HI

THE LIBRARY

OF

THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA

LOS ANGELES

GIFT OF
©iff U.C. Library

G

TRAVEL,
ADVENTURE, AND SPORT

FROM

VOL. VI.

WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS
EDINBURGH AND LONDON

G--

V. 6?

CONTENTS OF THE SIXTH VOLUME.

SHIRAZ TO BUSHIRB.

LIFE IN AN ISLAND.

A RECENT RIDE TO HERAT.

IN SEARCH OF THE EIRA.

ADVENTURES IN LOUISIANA.

KASHMIR.

SALMO-HUCHO FISHING IN BAVARIA.

TRAVELS IN CIRCASSIA.

TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND
SPORT.

FROM 'BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE.'

SHIRAZ TO BUSHIER

BY CAPT. CLAUDE CLERK, C.I.E.
[MAGA. SEPT. 1862.]

THE campaign in Persia was a short and successful
one. The troops under Sir James Outram had
been everywhere victorious. In the course of a few
months two large Persian armies, leaving their camps
standing, had, after a slight resistance, fled, com-
pletely disorganised — the one to the mountain fast-
nesses in the neighbourhood of Kauzeroon, the other
to the arid plains of Khuzistan. The officer in com-
mand of the latter, a Kajar, a prince of the blood-
royal, had written to the Shah, and had assured him
that though in due course of time the heads of all

VOL. VI. A

2 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

the invading infidels would most undoubtedly adorn
the gate of his majesty's palace, for the present their
big long-range guns had utterly destroyed the cour-
age of the troops of the "king of kings." A 68-
pound shot, which had gone lobbing by the Kajar's
Cashmere-shawl tent, had on one occasion been picked
up, placed on a camel's back, and at once started off
to the capital, and eventually submitted to the in-
spection of the august eyes of the sovereign. When
the intelligence reached Teheran that whole regi-
ments had retired en masse without firing a shot —
without ever having seen the colour of their enemy's
moustaches — some of the general officers and chiefs of
tribes were ordered into the presence, and had there
received the punishment of the stick : this accom-
plished, the rapacious Prime Minister laid hands upon
them, and lightened them of all their ready money
and jewel-hilted daggers. The Persian soldiers, who
are not to be surpassed by any troops in the world
for their endurance of fatigue, and for the length
of their marches through an impoverished country,
were, for the want of being led by their officers, after
a few engagements, ready for immediate flight at the
gleam of a British bayonet. Sir James Outram,
hampered by the difficulty of procuring baggage-
animals, had been obliged to encamp on the plain
near Mahamra: this small town is situated on the
right bank of the Hafar Canal. At a point a few
furlongs distant from the town, the canal joins the

SHIRAZ TO BUSHIEE. 3

noble river of the Shut -el- Arab. A inarch on
Sinister had been determined upon, and a good under-
standing brought about with the chiefs of the Chab
Arabs, the establishment of which, there appeared
every probability, would have brought us into camp
as many baggage -animals, in the shape of camels
and mules, as were requisite for the advance of the
army into the interior. A few weeks more would
have seen Sir James Outram at Shuster, and there,
awing the capital, with a victorious army at his
elbow, he would have dictated his own terms ; but
diplomacy, which had failed so completely in all its
efforts at the commencement of the Persian difficulty,
again stepped in, and stayed the sword, to whose sole
arbitration the matter very justly had been deferred.
Whilst Sir James Outram had been planning a
campaign, the carrying out of which would have
brought the Prime Minister to his senses, and would
have forced him to accept any terms, however advan-
tageous to the English, Lord Cowley and Ferukh
Khan had been busy with their pens at Paris. The
result of their operations was, that a victorious gen-
eral was stopped in mid-career, and a treaty of peace
drawn out, in which the conquered power treated
apparently on equal terms with the conquering. In
due course of time, when one morning the camp was
astir as usual, at an early hour, busy with the pre-
parations for a march into the interior, the despatch
bearing the treaty of peace arrived. When the news

4 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

spread, a general feeling of disappointment prevailed
throughout the little camp. In a few hours the piles
of commissariat stores, the mountain-train, the light
field-guns, the animals of the land-transport, were be-
ing hurried down for re-embarkation to the river —
the frigates and transports lying off, ready to receive
them, a few yards from the banks. More than one
young subaltern, who had pictured himself arrayed
in gorgeous silks of Persia's loom, the result of a
successful loot, or who had indulged in a vision
of rapid promotion, possibly of a brevet, now sadly
turned his thoughts to the routine life of an Indian
cantonment, perhaps less sadly to a favourite pony
which he had been obliged to leave behind, his only
regret when his regiment was ordered off, at a few
hours' notice, on active service. He little thought
that in the course of a few short Aveeks that routine
life of cantonments would be a thing of the past — at
least for many months to come — that before two
short months were over the north of India would be
in a blaze of insurrection, that he might be one of
those called upon to stem its tide, and that the work
in store for him would be far heavier, far more har-
assing, than anything he had seen in Persia, or that
he would have been likely to see had the Avar con-
tinued. A Aveek after the arrival of the despatch
saw the frigates, each with its tAvo or three transports
in toAv, steaming doAvn the Shut -el -Arab, bearing
their living freights, some to Bushire, some direct to

SHIRAZ TO BUSHIRE. 5

India. The date-groves of Mahamra were silent and
deserted ; the bustle and stir of a camp were no
more ; the only objects moving on that white glis-
tening plain beyond were a few half-naked Arabs
scratching about in the sand where the camp had
stood ; and these, seen through a hazy mirage, were
grotesque-looking enough, their heads appearing and
disappearing in upper stratas of the heated air, sep-
arated by several yards from their bodies, and their
arms and legs glancing hither and thither in detached
fragments over the surface of the baking soil. As
we passed up the river on our way to Baghdad, on
board the little river steamer the Comet, a glance up
the Hafar Canal showed us the tall masts of an
English sloop-of-war, her long 32-pounders peering
out ominously at the low mud-walls of the town of
Mahamra. The sloop, lying at anchor in the deep
water of the canal, was all that remained of the fleet
of some five -and -thirty vessels that were lying off
here and in the Shut-el-Arab river so short a time
previous. The sloop had been ordered to anchor
here, and to remain till the news reached that the
terms of the treaty had been fully carried out by
the Persians ; also a certain portion of the British
force before Bushire was to remain under the same
orders. One of the terms of the treaty was to the
effect that commissioners were to proceed to Herat,
and see that the town had been entirely evacuated
by the Persian troops. Until their report bearing

6 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

this out fully should reach the officer in command,
English troops were to remain at Bushire, and the
sloop was to remain before Mahamra. As the sharp
bows of the Comet flashed by the opening of the
canal into the Shut-el-Arab, we took a last look at
Maharnra, its demolished batteries, and its belts of
date-groves, among which scores of stout trees might
be seen smashed and doubled like broken straws,
where a 68-pounder from the English frigates had
gone crashing through the belt into the camp beyond.
Soon we reached the junction of the Tigris and Eu-
phrates : the little vessel, steaming gaily along these,
the waters of the old old world, shot into the
channel of the Tigris. Three days' constant steam-
ing, lodging now and then on a sandbank, brought
us to Baghdad. Here it was determined upon by
General Outram and the Honourable Charles Murray,
that a mission, consisting of three officers and a
doctor, should proceed to Herat. We were ordered
to accompany the Minister, and form part of his
suite, as far as the capital, for which place he was
soon to set forth, the war being finished. From the
capital we were to make the best of our way through
Khorassan, and across the eastern frontier of Persia,
into Afghanistan. If we reached that place — and
the odds, as it turned out afterwards, were consider-
ably against such an event — we were to remain there
till orders from the Indian Government should reach
us. The English Minister's return to the capital,

SH1RAZ TO BUSHIKE. 7

from the day we crossed the Turko-Persian frontier,
was an ovation the whole way. The boom, of those
big guns of the English had inspired the Persian
mind with a wholesome dread of England's power of
retaliation, at all events for the time being. The
journey was a sort of daily recurring fete champetre.
Tents of gorgeous hues were pitched in shady spots,
tiny streams of water brought their pleasant music
to our ears the livelong day and night. Lumps of
snow, dipped in delicious sherbets, were handed to
us in delicately-carved wooden spoons the instant our
feet were out of the stirrup at the end of the morn-
ing's march. Scores of wild-looking Kurdish horse-
men scoured the country in all directions. Wheeling
in circles, pursuing one another at tip-top speed over
sometimes roughish ground, they playfully sent their
jerreeds humming through the air under our very
noses. They plunged boldly miles away to the right
and left into every wooded hollow and dell, so assur-
ing themselves that no murderous, plundering Buk-
tiaree was there lying concealed, meditating mischief
to our precious persons. Our Mehmandar, the officer
appointed by the Shah to accompany the Minister,
was a stout, handsome-looking man, who had an easy
off-hand manner of telling most astonishing lies.
Our early experience of his Munchausen talents dated
from the very first morning he met us at the frontier.
That day the camp was pitched on the banks of a
small stream, whose clear rapids and still, deep pools

8 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

were highly suggestive of trout, a fish the Persians
have, I believe, only lately begun to appreciate for the
use of the table. The Mehmandar, who had been
some days awaiting in this camp the arrival of the
Minister at the frontier, was asked whether any fish
had been taken in the stream. " Fish ! by Allah ! "
a fish that very morning had been taken by his
people — such a fish as he had not seen for many
a day. He gave us, in fine rolling language, the
length, the depth, and the breadth thereof, the
number of strokes on his back, and the colour of his
belly ; in fact, he entered so minutely into the detail,
and swore so emphatically " Becheslim " — by his
eyes — to every particular regarding the capture of
the prize, that I, for one, never dreamt for one mo-
ment but that the whole of the statement was true.
On making inquiries afterwards, we learned that no
fish had been taken by any of the Mehmandar's
people, and what was more, the inhabitants of the
neighbouring village assured us that no fish had ever
been known in the stream. Four weeks' journey
brought us to the capital. We rode in, smothered
Avith dust ; the Minister in front, riding on a tall,
maneless, Turkoman horse, presented that morning
by the Shah, and decked out in turquoise beads and
gold and silver trappings. Beside him rode the Per-
sian officer of state, who had ridden out the prescribed
number of miles — not a yard beyond — to meet the
English Minister, and escort him to the gate of the

SHIKAZ TO BUSHIRE. 9

embassy. "We, the junior members of the mission,
came crowding in behind, a regular fight ensuing be-
tween the different members of the Persian official's
suite and ourselves at the narrow gateways, and
through the hardly less narrow streets, as to who
should push through first, and as to who should get
hustled into the rear of the cortege, there to be
bumped to and fro by the pipe-bearers and servants,
with their horses laden with felt cloths and huge
saddle-bags.

The first day in the Persian capital I shall never
forget ; from noon till the time the sun was below
the horizon it was one long series of receiving and
paying of visits. There was a running accompani-
ment of sherbets, pipes, coffee, and tea, in the regu-
lar rotation. How the rest of our party felt the next
morning, I cannot say ; I was a great deal too ill to
inquire. My parched mouth and throat seemed
anxious to assure me, by dint of a raging thirst, that
niy kalioon had, in the course of yesterday's civilities,
consumed all the tobacco of Fars. Before the day
was many hours old, I had convinced myself that
even this mild way of smoking — the kalioon — did not
render tobacco perfectly harmless. At Teheran we
were delayed more than a month. The Prime Min-
ister, having quite determined in his own mind that
everything was to be done to prevent our proceeding
to Herat (for he was well aware that the presence of
English officers in that city would be the signal over-

10 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

throw of his crooked policy), made, on the contrary,
daily protestations that he was doing everything he
could to aid our departure. At length, seeing that
we were not to be denied, he said openly that we
should travel at our own risk, and that he would
provide no escort, and that no Commissioner on the
part of Persia would he sent with the English Com-
missioners to Herat. After some long marches,
sometimes by day, sometimes by night, suffering at
times, both our cattle and selves, from a scarcity of
good water, and after having passed by some of the
favourite Turkoman haunts without being led off a
string of white slaves to the market of Bokhara, an
event that had been hinted to us as probable, we
finally arrived at Herat in the month of September.
But before we reached that place, my head servant,
who, I believe, had been a servant of Mr Layard
during his sojourn at Nineveh, died one morning
from sheer fatigue.

\Yu remained the winter in the city, guests of the
Afghaan chief, Sultan Ahmed Khan, the chief known
as Sultan Jan during the Afghaan war. In the
early spring of the year we turned our horses' heads
westwards, and rode for Teheran, but pursuing a
route more to the southward than the one we had
come by, and which, I believe, had not been travelled
by any European since Forster in 1783-84. From
the capital we struck south by Ispahan and Shiraz.
From the latter place we descended the formidable

SHIRAZ TO BUSHIRE. 11

passes of the Ivotul-e-pierzun, and the Kotul-e-Dok-
tur, to Bushire, thus completing a journey of about
three thousand miles, every foot of which had been
ridden on horseback. It is a journal of the last ten
days or so of this journey that occiipies the following
pages, and which, I trust, may interest some of my
readers.

We had made a stay at Shiraz of about ten days.
We had strolled through its bazaars, and we had
wondered at the dilapidation and the decay that had
met us at every turn. But notwithstanding ruined
walls and crumbling arches, we had found the bazaars
crowded from sunrise to sunset with a busy, noisy
crowd : for the Shirazee is a cheerful, light-hearted
fellow, and goes to his work singing and laughing,
and apparently void of all care. There is nothing in
his character in common with the solemn - looking
silent denizen of a Turkish or Egyptian bazaar,
except, perhaps, his propensity to take you in — a pro-
pensity he will most assuredly display, should you
once open a bargain with him. We had visited the
burial-places of Saadi and Hafiz, elbowing our way
thither through crowds of travel - stained pilgrims.
These had come, many of them, from far -distant
•provinces of Persia, to repeat long prayers and count-
less Allans at these tombs, which are held in rever-
ence and great sanctity as the shrines of departed
saints. Here also we had found collected several of

12 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

those wandering dervishes, wild - looking men, who,
with hoards uncombed, deerskins on their backs, and
calabashes slung across their shoulders, and with
large strings of beads hung around their necks and
waists, implored us, with outstretched palms, for
charity, at the same time that they deafened us Avith
their dismal howls of " La illaha illallah ! " At the
sight of our small silver pieces they invoked thou-
sands of blessings on our heads, and that with the
full power of their lungs ; but from the evil gleam of
their bloodshot eyes, it was evident that they often,
at the same time, silently prayed that the infidels
might be roasted in eternal fires. For many of these
dervishes hold themselves out to be the most des-
perate of fanatics, hoping thereby to gain the sym-
pathy of the pilgrims, who are mostly of a bigoted
class. One of the favourite chants with which they
entertain the passers-by, is the one in which they
sing that the true believer's road to heaven and
houris must be washed with the blood of kafirs
(infidels).

Though early in the summer, the corn throughout
the valley had a golden-yellow tinge, and the noon-
day sun, with its already powerful rays, was withering
the roses and ripening the fruit in the garden which
had been allotted to us by the authorities as our place
of abode during our stay. We revelled in a pro-
fusion of peaches, nectarines, apricots, plums of
various sorts, and figs of most exquisite flavour ;

SHIRAZ TO BUSHIRE. 13

and these were, all and each of them, delicacies that
were duly appreciated by us after several weeks'
travel, by night and by day, through desert sandy
plains.

~\Ve had entered the valley, or rather the plain, of
Shiraz from the north, and the first glimpse of the
town which we had coming from that direction was
one by no means calculated to throw the beholder
into an ecstasy of delight with its beauty. We did
not even feel inclined to exclaim, " If there is a
paradise on earth — humecn ust, humeen list — it is
this ! it is this ! " These were our own particular
feelings as we reined up our horses and looked down
into a plain tolerably well cultivated, and irrigated
by tiny streams of water. The even surface of the
plain was broken by neither river nor lake, and there
were no trees beyond a few dark-coloured patches of
orange-groves and orchards scattered in the immediate
vicinity of the town. Xot so was it with the Persians
of our suite. A murmur of delight burst from them,
and one of their number, who gave himself some
pretensions as an apt quoter, immediately threw up
his hands and repeated the above line of one of their
favourite poets. Upon this they all gave way to
their feelings, and fell to invoking the blessed
Prophet, and the holy saint Imam Eeza, whose
shrine we had visited some months previous, and
whom they now, one and all, fervently thanked for
having brought them thus far on their journey in

14 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

safety. The sight of waving corn and of running
streams of water, be these ever so small, has at once
the effect of throwing a Persian into raptures. The
" propcrantis aquce per amcenos ambitus arjros " has an
especial charm for him ; and I often remarked that
when from a hill-top we looked down upon anything
of the kind, some one of the party was sure to he
ready with Saadi's couplet; for all are given to
quoting, from the first vizier of the realm to your
spreader of carpets. The previous day we had crossed
"Bendemeer's Stream," and as my horse splashed
through its turbid waters, swollen by the melting
snow, I could think only of the fair Shirazee who
wooed the ever-faithful Azeem in vain. Where we
crossed the river it was about twenty yards broad.
It had worn a tolerably deep bed through the stony
arid plain, across which our road had that morning
lain. The " bower of roses had vanished," and
where these were once bright by the calm Bendemeer,
we saw only some green rushes and sedgy pools.
Our last march to Shiraz was one of about sixteen
miles ; it lay through a hilly bare country, and the
road was execrable, covered with rocks and rolling
stones. Till you are within half a mile of the town
you see nothing of it, then it is immediately below
you, the road leading straight down upon it through
a rugged stony defile. The only conspicuous object
in the town is the citadel, built of sunburnt brick,
and laying some claim to being in a state of repair :

SHIRAZ TO BUSHIRE. 15

this is the town residence of the Prince-Governor of
the district, the uncle of the reigning King of Persia.
The walls and bastions surrounding the town are for
the most part in ruins, and the ditch is nearly filled
up with the iltbri*. A mule with its load can be
driven across the ditch, and then over the wall into
the town — in many places with ease. The rest of
the town presents the usual appearance of towns
in Persia : an expanse of flat-roofed, fragile-looking
buildings of a light dust colour, half of which seem
to be in ruins, or partially so. The very ruinous
state of the walls and bastions around the town, and
of the bazaars, is to be accounted for by the great
earthquake which occurred here some years ago,
and destroyed some five thousand of the inhabitants.
The Shirazees say that since then many of the in-
habitants have fled the city, and that the town has
never regained its wonted thriving appearance.

Owing to some question of etiquette that had not
been amicably arranged between the people of the
Prince-Governor and our master of the ceremonies,
who was nothing more or less than our head ser-
vant, no visits had been interchanged between the
authorities of the place and -ourselves. We had also
good grounds for supposing that the Prince-Governor
had received instructions from the capital previous to
our arrival, ordering him to treat our party with as
little civility as possible. The then Prime Minister
at Teheran had always looked upon our party with

16 TRAVEL, ADVENTUEE, AND SPORT.

disfavour; and having had experience of this, we
were fully prepared to receive what the Persians
deem a cold reception at the hands of the authorities
of a large town like Shiraz. It was consequently no
great disappointment to us — in fact, it was rather a
relief than otherwise, to be left entirely to ourselves ;
and besides, we had had considerable experience
during our twelve months in Persia of Vizeers and
governors, sherbets, pipes, and sweetmeats. But
though we secretly rejoiced, our servants were bit-
terly grieved at such a state of affairs. Our head-
man stretched every point to establish amicable rela-
tions. He swore by Allah, and by his beard, and by
the souls of his children yet unborn, that our party of
five was a sublime mixture of noble lords and general
officers, and that, consequently, we were entitled to
be treated with especial honour and profound respect ;
and, really anxious to bring about an interchange of
visits, he added that we would, with a condescension
such as was quite unusual with us, advance more than
the ordinary number of steps to meet the Lord High
Treasurer, who, he insisted, should pay us the first
visit on behalf of his lord and master the Prince-
Governor. Our servant, who rejoiced in the name
of Gaffar Beg (which means literally the Knight
Pardoner; we christened him "the Pardoner" in
consequence), found, after three or four days, that his
eloquence was completely thrown away — as he finally
confessed himself, "he was talking to people who

SHIRAZ TO BUSHIBE. 17

were deaf as the ruined pillars of the Chehal Minaar."
Several times during the conferences with the Prince's
people, the Pardoner might be seen working himself
into a frenzy, or at least a very fair semblance of it.
With his head thrown back, and his beard pushed
scornfully forward into the faces of the opposing
party, he would sometimes, finding that a milder
eloquence was of no avail, try to bully them into
civility. Among other delicate attentions which he
vowed he would pay to their relations, male and
female, he swore with a sonorous oath that he would
most assuredly burn their fathers. But it was all to
no purpose ; the Prince's people, acting under orders,
were evidently not inclined to come to terms, and the
Pardoner was always to be seen retiring from the
conflict of words much discomfited, and adjusting
his tall lambskin cap, which had been shaken by his
energy a little out of its orthodox slanting position.
He and all our other servants were especially in-
terested in this wise. On the establishment of ami-
cable relations, it would have been etiquette to ex-
change presents. The present from our side would
have had to have been taken to the Prince by our
head servant. He would have been presented with
a shawl or a gold piece for himself. This is the
universal custom, and a very handsome perquisite it
usually is to your head-man in this country. Had
affairs been arranged as our Persians wished them to
be — that is to say, an interchange of visits and

VOL. VI. B

18 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

courtesies between the authorities and ourselves —
we should daily have been plied with a dozen or so
of trays containing sweetmeats, cakes, fruits, and
loaves of sugar. These would have been prepared
daily for us in the Prince's anderoon, or women's
quarters, and sent thence to us by the hands of his
needy retainers. This species of civility always
proved a very expensive one to us, for every indi-
vidual bringing such a tray had to be presented with
money far exceeding the value of the contents of the
tray he bore. Besides, with the exception perhaps
of a little of the fruit, the trays, with their contents
of piled-xip sweetmeats, hard as flint, and cakes fried
in oil, were made over in toto to our servants, before
whom they disappeared like snow before a summer
sun. So it was that our servants were all of one
mind on the subject ; and when the ultimatum was
arrived at, that there should be no interchange of
civilities between the authorities and ourselves, they
took the matter greatly to heart, for their visions of
unlimited f eastings were hopelessly dispelled,

