
probable value of upwards of £80,000,000 sterling.
And now, to show how its citizens have thriven, it
is about to erect a statue to the late Emperor at a
cost of 300,000 roubles or £31,915.

Many of the buildings are fine structures, the main
streets and market-square provide splendid shops, and
the cathedral, standing somewhat apart in an open
space, is magnificent, and it is only when you reach
the slums and descend abruptly from well-kept streets
and stately mansions to cesspools, dust - heaps, and
squalid shanties that you remember that you are in
an Asian town. One night I witnessed a performance
at the theatre, and the acting struck me as very
good — and indeed I should be a good judge, for I
understood no word of what was said ! The museum
of the East Siberian Branch of the Russian Geographical
Society is a fine building, and contains much that is
worth seeing. I saw specimens of marble, lapis-lazuli,
coal, graphite, and other minerals from the district ;
mammoth bones and tusks ; the skeleton of a pre-
historic man ; shells, insects, snakes, fish, and, what
is especially striking, the very fine collection of
Buddhist specialities. The library is well stocked with
periodicals from English, American, German, and French
societies, and contains books in many languages besides
Bussian.

Perhaps the object of chief interest to the traveller
is the gold-smelting laboratory. Originally the yearly
average weight of gold which passed through the
laboratory at Irkutsk amounted to 54,000 lb. In
recent years, however, laboratories have been estab-
lished at Nicholaewsk and Blagovestchensk of blood-
stained fame, and yet a third is being created at

THE GOLD-SMELTING LABORATORY. 297

Bodaibo, so that in future a fifth of that amount
is all that is looked forward to.^ The mines from
which Irkutsk at present draws its chief supply are
those of the Lena Company, with an average annual
output of 9000 lb., and of the Imperial Cabinet in
Transbaikalia, with a yield of 5040 lb. The gold law,
until quite recently, was stringent, all gold-dust having
under pain of penalty to be sold to the Government.
Now, however, this law has been repealed, and the free
sale of gold is everywhere legal.

The process of smelting is an interesting one. I
was conducted into a large room having all the
appearance of a chemical laboratory. Presently a
number of sealed leather bags were brought in con-
taining the raw material, and after these had been
carefully weighed and opened, the gold was mixed
with borax, poured into graphite crucibles, and placed
in the furnace for half an hour. The molten metal
was then poured into moulds, and the resultant ingots
stored in the strong-room prior to their being despatched
to St Petersburg. At the time of my visit I. saw in-
gots with a total weight of 5400 lb. thus stored. The
gold is valued at from 18,000 to 21,000 roubles a pud^
or, roughly, at from £53 to £62 a pound, and after it
is weighed and analysed a certificate is issued to the
owners, which can be cashed at any state bank. The
gold from the Amur is the purest, containing, after
smelting, 96 per cent of pure gold, that from the Lena
mines showing from 91f to 93|- per cent of pure metal.

It would be easy to write at length of the many
buildings and objects of interest of Irkutsk ; I spent
a most instructive morning at the fine technical school,

^ For the output of Western Siberia there have long been laboratories at
Barnaul — the oldest in Siberia — and Tomsk, and recently also one at Kras-
noyarsk.

THE GREAT SIBERIAN RAILWAY.

and an interesting afternoon at a celebrated monastery
a little distance from the town, to mention but two
of the many institutions of which it can boast. But
were I to do so this volume, already sufficiently swollen,
would become expanded to an altogether unwarrantable
size, and I have perhaps said enough to show that
the large cities of Siberia have been built and fostered
with a due sense of the responsible position which it
will undoubtedly be their lot to occupy some day.

DIRECTION OF THE LINE. 299

CHAPTEH XXV.

THE EAST CHINESE RAILWAY.

Eussia's coup — The line to pass through Manchuria — Great Britain's
reply — The Manchurian railway agreement — A journey over the
Manchurian railway in the autumn of 1903 — Across Lake Baikal —
The frontier of Manchuria— Calibre of the line — Kharbin — Military
occupation — Article II. of the Manchurian Convention of 1902 — The
ambitions of Kharbin — Magnificent crops — Dalni — Port Arthur —
Eussia's outlay in Manchuria — Niuchwang — The Boxer outbreak
Eussia's opportunity — The situation at Niuchwang at the outbreak of
hostilities — Mukden and Antung opened to foreign trade — Peking
the end of the journey.

Once upon a time it was supposed that the Trans-
Siberian railway was to be built entirely through
Russian territory. East of Lake Baikal it was to
run in a more or less straight line to Kharbarofsk,
whence a line has been built to Vladivostok ; and
in the meanwhile, before the line was completed,
the waterway of the Amur was to be used as the
connecting-link in the communications between Russia
and the Pacific. Russian statesmen, no doubt, knew
better, though they kept their knowledge to them-
selves ; and even people who were not Russian states-
men, but who had made themselves acquainted with
Russian aims and Russian methods, spoke sceptically
of the section through the mountainous regions of the

300 THE EAST CHINESE RAILWAY.

Amur,^ and of the ice-bound terminus of Vladivostok,
and watched events in interested anticipation. Nor
were they disappointed at the sequel. For before
very long Kussia sprung upon the world one of those
masterpieces of diplomacy which she alone is capable
of perpetrating. The line did not pass through the
Amur region at all, but ran along through a much
easier country belonging to Russia's neighbour, and
in addition to linking up Vladivostok with Moscow,
forged its way to the south through another man's
land till it reached Port Arthur, a terminus in far
warmer water than Vladivostok, and possessing a
situation conveniently adjacent to the capital of the
Celestial Empire and seat of political activity in the
Far East.

British diplomacy, it is true, for once rose to the
occasion, and secured for Great Britain the lease of
Wei-hai-Wei, a harbour which, as a matter of fact,
completely commands Port Arthur ; but the advantage
thus obtained was hastily and gratuitously thrown
away when it was made known that it had been
decided not to fortify it, and the sole advantage which
we now reap from our position is that in occupying it
ourselves we prevent any one else more aggressively

1 I am not personally acquainted with the region through which such a
line would have had to pass, but it is admitted on all sides that the Amur
section could of itself have had no value, and would consequently be looked
upon merely as a necessity for completing the communication between
Stretensk and Khabarofsk. The position is put plainly by Vladimir in
his ' Russia on the Pacific,' when he says : " Here we have about 2000
versts to be constructed through dense forests, across big rivers, often
away from all population, under rigorous climatic conditions, with a frozen
soil requiring to be laboriously broken up. Moreover, the local conditions
do not warrant the heavy expenses necessary for the work ; the population
of the Amur province amounts only to 115,000 inhabitants, and the country
is mostly uncultivated ; many years must pass before the trade of the
people, all living on the banks of the river, and already provided with
regular steamer service, will require a railway."

A DIPLOMATIC COUP. 301

inclined from doing so. There is every sign that the
decision was come to in haste and in contradiction
to a former determination, since five admirably and
scientifically constructed forts were built on the island
at the mouth of the harbour at a cost of £25,000 ; but
the rescission of the order to fortify the place having
gone forth before the guns which had already been
shipped were able to reach their destination, they stand
to-day — powerless either for offence or defence — as
glaring illustrations of official fatuity and vacillation.

The main incidents of the diplomatic coup which led
up to the construction of the Manchurian railway are
now a matter of history. The Liaotung peninsula
ceded to Japan, "in perpetuity and full sovereignty,
with all fortifications, arsenals, and public property
thereon," by a vanquished China ; the remonstrance
of an indignant Russia — indignant that the peace of
the Far East should be threatened by the occupation
of Chinese territory by an alien Power ! The seizure
by the expostulating Power two years later of the
very country in question, and the prompt production
of an agreement, signed more than two years before,
sanctioning the construction by her of railways across
Manchuria, are the main points in an interesting little
story which throws an illuminating light upon Mus-
covite methods, while it at the same time accords
triumphant testimony to the success of Muscovite
diplomacy.

The agreement in question, drawn up between the
Eusso- Chinese Bank and the Chinese Government,
provides for the forming of a company described as
the " East Chinese Railway Company," to construct a
line across Manchuria from west to east, connected
with the Trans -Baikal line on the one hand and
the South Ussuri line on the other, with a branch

302 THE EAST CHINESE RAILWAY.

known as the South Manchurian line running from
Kharbin on the main line to Dalni and Port Arthur.
Shares in the company can only be held by Russian
and Chinese subjects, a rebate of ^ of the Chinese
custom duties is allowed on goods imported and ex-
ported across the northern frontier by rail, the com-
pany have rights ovei- a strip of territory on either
side of the line, and are entitled to keep as many
troops along it as are considered necessary for its
protection. The resultant railway is now a link in
the great overland route to the Far East.

With this very brief reminder of the birth and
growth of the Manchurian railway, and without for
the present entering upon any wider discussion of the
Manchurian question, let me give a description of a
journey over it in the autumn of 1903.

At 10 A.M. on September 24 we steamed out of Irkutsk,
and by midday had covered the forty-two miles which
lay between us and the station of Baikal, built on the
shores of the lake of the same name. Here we had to
leave our carriage and embark on the steamer Angara,
for the circum-Baikal branch was only in process of
construction, and though its completion was ofl&cially
predicted for January 1904, the officials responsible for
the prediction were the only people who believed even
ostensibly in its possible fulfilment. The large ice-
breaker Baikal, which accommodates whole trains on
board, and is capable of cutting its way through 2 feet
of solid ice, is used only for goods trains, passengers
being- taken across on the smaller boat, which is said to
be capable of travelling through from 16 to 18 mches
of ice. Both vessels were constructed at the Arm-
strong works, and brought out in pieces and fitted up
on the lake, as was also a floating dock, which has,
however, so far proved a failure. The smaller boat on

THE MANGHURIAN FRONTIER. 303

which we crossed is fitted with triple - expansion en-
gines of 176 effective horse-power; but as a result of
the feverish haste with which Russia hurried on her
arrangements for transporting troops to Manchuria
in 1900, the boilers were not properly lined, and
are now in a precarious condition, one of them being
actually out of work. The speed attained averages
about 10 knots, and at 7.45 p.m., four hours after
starting, we reached Missovaiya, the present starting-
point of the Trans-Baikal line.

Here we found a train awaiting us, and for the next
twenty -eight hours were borne through the wooded
slopes of Trans-Baikalia to Chita. Beyond Chita the
line continues to Stretensk on the upper reaches of the
Amur ; but at the junction of Karimskaia we turned
south across a hungry-looking steppe beyond the forest
zone to the little station which stands on the frontier of
the most northern dependency of China, and bears the
name of the country to which it gives access — Man-
churia. It was dark when we drew up alongside of the
platform of the frontier station, but there was a sug-
gestive air of activity about our surroundings. A
dozen instruments clicked noisily from the brightly lit
telegraph -office, large red lights moving to and fro in
the darkness outside suggested the active movement of
rolling-stock, while the sound of a measured tread up
and down where trains stood in the sidings, spoke un-
mistakably of the presence of troops. Troops there
were, trains full of them, forty men crowded into each
of the big, red, covered-in goods waggons of which they
were composed. Eastward bound ? No doubt, but a
zealous sentry peremptorily ordered off a too inquisitive
passenger, and their destination remained a mystery.

When daylight broke we were travelling through a
mountainous country, and later on climbed to the summit

304 TEE EAST CHINESE RAILWAY.

of the Khingan range and descended again on the far
side by a laborious zigzag, taking an hour and fifty-five
minutes to cover a distance of ten miles. No one but a
Russian engineer could ever have evolved so cumbrous
and intricate a method of surmounting a mountain-
range, and even he has at last done what any one else
would have done at the outset — made a tunnel through
it. Mountains are the bugbear of the Kussian. He
has none to speak of in his own country, and he does
not understand them when he comes across them else-
where. It is perhaps fortunate for him, therefore, that
he has not had to make a single tunnel between Moscow
and Irkutsk.

On the first opportunity I alighted to inspect the
line and compare it with the Siberian track. The rails
were certainly heavier, — perhaps 27 lb. to the foot, as
compared with 18 on the Siberian sections, though still
merely spiked down to the. sleepers, and a powerful
compound engine stood at the end of the five business-
like armoured carriages — for east of the Baikal the cars
are protected with J-inch steel plate, capable of turning
a bullet — in place of the light freight-engines used on
the Siberian sections.

Night found us still speeding through a mountainous
country ; but when I awoke in the morning it was to
gaze upon an absolute level, which gradually resolved
itself from a grass-covered steppe into a sea of cultiva-
tion. At midday on the 28th we reached Kharbin, a
rapidly growing town, with large government-built —
Hussian Government of course — brick buildings spring-
ing up in all directions. Military occupation stares you
in the face here, and a large camp stands just to the
south of the town ; but this is an exception. For the
most part troops are not paraded along the line for the
satisfaction of travellers, and one might travel along

RUSSIAN TROOPS. 305

it without suspecting the presence of any excessive
number. Nevertheless they are there. There are
miHtary posts at intervals of 5 versts the length of the
line, barracks and stables are in process of construction
at every station along the South Manchurian branch,
and long lines of innocent-looking goods waggons on
the sidings prove on closer inspection to be the tem-
porary home of Russian soldiers. I was told on excel-
lent authority that by July — three months, that is,
before the promised final evacuation of the country —
there were 200,000 Russian troops in the Far East.^
In August an additional twenty-three trains, bearing
troops and military equipment, passed along the Siberian
line eastward bound, and now a fortnight prior to the
date fixed for the completion of the evacuation of
Manchuria two more brigades were hurrying south
from Chita, and an order had gone forth to replace all
Chinese employees on the line, such as firemen, points-
men, &c., by Russian soldiers.

Mobilisation everywhere ; the air was full of it. I
read through Article ii. of the Manchurian Convention
of April 1902: "Russia . . . consents on its part . . .
to withdraw gradually all Russian troops from Man-
churia, as follows : (a) Within six months from the
signing of the Convention, from the south-western
portion of Mukden province as far as the Liao river, at
the same time restoring the railway to China ; (b)
during the six months following — i.e., between October
8, 1902, and April 8, 1903 — from the remaining portion
of Mukden province and Kirin province ; (c) during the
six months following — i.e., between April 8, 1903, and

1 This estimate has since been confirmed by Mr J. W. Davidson, U.S.
consul at Formosa, who said in December, " Every place of importance on
and off the railroad is held by troops, whose number, inclusive of the gar-
rison of Vladivostok, is not less than 200,000. "

U

306 THE EAST CHINESE RAILWAY.

October 8, 1903 — Russia will withdraw her troops from
the remaining province of Heh-lung-kiang." And then
I looked at the military activity all round me, at the
vast military encampment which stretched away to the
south, at those rows of significant red waggons, on each
of which was written, so that he who runs might read,
the fateful words, " forty men or eight horses," and at
their perspiring, expectant, tightly packed occupants.
And I thought of the hecatombs of Russian assurances
in the past, and wished that those good people who are
so anxious to invite our Indian neighbours to occupy
commanding positions on our flank in the Persian Gulf
and elsewhere were with me to see it all too. Actual
experience is so much more realistic than paper theories
concocted in an editor's office. Of course, there have
been assurances about Manchuria — stacks of them. The
assurance of Count Lamsdorff", given through the Russian
Ambassador on August 12, 1903, that "the evacuation
of Manchuria was to take place at an early date,
although that date could not exactly be tixed," was a
particularly interesting one under the circumstances !

The town of Kharbin is naturally destined to become
an important centre, if only from its situation on the
Sungari river, as the junction of the South Manchurian
line with the main trans-continental railway ; but there
is also every sign of administrative zeal to push the
place artificially into prominence. The administrative
portion of the town is being rapidly covered with well-
paved streets, and handsome buildings, including a fine
railway-station and a big hotel, — which will, at any rate
in the first instance, be run by the railway company, or
under the auspices of the Russo- Chinese Bank, — are
being feverishly carried to completion. An administra-
tive building costing £110,000 and engine-shops costing
£251,000 are in course of erection, and a hospital is

THE TOWN OF KHARBIN. 307

being built at an outlay of £42,000. No one but
Russians or Chinese are permitted to own land, con-
struct buildings, or engage in any permanent enter-
prise, and the land for many miles round has been
secured, so as to make it impossible for any foreign
influence to obtain a foothold close to the city. The
Kusso- Chinese Bank and the commercial department of
the Russo- Chinese railway are the commercial powers
in Manchuria. They buy and sell produce, and leave
little room apparently for the individual or private
trader to compete with any profit. Amongst the in-
dustries, Mr Miller, U.S. consul at Niuchwang, men-
tions flour-mills, brick manufacturing, breweries, meat-
packing establishments, bean - oil, confectionery, and
saw-mills. At the time of my visit two large steam
flour-mills were in operation, and three more were being
laid down. It is possible that these may pay, but they
were all built or building on credit, and on conditions of
full mortgage to the firms supplying the machinery ;
and it must be borne in mind that millet is the staple
food of the native population, and they do not want
it milled for them.^ The commercial and residential
quarters are meanwhile left to individual enterprise,
and, as my travelling companion remarked, " following
usual Russian precedent, no doubt a very long time will
elapse before that part of Kharbin emerges from the
chrysalis state of wooden or sun-dried brick shanties,
impassable roads, and interior and exterior filth." On
the whole, "artificial" and "subsidised" are the words
which suggest themselves in connection with Kharbin,
and when Mr Miller wrote that "it is in this city more

1 Mr Davidson, however, already quoted, says : " The production of
wheat in Manchuria is increasing to a phenomenal degree, and its manu-
facture into flour is veiy profitable. The city of Kharbin alone will from
the beginning of 1904 produce 800,000 lb. of flour daily."

308 THE EAST CHINESE RAILWAY.

than in all the others combined that Russia is asserting
her intentions of becoming an active industrial force in
the affairs of the Orient," he would have given a more
strictly accurate idea of the existing conditions if he
had substituted for "Russia" the words "Russian
Government."

South of Kharbin spread masses and masses of millet,
extending mile after mile as far as the eye can see.
Little else, in fact, is visible, — occasional clumps of trees
looking like little green dots in a bronze-brown sea, and
the villages themselves being half-buried in the sur-
rounding crops. For two days and nights we steam
through crops such as are in all probability to be
seen nowhere else in the world, passing Mukden, the
capital of the country ; Ta-Shih-Chiao, the junction
for Niuchwang and Peking, where only so lately as
August the line had been washed away by floods, and
all traffic suspended for nine days in consequence ; to
pull up at length on the shores of the Pacific at
Dalni, striving so desperately to become a thriving
commercial port, or at the great military and naval
base of Port Arthur.

Dalni, as the Russians have christened the town
which they have built on the bay of Taliewan, has all
the appearance of a modern town, and does credit to its
creators and owners, the Russian Ministry of Finance.
A few years ago there was nothing. The order went
forth that there must be a town, and a town accord-
ingly was put in hand. Houses were built, brick
houses such as you would expect to see in any
modern watering-place, except for their roofs, which
show a tendency tow^ards the curves which distin-
guish Chinese architecture ; streets were laid out
and paved, harbour works were begun, offices, shops,
and a magnificent electric station, fitted by a Buda-

PORT ARTHUR. 309

Pesth firm, to give light to the future citizens and
drive the motors at the dock workshops, were erected,
and, lo and behold, the order was fulfilled ! It next
became necessary that people should be induced to
occupy the new town, and Dalni was made a free port.
Port charges were likewise introduced at Port Arthur
on all trading vessels that entered that harbour ; but in
spite of everything Dalni has up to the present failed
to vindicate its right to the title of a successful com-
mercial town. The greater part of the town in fact is
at present composed of the administrative quarter built
and reserved for tenancy by the government and muni-
cipal officials and employees, the ground marked out
for residential and commercial quarters remaining for
the most part unclaimed and unbuilt, the reason being
the absence of any real development of commercial
activity with the interior, such trade as there is being
bound up with government contracts or based upon the
market afforded by the naval, military, or railway
elements.

Port Arthur is, of course, essentially a naval base,
and on my arrival I found everything given up to
naval and military preparation. Gangs of coolies could
be seen at work on fortifications on the hills which
surround the town, and all building and commercial
activity had been turned into government channels,
the building and fitting of government stores occupying
the attention of the authorities. The harbour is not a
very large one, and is in places extremely shallow,
though this defect has now been remedied to a certain
extent by extensive dredging, and I saw one large dry
dock which looked capable of accommodating large
vessels. In another direction I observed the work-
sheds which had been built for piecing together de-
stroyers ; but on the whole the traveller will not dis-

310 THE EAST CHINESE RAILWAY.

cover a great deal that is of interest, — he, of course,
cannot visit the things which are of real interest, such
as fortifications, &c., — and finding the miserable shanties
which served for hotels a trial to both mind and body,
I soon shook the dust of its streets from my feet, and
steamed across the water to the treaty port of Chifu,
on the opposite shore of the gulf

There is one thing, I think, which cannot fail to strike
the traveller in Manchuria, and that is the dispropor-
tionately small return which has so far accrued to E-ussia
for her vast expenditure in that country. The engineer
in charge of the construction of Russian railways in
Manchuria informed Mr Miller, the United States
consul at Niuchwang, that £27,000,000 had been ex-
pended in railway construction alone ; and when we add
to this the cost of fortifications and construction in Port
Arthur, Dalni, Kharbin, &c., — it is said that bribes to
the extent of 2,000,000 taels (roughly, £288,600) were
administered in obtaining the lease of Port Arthur, —
and the expenditure involved in keeping large numbers
of troops in the country, the disbursement so far must
have amounted to anything from 50 to 100 millions.
And what has she received in return ? An increased
power of dictation in the affairs of China perhaps, but
in addition a naval base which, though superior in some
respects to a more northern port, is admittedly far from
ideal — a commercial port which has been aptly described
as still-born ; and, to crown all, a war which, whatever
be its final issue, can never surely be anything but
disastrous to a country in the present stage of financial •
and economic development of Russia. It is, in fact, the
unexpectedly resolute action of Japan, following upon
the Anglo-Japanese alliance, which has seriously upset
the calculations of Russian statesmen, and which must
have a strong modifying efiect upon the whole trend of

RUSSIAN EXPENDITURE IN MANCHURIA. 311

events in the Far East. It is as yet impossible to say
what may take place at the termination of a war the
result of which no one can foresee ; but it is well to
observe, when considering the present lack of tangible
return for expenditure involved, the measures which
Eussia had taken to secure her position in the future
— a position which, but for the unwelcome rupture in
diplomatic relations, she would most undoubtedly have
achieved.

In the first place, then, those who ridiculed the
policy of sinking vast capital sums in territory which
was only leased, even if the lease did extend for ninety-
nine years, paid but a poor compliment to the astuteness
of Russian diplomatists. Those responsible knew per-
fectly well what they were doing, for they knew that
they had a master clause in the treaty leasing them the
land for the railway, which constituted them in reality
the owners of the soil. And that clause, according to
the French explorer M. Chaffaujon, reads as follows :
" If at the expiration of ninety-nine years China desires
to enter into possession of the line, she must refund to
the Company all the expenses of construction and main-
tenance of the line from the first." The account, we
may safely presume, will be one which the Chancellor
of the Chinese Exchequer in 1995 will hardly find it
convenient to settle. So when Russia spends money
on her Manchurian railway it is as a landowner and
not as a tenant, and if she spends lavishly on her
property she has excellent reasons for doing so.