We were anxious to get down the formidable
mountain-passes that lie between Shiraz and the sea-
coast before the weather became oppressively hot ;
we had, consequently, limited our stay at Shiraz to
ten days at the most. At the end of that time we
had hoped to have given our tired horses a good rest,
and to have hired a fresh string of mules, for those
which had been marching daily with us for the last

SHIRAZ TO BUSHIRE. 19

month had been pretty well knocked up. As the
time for our departure drew nigh, we became anxious
to know how the authorities were going to act to-
wards us in the matter of furnishing us with an
escort. Some sort of escort, sent in the Prince's
name, was absolutely necessary ; for we knew that
without it, in the wild country we were about to
traverse, neither food for ourselves nor fodder for
the cattle would be supplied by the villagers. Not
a single European had travelled this road since the
war, nor, indeed, for many years previous to our
arrival. The route we proposed taking down the
passes was at all times considered unsafe for a small
party, and we remembered that it was somewhere off
this road that two officers of, I think, Sir John
Malcolm's suite were murdered by the Buktiarees.
So, taking these things into consideration, we had
come to the conclusion that half - a - dozen or so
additional horsemen to our small party would
be an advantage rather than otherwise. "When
we had fixed on a day for our leaving, the Par-
doner, who had the arrangement of all these mat-
ters in his own hands, intimated to the authorities
that we expected a certain number of gholaums, ser-
vants of the Prince, to be ready, as an escort for us,
at a certain hour in the morning. The gholaums
were promised at once. It now remained only a
question how many would be sent. The Pardoner
vowed that unless fifty men, armed to the teeth, and

20 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

mounted on good horses, were sent, we could not
possibly think of taking our departure. After several
messages had gone to and fro, we learnt that tiro
gholaums would he furnished us as an escort. The
Pardoner was furious of course, notwithstanding these
said gholaums were described in glowing terms as bold
horsemen and expert lion-eaters. "We were quite satis-
fied : we knew that, for all the purposes for which we
really required them, two were nearly as good as
twenty. But that evening the Pardoner waxed wroth,
and nothing would pacify him as he recounted the
several indignities to which we had been subjected
since our arrival. He summed up his woes much in
these words : " Since the hour we approached this
accursed city — may unclean animals defile it to all
eternity ! — these Shirazee dogs have laughed at our
beards. Instead of their having come out to welcome
us a good fursuny from the city gate, they met us
close to the walls, and then the deputation consisted
only of a beggarly mirza — may his mother be burnt !
— instead of the first vizeer of the province. Then,
again, in the place of four tall Turkoman horses being
led as an offering before the English lords, nothing
was seen but a small Arab horse, whose coat on the
neck turned in several places in an unpropitious way.
Here" — surveying the garden around him with a
scornful glance — " we have been placed in the abode
usually allotted to men unknown to the world, where,
as the ' Jehannemah,' whose orange-groves and run-

SHIEAZ TO BUSHIRE. 21

ning waters are the talk of the whole universe, the
Prince's own summer-house, should by rights have
been placed at our entire disposal : the peishkeah,1
which should have covered the floors of three double-
poled tents, consisted of four miserly trays of fruit,
and of as many loaves of sugar." As it happened,
a loaf of the identical sugar was in the centre of a
bowl sweetening some sherbet and snow which we
were drinking from time to time. Unfortunately for
us, his wrathful eye fell upon it. " See," said he, as
he pushed his thumb with one fell thrust through
snow, sherbet, and dissolving sugar, " even this sugar
is the cheap sugar of Mozanderan, not the snow-
mountain of the Feringees, which costs a gold tor/mm
the loaf." He was proceeding to enumerate several
other indignities to which we had been wantonly
subjected, and which were of as little moment to us
as they were of grave import to him, when he was
interrupted by the arrival of two horsemen at the
gate. These, as it turned out, were the two gholaums
who had been deputed to accompany us to Bushire.
They had come to take any orders we might have to
give preparatory to our march, and to make the
acquaintance of our people, their compagnons de
voyage to be. One of them assumed a superiority
of rank to the other, so he it was that was ordered
into the presence. As the man pulled off his long

1 Offering usually presented to strangers on their arrival at
a place.

22 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

heavy boots, the Pardoner, in a very audible whisper,
suggested to him the propriety of his taking his stand
on the very edge of the carpet on which we were
sitting; he was on no account to approach nearer.
This was by way of imbuing the stranger with a
proper respect of our exalted persons. The gholaum,
although at first disposed to swagger a little and give
himself airs as a Prince's servant, understood at once
from this little hint that we were people not likely
to brook any trifling. Consequently, he stepped re-
spectfully forward, and, bending his body till he
showed us the very top of his tall lambskin hat, he
dropped his arm down the outside of his right leg.
The Pardoner smiled approval, while we condescend-
ingly acknowledged the salute. It was manifest that
our new acquaintance had taken infinite pains to
render his personal appearance as prepossessing as it
had been in his power to do. He was just fresh from
the bath. The palms of his hands and the soles of
his feet were dyed a deep chestnut colour, and every
finger-nail was of the same dark hue. His beard,
carefully combed out, shone resplendent with a black
purple dye ; and his moustaches, on which the bath-
man's (and who is also the hairdresser) strength must
have been exerted, were pulled up, and pointed
fiercely to the corners of his eyes. He was armed
to the teeth, and being a tall big-boned man, his tout
ensemble was that of a very desperate fellow, and that
was evidently the character which he was anxious to

SHIRAZ TO BUSHIEE. 23

hold in our estimation. He wore a sort of shawl coat,
very short-waisted, and thrown quite open in front.
The sleeves and collar were turned down with the
black lambskin of Bokhara ; and his trousers, tied at
the knee, were more like short petticoats than the
article we designate by the name of trouser. He Avas
very eloquent on the manifold dangers of the road
which he was about to travel with us as escort.
"When we told him that it was our custom to travel
at least half the march by night, he put on a face of
terror ; he vowed that such a mode of travelling on
the road we were about to take would involve certain
destruction. He said that, if we took his advice,
we should never mount our horses till broad day-
light ; that if we rode in the darkness of night, the
Buktiarees would be down upon us, and their hands
on our beards, before we should have time to exclaim
a single " Astuffcrillali " — a " God forbid you ! "
Upon this one of our party, a Swede, with a short
whistle that was quite peculiar with him, made a
significant sabre-cut with a book which happened to
be at hand, and as the gholaum could find no answer
to this most forcible argument, he said no more about
the Buktiarees. We told him in conclusion, that by
the rise of the sun, on the day after the morrow, he
and his attendant gholaum were to be in readiness
before our gate. He answered, " Belli cheslim "-
" On my eyes be it " — and then withdrew. As he
was tramping heavily away with his big boots through

24 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

the gateway, affecting the airs of a man of some con-
sequence, he suddenly sneezed : whether it was some
tobacco that my servant was pounding for the pipe,
or whether it was the dust eddying through the gate
that blew against him, I know not, but sneeze he did,
and the effect was disastrous. With the journey in
prospect, the omen was evidently an inauspicious one.
He stopped as if he had been shot. There was only
one way of charming away the evil mishap, and that
he instantly adopted. Hanging his arms down close
along his sides, he turned the elbows slightly for-
wards, and then he blew carefully first over the right
shoulder and then over the left. But even this cere-
mony, performed as if his very life depended upon it,
did not seem to give the hoped-for relief. He walked
away, but quantum mutatis ab illo, he slunk off
like one who dared not venture on a look behind
him. His appearance had imdergone such a sudden
change, and he looked altogether so chopfallen, that,
do what I could, it was impossible to prevent my
laughter reaching his ears as he rode away. I am
quite sure he never forgave me my hard-heartedness.
The next afternoon I thought I would go and say
good-bye to an old Mirza, a man of some wealth,
which he had made in the service of our Govern-
ment in India. He had been very civil to us during
our stay at Shiraz. As I rode up one of the very
narrow streets leading to his house — indeed, nothing
more than a narrow passage between high bank

SHIRAZ TO BUSHIRE. 25

walls — I came suddenly upon a tall veiled woman ;
following her was her female attendant. She was
either coming from or going to the bath. She was
to all appearance a lady of rank. Her dark-blue
silk veil, which covered her from head to foot, was
rustling and swaying as she approached steadily
down upon me. The circumference of the veil,
below where it swept the wall oil both sides, would
have rivalled the crinoline of any London belle. As
I said before, the street was narrow. What was to
be done1? Turn I could not, even had I wished to
do so, for my servant was following close upon
me; and had I turned back to get out of the way
of a woman, he would probably have instantly poured
forth upon her a volume of startling and horrible
abuse. For this a Persian invariably does if a woman
happens to get into his way, and often he will strike
at her with his whip. It then occurred to me, it was
just within the bounds of possibility that, if I pushed
my horse close in against the wall to allow her as
much room as possible to pass, her curiosity to see
the Feringee would cause her to lift her veil as
she went by. My curiosity was at that point, that I
would have charged the very Avail itself, had I been
sure that the unveiled face of this majestic form
would have greeted me on the other side. In the
full consciousness of her youth and beauty — for the
latter I had quite made up my mind she possessed,
the former could not but exist with that proud airy

26 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

step — she advanced towards me, keeping the very
centre of the narrow road, I felt that I positively
grew pale with anxiety as the veiled face came level
with my horse's head. Was I fated to see only that
provoking bit of white gauze that so effectually
concealed the face beneath? or was I to be dazzled
with the beauty it so jealously guarded 1 For a few
seconds I was in anxious doubt, and then the rosy-
tipped fingers held back for one instant the white
gauze veil that fell before the face. And the beauty
that shone upon me during that one short instant
was one I have never forgotten — never can forget.
It was not the soft beauty that floats down upon
you from the eyes of the Fornarina — no, far from it ;
nor was it the beauty of a Magdalen, beaming with
love and affection. Yet, by some strange freak of
memory, when I recalled afterwards the beautiful
vision, I was oddly enough reminded of both. Such
a momentary glimpse was it, that I find a delineation
of each particular feature utterly impossible ; but I
will write as far as I am able that which remains as a
fair memory of the past. The hair parted IOAV on the
forehead, but the hood of the veil, coming well for-
Avard, allowed only a little of it to be seen. That, I
could not but observe, was black and glossy as a
raven's wing, and the glitter of gold showed that
a few coins were "wreathed in the dark midnight
of her hair." The eyebrows were not arched, but
appeared — either by nature or art, I had not time to

SHIEAZ TO BUSHIRE. 27

distinguish — to be carried right across in one con-
tinuous dark line. Singular as this seems, it by no
means marred the strange beauty of the face. The
eyes were large and softly brown, as a deer's ; for that
one instant they flashed forth a look, Avhich was per-
haps more of wonderment than alarm, at the black-
coated infidel, over whom, at that very moment, the
skirts of her veil were sweeping. The complexion
was exquisitely fair. I^o wanton ray of old Sol had
ever touched that pale, bloodless cheek, which seemed
as if it could never have known a blush. One thought
of the lines,

" In all her veins,
No conscious drop, to form a blush, remains."

Beyond a small blue spot tattooed on the centre of
her chin, I can give no further description of a face
that haunts me like a dream whenever I think upon
it. Instinctively I turned round and watched her
as she sped away down the passage, and was then
lost to sight amid the crowd of the bazaar. But as
the eyes, upon a sudden darkness, retain the image of
the object they last gazed upon, so Avas my mind im-
pressed for hours afterwards with the beauty of the
fair Shirazee. I had observed that my groom, who
was riding behind me, had also made way for her to
pass, in a way that was quite unusual with him : for,
generally, if a woman came in his way, he would
screech out an execration at her, but would never

28 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

offer to leave her room to pass. I concluded, there-
fore, that the momentary withdrawal of the veil had
not been lost upon him ; and that he, as well as my-
self, had been awed by the beauty of that face, which
by rights would be beheld till the day of her death,
of all living men, by her husband alone. ... I
saw that face but once again, long afterwards, and
under strange circumstances. I was being strangled
by two African negroes : grinning horribly, their
white teeth gleamed down upon me in savage
triumph ; and with their giant limbs they were
pressing the life's breath from my body. Against
their brawny strength I was powerless as a child to
resist. A veiled figure approached. At once I recog-
nised that step and lofty mien. For one instant the
veil was thrown back, and there was the face with its
strange beauty ; but this time the eyes glittered with
a cruel joy, as they drank in the death-struggles of
the infidel. . . . The sense of suffocation awoke
me, and I found that my saddle, which I had put up
on end to protect my head and shoulders from the
night-wind, had fallen forward upon me, and was
covering my face and neck. .

The old Mirza kept me talking a long time, plying
me with innumerable pipes and countless cups of tea ;
his little girl, a pretty rosy-cheeked child, was play-
ing about the room ; her long black hair was plaited
carefully, and interwoven with it were large gold
pieces; amulets, engraven with holy verses of the

SHIRAZ TO BUSHIRE. 29

Koran, were strung like heads around her neck and
arms ; and these were all, he told me, to shield her
tender years from the evil eye. When I told him
that we had introduced railways into India, he was
astonished beyond measure : of the mode of railway
travelling I could make him form no sort of concep-
tion whatever. As he knew that the English, as a
nation, were not given to speaking hut what was
to the truth, he may possibly have believed what
I said with regard to the rate of speed arrived at
in England ; but I saw that his nephew, a self-suffi-
cient youth sitting near him, certainly did not, for
upon my assuring him that a traveller might be
carried over one hundred fursungs (a fursung being
a distance of three and a half miles) between the
morning and evening meal, and that he might, if
he chose, smoke his kalioon or read his Koran the
whole way without being once interrupted, my young
friend exclaimed, " Deroog — Deroog ! " — " It is a lie !
it is a lie ! " and by way of showing that such a
thing was utterly impossible, he added that " were
the traveller forced through the air at such a high
rate of speed, his heart would inevitably leap from
his mouth." The old Mirza was much pained evi-
dently. He feared lest I should take this somewhat
brusque incredulity of his nephew to heart ; so the
old gentleman made a great smoke with his pipe, and
behind a wreathing cloud of it I could just make him
out frowning the youth into silence, whilst he told

30 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

him that whatever an Englishman said was true, and
although there was no harm in accusing a Persian of
telling lies and eating dirt, still that saying such
things to an Englishman was a matter of very grave
offence. The sun was setting as the hospitable old
Mirza stood at his gate to see me on my horse. I
wished him good-bye, fervently praying that his
shadow might never be less, he that God should
ever be my protector, and so we parted.

This evening — our last in Shiraz — was one of
revelry to our servants. They had had a great deal
of hard work and exposure during the last few weeks,
and I was consequently anxious to put them in a
good humour previous to our start on the morrow.
A sheep, with the very fattest tail procurable, had
been purchased by my orders at the morning bazaar.
It was determined that the gholaum and his fellow
should have a summons to attend. It was a stroke
of policy to humour him also as much as lay in our
power, for on his exertions much of our future com-
fort on the road depended. I knew that, at a frown
of his, hens that had never been known to lay eggs
before would in some wonderful way at once produce
them in sufficient numbers to fill our saddle-bags ;
that one oath of his by the Shah's (the King's) beard
would instantly cause lambs to frisk and kids to jump
in places where before nothing moved but the very
toughest and ugliest of old he-goats ; that a crack of
his whip would make the most obstinate and the

SHIRAZ TO BUSHIRE.

31

most wayward muleteer as obedient as a child ; that
at a threat of his, villages which had been professed
poverty-stricken, and in Avhich the inhabitants lived
on stale bread alone, would forthwith flow with milk
and with honey, with new bread and barley, and,
indeed, with all we required for either ourselves or
horses. It did not always happen that the villagers
held back everything from us in the shape of sup-
plies, but frequently on our arrival at a small village,
consisting of perhaps two or three dozen houses, the
villagers, seeing a party of strangers armed to the
teeth, and sufficient in number to be equal to the
task of taking the village by storm, if they were so
minded, grew alarmed, for they at once came to the
conclusion that we woidd exact everything we could
from them, and pay for nothing ; for this is invariably
the case when Persians of rank travel. However,
when the gholaum, who was known on the road, and
at once recognised as a servant of the Prince's, had
muttered a few strange oaths, the poor villagers, in
their fright, produced everything they had ; for they
knew well enough that denying anything of theirs
to a servant of the Governor's would only entail
further exactions from them at some future time.
When our servant actually paid them in silver pieces
for what they brought, great was their astonishment
and gratitude. It was then difficult to persuade them
that there was a limit to what we required.

By the time I reached home, the hour for the

32 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

" sham," or evening meal, had approached. The
gholaum and his attendant duly made their appear-
ance at our gate. The Pardoner, who had taken
upon himself the duties of host for the occasion, had
paid some attention to his own personal appearance.
He wore his pea-green coat, and he had wound his
gayest-coloured shawl around his waist. He went
forward, took the gholaum by the hand, and led him
to the carpet, which had been spread on the ground
preparatory to the feast. He then assured his guest
that "Bismillah" — "In the name of God he was
welcome," — and requested him to be seated. Here-
upon arose a strife between them as to who should
outdo the other in civility. The gholaum, with an
admirably assumed modesty, would insist upon show-
ing a wish to take the lowest seat on the carpet ;
the Pardoner vehemently remonstrated ; and from
the little garden-house where I was sitting, I could
overhear him say, as he pointed to the highest seat,
" Bismillah, Bismillah " — " In the name of God, be
seated here." The gholaum, though anxious for the
seat of honour, found himself only able to exclaim,
" Az-iltifaut-shumau" — "By your kindness — may
your kindness never be less : " and at length, swear-
ing that he would never consent, consented. Now
the Pardoner had no intention whatever in his own
mind of allowing the new-comer to take precedence
of him ; for such conduct on his part would have
been acknowledging the superior rank of the gholaum,

SHIEAZ TO BUSHIRE. 33

and would have formed a precedent for the rest of
the journey — a state of affairs he was by no means
anxious to arrive at. So, no sooner was the gholaum
about to take the much-desired-for seat at the end of
the carpet, than the Pardoner dropped so suddenly
on his heels at the corner, that the guest was obliged
to take the seat opposite. Thus they remained equi-
distant from the seat of honour. Immediately they
settled in their places, the Pardoner showed that he
was desirous of removing, as much as lay in his power,
any unpleasant feeling that might have arisen in the
breast of the gholaum from his late disappointment.
He assured him that, with such a Eoostum — such a
Hercules — as he most undoubtedly was, we should
have no cause to fear on our coming journey — that
we should certainly burn the beards of all the Buk-
tiarees in the mountains. The gholaum pulled up
his moustaches, and looked well pleased at the com-
pliment, as he said, " Insliallali " — " By the grace of
God, we will burn all their fathers ; " and then he
asked, fiercely, " "Whose dogs are the Buktiarees,
that they will venture to attack such as we are 1 "
The ferashes and the grooms brought large flaps of
bread, one of Avhich was laid before each person.
These served as a sort of plate. Then came the
different joints of the sheep, boiled, as we should
say, to rags, and smothered in mountains of rice.
AVith the rice were mixed raisins, onions, and cloves
a discretion. A^ery soon the servants, one and all,
VOL. vi. c

34 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

fell to work, their right shoulders leaning well for-
ward, and the left hand drawn back and carefully
concealed. Two bowls of curds were placed in the
centre of the carpet ; into this all from time to time
dipped the forefinger, and then disposed of what
adhered to it in a manner that was far more effectual
than elegant. As the repast advanced, so did good
feeling and fellowship prevail. Our little sherbet-
dar, a good-humoured, round-faced little fellow, was
to be seen tearing off the choice bits of the meat,
and cramming them with his own fingers into the
mouth of the gholaum. This was by way of paying
a great compliment ; and the gholaum, it was evident,
took it as such, for he tried hard to look happy, not-
withstanding the gravy streamed from his mouth and
the tears from his eyes.

Now, a word about our own party. We had ar-
rived at Shiraz a party of five — four Englishmen and
a Swede ; but, according to prearranged plans, our
party was here to break up. One was to return to
Teheran, and, as we heard afterwards, riding in hot
haste, and fired as we could only suppose by the
zeal of diplomacy, he accomplished the distance, 520
miles, in the extraordinary short time of five days.
Considering the miserable half-starved horses, which
are the only ones procurable at the post-houses, and
on which this journey was performed, it must have
been a ride of great fatigue and continued exertion ;
and to have been accomplished in the time that it

SHIRAZ TO BUSHIRE. 35

was, must have necessitated constant riding by night
and by day. The remaining four of us were bound
to Bushire, and being anxious to see as much of the
country between us as was possible, we separated.
Two took the lower road by Feriman, which turns
the stupendous mountain-passes of the Kotul-e-Doktur
and the Pier-e-zun. There remained then the Swede
and myself. We proposed taking the direct road
through the above-mentioned denies, which lead down
from the high table-lands of Persia to the low-lying
country around the shores of the Persian Gulf. As
our journey was the shorter one of the two, we
allowed the others the start of a day, and so arranged
our marches as to arrive, if possible, on the same day
at Bushire. The day fixed for our leaving was the
25th May. By eight o'clock on that morning carpets
were rolled up and stowed away, saddle-bags were
packed, and the tea-kettle — the most indispensable
of your travelling-kit in Persia, always the last thing
left out, and the first thing unpacked — was finally
tied upon the last mule-load. The gholaum, solemnly
muttering a Bismillah, led the way through the gate ;
we followed in a cloud of dust, the servants on their
horses, and the mules with their muleteers clattering
after us. You might have seen that every horse's tail
was ornamented with a small turquoise-coloured bead.
I observed that my own especial favourite riding-
horse carried one also in his mane. Some dozen or so
of hairs were passed through the bead, then turned

36 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

back, and thus securely fastened. Now, if it had
come to pass that any old woman, even granting she
were the ugliest and most malicious of her sex, had
looked upon us as we rode forth, the glance of her
evil eye would have been turned off from us by these
turquoise-coloured beads as effectually as is the dagger-
point by the steel cuirass. So at least my groom
told me, when I asked him one day what was the
meaning of these ornaments. This said groom was
a singularly silent, gloomy - looking individual. He
had his own peculiar way of doing everything. Any
remonstrance of mine against his odd fancies I found
of not the slightest avail. What I thought was a
strange whim of his, was the saving up the blood of
a hare that had been shot. Hares are very scarce in
Persia, but now and then I did manage to shoot one
on the line of march. "Whenever this happened, my
groom looked upon it as a most auspicious event. It
was one of the few occasions on which he really
appeared pleased. With a grim smile of joy he would
instantly fasten upon the hare, and, drawing forth a
little leathern case, which I believe he kept expressly
for the purpose, he would most scrupulously treasure
up in it every drop of blood that was obtainable. The
first time I saw him thus engaged I felt curious to
know for what purpose he was taking such infinite
trouble. He informed me, with an air of mystery,
that the blood of a hare, sprinkled on the barley that
was given in the evening to a horse, would greatly

SHIRAZ TO BUSHIEE. 37

increase his courage, and add much to his powers of
endurance. On several occasions I tried to persuade
him that, in my humble opinion, such a belief was
founded on error ; but I never succeeded in shaking
his faith one bit. Another fancy of his was that
my horse shoiild wear an ornament in the shape of a
leathern collar bedecked with silver, and with some
verses of the blessed Koran sewn inside of it : this,
he declared, would most assuredly keep the horse fat,
and drive off all manner of diseases. As such an
ornament was much at variance with my own ideas as
to what was proper, I told him that really I could not
hear of such a thing ; and after much remonstrance
on his part, I finally triumphed. But I believe this
was the only single instance in which I persuaded him
to let me do as I wished regarding my own horses.

We were in the saddle, as I said before, by eight
o'clock, a much later hour than is usual for the morn-
ing start in Persia. But we proposed making only a
short march that day, and the mid-day heat we were
to pass at the house of a Swedish doctor, the only
European resident at Shiraz. Oddly enough, my
companion, alter having travelled over for the last
two years Southern Europe, Asia Minor, and Persia,
met his first fellow - countryman at Shiraz. What
the doctor's name was I forget, but his history, in a
few words, was this : He had been thirteen years in
Persia. He had left his own country when quite a
lad, and had wandered through Turkey and Persia.

38 TKAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

Having been brought up for the medical profession,
he was eventually attached as a doctor to the Persian
army, and he had served with it in that capacity the
greater part of his sojourn in the country. His house
was situated in the opposite quarter of the town to
that in which we were, so to reach it we had to make
our way through the crowded bazaars. The gholaum
rode in front of the party. With the zeal of new
office, he rained down blows upon the heads and
shoulders of the unoffending crowd in a manner that
was truly startling to witness. He carried a long hazel
wand for the express purpose, and he used it like a
fiend. At the same time he poured forth upon them
a torrent of abuse. " Whose dogs are you, to stand
in the road of the favoured guests of the Prince1?"
" Bah bideh / " — « Give way ; " " Your fathers'
graves are defiled;" "Your mothers are burnt."
And with every downward blow, he roared out a
goorumsauk, a word it is best to leave untrans-
lated, as it sounds far more sonorous in the Persian
than in the English language. As our knees and our
horses' chests pushed a road through the sea of heads,
I observed an old wizen-faced man with a long grey
beard. From the make of his clothes and his dark
face, I saw at once he was a native of India. He had
perched himself on the ledge of a stall of the bazaar.
As we approached, he defiantly slapped his breast, and
shrieked out in Hindustani that he had just arrived
from Lucknow, and that he had seen the English,

SHIRAZ TO BUSHIRE. 39

men, women, and children, slaughtered there, and
lying dead in heaps ; that the streets were a guz deep
with their accursed blood. He wore the green turban,
proclaiming him to be a Syud, a descendant of the
Prophet. The gholaum, probably on this account,
and also that he did not understand a word that was
said, did not favour the old villain with the stick,
which I inwardly prayed he would do. The doctor,
arrayed in his Persian costume, received us with great
civility at his gate. Two or three of our servants were
admitted with us ; the rest, with the nmles, went off
to a neighbouring caravanserai. A Persian breakfast,
with its dishes swimming in grease and smothered in.
onions, followed by trays of fruits and sweetmeats of
various kinds, was the entertainment provided us by
our host. This Homeric abundance, with its accom-
panying pipes, gave us steady occupation for at least
two hours. The doctor produced some Shiraz wine
of his own make : it was the veriest vin ordinaire I
ever drank. However, we drank it with a fortitude
that was worthy of a better reward than the anguish
and torment which subsequently we were fated to
endure. HOAV bitterly we repented us of our civility !
Our host was married to a young Armenian lady, but
as he had quite adopted the manners and customs
of the country in which he had so long sojourned,
we were not graced with her presence ; but from, the
opening and shutting of the Venetians of a window
on the opposite side of the yard, and from a cloud

40 TRAVEL, ADVENTUKE, AND SPORT.

of white drapery that was dimly discernible through
them, I strongly suspected that the light of the good
doctor's harem was there watching with curiosity the
movements and appetites of the strangers.

As the sun dipped towards the naked rocky hills
that bound the valley on the west, we prepared for
a start. Our good host, wishing to see the last of
us, insisted upon riding out of the city with us. He
amused us by speaking of his experience with the
Persian army when on service. He said the men
were good enough, and of such Avonderful endurance
and obedience that under good officers they would do
anything. He informed us that he was the only
European with the Persian forces when they made
their night attack on Sir James Outrani's force at
Boorasjoon ; indeed, he gave us to understand that
he planned and led the attack himself ; and if it had
not been for " ces coquins d'officiers qui ne se battent
jamais" as he said, and who ran at the first fire of
our troops, we should have suffered considerably.

On our dismounting to take leave of the hospitable
doctor, he produced a flat-shaped bottle which he had
carried, stowed away in one of his saddle-bags. He
declared that our finishing the contents of it between
the three of us, before we shook hands to say good-
bye, would give him infinite pleasure. Indeed, he
seemed to think that friends could not part in any
orthodox way but this. The bottle contained, as I
found out afterwards to my cost, arrack, and very

SHIRAZ TO BUSHIRE. 41

strong arrack into the bargain. One sip, which I
took in the spirit of good-fellowship, sent the tears
gushing into my eyes, and I lay gasping on the
ground like a trout on a river's bank. The two
Swedes drank it like so much water. At length,
after many protestations of mutual friendship, we
bid the good doctor a final adieu. He returned to
his Persian home ; we turned our horses' heads to-
wards the village where we purposed remaining for
the night. The road led through a well-cultivated
plain, and heavy golden crops of the bearded wheat
waved like a sunlit ocean in the evening breeze.
To the right we could see the long lines of the
Mesjid-i-Verdeh gardens sweeping close up to the
base of the mountains that bound the valley on the
northern side. "\Ve rode about four miles to the
village of Koosan, a small place of about one hun-
dred houses. There was no caravanserai, so the
gholaum, who had ridden on in front, had prepared
for our occupation a small house at the corner of the
village. The inhabitants had, as a matter of course,
been summarily ejected. We found the family
huddled up together on a house-top adjoining. Poor
people ! they were evidently under the apprehension
that we should appropriate, or otherwise dispose of,
the household gods and provisions, which were all
scattered about in the rooms and yards just as they
had left them ; for they had been ordered to decamp
at a moment's notice by the ruthless gholaum. The

42 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

Keesh-Suffeed, the greybeard of the family, at length
came forward. In trembling accents he told us that
their house and all it contained were at our entire
disposal, and that he himself was our humble slave.
We assured the old gentleman that our servants
would not be allowed to touch anything in the
house ; and, presenting him with a few silver pieces,
he went away quite contented. We were on the
point of sitting down to our hard-boiled eggs and
cold fowl, when the sound of a horse galloping
attracted our attention. We were on the flat terrace
on the top of the house. Thence we could see a
horseman galloping as if for dear life. He was
approaching us from the direction of Shiraz, leaving
a long line of dust behind him. He pulled up im-
mediately in front of our door. The Pardoner, who
had subsided into rather a secondary position in the
presence of the all-commanding gholaum, took advan-
tage of his momentary absence to assume the ques-
tioning of the stranger. He rushed out of the gate,
and seizing the horseman by the knee, commenced
eagerly to question him. " In the name of the
Prophet, Avhence come you ? " " Has the Prime
Minister had the stick ? " Or, " Has the ' Antelope '
(the reigning monarch's favourite Avife, so-called)
born a son and heir into the world, that you ride in
such desperate haste]" The horseman threw him-
self out of the saddle; and, being anxious to keep
up a few minutes longer the curiosity which his

SHIRAZ TO BUSHIRE. 43

arrival was evidently exciting amongst our servants,
he could only prevail upon himself to answer to
their eager inquiries, that " God was the only God,
and that Mohammed was his Prophet." At length
he opened his saddle-bags, and brought forth two
closed metal dishes. Then, seeing that our eyes were
upon him, he threw himself down upon the ground ;
and, with an eye to future ImcksJieesh, he put on
the appearance of a man quite overcome with his
exertions. The dishes were a present from the kind
doctor. One contained a baked fowl hidden in rice
and raisins, still smoking hot ; the other, a pasanjan,
the chef-d'oeuvre of the Persian cuisine, the secret of
which, like Philippe's " Crameuski a la Polonaise,"
is beyond the ken of non-culinary mortals. Whilst
we were at dinner, little ragged rosy-faced children
came tripping along the neighbouring house-tops, and
took up points of observation near us. Beyond them
were groups of veiled women whispering together,
and peering curiously at us through their thick white
veils.

We passed the first few hours of darkness in con-
vulsed but futile attempts to sleep. The floor seemed
to be alive : we found to our cost — at least I found
to mine, for I believe the Swede slept as soundly as
ever he did — that there were other inhabitants of the
house besides the family of the old greybeard.

May 26th. — We were in the saddle some hours
before daybreak. My companion the Swede was

44 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

bent on an early start this morning, and I was only
too anxious to bid adieu to my lively and tenacious
friends of the night. The Swede had a wonderfully
persuasive way of his own of rousing the muleteers
from their slumbers, and of getting them to work in
packing away the loads. K"o matter how long the
day's march had been, or how short the night's rest,
he was always brisk and lively at the hour agreed
upon for getting up. He had a most enviable way
of jumping at once into the full possession of his
faculties, and of his trousers and boots. With him
it appeared to be all the work of a moment. There
was no moody silence, no general obfuscation of the
intellect, with its accompanying crossness and irri-
tability. He was no sooner on his legs — which in
some mysterious manner made their appearance
already booted and breeched — than he would spring
towards a great bundle of felt cloths, carpets, saddles,
and et ceteras, and with an accompaniment of sacres
would dance a double-shuffle upon and around it.
The great mass would instinctively heave at his
approach, and then shape itself into servants and
muleteers. The Swede, ever active, would blow up
the embers of last night's fire, and wave the little
black coffee-pot over them in a manner that suggested
the idea of a, petite tosse being ready before we started.
A cold bright moon was shining, and by its light we
could make out on our left the jagged scarped summit
of the Moolleh-Sirdeh Mountain. The road ascended

SHIRAZ TO BUSHIRE. 45

across a stony plain, and led us, just as day was
breaking, to a ruined caravanserai called Kinaradgah.
Around this the hills closed in abruptly. Below was
a brawling mountain-torrent, which we crossed by a
ruined bridge. There was no sound or appearance
of human or animal life, and the bare hills around
and the ruins formed a dreary and desolate scene.
Through the dim light of the morning we took our
last view, of the valley of Shiraz, and then com-
menced a long tiresome ascent. It took us about
two hours to get to the top of this, and then we
found ourselves overlooking a hilly broken country,
well covered in the hollows with bush and shrub,
principally the thorny mimosa. At a distance of
about twenty-two miles we approached a fine stream
of water with a broad jungly bed. This, we were
told, was the Karahautch river. The road kept along
the left bank of it till we arrived at Khanazeneeoon.
The village consisted of about a dozen rude, miserable
hovels ; the caravanserai we found completely in
ruins. Provisions were scarce ; but the gholaum's
threats and the Pardoner's Tcrans — a silver piece
worth about lOd. — made some bread and some
bruised barley -straw to appear. There were some
patches of cultivation near the village ; and judging
from the backwardness of the crops and the crispness
and chilliness of the morning air, I should say this
place was at least one thousand feet higher than
Shiraz. There was no great heat in the middle of

46 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

the day, as \ve had experienced during our stay at
Shiraz. In the evening a man rode up to the serai,
and Avas very anxious to persuade us to allow him to
be our guide to the ruins of Shahpoor. The stranger
was a square-built powerful man, and from his dress
we supposed he belonged to some Eliaut tribe. His
beard was dyed a bright red, and this, added to a
treacherous thievish eye, did not altogether give him
the appearance of a man whose services one would
be anxious to enlist as a guide in a lone desert place,
as the ruins of Shahpoor were described to be. The
ruins were still three marches distant, so we gave
" Red Beard " to understand that there was plenty
of time to consider the matter, and that at Kauzeroon
we should determine whether we would visit the
ruins or not, this being still an open question, as
they lay some distance off our direct road. Red
Beard and the gholaum then had an argument as to
the distance of the ruins from our road. The gholaum
was as anxious that we should not go as Red Beard
that we should. One said the distance was only a
" meidanee asp" — a few minutes' gallop; the other
vowed it was at least two days' march. In the heat
of the argument they called each other some horrible
names, and Red Beard fingered his dagger in a manner
truly ominous. However, he finally withdrew ; and
when he was safe out of hearing, the gholaum waxed
bold as a lion, and informed us that the stranger be-
longed to a tribe of plundering Eliauts who had lately

SHIRAZ TO BUSHIRE. 47

occupied the pastures around the ruins. These Eliauts,
lie said, would watch their opportunity, and, should
we visit the ruins, they would attack us, and most
inevitably cut our throats. Whether the gholaum
was right in his suppositions, or. whether it was
merely with a view to keep us on the straight road,
and so give himself and his horse less to do, I know
not. Red Beard, except to untie his horse from the
gate of the serai, never appeared to us again. We
saw the last of him as he jogged quietly away over
the hills, in the golden light of the setting sun.

27th. — "\Ve had a march of twenty-three miles
before us, so we were in the saddle by 3 A.M. The
gholaum had warned us the evening before that this
was a march of some danger, as it lay through a lonely
uninhabited country. It was only after considerable
remonstrance on his part that he would consent to
start so many hours before daybreak. He declared
that, if he did start so early, we took all responsibility
on our own shoulders. The Swede consoled him with
the reflection, that if anything did go wrong, the first
shot fired by us would be at his (the gholaum's) head.
To make our party as formidable in numbers as pos-
sible, some dozen or so keclieeckchees or guards from
the village were hired. These were to accompany
xi's for the first twelve miles of our march, as this was
considered the portion of it on which we were most
liable to attack. As day broke we forded the Khara-
hautch river. The increasing light showed us the

48 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

persons of our guards, whom, as yet wo had only
heard pattering along through the darkness by our
horses' sides. There were about a dozen of them.
wild-looking fellows, with close-fitting felt caps stuck
on the top of their matted locks. They were all
armed with a long matchlock, a pistol, and a sabre
each. Their clothes, for the most part, hung in rags
over their large braAvny frames. With a sort of
coarse sandal on their feet, they strode sturdily along
over the stony road. As long as the darkness had
hid surrounding objects from our view, our servants
had ridden along in silence. If they did venture
upon a remark it was in a whisper, and the guards
themselves had strode along in silence; for they were
as much afraid of the Buktiarees as any of our ser-
vants were ; and had we been attacked, they, headed
by the gholaum, would probably have been the first
to run. "\Ve ascended the Seena Suffeed, a very steep
bit of road, leading — with a true disdain of any en-
gineering principle — straight as an arrow's flight up a
mountain-side. By the time we reached the summit,
the sun was shedding his rays with a lavish hand
down the wooded slopes, and into the gloomy moun-
tain recesses. This broad daylight, added to a level
piece of ground that made its appearance by the side
of the road on the summit, developed the hitherto
dormant manhood of the gholaum. During the dark-
ness of night he had kept his position well in the
centre of the party; now that shapeless bundle of felt

SHIRAZ TO BUSHIRE. 49

and linen suddenly assumed the form and appearance
of a dashing horseman. He stabbed the lean sides
of his Kosinante with the heavy iron stirrups ; then
he dashed forward, and unslung his long heavy match-
lock. In the space of a few minutes, having kept his
horse circling at full gallop, he had disposed of any
amount of imaginary enemies. At some he pointed
his matchlock immediately over his horse's ears.
Others, again, were in close pursuit of him. At
these he levelled his matchlock, holding it parallel
to and immediately over his courser's streaming tail.
He threw himself to the right of his saddle, then to
the left ; he looked from under his horse's belly ; and
then he finally pulled up his smoking steed. He
looked so well pleased with himself, that I have not
the least doubt he laid the flattering unction to his
soul that he had imbued us with no small admiration
of his prowess ; and we could not but admit, seeing the
very stony and rough state of the ground, that the
performance, both on his own part and on the part of
his steed, was very creditable. But it was a relief to
us Avhen the evolutions had come duly to an end;
for the poor horse looked as if he had had quite
enough of it — so much so that, at the completion of
the performance, the sharp cruel bit threw him so
completely on his haunches that I was prepared to
see the poor brute go rolling backwards down the
mountain-side. A small ruined tower, which they
called a guard-house, was close at hand. Here we

VOL. VI- D

50 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

dismounted to breathe the horses. The servants,
taking the direction of Mecca from the position of
the rising sun, fell on their knees, and muttered
over their prayers. The gholaum had put himself
in a conspicuous position in front ; and there he re-
mained as a sort of fugleman to the rest.

From the commanding spot on "which we stood,
the eye ranged over a wide extent of mountain-slopes
and mountain-summits fading blue into the distance.
The hollows were thickly wooded with the sturdy
blackthorn-tree, and a species of dwarf oak. It was
one of the most enjoyable views I had seen in this
country of level plains and desert wastes. From the
tower we commenced the descent to the plain of Dust-
Arjun : once in the plain, we struck across it, and
passed the village of the same name, nearly all in
ruins. The road beyond led away to the edge of the
plain, and along the base of a scarped mountain-side.
This reared itself up like a giant Avail, and out of it
were gushing several springs of water. These formed
below into one clear limpid stream, which meandered
away to the left through the grassy plain. About
two miles beyond this we crossed another small
stream, and entered the village of Musheer — a little
walled place, containing about six houses. "We had
ridden on a little ahead of the mules, and as the sun
was very hot, we pulled up under the gateway, and
waited there till the mules came up. We were at
once surrounded by the inhabitants. The women,

SHIEAZ TO BUSHIEE. 51

old and young, were all unveiled. They approached
us without the least hesitation, and brought us some
large jars of curds and whey. The men implored us
for medicines : they seemed to think that anything
we had by us in the shape of medicine must be
precious. I happened to have some dozen rhubarb
pills in my saddle-bags, and the properties of the
drug having been duly explained, they were carried
off as a priceless treasure. "Whilst we were waiting
here, a mule of ours, carrying one of the grooms and
some stable kit, fell backwards into the little stream
near the village. The groom soon scrambled out,
but the poor mule stuck fast in the black mud. The
whole village at once rushed down to the scene of
action, and, under a storm of blows and Allans, the
animal struggled on to the bank. Leaving the village,
we commenced the rugged ascent of the Pier-e-zun,
or " Old Woman's Pass." The path led over one
continual mass of large boulders and rocks, and it
was as much as we could do to keep the horses on
their legs. T\re ascended continually for about an
hour, and then found ourselves on the summit of the
Pass. There was no view, for the precipitous moun-
tain-sides closed in upon the road, and allowed nothing
but their rocks and chasms immediately over our
heads to be seen. "We then made a rapid zigzag
descent to the caravanserai of Mean-i-Kotul. The
serai had been lately erected, and was in good order
in consequence. It was built on a natural terrace

52 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

some 300 yards square, jutting out from the steep
mountain-slope. It is the half way -house, as the
name signifies, on the ascent of the Pier-e-zun from
this side. There were no provisions obtainable at
the serai ; but late in the evening some forage for the
horses was brought from the villages Kulloonee and
Abdoree, which they told us were situated in the
valley below. Our evening repast was of the very
lightest description possible, and sleep that night was
out of the question. Nothing availed against the
fury of the mosquitoes and sand-flies ; but what with
smoking and drinking tea, we passed the hours till
the moon shed her welcome light over the wilderness
of mountains around us. One o'clock in the morning
of the 28th saw us again in the saddle, and continuing
the descent of the Pier-e-zun. I was very sleepy ;
but my horse stumbled and tripped in such an aggra-
vating way down the rough road we were travelling,
that I could not but keep awake. A continued de-
scent for about four miles, and we were in the valley
of Dusht-Beer. Here we rode under trees of the
dwarf oak, ash, and blackthorn. There was no under-
growth, but springy soft turf came close up to the
edge of the road. The whole valley was bathed in
the silvery light of the moon ; and the quiet beauty
of the scene was a pleasant change from the rugged
slopes of the Pier-e-zun. I was too tired to keep long
awake. Our horses moved noiselessly along over the
sandy road ; and soon the moonlit glades, the stal-

SHIRAZ TO BTTSHIRE. 53

Avart frame of my companion the Swede, and my
horse's ears — three objects upon which, alternately,
I had in vain tried to rivet my attention — appeared
to spin round in mazy confusion, and then dissolve
into mist. My eyes shut with a sudden snap, and
all senses, save the one of remaining in my saddle,
deserted me How far I rode thus oblivious to
everything around me, I know not ; but this I do
know, that when fate decreed I was to be awoke, it
was to be done rather rudely. There was a crash — a
noise much resembling that which arises upon a heavy
weight charging a "bullfinch"; something hit me a
violent blow on the nose, which made me reel in my
saddle, and eventually laid me backward, with an
irresistible thrust, with my head over my horse's tail.
My hat was knocked off ; and there was a feeling as
if all my hair had been dragged out by the roots and
my face knocked into a jelly. Literally speaking, I
was painfully alive to my situation. AVheii I did
venture to take a look, I found that my horse, prob-
ably tempted by the grass, had wandered off the road,
and carried me against the horizontal branch of a
blackthorn-tree. In a few minutes I had convinced
myself as to the extent of the damage done ; and I
consoled myself with the reflection that my nose,
though feeling very much as if the redoubtable Sayers
had been practising upon it, was still in its proper
place — a fact about which, at first, grave doubts had
arisen in my mind.