Secure in her railway property, the next thing was
to secure the trade. I have referred to the strenuous
efforts of the Russian authorities to attract the com-
merce of Manchuria to Dalni, and I have also pointed
out how they have failed. There was a very excellent
reason why they should fail, and that reason was

312 THE EAST CHINESE RAILWAY.

Niuchwang. Opened to commerce in accordance with
the terms of the treaty of Tientsin in 1861, Niuchwang
has become the fourth in importance of all the treaty
ports of China, and is to-day the commercial door to
Manchuria. But the trade of Niuchwang was in the
hands of British, American, and Japanese firms, and
it became necessary to Bussian aspirations that this
should be altered. And so when in 1898 the Bussian
railway appeared upon the scene a large property a
little distance from the foreign settlement was acquired
through Ministerial pressure at Beking, and a branch
line was built which was no doubt to have been severed
as soon as Dalni had become the port of entry into
Manchuria — Niuchwang thus being cut off beyond the
hope of competition.^ No success, however, attended
these schemes to substitute Dalni for Niuchwang as
the commercial gateway of Manchuria, and Bussia was
casting about in her mind for other methods when the
Boxer outbreak of 1900 played most opportunely into
her hands.

It is not my intention here to go into the history
of the Boxer rising of 1900 : all I wish to do is to
recall its effect upon Bussian plans. The course of
events in Pechili, and, to use the language of 'The
Official Messenger,' published in St Petersburg on
March 24 (April 6), 1901, "a series of acts of
aggression committed by Chinese insurgents on the
frontier of Bussia, rendered necessary the occupation
of the port of Niuchwang and the entry of Bussian

^ The plague bogey, which the Eussians have found so useful an instru-
ment of obstruction against Indian trade in other parts of Asia, would
probably have been the weapon called in here. After the Russian occupa-
tion of Niuchwang, the administrator, Mr Gross, told Consul Fulford that
"Russia must protect her railway, and might cut oflf the branch line to
Niuchwang in the event of epidemics unless proper control were allowed." —
Parliamentary Paper, China No. 2, 1904.

THE SITUATION AT NIUGHWANG. 313

troops into Manchuria " ; and though repeated pledges
were given that such occupation was only a tem-
porary measure, and a Convention was signed in April
1902 regulating the gradual evacuation of the country,
the temptation to retain the port which was of such
vital importance to their schemes was found when
the time came to be too strong for Russian states-
men, and, in spite of diplomatic pressure brought to
bear by Great Britain and other Powers interested
in the matter, the curtain which rose on the drama
of 1904 displayed to the world the too familiar scene
of Russia in triumphant possession of the stage —
superbly contemptuous of the injured protestations of
her vanquished rivals at the sheaves of dishonoured
promises and engagements, at the expense of which
she had secured her position. She had yet to learn
that a little Power had risen in the East, which, by
standing firm to its word and refusing to throw down
its hand before Russian bluff, proved itself a match
for Russian duplicity. And the lesson has not yet
been completed.

The situation at Niuchwang at the time of the com-
mencement of hostilities has been accurately summed
up by Mr H. Fulford Bush, in a paper read before
the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce, as follows : "A
Russian administrator, backed by Russian troops, in
place of the Chinese authorities ; the custom-house,
with the Russian administrator at its local head ; the
revenue paid into the Russo- Chinese Bank, pending
Russia's settlement with China ; the sanitary control
Russian, in all matters affecting the Chinese ; Russian
prestige and power paramount ; the province a prey
to the brigands and riffraff generally ; the usual trade
channels impeded and obstructed by the confusion and
disruption prevailing throughout the province ; and a

314 THE EAST CHINESE RAILWAY.

gradual diminution in the export of light sundries, the
trade in which the Russian authorities were doing their
utmost to divert towards Russia."

In other words, the bear's claws had closed over the
victim, which was to be strangled or absorbed as the
future might dictate. The calculations upon which
such action was based have, as I have already pointed
out, been rudely and, from the Russian point of view,
unexpectedly shaken by the resolute action of Japan,
and further by the courage of China, which has grown
from that action, and which decided her, in face of
violent opposition from Russia, to open the towns of
Mukden and Antung to foreign trade. In what exact
proportions the balance of power in the Far East will
be readjusted at the expiration of the present war it
is impossible to say ; but of this much we may rest
assured — that, in the event of the success or partial
success of our aUy, British trade and intercourse will
be delivered from the shadow of that cloud which
was rapidly spreading from the north, and which the
diplomatic efforts of our own statesmen showed them-
selves powerless to dispel.

From Port Arthur and Chifu I travelled on to
Tientsin and Peking, and later spent some time at
Wei-hai-Wei before leaving for Japan ; but in the
Celestial capital, which has been described too often
and too well to require any further comment from
my pen, the immediate objective of my journey across
Asia was achieved : and for the purposes of this book
I take my leave of the reader, as far as the narrative
of travel is concerned, within the massive walls of the
Chinese capital, which, thanks to improved communica-
tions in recent years, has opened its gates to the
curiosity of the world, and has therefore at last ceased
to be answerable to the charge of " not making itself

THE END OF THE JOURNEY. 315

intelligible or interesting to mankind other than as
an archaic curiosity." ^ If he be imbued with a pleas-
ing imagination, it will be beneath the shadow of the
pagoda, or in view of the gaudeous outlines of the
Temple of Heaven, or listening perhaps to the rolling
sound of the Buddhist litanies, chanted in unison by
the yellow -robed inmates of the great Lama temple,
that he will wish me farewell, rather than, as truth
might compel me to admit, ploughing my way along
those " receptacles of indescribable abominations, where
the dust is acrid to nose and eyes, from the dessicated
refuse of generations," ^ which serve for streets in a
" wilderness of garbage." ^ Let it be so. It is as the
home of sunshine and romance, of temples and palaces,
of dazzling colour and bewildering animation, of men
and manners that set soaring the imagination, of mys-
terious priests and titled kings, rather than as the
seat of poverty and vice, of squalor and sordid mate-
rialism— of all, in fact, that is of the earth earthy —
that I prefer to look back upon the cities of the East.

^ The Englishman in China. Alexander Michie.
2 Ibid. ^ Ibid.

ENGLAND IN ASIA

"The problem of Asia is a world problem, which has come upon the
world in an age when, through the rapidity of communication, it is wide-
awake and sensible as never before, and by electrical touch, to every
stirring in its members, and to the tendency thereof."

— Captain A. T. Mahan, The Problem of Asia.

CHAPTER XXYI.

THE NEAR EAST.

England and Russia in the East— The point of view from -which Asiatic
questions must be regarded— " Without India the British Empire
could not exist" — The value of prestige — The commercial and
strategic aspects of the Near Eastern and the Far Eastern questions

Turkey — The long-standing antagonism between Russia and

Turkey— Enter Germany— A novel solution of the Turkish imbroglio
— The Baghdad railway — Persia — Resemblance between the Persian
and Turkish problems— Indifference of Great Britain in the past—
The financial blunder of 1900— The Russo-Persian railway agreement
of 1890— A policy adopted— The Viceroy's visit to the Persian Gulf
and the Garter Mission to Teheran- The Koweit incident— Ways and
communications — Activity in the field of commerce — The Nushki-
Sistan route — The British Government should become shareholders
in the Imperial Bank of Persia — The recrudescence of British
power.

When embarking upon the task which lies before me
in the concluding chapters of the present volume — in
making, that is, an attempt to analyse the situation as
it affects Great Britain in Asia — I find myself con-
fronted with a dilemma at the very outset. For to
give a comprehensive exposition of the problems which
await solution at the hands of Great Britain in the
East would require far greater space than can here be
given to it, while any attempt to deal briefly with a
number of questions, each one of which carries in its
train a whole host of subsidiary ramifications, must
necessarily provide innumerable loopholes for misunder-
standing. Nevertheless, since there is no alternative,

320 THE NEAR EAST.

the attempt must be made, an elementary acquaintance
with Asian affairs being necessarily presupposed on
behalf of the reader.

In the opening chapter of this book I have been at
pains to point out that as the kingdoms of the East
have slowly but surely sunk into a decline, they have
naturally been absorbed by, or fallen under the aegis of,
that Power which by its geographical position was
brought into contact with them — Russia. It is equally
clear that without geographical juxtaposition command
of the sea could alone give to a Western nation do-
minion in the East, and it was naval supremacy in
conjunction with commercial activity that gave an
Eastern empire to another European Power — Great
Britain. So it is " England and Russia in the East,"
the title that appears upon the backs of a whole host
of books written upon the subject during recent years,
that sums up the Eastern phase of the past century.
The exclusive claims of the two nations must inevitably
undergo modification in the future, since the awaken-
ing of Japan, the commercial rivalry of Western
nations, notably of Germany, and the improved com-
munications which have opened up the markets of the
Eastern world of late years, have introduced additional
competing forces into the arena ; but nevertheless,
with every allowance made for the ambitions of other
Powers, the one nation that confronts England now, as
in the past, whether it be across the waters of the
Euxine, or over the crumpled outline of the Persian
highlands, or from behind the rugged buttresses of her
Indian stronghold that she directs her gaze, is and for
long must continue to be Russia. Whose were the
war-hardened legions that rattled at the portals of
Constantinople and shook the Ottoman Empire to its
foundations while England looked on aghast ? —

THE IMPORTANT POSITION OF INDIA. 321

Bussia's ! Whose the serried ranks that a century
ago were to have been hurled against the bastions of
India, whose the insinuating diplomacy that is even
now undermining the glacis of our Indian fort, preparing
the ground for the lodgment of a hostile force, and
opening out an avenue of approach whereby to render
us vulnerable to a flank attack ? — Russia's ! Whose
the grey-clad sentinel who through all the clash of
conflicting interests stands threateningly on the shores
of the Eastern Sea, a menace to British commercial
aspirations and to the peace of the nations of the
world ? The answer is for ever the same — Russia's !
And so the antagonism and the irreconcilable nature
of the ambitions of Great Britain and Russia form one
leading factor to be borne in mind when reviewing the
problem of Asia ; and there is yet another, the point of
view from which Asiatic questions should be regarded.
For as India is the pivot of British supremacy in the
East, so questions dealing with the East should be
looked at largely from an Indian point of view. A half-
way house between Great Britain and Australia, New
Zealand and the Far East ; a stronghold in the long
line of communications that weld together the com-
ponent parts of a widely scattered whole; the home
and raison d'etre of British power in Asia, — India oc-
cupies a unique position among the constituent parts of
empire. "It is not intrinsically only," writes Captain
Mahan, "that India possesses the value of a base to Great
Britain ; the central position which she holds relatively
to China and to Egypt obtains also towards Australia
and the Cape of Good Hope, assisting thus the concen-
tration upon her of such support as either colony can
extend to the general policy of an Imperial Federation."
The safeguarding of India, then, must ever remain one
of the cardinal articles of the belief of British states-

X

322 THE NEAR EAST.

men, for, as was long since observed by India's present
Viceroy, " without India the British Empire could not
exist."

It is well, therefore, before going further, since Asian
problems depend for their solution so largely upon India,
to define the position of that country from an interior
point of view. This has been done by Lord Curzon,
than whom there is no man living better qualified to
pronounce, only so lately as the spring of the present
year : " India is like a fortress, with the vast moat
of the sea on two of her faces, and with mountains for
her walls on the remainder ; but beyond those walls,
which are sometimes of by no means insuperable height,
and admit of being easily penetrated, extends a glacis
of varying breadth and dimension. We do not want
to occupy it, but we also cannot afford to see it occupied
by our foes. We are quite content to let it remain in
the hands of our allies and friends ; but if rival and un-
friendly influences creep up to it and lodge themselves
right under our walls, we are compelled to intervene,
because a danger would thereby grow up that might
one day menace our security. This is the secret of the
whole position in Arabia, Persia, Afghanistan, Tibet,
and as far eastwards as Siam. He would be a short-
sighted commander who merely manned his ramparts
in India and did not look out beyond ; and the whole
of our policy during the past five years has been directed
towards maintaining our influence, and to preventing
the expansion of hostile agencies on this area which I
have described." To preserve India free from danger,
therefore, and not only India, but our line of communi-
cations with India, Australia, and the Far East, it is
necessary that those countries which border on India
and impinge upon such communications should remain
in the hands of friendly, or at any rate of innocuous,

THE IMPORTANCE OF PRESTIGE. 323

peoples, and be kept free from the control of a strong
and possibly — probably — hostile Power.

There are two more general points to be borne in
mind — firstly, that in dealing with oriental races
prestige is a factor the influence of which can hardly
be overestimated ; and secondly, that whereas there
is much that is common to both the Near Eastern and
Far Eastern questions, there is this great diff'erence,
that while the one is in the main a political and
strategic question, the other is equally in the main a
commercial one.

Instances of the effect of a falling or rising prestige
can be quoted without end. In the low ebb of British
influence in the councils of the Shah in the 'Eighties,
Lord Curzon saw the shadow of the calamitous policy
pursued by the British Government of 1880-85 in
various parts of the Empire. " The retreat from South
Africa, the evacuation of Kandahar, the everlasting
disgrace of Khartum, the ' bolt ' from the Murghab, —
all these incidents rang like a trumpet-blast through
the whispering-galleries of the East, and were inter-
preted as presages of an impending ruin," ^ A weak
or magnanimous policy, which in the eyes of the
Oriental are synonymous terms, is fatal, and calculated
to invite disaster. In spite of the length of our
experience in dealing with oriental races, we have yet
fully to appreciate this fact, and to realise the difficulties
which we sedulously lay up for ourselves by an obstinate
refusal to observe it. The recent operations in Tibet
add yet another example to the long list bequeathed
to us by the past. Impressions of British impotence
drawn from our almost inconceivable forbearance have
sunk deep into the Tibetan mind, and are likely to be
the cause of much trouble and loss of life, which, had

1 Persia, vol. ii. p. 606.

324 THE NEAR EAST.

we acted with less timidity and rather more common-
sense at the outset, might well have been avoided.
" We have in fact," writes Colonel Younghusband, " as
I have so often remarked, not one ounce of prestige on
this frontier. I have therefore nothing to work with
in making a settlement." ^

Bussian intelligence was not slow to grasp this fact,
with a result that Russian dealings with native races
show a marked superiority — if success be any criterion
— over our own. " The native," to quote one of the
most recent writers on the Russian advance, " soon
understands that there is no trifling, and — usually —
becomes resigned. He is given to understand un-
mistakably what is Russian power." ^ Native races
throughout the length of Asia from west to east who
have once come into contact with Russia have perhaps
disliked her, they have certainly feared her. " As the
Daimios of Japan in their anti- foreign manifestoes
declared that every foreigner could be insulted with
impunity except the Russians, so in China the name
was a talisman of security." ^ M. Popoff, the Russian
secretary at Peking at the time of the Anglo-French
expedition, had occasion to spend a night at a Chinese
inn. Chinese soldiers swarmed in during the night,
and finding a " foreign devil," at once decided to make
an end of him. His salvation lay in his nationality.
" That foreigner is a Russian," quoth the innkeeper ;
" it will be dangerous to lay a hand on him." * And
M. Popoff was left untouched.

The last point which I mentioned with regard to the
commercial and strategic element being the dominant

1 Further Papers relating to Tibet (CD. 2054).

2 The Eussian Advance. A. J. Beveridge.
^ The Englishman in China. A. Michie.

4 Ibid.

TURKEY. 325

characteristic of the Far Eastern and Near Eastern
questions respectively, is, of course, a general one.
Commerce plays an important part in the Near East,
and the Far East has its strategic aspect for us as well
as its commercial side, more especially since we became
the allies of Japan, Hongkong and Wei-hai-Wei are
strategic bases, and the long access into the interior
afforded by the Yangtse-Kiang is a valuable asset in
the strategic capital of the Power which has command
of the sea. But, broadly speaking, it may be said
that the question of the Far East is, in the first in-
stance, a commercial one, while the question of the
Near East is a strateofic one first and a commercial one
afterwards ; and when a writer in ' The Spectator ' of
May 9, 1903, gave expression to his opinion that "a
great war to guard our petty trade in the Persian Gulf
would be a financial folly," he merely showed that he
had entirely failed to grasp the real issues involved.

Bearing in mind these brief generalisations, it re-
mains for me to say a few words as to the situation in
the different countries individually with which Great
Britain is at the present time closely concerned.

Turkey.

Beginning on the extreme west, we have the Turkish
Empire, forming — thanks to its geographical position —
the starting-point of that belt of territory of unsettled
political status which stretches across Asia from west
to east, and which merits the description of Captain
Mahan of " the debatable and debated ground." From
the days when the germ of the Russian Empire first
fell upon Russian soil up to the present time an unin-
terrupted antagonism has existed between the two
countries. The peoples have changed but the antag-

326 THE NEAR EAST.

onism remains. The crescent and star of the ancient
Greeks now blaze on the green banners of Islam, and
the two-headed eagle of Byzantium is flaunted across
Asia on the standards of a northern Power, while a
Russian Tsar sits on the throne of his Viking prede-
cessors of a thousand years ago. Nevertheless, despite
such changes of ownership, there is a curious similarity
in the antagonism of the two countries then and now,
and when the Grand Duke Nicholas flouted Turkish
authority in 1902, and, with a protesting Turkish
official on board, steered the battleship Georgi Pobie-
donosets derisively up the Golden Horn, he was un-
wittingly repeating the insult flung at the city by his
ancestor Oleg, ten centuries before, when he hung his
shield on the gates of Byzantium in derision of its
inhabitants.

As the power of Eussia has consolidated and in-
creased, the vigour of the Turk, as of almost every
other Asiatic nation, has proportionately declined, and
it is thanks only to the rivalry of Western Powers
that "the sick man" still sits on the throne at Yildiz.
For since Turkey is one of those states which impinge
upon the eastern extremity of the Mediterranean, and
is laved by the waters of the Persian Gulf, " the integ-
rity of Turkey " has of necessity been the watchword of
British policy in this portion of the globe. Twice in
the course of the past century has Russia let loose the
dogs of war that she might get possession of the keys
of the Bosphorus, and twice has Great Britain stepped
forth to wrest them from her grasp— once in 1853 by
appeal to the arbitrament of war, once again in 1878
by aid of the masterful diplomacy of Lord Beaconsfield.

As a result of this want of success Eussia diverted
her energy for the time being into other channels, and
a whole crop of political questions in Central Asia

THE ENTRANCE OF GERMANY. 327

immediately came into being ; but though frustrated
for the time, she still looks with longing eyes at the
object of her desire, and no chance which comes in the
way of her astute and indefatigable diplomatists for
oiling the wheels of her endeavour is ever allowed to
pass by.

In the meantime, however, another Power, which,
in the days of the Berlin Conference, knew little of
and cared less for the attractions of the Near East,
has raised its voice in the councils of the Turk, and
to-day the trumpet-blast of German ambition resounds
through the streets of Constantinople. The blandish-
ments of Count Hatzfeldt, and the ability and force of
character of General von Goltz, paved the way for
the magnetic personality of the Emperor William II.,
who was completely successful in securing the friend-
ship of the Sultan, and with the royal visit to Con-
stantinople in 1899 a third Power was hurried incon-
tinently into the forefront of the theatre of Ottoman
diplomacy and intrigue.

Needless to say, Russia regarded with feelings of
undisguised aversion this latest intruder in the field of
her hereditary ambition, and the Russian censor has in
nowise prevented Russian opinion from sounding loudly
in the Russian press, and a novel solution of the Turk-
ish imbroglio was a short time ago put tentatively
forward.

A spark was to be applied to the Ottoman volcano,
— that was necessary to create an excuse for active
operations, — upon which Russia, with England's acqui-
escence, should secure the Bosphorus, and England,
Russia assenting, should secure Gallipoli and the
command of the Dardanelles. With the Bosphorus in
her possession, Russia would be content to leave the
Mediterranean to others. With Gallipoli fortified and

328 THE NEAR EAST.

in British hands, no reasonable grounds for British
suspicion of Russia in regard to the Mediterranean
could exist. The dominating note which sounded
throughout the whole suggestion was jealousy of Ger-
many. " Germany," it ran, " has, it is true, made her
appearance in the field. German intrigue at Constan-
tinople has latterly been strongly in evidence, but the
solution of the Russian problem can and will be found
without particular reference to Germany. The Ger-
mans may yet find that they might with profit have
been content to wait inevitable developments around
the Euxine before putting so many eggs into their
Baghdad basket."

The whole scheme is delightful, but — and they are
rather big buts — despite the sanguine anticipations of
its author, I am inclined to think that Germany would
have a good deal to say In any such arrangement, to
say nothing of the Turks, who might not unnaturally
commit the mistake of supposing that they had some
claim to a voice in the matter of the partition of their
own country. Finally, all mention of the future of
that vast portion of the Ottoman Empire which
stretches . from the Black Sea on the north to the Bed
Sea on the south, and from the Mediterranean on the
west to the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean on the
east, is conveniently ignored. The head is to be
severed, but what of the trunk ? " Where the carcass
is, there will the eagles be gathered together."

The Russian press, moreover, were at considerable
pains to lay emphasis upon the incompatibility of
British and German interests in general, and in con-
nection with the Baghdad railway in particular, and
the chorus of their congratulation, when the cold re-
ception accorded to the scheme by the House of Com-
mons in the spring of 1903 became known, was inde-

THE BAGHDAD RAILWAY. 329

corously loud. I have already dealt with this question
at some length in a previous chapter, and there is no
occasion for me to do more here than to emphasise
what I have already said. Germany in sole and undis-
puted control of Mesopotamia and the hinterland of
the Persian Gulf would be bad ; but Eussia with her
long land frontier, already stretching from Armenia
to Chinese Turkestan, with its ingrained tendency
towards expansion to the south, would be infinitely
worse. I have already pointed out that of these two
eventualities the chances are at present in favour of
the first, and I have also pointed out how it lies in
our power to modify such prospective position in our
favour. There can be little doubt that the Baghdad
railway will eventually be built, and it cannot be
too strongly urged that the real reason why this
country must participate in such a scheme should
not be lost sight of That reason is no desire to
pander to or inordinate affection for Germany, but
the protection of our own interests. It is of vital
importance that when the time comes for the British
Government to reconsider the question of the Bagh-
dad railway, they should secure for this country that
voice in the councils of the Imperial Ottoman Bail-
way Company which in her position she has every
right to demand. So that, when the history of the
question comes to be written, the next generation
may accord to the present that measure of gratitude
for securing to them a share of control of the land-
route to the East, that the present accords to the
past for a similar service rendered in connection with
the sea-route, which ensured our present position with
regard to the Suez Canal.

330 THE NEAR EAST.

Persia.