54 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AXD SPORT.

" Quid quisque vitet, nunquam homini satis
Cautum est, in horas ; "

and thinking how just was the remark, and how a
tride lignum also had caused the writing of it, I
vowed that this should be the last time that the
drowsy god should overcome me in the saddle. A
previous conquest of his had led me into trouble some
months before. We had left Baghdad some days,
and as the weather was very hot, Ave generally man-
aged to get over the greater part of the march before
day broke. The night in question we had been in
the saddle since midnight, and after many ineffectual
attempts at resistance, I finally succumbed. I was
awoke by the tinkling of bells all round me : the
sound, I knew, announced the passing of a caravan.
By the faint light of a sickly moon I could see, on
all sides of me, a sea of long black boxes surging by
me. There appeared to be some scores of mules,
each laden with two of these boxes, which were
balanced like panniers across his back. The boxes
were five and six feet long, and many of them but
loosely nailed together. My horse had carried me
into the midst of a moving cemetery ; for these —
pah ! another sense besides that of sight informed me
— were all coffins. They contained the bodies of the
devout, who had died in the true faith, and who were
now being taken to Kerbela to be eventually buried
by their sorrowing relatives in the consecrated ground
around the tomb of the holy martyr Hoosein. It was

SHIRAZ TO BUSHIEE. 55

a close sultry night, and for some minutes I found it
impossible to get clear of these long black boxes that
came crowding upon me as if there was no end to
them. For those few minutes — they seemed an age
— a sickness came over me that made me reel in my
saddle, and left me with scarcely strength sufficient
to keep my seat, whilst my horse plunged and started,
as every now and again a coffin came bumping against
his sides. ,; Many of these coffins had travelled thus
hundred of miles ; and into their gaping fissures —
indeed from some of them whole planks had fallen
away — the moon shed her dim rays. I fancied every
now and then I could see the ghastly faces of the
dead, and their shrivelled limbs as they swayed back-
wards and forwards in their fragile tenement with
the jolting of the mule.

Shortly after day dawned we commenced the
descent of the " Kotul-e-Doktur " (the Pass of the
Maiden). The descent was very rapid, hut the road
excellent. It led in a series of short zigzags down
the perpendicular side of a stupendous cliff of the
mountain. The road was perfectly smooth ; quick-
lime had been used in filling up and levelling the
way, after the debris of rocks and stones had been
hurled over the side. A strong stone parapet is
continued down the descent for about two miles.
Looking over this parapet at the summit, one might
drop a stone on to any one of the tiny zigzags of- the
way far below, so precipitous is the mountain-side.

56 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

This smoothing of the roadway and repairs of the
parapet had been effected in 1847 by a merchant of
Shiraz. Before this, the Kotul-e-Doktur was con-
sidered one of the most dangerous passes in Persia.
At the base of the cliff, and looking up at the rugged
mountain -brow now capped with fleecy clouds of
morning mist, we had every reason to be thankful to
the good Shirazee, who had lavished his Avealth in
making the roadway such an easy one as AVC had
found it. -This was the one sole instance, during the
whole course of our travels in Persia, where it was
visible that the hand of man had been at work in
mending the road. Even close up to the gates of
their large cities, such a thing as road repair is never
dreamt of.

The descent finished, we entered the riante valley
of Kauzeroon. The road passes under a cliff, a large
portion of which, we observed, had been scarped
away. On the smooth surface of rock a group of
figures, considerably larger than life, was represented
in a rude bas-relief. This, as we learned, was an
attempt on the part of our old friend Timoor Mirza
— one of the Persian princes who were once well
known in England — to hand his name down to pos-
terity. The whole sculpture, called by the people
Nuks-e-Timoor, was a rude imitation of the grand
bas-reliefs of the Nuks-i-Koostum, which we had
visited, at the same time as the tomb of Darius,
some weeks previous. In this the hero, supposed to

SHIKAZ TO BUSHIRE. 57

be Timoor himself, in gala costume, is seen sitting on
a chair, which, by the way, is a very rickety-looking
affair, and all on one side ; and some one, whether
man or woman it is difficult to decide, is handing
him a kalioon : the attendants, three in number,
with their arms duly folded across then1 chests, stand
ranged at the side. The delineation of this scene
had certainly no claims to high art ; but, looking at
the size of the figures, and the large portion of the
cliff that must have been scarped away, it was
evident that our worthy friend Timoor had spared
no pains. In the distant part of the valley to the
west, the blue waters of a lake were discernible.
Some of our people affirmed that it was a lake of
brackish salt water ; others, again, said it was sweet
water. I inclined to the former opinion, as there
were no villages to be seen on its shores. The name
it went by was the Durreea Per-i-shoon. As we ap-
proached Kauzeroon, we rode through fields of corn
extending right across the valley. The harvest had
commenced, for the greater part of the heavy crops
stood in sheaves. Here we saw the first date-trees
since we had left, twelve months ago, the plain
around Baghdad. Their presence warned us of our
approach to the fierce heats of the sea-level. They
cannot live in the high table-lands of Persia. There
the snow and ice of winter kills them. We passed
under the grey stone walls of the town, and took up
our quarters in a small summer-house, at an angle of

58 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

the Baug-i-Noor, one of the most famed orange-groves
of Persia.

It was late in the day when, wooed by the evening
breeze, which came sighing through the orange-groves
gentle as a woman's voice, we determined on remain-
ing here for the morrow. The cattle were in need of
rest, and the servants begged hard for a halt. Our
original plan was to make a day of it at the ruins of
Shahpoor ; but the deep shade of the orange -groves,
and the delicious perfume of the blossoms, decided
the point. A halt was determined upon, and Shah-
poor forgotten, amid the sense of complete repose,
and dolce far niente of our groves.

We started on the morning of the 30th at about
1 A. 3i. There was no moon, but the heavens, with-
out a cloud, were in the full glory of starlight. The
road led westerly across the valley, at first through
cultivation ; from this it struck into a waste desert
tract of country, thinly covered with bush. As we
were moving silently along across this plain, a howl,
or rather a shriek, the most unearthly in its tones
that I ever heard, suddenly broke the stillness of the
night. The sound came from a spot apparently close
to the side of the road. It was continued for some
moments. Then the shrieks became less and less in-
tense, and finally merged into a loud hissing noise,
to which it was horrible to listen. So unearthly was
the sound, and so dismally did it strike my ear as it
came ringing through the still night air, that I in-

SHIEAZ TO BUSHIRE. 59

voluntarily shuddered, and my very blood ran cold,
as I strained my eyes into the gloom of night to see
whence such sounds could emanate. So near did it
seem, that we instantly pushed our horses onwards,
and towards the spot from whence the sound ap-
peared to issue. But it was to no purpose : not a
thing moving could we distinguish in the darkness.
Was this the voice of the Ghaulee Beaubee — the
same lonely demon by whom, the Afghaans aver,
every desert and waste solitude of their country is
tenanted] In India I had heard, and that often
enough, the mournful yellings of jackals, and the
strange laughing bark of the hyena ; in Africa I had
listened in the still night to the grand roar of the
lion, as it came booming across the plain ; but never
in my life had I heard anything so appalling as these
unearthly shrieks. Yolney, in ' Les Ruines,' speaks
of the howling of jackals at night as sounds expres-
sive of loneliness and solitude. I am sure the sounds
to which we listened that night were highly sugges-
tive of the same. The Persians said they were the
call of an animal whom they named the Sug-i-toor, or
tusked dog. Perhaps it was some old toothless jackal
— though the call was far more appalling and dismal
than anything I had heard from jackals before — who
had been jilted in his younger days, and was now
possessed of an unhappy spirit, that urged him thus
to lament his woes. It may possibly have been an
animal that, I believe, some call the "lion's pro-

60 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

vider." He is commonly supposed to hunt for the
larger animals of prey, and then, when he has dis-
covered anything, he invites them to the repast with
his, to them, welcome yellings. Whether he had
proposed to himself a treat of the kind off our re-
mains, I am not sufficiently a naturalist to declare
positively, hut he certainly haunted us with his
dreadful howls and shrieks for about ten minutes.
One of our servants then fired a pistol-shot at random
into the darkness toward the sound, and we heard no
more of our dismal visitant. The first streak of dawn
showed TIS we were passing some low stony hills to
the right of our road. Beyond these, we were told,
at a distance of some twelve miles, lay the ruins of
Shahpoor. We left the plain of Kauzeroon by the
pass of Tung-i-Toorkoon ; and a most formidable de-
file we found it. Hitherto I had never had the mis-
fortune to ride through any pass approaching this one
in roughness and badness of road. Turning west, we
struck into a defile, leading through gigantic rocks
of limestone and gypsum, piled in confused masses
around us. For about a mile and a half the hard
dry bed of a mountain - torrent was the only road-
maker. So narrow is the way that, in many places,
two horsemen could not ride abreast. We dis-
mounted, and led our horses over the great boulders
of rock, over which the passing caravans had worn,
here and there, rough steps. The horses found a
difficulty in getting along; even the sure-footed

SHIKAZ TO BUSHIKE. 61

mules looked down in their cautious way, and went
on carefully picking their steps. Not a bush, or a
shrub, or even a blade of grass was visible — nothing
but these huge masses of naked rock met the eye.
There was not a vestige of a sound of animal life ; all
around was the dead silence of the grave. It was a
place that Alastor or the Spirit of Solitude might
have found especial delight in ; but I, for one, was
glad to emerge from the gloomy pass, and to enter
the little valley of Ivoomaridge. For about four
miles we rode through fields where the villagers were
all busy with the harvest, though the greater part of
the crops, we observed, was in. At a distance that
we reckoned at nineteen miles, we arrived at Koom-
aridge, a small village, the houses in Avhich were all
built of stone. There was no place for us to put up
in save a stable ; and though this was swarming with
fleas and other vermin, we were glad to take refuge in it
from the already powerful scorching rays of the sun.
Every house we saw had its three or four bee-hives,
and the villagers brought us a quantity of fine clean-
looking honey. It was very sweet, though with but
little flavour. A happy thought of the Swede's set
us to work mixing it with the curds and whey, which
was usually the piece de resistance of our breakfast.
Milk in this shape is generally obtainable in the
smallest villages of Persia, and since we had left
Shiraz, it had been our principal subsistence. Tea
one drinks at all hours of the day and night, but

62 . TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

never with milk. The heat during the day in our
stable was great. "\Ve had spread our carpets on a
spot that had been swept and sprinkled with water
— a little oasis amid the desert of dust and rubbish
around — but, owing to the swarms of flies and fleas,
to which we finally became a helpless prey, our mid-
day siesta was of a most troubled and feverish char-
acter. In the evening the men returned from the
harvest-field; and whilst we were at dinner, they
gathered in groups about our humble dwelling. This
gave the gholaum a good opportunity of holding forth
to them about the badness of the lodging which had
been provided us. They swore by Allah that there
was no help for it. They said that every place that
was not actually occupied by their wives and families
was at present filled with corn that had as yet not
been trodden out. The men of this village were fine
sturdy-looking fellows. Two or three of them came
forward, and said that during the war they had run
the gauntlet of the Persian army, and carried fruit and
provisions into the English camp, then before Bushire.

No sooner was it dark than Ave clambered up to
our stable -top. There, with the starlit vault of
heaven above us, we enjoyed some few hours' sleep,
undisturbed.

3lst. — This was comparatively a short march of
twelve miles. But as we had the formidable descent
of the Kotul - e - Koomaridge before us, we started
at about 4 A.M. The gholaum said, that by starting

SHIRAZ TO BUSHIRE. 63

at this hour we should reach the worst part of the
road about the time day would break. We descended
continually, splashing every now and then through
a stream. The road seemed to find a pleasure in
crossing from bank to bank. It was anything but
a pleasure to us, for our horses slipped and stumbled
about in the darkness over the rocky bed in such a
way, that a cold bath seemed imminent more than
once. After riding about three miles, a ruined toll-
hoiise on the right warned us that we \vere on the
summit of the pass. "\Ve halted some little time
here, to allow ourselves the advantage of full day-
light before we commenced the descent, which the
gholaum described as " nal-shicken," literally, shoe-
breaking to a degree. This is a word very com-
monly made use of; and when a Persian does not
know the name of any particular mountain - pass
or ascent — perhaps a name does not exist — he
will at once christen it nal-shicken. As daylight
streamed over the wilderness of mountains around
us, we found we were looking down upon a scene
surpassing, in savage wild grandeur, anything either
of us had ever beheld. From the height on which
we stood, the road plunged down the precipitous
mountain - side, like an eagle from his eyrie, into
the gloomy depths below. To the right and to
the left, sharp jagged rocks of limestone -rock shot
up as if ready to impale us. The mountains about
the pass form a sort of horse-shoe around it; and

64 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

their rugged foreheads, clearly defined against the
morning sky, beetled ominously over every inch of the
descent. It looked as if a child's strength exerted
on those awful summits could crush a host in the
pass below. We thought the pass of the Tungi
Toorkoon bad, but it was a joke compared to this.
There was no trace of the hand of man having been
employed in any one single part of the descent.
Since the day that Alexander and his legions had
poured down it, this must have been one of the great
highways of Persia ; still, there was no sign that
there had been any attempt to better or broaden the
roadway. Our horses were down on their sides sev-
eral times, and I saw the Swede himself shoot down
the smooth sloping side of a mass of rock like an
avalanche. The gholaum was the only one of the
party who did not dismount. His horse was a won-
derfully sure-footed animal. Without any assistance
from his rider, he picked his way, doubled his legs
under him, and sprang from rock to rock like a goat.
It was the most marvellous performance on the part
of a horse I ever saw — off sawdust I led my fa-
vourite horse, a hot-blooded fiery chestnut, the whole
way, but he was slipping and plunging like a mad
thing, and in such a fearful way that I knew at any
moment he might be over the side and dashed to
a thousand atoms. It was with no small relief then
that, at the end of three quarters of an hour or so, I
heard the gholaum gurgle out an " AUiumdulillah,"

SHIRAZ TO BUSHIEE. 65

— "Praise be to God," We were over the worst of
it, and I breathed more freely, and tried to coax the
chestnut into a happier frame of mind than his dis-
tended nostrils and foaming sides then betokened.
We pushed on to the Khoonazaberni river, and were
soon gladdened by the sight of its clear waters flash-
ing merrily along over their rocky bed. It was a
fine stream, some thirty or forty yards wide, and the
road kept along the bank till we debouched into the
plain of Kisht. The sun's rays were hot ere we
reached the village of Koonartakta. Here we found
a good caravanserai, built some little distance from
the straggling village, which we heard was occupied
by a nomad tribe. From the platform on the top of
the serai we looked down upon a well - cultivated
plain, some eight or nine miles long, and dotted with
a few villages. Dark-green lines swept across the
plain in all directions ; these were the famous date-
bearing groves, of Kisht. The serai was a well-built
one, and the walls were of such a substantial thick-
ness that we did not feel the heat to-day as we had
done yesterday. We Avere, notwithstanding, at least
2000 feet nearer the sea-level.

A little after noon, when most of the servants were
asleep, and I only happened by accident to be awake
— for we generally managed an hour or two's sleep
during the great heat of the day — I noticed my groom
Hassan at some fifty yards from the serai leading one
of my horses round and round a certain spot. The

VOL. VI. E

66 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

horse was limping, and I observed that Hassan, with
his eyes fixed on the ground, after having led the
horse round a certain number of times, "put him about
and led him round in the reverse way. Although
the horse seemed to have had quite enough of the
ceremony, I knew that in the end it would be best
not to interfere. Had I ordered the horse to be taken
back to his picket before the performance had come
duly to an end, it would only have ensured the poor
animal being taken out at some unearthly hour of the
night, when Mr Hassan would first have assured him-
self that interference on my part was out of the ques-
tion. So I watched patiently till the horse was
brought back to his picket in the courtyard of the
serai. Hassan was then somewhat taken aback by
my hailing him from the terrace above : he knew that
from the position I then occupied I must have wit-
nessed the whole of the ceremony. In answer to my
inquiry as to what it all meant, he informed me in a
mysterious solemn manner that under the spot over
which he had led the horse a hyena had been buried
some years ago — that a kecheekchee or guard of the
serai had assured him of the fact ! Hassan then
went on to say that, if a lame horse was led round
the grave of a hyena a certain number of times one
Avay, and then a certain number of times the other,
he would be a sound horse again ere the sun rose on
the morrow. Such was the solution of the mystery.
I held my peace, and repressed a smile. As to giving

SHIRAZ TO BUSHIRE. 67

Hassan a piece of my mind about the absurdity of
the whole thing, I would not have done it for a king-
dom. "With, some show of reason on my side, I
might have argued that a dead hyena could work no
sort of charm over a living horse ; that the hyena,
having been dead so many years, could not in any
manner add to the efficacy of the cure, and a quantity
of others that I deemed valid objections. But he
Avould only have laiighed me to scorn, and his con-
viction would only have become deeper rooted : for
previous experience had taught me that in all that
concerned horse-flesh, Hassan looked upon me as one
of the most hopelessly ignorant of mortals. Before
he left me, he regretted that the hyena had been dead
and buried for so many years ; had it been otherwise,
he would certainly have secured some hairs of the
animal's tail, and, with these in his possession, he
assured me his Avife would have to record many an
" interesting event," and he would have been the
happy father of strong and healthy children, whereas
at present it was a reproach amongst his friends that
Allah had denied to him even a single one of these
" dear pledges."

1st June. — On leaving the serai we struck across
the plain of Kislit for about a mile in a southerly
direction : then commenced another difficult descent,
that of the Kotul-e-Maloo, the last of these formid-
able mountain -passes. The moon shone down the
sides of a lofty precipitous peak that overhung the

68 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

road immediately to the right. By the faint light
silvering the awful precipices and crags around us,
we could but faintly discern the wildness of the
scene ; but it was one that Gaspard Poussin only
could have dared to paint. Though the road was
a trifle better than that of yesterday's inarch, the
descent was very rough and very rapid. About an
hour after daybreak we crossed a rapid mountain
stream, which the guides called the Eohilla river.
The water came well up over the horses' girths, and
the ford was so rocky that the mules in crossing
slipped and stumbled in a manner that was quite
alarming to witness ; for if they had once got off
the ford, the stream would have swept them away
beyond all hope. However, all got over without mis-
hap, the muleteers keeping up a thundering chorus
of Allahs the while. In winter, this ford, owing to
the rapid current of its icy waters, is considered a
very dangerous one. Every year, we were told, both
men and cattle are lost in it. A little beyond the
ford we passed two large bridges, completely in ruins ;
the large single arch of one was still standing, its
massive brick buttresses defying the rapid stream
below. These were probably the work of the good
King Shah Abbas, Persia's best monarch.

Leaving the river, we struck suddenly into a
gloomy gorge of the mountains; this led us down
upon the village of Dalakee ; and when the view
opened out, the plain, which stretches away without

SHIRAZ TO BUSHIEE. 69

a break from the foot of these mountains to the
shores of the Persian Gulf, was spread like a map
below us. The small village of Dalakee lay im-
mediately iincler the mountains, their rugged perpen-
dicular sides almost overhanging it. The only place
we found in the village to put up in was a small and
ruined caravanserai. The sole occupant of this was
an aged donkey. Infirm with years, and supported
by voluntary contributions, his old age was passing
away amid the ruins quietly enough till our unhappy
arrival : then, of course, nothing would satisfy our
servants but that he was to be summarily ejected. It
was in vain we assured them that the aged pensioner,
being left unmolested, would be in no way incom-
patible with our day's comfort. They no sooner saw
us with our boots off, standing on our little carpet
island, and consequently judging that interference on
our part was improbable, than they commenced to
belabour the poor donkey's sides with their whips ;
— they screamed at him, and by way of adding insult
to injury, they swore by the Prophet that he was the
" grandfather of asses." And so, under a storm of
blows and abuse, the poor old fellow made a slow
retreat. But it was only for a time ; presently he
came stealing back, and again ensconced himself in
his Avonted corner. His love of home gave the
servants, we were glad to see, an infinity of trouble.
As often as he was driven forth, so often did he come
stealing back again ; till at last one of the servants

70 TRAVEL, ADVENTUKE, AND SPORT.

had to take up his station at the gate of the serai,
and there he awaited the enemy like Hector at the
Scsean gate. The heat during the day was terrific.
We kept our heads bandaged with towels wrung out
with cold water ; still it seemed that only something
short of a miracle could save us from a brain-
fever : never in my life had I felt anything so crush-
ing, so overpowering, as this day's heat was. The
sky was as of brass, and over it there was the one
glory of the sun. The rocky sides of the mountains
above us appeared to glow and bum in its fierce rays.
The very earth gave out heat, and appeared to scorch
one like a fiery oven. The dark lines of date-groves,
sweeping across the plain, now appeared, in the hazy
glare of the sunlight, broken into thousands of frag-
ments. Several mirages, of a deep-blue colour, and
smooth and calm as the bosom of a lake, waved and
danced over the burning plain. The heat about four
or five in the afternoon was so great, and of so suffo-
cating a character, that I thought more than once if
those burning rocks above us were to topple over and
crush us in their ruin, such a death would be_a joyous
release from the dreadful sense of oppression. I had
heard that instances had occurred in the Persian Gulf
of the sailors rushing to the ship's side and jumping
overboard, and that with a certainty of death before
them. I now for the first time understood the feeling,
for I felt certain that any long continuance of the
heat we had that day would have driven many men

SHIRAZ TO BUSHIRE. 71

raving mad. As the sun was setting we made our
way across the heated plain to the banks of the
Eohilla river. The distance was about a mile, and
from the languor and exhaustion of the past day we
could move but slowly along, till we neared the
banks, and heard the pleasant nish of the river ;
then we hurried forward like a lover to the feet of
his mistress, and in a few minutes we had taken
refuge from the scorched earth beneath the veil of
the dark rushing waters. Xot till the stars glimmered
down their silvery streaks across the stream could we
tear ourselves away from the grateful luxury of its
pleasant waters. That night we passed in vain en-
deavours to sleep. Mosquitoes of gigantic size thirsted
for our blood. I cannot say I forgave them, but there
was an excuse for them. The night was a thirsty
one, and the heat almost as oppressive as it had been,
during the day. The shades of night had brought
no cool breeze, or indeed breeze of any kind, to our
fevered frames. I tossed about for some hours,
amusing myself with wringing out towels and wrap-
ping them round my head. This seemed to allay the
feverish rush of blood, that appeared to be pouring
like a mill-stream from every vein of my body into
my throbbing temples.

2d June. — We were in the saddle at 3 A.M., and
glad to find ourselves moving through the air and
away from the mosquito -haunted serai. The road,
bearing S.S.E., kept along the base of the mountains.

72 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

The air Avas strongly impregnated with the srnell of
naphtha. As far as I was concerned, I must confess
it had rather a stifling effect than otherwise upon
me ; but it seemed to clear the pipes of one of the
muleteers, a sturdy little fellow, who always perched
himself upon the top of the highest pile of baggage ;
for as he rode along, he suddenly tolled forth an
appeal to some faithless fair one. He sang vehe-
mently through his nose, and with an amount of
energy worthy of a better fate than his appeared to
be, owing to the heartlessness of the stag-eyed one.
He called her his " sugar-lips," his " sugar-eating
parrot," and entreated her to return ; but as the song
proceeded, he learnt it was all in vain ; he reaped
only vexation and sorrow; and, finally, comme un
vilain il fut traite. "When day broke we saw on
our right a far -spreading marshy swamp : this was
fed by two streams that crossed the road. The water
of both these streams was of a dark-brown colour,
and with a sort of blue film floating upon the surface.
The air was heavy with the effluvia of naphtha.
Having ridden some nine miles across the plain, we
arrived at the walled town of Boorasjoon. The in-
habitants flocked out to meet us, and conducted us
to the house of the governor of the town, which he
had vacated for our use. The walls were thick and
the rooms lofty, so for this one day at least we found
ourselves comfortably housed. In the course of the
afternoon the governor called upon us. He was a

SHIRAZ TO BUSHIRE. 73

well-grown stalwart young fellow. In addition to
being heavily armed, he carried an English fowling-
piece in his hand. He told us in the most matter-of-
fact way that, ten days previous to our arrival, he
had, after some hard fighting, turned out the late
governor of the town, and had himself assumed the
governorship of the district. He added, with a grin,
that the late governor was both his father-in-law and
his uncle, but that, notwithstanding this close rela-
tionship, he was out nearly every day with his fol-
lowers, in the hopes of either catching him or shoot-
ing him ! Upon our suggesting that such conduct on
the part of a nephew was strange, he said, " Che urz
mi kunum ! " — " What can I do ? it is the Shah's
order ! and inshallah, by the grace of God, his
majesty's order shall be obeyed." The uncle, we
learned, was wandering about the mountains with
some hundred followers who had remained true to
him. Our young friend had come across them once,
and a fight had ensued. One man on each side
having been killed, the combatants withdrew, and
had not met since. Thus matters were on our
arrival. On our inquiring as to who the late gover-
nor was, we learned he was the same man who had
been a prisoner in Sir James Outram's camp. When
the town was taken possession of by our troops, the
governor gave himself up. On peace being declared,
he was returned with the other prisoners, and finally
reinstated in his former appointment as governor of

74 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

Boorasjoon. In course of time it came to the Shah's
ears that the man was reputed wealthy. He was at
once proclaimed a traitor, as having sold the town to
the English. This was merely an excuse, that the
poor man's goods might be confiscated, and the Shah
possess himself of them.

3d. — We started at midnight, and, leaving the
village, we passed through some large date-groves in
pitchy darkness. A howling of dogs on the right
told us we were passing the village of Kooshab,
where the rout of the Persian army by the British
forces had taken place. The first streaks of dawn
showed us we were riding over a plain level as the
ocean, on which neither tree nor shrub was visible
for miles. At a distance of twenty -two miles we
reached the small enclosure of Chagudduk. Here
we rested the horses for half an hour, and made a
light breakfast. We had still a ride of sixteen miles
before us, across the salt marsh that lay between us
and Bushire. The sun was high in the heavens ere
we were in the saddle again. Leaving orders Avith
the servants to follow with the mules, we made up
our minds for a sweltering ride, and spurred away
for Bushire. The heat was terrific, and the glare
from the blistered, salt-encrusted soil so fierce and
blinding, that we were obliged to drop the ends of
our turbans over our faces, as a sort of veil The
marsh, without a single vestige of verdxtre, spread
away like a glistening sea to the right and to the

SHIRAZ TO BUSHIRE. 75

left. Any deviation from the beaten track, and
one's horse broke through the thin salt crust, and
floundered fetlock-deep in a spongy soft mud. As
we urged on our tired horses at nearly the top of
their speed, we seemed possessed of a feeling that
any delay on this burning plain would be instant
death. "We knew that, till we were at the gates of
the town, we should not find shelter from the death-
dealing rays of the sun large enough to screen a
mouse. Before we had ridden half the distance, the
white walls of the residency gleamed in detached
fragments through a hazy mirage ; now far above the
horizon of the plain, now again far below it, and
apparently close to us. Then the hazy line of brown
Avail which surrounds the town and the several bas-
tions gradually separated themselves from the wavy
plain ; some grotesquely elongated objects defined
themselves into a string of camels approaching the
town. And, finally, Bushire, that had seemed for
the last hour but the "baseless fabric of a vision,"
became a reality, and in a few minutes we were clat-
tering through the gateway, and charging a throng
of half-naked Arabs, who were wrangling under its
shade over a donkey-load of dates.

LIFE IN AN ISLAND,

BY MRS OLIPHANT.
[MAGA. JAN. 1865.]

THIS island is not a desolate island, nor far from
the boundaries of civilisation ; neither is it one
of the insulated fortresses which are more of man's
making than God's. No position under heaven can
be more glorious than that in which this rock reposes
— " like a vessel eternally at anchor " — regarding from
its lofty heights that bay which once in a lifetime
intoxicates every man who looks upon it, and rouses
even the most languid soul into a sense of beauty
ineffable and beyond description. It is Xaples which
lies in the depth of that wonderful bow, radiant in
the sunshine. It is Vesuvius which rises in front of
us, blue and splendid, now and then exhaling out
of his burning bosom a deep breath that shows white
against the sky like a man's breath in an English
Christmas. That is Posilipo, the first break in the
even arch of coast, which afterwards goes wavering
out and in, as if, like the spectator, confused with so

LIFE IX AX ISLAND. 77

much loveliness, widening out at Baise, casting forth
sweet headlands here and there to secure its posses-
sions, finally stretching into the lower heaven of sea,
the lingering Cape of Messina. Even there it seems
the admiring earth cannot have enough of it, but,
dropping Procida humbly by the shore, like an
apology, goes out rejoicing to another mountain -
head, and there breaks off in a climax, unable to
exert herself further. All this we have in daily
vision, uninterrupted, except by mists and clouds,
which often add more beauty than they take away,
from our island at the other arm of the bay. And
not only this, but on the other side the noble Sor-
rento promontory, and the low shadowy coast yonder
under Vesuvius, where Pompeii keeps funeral watch
over her dead. If there is any nobler combination
in the world, imagination, being overtasked, cannot
conceive of it. This is what we contemplate from
Capri in the blaze of the early summer, in its fresh
morning tints, in its sunset splendours, in grand
apparel of cloud and storm, in ineffable fulness of
peace. So that it is no common lot to begin with,
to live thus suspended midway between heaven and
the sea on this divine island, from which, if one's
ears were but sharp enough, one might still hear
out to seaward the terrible sweetness of the Siren's
song.

The holiday travellers who traverse Switzerland in
crowds, or who make an annual rush through Ger-

78 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

many, have, in most cases, a different kind of remin-
iscences to record from those who linger about Italy —
sometimes, it is true, out of pure love of the country,
but oftener from sadder motives, in the languor that
follows a great calamity, or the acuter misery which
precedes one. Even the artist in his wanderings is
distinct from the tourist — so that there is some excuse
for the readiness with which everybody who has
crossed the Alps records his experiences. Life is
more leisurely over that great boundary-line, if not
among the awakened Italians, at least among the
English visitors, to whom, even at the utmost stretch
of speed, it is impossible to do the country of art in
a few weeks. The difference, indeed, between the
tranquil incidents of Italian journeys, and the breath-
less bustle into which an astonished traveller drops
of a sudden who comes over one of the Alpine
passes the wrong way, and drops without any pre-
paration into Zurich, or Lucerne, or Geneva, is too
remarkable not to strike the most casual observer.
The crowd which rushed out of London yesterday,
and has to rush back again to-morrow, is constantly
thwarting its own endeavours to see everything by
its universal rush and bustle ; and even more en-
lightened and intelligent travellers so far put them-
selves at a disadvantage that their thoughts and
minds are still wholly occupied with their own
country, and its news and ways, while they snatch
a hurried glimpse of another — especially as that other

LIFE IN AN ISLAND. 79

is for them almost exclusively a " geographical ex-
pression," a mass of mountains, passes, lakes,, and
glaciers, never made into recognisable human soil by
any relationships between the inhabitants and the
visitors beyond those of steady extortion on one side
and violent objurgation on the other. "Were it not
that one is deterred from lively ridicule by a certain
sense that one is liable in one's own person to com-
ment of the same amusing description, there is scarcely
any exhibition of modern life more absurd than the
aspect of an English party in. the act of doing a
famous point of view. Any attempt at enthusiasm
under such awful circumstances is enough to com-
promise the character of the unhappy individual who
commits it for half his life — and indeed the ortho-
dox rule of behaviour on such occasions seems to
demand that each of the company should confiden-
tially express to some other his sense of the utter
bore to which he is being subjected, and his profound
conviction that fine scenery is a delusion. These
were thy sentiments, dear countryman, on the heights
of the Gemmi, on the sweetest August morning —
thou whose accent breathed of Edinburgh, and who
carriedst "W.S." stamped all over thy substantial
frame and jovial features. But the ineffable sickness
which possessed thee for anything in the shape of a
mountain by no means impaired thy relish for the
distant glacier, which no one else of discreet years
had ambition enough to scale ; and the austere path-

80 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

way grew pleasant when it became known to thee
that* ears not unacquainted with the gossip of thy
beloved town were at hand to listen. And the fact is,
that to the critic who writes, the liveliest impression
which remains of that marvellous pass is not of the
lovely woodland ways in which it commences, nor
of the wonderful desolation of the loftier heights,
nor even of the dizzy slope of the descent towards
Leukerbad, bewildering to look at, and dangerous to
tread, but of the two men who talked and walked
and looked Edinburgh, who uttered gossip refreshing
to hear, and were as easy to be identified as if they
had carried the emblems of their profession, like the
number of a regiment, on their dusty tourist-hats.
Though the names of our dear compatriots are un-
known to us, do not we cherish their cheerful recol-
lection in our hearts 1 In fact, Switzerland is, as we
have already said, a geographical expression to the
wandering English — and, in addition, a place where
people make acquaintance with their country-folks;
for as for human features, unless Alpine horns, black
velvet bodices, and wood-carvings may be regarded
in that light, the country, as generally seen and
understood, has none.

But it is otherwise on the other side of the Alps.
There the cortege moves more slowly, the traveller
lingers longer, and he is self-contained indeed who
does not link himself somehow in human association
with something Italian. This is all a long digression

LIFE IN AX ISLAND. 81

out of Capri, with which we started, but it is in ac-
cordance with the spirit of our argument to take time
on the way. Capri lies in the blue Mediterranean, a
kind of everlasting sentinel watching at the entrance
of the Bay of Xaples. The early sun rises upon us
in the morning over the wild height of St Angelo, on
the Sorrento side, and Ischia lies full in his way to
the west, and arranges for him a magnificent fore-
ground for his final ceremony. But Ischia, and St
Angelo, and even the heights of our own island,
though more imposing neighbours, are not nearly so
ready names upon our lips as are the melodious names
of a crowd of good-natured, handsome people, who
came pouring down the steep roads to give us the
bon viutjr/io when we said farewell to Capri ; for did
not farewell to Capri mean farewell to a host of
Marias mainly to be distinguished by secondary
names — to Eosina the alert and skilful, to Carminello
and Carminello s mother, to ugly Eaffael, and honest
Luigi, and Feliciello handy and handsome 1 Such are
the kindly ties that link even a passing visitor to the
dear Italian soil ; and indeed, even to the most care-
less eye, the race in these regions is worth looking at.
Capri is famed for beautiful women ; that is to say, a
certain number of years ago several English gentle-
men, of various degrees, making the plunge in com-
mon, abandoned the usages of society and married
Capriote girls, possessed of nothing but beauty — not
even of those universal faculties which, according to

VOL. VI. F

82 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

Dogberry, come by nature. The result has been suf-
ficiently successful in one case at least, where the
hero has been rewarded by finding a notable and
buxom housewife in the nymph of his choice. But
since this holocaust of Englishmen occurred, it has
been considered right to say that the Capri women
are beautiful, an opinion enthusiastically indorsed by
a recent traveller,1 who describes the Capriote girls
as resembling a procession of virgin queens. Such
elevated expressions can scarcely be applied to our
Marias, though among them ranks a family of three
generations, as good an example of race and blood
and handsome healthfulness as could be found in any
class. Old Maria Frederica is seventy, she says. I
fear — I very much fear — that Eaffaelo, who is ugly
as Satan, is the youngest of her sons ; but the ques-
tion has not been subjected to rigorous proof. She
herself is as handsome an old witch as any painter
could wish for ; a witch benevolent — if such a thing
could be — a benign sibyl, who has taken divination
and prophecy in hand in order to wish with authority
all manner of good things to her clientele. Xo tints
that can be described by ink, and few that the richer
palette boasts, could express the rich ruddy russet
brown, all lighted up and sweetened with the crimson
of pure blood and perfect health, of this old woman's
face ; and to see her rushing up the long steep stony
stairs — Avhich are the popular substitute for roads in
1 ' A "Winter in the Two Sicilies,' by Julia Kavanagh.

LIFE IX AX ISLAND. 83

Capri — by the side of her donkey, not sparing to
urge that reluctant animal into a trot if the little
signorino wills it, is a sight to fill with envy many
a man half her age. I^ext to her comes her daughter
Maria, with a baby in her arms, who is not Maria
the third only because that name is already claimed
by the smiling woman-girl, with heavy locks of black
already twisted round the silver spadella, who holds
the next place in the family, and wears, after a fresher
and softer fashion, the same tints on her cheeks.
The head-dress of the old Maria consists of a coloured
handkerchief, tied on in a curious but most simple
fashion, forming the tiniest twist of turban with three
of its corners, and permitting the fourth to hang down
behind, and veil her ancient parchment-coloured neck.
Maria the second and Maria the third wear nothing
but their hair, which is black as night, and reflects
the blazing sunshine, of which neither seems to have
any fear. This is the kind of beauty common in
Capri — large black shining eyes, radiant with fun
and good -humour, teeth a great deal Avhiter than
pearls, and complexion such as it brightens one's
pallor only to look at. But then such a glow, which
is glorious in Capri against the living blue of the sea
and the wonderful blaze of the sun, might make a
different impression amid the subdued tones of an
English drawing-room : and, on the whole, we fear
the experiment of marriage is a doubtful one. But
that great event of the past has not been without its

84 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

effect upon public opinion and female ambition in our
island. The girls of Capri, in distinction to those of
Anacapri, the other village, which is a few thousand
feet nearer heaven, and less liable to the incursions of
the Franks and Goths, are maliciosa, Feliciello says,
and doubtless he has means of knowing. Maliciosa
— apt to conduct themselves with a mischievous un-
warrantable haughtiness, remembering the triumphs
of their predecessors over the Forestieri, and not un-
hopeful of such chances in their own persons. The
maidens of Anacapri are of less ambitious thoughts ;
and there is to be seen a certain Chiara, Chiarina,
little Clara, clearly notable among her peers, with hair
of Titian's colour and a head like an antique Venus,
who might in a year or two, granting what is within
to resemble what is outside, be worth such a sacrifice,
if any young beauty ever was — which is a proposition
one may be permitted to doubt.

The Capri men are not all like Feliciello ; but out
of our affection for our trusty guide we will let him
stand as their representative, though he comes from
the Sorrento side. Feliciello's capital and stock-in-
trade consists of three ponies and a wife. With the
first he conducts the Forestieri all over the island ;
and by means of the latter, a shrill and nimble animal
of burden, conveys the baggage of the Signori, and
many another trifle, up and down the steep and stony
ways. If she had not been singularly ill-favoured, it
might have been possible to feel a certain pity for Mrs

LIFE IN AX ISLAND. 85

Feliciello ; but that softer feeling was lost in a sense
of indignation to find the ugliest woman in the island,
a creature so uninteresting that we never even learned
her name, in lawful possession of our handsome guide.
Alas ! he was not perfect, though he was charming.
It was an interested marriage, our host informed us
gravely ; not that the poor woman possessed any-
thing— but then look at her arms ! none of all her
compeers could carry such weights ; and Felice had
done very well for himself. His other property was
equally serviceable. A little white pony, the sturdiest
of his race, who came from Ischia, and had doubtless
spent his baby days in that cognate island, as he
spends his maturity in Capri, going up -stairs and
down-stairs, like the goose in the fable, was the pride
of Feliciello's heart. Another of his steeds, whether
by means of its saddle, or of something characteristic
and individual in its physiognomy, bore the most
curious resemblance to a dromedary which was ever
seen out of the Zoological Gardens. The third was
a fiery courser, which, when — as occurred at rare but
precious intervals — a level bit of road of twenty paces
or so was to be met with, could be stimulated out
of his ordinary composed pace into a short and hard
trot. It was to this spirited and majestic animal that
Feliciello preferred his favourites, himself walking
by the stirrup. Whether he helped himself up the
steep bits of the road by means of the tail, I cannot
affirm, but his assistant, Pascorello, certainly did ; and

86 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

indeed, as a general rule, preferred to direct the good
old dromedary by means of that appendage. With
this attendance how many hills have we climbed,
and beguiled how many languid hours ! — over roads
narrow and stony, and of imperial date — the Roman
roads that once went through the world — but here all
interspersed with stairs, and mostly hemmed in by
walls, over which came heavy and sweet the breath
of the orange - blossoms which perfume the entire
island ; past cottages all white and windowless, with
flat faintly-rounded roofs that spoke of the East, and
out upon the free hillside, where all the slopes were
bristling with fantastic apparitions of vegetation, the
quaint and hideous prickly pear. But howsoever the
road went, it led always to some mount of vision,
from which the strangers could look again upon those
unparalleled coasts, the landscape which no poet's
imagination could surpass, and of which even the
guides were to a certain extent sensible, but in a
reasonable way. " Vedi Napoli, e mori" in humble
quotation of the proverb, said an English lady in a
moment of enthusiasm. Feliciello stopped short by
the stirrup, and Pascorello turned from his horse's tail.
" But why, signora 1 " said the wondering Capriotes ;
perhaps because, seeing Naples every day, they felt no
necessity for dying. With peasants, even when they
are Italians, the sentimental stands but little chance.
But they were not indifferent like the prosaic Swiss,
to whom their mountains are a matter of trade. A

LIFE IN AX ISLAND. 87

gleam of triumph lighted up Feliciello's fine eyes, as
he found out another and yet another point of view.
He paused to look at it himself with a certain fond-
ness, grateful, no doubt, to the loveliness of nature
which got him his living ; and the landscape was morto
bella even to the least susceptible of the train.