The Persian question is by no means a new one.
It has been in a state varying from comparative
quiescence to feverish activity for more than a cen-
tury, and receives spasmodic recognition from the
British pubhc. The Shah indulges in a meteoric
trip to Europe, and the world is all agog to cast a
curious eye upon the " King of kings," and to learn
something about what it hastily christens the " Per-
sian problem." With his departure public interest
ebbs, and except when some more than usually un-
abashed violation of Persian territory or Persian
prerogatives is perpetrated by her northern neigh-
bour, which excites an ephemeral indignation in the
British press, the crooked course of Persian progress
is relegated willingly enough to the cabinets of
statesmen and the chancellories of diplomatists.
None the less is the path of Persian progress a diffi-
cult and thorny way, for Persia, like China, is being
irresistibly swept into the swirling vortex of world
movement.

Generally speaking, the position of Persia as re-
gards England and Russia closely resembles that of
Turkey, for Persia is the second of those countries
with regard to which our policy has been " the
maintenance of our predominant influence and the
prevention of the expansion of hostile agencies," And
it is all the more important from the fact that not
only would a hostile Power in possession of Persia
be disastrous to British and Indian trade with that
country, but it would also render nugatory to some
extent the advantao^es which accrue to us from our
supremacy in the Persian Gulf, and would turn the

PRESENT IMPOTENCE AND PAST SPLENDOUR. 331

flank of the land defences of our Indian Empire.
*' Concessions in the Persian Gulf, whether by posi-
tive formal arrangement or by simple neglect of
the local commercial interests which now under-
lie political and military control, will imperil Great
Britain's naval situation in the farther East, her
political position in India, her commercial interests
in both, and the imperial tie between herself and
Australasia. "1 Moreover, the blow to British prestige,
none too high even now, would in such an eventuality
be extremely dangerous, and shake to its foundations
the whole structure of British dominion throughout
the East. 2

There is another point of resemblance between the
two countries — the pitiable state of their present
impotence as compared with the splendour of their
past. Time was when the fame of a great Shah^
rang clarion-like through all lands, when a Russian
Tsar thought it no dishonour to borrow from a Per-
sian king,^ and when a monarch of Iran contemp-
tuously ordered the impure footprints left by an

1 The Persian Gulf and International Relations. Captain A. T. Mahan.

2 All who are acquainted with the East are well aware how sensitive an
instrument is the pulse of public feeling in Asiatic countries. A corres-
pondent writing from Quetta at the outset of hostilities in the Far East
says : " It is extraordinary the exact information the people in the bazaars
have of the relative forces of Russia and Japan. Our frontier men are
keen politicians. . . . The firm alliance between .Japan and Britain while
Russia and .Japan were evidently drifting into war, created the warmest
feeling of admiration for our country, while it excited some astonishment.
The result of the Japanese victories has been to raise British prestige
higher than even a successful frontier campaign could have done."

3 Shah Abbas the Great, under whom modern Persia reached its highest
pinnacle of renown.

* The Tsar Michael Romanoff was reduced to such straits in the first
years of his reign that in 1617 he borrowed 7000 roubles from Shah
Abbas.

332 THE NEAR EAST.

English envoy on the soil of the sacred palace as
he retired from the Persian Court to be effaced
with a basin of sand ! ^

With the swing of the pendulum of time the tables
have been rudely turned, the resources of Persia are
heavily mortgaged to her former debtor, the antics of
her court recall the buffooneries of an English sovereign
when surprised, in the midst of frivolity and feasting
in company with the ladies of his seraglio, by the
thunder of the guns of Holland in the Medway and
the Thames, and, far from the " impure footprints "
being effaced, an ill-disguised impatience was exhibited
for the arrival of the expected envoy, bearing a coveted
decoration from England's king.

It must be admitted that English statesmen and the
British public have at times shown a woeful lack of
proper appreciation of the part which Persia is
destined to play in "Middle Eastern" developments.
Periods of feverish concern in the affairs of the
dominions of the "King of kings" have alternated
with epochs of equally distracting apathy, so much so
that one of the ablest of English writers on Eastern
matters has been led into raising his voice in a scathing
jeremiad against public callousness. " If, then," wrote
Sir Henry Pawlinson in the 'Sixties, " there was danger
to British India from the attitude and possible designs
of Russia twenty-eight years ago, that danger must be

^ The envoy was Jenkinson, one of the company of merchant adven-
turers which had been formed in the reign of Edward VI. to discover
"regions, kingdoms, islands, and places unknown and unvisited by the
highway of the sea." Their first venture took them to that strange
sea girding the north-eastern countries of Europe, spoken of by Tacitus
as "a sluggish mere and motionless — which forms the girdle of the world,
where you hear the sound of sun-rising ! " and cast them eventually on
the coast of Russia. The result was the opening up of commercial inter-
course between England and Russia and the little-known lands beyond.
The Shah was Shah Tahmasp, and the year 1562.

BRITISH PRESTIGE IN PERSIA. 333

increased a hundredfold at the present day ; yet so far
from being now betrayed into any paroxysm of alarm,
. . . her proceedings fail even to excite our curiosity,
and we seem, as far as the public is concerned, to await
the threatened contact of the two empires with supreme
indifference." ^

One of the most gratifying symptoms in British policy
in recent times is perhaps the intimation that her
statesmen have at length realised the vital importance
of laying down and carrying out a definite policy in
matters relating to her Indian neighbours. British
prestige in Persia was at a low ebb when I first visited
that country in 1900 and 1901. We had been given
a great chance, but, with a singular failure to grasp
its real significance, we allowed it to pass to our rivals.
A combination of British narrowness and Russian in-
sistence, assisted, as I am well aware, by Persian
duplicity, placed the country financially — and finance
is the alpha and omega of Persian politics — under the
thumb of Bussia. Persia required money, and she
applied to England for a loan. English capitalists
were shy and held aloof, — they doubtless held vivid
memories of the shock administered to the London
market in 1890 in connection with the notorious "state
lotteries " concession, — and the Government, instead of
hailing with delight the chance they were actually
begged to accept, delayed. The policy of investing
money outside the empire was perhaps in the opinion
of pedantic professors contrary to the tenets of sound
economy, and the Foreign Office would accept as surety
nothing less than control of the customs by British
officials, a privilege which Persia was in no position to
concede. And so, baffled in her endeavour to raise
money in England, she turned to the only alternative

1 England and Eussia in the East.

334 THE NEAR EAST.

source, and the Russian loan of £2,500,000 of 1900,
the harbinger of more to follow, became an accom-
plished fact. Nor was this all. Persian Cossacks
under Russian officers formed the nucleus, and indeed
the only serviceable asset, of the Persian army ;
Russian doctors accompanied by Russian Cossacks were
parading ostentatiously through Eastern Persia — dan-
ger of plague from India was the excuse ; Russian
bounties were pushing Russian trade from one end of
the country to the other ; and the Russian Banque
des Prets, since rechristened the Banque d'Escompte,
an agency of the Russian Minister of Finance, with a
strong and significant resemblance to the Russo- Chinese
Bank in another sphere, was entering upon that policy
of cut-throat competition with the Imperial Bank of
Persia — the one British institution of importance sur-
viving in the country — which is being pursued with
relentless persistency to the present day. Moreover,
the so-called secret convention of 1890, which gave to
Russia the control of railway construction for a period
of ten years, had been further renewed, so as to hold
good until 1905 or, as the Persians themselves aver,
until 1910. British prestige was indeed at a discount.
There are signs, however, that the tide has turned.
The game that is being played is an uphill one, it is
true. Many of the factors above enumerated, which
have undermined British influence, are still there, and
others, such as the commercial treaty of 1902, of which
I have already written in an earlier chapter, have been
added ; but some things have been said — definitely and
officially — and, what is still more important, some few
things have been done, which have not been without
their efiect both upon the Persians themselves and upon
their neighbours on the north, and it was impossible
when travelling in the country in 1903 to be insensible

BRITISH POLICY IN PERSIA. 335

to certain indications of a recrudescence of British
power.

I have outlined briefly — how briefly I am only too
well aware — the difliculties we have to face, and the
disadvantages from which we suffer. It remains for
me, in bringing to a conclusion this short survey of the
situation in Persia, to make rapid mention of what has
been said and what has been done to counteract and
to overcome them.

In the first place, the British Government have
taken their courage in their hands, and, mirahile dictu,
have declared a policy. In 1902 the Under-Secretary
of State for Foreign Affairs laid it down that it would
be impossible for us, whatever the cause, to abandon
what we look upon as our rightful position in Persia.
" Especially is that true in regard to the Persian Gulf
It is true not only of the Persian Gulf but of the
southern provinces of Persia and those provinces which
border on our Indian Empire. Our rights there and
our position of ascendancy we cannot abandon." It is
satisfactory to observe that it is here realised that
British interests do not reach their limit with the high-
water mark of the wild sea- waves, and that for securing
the natural rights of India " purely naval control is a
very imperfect instrument, unless supported and re-
inforced by the shores on which it acts." ^ And this
declaration was repeated and emphasised by Lord
Lansdowne in May 1903, when speaking upon the
question in the House of Lords : " I say it without
hesitation, we should regard the establishment of a
naval base or of a fortified port in the Persian Gulf by
any other Power as a very grave menace to British
interests, and we should certainly resist it with all the
means at our disposal."

1 The Persian Gulf and International Eelations. Captain A. T. Mahan.

336 THE NEAR EAST.

That, at any rate, is satisfactory. We have a definite
declaration of policy, and all the world now knows the
attitude of his Majesty's Government towards any
Power endeavouring to encroach upon declared British
interests, so long at least as the Government that made
it remains in power — a contingency which, unfortunately,
has to be postulated in any declaration of British policy.
But words unsupported by deeds are of little value, and
it is in the outward and visible signs of the intention
and purpose lying behind mere oratorical declamation
that men judge the worth and probable results of any
policy. Here, too, recent years have been fruitful of
much that is satisfactory. The declaration of Lord
Lansdowne concerning the Persian Gulf found concrete
embodiment in the royal progress of an Indian Viceroy
through its waters — an expression of actual power so
pregnant of meaning to the oriental understanding.
No cryptic utterances were those that fell from the lips
of Lord Curzon as he defined the position of Great
Britain for the benefit of the littoral chiefs : " We were
here before any other Power in modern times had shown
its face in these waters ; we found strife, and we have
created order; it was our commerce as well as your
security that was threatened and called for protection
at every port along the coasts ; the subjects of the King
of England still reside and trade with you ; the great
Empire of India, which it is our duty to defend, lies
almost at your gates; we saved you from extinction
at the hands of your neighbours ; we opened these
seas to the ships of all nations, and enabled their flags
to fly in peace ; we have not seized or held jomy terri-
tory ; we have not destroyed your independence, but
preserved it." ^

Such were the dictions of the highest representative

1 Lord Curzon at Shargah.

THE GARTER MISSION. 337

of British sovereignty in Asia to the dwellers on the
Persian and Arab littoral, supported by the guns and
turrets of British men-of-war. And the people, poten-
tate and pirate, peasant and pauper, saw, and, seeing,
they believed. Should any doubt be cast upon the
motive actuating the Viceroy's journey to the Persian
Gulf, the Indian Budget speech of March 1904 is on
record to dispel it : " This is the secret of the whole
position in Arabia, Persia, Afghanistan, Tibet, . . . and
the whole of our policy during the past five years has
been directed towards maintaining our predominant
influence and to preventing the expansion of hostile
agencies on this area which I have described. It was
for this reason that I visited that old field of British
energy and influence in the Persian Gulf

There was all the external pomp and circumstance
so necessary in impressing any particular lesson on the
tablets of an oriental brain, both in the Viceroy's tour
to the Persian Gulf and in the Garter mission to the
capital, — the former illustrative of the predominance of
Great Britain on the seas, the latter of the friendship
existing between the Governments of London and
Teheran. But there have been other incidents which,
though lacking the halo of public acclamation, — the
fanfare of trumpets and black-letter headlines being
absent, — are indicative of the intention of this country
to prepare for eventualities.

In the gulf itself the suborned Turkish attacks upon
the independence of Koweit, by far the finest harbour
in those regions, were successfully defeated by the
prompt appearance upon the scene of British war-ships,
and the occupants of the two armed dhows which
swooped down upon the territory of the Sheik in the
dead of a September night (1902) were dispersed —
though not without the loss of a British bluejacket — by

338 THE NEAR EAST.

the timely arrival and vigorous action of the commander
of H. M.S. Lapwing.

In the hinterland British activity has likewise been
displayed. We have a right by agreement with the
Persian Government, whenever railway construction
takes place in Persia, to construct, or procure the con-
struction of, railways in the southern part of that
country, and such agreement, "though it may not be
recorded in any very formal manner," is looked upon
by the British Government as " a binding engagement
on the part of the Persian Government." ^ With regard
to roads, a British company, with the title of " the
Persian Boad Company," has lately been formed to
take over the concession held by the Imperial Bank for
building roads from Kum to the Karun, and from the
same place to Ispahan ; and as a concrete example of
British enterprise, the " Lynch road," between Ahwaz
on the Karun and Ispahan, the offspring of an agree-
ment arrived at in 1898, under the auspices of the
British Legation, has recently come into being. Another
feature in connection with ways and communications is
the convention providing for the construction, by the
staff of the Indo-European Telegraph Department under
the Government of India, of a British line from Kashan
to the frontier of Baluchistan.

In the field of commerce a vast concession for exploit-
ing the oil-fields of the whole of the south of Persia
has been secured by a British company, a vice-consulate
has been established at Kermanshah, — which, indeed,
should have been done long ago, seeing that it com-
mands one of the chief avenues of British trade, — and
in the course of the last four years consular ojfficials
have been appointed, or have received increased rank
and pay at Bandar Abbas, Sistan, Bahrein, Shiraz,

^ Speech by Lord Lansdowne in the House of Lords, May 5, 1903.

THE NUSHKI-SISTAN TRADE-ROUTE. 339

Tabriz, and Ispahan. Last, but not least, a trade-route
has been opened up from India across the dividing gulf
of Baluchistan, though this, it must be admitted, has
political and strategic aspects in excess of its commercial
possibilities, and is worthy, therefore, of a few remarks.

I have given a detailed description of the Nushki-
Sistan route, which I travelled over in November 1900,
in another volume.^ Its possibilities as an avenue of
trade appeared at one time to be considerable, and,
despite the recent Persian tariff, are still no doubt
not to be despised. But it cannot be denied that,
apart from its political and strategic importance, the
Nushki caravan - route never was and never will be
a particularly inspiring undertaking. This opinion is
corroborated by Mr H. W. Maclean, the commissioner
appointed by the Commercial Intelligence Committee
of the Board of Trade to visit Persia and inquire into
the openings for British trade in that country. " The
opinion generally expressed to me by Meshed traders
who have tried both routes was," writes Mr Maclean,
"that the additional expenses incurred via Nushki
made the total charges by that route quite as heavy
as on the Bandar Abbas route." And again, while
admitting that some of the disadvantages unavoid-
able in the case of a new route may disappear, he
opines that their removal " will still leave this route at
a disadvantage with the older routes via Bandar Abbas
and Bushire. These considerations lead me to the
conclusion that the Sistan route is not of any com-
mercial utility to direct British trade, and in existing
circumstances is at the best only an alternative route
for Indian commerce.^' Hardly an inspiring horoscope
for a commercial undertaking !

The fact is, as I have frequently urged, that while

^ Sport and Politics under an Eastern Sky.

340 TEE NEAR EAST.

commercial and political interests in Persia are prac-
tically indissociable, the political element in the Nushki
route is the preponderating one. That this is the
view taken by the Indian Government is demonstrated
incidentally by the fact that, contrary to the essen-
tially technical advice of telegraphist experts who
inclined to the alignment Quetta-Ladis in preference
to that of Quetta-Kobat for the new line of telegraph,
the latter was the one eventually selected, in spite of
its greater distance and greater estimated cost both
in capital sunk and in future annual expenditure.-^
This line was completed from Quetta to Robat on
the Persian frontier, and an office opened there early
in the present year.

The Russian press were likewise not slow to see the
political importance of the enterprise ; and the announce-
ment that the Secretary of State for India had given
his sanction to the construction of a line from Quetta
to Nushki in the autumn of 1902 was greeted with
a chorus of hysterical denunciation from the Russian
organs.^ The Government was urged to take steps

1 The distance from Quetta to Ladis was given as 430 miles, and from
Quetta to Robat as 478 miles ; while the estimated capital cost of line and
offices for the former was Rs. 9,79,000, and for the latter Rs. 11,30,500 ; and
the estimated annual maintenance charges for the former Rs. 34,000, and
for the latter Rs. 35,500.

^ The construction of the Quetta-Nushki railway of 82^ miles in length
was sanctioned in August 1902 at an estimated cost of about Rs. 70,00,000,
or Rs. 85,000 per mile. Leaving the existing Bolan railway at a point 12
miles from Quetta and 3 miles from Spezand, the line will encounter three
mountain barriers — the Chiltan, the Mashelak, and the southern tail of the
Khwaja Amram, — crossing the intervening plains of Mastung and Shahrud.
The steepest grades are 1 in 50, compensated for curvature, and the sharpest
curve will have a 573-foot radius. Sanction was received from the Secretary
of State for at once putting in hand the Nishpa tunnel, 2600 feet long, 5
miles from the point of departure, and the heavy works in the Sheik
Wasil Gorge, between miles 27 and 32, at an expenditure of Rs. 4,75,000.
The Nishpa tunnel is now finished, and the laying of the line is being taken
in hand.

THE QUETTA-NUSHKI RAILWAY. 341

"to paralyse our rivals," and the ' Novoe Vremya'
did not hesitate to describe the Quetta - Nushki
railway as the beginning of a line which would
eventually place the British on the flank of what it
describes as " the probable path of E/Ussian advance
on India." Candour with a vengeance, recalling a
comment of Lord Curzon a decade ago : " When
the cat is to be let out of the bag, commend me to
a Russian newspaper for the uncompromising manner
in which it is performed." Once more has the ' Novoe
Vremya ' been stirred to remonstrance — this time,
seemingly, by the Anglo-Persian Boundary Commission,
which still bides amid the physical and climatic de-
lights of Sistan. This time — September 1903 — a
bitter refrain runs through the plaint : " And yet if
Russia allows Great Britain to strengthen its in-
fluence in Sistan and South-East Persia, then we are
preparing for ourselves a dismal solution of the Central
Asian Question."

All this is of course a little premature. All that
has so far been taken in hand is a short line 82|-
miles in length from the Quetta plateau to Nushki,
which place is itself more than 300 miles from the
Persian frontier. At the same time it cannot be too
strongly urged that such a line should be continued
across Baluchistan. The trade-route as it is can, as
I have been at some pains to point out, only be re-
garded as a questionable success. The construction of
a railway would not only develop and fortify our com-
mercial interests and political prestige in South and
East Persia, but it would place us in a position to
take that part in the future railway development of
Persia which will some day inevitably devolve upon
us. If I might venture to suggest a strategical
advantage attaching to such a consummation, it is

342 THE NEAR EAST.

that we should be securely placed on the flank of any
attack directed against Kandahar from the North.

Space forbids that I should enlarge further upon
the question of Persia. There is, however, one more
suggestion to be made, though I have no very great
confidence in its being entertained, and that is, that
the British Government should become the share-
holders of the Imperial Bank of Persia. The bank
is the one influential British institution still extant
in Persia, the one weapon which it is still in her
power, if she will, to wield with some eflect ; and
Russia, well aware that this is so, is doing all she can
through the Banque d'Escompte to cut the ground
from under it. There was a provision in the
negotiations connected with the Russian loan by
which Persia was deprived of the power of borrowing
from any other nation until Russia had been paid off.
But this could not possibly be held to prevent her
from borrowing from her own bank. Indeed there
is every reason to believe that the Persian treasury,
the contents of whose coffers are scattered abroad with
such reckless levity, has been to some extent thus
replenished since the Russian loan ; and I need hardly
point out the possibilities that would follow upon such
an arrangement as I have suggested, of rectifying, as
far as rectification is now possible, the financial blun-
der of 1900.

I have painted a brighter picture of the Persian
problem than is usually done, and I have laid
stress upon those points — the things that Great
Britain is doing — which are usually ignored. I do
not for a moment wish it to be inferred that I am
unaware of the gloomy side. If Great Britain is
up and doing, Russia is doing too. No one who
travels in the country can fail to be aware of that.

CHANGES FOR THE BETTER. 343

But I do not, I admit, take the ultra pessimistic
view that too often colours the works of writers
upon the question, and I do not by any means find
it impossible to fall in with the belief expressed
by his Majesty's Minister for Foreign Affairs when
he said, " If there have been changes of late, those
changes have been, on the whole, in the direction
of the assertion and the protection of British interests,"
and I welcome the expression of hope which he at
the same time vouchsafed, that as time goes on we
may be able to make further progress in the same
direction.

344 A TIBETAN EPISODE.

CHAPTER XXVII.

A TIBETAN EPISODE.

A mystery -enshrouded land — Europeans who have seen Lhassa — The
Sikkini Convention of 1893 — Waddell's definition of Lamaism — Sarat
Chandra Das — Decision of the India Office— Failure of the negotiations
for sending an official mission to Tibet— Tibetan aggression — Fatuous
policy of the British Government — The Calcutta Convention of 1890 —
Tibetan disregard of the Convention of 1890 — The sham of Chinese
suzerainty — The views of the Government of India in 1899 — The
Viceroy's letter to the Dalai Lama returned unopened — The appear-
ance of Eussia — A supposed Eusso-Chinese convention — Negotiations
at Khamba Jong — An advance to Gyangtse sanctioned — Tibetan belief
in the support of Eussia — Gyangtse occupied — The advance to Lhassa
begun — The policy of the Government of India — A possible solution of
the Tibetan puzzle — The case of Bokhara an analogy — The Tibetan
dispute must be settled without reference to other Powers.

From earliest times an impenetrable curtain of mystery-
has enshrouded the remote highlands of Tibet. Nature
herself has reared her icy barriers round this strange
enchanted land, and her people have taken advantage
to the full of her natural impenetrability. And so
strange stories have been woven round the people
behind the veil, their customs and their lives, and
the mysterious religion which they practise. A few
intrepid travellers, it is true, have at odd times pierced
through the curtain of obscurity which envelops the
sacred haunt of Buddhistic lore. In 1811, Manning,
the single Englishman able to boast of the achieve-
ment, penetrated to the heart of the country and set

EUROPEANS AT LHASSA. 345

foot in the holy city of Lhassa, and in 1845 the Lazarist
fathers Gabet and Hue were likewise successful in
effecting a lodgment in the capital ; but after the
forcible expulsion of the latter the veil was allowed
to fall once more, and for sixty years no single rep-
resentative of the West has succeeded in disturbing
the unruffled calm — as far, that is, as external in-
fluences are concerned — which has for the whole of
that period brooded over the hierarchy at Lhassa.^
There were those who saw in the Sikkim Convention
of 1893 the golden key that was to unlock for them
the gates of the forbidden land ; but such sanguine
expectation was based on a defective knowledge of
the people, and it has been left for the twentieth
century to supply the weapon with which to cut the
Gordian knot of Tibetan exclusiveness.