It cannot be denied, however, that they speak very
bad Italian in our island, if we may pause to say so,
and change the I into r with ruthless roughness, not
to speak of other barbarities. It would be vain to
attempt to shake the popular conviction that Italian
is the most musical and soft of languages, though
practically our own opinion and experience go against
this amiable fallacy; but the profoundest believer
in its heau.y would be startled to have a villanous
" Bash ! " thrown at him like a stone, instead of the
gentle " Basta," which looks so well in print ; and
would find it hard to identify " Ashpett " Avith the
liquid " Aspetta," which conveys its meaning in its
very sound. Such eccentricities of popular diction
are, however, common to all languages ; but there
is something especially characteristic in the Capriote
affirmative, " JSTiursi," which combines respect and de-
cision in one of the contractions dear to all Italians.
" Si, Signore," sounds soft and yielding ; but a woman
who says "Niursi," is likely to know her mind and
keep by her determination. The same abrupt affirma-
tive is to be met with along the Sorrentine coast, but
the Capriotes pique themselves a little on it as their

88 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

own possession, and resent its use by any impertinent
stranger. It is, as will be seen, a simple compound
of the last syllable of si<jnor with the universal .-•/,
according to the Italian usage of pronouncing the
respectful title first ; but the result is a response of
the most distinct and uncompromising sound, more
like a defiant negative than a soft and gentle Yes.
Those kind people of whom we have been speaking
are not badly off in their way, though there are not
above four or five families in the community, accord-
ing to Feliciello, who have meat on their table except
twice in the year — at Easter and Christmas. Even
maccaroni is food for festas. The common fare is
wholesome brown bread, polenta, beans, and vege-
tables ; but a family table well supplied with these
substantial comestiUli satisfies bountifully the require-
ments of nature in Capri, where life exists Tinder
primitive conditions. Manufacture of any shape has
not begun as yet ; but there cannot be any doubt
as to the patient and painstaking industry which has
brought under cultivation, up to the very summits,
the steep hillsides. To pass along those terraced
heights, where corn and wine and oil are being pro-
duced upon tiny shelves of soil sometimes no broader
than an ordinary table, gives an impression of cheerful,
steady, well-rewarded labour, which I do not remem-
ber to have derived from agriculture on a grander
scale. It is impossible to lose your way on these
hills, for every little plateau has of necessity its

LIFE IN AN ISLAND. 89

thread of pathway, closely bordered by the bristling
wheat or the heavy stalks of the Gran Turco — under
which imposing title maize is grown in Italy — and
its communications, more or less practicable, with the
shelf above and the shelf below. Here and there
precious olives give the sweetest shade — shade which
is at once a particular and a general advantage — not
only refreshing the wayfarer, but softening with
tranquil tones of grey the brilliancy of the land-
scape ; and vines run everywhere like the lizards ;
and dewy crops of flax, all starred with blue blossoms,
wave softly about in the breeze. If anywhere an
ambitious landholder covets a hedge for his posses-
sions, he finds the prickly pear ready to his hand,
standing about in all kinds of corners, like the gro-
tesque but faithful dwarf of medieval story. And
over homely cabbages and huge artichokes, and the
heavy-blossomed spikes of the lupin, from which
comes the large white feve so popular in these regions,
fall abrupt blotches of shadow from the fig-trees, upon
which the green figs push out, blunt and shapeless,
among the half-developed leaves. As for the oranges,
they have gardens to themselves, where they hang all
the year round in delicious gradation — the blossoms
on one bough, the ripe fruit on another, hanging like
golden globes among the shady leaves. As you pull
down the richest bough hanging heavy with oranges,
you can make a long arm and reach, if you are so
wanton, blossoms enough to crown a bride. And

90 TKAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

there are other perplexities of choice, since the tree
at one side of you bears the compact little mandarins,
with their peculiar fragrance and invariable sweet-
ness; and on the other hang pale sweet lemons,
which you must eat for the name of the thing, though
the produce is less satisfactory ; and then there is the
citron, with the rind (which is the best of it) an inch
thick, filled with a meaningless pulp, which does not
count for much. These orange-gardens are walled in,
and have careful appliances for irrigation, which
indeed are common to all the cultivation of Capri ;
and some of them still preserve the reservoirs, built
large and deep, of the everlasting Eoman masonry,
which are as old as Tiberius — whose name, by the
way, reminds us, lectore carissima, that by dint of
gossip about our friends and their mode of living, we
have delayed as yet our laAvful business as cicerone,
and have not taken you to see the sights.

There are in Capri four lesser and one greater
height, between which lies all the habitable and
fertile part of the island. The highest mountain-
head is Monte Solaro, a towering mass of limestone,
on one side of which, on a larger shelf than usual,
lies among the clouds the village of Anacapri, already
mentioned ; and under the shelter of this great hill,
and defended east and west by the lesser heights,
occurs the valley, if it can be so called, or rather the
lower ridge, saddle-shaped, and sloping down to the
sea on both sides, in which Capri proper, with its

LIFE IN AX ISLAND. 91

cathedral, its dismantled convent, and indefensible
gates, occupies the centre of the landscape. Sea-
ward, at both ends of the island, great precipices,
1800 feet or more of sheer ascent from the water,
rise up in perpendicular austerity, communicating
none of the secrets they hold in their bosom ; al-
though such secrets as the Blue Grotto, and the
scarcely less beautiful Passagio Yerde, might be
worth bragging of. Between these mighty ramparts,
looking towards Naples, appears the soft edge of the
Marina, Avith its fringe of boats, with olives and
orange-gardens opening upward to the white line of
the village, which lies like a thread along the ridge.
On the other side of the saddle, exactly opposite the
Marina Grande, the Piccola Marina, a smaller but
lovelier nook of accessible shore, defended by im-
mense corners of rock, and populated by a lesser
population of fishing-boats and fisher children, turns
its face towards Sicily, opening up, like the other, its
gardens and terraces towards the village. Thus the
Capriotes can contemplate the sea on either side of
them from their airy position. Of the hills which
fence them from the east and the west, the one to
which the stranger is first led is that called by the
peasants Tiberio, upon which the most articulate
relics of the terrible Emperor are to be found. These
consist chiefly of certain majestic rounded arches, like
those of the Temple of Yenus at Rome, which look
out from the masses of rubbish, gaunt and vacant,

92 TRAVEL, ADVENTUllE, AND SPORT.

upon the new and alien world; and a careful anti-
quarian might follow out, if he would, to some ex-
tent the plan of the guilty palace, in which were
once enacted wickednesses past thinking of. There
is even a bit of pavement extant, perfect and clear
mosaic, the floor apparently of a passage once leading
to the sea, upon which unhappy paramours or trem-
bling victims might have fluttered yesterday, for any-
thing the obdurate perfection of the path can say
against it. The topmost height has been consecrated
by a little chapel to the glory of Our Lady of Succour
— Santa Maria del Soccorso — which in its way, if
one were disposed to take the world in a mythical
aspect, and treat the religions and the vices of
humanity as equally accidental, would look a very fit
poetic justice and revenge of time. Here, where the
•weak were once ground to powder, to set up over
the dead force of pagan Rome that meek image of
the suffering woman, the mother pitiful and tender,
marks a touching and wonderful revolution. One
might even imagine, to carry fancy a little farther,
that the Madonna-worship throughout Italy was in-
tended as a kind of compensation to the ideal type
of woman for all the hardship inflicted on her kind.
The soft Italian is scarcely more chivalrous than was
the hard-hearted Roman. It does not strike him as
anomalous that his wife should fetch and carry up
and down these flinty stairs like a beast of burden,
while he walks unencumbered, or rides the patient

LIFE IN AX ISLAND. 93

donkey as far as the village piazza. Such a division
of labour is counted natural — at all events, in Capri ;
but in compensation to the sex, it is to a deified
woman that he addresses his prayers. It would be
curious to observe whether the rule holds among
the more devoted votaries of Mary throughout the
world.

But there are better things to be seen on this
Tiberian height. On the highest point in front of
the chapel is a grassy platform, upon which the meek
hermit who has charge of the little sanctuary places
chairs for the accommodation of the Signori and the
good of the eleemosina box which hangs against the
wall. Xiccolo is not by any means an austere or
alarming anchorite, but a youth of two or three and
twenty, a pensive soul, half frightened at his own
temerity in dwelling up here among the winds ; who
cultivates meekly a little corn and a few vegetables
in the ruined chambers of Tiberius, and gets his
living painfully, like all the other peasants of Capri,
from the produce of his little shelves and boxes of
soil. This modest youth, who might almost, with a
little idealisation and a fillet in his hair, stand for one
of the deacon-angels in an old picture, wisely says
nothing about the landscape, but leaves it to his
visitors to enjoy for themselves. It is, with enlarge-
ments and appendices, the same beautiful vision
which we have already described. All the curving
lip of the bay is traced in sunshine with a continuous

94 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

line of white towns and villages, broken here and
there by vague promontories and stretches of shadowy
beach — from Torre del Annunziata, which lies perilous
on the dark skirts of Vesuvius, to the distant glimmer
of human habitations towards Baise on the other side.
And if the sun is verging towards the west, it is. over
the mountain-mass of Ischia, towering high out of the
dazzling water, that he sends the mist of light which
seems to weave itself into a changing tissue of gold
and purple upon Mount Epomeneo, and over the
low-lying hillocks of Procida. To the east, the eye,
if it could ever tire of the bay before it, can escape
to the open sea, and to the glorious coast towards
Amain, which scarcely condescends to slope its
mountainous sides towards the sea, but yet holds
half-way up lines of inaccessible white towns perched
among the cliffs and facing the south — or mezzo-gionio,
as the Italians say, and it is a better word. Not the
south, the mere quarter from which the winds blow,
but noon in full impersonation, the blazing joyous
mid-day, zenith and crown of all the hours. These
same towns secure to the landscape here, as in most
parts of Italy, that unfailing charm of human interest
which, even when historical associations are wanting,
gives an additional delight to the scene. The coast
of the Gulf of Salerno' could not be otherwise than
grand under any circumstances, yet but for the glim-
mer of yonder inaccessible Positano on the further
headland, and all the touches of light between which

LIFE IN AN ISLAND. 95

mark the line of human habitations, it would be but
a gloomy and silent grandeur. And tragic and terrible
are the memories that Poetry has woven about that
coast ; for yonder lie the tiny islets — detached rocks
greened over with deceitful verdure — where the
Sirens sang. A little personal experience of such
storms as change the face of heaven in a moment,
and make the skies darken and the sea rise, gives a
reality to the tale, and makes one hold one's breath.
In the sudden tumult, through the sudden gloom,
with those vast cliffs looming in the blackness under
the lee, it is not difficult to conjure up the broken
notes of that song which tempted the mariner to his
fate. But no imagination could be more utterly out
of accord with the caressing sweetness of this day-
light sea.

The humble hermit stands at his chapel door, and
takes no heed of one's musings ; and unless it were
a Aveary ghost of Tiberius's day, or perhaps a more
recent spectre of one's own, there is nothing here to
interrupt the silence. The sea comes very softly to
the foot of the precipice, sheer down eighteen hun-
dred feet, and breathes upwards a compassionate
hush, so soft and oft-repeated that one comes to feel
as if he meant it, and had woven the observation of
ages, the result of all his long spectatorship of human
grief, into that one compassionate syllable. Hush !
If you listen, you will find that the very air has
caught the trick, and breathes it after him in keys

96 TKAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

as softly varied as the tones of a poet. It is not like
the Sirens' song. This still ocean has no thrilling
invitation to give, no secret pleasures to offer; but
round the storied coasts, where he has seen so much,
and where, perhaps, by times, a groan over human
misery has rent his great bosom, and driven him to
passion, he comes now in his milder mood with a dis-
passionate but tender pity. Has not he too seen
nights of sadness and misery, days of tempest and
tribulation, in which the sun went down at noon ?
But still the morning and the calm returned in their
time. The moral is too vast for human life, in which
there is neither time nor space for the everlasting
renovations of which nature is capable ; but there is
a certain healing in the sound, impersonal though it
is. . Few human creatures could pause here on Tiberio
Avithout an access of thought. It was here, close by,
that the victims of the wicked emperor were pitched
headlong from the terrific Salto into the soft remorse-
ful sea. And there, where Piccolo's innocent gourds
are growing, the walls that confine the little plot are
the walls of the Camarelli, infernal chambers, which
even the Eoman people, not too scrupulous, razed
wellnigh to the ground for horror of the vice once
practised there — which has all given place, as we
have said, to the meek image of Our Lady of Succour
and her lonely little chapel. And was it not yonder,
on the cloudy skirts of Vesuvius, that in a moment,
in the twinkling of an eye, a city passed from life to

LIFE IN AX ISLAXD. 97

death ? The worst of it is that from those big recol-
lections that belong to the world, the solitary muser
naturally turns to recollections of his own, which
may, heaven knows, be as sad as Pompeii, but are
not equally interesting to other men. Wherefore let
us take into our heart, as best we may, that soft and
abstract compassion of the sea, which is for us and
for all. Hush ! What more can anything mortal
say?

And there are the boats skimming like birds to-
wards Sicily, which lies yonder lost in the blue
heavens ; and here, at our left hand, the white skiffs
from Sorrento linger underneath the cliffs waiting for
the Forestieri, who have gone to the Blue Grotto,
and stay there so long beyond anybody's patience,
that the forlorn boatmen shout " Maccaronii ! " to
each other as they pass, by way of keeping up their
spirits — for is not that a specific for all troubles 1
" Coraggio a voi, maccaroni a noi" says Feliciello,
showing a want of refinement in the use of the
second person plural which wounds one's feelings.
As we come down the hill, it will be worth your
while to step aside to the Salto, and watch the quick
seconds whirling round on your watch, while the
attendant there makes the usual experiment on your
behalf by pitching down a stone sufficiently heavy to
be heard as it dashes on the rocks below. The seconds
pass quickly, to be sure ; but the sense of time which
grows upon the listener watching that noiseless finger

VOL. VI. G

98 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

speed round its entire circuit while he waits for the
crash below, has something awful in it. How many
thoughts might have had time to rush through the
doomed brain as it whirled down that awful abyss
to be dashed on the hideous rocks ! — and from that
thought, somehow, one's mind leaps, I cannot tell
why, to one of the liveliest of modern controversies,
and wonders, in the matter of punishment, what does
Lord "Westbury think would be a long enough term
for such a likely penitent as this same Tiberius — or
what could be made of him, if he ever made his way
out of the everlasting prisons 1 This is a matter in
respect to which the untrained and arbitrary mind
has an advantage over its superiors ; but I cannot
help thinking it would be a great satisfaction, in
respect to the Tiberii of all ages and nations, if one
could hope that their spiritual necks were broken
over some grand Salto, and themselves made a sum-
mary end of at once and for ever — which, however,
is an expedient which it is to be feared would please
neither party in the polemical question. In case his
victims by any happy chance should escape the rocks
and plunge into the sea, thus gaining a possibility of
escape, there were boats waiting underneath, under
the awful upright gloom of those noble cliffs, with
spears ready for the unfortunates, who surely, if
Dante had regulated the business, would have been
provided with a red-hot spear or two to receive their
murderer upon Avhen he came to join them. But

LIFE IN AN ISLAND. 99

these images are too gruesome for the Capri sunshine,
which has nothing to do with murder ; and the best
thing we can do, when we have descended the hill,
is to follow the level road — the only level road in the
island — which leads through the heart of cultivation
and civilisation, to the point of Tregara, where, in the
full sea which throbs away from this sunny beach to
Sicily and Africa and all the southern world, stand
the gigantic rocks called the Faraglioni, three mighty
limestone towers a stone's throw from the land. From
this point all the amateur artists make their first
sketches, and doubtless also many artists who are
something more than amateurs. The water beats
dazzling upon the everlasting foundation of these
wonderful landmarks, and sweeps through the chill
magnificent arch which pierces the heart of the
biggest rock, and above them flutter white flocks of
sea-birds, called monaclii by the natives, which make
their nests in the cliffs. Nothing could be more
different than the aspect of affairs here and in the
scene we have just quitted. On that side so much
variety and so many associations ; on this, only the
absolute and arbitrary sea, with those three gigantic
rocks standing out of it, and the quail-nets spread
upon the solitary beach. The scene could not be
more peaceful if the Faraglioni had been put in
harness, as becomes their name, and had grown to be
the Pharos of that waste of water, doing human
service in the most noble and touching office which

100 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

nature can hold for man. But the dark rocks are
more congenial than any charitable beacon to the
tragic coast of the Sirens, and there they stand, to
warn if anybody could see them, to crash to powder
if any hapless little vessel swung against their stony
masses in the despair and blackness of a storm. And
now let us go back along the flowery road, where the
figs and the olives throw sweet patches of shadow,
and all the hill below, and all the hill above, runs
over with luxuriant growth, confusing the lines of the
terraces by the profusion of vegetation, and mantling
up all the walls and steps in emerald green ; the sun
has gone down behind Solaro, behind Ischia, if we
could but see it ; and before we are aware, the bell of
the Ave Maria rings out from the old church, and
darkness, swift and sudden, falls upon earth and sea.
Next day, with a calm sea and no wind to speak
of, we will take you to the Grotto Azzurro, which
hides round the dark cliffs yonder, in a secrecy so
great that it is easy to believe that chance alone
rediscovered that wonderful fairy vault. The Medi-
terranean is sweet, and sweeter still is the Bay of
Naples; but that ideal sea, upon which ordinary
persons can launch fairy skiffs and float about for
ever without inconvenience, is still hidden in the
clouds, like most other ideal things ; and delicious as
the blue water is to look at, it would be vain to dis-
guise the fact that those long soft undulations are
evidences of a swell anything but agreeable to un-

LIFE IN AN ISLAND. 101

practised travellers. When we have passed the
cheerful Marina, and run, alarmingly close, along the
base of the great precipices towards the west, it is be-
wildering to see the Sorrento boats lie waiting oppo-
site a huge dead mass of rock, which looks as impene-
trable as an Alp, and shows no opening, unless that
tiny pigeon-hole on the level of the sea, three feet
high, and not much more wide, should happen to be
the gateway for which our boatman aims. There is
just width enough for a little boat to pass, and you
have to crouch down in the bottom, with your head
on a level with the seat you have just been occupy-
ing, as we shoot through the narrow gloomy arch.
Within you open your eyes upon a scene too solemnly
and mysteriously beautiful to be adequately described
by the wondering exclamation of " Fairyland ! " which
most people make on entering; denoting by that
word that they are altogether perplexed and be-
wildered for the moment by something beyond what
imagination has ever conceived. When you have re-
covered your senses after the first awe of that blue
twilight, the outlines of this strange temple of nature
grow clear — that is, as clear as anything can be
through the azure mist, in which your neighbour's
face is as the face of a spirit, and flesh and blood
grow white and ethereal, sublimated out of all the
tints of life. It is the light that never was on sea or
land that dwells in this little sanctuary in the bosom
of the seas ; light not of the sun or the moon, but

102 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

something mysterious between the two ; blue day-
light so changed and mysticised by its passage
through the blue water, that there is no familial-
feature left by which to recognise the well-known
morning. It is not that the limestone arch is blue,
but that the reflection from the marvellous tint of the
water, which is like the blue of a forget-me-not or a
child's eyes, floats about it in a magical haze of reflec-
tion, shrouding its austere proportions, and making
the rugged grot into a mystic chapel As the boat
glides noiseless over the sapphire floor, the soft
silence hushes out even the joyous voices that are
hushed nowhere else. Nothing less lofty than a Te
Deum should wake the echoes of that solemn vault.
In the gloom at the upper end, the swart boatman,
perched on a ledge of a rock, looks like a great white
angel, fit to be there ; and here, from where the altar
should be, to look at the ever-brightening blue, as it
opens to the narrow arch, is like looking into some
blue doorway in the sky, such as must lead to heaven.
Hush ! here comes another boat, black and noiseless,
with bowing heads, that sink to the level of the sea,
and one solemn crouching figure at the prow, guid-
ing the silent voyage. Is it Charon, with his fixed
blank eyes and helpless passengers ? or is it only a
ruddy English party from Sorrento, with all the roses
quenched out of their cheeks by what looks like awe,
but is perhaps only atmosphere ? Away before they
recover themselves and begin to talk, for here comes

LIFE IN AN ISLAND. 103

another and another boat ; and again we make our
obeisances, and steal out like banished souls into the
garish sunshine and the unveiled day.

One of the scenes in Hans Christian Andersen's
novel of the ' Improvisatore,' a book in which the
Swedish sentimentalist has made use of his travels, is
laid in this Blue Grotto ; and it is, if we recollect
rightly, a scene of mystery and passion, in which the
hero has a tantalising glimpse of the heroine, and
everything ends in throbbing pulses, breaking hearts,
and a climax of vague and Avordy excitation. But
anything less like passion or excitement of any kind
than this vault of misty azure can scarcely be con-
ceived. He would be a bold man, and yet a foolish
one, who would try love-making in such a scene,
much less flirtation. The only feeling in the least
like its effect which we can remember, is that sense of
subdued sensation, if one might use such an expres-
sion, the tranquillising awe that steals over a mind
subject to such influences in a Gothic crypt, more
especially one from which all the worship and the
decoration has departed. If the Catholic Church,
always so ready to note and profit by the accidental
sanctities of locality, had consecrated the Grotto
Azzurro, no one could have been surprised. Stoop
down and hold your breath, as we shoot again all
darkling through the arch which hangs heavy with
salt sea-dew. "It is not true — it is not real — it is a
dream," says some one, and Feliciello opens his brown

104 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

eyes a little wider, and shows his white teeth through
his beard. What next will they say, these incredible
Forestieri 1 Not real ! and yet how many honest
fellows make their living by it, and but for this little
stealthy archway and the scene to which it opens,
could no more afford to marry and multiply than our
guide himself could manage to live without Tiberio !
But though Feliciello smiles, he does not condescend
to any other notice of so ridiculous an exclamation.
The Blue Grotto is part of his manor, and of the
estate of Antoniiio of Sorrento, and many another ;
and as for the nonsense uttered by the Signori
Inglesi in their bad Italian, who pays any attention ?
And now, as the swell has fallen a little, let us pluck
up a heart and make our way round the island in
Luigi's big boat, Avith four stout rowers, who take
their business very quietly. These four lithe brown
figures, who stand to their oars, propelling their boat,
not in our English fashion, seated, but standing, and
with their faces to the prow, in their red Phrygian
caps and scanty white under-garment, bear a character
more fitting the place than any decorous British boat's
crew, though Luigi himself, in the blue coat he wears
on Sundays, looks twenty times more like a Scotch
elder than a Neapolitan marinaro. Past the softened
cliffs, which form a bulwark to the high table-land on
which Anacapri lies unseen among the clouds ; past the
little tower which commands the one accessible point on
this iron-bound coast, the little rocky landing-place at

LIFE IN AX ISLAND. 105

Limbo ; past the wild bastion that confronts Ischia
and the setting sun ; and now again we sweep along by
the foot of frightful precipices to the south, rocks rising
into such a line of rocky needles, sharp and gigantic, as
remind one of the Aiguilles farther north among the
eternal snows. But it is rare indeed that the snow
lies at Capri, and all those peaks of rock burn all day
long in the full sun. Down below, at the base of
those tremendous cliffs, lies the Grotto Verde, no
secret and sacred place like the other, but a wonder-
ful brief passage riven through the rocks, which glow
inside with a sulphureous golden green, and throw
upon the water deep emerald reflections, strange to
behold in the midst of that blue sea ; for blue and
green are not comparative expressions in the Bay of
Naples, but mean to the fullest extent the colour
they represent : and the green of that marvellous
opening, as our boat pushes cautiously through it,
grinding on the rocks on either side, is greener than
any verdure about Capri — green like nothing but the
brilliant profound tint of the emerald ; though it
requires but one long sweep of the oars, one bend of
the brown xinanimous figures, to carry us over patches
of deep indigo into the common heaven of blue, the
universal Mediterranean colour. And here now
comes the little Marina, and that lovely pool shut in
by .rocks, and sweet with such bewildering tints and
gradations of colour as would drive any painter wild,
which we have christened Diana's Bath. Most good

106 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

things known in the world are to be had in Eng-
land, but colour is one of the few, the wondrous few,
that are wanting. It seems to develop a new sense
when the sober British eye begins to take in all this
inconceivable wealth. The water itself gradually
lightening out of its blueness, as it steals along more
and more shallow to the silver sand, coquetting
through every charming subterfuge of azure and green
and grey before it breaks at last upon the little
pebbles, and owns itself only a limpid medium for
all reflections, colourless in itself. And then the
rocks that have tossed themselves about as if in sport
to secure these coy and tender wavelets, throwing a
stone or two into the shape of an arch, to be sure, as
is the fashion of the island ; what cool tones of brown
and grey — what wild sulphureous touches — what
russet stains that burn red in the sun ! The recollec-
tions of this day's voyage might suffice to brighten
up the leaden shadows for a whole lifetime at home.
It is just possible that on the face of the precipice,
as we rounded the rocks this morning from the
Marina, you might see some faint zigzag lines
scratched with an air of meaning ; and as the days
are endless on paper, and fatigue an unknown acci-
dent, we will take another direction this time, and
show you their signification. Here, for some reason
which we cannot explain, perhaps because it lies too
much under the shadow of Monte Solaro for great
productiveness, the higher slope is left to nature, and

LIFE IX AX ISLAND. 107

has grown into a wild and sweet thicket of myrtle
and arbutus, through which the path climbs and
winds amid such a flush of cistus-blossoms as were
never seen before. A little earlier the wood was
starred all over with cyclamens, and earlier still per-
fumed the very world with violets. You may still
have fragrance enough, if you crush under foot as
you pass by a handful of those abundant myrtle-
leaves. It is here our industrious friends, ever anxi-
ous to turn an honest penny, find the walking-sticks
which kind Santella sells — but hereafter you shall
hear about Santella. In the meantime, let us brush
through the fragrant wood as far as the path will
take us. All this time have you not been regarding
with silent wonder and dismay the path which goes
forward so boldly, as if it meant to lead to somewhere,
and then all at once stops short before those scratches
on the face of the precipice 1 But do not be afraid !
To be sure, the Gemini itself is less perpendicular ;
but you may be sure it is a practicable road, by which
the Eoman engineers of the imperial days scaled the
inaccessible height. It is wrong, however, to call it
a road, for it is, on the contrary, a great stair, five
hundred steps and more, turning from right to left,
and from left to right, in an endless series of sharp
angles, up which the ponies (without their riders,
however) clamber almost as nimbly as the women,
who carry up and down all that Anacapri needs of
provisions, and all the wood that is used in the lower

108 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

village. Steadily up and down, without an additional
shade of colour or a quickening respiration, they march
with those great bundles on their heads, fagots of
wood or bales of roba, underneath which the faces
glance maliciosa, as Feliciello says ; not beautiful
faces in general, though sometimes a straight and
sullen Grecian profile strikes out against the back-
ground of rock, perfect in form, though not so attrac-
tive as the commoner type, which, radiant in deep
colour, bright eyes, crisp hair, and pearly teeth, goes
into developments of nose and chin less regular than
the classic ideal. When you have reached the top of
the stair, here is the table-land of Anacapri, probably
the most fertile part of the island, though, but for
that stair, no traveller arriving in a legitimate manner
at the Marina could so much as guess at the existence
of the soft and fruitful slope which embosoms the
white village in foliage more luxuriant than anything
below. Here the corn, the wine, and oil grow
together, emblems of plenty ; and any wild bit of
soil that the thrifty cultivators may have suffered to
escape them, is blue with rough bright borage, dear to
the bees. It is difficult to imagine anything more
oriental than our Capri cottages, both above and
below, which are almost without exception flat-
roofed, and eschew windows to the best of their
ability, standing mildly blank in a peaceful white-
ness among their luxuriant terraces, admitting little
light save by the open door ; and the narrow village

LIFE IN AN ISLAND. 109

streets, where there is scarcely room for two people
to stand abreast, have something of the same Eastern
character. But Italy re-appears in the little piazza,
the universal village centre, where stands the church
and the Guardia Rationale, and the headquarters of
the little municipality ; and where the entire popula-
tion unite in directing the eyes of the strangers to a
tablet in the wall, where one reads in English words
the record of an English soldier's warfare and death —
Major Hamel, if our memory serves, who had charge
of the island and its defences the last time war
came Capri-wards. The brave Englishman died for
the island as used to be our English custom. One
wonders what had he to do shedding honest blood
for the wondering peasants, who are a great deal too
much absorbed, even in this age of enlightenment,
in their own primitive business, to care much, now
that massacre and cruelty are no longer in fashion on
one side or the other, what big kingdom takes little
Capri in tow ! But, after all, a man with his hands in
his pockets looking on at everything, is scarcely so dig-
nified a national ideal as is even this nameless Major,
dying like a hero in testimony of a certain wild idea, of
which England was possessed once upon a time, that
in the face of all big bullies and conquerors it was she
against the world. Other ideas have dawned upon the
present generation ; but still let us be excused if we love
our island all the better, because forthe sake of its scarce-
regarded freedom an English soldier shed his blood.

110 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

This same question of freedom appears in a very
prosaic light to our peasants, who have, on the whole,
a limited understanding of the whole business, and
speak with a grotesque familiarity of " Vittorio,"
whose identity seems altogether doubtful and un-
certain to them. Even in Capri the people are aware
what the name of Garibaldi means ; but Vittorio is
altogether an arbitrary sound. And liberty is dear,
as somebody says — very dear, costing a great deal
more than a paternal government ; and its advantages
are not so evident to the honest man whose affairs
and interests are all limited by the precipices of
Capri, as were the advantages of another exchange of
government to the sober Savoyard in Chamouni, who
explained that under French rule one could drink as
much as one pleased and could pay for, without any
tyrannical limit of communal law to stop one's liquor,
as under the Italian regime — a sensible sign of libera-
tion, which was plain to the most ordinary capacity.
But no such relaxation of tyranny has been felt at
Capri, where the only thing quite certain and apparent
is that liberty, as we have said, is dear. Nothing can
be more apparent indeed, throughout all this region
of Italy, than that the political revolution is in no
sense a peasant's question. The multitude on the
lowest level has been mute except for Garibaldi ; and
it is only in the class which has attained at least to
the beginnings of education, that any real compre-
hension of the matter is to be found. No distinction

LIFE IX AX ISLAND. Ill

could have been more apparent than that between
Feliciello's uninstructed peasant-estimate of this ques-
tion, and the enlightened opinion of the eldest
member of that brotherhood of talent which keeps
the Cappucini Hotel at Amalfi.1 JSTo doubt Melloni,
as a more responsible member of the community, paid
twice as heavily for his new privileges as an Italian
subject as our trusty Felice did. But Melloni be-
longed to the middle class, and had an eye beyond
the present moment, and could see with unques-
tionable distinctness beyond the pictorial chivalrous
figure of the Italian hero that altogether prosaic form
of the Italian King, which means not only Victor
Emmanuel, but many things unintelligible to the
peasant intelligence. The Amalfi innkeeper stands
at the lowest level of that class, which embraces all
the intelligence and enterprise of Italy ; and it is by
this vast body, a body at once more picturesque and
more real than the corresponding class in England,
and not by the usual concomitants of revolution, the
peasants and the nobles, that Italy has changed hands.
Melloni's sentiments on the subject of taxation, the
most difficult of all subjects to a people unaccustomed
to personal sacrifices, were such as would have filled

1 The youngest member of this brotherhood, Francesco, who
is the cook of the establishment, is not only in that particular an
artiste worthy of unqualified approbation, but is the possessor
of a tenor voice such as one seldom hears, with which he does
not refuse, on due solicitation, to charm his guests.

112 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

any Chancellor of the Exchequer with gratitude and
admiration ; whereas the poor Capriotes groan, not
blaming "Vittorio" — rather, on the whole, feeling a
kind of pride in him, as in some kind of unknown
ogre, who has proved his right to the kingdom in the
primitive way, by taking when he had the power —
but quite unable to conceive why they should pay
so much more for this new article, which, after all,
at a level of life so primitive as theirs, is a question
important enough to swallow up a good many more
visionary considerations.

As we thread the village streets and stairs on our
way home, passing various forlorn couples of old
soldiers, invalids of the Italian army, who inhabit the
lofty chambers of the old Certosa, or Carthusian con-
vent, let us glance into the cathedral in passing, where
at this moment, with voices that rend your ears, the
village girls are singing the Ave Maria. This volun-
tary choir, which is huddled up on its knees in a
corner of the church, and sings, or rather screams,
the Virgin's litany in a voice something between that
of a hoarse ballad-singer and a peacock, carries on its
devotion unnoticed by any one ; but in the body of
the church are seated a few old people, principally
old men, half at least old soldiers — passive, patient
figures, who are always to be found here, as indeed
in most Italian churches. The women who come in
make their way to pray at some special shrine, and
when they have made their reverence to the high

LIFE IN AN ISLAND. 113

altar go away again, having apparently relieved their
minds and made their necessities known. But the
old men sit still on chance benches, with their faces
towards the altar, some glancing up with dim eyes
as the strangers enter, but most keeping quite still.
What can they be doing here day after day and hour
after hour 1 Perhaps only taking shelter from the hot
sun, and resting their weary old limbs on the conve-
nient benches ; but there are numberless seats outside,
where there is something going on, and people to see.
and speak to. Here the dim old twilight souls say
nothing to each other. They carry no rosaries or
other implements of devotion, but sit in a kind of mild
torpor, with their faces to the altar, perhaps going
over and over the long lives which are now so near
the ending, possibly making a feeble darkling attempt
to trace God's guidance in them, and offering a mute
thankfulness or a mute complaint to the sole eye which
sees ; but anyhow, there is something in the spectacle
of tins pale old age finding peaceful refuge unmolested
in the open church, which is very toiiching to look at.
In England, and above all in Scotland, the chances
are that somebody would try to teach those torpid old
souls, and disturb the unspeakable musings in which
they spend their feeble remnants of life ; but here
they are left to themselves, and take what share they
please, or, if they please, no share at all, in the ser-
vices going on at the altar. And the Ave Maria
shrills out from the corner chapel at the present
VOL. vi. H

114 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

moment, without eliciting the least response from
these spectators. They are to be found throughout
Italy, wherever one goes ; and I cannot but think it
a touching and tender office of the ever-open church
to afford shelter and silence to these old worn-out
souls.

The cathedral itself does not contain anything very
remarkable, except a silver bust of St Costanzo, once
bishop of Capri, which the other day was carried in
procession to his chapel, attended by all the priests
and half the women of the village. That was the
great festa of the island ; for St Costanzo (though
some people think St Antonio of Padua a patron
more generally useful) is in right and justice the
protector of Capri, having arrested the Saracen boats
in the old, old times, which were coming to sack and
slaughter, by lifting his episcopal arm, and holding
out his hand to ward off the visitation. The Saracens
could not, with all their strivings, get a boat's length
nearer Capri in face of that gesture, more potent than
the uplifted arms of Moses, and were dispersed and
dashed to pieces and driven to sea, as happens habit-
ually to the oppressors of the saints. As for St Cos-
tanzo himself, he looks bland but helpless in his
silver image, which, being cut short by the breast,
conveys naturally an imperfect impression of the
beatified bishop ; but all the same, the spectators
strewed flowers in his path, and crowded his chapel,
and lighted up the piazza at night with fireworks in

LIFE IN AX ISLAXD. 115

his honour, as is the duty of the faithful. Except
these fireworks and the service in the chapel, which
was thronged to the very door with kneeling wor-
shippers, and much private performance upon the
penny whistle, that most cherished of Italian toys,
I am not aware that there were any other means of
excitement at the festa ; but such as it was, it an-
swered all the requirements of our Capriotes, Avho are
a contented race.

After saying so much, however, of the beauties of
Capri, it may be well to warn the unwary traveller
of the perils attending the arrival. When the slow
little steamer which comes twice a-week from Naples
(the maladetto Vapore, at which Feliciello swears all
manner of picturesque oaths) steams into sight, a
world of excited people, chiefly women, rush with
their donkeys to the Marina, Feliciello comes but
seldom, and by appointment, being a person of pre-
tensions ; but his wife, to whom we have already
referred, is among the throng. When the little boat
which lands the passengers approaches the beach, this
crowd rushes upon it like a horde of furies. Nobody
thinks twice in Capri of kilting siich scanty trousers
or petticoats as it may possess, and rushing with
brown shapely limbs knee-deep into the water on any
emergency ; and it cannot be denied that it is a little
alarming to be dragged headlong out of the boat and
fought for by a crowd of nondescript creatures, naked
and wet and shining to the knee, and with faces

116 TRAVEL, ADVENTUEE, AXD SPORT.

gleaming above these startling flesh-tints with eager-
ness that looks intent, not upon conveying you safely
to the village, but upon tearing you piecemeal — you
and your belongings. But there is not the least
occasion for alarm. This contending mob has just
been gathering, twenty strong, with glowing cheeks
and crisp locks, and limbs veiled and decorous, round
the two English ladies yonder in the corner of the
rocks, who have been taking a lesson in spinning
while they waited for the boat. Deft liosina, who
plucked you bodily out of Mrs Feliciello's hands,
rushed with the same instinct of knowing how, like
a capable soul as she is, to snatch out of the wonder-
ing owner's grasp the ready distaff and give the
needful instruction ; and the Furies closed around
and applauded the learner's unsuccessful attempts
to twirl the spindle, with shouts of good-humoured
laughter. But I allow they are terrific when, twenty
screaming like one, they catch at the prow of the
boat and clutch at you before you have left that
sanctuary. But all the same I think of thee with a
certain regret, Eosina mia, swift and skilful and
cheery — as of a lost opportunity ; for in good hands
what could not have been made of the bright capable
creature who knew so well how to handle her tools ?
and it requires no such handy serviceable brains as
those she carried under her auburn locks to convey
blocks of stone up and down the Capri stairs — which
was the last occupation we saw her in. It was she

LIFE IN AN ISLAND. 117

who called loudest out, of the benign crowd who
watched our departing, the " Felice viaggio, presto
ritorno ! " of primitive kindness. Thus it is that in
Capri the Furies, after the first assault, grow into the
kindliest domestic sprites, genial and frolicsome, ready
to enter into your humour, though not without a smile
at the odd ideas of the Forestieri, who know no better.
The day after your landing they will come round you
with their little baskets of coral like old friends ; and
if you are worthy of visiting Capri, you will not be
too particular about a franc or two, but keep the pink
morsels of coral from the beach, and the round shells
which they call the eyes of Santa Lucia, in memory
of one of the loveliest little atoms of stone and space
which God has planted in the sea.

Though, to be sure, you might find more substantial
memorials — like that sturdy pilgrim-staff, for example,
stout as an Irish bludgeon, though made of senti-
mental myrtle, which the stalwart Scottish Signer,
whose length of limb and development of muscle
made Feliciello forget his manners in admiration,
carries with him across the seas. But these are the
private ner/ozio of Santella, who is our waiting-maid
at the Villa Quisisana — a mild and gentle hunch-
back, whose face has such a light of goodness in it
that it does one more good to look at her than even
at little Chiara in Anacapri, the little beauty. Gentle
deformed creature ! noiseless and serviceable, good for
everything in the house, how comes it that the com-

118 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

nion beauty has flowed around her like a perverse
stream, and left her such an exception 1 It is hard
to he the exception — to stand whipping-hoy for the
world, and teach the fair and glad to be thankful for
their advantages by the spectacle of one's own de-
formity or sorrow. But thou and I, good Santella,
will shake hands on that ; and I wish we all bore our
burdens half as meekly and sweetly as does that hand-
maiden of the good God. It is pleasant at the Villa
Quisisana, ledore carissima, where our host speaks
pure Italian with an Edinburgh accent, and knows
everybody one knew in the early ages when one was
young and lived among one's own people. Go there,
and bring us word how the vines are growing, and
be good to Santella ; and look at the cottage on the
hill under the sweetest shade of the olive-trees, from
which you can see the sun set, as it were by stealth,
in that unthought-of break round the lower shoulder
of Monte Solaro. If I were ever rich and secure and
happy, and had no longer any dread in my heart of
this dearest, saddest, murderous Italy, it is there I
would go and build my tower of vision : but that
time can only be when Italy and Capri have celestial
names, and the City of God has come down out of
the skies, and that hard division is done away with
which parts heaven and earth ; for I cannot think
the great Creator, even to outdo it, could destroy,
clean out of knowledge, the loveliest labours of His
almighty hands.

A RECENT KIDE TO HERAT.

[MAGA. AUG. 1885.]

WE were tired of Tirpul. Tirpul is the position
to which, under stress of circumstances over
which we had no control, the Afghan Boundary
Commission had been driven from Badghis. A very
good position too. In front of us was the Ilari Rud,
swollen by the late rains into a mighty brick -red
torrent, whose surface, strewn with the wreckage of
many a far-off forest, told its own tale of ruin and
destruction. They said there had never been such a
flood ; and certainly there were no signs visible of any-
thing like it in recent years. Spanning the river in
front of us stood the one bridge which exists between
Herat and Pul-i-Khatun; and though the bridge looked
crazy enough to give way to a far less violent rush of
water than that which then beset it, yet it finally
stood up with its cracked arches and battered piers,
and it answered our purpose and lasted our time.
The seemingly endless winter had at last given way
to spring. The bright spring hues of the Euphrates
poplar and dwarf tamarisk fringed the river, red with

120 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

the silt of distant hills, and furnished for it a brilliant
setting when lighted by the last rays of the western
sun. No one could call the scenery magnificent, but
it was at least picturesque ; and for a short time
Tirpul proved a pleasant resting-place.

But the excitement of watching day by day for
the first sign of the approaching Cossack gradually
gave way to a feeling of vexation that he was taking
things so easily. We knew that, after the fight at
Panjdeh, 3000 Russian troops might have marched
into Herat absolutely unopposed. Knowing their
profound belief in the principle of beati possidenies
(a belief which has been most fully justified), and
having been told with great candour by the few
Russian officers met by our explorers and surveyors
that they were on their way to Herat, there was
naturally an opinion current in camp that Panjdeh
was but the beginning of the end, — and the end was
Herat. Exactly how far they were prepared for such
an advance, of course we did not know. Neither
did we know exactly how far political considerations
would allow them to proceed. But we did know
that just at that juncture there was nothing to stop
them, unless it was the escort of the British Com-
mission, and consequently we watched for their next
proceedings with interest. But the interest flagged,
and the beauties of the surrounding scenery became
familiar ; and so an order for a small party of three
to proceed as far as possible in the direction of Herat,

A RECENT RIDE TO HERAT. 121

and, if possible, to see the place itself, was hailed
with thankfulness. The party consisted of Colonel
Stewart and two engineer officers — Major Holdich,
E.E., and Captain Peacocke, E.E. Once before
much the same little party had tried to reach Herat,
and had failed signally. Political reasons for not
even approaching the neighbourhood were forcibly
urged by the Governor, and the party returned to
headquarters.

Glad as we all were to be off again over new
ground, or rather to see old ground under new
aspects, we none of us quite expected to reach Herat.
The road for two marches was familiar, and we saw
what we had seen before in November, only gilded
and painted by the hand of spring. The change
was marvellous. Instead of bare, brown, dusty
plains, flanked by rugged hills equally bare and
brown, there was a bright green stretch of prairie
(it might have been prairie), besprinkled with flowers
of every conceivable hue, amongst which the scarlet
poppy was distinctly the most aggressive, gathering
himself together with many other poppies in huge
knots amongst the wormwood scrub, and covering
great patches of country with brilliant red. The
villages, too, had put on a clean and Sabbath-like
appearance. Mud, under some aspects, is cer-
tainly clean and respectable. Perhaps it was the
setting off of the fresh green mulberry-trees, or the
brilliant emerald -coloured wheat- fields, or the prim-

122 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

ness of the ubiquitous poppies, here grown in rect-
angular beds, to make opium hereafter, but looking
aesthetic and saintly at present with their spotless
white heads bowing to the breeze. White poppies
make the best opium, but for what reason I cannot
telL Anyhow, the effect of an Afghan village in
the Herat valley in the month of May is not unlike
what some of my friends may remember of the
effects of an Afghan village in the month of May
in the Logar and "Wendak valleys, near Kabul.
There are the same clean white mud walls, overlooked
by a square mud fort with towers at the corners,
set in the midst of the same brilliant green culti-
vation, in which blue-coated villagers with identical
triangular spades are digging little water- courses to
irrigate their fields. Also, there is the same absence
of women about the place as is to be noticed about
Kabul. The mountains east and south of Herat
are high enough to be snow-capped. In May,
Dawanda and the Safed Koh were still white and
glittering as we rode up the valley.

Although the valley of Herat is famous for its
resources in cultivation, there is not much of it till
the neighbourhood of the city is reached. It is true
that all along the river there is a strip of well-culti-
vated ground, here and there widening out to almost
the whole breadth of the valley ; but it is only east
of Ghorian that the wide stony dasht which forms
a glacis at the foot of the flanking hills all along

A RECENT PJDE TO HERAT. 123

the valley is no longer the prevailing feature, and
that the fields of cultivation develop from isolated
patches into good wide stretches of land. The dasht
is never annihilated. It is a flattish-surfaced, gravelly
formation, produced by ages of detritus from the
hills, rising in many places above irrigation level.
Grass grows but very sparsely on. the dasht. It is
covered with wormwood scrub, which scents the air
as it is crushed beneath the horses' feet, and a mul-
titude of flowering plants, of the character of which
the botanist of the expedition will no doubt inform
the scientific world. A small yellow dwarf rose, with a
dark centre, was very conspicuous. It grows in great
profusion immediately round Herat.