Truth to tell, he would have to be of a peculiar
disposition who could see in the barren stony wastes
that constitute so large a portion of Tibet the land
of any one's desire ; nor indeed can it be said that in
the religion of that country is to be found any founda-
tion for the weird tales of the supernatural to which
it has given rise. Lamaism provides something of
interest, it is true ; but it provides much that is
sordid as well, as is inevitable in any form of demon-
ology.2 And perhaps the best that can be said of it
has already been said by the author of the ' Buddhism

1 Though no European succeeded in reaching Lhassa during this period,
it was visited on more than one occasion by native surveyors in the service
of the Indian Government. Nain Sing, an intrepid explorer who has added
much to our knowledge of the country, was there in January 1866 and
again in November 1874, and a semi-Tibetan in the same service led a
small party there in March 1872. The babu Sarat Chandra Das was also
successful in reaching the capital.

2 For some account of a personal visit to one of the weird performances,
half-serious, half-comic, that are enacted in Tibet, see ' Sport and Politics
under an Eastern Sky,' pp. 109-112.

346 A TIBETAN EPISODE.

of Tibet,' ^ when he wrote that " Lamaism is, indeed,
a microcosm of the growth of rehgion and myth among
primitive people, and in large degree an object-lesson
of their advance from barbarism towards civilisation.
And it preserves for us much of the old-world lore
and petrified beliefs of our Aryan ancestors."

It is not, however, the religion or customs of Tibet
that occupy me now : it is the political situation to
which the proceedings of its rulers have given rise that
I am engaged in portraying here.

It is worthy of remark that prior to 1885 the Bengali
babu, Sarat Chandra Das, had on two occasions paid
successful visits to the authorities at Lhassa, and with
care and tact it is only natural to suppose that the thin
end of the wedge thus entered might have been success-
fully driven home. Of his own expeditions the babu
has himself left record in an interesting volume, which
has had the advantage in its revision of the valuable
services of so competent an authority as Mr W. W.
Eockhill. The object aimed at was at that time of
course trade, and, as I have said, commercial relations
might no doubt have followed upon the peaceful
missions of Chandra Das, who had become a persona
grata with certain lamas of high position, from whom
he had received a cordial invitation to return to their
country. But other counsels prevailed, and the India
Office, contrary, it is said, to the expressed wishes of
the Government of India, became impregnated with a
desire to despatch an official mission to Lhassa.

The whole of the subsequent proceedings can only
be described as resulting in a dismal and humiliating
fiasco, and there can be little doubt that it is in the
first instance ourselves that we have to thank for the
present imbroglio in Tibet.

1 L. Austine Waddell, M.B.

A PASSPORT APPLIED FOR. 347

Amid a preliminary flourish of trumpets the British
envoy proceeded to Peking with the ostensible object of
applying for a passport, a proceeding which immediately
aroused the easily awakened suspicions of China. Why
this unnecessary journey to the capital was embarked
upon it is difficult to imagine. According to the Chifu
Convention of September 1876, the British envoy was
entitled to a passport, and no personal application was
in the remotest degree necessary.^ However that may
be, one thing is in no way open to doubt, that from
this moment the expectations of the mission were
doomed. The passport was of course granted, — it
could not very well be refused, — but the intricate
wheels of the Chinese diplomatic machine were
promptly set in motion to render abortive the per-
mission thereby ostensibly granted. The Inspector-
General of Customs — the hero of a hundred diplomatic
coups'^ — -was once more called in aid, and to such
purpose that the India Office were constrained to

1 The article of the Chifu Convention of 1876 dealing with the question
of a contemplated British mission of exploration reads as follows : " If the
mission . . . should be proceeding across the Indian frontier to Tibet, the
Tsung-li Yamen, on receipt of a communication to the above effect from
the British Minister, will write to the Chinese Eesident in Tibet, and the
Eesident, with due regard to the circumstances, will send officers to take
due care of the mission ; and passports for the mission will be issued by
the Tsung-li Yamen, that its passage be not obstructed."

2 It would be difficult to say how much the Chinese owe to Sir Robert
Hart for the facility he has shown in extricating them from the un-
fortunate complications into which they are always falling with Western
Powers. In the same year in which he was induced to rid them of the
inconvenient mission to Tibet he was engaged in patching up a peace
between China and France. The announcement of the successful conclu-
sion of these negotiations is characteristically described by Professor
Douglas. " Nine months ago," said Sir Robert Hart, addressing the mem-
bers of the Tsung-li Yamen, " you authorised me to open negotiations for

peace, and now " " the baby is born," said the Ministers, before he could

proceed further. " Yes," said Sir Robert Hart, " the preliminaries of peace
are arranged."

348 A TIBETAN EPISODE.

revoke their decision, thereby hammering the first
nail into the Tibetan coffin of British prestige.

For a while the question of Tibet was allowed to
slumber, but the next move was of a very different
nature, consisting of an absolutely uncalled-for act of
aggression against British Sikkim on the part of the
people of Tibet. The first-fruits of the fatuous action
of 1885 had been born.

Once more did we, by our failure to seize the oppor-
tunity thus offered of settling once for all the question
of Tibet, lay up for ourselves trouble for the future.
India had been invaded, but rather than take prompt
action by sending a small force to Lhassa — a proceeding
which would have had the desired effect of dispelling
the unfortunate illusion, which had become engrafted
on the Tibetan mind as a result of our previous in-
competency, that Great Britain could be treated with
contempt, — we preferred to fall back upon that pro-
digious exjDedient for passing time — Chinese diplomacy.
The home Government, in fact — as distinguished from
Indian statesmen on the spot — continued to be ruled,
as Mr Michie remarks, " by influences which were
neither military, nor political, nor practical." ^

The net result of an incalculable waste of foolscap
indulged in by the two countries during the next few
years was the Calcutta Convention of 1890, supple-
mented by the Sikkim trade convention of 1893. By
the Convention of 1890 the boundary of Sikkim and
Tibet was decided, the British protectorate over Sikkim
was recognised, and British and Chinese joint com-
missioners were appointed to draw up arrangements
for providing increased facilities for trade, to decide
the question of pasturage on the Sikkim side of the
frontier, and to determine the method in which official

^ The Englishman in China.

THE CALCUTTA CONVENTION DISREGARDED. 349

communications between the British authorities in
India and the authorities in Tibet should be con-
ducted. Three weary years dragged their tedious
length along before these points of discussion found
solution ; but at length an agreement was patched up
and signed in December 1893, an arrangement which
it is well to observe might just as well have never
been concluded, since by no stretch of imagination
can it be said that it has ever been observed. Under
the terms of the convention a trade mart was estab-
lished at a place which never has been, and from the
nature of its site never could be, a real market —
namely, Yatung — and free trade, except in the case
of certain prohibited articles, was sanctioned for a
period of five years.

Both the Convention of 1890 and the subsequent
trade regulations of 1893 have been contemptuously
disregarded by the Tibetans, who have persistently
ignored the boundary therein agreed upon, removed
the landmarks set up, and contravened the regulations
with regard to trade. In face of the article stipulating
for free trade for a period of five years, the jongpen
of Phari was found to be gaily levying a 10 per cent
ad valorem duty on all goods that passed through his
district, and preventing Tibetan merchants from pass-
ing beyond that place with their goods, a proceeding
on his part which, as the Government of Bengal very
sensibly remarked, undoubtedly seemed "to be incon-
sistent with the terms of the treaty." The utter
worthlessness of Yatung as a market w^as set forth by
the commissioner of the Eajshahi division in a letter
to the Government of Bengal, dated June 30, 1896:
"It is a mistake to connect it [the increase of trade]
with the provision made in the regulations of 1893 for
the opening of a trade mart at Yatung, as no mart has,

350 A TIBETAN EPISODE.

in fact, been established. Some merchants visited that
place from India during the year for the purpose of
trade, but they had to return without doing any busi-
ness, as the Tibetans were prohibited by their officials
from meeting them."

So the arrangements of 1890 and 1893 were studi-
ously ignored, as indeed was only to be expected,
since the people who ignored them were in no way
responsible for them, and had never been anything
but opposed to them. China, in other words, had
stood sponsor for Tibet, and China, however loud her
protestations, was in no position to do so, a fact
which had not dawned upon the understanding of the
negotiators of 1890 and 1893. It came home later,
it is true, which is why we are now dealing with
Tibet.

In ,1899 the Government of India summed up the
situation as it had been summed up many times be-
fore : " No real progress has as yet been made towards
the settlement of the frontier, while the stipulations
as to trade have been practically inoperative." But
there was a healthy sign visible in the same despatch,
for the sham of Chinese suzerainty was at length
officially laid bare : " We do not desire to conceal
from your lordship our opinion that negotiations with
the Chinese Resident — although they now have the
sanction of long usage, and although the attempts
that have so far been made to open direct communi-
cation with the Tibetan authorities have resulted in
failure — are not likely to be productive of any serious
result." The whole question rested on an unsatisfac-
tory basis. Applications to Tibet were referred to
the Chinese Resident, while applications to the latter
were put off on the plea of his inability to put any
pressure on Tibet, and there can be few who will not

ARROGANGE OF THE DALAI-LAMA. 351

agree with the Government of India that as a poHcy
this appeared to be " both unproductive and in-
glorious." ^ What was an urgent necessity was that
both China and Tibet should plainly understand that
as the suzerain Power was unable to see that treaties
were observed, we should be obliged to enforce their
observance for ourselves, and that as the Chinese
were unable to exercise the requisite authority over
their dependency, it was necessary for Great Britain
to deal direct with such dependency itself. This
principle was recognised by the Government of India
and approved by Lord Salisbury at the end of 1899.

So far the question was confined to Great Britain,
China, and Tibet. Lamaist obstruction had been
allowed a liberal lease of life, but it could not be
expected that so unsatisfactory a state of affairs should
be allowed to continue for ever. A crowning, insult
was added when the Dalai-Lama returned unopened
a letter from the Viceroy of India, and there is no
doubt that the Government of India fully realised that
the time had come when stronger measures must be
resorted to.

At this juncture a new figure flashed comet-like on
to the Tibetan stage, and developments arose which
had for immediate effect the raising of the hitherto
little - considered state to a position of international

1 This state of affairs was admirably explained in the despatch already-
quoted : " We regard the so-called suzerainty of China over Tibet as a
constitutional fiction — a political affectation which has only been maintained
because of its convenience to both parties. China is always ready to break
down the barriers of ignorance and obstruction, and to open Tibet to the
civilising influence of trade ; but her pious wishes are defeated by the
short-sighted stupidity of the lamas. In the same way Tibet is only too
anxious to meet our advances, but she is prevented from doing so by the
despotic veto of the suzerain. This solemn farce has been re-enacted with a
frequency that seems never to deprive it of its attractions or its power to
impose. "

352 A TIBETAN EPISODE.

prominence. Russia had arrived, and when the curtain
rang up on the Tibetan drama of 1900 it was to dis-
play Russia figuring only too prominently upon the
boards. From this time on it became not merely a
question of settling trade disputes with an obstructive
and ignorant people, but of preventing hostile agencies
from taking root beneath the walls of our Indian
frontier.^

Russia's first card was the reception by Russia's Tsar
of a mission from Tibet, and Russia's second card was
of a like nature. The first mission, consisting of a
Russian huriat, Aharamba-Agvan-Dorgieff, who had
ingratiated himself with the authorities at Lhassa, and
secured the title of first Tsanit Hamba to the Dalai-
Lama of Tibet, was received by the Tsar in October
1900. The second mission, granted an imperial audi-
ence in July 1901, was a much more imposing affair,
consisting of a number of Tibetan officials, described
as envoys extraordinary of the Dalai-Lama of Tibet.
It may be said that under ordinary circumstances there
was nothing particularly disquieting in such an event.
That may well be ; but the circumstances were by no
means ordinary. Tibet does not abut upon any Russian
territory, Lhassa is upwards of 1000 miles from any
Russian possession, while it is, on the other hand,
but a short distance from the Indian frontier, and,
as coterminous states, we have necessarily special in-
terests in the country ; and yet, while the Grand
Pontiff of Lhassa returns unopened an autograph letter

1 See the Viceroy's speech on the Budget, already frequently referred to :
" This [the prevention of the expansion of hostile agencies on the Indian
border-lands] also is in part the explanation of our movement into Tibet ;
although the attitude of the Tibetan Government, its persistent disregard
of treaty obligations, and its contemptuous retort to our extreme patience,
would in any case have compelled a more active vindication of our
interests."

REPORTED RUSSO-GHINESE AGREEMENT. 353

from an Indian Viceroy, he sends autograph letters
by the hands of special envoys to the statesmen on
the Neva.

The case was obviously one for inquiry, and when
a year later reports became current of a secret Russo-
Chinese agreement relating to Tibet, involving a vir-
tual Russian protectorate over the country, a definite
denial from the former Power became imperative. In
the first instance, Count Lamsdorff declared that the
mission " could not be regarded as having any political
or diplomatic character." He had, he admitted, re-
ceived an autograph letter from the Dalai-Lama, which,
however, contained nothing of very grave import. It
was, in fact, found on translation to merely express a
hope that he — Count Lamsdorff" — was in enjoyment of
good health and prosperous, and to inform him that
the Dalai-Lama was happy to be able to say that
he himself enjoyed excellent health ! The reports of
any agreement about Tibet were categorically denied
by both the Chinese and Russian Governments, and
the origin of such reports — ' The China Times '
actually gave the text of the agreement in twelve
articles ! ^ — remained a mystery.

1 The articles of the alleged Eusso-Chinese agreement relating to Tibet,
as published by 'The China Times' in July 1902, even if, like the will of
Peter the Great, apocryphal, afford interesting reading. The most import-
ant items are as follows : —

I. " The Chinese Government, conscious that China's power is weakening,
agrees to relinquish her entire interest in Tibet, with all privileges and
benefits, to Eussia, in exchange for Eussian support and assistance in main-
taining the Chinese Empire."

II. " In the event of any trouble occurring in the interior of China which
the Chinese Government finds itself unable to cope with, Eussia undertakes
to suppress it."

IV. " Eussia will hereafter establish Government officers in Tibet, and
control Tibetan afiairs."

VIII. "Chinese merchandise imported into Tibet shall be either duty
free or very lightly taxed."

Z

354 A TIBETAN EPISODE.

Nevertheless, in spite of Russian denials of any deal-
ings with Tibet, she left no room for doubt as to the
interest she took in that country, and in February 1903
she took occasion to take Great Britain brusquely to
task on account of a supposed military expedition which
she was informed had been despatched across the
Indian frontier, " In view of the very great import-
ance which the Imperial Russian Government attaches
to the avoidance of any cause of trouble in China, it
M^ould consider such an expedition into Tibet as cal-
culated to produce a situation of considerable gravity,
which might eventually force the Russian Government
to take measures for the protection of its interests in
those regions." And this was the Government which
had not hesitated to despoil China of the vast territory
of Manchuria !

The " authoritative information " of the supposed ex-
pedition was without the slightest foundation, and it is
not surprising to find Lord Lansdowne characterising
the language of the Russian Embassy as " unusual and
almost minatory in tone." It is refreshing to find the
Foreign Office taking a firm stand, and to hear it
declaring that, in view of our special interests in Tibet,
it followed that should there be any display of Russian
activity in that country, we should be obliged to reply
by a display of activity not only equivalent to but
exceeding that made by Russia.

Nevertheless, in spite of such declarations, Russian
officiousness made itself felt, as may be seen from the
despatches from the India Office, dated February 27
and May 28 respectively. In the former it is admitted

XI. "All mining and railway interests will be in Eussian hands, but
Chinese will be allowed to participate."

XII. " Russia undertakes in the construction of railway lines or forts not
to destroy or interfere with temples or other sacred spots."

NEGOTIATIONS AT KHAMBA JONG. 355

that the question at issue is no longer one of details as
to trade and boundaries, " but the whole question of* the
future political relations of India with Tibet." Russian
influence is seen towards the end of the despatch.
The proposals of the Indian Government to send an
armed mission to Tibet and to establish a Resident at
Lhassa might, it is admitted, be justified as a legitimate
reply to the action of the Tibetan Government were the
issue simply one between India and Tibet, and the
despatch concludes with the statement that, after
hearing from the Russian Government, his Majesty's
Government " will be in a better position to decide on
the scope to be given to the negotiations with China,
and on the steps to be taken to protect India against
any danger from the establishment of foreign influence
in Tibet." By the end of May, when the second
despatch alluded to was sent, the " Russian terror" had
sunk deeper into the official mind, and the old timidity
and pliability before Russian bluster is again apparent.
Whereas it was recognised in the former despatch that
the issue at stake was "the whole question of the
future political relations of India with Tibet," it is now
laid down as the wish of the Government that " the
negotiations should be restricted to questions concern-
ing trade relations, the frontier, and grazing rights,"
and a desire is expressed that no proposal should be
made for the establishment of a political agent either
at Gyangtse or Lhassa.

The result was that negotiations were again resorted
to, though on this occasion Khamba Jong, the place
selected by the Government of India, was sanctioned as
the point of meeting of the British and the Chinese
and Tibetan envoys, and the essential principle was
recognised of Tibet being represented in the negotiations
by a duly accredited Tibetan representative. Needless

356 A TIBETAN EPISODE.

to say, the same old story was repeated, innumerable
excuses for delay were hatched in the fertile Chinese
brain, and the Tibetans, less versed in the art of polite
diplomacy than their more accomplished co-commis-
sioners, uncompromisingly refused to negotiate at all.
Moreover, they proceeded to emphasise their contempt
for diplomatic subterfuge by deciding upon war in the
National Council at Lhassa, by collecting soldiers with
every display of hostility, and by casting two unoffend-
ing British subjects incontinently into prison.

By October 1903 it seems to have at last dawned
upon Downing Street that the Government of India
did, after all, perhaps know something about Indian
affairs and India's neighbours, and in November his
Majesty's Government reluctantly sanctioned the ad-
vance of the mission to Gyangtse, though they at the
same time repeated that they were not prepared to
sanction any form of permanent intervention in Tibetan
affairs.

So accustomed had those concerned become to find
invariable success crown their policy of trifling with
Great Britain, that the news of the above decision came
upon the Chinese Foreign Office as an absolute bolt
from the blue. The Wai-wu Pu, electrified to action,
fell to telegraphing wildly to the new Amban, who
had been appointed to proceed to Lhassa and to take
charge of the Tibetan question generally, and who was
wandering unconcernedly among the deserts and oases
of the interior, to hasten by forced marches to his post,
and exact obedience from the Government of Tibet to
the imperial commands forthwith to resume negotia-
tions with the British commissioners. The communica-
tion made to the Chinese Minister did indeed seem, as
his Majesty's Minister at Peking somewhat dryly re-
marked, " to have awakened the Chinese Government

THE ARROGANCE OF TIBET. 357

out of their apathy." Russia, of course, took violent
and unreasoning exception to the action of the British
Government, so much so that Lord Lansdowne felt con-
strained to remark to the Russian Ambassador that it
seemed to him " beyond measure strange that these
protests should be made by the Government of a
Power which had, all over the world, never hesitated
to encroach upon its neighbours when the circumstances
seemed to require it," and to ask " if the Russian
Government had a right to complain of us for taking
steps in order to obtain reparation from the Tibetans
by advancing into Tibetan territory, what kind of
language should we not be entitled to use in regard
to Russian encroachments in Manchuria, Turkestan,
and Persia ? " The one people who regarded the
whole advance with unconcealed derision and con-
tempt were the one people whom it really concerned
— the Tibetans.

Past experience was no doubt largely responsible for
the arrogant demeanour of Tibet, but there was another
reason too, and that was their reliance upon another
Power. Whatever the attitude of Russian diplomatists
at St Petersburg and London, there is no room for
doubt that the Russian agent Dorjieff at Lhassa had
given, and continued to give, promises of Russian aid.
Colonel Younghusband, in whose experienced hands the
conduct of the mission had been placed, received infor-
mation from various independent sources that the
Tibetans were relying on Russian aid, and that Russian
arms had been introduced into Tibet. The Chinese
official. Colonel Chao, himself complained of the
Tibetans having openly taunted the suzerain Power,
and proclaimed their reliance upon a stronger and
greater nation ; and in January of the present year the
emissaries from Lhassa themselves informed the British

358 A TIBETAN EPISODE.

mission that in the event of an advance and the
defeat of the Tibetans they vi^ould fall back on another
Power, and that things would then be bad for Great
Britain.^

With the opening months of the present year (1904)
it became clear that the Lama hierarchy, headed by
the Dalai -Lama, had decided to act independently of
Chinese interference, and were determined to oppose
vi et armis the farther advance of the mission, the first
material expression of this determination being the
armed opposition to the advance at Guru on March 31,
a short time after a body of lamas of high rank from
Lhassa had solemnly cursed the mission camp for a
period of five consecutive days !

Early in April the mission proceeded to Gyangtse,
which was occupied after a sharp encounter, in the
course of which the Tibetans sustained further heavy
losses, and here a halt was made until July 6, when
the great jong, which frowns down upon the low, white,
two-storeyed houses of the town from its 600 feet of
massive isolated rock — " a Corfe Castle of ten times
the size, on a hill ten times as high" — was gallantly
stormed by General Macdonald's mixed force of Fusiliers,
Sikhs, Gurkhas, and Pathans.

The three months' halt at Gyangtse might, no doubt,
appear to the impartial observer to be a wholly super-
fluous waste of time, but in coming to such a conclusion

^ According to the special correspondent of ' The Times,' Dorjieff, on his
return to Tibet after his first mission to Russia in 1898, was the bearer of a
large number of valuable presents to the Dalai-Lama, whose influence he
was determined to secure in the interests of Russia. "Not the least
remarkable argument," writes the correspondent, "he brought forward to
effect a rapprochement between his two masters was the insidious plea that
if the Dalai-Lama would but consent to visit St Petersburg, he would not
only secure for Tibet the valuable alliance and protection of Russia, but
might even convert to Buddhism the Tsar's wavering faith in Christianity ! "
— ' Times,' May 24, 1904.

THE ADVANCE TO LHASSA. 359

he would be guilty of ignoring the extraordinary ap-
preciation on the part of Great Britain of the "majesty
of custom"! At the end of each fresh move it is our
custom to ignore all that has happened in the interim,
and to return to our original starting-point ; so having
reached Gyangtse, we sent a polite invitation to the
Tibetans to negotiate, as if nothing had ever happened !
June 25 was fixed as the date up to which delegates
would be received as peace-bearers, and to June 25,
and indeed for some days longer, — for we gave them
a few extra days' grace, — the mission patiently waited,
while the Tibetans, whose peaceful envoys it was
awaiting, directed a continual storm of bullets and
shell upon it from the commanding position of the
jong ! And there are those in England itself who
would accuse us of wantonly provoking hostilities !

But custom had been obeyed in another respect ; for,
according to precedent, the operations were commenced
with a force that was wholly inadequate to complete
them, so that while the mission was awaiting the peace
envoys from Lhassa, it was also awaiting reinforce-
ments from India ! The reinforcements duly arrived,
as did also the envoys, though the latter were a few
days behind their time. This slight lack of punctu-
ality might have been disregarded had they proved
competent plenipotentiaries, but once more were the
representatives of Great Britain befooled ; and since
little material progress towards a satisfactory settle-
ment was effected by the religious reflections on the
situation which formed the gist of the Dalai-Lamas
latest despatch, nothing remained but to begin the
advance to Lhassa.

This was actually done on July 14, the peaceful
intentions ot Great Britain, and the desire of the
Government to give to Tibet a further opportunity

360 A TIBETAN EPISODE.

of coming to a reasonable settlement,-^ being made
known to the people through an official proclamation
issued by Colonel Younghusband ; and it is more than
probable that before these pages appear in print a
British force will have torn aside the anomalous cur-
tain of mystery that has for so long enveloped the
sacred city of Lhassa.

In reviewing the developments in this quarter in
recent years, it must be admitted that the Indian
Government did not fail to grasp the full meaning of
the question, and having done so, were not slow to
make up their minds as to the procedure which they
considered necessary. In January 1903 they earnestly
urged that a British mission should be despatched
to Lhassa, there to conclude a definite treaty signed
by both Chinese and Tibetan officials, and they ex-
pressed the opinion that such action should culminate
in the appointment of a permanent British repre-
sentative, consular or diplomatic, to reside at the
capital.

It was no desire for political or territorial aggran-
disement that prompted such counsels, but rather the
clearly recognised necessity for protecting our un-
doubted interests, and for rendering abortive any
future endeavour — only too clearly foreseen — by any
other Power to secure vested interests in the vicinity
of the Indian frontier, which would undoubtedly
become sooner or later a grave menace to the security
of our Indian Empire. The vital importance which
they attached to their views was emphasised by their

^ "The nature of the terms to be exacted will greatly depend on the
attitude of the Tibetan Government, to whom further opportunity of a
reasonable settlement of the matter in dispute will be offered." — Extract
from the proclamation issued by Colonel Younghusband on July 13, 1904.

A PROPOSED SOLUTION. 361

repeated pressure of them upon the British Government
during the period in which that body was passing
through an unaccountable phase of vacillation, and it
is a matter for congratulation that the progress of
events has rendered the carrying out of their policy,
in part at least, probable. It is to be hoped that a
treaty recognised and agreed to by all parties will
eventually be concluded at the Tibetan capital, and
that a permanent British representative will ere long
be acknowledged at Lhassa. For it is, as the Govern-
ment of India so tersely put it, " the most extraordinary
anachronism of the twentieth century that there
should exist within 300 miles of the borders of
British India a State and a Government with whom
political relations do not so much as exist, and with
whom it is impossible to exchange a written com-
munication."

Exactly how a practical solution of the Tibetan
difficulty is to be brought about with a minimum of
friction, is of course a question which can best be
solved by those on the spot. An interesting suggestion
has, however, recently (May 1904) been put forward by
a writer in ' The Contemporary Review.' ^ The course
therein advocated is the creation of a religious revolu-
tion by raising aloft the standard of a Buddhist anti-
pope with the goodwill of Great Britain behind him.
The whole of the Buddhist world, thinks the writer,
except of course the Lhassa council of five, would
accept the sudden political intervention of the Tashe-
Lama at a moment when the Church was in danger,
and with an anglophile Buddhist pope raised to supreme
power by British support, Anglo-Tibetan intercourse
would be assured, while the star of Great Britain

^ Alexander Ular.

362 A TIBETAN EPISODE.

would be ill the ascendant in the heavens of the whole
Buddhist world. ^

The scheme is one of attraction and is worthy of con-
sideration, though it is perhaps open to doubt whether
the present Tashe - Lama would prove favourable to
foreigners, and if so, whether he could be persuaded to
assume the temporal authority of the Dalai -Lama at
Lhassa. Spiritually he is the superior of the high
priest at the capital, as being the reincarnation of the
Dhyani Buddha Amitabha, while the latter is only
the reincarnation of the Bodhisat Avalokita ; but his
spiritual superiority is also due, no doubt, as suggested
by Waddell,^ to his being less contaminated with tem-
poral government and worldly politics. On the other
hand, the Tashe-Lama appears in the past to have seen
no objection to interesting himself in mundane affairs.
Mr Bogle, for instance, the capable envoy of Warren

1 The so-called double-hierarchy of the Dalai- and Tashe-Lamas originated
with the Grand Lama Nag-wan Lo-zan, the sixth in descent from the
great reformer and originator of the system of perpetual reincarnation,
Geden-dub, who had founded the Tashe-llunpo Monastery in 1445. At his
instigation a Mongol prince conquered Tibet in 1640 and presented it to him,
together with the title of Dalai-Lama, thus raising him to the high position
of priest-king. In this position and title he was confirmed by the Emperor
of China on the occasion of a visit to Peking in 1650. It seems, however,
that the regency was usually held by a vice-regent called the Gesub Einpoche,
who occupied the position of a temporal sovereign. Early in the eighteenth
century the tyranny and oppression of the administration of the vice-regent,
Wang Cusho, who was in power at that time, and his intention of becoming
independent of China, were reported by the Dalai-Lama to Peking. As a
result of this report Wang Cusho was put to death, and the administration
placed by the Chinese Emperor in the hands of the Dalai-Lama himself,
who has retained an increased temporal power ever since. At the time of
Mr Bogle's mission he found the executive administration in the hands of a
regent — the then Dalai-Lama being under age — assisted by a council of four
other ministers styled hthlons. This appears to be the position at
Lhassa at the present time, though for the first time for many years the
position of regent is occupied by a Dalai-Lama who has been so fortunate
as to have lived to attain his majoi'ity.

2 In his ' Buddhism of Tibet.'

BOKHARA AN ANALOGOUS CASE. 363

Hastings, reports to his chief that—" Although Tashe-
Lama is not intrusted with the actual government of
the country, yet his authority and influence appear
fully equal to accomplish the views which you entertain
in regard to the encouragement of trade. His passports
to merchants and travellers are obeyed universally
throughout Tibet." ^

However that may be, and whatever be the details
of any future settlement, Russia has no legitimate
grounds whatsoever for interference. The deference
which British statesmen have always seemed to find
it incumbent on them to pay to Russian susceptibilities
constitutes one of the most egregious traditions of the
British Foreign Office. When Russia embarked upon a
policy of wholesale annexation, and absorbed territory
after territory in Central Asia, she did not deem it
either expedient or necessary to consult the wishes or
the feelings of Great Britain, nor am I aware that she
considered it necessary to obtain the permission of this
country prior to concluding the treaty of Bokhara of
1873. Should Russia feel obliged to raise objections
to the appointment at any future time of an English
representative at the capital of Tibet, she might with
advantage be asked to rehearse article xvi. of the said
treaty, which presents a striking analogy : " The Russian
Government may in like manner have a permanent
representative in Bokhara, who shall be near the person
of his Eminence the Amir." There is very little likeli-
hood of our ever finding it necessary or desirable to
demand from Tibet a fraction of the concessions that
Russia upon that occasion demanded and secured from
Bokhara ; but even if we did, it is difficult to see how,
with the words of that treaty before her, she could
manufacture any logical objection to our doing so.

1 See Markham's ' Tibet.'

364 A TIBETAN EPISODE.

The question of Tibet must be settled between Great
Britain and that country, without reference to any
exterior Power. And in a pohcy such as the declared
policy of the Indian Government, which is a policy not
of aggrandisement or aggression, but directed solely
towards the consolidation and protection of our lawful
interests, they may rest assured that they have the
support and confidence of the British people.

A LARGE QUESTION. 365

CHAPTER XXVIIL

THE FAR EAST.

Commerce of the Far East — Great Britain's ideal ' the open door ' —
Russia's first mouthful of Manchurian territory — The second phase
of the Manchurian question — Events following upon the conclusion
of the treaty of Shimonoseki — England's isolation— Action of Russia,
Germany, and France — The Port Arthur incident — British ignorance
of Far Eastern conditions and affairs— The Intelligence Department
— The duty of British statesmen to stay the disintegration of the
Chinese Empire.

The Chinese question, like the Chinese Empire and
its population, is a large one, and to write of it in
all its bearings would require many pages. All that
I aspire to do here is to touch upon certain phases
which Far Eastern events have of late years assumed,
and in doing so I shall keep mainly to those parts
of the empire with which the journey, the descrip-
tion of which forms the foundation of this book,
happened to bring me in contact.

Commerce, as I have already pointed out, is the
lever which has raised China to its present unen-
viable prominence in w^orld politics, and commerce
it is that must continue to be the will-o'-the-wisp
to draw Western Powers on through the laby-
rinthine pathways of diplomatic mazes in the
remote East — for commerce, large as it already is,
must inevitably continue to expand and further

366 THE FAR EAST.

increase, though not perhaps to the extent that
the mere abstract expression " 400,000,000 of con-
sumers " might not unnaturally suggest. It is not
perhaps sufficiently recognised when talking of the
commercial possibilities of China that, as Sir Robert
Hart puts it, " China needs neither import nor ex-
port, and can do without foreign intercourse, . . .
and foreign traders can only hope to dispose of their
merchandise there in proportion to the new tastes
they introduce, the new wants they create, and the
care they take to supply what the demand really
means." ^

Still, commerce always did, and always will lie
at the root of the Chinese question, though not so
exclusively perhaps in the future as in the past.
For a desire among European nations to secure each
for itself as large a share of the trade as possible,
has led to not always amicable contact among them,
and to an unfortunate failure on the part of some
of them, as far as China itself is concerned, to make
any accurate distinction between meum and tuum.
Moreover, reservations must be made in this, as in
other generalities, more especially in this instance
in the case of Russia and Japan, the former of
which has been largely influenced in her Far
Eastern progress by her innate craving for access
to a warm -water sea, and the latter by the ne-
cessity, owing to her geographical position and the
encroachment of the former, of securing the safety
of her empire.

Great Britain's ideal in the Far East, as else-
where, can be summed up in the words, " the open
door." There are many other terms by which it has
been expressed, such as " integrity," or " a fair field

^ These from the Land of Sinim.

POLICY OF THE OPEN DOOR. 367

and no favour " ; but this variety of nomenclature in
no way affects the guiding principle, and it must be
admitted that this ideal has from first to last re-
mained constant, - however inconsistent the methods
by which it has been sought from time to time to
secure it. Other Powers that neither enjoyed the
same start that British enterprise gave to British
merchants in China, nor possess the same commer-
cial aptitude, entertain no such admiration for the
policy of the open door, and therein is to be found
one of the factors which are always threatening to
create a destructive upheaval of the Chinese vol-
cano. The other is the innate, indestructible, and
illimitable hatred of the Chinese themselves for
every one and every thing that is not of their
own race.

One of the greatest blows that have as yet been
struck at the integrity of China, and de facto at
the British ideal, is the absorption of Manchuria;
and as it is only Northern China, if I except the
extreme western limits of that empire, that I have
any personal acquaintance with, Manchuria is the
core round which I weave my tale.

The first mouthful of Manchurian territory which
Eussia swallowed was bitten oft' in the 'Fifties, when
the indefatigable Muravieff was pushing his activity
down the Amur river. The treaty of Aigun, con-
cluded in 1858, corrected some of the mistakes;;^,made
by Golovin in 1689, and a further treaty concluded
at Peking in 1860 gave diplomatic sanction to the
already eff'ected occupation of Possiet Bay, by ceding
to Bussia the whole of the coast-line of Manchuria
as far as the borders of Korea. The victorious
armies of England and France were in occupation
of Peking, and the nightmare of a prolonged^; Euro-

368 THE FAR EAST.

pean occupation hung heavily upon the minds of
Chinese statesmen, when a friend in need appeared
upon the scene. General Ignatieff, who, of course,
saw that the occupation could be only temporary,
likewise saw that the Chinese understanding was so
unhinged with terror as not to be able to grasp
so obvious a fact for itself, and was not slow to
take advantage of this aberration. Russia had
always entertained feelings of deep friendship for
China, she would now give tangible proof of her
kindly feeling, she would induce the allies to with-
draw. So ran the tenor of his tale. Grateful China,
or rather China as represented by Prince Kung, fell
at her benefactor's feet. What could she do to repay
such kindness? The General thought that a slight
readjustment of the Russo- Chinese frontier might be
accepted as a token of Chinese gratitude, and the
treaty of Peking was signed. Of course the allies
withdrew, equally of course their withdrawal had
nothing to do with the Russian envoy.

So ended the first phase of the Manchurian question.
The second phase opened amid the clash of arms, and
the country that had slumbered in obscurity for thirty
years was displayed to the Powers of the West under
the lurid light of war. A new star had ascended in
the Eastern sky, and henceforth Japan became a Power
to be reckoned with in the councils of the East.

The cause of the Chino- Japan war of 1894 has never
been disclosed. " To defeat China " appears to be the
only definite reason that has ever been assigned, though
the moral right of one Power to make war on another
for the mere pleasure of defeating it would seem to be,
to say the least of it, questionable. The probability is
that Japan was blessed with far-seeing statesmen, who
foresaw the likelihood of a powerful rival some day

JAPAN VICTORIOUS. 369

raising up hostile influences in territory unpleasantly
close to their island empire, and, realising with unerring
intuition the menace to their security, determined to be
first in the field. They had doubtless watched with
interest the invariable outcome of diplomatic encounters
between British and Russian statesmen in Asia in the
past, and were consequently able to gauge at its correct
value the pledge given to Great Britain by Russia in
1886, that she would not occupy Korean territory
" under any circumstances whatever." Be that as it
may, war was waged with a success that elicited a
chorus of approbation from the European press ; the
pretensions of China to be regarded as an entity in the
comity of nations were rudely shattered, and a treaty
was signed, which among other things gave over to
Japan that part of Manchuria which is known as the
Liao-tung Peninsula.

The proceedings which immediately followed upon
the conclusion of the treaty of Shimonoseki are only too
well known. Japan in possession of the southern
coast of Manchuria was inimical to Russian aspirations.
The object of years of patient toil and persevering
diplomacy was thereby frustrated, and Japan's enjoy-
ment of territorial acquisition was doomed to be short-
lived. It is generally admitted that Li Hung Chang
proceeded to Shimonoseki with the comforting know-
ledge that the more grasping the demands of the victor,
the more certain was the prospect of European inter-
vention. And so he signed away integral portions of
the Chinese Empire with unabashed complacency. Nor
was he disappointed at the sequel. With the co-
operation of Germany and France, Russia addressed
Japan in April 1895 as follows : —

" The Imperial Russian Government, having ex-
amined the terms of peace demanded of China by

2 A

370 THE FAR EAST.

Japan, consider that the contemplated possession of the
Liao-tung Peninsula by Japan will not only constitute
a constant menace to the capital of China, but will also
render the independence of Korea illusory, and thus
jeopardise the permanent peace of the Far East.
Accordingly, the Imperial Government, in a spirit of
cordial friendship for Japan, hereby counsel the Gov-
ernment of the Emperor of Japan to renounce the
definitive possession of the Liao-tung Peninsula."

The result of this note, which practically amounted to
an ultimatum, could never be in doubt. Japan was at
the time in no position to defy three first-class Powers,
and since England stood aside in self-laudatory isola-
tion, nothing remained to be done but to obey. Her
endeavour to obtain a pledge from China that the terri-
tories she was evacuating should never be ceded to
another Power was unavailing, Russia professing an
injured resentment at such an imputation upon her
disinterestedness.

It has been the practice with a certain section of
English politicians to extol the policy of masterly in-
activity of the Rosebery Cabinet upon this occasion.
Nevertheless there is no doubt whatsoever that therein
lay the first of a series of extraordinary blunders which
characterised British policy in China during the imme-
diately succeeding years. British interference could
only have been directed towards emphasising the demand
of Japanese statesmen for a guarantee that the Liao-
tunp- Peninsula should not be alienated in the future, a
pledge which would have rendered the subsequent pro-
ceedings of Russia indefensible. Moreover, whatever
paroxysms of delight our voluntary isolation may have
excited in the breasts of the Rosebery following, our
immediately resulting involuntary isolation in affairs
Chinese when the claims of the three protesting nations

FOREIGN AGRESSIVENESS. 371

had to be settled, and might, beneath whose brutal
sway treaties and agreements were scattered as chaff
before the wind, became sole arbiter, was nothing less
than disastrous to British commerce and prestige.

France opened the ball by extracting China's signa-
ture to a treaty the provisions of which were in direct
contravention to those of an already existing agreement
between England and China ; but England was now a
negligible quantity as compared with the Russo-Franco-
German combination, and could be, and in fact was,
ignored.

Eussia lost little time in making her presence felt.
A loan for £16,000,000, arranged for between China
and English capitalists, was peremptorily vetoed, and
the Chinese compelled to borrow from France, — Russia
herself, without any such request having been made
by China, standing security for the solvency of that
country ; and in 1896 she concluded an agreement
which prepared the way for carrying out her ambitious
programme of conquest by railway in Manchuria. The
acquisition of the warm -water port which was to con-
stitute the terminus of the railway was facilitated by
the high-handed action of Germany in seizing the
harbour of Kiao Chau, and in exacting official sanction
for her occupation of the Shan-tung Promontory after
she had done so, as well as by the extraordinary pro-
cedure of British statesmen at this critical period.

The dramatic proceedings in connection with the Port
Arthur incident are of such recent occurrence, and are
so well known to all who have interested themselves in
Far Eastern affairs, as to make anything more than a
brief summary unnecessary. The first act opens with a
soliloquy by a British Cabinet Minister, gratuitously
informing the British public, in an audible aside, that
" so far from regarding with fear and jealousy a com-

372 THE FAR EAST.

mercial outlet for Russia in the Pacific," he would
" welcome such a result as a distinct advance in this
far-distant region." ^ Russian statesmen were naturally
astounded at so unexpected an invitation ; and having
been given an inch, they were not slow to take the
proverbial ell. In December 1897 the Russian fleet
received permission to winter at Port Arthur, the im-
portance of which move seems to have been fully appre-
ciated by the British Minister at Peking, for on being
consulted by the British Government as to what they
should demand from China in return for the advance of
a British loan, he promptly replied, the opening of
Talienwan as a treaty port. But Russia was pursuing
a determined and definite policy, and unconditionally
opposed such a step. No doubt Russian statesmen
saw in England's demand for the opening of Talienwan
a distinct breach of faith when viewed in the light of
the unfortunate declaration of 1896; and it is difficult
to see under the circumstances any flaw in the Russian
Ambassador's statement to Lord Salisbury, " that it
was generally admitted that Russia might claim a com-
mercial de'bouche upon the open sea, and in order to
enjoy that advantage fully she ought to be at liberty to
make such arrangements with China as she could obtain
with respect to the commercial regime which was to
prevail there." ^ Since British statesmen had declared
that the Anglo-Russian agreement of 1886 concerning
Korea was still binding, what other port but Talien-
wan could she secure as the offered " commercial out-
let " ? Needless to say Talienwan remained closed.

But this decline of British influence at Peking before
the increased prestige of Russia was not the only humili-
ation that overtook Great Britain in the gloomy days

1 Mr Balfour at Bristol, February 3, 1896.
'^ January 19, 1898.

^.^SSj^

^..-: r, • Jii 'ifcfc. ' '-^^ .. '-

:s

THE TEMPLE OF HEAVEN, PEKING.

BRITISH SHIPS LEAVE PORT ARTHUR. 373

of the January of 1898. The presence of a British
vessel, H.M.S. Iphigenia, which was visiting Port
Arthur, as it had every right to do under the treaty of
Tientsin, was objected to by the Russian authorities,
who made representations to the British Government
to this effect. While pointing out to the Russian
Ambassador that British ships had every right to be
there. Lord Salisbury issued no orders to prevent them
leaving, with a result that as soon as the Iphigenia left
the port, a Reuters telegram was published in Peking,
stating that it was officially announced at St Petersburg
that British men-of-war had received orders to quit
Port Arthur immediately in consequence of representa-
tions made by Russia. The effect of this report may be
well imagined.

In reply to these unfortunate occurrences on the
Pacific, the Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs stated
in the House of Commons in February that " the right
to send ships of war to Port Arthur was a right which
we enjoyed together with other Powers under the
treaty of Tientsin, and, when occasion arose, we should
do it again." Unfortunately the occasion never did
arise, nor did we do it again ; for in March Russia
forced from China a lease of both Talienwan and Port
Arthur, and included in the convention connected with
it an article which reads as follows : " The two nations
agree that Port Arthur shall be a naval port for the
sole use of Russian and Chinese men-of-war, and be
considered as an unopened port so far as the naval and
mercantile vessels of other nations are concerned."

Thus did we stand idly by and view our treaty rights
played fast and loose with, in spite of the heroic state-
ment by the Prime Minister — that there was no effort
which this country would not make rather than allow
its rights to be destroyed I No wonder that a Russian

374 THE FAR EAST.

official was led in his jubilation to exclaim, " We knew
very well that England would solemnly protest, but
we also knew as well that she would also solemnly do
nothing," or that the same individual candidly confessed
that that was the reason why, " from the day of her last
statesman Disraeli until now, we have not counted, and
do not count, on real opposition from England."

Russia was of course accused of bad faith, and rightly
too, when it was discovered that Port Arthur was to be
a closed port. But Russian aims were made perfectly
clear — if indeed they had not been long before — by the
statement of Count Muravieif to Sir Nicholas O'Conor
on March 13, that he had received the Emperor's orders
to tell him that " Talienwan would be open to foreign
trade, but that his Imperial Majesty had told him at
the same time that Port Arthur would be regarded
strictly as a military port." Under stress of British
importunity it became necessary that this clear lan-
guage should be modified, pending negotiations for the
acquisition of the ports in question, and on March 15
the British ambassador was informed that " both Port
Arthur and Talienwan would be open to foreign trade."
Article vi. of the convention already quoted is of
course in direct contravention of these assurances ;
but surely British statesmen should have been suffi-
ciently well acquainted with Russian diplomatic
methods by this time to realise that Count Muravieff
would find little difficulty in asserting — as in fact he
did — that "the ideas" which he had expressed "very
confidentially" on March 16, with regard to the pro-
posed lease of Port Arthur and Talienwan, " ought
never to have been interpreted as assurances, and
could not in reality have had such a significance."

It is natural to seek for some explanation of the
extraordinary vagaries of British diplomacy at this

LACK OF INFORMATION. 375

period, and there can be little doubt that it was in
great measure due to ignorance of Far Eastern con-
ditions and affairs. Lack of information had led to
the policy of passive spectatorship at the time of the
Chino- Japan complications of 1895, and a complete
failure to grasp the real objects of Russian desire, or
to appreciate the modifying effect which certain in-
cidents— such as the German seizure of Kiao Chau —
had upon the mode of procedure employed by her in
obtaining them, can alone have been responsible for
the succeeding period of ineptitude. The British In-
telligence Department in the Far East, or rather the
lack of it, is absolutely astounding. There was a
story current when I was in those parts of how,
when the extension on the mainland opposite Hong-
kong was ceded to Great Britain in 1898, the military
authorities, being ignorant of the lie of the land,
called in the aid of some Hongkong sportsmen who
were in the habit of indulging, by way of recreation,
in an occasional afternoon's snipe-shooting. Yet it is
on record that the said authorities displayed con-
siderable annoyance, if not indeed indignation, when
they found themselves floundering in a snipe-bog !

It has been suggested, with a view to increasing our
official knowledge of China, that intelligence depart-
ments, with a head officer in charge in each case, should
be created at Hongkong or Canton, at Shanghai, and at
Tientsin, a third of the country being assigned to each
body ; but, as far as I know, there is at the present
time only one, at Tientsin. It is only fair to state that,
in light of the revelations of the recent War Commis-
sion, it would appear that the intelligence branch itself
is not to be blamed for its inefliciency. There is much
that is significant in Sir John Ardagh's reply to question
5011 of the official report issued upon the inquiry into

376 THE FAR EAST.

the conduct of the war : "I put forward an official
application to the War Office, but it received so much
cold water fronri the financial point of view that it came
to nothing. The end of my proposal of £18,000 a-year
for ten years was an offer of £100 ! " -^

The events of 1895-1898, however, cast an illuminat-
ing light upon the ambitions of certain Powers, and it
became impossible to refuse to recognise the serious
nature of the process of decomposition which had set in.
To stay the collapse of the Chinese Empire, as they were
endeavouring to stay the collapse of more than one
oriental monarchy in other parts of Asia, became the
manifest duty of British statesmen — a task in which, as
will be seen, they have found ready coadjutors in the
Government of Japan. Events had proceeded too far
to admit of any rapid reversal in the process, and the
proceedings, which have finally culminated in the pres-
ent Far Eastern cataclysm, were spread over a number
of years, to a brief account of which T shall devote the
pages of another chapter.

1 It must be admitted that private enterprise stands out in strong con-
trast to official insouciance, and it speaks volumes for the mettle of indi-
viduals that they are willing to secure information of value to their
country even at the risk of official displeasure. Here is a case in point. A
young officer keenly interested in the advancement of his country gave up
his leave to making valuable surveys of certain parts of China. In order
to complete them he outstayed his leave by a few days, and on his retui-n,
after successfully accomplishing his object, he received his reward.
" Official thanks for his trouble and valuable information," I hazarded
when I was first told the story. " Nothing of the sort," was the reply.
" What then ? " I asked. " A fine for missing two or three days' regi-
mental duty ! "

BRITISH CONCESSIONS. 377

CHAPTER XXIX.
THE FAR EAST — continued.

The British awakening at Peking— The present value of Wei-hai- Wei-
Germany at Kiao Chau— The reform movement— A dramatic coup
d'etat— The Boxer outbreak of 1900— A colossal scheme of regeneration
— Russia's demands as the price of the evacuation of Manchuria —
The Manchurian Convention of 1902— Manchuria seen once more
under the searching light of war — Points to be borne in mind in
weighing the chances of Russia and Japan — Russian lack of organisa-
tion—OfRcial corruption— Capabilities of the Siberian railway— The
Russian army— The soldiers of the Mikado— 5ws/a(^o— The patriotism
of the people— Victory in the field likely to attend the Japanese
forces— The fate of Russia rests with the Russian people.

If the year 1898 was remarkable for the bold execution
of Russian designs, it was also made memorable by two
other events — the awakening of British statesmen from
their inexplicable dream, and the amazing attempt of
the Emperor Kwang Hsli at reform! A glimmering
perception of the real goal towards which events in the
Far East were rapidly drifting seems to have at length
cast a ray of light across the darkness of the British
mind. Strong representations were made at Peking,
and various concessions secured in the opening days of
the year, among which were a declaration on the part
of the Tsungli-Yamen that territory in the Yang-tse
region should not be mortgaged, leased, or ceded to
another Power, and a promise that as long as British
trade preponderated over that of any other Power, the

378 THE FAR EAST.

post of Inspector-General of Customs should be held by
an Englishman ; while Lord Salisbury, bearing in mind
no doubt the Bristol speech of 1896, declared in March
that whereas his Government had always looked with
favour upon the idea of Bussia obtaining an ice-free
port on the Pacific, " Bussia had now given a most
unfortunate extension to this policy." The tangible
proof of the official awakening was the acquisition of
Wei-hai-wei for such period as Bussia occupied Port
Arthur, and this was followed nearly four years later
by the Anglo-Japanese alliance, contracted at a time
when Bussia was endeavouring to extort a brand-new
set of absolutely preposterous concessions from China
as the price of her evacuation of Manchuria — a tardy
recognition of the dismal failure of the policy of isola-
tion of 1895.

The value of Wei-hai-wei ^ is, as I have had occasion
to remark in a previous chapter, under existing circum-
stances hypothetical. It is hardly conceivable that in
the event of Great Britain going to war, any British
captain would consent to allow his ship to remain in an
open harbour where it could at any moment be tor-
pedoed, or that anything else could be done with the
coal-supply now kept on the island in the harbour-
mouth than to shift it precipitately into the sea. When
in the hands of China, it was fortified at a cost of
from £5,000,000 to £6,000,000, and no doubt thor-
oughly to refortify the island and the mainland now

1 The harbour of "Wei-hai-wei, which is said to be capable of holding
from thirty to forty men-of-war, — though I believe sixteen is the largest
number that we have ever had in the harbour at one time, — is faced by an
island, which divides the entrance into two channels. The narrow entrance
is from 1200 to 1400 yard? in width, and the broader channel from 2 to 3
miles, and shallow for the greater part. To render the harbour secure from
torpedo attack it would be necessary to construct a breakwater across this
passage, at a probable cost of £1,000,000.

THE REFORM MOVEMENT. 379

would entail a very large expenditure, and would neces-
sitate the presence of a number of troops, variously
estimated at from 3000 to 10,000 men. I do not pre-
tend to decide between the experts who are in favour of
or opposed to the fortifying of the port ; but even the
disciples of the latter policy appear to admit that a few
guns might be of advantage, as witness the words of
"Navalis" in 'The Times': "No one doubts certain
ports require a few efficient guns, but anything more
than this is a culpable waste of the national resources."
But where are the guns at Wei-hai-wei ? As I have
already pointed out, Wei-hai-wei presents to the aston-
ished gaze the sublimely ridiculous spectacle of five new
and scientifically built forts, which cannot boast of so
much as a pop-gun between them ! ^ And while we are
spending a modest annual sum of perhaps £20,000 a-
year on military and civil administration combined,^
Germany, just round the corner at Kiao Chau, is con-
structing a harbour at a cost of £1,000,000, and is
willingly spending on her acquisition at the rate of
£600,000 a-year!

The movement of reform was as astonishing as it was
transient. On January 17, 1898, was issued an imperial
edict which placed it on record, among much else, that
" the question of the present clay is that we begin in
reforming ourselves, and diligently reorganise our de-
fences." Once started, edict followed edict with be-
wildering rapidity, all overflowing with the expression

^ Vice- Admiral C. C. Penrose Fitz-Gerald writes : " Had Wei-hai-wei
been given the modest fortifications which were decided upon three years
ago, not even Eehoboam in a gunboat would have had the temerity to
attack it, and, even if he had, it would probably have held out until the
squadron returned to relieve it." — 'Times,' March 31, 1904.

2 A colonial grant of £9000 a-year is allowed for civil administration on
the mainland, while the cost of the 500 men to which the original Anglo-
Chinese regiment has been reduced probably amounts to £10,000 or
£12,000. The island is given over to the Admiralty.

380 THE FAR EAST.

of the imperial desire for reform. " If we wish to make
ourselves strong once more, there is no other way than
to cast away from us the old regime and inaugurate a
modern one," or again, " China's weakness really lies in
her lazy officials and the deep-rootedness of all ancient
vices,' are but instances of the admirable tenor of the
imperial decrees.

But if these edicts sounded like glad tidings of great
joy to the amazed onlookers from the West, there was
one near by upon whose ears they fell with all the
jarring force of a harsh cacophony. And that one
waited but her time to strike. On September 21 came
the dramatic coup d'etat by which the reformer was
relegated to the poisoned influences of forced seclusion
behind the prison bars of the hareem, and the Dowager-
Empress Tze-hsi-tuan-yu emerged once more as the
dea ex machina to guide her erring Government back
along the dark pathway of reaction. The young shoots
of incipient reform were rudely crushed beneath the
reign of terror that immediately ensued, while a par-
alysed world looked on appalled. Six of the ministers
most closely connected with the movement of reform
were led out to execution by the notorious Kang Yi,
who marched triumphantly into the court of justice
where it was supposed the prisoners were to be tried,
and hilariously read out the sacred contents of a decree
which doomed them to instant death. There was
nothing more to be said, and decapitation followed
without further loss of time. Keform was at an end
and reaction in full swing. ^

1 The decree of September 21, 1898, framed by the Dowager-Empress
to acquaint the people with the abdication of the Emperor, is worthy of
reproduction : "Our empire is now labouring under great difficulties, and
therefore it is necessary to delay the question of ordinary reforms. We
have worked energetically and laboriously at our duty, day and night, so
that after attending closely to a myriad of matters we have often felt much

THE BOXER RISING OF 1900. 381

The next violent upheaval of the Chinese volcano
took the shape of the Boxer rising and siege of the
legations at Peking, and it was not until an inter-
national force had dispelled the dark cloud of obscurity
which enveloped the victims of the troubles of 1900
that reform again became a subject of discussion.
There is evidence of some slight improvement in the
internal condition of the country in the past two years,
and the Peking correspondent of ' The Times,' while
admitting that " the Wai-wu-pu is the same cumbrous
body as was the Tsungli-Yamen, the only change be-
inof a reduction of the number of ministers and an
alteration of the shape of the table at which they sit,"
affirms that the internal condition of the country is
unquestionably better in 1904 than it was at the
beginning of 1903.

There is little, however, to suggest that the colossal
scheme of financial and military reorganisation which
has recently been propounded by Sir Robert Hart has
any great prospects of fulfilment. Sir Robert Hart
is, as I well know, a staunch believer in the future
regeneration of China ; but can even the sturdiest
believer in the latent possibilities of the Chinese re-
lassitude in body. This brought us to the thought that her Majesty, the
Empress-Dowager Tze-hsi-tuan-yu, &c., had since the reign of the late
Emperor Tung Chih twice held the regency with much success, and that
although the empire was then also labouring under great difficulties she
always issued triumphant and successful when grappling with critical
questions. Now we consider the safety of the empire handed down to us
by our imperial ancestors above all things else ; hence under the critical
condition of things now pending over us we have thrice petitioned her
Majesty to graciously accede to our prayer and personally give us the
benefit of her wise instructions in the government of this empire. She
has, fortunately for the prosperity of the officials and inhabitants of the
empire, granted our request, and from to-day on her Majesty will conduct
the affairs of State in the ordinary throne-hall." This and the other reform
edicts of the Emperor Kwang Hsu have been reprinted in pamphlet form
from ' The North China Daily News.'

382 THE FAR EAST.

gard as anything but chimerical a measure of reform
which is in the course of a few years to give to China
an increased annual revenue of £40,000,000, a fleet
consisting of 30 battleships and first-class cruisers, 30
second-class cruisers and as many destroyers, with a
flotilla of 150 torpedo-boats, three naval and four
military colleges, four arsenals, an up-to-date army of
500,000 on a peace footing, and last, but not least,
a new and incorruptible set of ofiicials ! Omnia vincit
labor improhus ! But are the difiiculties which await
Sir Robert Hart likely to prove less insurmountable
than those that attended the shades of the daughters
of Danaus ? The task might well recall the unavailing
endeavour of a Sisyphus —

" One — but the type of all —
EoUing the dreadful ball
In vain ! in vain / " •'■

The Boxer rising of 1900, as all the world knows,
aflbrded Russia the excuse for which she was waiting
to complete the process of absorption inaugurated by
Muravieff" and Ignatiefl" in the 'Fifties. Had there
been no Boxer outbreak it would have made no differ-
ence, for it is in no way open to doubt that when
Russia spent a fortune on Manchuria and built a
railway from one end of it to the other she did so
with the fixed conviction that that country was
destined to be hers. " Is it really possible," asks
the ' Pre - Amur Yiedomosti,' " that the Americans
imagine that Russia has spent so much treasure and
blood on Manchuria simply in order to convert it into
an international bazaar ? Do American editors really
seriously imagine that Russian officers who have
traversed Manchuria through and through in peril

^ Charles Mackay.

RUSSIAN DEMANDS. 383

and suffering, constructing the railway and defending
it from hordes of Boxers ; that the Russian Cossacks
and soldiers who have performed miracles of valour in
the last Chinese war — modestly termed troubles — have
suffered all this, and fallen on the field of battle, for
the sake of foreign commercial firms ? It was not for
this that E/Ussia has done what she has. In one word,
we have fought and laboured in Manchuria not for the
sake of open doors." And so the Manchurian phase
of 1900-1904, displaying Kussia in occupation of the
field, was the natural corollary of those that had
already been enacted.

Russian statesmen no doubt realised that at the
conclusion of the Boxer troubles they might be obliged
under external pressure to effect a partial and tem-
porary evacuation of the country ; and bearing this
in mind, they were not slow to determine that such
evacuation, if it became necessary, should be made the
lever for securing important and valuable concessions.
Hence the many troublesome documents which dis-
turbed the peace of the inmates of more than one
chancellory from the opening days of 1901 until the
early part of 1902, when the publication of the Anglo-
Japanese treaty was instrumental in hastening on
the conclusion in March of that year of a more or
less satisfactory convention for the evacuation of
Manchuria.

The demands formulated in the previous documents
are of considerable interest, as showing the wide scope
of Russian aspirations. The chief provisions were to
have been as follows : (1) An increase in the number of
troops originally granted for the protection of the rail-
way ; (2) the numbers of any future Chinese army to
be fixed in consultation with Russia ; (3) no subject of
another Power to be employed to train naval or military

384 THE FAR EAST.

forces in the northern provinces ; (4) without Russia's
consent no mining, railway, or other privileges to be
conceded to the subjects of another Power in Manchuria,
Mongolia, Tarbagatai, Hi, Kashgar, Yarkand, or Khoten,
and China herself not to construct a railway in those
provinces without Russia's consent ; (5) indemnities due
to Russia to be set off, if desirable, against privileges of
other kinds ; and (6) Russia to have the right to build
a railway to the Great Wall in the direction of Peking.

The convention, eventually concluded in March, was
a vast improvement on previous propositions, and though
there were several points which were not deemed com-
pletely satisfactory in this country. Lord Lansdowne
informed the Russian Ambassador that he "did not
desire to examine these provisions too microscopically,"
and hoped that " the Agreement would be loyally and
considerately interpreted on both sides."

But if the convention signed in March 1902 was more
or less satisfactory to other interested Powers, it was
very far from being so to Russia ; and there can be
very little doubt that when she signed it, under pres-
sure of the Anglo -Japanese Alliance, she did so with
the mental reservation that she in no way considered
herself bound by it. Inconvenient pressure was thereby
temporarily removed, and she was content to await what
the future would bring forth. Those, therefore, who
had all along clearly foreseen what was the real object
of Russian desire were no doubt fully prepared for the
delay in the evacuation, and the news, which came a
year later, of a further set of Russian demands, and
again in September 1903 of similar conditions.

It is unnecessary to enumerate the various subter-
fuges under cover of which Russia found it possible to
postpone the evacuation, and even to reoccupy such
portions of the country as had actually been given back.

RUSSIAN ASSURANCES. 385

The old cry of the impotence of the rightful owners to
keep order, which has been made use of so often and
with so great a degree of success by Russia in her
dealings with oriental countries, of course played its
share in the game, and, " in consequence of the agitation
which prevailed in the district," Russian troops re-
entered Mukden in October 1903. This in spite of the
fact that as far back as November 1902 Consul Hosie
reported that under the recently appointed Chinese
Governor-General at Mukden far better order was being
maintained than during the Russian occupation, and
that " numerous heads exposed on trees along the high-
ways " bore witness to the vigorous measures that were
being taken to suppress brigandage !

So the farce dragged on until the audience wearied of
the gratuitous repetition of Russian assurances, and
even diplomatists were seen to yawn and lose some-
thing of their usual urbanity in shaping their replies.
" Russia," ran a memorandum communicated by the
Russian Ambassador so recently as January 8 of this
year, " considers it indispensable to declare from this
day forth that she has no intention whatever of placing
any obstacle in the way of the continued enjoyment by
foreign Powers of the rights acquired by them in virtue
of the treaties now in force." In reply to which even
so courteous a diplomatist as Lord Lansdowne was
unable " to help regretting that Russia should have
found it impossible to take even a single step in pur-
suance of the policy which she had thus prescribed for
herself," or to show "some concrete evidence" of her
intention to make good her promises.

The present phase of the Manchurian question is
one which has drawn the awakened curiosity of the
world to that hitherto little-considered country, for
once more does the searching light of war play upon

2 B

386 THE FAR EAST.

the dark corners of the ancient home of the Manchus,
r.nvi for the second time in the course of a single
dp ade are the mountains and valleys of Shing King
reverberating with the stirring strains of martial
music, and the deep intonation of the cannon's roar.
Russia bluffed high, and having done so expected
to take the pool. That any one would dare to call
her hand seems hardly to have occurred to her.
Yet it was Russia herself who only nine years be-
fore had laid down the circumstances which would
constitute a case for war. "The contemplated pos-
session of the Liao-tung Peninsula by Japan will
not only constitute a constant menace to the capital
of China, but will also render the independence of
Korea illusory, and thus jeopardise the permanent
peace of the Far East.'' ^ Fortunately such a catas-
trophe was at the time averted, thanks to the with-
drawal of Japan. In 1904 Russia possessed the Liao-
tung Peninsula, and not only did she possess the
Liao-tung Peninsula but maintained a military
occupation of the whole of the hinterland, and a
threatening force the whole length of the borders
of Korea. Could it logically be said that the Russ-
ian position of 1904 was less likely to "constitute
a constant menace to the capital of China, to render
illusory the independence of Korea, and thus jeop-
ardise the permanent peace of the Far East," than
the Japanese position of 1895? Russian statesmen
have short memories when it is convenient for them
to forget ; but with these little facts recalled to their
toiind, surely they should be the last people in the
world to accuse Japan of making war without ample
and reasonable grounds.

Who is going to win ? is the question which every-

1 The Eussian representation to Japan in April 1895.

WAR DECLARED. 387

body is asking everybody else. There are too many
unknown quantities to tempt any one to prophesy,
and " positiveness in such matters," as Captain
Mahan would say, "is the doubtful privilege of the
doctrinaire, and commonly unfortunate in the result."
There are, however, a few points which, being borne
in mind by any one attempting to form a judgment,
may be of help in assisting towards arriving at a
reasonable conclusion.

There is the extraordinary contempt which was at
the outset displayed by Russia for the opposition of
Japan. In face of persistent official denial, the fact
remains that on the historic Monday night of Feb-
ruary 8 (1904), while the ships of Admiral Togo,
which were destined to declare the fateful message
to the world in their own dramatic way, were steal-
ing up to their sleeping foe, the pleasure - loving
Russians, who, in view of the extremely critical
state of the relations between the two Powers,
should have been sleeping at their post on the
ships and in the forts, had betaken themselves
wholesale to a gala performance at a circus ! For
the first serious reverse which they sustained the
Russians have mainly themselves to thank.

There are two points which must never be lost
sight of when considering the prospects of any Russ-
ian military undertaking — absence of organisation,
and ingrained official corruption. Those who know
Russia well will tell you that Russian organisation
is a hideous travesty of the word. To quote a single
example of Russian efficiency, Sir Robert Hart, when
discussing the merits of the various units of the
mixed detachment that succeeded in making its way
to Peking immediately prior to the siege of 1900,
writes : "As for the Russians, they brought a thou-

388 THE FAB EAST.

sand rounds of shell for their gun and neglected to
bring the field-gun itself, which remained at Tientsin
— to our great grief afterwards, when it would have
been of untold value at Peking ! " ^

Corruption, it is to be feared, is deep-rooted and
widespread. "Look to thy office and indemnify thy-
self" was the perilous advice of the old Russian Tsars,
advice which, it must be admitted, was universally acted
upon. Peter the Great, it is true, waged unappeasable
warfare against this deeply-rooted abuse, and on one
occasion condemned an offending governor of Astrakhan
"to be torn by pigs ! " But how little available were
his laudable endeavours may be judged by the fact that
Alexander 11. , when campaigning with his army in
Bulo-aria durino; the Russo-Turkish war, is reported to
have said that there were only two honest men m the
Russian army, and one of those men was Tsar Alexander
II. and the other was the heir to his throne ! It is
only too probable that the stories to the effect that
bags of sand masquerade as sacks of flour in many a
Russian store, and that cases filled chiefly with shavings
and sawdust reach the troops, in place of the offerings
made by private charity for their comfort, will prove to
have only too solid foundation.

In the case of the present war, the limited possibilities
of the Russian communications must also be kept in
view. Mr Henry Norman, whose Russian sympathies
are well known, admits that " the expectation that the
line would serve at a moment of danger, or in pursuit of
a suddenly executed coup, to throw masses of soldiers
from Europe into China, is yet far from realisation.
The line," he goes on, "and its organisation would
break down utterly under such pressure," and I know of
no single instance of any one who has had any practical

^ These from the Land of Sinim.

RUSSIAN TROOPS. 389

acquaintance with the railway having come to any other
conclusion. So one of the chief essentials in which the
Russian Empire is superior to Japan — that of numbers —
is, as long as Japan has command of the sea, to a great
extent discounted.

As far as mere material goes, she has little to com-
plain off. In her Cossacks she has a magnificent force
of scouts and a mobile body that would constitute a
valuable asset in any army. Brave, hardy, intrepid,
accustomed to nothing but the most strenuous life, the
Cossack is ready at any moment to go anywhere and to
undertake any adventure. As to the soldier of the line,
to quote Mr Henry Norman once more, "from the
point of view of the military martinet he is ideal
kanonen-futter — chair cl canon." He has, on the other
hand, what many will vote a serious defect in modern
warfare — a complete lack of intelligence. The Russian
soldier of the line is in fact a mere rather dirtily clad
machine, who is never under any circumstances ex-
pected to be able to think for himself. He will fight
with a stolid stubborn persistence because he is ordered
to do so, and not for any reason that his own intelli-
gence might suggest. That, however, is not the fault
of the material, but of those who have moulded it,
though the fact is in no way altered because the re-
sponsibility for it rests upon one part of the whole
rather than upon the other. It has, moreover, yet to
be proved that the Russian military system is capable
of producing strategists of a standard necessary to
predicate success when pitted against a foe whose plans
of campaign are so thoroughly and so systematically
devised and so conscientiously and so doggedly carried
out as are those of Japan.

From a brief consideration of such points as I have
ventured to call attention to, it will be seen that the

390 THE FAR EAST.

command of the sea once in the hands of Japan — and
the mastery of the sea was the first object of Japanese
strategists — the prospects of a decisive Eussian success
were by no means so bright as was too widely supposed.
This impression can only be strengthened by a con-
sideration of the forces at the disposal of the island
empire.

The calibre of the Japanese fighting power was dis-
played when her troops came into contact with those
of China in 1894, though her real power was perhaps
scarcely accurately gauged, since China, which had up
to that time been proclaimed a tower of strength, was,
on her defeat, dubbed, with easy inconsistency, a
negligible foe. The high standard of efficiency which
she had then displayed was, however, maintained when
she again came within the range of military criticism.
" The Japanese contingent," writes Sir Eobert Hart, in
the same paragraph in which he indulges in his lament
over the carelessness of the Russians, " numbered only
twenty-five men ; but the work they subsequently did,
and the way they did it, won everybody's admiration,
and would have done honour to five times their num-
ber," 1 and the fact that it was that part of the city
apportioned to the troops of Japan, when the time came
for the pacification of Peking, that was first resettled
and restored to order, was by no means lost upon the
minds of the observant.

Those indeed who watched carefully the operations
of the international force did not hesitate to place
the soldiers of the Mikado in the foremost rank, and
when those whose duty it is to take note of such things
came to interpret what they had seen with the aid sup-
plied by a knowledge of the ethics of the nation, they
cannot have failed to realise that there had sprung up

1 These from the Land of Sinim.

BUSHIDO. 391

within the confines of the newly born empire of the
East a force that was capable at any moment of
astonishing the world. When one ponders upon the
innate contempt for death which must be the birth-
right of a people accustomed for generations to the
strange national institution of hara-kiri (self-immola-
tion) ; upon the martial spirit which has for centuries
been the essence of their national existence ; and upon
the extreme loyalty and love of king and country
fostered by the Shintoist belief, — one is bound to
realise the potentialities of a force constituted of such
material, and welded into shape in accordance with
the accepted tenets of the highest modern military
science and organisation.

For whatever opinion may be held of the religion
of the country, it cannot be doubted that the hushido,
the " Precepts of Knighthood," the philosophy which
became an abiding principle of the fighting caste, and
finally of the whole people, has exercised a powerful
influence upon the history of Japan, and has been
a determining force in the moulding of the character
of the nation. And hushido is not dead, for the
spirit of the Samurai still walks abroad among the
people who are their descendants. Rectitude, courage,
benevolence, veracity, honour, and loyalty, the principles
of a moral code which formed the directing influence
in the lives of the military caste for generations, still
blossom with their old fragrance among the soldiers
of the Mikado to-day. The rectitude of the Japanese
soldier of to-day is still " the power of deciding upon a
certain course of conduct in accordance with reason,
without wavering — to die when it is right to die, to
strike when to strike is right ; " ^ the duty of loyalty
is still a virtue in comparison with which no life is

^ Bushido. Inazo Nitob^.

392 THE FAR EAST.

too dear to sacrifice, and what further proof can be
required than the heroic storming of Kin Chau, to
take but a single instance, that whenever a cause
presents itself which is considered dearer than life, now
as in the past, " with utmost serenity and celerity
life will be laid down." An intense patriotism per-
meates the whole people. To the Japanese their
country is " more than land and soil from which to
mine gold or to reap grain — it is the sacred abode
of the gods, the spirits of their forefathers ; " -^ to them
the Emperor is "the bodily representative of Heaven
on earth, blending in his person its power and its
mercy," ^ sentiments which are inculcated by their
national religion.

It is this national feeling, the evolution of genera-
tions, which has become a part of the national
existence of Japan, that must be reckoned with as an
intangible power, fighting in the midst of and in-
spiring her armies. " What won the battles on the
Yalu, in Korea, and Manchuria," writes the Japanese
author already quoted, ^ " was the ghosts of our fathers,
guiding our hands and beating in our hearts. To
those who have eyes to see they are clearly visible.
Scratch a Japanese of the most advanced ideas, and
he will show a Samurai." Lastly, honour — the
treasured honour of the ancient Samurai, beneath
whose dazzling ray life itself appeared of small account
— has been sorely slighted, so that the whole popula-
tion, from highest to lowest, smarts keenly under the
humiliation of 1895, and is prepared to wreak vengeance
upon its authors ; — national feeling, that is, is deeply
and universally stirred against Russia,

In light of such considerations the success which has

* Bushido. Inazo Nitobd. - Ibid.

^ Inazo Nitobe,

JAPANESE VICTORIES. 393

SO far attended the Japanese arms becomes perfectly
intelligible, and further victories are indeed to be
anticipated. Local conquest may well prove to be the
reward that awaits the Japanese ; but whether such
success is destined to be productive of lasting material
result depends neither upon the generals of Japan nor
upon the Russian armies in the Far East, but upon
the internal condition of the Russian empire.
" Russia," say her supporters, " will never give in ;
she will carry on the war for years if need be,
and, by sheer brute force and stamina, wear out her
antagonists." That may be, though it rests neither
with the admirer nor with the critic to decide. How
long the heart of the Russian people, stirred to action
by repeated reverses in a war in which they have no
interest and which they do not understand, will bear
with a governmental system beneath whose iron heel
they have long been crushed, is not for the boldest
vaticinator to foretell. Be it remembered only that
it is in the heart and fibre of the people in the last
resort that the fate of nations is fast held.

394 LAST WORDS.

CHAPTER XXX.

LAST WORDS.

The object of British policy — General Chapman quoted — Present conditions
cannot be permanent — Professor Vambery quoted — India the fulcrum
of British rule in Asia — Lord Curzon on the internal condition of
India.

In the concluding section of the present volume I have
endeavoured to draw attention to the general situation
in the East, as it affects this country at the present
time. I am bold enough to hope that in the earlier
chapters something may have been found in the de-
scription of Eastern life and Eastern countries that may
have proved of interest to those who, while unable to
visit such countries for themselves, have nevertheless a
fancy for casting an Asian horoscope.

The present object of British policy has, I hope, been
made clear — namely, to so guard and strengthen those
oriental kingdoms which constitute the dividing neutral
zone between the spheres of influence and interest of
this country and Russia as to preserve from dangerous
contact the ambitions of the two great Powers from
the West to whom has fallen the golden heritage of
the East. " By the extension of our Indian railway
system," writes General Chapman, " to adjoining states
and the development of commerce, we may oppose a
Russian advance by means other than those of war,

THE KINGDOMS OF ASIA ARE DOOMED. 395

and ensure a recognition of our Asiatic Empire as
aiming at the wellbeing and civilisation of all the
countries coming under its influence," ^ and there can
be few who will deny that in the gradual extension
of railways and the fostering of commercial inter-
course, together with the assumption of a firm atti-
tude at Constantinople, Teheran, and Peking, are to
be found the means at our disposal by which we may
seek to obtain our end.

But while pursuing a policy which is directed towards
such a goal, it would be folly to postulate for it any
probability of finality. The life of the monarchies of
the ancient world may under skilful treatment be con-
siderably prolonged, but sooner or later collapse must
supervene. For " the kingdoms of Islam are crumbling,"
and there is more than one Eastern ruler who may well
cry with the Amir of Kabul,

" Around me a voice ever rings,
Of death, and the doom of my country ;
Shall I be the last of its kings ? " ^

To those who have eyes to see the fatal handwriting
is traced clearly upon the wall. The old order passeth
away, the kingdoms of Asia are being weighed in the
balance and found wanting, and the days that remain
to them are numbered. " The endeavour of the Great
Powers," writes Professor Vambery, " to secure the
independence and integrity of Persia has only an
abstract value, for maladministration, anarchy, and
Asiatic corruption have brought that country to the
verge of ruin. Its neighbours must needs reckon with
its forthcoming decay, and England has time enough
to make good the blunders committed and to protect

1 " Our Commercial Policy in the East." A paper read before the
Central Asian Society by General E. F. Chapman, C.B.

2 Verses written in India. Sir A. Lyall.

396 LAST WORDS.

her economic and political interests by an energetic
policy." ^

Let us not be blind, then, to the fact that the day
must come, be it far off or near at hand, when all that
is left of old-world despotism shall have been ground
to chaff between the inexorable millstones of Western
progress, and that the Power that has toiled and
wrought with the clearest foresight and the greatest
amount of determination to secure its position in the
present, will speak with commanding voice when the
day of disruption is at hand. An energetic and con-
sistent policy may retain under the peaceful segis of
Great Britain the southern provinces of Persia ; a
vacillating and half-hearted procedure can only result
in eventually forcing upon her the unenviable task of
creating another Gibraltar upon the frowning heights
of Oman, even should no worse thing befall her.

All those, then, who have given passing thought to
the great problems of empire in the East must welcome
with gratitude the straightforward statements of a
no half-hearted determination to protect our interests
there, which have more than once been made in recent
years by responsible statesmen, and must view with
satisfaction such signs as are visible of a recrudescence
of British power.

And as it is in India that is to be found the fulcrum
of British rule throughout the East, so it is with pardon-
able pride and satisfaction that we look back upon the
years of strenuous endeavour which a succession of
devoted Englishmen have bestowed upon her. No
more welcome sound could fall upon the ears of the
people to whose keeping has been confided the sacred
trust of an Eastern empire than the words uttered
by Lord Curzon at the conclusion of a comprehensive

1 Pester Lloyd, June 1903.

PROGRESS IN INDIA. 397

review of the position of India, when he modestly
expressed the hope that from a period of stress and
labour had perhaps emerged an India " better equipped
to face the many problems which confront her, stronger
and better guarded on her frontiers, with her agricul-
ture, her industries, her commerce, her education, her
irrigation, her railways, her army, and her police
brought up to a higher state of efficiency — with every
section of her administrative machinery in better repair,
with her credit re-established, her currency restored,
the material prosperity of her people enhanced, and
their loyalty strengthened." ^

With courageous and far-seeing statesmen at the
helm, backed by the heart and feeling of the British
people, inspired by a true appreciation of the respon-
sibilities of a world-wide Empire, the ship of State,
v^hose ensign flies as the emblem of civilisation, peace,
and justice on every sea, may be trusted to steer
safely through the storm-tossed waters of the Eastern
hemisphere.

1 Speech on the Indian Budget, March 1904.

w

MAP SHOWING THE AUTHOR'S ROUTE mij Uie |,r,.po,ed ;/!.«: of Ihe BA(;HDA71 UAILWAY

o

o

INDEX.

Abbas, Joseph, 36, 75, 237.
Abbott, Captain, 173.
Abd us-Samad, prime minister of Bok-
hara, 188.
Abu Hurareh, 59.
Achinsk, town of, 294.
Adana, capital of Cilicia, 42, 47, 50,

52, 88.
Afforestation, effect on climate of

Tashkent, 200.
Afghanistan, 15, 19, 22, 166, 175.
Afium Kara Hissar, 32.
Afrasiab, city of, 193.
Afrin, river, 88.
Agha Mohammed, 173 ; Hamadan

destroyed by, 130.
Agriculture in Siberia, 268, 269.
Aigun, treaty of (1858), 215, 267.
Ain - ed - Dowleh, prime minister of

Persia, 145.
Aintab, town of, 92.
Ak Keupri, 38, 40, 89.
Ak Su, river, 226.
Akmolinsk, territory of, 267.
Aksu, town of, 214, 227.
Ala-ed-Dowleh, 116.
Alatau Mountains, 206.
Albuquerque the Great, 16.
Aleppo, town of, 52-55, 57, 58, 60,

61, 85, 89, 91, 94.
Alexander I., mysterious^ death of,

278.
Alexander 11. , 388.
Alexander the Great, 39, 60, 129,

192.
"Alexander's House," at Tomsk, 280.
Alexandretta, Gulf of, 89, 94.
Alexandrovski Mountains, 206.

Ali Pasha, commanding at Aleppo, 57,

60.

Alikhanoff, Colonel, 167, 175.

Alp Arslan, 30.

Altai, sport in the, chaps, xxi. and
xxii. ; discovery as a sporting coun-
try of the, 243 ; description of the
country of the, 275 ; description of
journey to the, 244-246.

Altai mining district, the, 267, 268.

Altin Imel, 207.

America, 18.

Amu Daria (ancient Oxus), 176.

Amur, river, 303.

Anatolia, 32.

Anatolian railway, 32.

Anazarba, town of, 41.

Anchiale, town of, 46.

Andijan, town of, 166, 168, 198.

Andrew, railway schemes of, 85.

Angara, river, 295.

Anglo-Japanese alliance, the, 378.

Anglo-Persian Convention of 1903,
138, 142.

Anglo-Persian trade, 141.

Annenkoff, General, quoted, 163, 165
footnote.

Antioch, town of, 52, 88.

Autung opened to foreign trade, 314.

Apiculture in Siberia, 271.

Arabia, 8.

' Arabian Nights,' 6, 79.

Arabs, 56, 58, 59, 62, 63, 67, 68, 74,

75, 93 ; an encounter with, 63-66.
Aral Sea, 172.

Ardagh, Sir John, quoted, 376.
Army corps, centres of, in Turkey, 95.
Arslani Bell, the, 88.

400

INDEX.

Ashkabad, town of, 171.

Ashtira (days of mourning), 133.

Asia Minor, 43.

Asshurnazirpal, King, 73.

Assouan, dam of, 77, 78.

Assyria, 6.

Atabeg-Azam, prime minister of Persia,
145.

"Athalik Ghazi," Yakub Khan as-
sumes title of, 211.

Athens, 31.

Aulie Ata, 207.

Avicenna, tomb of, 125, 127.

Ayas, Bay of, 44, 89.

Azziz Khan, 112.

Baber, Sultan, 193, 194.

Babylon, 5, 7, 72, 73.

Babylonia, 6 ; agricultural possibilities
of, 77-79.

Bacon, Francis, counsel of, to the
traveller, 12.

Bagche, pass of, 88.

Baghdad, 6, 58, 62, 79, 88 ; as a com-
mercial centre, 80-83.

Baghdad railway. See under Rail-
way.

Baghdad-Teheran trade-route, 115.

Bahri Pasha, governor of Cilicia, 50.

Baikal, Lake, 14, 302.

Bain Chagan, valley of, 247, 248.

Bairam Ali, ruins of old Merve at, 174.

Baku, 112, and chap. xiv.

Balakhani, oil-field of, 156, 157.

Balfour, the Right Hon. A. J., quoted,
101, 372.

Balkash, Lake, 207, 208, 225,

Baltistan, mountains of, 229.

Baluchistan, 167, 169.

Barasingh stag, 226.

Barnaul, town of, 202, 244, 267, 271 ;
description of, 274, 275.

Basra, town of, 81, 82, 89.

Beaconstield, Lord, 326.

Beazley, C. R., quoted, 16.

Bekovitch, Prince, murdered by the
Khivans, 173.

Belgium, 18.

Belik, river, 60, 92.

Bell, Colonel Mark, quoted, 95 foot-
note.

Beveridge, A. J., quoted, 18, 324.

Bibi Eibat, oil-field of, 158.

Bibi Khanum, mosque of, 197.

Bielinski, builder of bridge over the
Oxus, 167.

Biisk, town of, 245, 246, 263, 267,

269, 271, 275.
Birejik, town of, 88, 92.
Bishop, Mrs, quoted. 111.
Bisitun (Behistun), 122, 123.
Black Sea Basin Agreement, 95.
Blagoveschensk, town of, 17, 296.
Bobaido, town of, 297.
Bogle, Mr, envoy of Warren Hastings

to Tibet, 362.
Bokhara, 10, 12, 21, and chap. xvi. ;

attraction of, 179 ; bazaars of, 179 ;

citadel of, 181, 183; diseases of,

180, 181 ; present status of, 182,

183 ; prison of, 185-187 ; Rigistan

of, 181, 183; trade of, 190, 191;

treaty of, 174, 363.
Bosphorus, the, 20, 29-31.
Bostan, rock sculptures of, 116-119.
Boxer rising of 1900, 312.
Bozanti, vale of, 37.
Brown, Sir Thomas, quoted, 72.
Bulgar Dagh, 35, 37, 87, 89.
Bulgar Maden, silver-mine at, 38.
BuDJi plain, view from, 229.
Burns, Sir Alexander, quoted, 181,

190.
Burnt column at Constantinople, 29.
Bush, Mr H. Fulford, quoted, 313.
Bu-shido, 391.
Byzantium, 27, 31 ; vicissitudes of,

28.

Cairo, the dervishes of, 11.
Calcutta Convention (1890), 348.
Camels in Asia Minor, 90 ; failure of,

in time of war, 165.
Cape of Good Hope, passage round,

16.
Caspian, journey across, 168.
Celestial Empire. See China.
Central Asia, 21.

Chagan Burgaza, valley of, 247, 248.
Chald£ea, 6, 7, 96, 109.
Chaman, 175.

Chambers, the Rev. W. , 47.
Chandra Das, babu, explorations of,

in Tibet, 345 footnote, 346.
Chapman, General, quoted, 394.
Chardjui, 167, 176.
Chehel Duckteran, 175.
Chesney, railway schemes of, 85.
Chifte Khan, 38.
Chifu, town of, 310 ; Convention of

(1876), 347.
China, 14, 15, 22, and chaps, xxviii.

VL

INDEX.

401

and xxix. ; Russia stands security
for, 371 ; reform movement in,
379.

Chino-Japan war (1894), 368.

Chirol, Mr V., quoted, 221.

Chita, town of, 303.

Christie, the Rev. Dr, 45.

Chukur Ova, the eastern portion of
Cilicia, 41.

Chumbi valley, fighting in, 221.

Chunghou, Chinese official, 214.

Church, Mr, quoted, 226.

Chuya, river, 247, 276.

Cicero, 39.

Cicilian Gates, the, 37, 39 ; not to be
traversed by the railway, 40, 88.

Cilicia, 34, 40-42, 51, 52, 88, 90, and
chap. iv.

Cleopatra, 47.

Communications, importance of, be-
tween England, Australia, and the
Far East, 22, 322 ; in Persia, 143,
144, 338 ; lack of, in Turkey, 80-83 ;
necessity of, in Siberia, 285.

ConoUy, Captain, 181 ; the story of,
187-190.

Constantino, Emperor, 27.

Constantinople, 27, 29, 30, and chap,
ii.

Convicts in Siberia, 294.

Corruption in Turkey, 48, 49 ; in
Russia, 388.

Cossacks, 210, 389 ; conquest of
Siberia by, 284.

Cotton industry in Turkey, 50 ; in

Central Asia, 202.
Cumberland, Major, 243.
Cuneiform writing, method of deci-
phering discovered, 128.
Curzon, Lord, quoted, 9, 22, 37 foot-
note, 123, 133 footnote, 166, 180
footnote, 182, 194, 322, 323, 336,
337, 341, 352 footnote, 397.
Cydnus, river, 44, 45, 47.
Cyrus, 30, 39, 60.

Dairy-farming in Siberia, 292.

Dalni, town of, 161, 302 ; description

of, 308.
Damascus, 54, 55.
Daniel, tomb of, 197.
Darcy, oil concession, 112.
Darius, 9, 30, 60, 107; inscriptions of,

109, 121, 128; deciphered by Sir

Henry Rawlinson, 129.
David, tomb of, 114.

2

Davidson, Mr J. W., quoted, 305

footnote, 307 footnote.
Deir-el-Zor, town of, 55, 57, 59, 60,

62, 68.
Deir Hafr, village of, 58.
Demavend, Mount, 229.
Demidoff, Prince, 243, 244, 248.
Desert of Mesopotamia, 59, 63, 66,

69, 92, and chap. vi. ; of Central

Asia, 175, 176.
Diala, river, 110.

Diarbekr, town of, 55, 57, 89, 92.
Diaz, Bartholomew, 16.
Dinek Tash at Tarsus, 45, 46.
Dinner-party, a curious, 113, 114.
Dizful, 113.

DorjiefiF, at Lhassa, 220, 352.
Douglas, Professor, quoted, 213, 347

footnote.
Dungans, the, 212.

"East Chinese Railway Company,"

the, 301.
Ecbatana, 129.
Egypt, 139.
Elias, Mr Ney, 243.
Enzeli, 151.

Eregli, village of, 35, 36, 87, 89.
Erivan, town of, 144.
Erzerum, treaty of, 139.
Esarhaddon, 72.
Eski Sher, 32.
Esther, tomb of, 125-127.
Euphrates, 7, 55, 57-60, 62, 85, 88.

Far East, the, 21 ; question of, chaps.

xxviii. and xxix. ; war in, 386-393.
Ferghana, 21.

Ferhad, of Persian myth, 110, 115.
Ferhit Pasha, 33.
Ferry across the Euphrates, 62 ;

across the Hi, 228 ; across the

Khabur, 66 ; across the Tekkes,

240.
Fire, natural, at Baku, 156.
Fire-temple at Surah Khani, 157.
France, 18.

Gabet and Hue, Lazarist fathers,
reach Lhassa, 345.

Ganjnameh, the, 128.

Gardens in the East, 8.

Garter Mission, the, 337.

Gaul, 31.

Gavazzi, Modesto, quoted, 184 foot-
note.

C

402

INDEX.

Gazelle shot, 255.

Genesis, quotations from, 7.

Genoa, traders of, 31.

Geolt Su, river, 225.

Geok Teppe, 12, 17, 166, 170.

George III., remarks of, 19.

Germanophobia in England, 98, 103.

Germany, 18 ; at Constantinople, 327;
promoters of the Baghdad Railway,
chap. viii.

Ghilan, province of, 147, 150.

Giaour Dagh (ancient Amanus), 41,
52, 88, 91.

Gobi, desert of, 220.

Gold law in Siberia, 297.

Golden Horde, the, 284.

Golden Horn, the, 27.

Goldsmid, Sir F., quoted, 80.

Golovin, treaty of Nertchinsk con-
cluded by (1689), 367.

Goltz, General Von, 327.

Gordon, General, summoned by China,
214.

Gotarzes, King of Parthia, inscriptions
of, 123.

Gozan, river, 7, 66.

Granville, Lord, 174.

Grotefend, first to decipher cuneiform
writing, 128.

Guffa, a Babylonian boat, 80.

Guru, village of, 358.

Guthrie, Mr, quoted, 156.

Gyangtse, mission authorised to pro-
ceed to, 356 ; occupied, 358.

Habor, 66.

Halah, 66, 114.

Haleb. See Aleppo.

Hamadan, 80, 124-130 ; population of,

124 ; bazaars of, 125.
Hamah, 54.
Hamidiyeh, 50.

Hammum Ali, hot baths of, 93.
"Happy Valley," the, 248.
Hardinge, Sir Arthur, 142, 145.
Harran, 56, 57, 88, 92.
Hart, Sir Robert, 347 footnote ;

quoted, 366, 387, 390; scheme

of Chinese reorganisation of, 381.
Harthama, 192.
Harun-al-Raschid, 30, 39.
Hassan Beyli, village of, 52, 88.
Hatzfeldt, Count, 327.
Hazret Meviana, founder of Mevlevi

dervishes, 33.
Henry the Navigator, Prince, 15.

Hephsestion, death of, 129.

Herat, 175.

Herodotus quoted, 78, 80, 107.

Hippodrome at Constantinople, 29.

Hit, 62.

Hogarth, Mr, quoted, 58 footnote, 93.

Hoh-Hah, Kalmuk hunter, 230.

Holdich, Sir Thomas, quoted, 20.

Horns, 54.

Hosie, Consul, quoted, 385.

Hulvan, river, 110.

Ibex (Capra sibirica), chap. xx. ; a 48-
inch head secured, 232; 46 -inch
and 49 -inch heads secured, 235
a 46^ - inch head secured, 237
a 51| - inch head secured, 239
a 50-inch head secured, 240 ; horn
measurements, 241.

Ibrahim Pasha, 39, 56 ; depredations
of, 92.

Igde, Russian defeat at, 173.

Ignatieff, General, 368.

Hi, river, 207, 216, 225, 228.

Imam Hussein Askar, tomb of, at
Samara, 76.

Imam Mohammed el Mahdi, mosque
of, at Samara, 76.

Immuration, an instance of, 111.

"Imperial Ottoman Baghdad Rail-
way Company," the, 101.

India, 9, 19, 23 ; the pivot of British
supremacy Ln Asia, 321, 396.

Indo-Persian trade, 141.

Irkutsk, 161, 270, 281 ; origin of,
295 ; present status of, 295 ; gold-
smelting laboratory of, 296.

Irtish, river, 209, 284.

Isaiah, quotation from, 8.

Ishak Khan, at Samarkand, 198.

Islayeh, 52.

Ismid, town of, 32.

Ismil, village of, 35.

Issi Kul, lake, 207.

Ivanotf, General, 199.

Japan, 18 ; the soldier of, 390.
Jebel Abdul Azziz, 56, 67.
Jebel Nur, 41, 51.
Jebel Tek Tek, 92,
Jebul, Lake, 57.
Jengis Khan, 17, 192.
Jeremiah, quotations from, 8.
Jergol, Kalmuk hunter, 230.
Jews at Hamadan, 124.
Jihun, river, 51.

INDEX.

403

Julfa, town of, 144.

Justinian, builder of mosque of St

Sophia, 30 ; course of river Cydnus

diverted by, 45.

Kagahn (New Bokhara), 177.

Kaisariyeh, town of, 90.

Kaleh Shergat, ruins of, 76.

Kalgan, 220.

Kalifate, the, 6.

Kahnuks, 217, 225, 245, 275; hunters,

228, 229, 231, 247, 248.
Kandahar, 175.
Kang Yi, 380.
Kangavar, village of, 121.
Kansk, town of, 294.
Kara Bunar, village of, 35, 36, 89.
Kara Su, river in Western China, 226.
Kara Su, valley of, in Asia Minor, 52,

88.
Karaman, village of, 87, 89.
Kashgar, 214, 227.
Kashmir, 226, 229.
Kasima, proposed terminus of the

Baghdad railway, 89.
Kasr-i-Shirin, 110, 113.
Katl, ceremony of, 135.
Kaufmami, General, 164, 174, 194,

201.
Kazimin, mosqiae of, at Baghdad, 81,

94.
Kazvin, town of, 144, 150.
Kerbela, 89, 94.
Kermanshah, 80 ; strategic position

of, 115 ; population of, 116 ; sculp-
tures of (see Bostan).
Khabur, river, 56, 62, 66.
Khamba Jong, 355.
Khamurabi, King, 71.
Khanikin, town of, 89, 110.
Khanikofl; 190 ; quoted, 186, 189.
Kharbin, town of, 302 ; description

of, 304-308.
Khingan Mountains, 304.
Khiva, 170, 172-174.
Khokand, 170, 198, 211.
Khorgos, 207.
Khosroe, King, 110.
Khoten, 214.
Kiachta, 220.

Kiao Chaix seized by Germany, 371.
Killis, town of, 52, 54, 56, 88, 89, 91.
King, Mr L. W., at Nineveh, 73

footnote.
Kings, quotations from the book of,

66, 135.

Kirgiz of Central Asia, 206, 217, 225,
229.

Kizil Arvat, 166, 170.

Kizil Robat, 110.

Knight, Mr E. F., quoted, 146.

Kobdo, town of, 276.

Kolpakofsky, General, 212.

Koiiiaroif, General, 167.

Konia, tovni of, 32-35, 87, 89.

Kopala, 207.

Korea, Anglo-Russian agreement con-
cerning (1886), 369.

Kosh Agach, 245-247, 263, 275.

Koshkhor, native name for wild ram,
249, 256.

Kowaik, river, 88.

Koweit, 89 ; British ascendancy at,
101 ; Turkish attacks upon, 337.

Koyunjik, the mound of, 72, 73.

Krasnovodsk, town of, 166, 169.

Krasnoyarsk, town of, 279, 280, 294.

Kulja, 207, 226, and chap. xix. ;
taken by Russia, 212 ; present
position of, 215, 216 ; town of,
216, 218 ; population of, 216-218 ;
future of, 219, 220.

Kumiss (mare's milk), 218.

Kunetzsk, town of, 202, 267.

Kurds, 56.

Kurt Dagh, 52, 88.

Kushid Khan Kala, the fort of Merve,
174.

Kushk, 168, 175.

Kutchum, Tartar chief, 284.

Kuzmitch, Feodor, 277, 280.

Lamaism, 345.

Landsell, Dr, 190.

Lansdowne, Lord, quoted, 335, 338,
343, 357, 384, 385.

Layard, Sir A. H., quoted, 67 foot-
note, 69, 115 footnote, 121 footnote,
124 footnote, 129.

Lena Company, gold-mines of, 297.

Leprosy, 180.

Lessar, M., 166.

Lesseps, M. de, 164, 201.

Lhassa, Eiiropeans at, 344 ; Russian
intrigue at, 352, 358 ; advance of
British mission to, 359.

Li Hung Chang, 369.

Liaotuug peninsula, 301.

Lima, oil-wells of, 161.

Liquid fuel, 162 footnote.

Liquorice, 59.

Littledale, Mr, 244.

404

INDEX.

Livadia, treaty of, 214.
Lomakin, General, 164, 165, 170.
Lu-tsu-han, Chinese official, 213.
Lynch, Messrs, 81, 94.

Macao, 16.

Maeedon, 31.

Maclean, Mr H. W. , quoted, 339.

MacMahon, Colonel, 143.

Mahan, Captain A. T., quoted, 77, 321,

325, 331, 335.
Malleson, Colonel, quoted, 22.
Malwiyeh, the, 76.
Manas, 214.
Manchuria, 4, and chaps, xxv., xx^aii.,

and xxix. ; the plains of, 308 ; Rus-
sian assurances concerning, 306 ;

Russian enterprise in, 310-314.
Manchurian Convention of 1902, 305,

384.
Manning, Mr, the only Englishman to

visit Lhassa prior to the mission of

1904, 344.
Marash, town of, 52, 88, 92 ; death of

Icaimakam of, 38.
Marcanda. See Samarkand.
Mardin, town of, 55, 56, 92.
Marghilan, 198.
Mariinsk, town of, 294.
Markosoif, General, defeated by the

Khivans, 173.
Marmot, 235.
Massy, Colonel, 40.
"Masterly inactivity," failure of a

policy of, 21.
Mersina, 40, 42-44, 50 ; unsuitable-

ness of, as a port, 43, 91.
Mersina and Tarsus-Adana railway,

40, 86.
Merve, Queen of the World, 10, 21,

167, 168, 174.
Meshed, 144, 171, 173.
Meskineh, village of, 55, 57-59.
Mesopotamia, 4, 6, 56, 62, 67.
Mevlevi dervishes, tekke of, at Konia,

33.
Michie, Alexander, quoted, 315, 324,

348.
Miller, Mr, quoted, 307, 310.
Minar Kalan, at Bokhara, 184.
Missis, town of, 50.
Missovaiya, 303.
Mohammerah, port of, 113.
Mongolia, 220 ; sport in, chap. xxii. ;

trade of, 276.
Mordeeai, tomb of, 125-127.

Moscow, 14, 17, 203, 244, 245, 273,
300.

Moslemah, 30.

Mosque, ceremony at a, 10.

Mossul, 5, 55, 56, 60, 62, 68, 69, 88,
93 ; description of, 74.

Motassem, 30.

Muhammed II., conqueror of Constan-
tinople, 31.

Mukden, capital of Manchuria, 308 ;
opened to foreign trade, 314 ; re-
occupied by Russia in October 1903,
385.

Muravieff, Count, 21, 367 ; Amur
region annexed by, 285.

Muscat, relics of Portuguese suprem-
acy at, 16.

Mustapha Pasha, depredations of, 92.

Muzart Pass, 227.

Nadir Shah, 173, 183, 197.

Nahs, 239.

Nain Sing reaches Lhassa, 345 foot-
note.

Nakarreh Khaneh (dnim-tower), 117.

Nasr-ed-Din Shah, quoted, 119, 120.

Nasratabad, 143.

NasruUah, King of Bokhara, 181, 187;
character of, 188.

Naus, M., 142.

Near East, fascination of, 7 ; the cities
of, 9 ; British policy in, 98 ; the
question of, chap. xxvi. ; the ques-
tion mainly a strategic one, 325.

Nebi Yunus, mound of, 72.

Nebuchadnezzar, 7, 72.

Nejef, 94.

Nertchinsk, treaty of, 21, 284.

Newmarch, Major, Resident at Bagh-
dad, 81.

Nicholas I., Tsar of Russia, policy of,
20.

Nicholas, the Grand Duke, steams up
the Golden Horn, 326.

Niebuhr, drawings of inscriptions of
Persepolis made by, 128.

Nimrud, the mound of, 73, 76.

Nineveh, 5, 72, 73.

Nissibin, 56, 88, 92.

Nitobe, Inazo, quoted, 391, 392.

Niuchwang, treaty port, 311 ; situ-
ation at, in autumn 1903, 313.

Norman, Mr Henry, quoted, 190, 273,
286, 388, 389.

Novo Nicholaewsk, settlement of, 273,
291.

INDEX.

405

' Novoe Vremya," quotations from,

341.
Nurah, Kalmuk hunter, 230.
Nushki-Sistan trade-route, 140, 339.

Oannes, the fish god, 6.

Ob, 244, 245, 263.

O' Donovan, Mr, 174.

Oil-wells in Persia, 112; at Baku,
157-162.

Oil-trade, statistics of, 159-162.

Okhotsk, Sea of, 284.

Old Testament, the scene of the story
of, 7, 66.

Oleg, 326.

Olives, groves of, near Aleppo, 57.

Omsk, town of, 209.

Onguidai, village of, 245, 246, 263,
275, 276.

Orenburg, town of, 183.

"Orient Express," 30.

Oriyaas, river, 226, 227 ; beauty of
scenery of, 228, 229.

Orlandi, Giovanni, 183; death of, 184.

Osmaniyeh, village of, 51, 52.

Ovis Ammon, chaps, xxi. and xxii. ;
first seen, 249 ; first ram shot, 250 ;
four large rams sighted, 251 ; a 57-
inch head secured, 259 ; a 55-inch
head secured, 261 ; a successful
right-and-left, 261 ; horn measure-
ments, 263.

Oxus, bridge across, 167, 176.

Pakhoboff, Ivan, founder of Irkutsk,
295.

Palmerston, Lord, deputation to, in
1857, 87.

Pamirs, the, 20.

Paris, treaty of, 139.

Peacock throne, the, 134.

Peking, 14, 21, 314 ; treaty of (1860),
367 ; occupied by England and
France, 367.

Pendjeh incident, the, 167.

Pennsylvania, oil-wells of, 161.

Percy, Earl, quoted, 37 footnote.

Persia, 4, 6, 15, 19, 22, and chaps,
ix.-xiii. ; a piece on the Eastern
chess-board, 330-343.

Persian amenities, 116; characteristics,
107, 108 ; loan of 1900, 333 ; rail-
way convention of 1890, 334 ; tariff
of 1903, 139, 140.

Perso-Afghan boundary of 1872, 142.

Peter the Great, 388.

Petrusevitch, General, transport scheme
of, 165.

Phunsah, 60.

Piru, inscriptions of, 109, 121.

Pishpek, 207.

Pistachio-trees near Aleppo, 57.

Polonoshnaya, proposed junction of
Tomsk-Tashkent and Siberian rail-
ways, 202.

Pombo, Kalmuk hunter, 248-250, 253,
256, 258-262.

Porsuk, 90.

Port Arthur, 14, 300, 302, 308 ; port
charges introduced at, 309 ; incident
of, 371 ; Russian convention con-
cerning, 373.

Porter, Sir R. Ker, quoted, 122, 124,
130.

Portugal, 16.

Possiet Bay, 367.

Post-road in Asia, 12 ; travelling on,
204, 205 ; rate of speed attained
on, 205 ; the Biisk - Kosh Agach
road, 245.

Prestige, importance of, in the East,
323.

Pyramus, river, 44.

Rabino, Mr H., 115.
Railways —

The Anatolian, 32.

The Baghdad, 32, 56, 79, 83, 328,
329, and chap. viii. ; present pos-
ition of, 101, 102 ; trac6 of, 87.

The Damascus-Aleppo, 95.

The East Chinese, chap. xxv.

The Euphrates valley, 87.

The Haida-Pasha-Ismid, 86.

The Hurnai and Bolan, 167.

The Mersina-Adana, 88.

The Murgab, 175.

The Orenburg-Tashkent, 164, 201.

The Qiietta-Nushki, 340, 341.

The Smyrna- Aidin, 86.

The Smyrna-Cassaba, 86.

The Tomsk-Tashkent, 202, 268.

The Transcaspian, chap, ix.; origin
of, 163-166 ; construction of, 167,
168 ; journey over, 168-177.

The Trans-Siberian, 244, and chap,
xxiv. ; early schemes, 286 ; the
inauguration of, 288 ; the cost of,
288 ; description of, 289 ; cost of
travelling on, 289 ; defects of,
293.
Rakka, 60.

406

INDEX.

Ramazan, fast of, 29.

Rambaud, Alfred, quoted, 278.

Ramsay, Professor, quoted, 38, 39, 90
footnote.

Ras-el-Ain, 56, 57, 88, 92.

Rawlinson, Sir H., inscriptions de-
ciphered by, 122 ; quoted, 332.

Rebecca, well of, 92.

Resht, capital of Ghilan, 150.

Rhages, ruins of, 136.

Rishta, worm, 180.

Roads in the East, 35, 37.

Roe-deer, Asiastic, 226.

Rome, 31.

Russell, Dr, quoted, 54.

Russia, 13, 17-22 ; enterprise of, in
Persia, 148, 149 ; organisation in,
387 ; the soldier of, 389 ; troops of,
in Manchuria, 304.

Russo-Persian Convention of 1901,
138 ; railway convention of 1890,
144.

Saadi, the Persian poet, quoted, 194.

Sabkah, 60.

Sadiyeh, 89.

St Paul's Institute at Tarsus, 45.

St Petersburg, treaty of (1881), 215 ;
made capital of Russia, 285.

St Sophia, mosque of, 30.

Sajur, river, 88.

Salaiire, coal and iron mines at, 202.

Salisbury, Lord, 351 ; quoted, 378.

Samara, town of, 76.

Samarkand, 10, 12, 33, 170, and chap,
xvii. ; capital of Timur, 193; cap-
tured by the Russians, 194, 195;
monuments of, 195-197 ; the Rigis-
tan at, 196.

Sardanapalus, 45, 46.

Sar-i-pul, 114.

Saros, river, 44, 47.

Sarts of Central Asia, 218.

Saxsaul, shrub, 176.

Schemai, the ataman, 172.

Schlumberger quoted, 48 footnote,
51.

Schouvaloff, Count, 174.

Schuyler, Mr E., 190; quoted, 197,
207, 213.

Semipalatinsk, 202, 267 ; population
of, 208 ; town of, 209.

Semirechensk, 207.

Sennacherib, 7.

Sergiopol, town of, 208.

Seyid-ibn-'Othman, 192.

Shah, Mozuffer-a-Din, interview with,

133.
Shah Zindeh, mosque of, 197.
Shahraban, village of, 110.
Shahrisabs, town of, 195.
Shakespeare, Sir Richmond, 173.
Shalmanezer, 66, 73.
Sharrukin, King of AgadS, 71.
Shehdadi, 56, 66.
Shimonoseki, treaty of, 369 ; Russian

note to Japan as a result of, 369.
Shinar, land of, 7.
Shir Khan, 113.
Shirin, the bride of King Khosroe,

110, 115.
Shumir and Accad, the land of, 6, 7.
Shushter, 113.
Siberia, 4, 13, 14, 208, and chaps.

xxiii. and xxiv. ; conquest of, 283 ;

villages of, 271 ; peasants of, 272.
Sikkim Convention (1893), 348.
Simpson, Mr J. Y., quoted, 2b9, 271,

273, 279.
Sinjar Mountains, 56, 57, 66, 67, 69.
Sistan, 143.

Skobelefl; General, 166, 170.
Skrine and Ross quoted, 168 footnote,

187.
Smuggling on the Siberian frontier,

263.
Sparta, 31.
Sport in the Thian Shan, chap, xx.; in

Mongolia, chaps, xxi. and xxii.
Stambul. See Constantinople.
"State lotteries concession," 333.
Stempel, Major, 194.
Stoddart, Colonel, 181 ; the story of,

187-190.
Storks, 110.

Story-teller of Asia, the, 110, 196.
Strabo quoted, 46.
Stretensk, 303.
StroganofF, merchants, 283.
Stumm, Herr, quoted, 217.
Suidon, "215.
Suleiman, 30.
Sungari, river, 306.
Surah Khani, 157.
Swayne, Major H. G. C, 244, 246

footnote.

Ta-ShihChiao, junction for Niuch-

wang and Peking, 308.
Tabriz, Russian engineers at, 144.
Taganrog, death of Alexander I. at,

278.

INDEX.

407

Taigar, junction for Tomsk, 292.

Talienwan, 372.

Tamarisk, 59.

Tamerlane. See Timur.

Taotai, Chinese official, visit to, 219.

Tarantass, description of, 12, 203.

Tarantchis, 212, 217.

Tarsus, town of, 37, 41-43, 45, 46, 50.

Tashkent, 12, 164. 168, 170, 198-200.

Taurus Mountains, 37, 41, 88, 89, 229.

Tavernier quoted, 6.

Tazziehs (religious plays in Persia),
135.

Tchakid Su, 38, 40, 88, 90.

Tchernaieff, General, 166, 207 ; Tash-
kent captured by, 200.

Tchernayevo, 198.

Tchimkent, 170, 202; capture of,
207.

Teheran, chap. xi. ; gates of, 132, 133;
palace at, 134.

Teheran-Resht road, 148.

Tekir plateau, 38.

Tekkes valley, 217, 225, 226, 240.

Tekrit, 76.

Tel Habesch, 54, S9.

Telegraph concession in Persia, 338,
340.

Tent, drawbacks to, 6.

Tewtic Pasha, 33.

Thapsacus identified with Tipsah, 60.

Thian Shan Mountains, 211, 226.

Tiari Mountains, 69.

Tibet, 15, 19, 22, 220, and chap,
xxvii. ; situation summed up by the
Government of India, 350 ; appear-
ance of Russia, 351 ; reported
Russo-Chinese convention concern-
ing, 353 ; suggested solution of the
Tibetan problem, 361.

Tientsin, treaty of (1861), 312, 373.

Tigris, 5, 7, 57, 69, 88 ; a journey
down, 75-79 ; the lands of, chap,
vii.

Time the destroyer, 72.
Timur (Tamerlane), 10, 17, 30, 92,
192; Hamadan destroyed by, 130;
personal appearance, 193, 194 ; tomb
of, 197.
Tobolsk, 267.
Toghrul Bey, 30.
Togo, Admiral, 387.
Tomsk, government of, 245, 267-277 ;
town of, 277 ; the mystery of, 278-
280 ; university at, 280 ; technolo-
gical institute at, 281.

Toprak Kalek, 51.

Transcaspia, 4, 15, 21.

Trypanni, Messrs, cotton manufac-
turers, 50.

Tseng, Marquis, concludes treaty of
St Petersburg, 215.

Tso-Chungt-'ang, General, 213.

Tsybikofif, Professor, at Lhassa, 220.

Turkestan, 4, 10, 15, 164, 170, 206,
221, and chap, xviii.

Turkey, 15, 22 ; a piece on the Eastern
chess-board, 325-329 ; a suggested
solution of the Turkish problem,
327.

Turkey in Asia, 4, 10, and chaps, ii.-
viii. ; maladministration in, 55.

Turkomania, 10, 21.

Turkomans, 170.

Tze-hsi-tuan-yu, Dowager-Empress of
China, 380.

Ukhtomski, Prince, quoted, 221.

Uliissatai, 276.

Ulukishla, 37.

Unification of the Ottoman debt,

96.
Ural Mountains, 283, 284.
Urfa, town of, 92.
Urga, capital of Mongolia, 220,

276.
Urumtsi, town of, 214.
Ussuri line inaugurated, 14.
Usun Hassan, 30.

Vaharan IV. , founder of Kermanshah,
115.

Vambery, Professor, 190, 395.

Vasco da Gama, 16, 282.

Venice, traders of, 31.

Verefkin, Colonel, 207.

Vermin pit at Bokhara, 189.

Verni, town of, 202, 207.

Vladimir quoted, 300 footnote, 303
footnote.

Vladivostok, 14, 299.

Vodka, 272-274 ; Government mono-
poly of, 273.

Waddell, L. A., quoted, 346.

Wapiti, Asiastic, 226.

Waugh, Consul, quoted, 91 footnote,

102.
Wei-hai-Wei, 300, 314, 378.
Whigham, Mr A. J., quoted, 82.
Willcocks, Sir William, irrigation

scheme of, 77-79.

408

INDEX.

William, Emperor of Germany, 85,

327.
Witte, M. de, 165.
Wolff, the Rev. Joseph, quoted, 67

footnote, 172 footnote, 173 footnote,

184 footnote, 188-190 ; journey to

Bokhara, 182, 189.
Wolves, 260.
WorontzofF, Count, ambassador to

George III., 19.

Xenophon, 73.

Xerxes, 9, 30 ; inscription of, 128.

Yaik Cossacks, 172.
Yakub Khan, 211, 212,- 214.
Yakubieh, village of, 110.
Yakutsk, 290.
Yarkand, 214.

Yatung, 349.

"Yellow Peril," the, 13.

Yeniseisk government, 267.

Yermak, 283, 284.

Yezidis, 67.

Yomud Turkomans, 174.

Younghusband, Colonel F. E., 324,

357.
Yugra, the land of, 283.
Yumurtalik, 89.

Zagros Gates, 6, 115.
Zaptieh, 36, 50.
Zeminogorsk, 267, 271, 272.
Zend AA'esta, 157.
Zerafshan, 21, 170, 176.
Zingerli, excavations at, 52.
Zobair, 89.
Zoroaster, 157.

THE END.

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