After four very pleasant days' marching, during
which nothing much was to be noted, except civility
on the part of the villagers, and an utter absence of
any attempt to interfere Avith our movements, we
reached, on the morning of the 7th May, the village
of Sakhsurmal. Sakhsurmal is a big village about
four or five miles north-west of the city, but hidden
from it by the rise of the intervening dasht. Only
the tops of the minarets of the Masalla are visible
from Sakhsurmal — not a yard of the walls. Here,
then, was the critical point. We could go no further
without the permission of the " Xaib-ul-hukmat " or
Governor of Herat. Would he let us proceed or
not? The first sign was not promising. A solitary
horseman, who was recognised to be a servant of the

124 TllAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPOKT.

Naib by the colonel, skirmished out from the village,
armed apparently with a bunch of roses for a peace-
offering, and said he was commissioned by the Naib
to show us a halting-place there, beyond which we
were not to proceed that day. He pointed out a
rather extensive graveyard, through which meandered
one of the dirtiest streams I have ever seen, and ex-
plained that we should find that an excellent place
in which to pitch our tents. This was scarcely good
enough, after coming all that distance.

The colonel thought there must be some mistake,
and resolved to beard the Naib in his own den. Ac-
cordingly, a native attache — Sirdar Mahomed Aslam
Khan — was despatched with the hero of the roses to
explain that we wished for a better halting-place than
the one selected, although we were willing, of course,
to go anywhere the Xaib should direct. Meanwhile
we sat over the remains of departed chiefs, and ate
our breakfast, whilst we pondered on the situation,
and awaited the result of the mission with more
anxiety than any one of us cared to admit. It turned
out that it teas a mistake, due partly to the mis-
carriage of the letter announcing our arrival, and
partly to what we believed to be the Governor's wish
in making as little fuss about our proceedings as
possible. A most courteous reply was given to the
message. A brilliant collection of prancing horse-
men were soon seen coming out to meet us. We
were informed that we were to be conducted to a

A RECENT PJDE TO HERAT. 125

State garden about a mile from the city walls ; there
we were to be received as the Amir's guests, and
there we should find everything ready for us. The
crisis was passed. From that moment we experienced
nothing but frank courtesy and royal hospitality.
Xeed I say with what alacrity we left our half-
finished breakfast among the tombstones, and turned
our faces to the point where the heads of the min-
arets above the plain showed us the first sign of that
city we had come so far to see.

It was not far from the village to the garden on
the east side of the city ; but it took us along the
rising ground to the north, within full view of the
fortress, and the interest of it has left an ineffaceable
memory. Past the tomb of Haji Baba, with its en-
closure of stiff Scotch fir-trees, reminding me of some
small bit of the outskirts of Florence ; past a Masjid,
with its blue-tiled dome, and the straight road from
it to the north face of the fort (the only straight road
in Herat) ; past the Masalla, whose minarets had
been our landmark for two days previous ; and be-
hind all the solid-looking walls of Herat itself (they
are solid for that matter), crowned by the old citadel,
and telling the tale on their faces of many a struggle
with the invader. After this panorama came the in-
evitable dive down off the high ground into the nar-
row ways of a high-walled village on the outskirts.

The chief feature of these villages is their extra-
ordinary complexity. Every village is a labyrinth of

126 TRAVEL, ADVENTUKE, AXD SPOET.

passages and byways. Village street there is none ;
and the difficulty of solving the puzzle of how to
get through is much enhanced by the fact that these
byways serve the double purpose of road and ditch.
The ditch is merely accessory to the universal irriga-
tion : it is not meant as a drain, for that would be
regarded as useless ; but it has the effect of leading
the traveller into the supposition that there is no
road, when the ditch is the road, and the presence of
water in it is a mere accident

Arrived at the garden, we found a guard of the
Highland regiment (Herati Highlanders wear kilt
and trousers), with many political functionaries in
waiting. We were conducted inside in due form,
and found ourselves at once in most charming quar-
ters. An oriental rose-garden is a perfect thing in
its way. There is enough of jungle about it to leave
a sense of freedom, and enough of order and arrange-
ment to produce the requisite effects of colour and
shade. Here the roses were in their full glory ; and
the deep thick carpet of grass which spread round
the pools of water, and up the long alleys into vine-
yards and orchards beyond, was a luxury which we
workers in India knew how to appreciate. Here,
then, we pitched our tents, and presently received a
visit from a colonel of Afghan cavalry, who was com-
missioned to tell us that he had instructions to con-
duct us anywhere we pleased, and show us all that
we might desire to see outside the city walls, but that

A RECENT EIDE TO HERAT. 127

so far the Amir's orders against entering the city were
strict. However, there was a great deal to be seen,
and a great deal to be done, outside the city ; so we
congratulated ourselves on our success so far, and
girded up our loins for what was to be done outside.
' Early next morning we were off to the hills on the
north and north-east, which command a very com-
plete view of Herat and the plains about it. The
walls and towers and gates of Herat stood up white
and distinct out of a green sea of trees and cultiva-
tion, which fills up the valley from side to side.
Only at the foot of the hills on each side a long
sweeping glacis curves down to a distance of one or
two miles, and leaves Herat in the somewhat unusual
position, for a fortress, of occupying the lowest level
in the valley. The river Hari Rud twists itself along
a channel (or many channels) about four miles south
of the city, and between the river and where we stood
could be traced the lines of innumerable other chan-
nels intersecting the fields and orchards for cultiva-
tion. Here and there the bee-hived tops of village
houses, close set, in long rows, peeped out from be-
tween the trees, but not nearly so many of them as
we had expected to see. In front of all stood up the
minarets of the Masalla, bent as if they too had had
to recognise the force of the fierce north-western
blasts with which Herat is assailed, like gigantic
sentinels, broken, but unsubdued. Amongst other
points of interest we visited the ziarat (or shrine) at

128 TRA\7EL, ADVENTURE, AKD SPORT.

Gazargah, a place which is supposed to have been
the site of a Persian encampment in the days of
the Persian siege. Here Dost Mohammed is buried.
It is a striking place, not so much from the magni-
ficence of the shrine itself, which has been too much
battered and ruined by long years of neglect to be
impressive, as from the fine trees which surround it.
This is one of the few places in Afghanistan where
the Scotch fir is to be seen.

A courteous visit from the iNaib, or Governor, was
received during the afternoon. The Kaib (who is
a Ghilzai) is a model Afghan chief. His pleasant
genial appearance and manners would secure him
friends anywhere. The Naib is exactly the sort of
man yon would like to find in your host at a hos-
pitable country house, or one of a small party at a
dinner at your club. No English host could have
been more English in his welcome, or more frankly
pleasant in conversation. But though the Naib's re-
ception of us was all that we could wish, we did not
then know what we might meet with from the people.
It must be remembered that the people of Herat are
not one but two very distinct peoples. There are
the ruling class and the ruled. The former are
Kabulis, and comprise all the regular troops except
a few Kandahar regiments ; and they belong to the
tribes of the north — Ghilzai, Logari, Kohistani, Pagh-
mani, &c. The Heratis belong to the Durani tribes
of the south and west ; and between the north and

A RECENT RIDE TO HERAT. 129

the south — the rulers and the ruled — there is no great
bond of love and sympathy. In fact the Heratis hate
Kabul rule — they would prefer any other ; so with-
out entering into further particulars, it will be clear
that the problem of inducing Herati and Kabuli to
combine under one leader to defend the walls of their
ancient city, is not one which can be seen through
all at once.

Now the Heratis have always been exceedingly
friendly to the British. Their friendship is no new
thing. As a people they have never been otherwise.
As regards the Kabuli (that is to say, the soldiery)
we were not quite so clear. Some of them in Herat
had been in the fight at Panjdeh, and had been badly
beaten by the Russians ; and we had not helped them
with anything but excellent advice. At least that
was all that they knew themselves about the matter
— all that they could be expected to see from their
limited point of view; and even that is assuming
that they were duly impressed with the excellence of
our advice. A little straw will show which way the
wind blows, and consequently I was much pleased
to find that some of the Kabuli soldiers on duty on
our guard came forward and claimed the fact of old
acquaintance in the Logar valley, or at Paghman, or
elsewhere where my wanderings in North Afghanis-
tan had taken me during the late war. They might
have seen me there, or they might not — the claim
was a friendly one, and they lost no time in explain-

VOL. VI. I

130 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

ing that they were glad to see me at Herat. Xot
the least emphatic amongst them was a man who
had been at Panjdeh. This was a good sign any-
how, and we rode out that evening, passing by the east
face of the city to the Kandahar gate, and southwards
to the bridge over the Hari Rud on the Kandahar
road, with the feeling that we really might enjoy
ourselves for a day or two in utter security. The old
bridge (the Pul-i-Malun) was worth the visit. Its
present appearance is rather that of being stranded
and left high and dry by the river ; and it is in
the same ruinous state that all else is in not im-
mediately connected with the city itself. But it
would be no great engineering feat to put it in its
place again — or rather to put the river-channel once
more under the bridge.

A very early ride next morning right round the
city walls gave us a good idea of the strength of
Herat. There is no room for argument about the
statement that mud walls make very respectable
defences. As for these mud walls, towering up to
a height of 80 feet over our heads, I shall say noth-
ing further than that they looked truly formidable.

The evening was a very appropriate one for a visit
to the Masalla. Heavy clouds had come up, and
there was a lurid look about the sky which was quite
in keeping with the grandeur of desolate ruin that
we rode out to see. These are the ruins of two
distinct buildings (the Masjid and the Masalla) each

A RECENT RIDE TO HERAT. 131

with its central dome, flanked by high square-built
wings, enclosing a gigantic court in front. The
entrance to the court is below an arch, which forms
by far the most prominent featiire of the whole
pile. These main arches must be at least 80 feet
high ; and as a high square Avail is carried up above
the crown to the height of another 40 feet or so, this
arched entrance dwarfs by its enormous size both the
dome and the delicate forms of the four minarets
which guard the building at each corner, and which
are in themselves marvellously beautiful in outline
and symmetry. The face and interior of the Masalla
(except the wings), as well as the exterior of the
minarets, and of the domed Masjid which stands
apart, covering the shrine of Shah Rukh, are all
covered with enamel -work, illustrating the delicate
beauty of an art which is lost. Shades of blue and
green, from azure and emerald to the deep tones of
indigo and of a lustrous peacock green (I don't know
how else to describe it), varied with yellows from
lemon to russet, including all the tints of dying and
dead leaves in autumn, are blended in the devices of
this faience. It is not the coarse tile- work such as is
common in India (though in general effect it resembles
Multan pottery, which is very effective in its way),
but all the delicate tracery of the design is carefully
graven into the clay before the enamel is burnt on.
This fa'ience, I think, constitutes the chief beauty of
the Masalla. Yet the gigantic size of the whole hill,

132 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

and the halo of history surrounding the slender stems
of those broken minarets, were very impressive on
that still May evening. And surrounding it, of
course, were ever the same saintly- looking poppies,
like deceiving angels, with delicate creamy- white com-
plexions, beguiling the senses even as they stood, and
making the air heavy, faint, and oppressive.

On reaching our garden camp, we were welcomed
with the intelligence that the Amir had just sent
orders that we were to be received into the city itself,
and that everything we wished to see was to be
shown to us. The next morning was the time fixed
for our entry. Accordingly, on the morning of
Sunday, the 10th May, when our gallant Afghan
cicerone, with a glittering staff, rode up to say that
the gates were open, he found three British officers
ready, of whom one at least was arrayed in all the
pomp of (nearly) full uniform, and each was doing
his best to disguise from the other two the intense
interest he felt in the day's proceedings. Indeed we
were rather a silent party as we rode over the bridge,
and through the great gates of the Kutub Chak
entrance, and found ourselves inside the city walls at
last. We were in happy ignorance of what was
going on then, or had been going on in the great
political world for the previous fortnight ; and if our
thoughts strayed into the regions of forecast, there
was not one of us who would for a moment have
anticipated the news which greeted us that evening —

A RECENT RIDE TO HERAT. 133

that a temporary peace was to be purchased at the
expense of full concession to the Russian demands.
"\Ve believed that -war was inevitable, and our
thoughts were full not so much of concession as
of what small contribution we ourselves might make
towards rendering concession unnecessary. It seemed
so easy to ride in, after all, and make a first acquaint-
ance with Herat. If these were our first associa-
tions with the city, what would our last be, and how
would they find us 1

The walls were lined with people, who, after the
fashion of orientals, welcomed us silently. Astonish-
ment seemed at first their chief feeling on the sub-
ject. Guards were posted at close intervals in all
open spaces and main streets, and the clash of salutes
was incessant. We rode quickly through to the
quarters assigned to us. These were in a large roomy
building, with a square courtyard in front, but of
no particular pretensions, architecturally or other-
wise. Three magnificent rooms were painted bright
purple, blue, and yellow respectively, for our occupa-
tion; and the gold-leaf was laid on the cornices so
thickly, that it appeared in danger of peeling off
from its very weight. The floors were thickly car-
peted, but the furniture was scanty, for the reason
that Herati folk never use furniture themselves, and
are not in the habit of entertaining European visitors.
From the roof of the house a magnificent view of
the city and citadel was to be obtained.

134 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

We were anxious to see all we could, and our time
was limited, so, after taking possession, we started
again for the main bazaar and the Charsoo. The city
is very nearly a mile square, and the bazaar intersects
it from north to south, and from east to west. Thus
two main thoroughfares cross about the centre of the
city at the Charsoo — a sort of central domed arcade.
The bazaar is roofed in from end to end, consequently
it is rather dark. It is also very narrow — only
about 12 feet wide, in parts extending perhaps to 18
or 20 at the utmost. These great covered streets
were thronged with people ; Heratis, Kabulis, Turco-
mans, Avith men of Scind and Hindustan, were there.
And at every 100 or 150 yards was the inevitable
guard (always on duty, we were told, and not at all
there on our special behoof), whose attempts to pre-
sent arms at the various words of command, given in
English (amongst which I distinctly heard " Stand
at ease "), resulted in a flourish of their weapons to
the front, which still further narrowed the way. It
was difficult to ride along two abreast.

I was not struck with the magnificence of the
bazaar. There was none of the pretty colours and
display of attractive goods in the shop-fronts that
make Kabul picturesque, and the long uneven row of
shops themselves, was an unbroken monotony of the
commonest -looking little bazaar -shops that one can
see in any second-rate town in India. Nevertheless
our servants pronounced it a most magnificent place.

A RECENT RIDE TO HERAT. 135

Perhaps hard marching and many long weary months
away from their sunny homes in India had sharpened
their appreciation. Excellent silk was obtainable,
but it came from Mashad or Bokhara. I did not
note one single indigenous product which could be
distinctly called a specialty of Herat.

It is a mistake to suppose that Herat is in ruins.
I should think that there is a great part of it unin-
habited (it is impossible to tell from direct evidence),
but Herat is not built of that material of which
ruins are readily made ; and it might all be inhabited
from the look of it. Yet probably there are not
more than from 12,000 to 15,000 inhabitants there
at present. The view over the city from the walls,
on which we walked in the evening, is that of
endless rows of domed houses, like a gigantic apiary,
above which rises in the centre the larger dome of
' the Charsoo, and the Jarnma Masjid. But all the
city looked in good repair ; and I have the authority
of Colonel Stewart, who was one of our party, for
saying that, with the single exception of Mashad,
it was a more habitable -looking city than any he
had seen in Persia. The most remarkable feature
about Herat (a feature which, all the same, it has
in common with most large Afghan villages and
towns), is the absence of open thoroughfares. The
way about Herat must be perfectly inscrutable to
any but an old inhabitant. Many of the principal
passages are but arched ways, burrowing under the

136 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPOUT.

houses, twisting out into daylight — and high-walled
lanes here and there, with dark offensive-looking
offshoots diving away off from them, and leading into
labyrinths of unfathomable filth. Street -fighting in
Herat would indeed be a ghastly business !

A state visit from our excellent friend the Gover-
nor was received in the afternoon. He was attended
by the Commander -in- Chief, the Assistant Com-
mander-in-Chief, several generals, brigadiers, and
other smaller folk. The uniform worn by these offi-
cers might be called fancy dress ; but it is so in all
oriental armies, — and there was nothing extravagant
or unworkmanlike about the appearance of the
Herat military chiefs. They spoke courteously
and very plainly about their own immediate com-
mands.

The next morning a return visit was paid to the
Governor, during which valuable presents were
offered, according to Afghan custom, but declined.
The peculiar feature of this visit was the introduc-
tion of a gigantic bouquet of roses — a bouquet so large
that it had to be carried by two men, and set on the
floor ! Then followed a visit to the Commander-
in-Chief — a pleasant- mannered and most intelligent-
looking man — who received us in a room so high
above the level of ordinary rooms, that from the
open window we could look down on a parade of all
the troops in Herat, drawn up in columns on the
open ground below. iSTo one impressed me more

A RECENT RIDE TO HEEAT. 137

with an air of real business than the Commander-in-
Chief. Another look round at the arsenal, the cita-
del, the walls, and the defences, and our brief visit
to Herat had conic to an end.

"We rode out again, back to our sunny rose-garden,
merely to load up and march out for one short march
together. For next day we lost our political com-
panion, the gallant colonel, who had been ordered
straight back from Herat to London. "Was he sorry
to leave Herat 1 Anyway we were sorry to lose him,
though we knew well that, if the campaign is to
be fought out in Downing Street, he would stand as
true to his colours there as ever he would (had
the necessity arisen) in Herat itself. Our visit had
been an unqualified success. All had Avelcomed us,
priests, soldiers, and people. The people had swarmed
in from all the country-side to see us. Again and
again had we been told by the soldiers that the
presence of British officers was the one thing most
desired in Herat. The priests had offered up prayers
in the Masjid that our entrance might prove a happy
omen for Herat. God grant that it may be so !

IN SEARCH OF THE EIEA,

BY H. SWIRE, R.N.

[MAGA. Nov. 1882.]

FEW of those, perhaps, who have recently read
of the rescue of the crew of the Eira, and of
their safe return to their native land, after passing
a winter on the inhospitable shores of Franz Josef
Land, have considered what months of patient labour
and inquiry, directed by intelligent forethought and
practical Arctic experience, were requisite to set on
foot and carry to such a rapid and successful con-
clusion a search after the missing crew, such as that
recently undertaken by the steam- whaler Hope, under
the command of Sir Allen Young.

With but vague knowledge of the intentions of Mr
Leigh Smith ; with but very meagre information of
his actual movements during the summer of 1881 ;
and with a vast area of polar sea and coast-line to
deal with — over which the explorer might have taken
his vessel — it is indeed a remarkable fact that the
relief ship should have been able to appear at the

IN SEAECH OF THE EIRA. 139

right time at the exact spot where she was required,
to pick up Mr Leigh Smith's boats on their emer-
gence from the ice after their arduous and adventurous
voyage of forty-one days amongst the floes. That an
element of good fortune much assisted the relief
expedition, no one can deny ; but luck is a factor
of the utmost importance in all polar expeditions, and
he who best knows how to utilise his good luck and
to neutralise his bad luck, possesses perhaps some of
the most valuable qualities which go to make a suc-
cessful Arctic navigator.

The Eira was specially built at Peterhead for Mr
Leigh Smith, and was a steam- vessel of 350 tons
burden, strengthened and otherwise fitted for voy-
aging in the Arctic seas. Mr Leigh Smith made
in her a very successful summer voyage in 1880,
during which he made important and interesting dis-
coveries upon the coasts of Franz Josef Land and
Spitzbergen.

Mr Leigh Smith sailed upon his second voyage in
the Eira on the 13th June 1881, taking with him
Dr Neale as surgeon, Mr Lofty as ice-master, and a
crew of twenty-two men. He was provisioned for
fourteen months, with further supplies of bread and
flour enough to last two years.

To quote the words of the letter addressed by Mi-
Valentine Smith to the President of ihe Eoyal
Geographical Society — " The explorer's intention is
believed to have been to visit Franz Josef Land a

140 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

second time, with a view of making further dis-
coveries on its western side, and he wished, if pos-
sible, to push northward near the meridian of Wickes'
Land. But he would on this occasion, as heretofore,
have been guided by the state of the ice, using his
best endeavours to enter upon new work, in that
direction which appeared most open and promising."

Inquiries instituted during the winter of 1881-82
by Sir Henry Gore-Booth amongst those Norwegian
walrus-hunters, who, his practical knowledge of the
coast of Nova Zemla told him, might possibly have
seen and communicated with the Eira, resulted in the
information that she was last seen by the schooner
Proven. The Proven first fell in with the Eira on
June 30th off Matotchkin Sharr in Nova Zemla, and
she was then steaming north ; on the 2d July, how-
ever, they saw her steaming south, having evidently
been turned by the ice ; then, again, they met her off
the south-west part of Nova Zemla on the 8th July
steaming north, and supposed that Leigh Smith had
tried to get round the south point of Nova Zemla,
had been stopped by the ice, and was now going to
force his way north.

The above facts and suppositions were carefully
formulated and examined by Mr Valentine Smith's
committee ; all possible information was obtained as
to the state of the ice in 1881-82 in the Barents Sea
and on the coasts of Nova Zemla and Spitzbergen,
and the opinion of the most eminent Arctic explorers

IN SEARCH OF THE EIRA. 141

of Europe was taken. Sir George ISTares, who sat on
the committee, drew up an exhaustive memorandum,
thoroughly examining every eventuality which might
have occurred to the explorers ; and Sir Allen Young,
having offered his services, was intrusted with the
task of selecting, fitting out, manning, and command-
ing the relief vessel — Government so far co-operating
as to contribute £5000 towards the expenses of the
expedition, at the same time allowing any naval
'officers to serve under Sir Allen whom he might
select ; whilst the Royal Geographical Society con-
tributed £1000 — any further cost being undertaken
solely by Mr Valentine Smith.

The Hope, a steam- whaler of 276 tons register, was
chosen by Sir Allen Young as a vessel in all respects
suitable for the work of the expedition. Strongly
built, double-planked about the water-line, fortified
within with iron frames, and shod with iron at the
bow, she had a reputation even amongst whalers as
being a ship of no ordinary capacities for encounter-
ing heavy ice ; and those who sailed in her were fully
persuaded that she was as good a ship for the purpose
as could be procured. The crew whom Sir Allen
Young engaged for the voyage, consisted in part of
old Avhalers, some of whom had served previously in
the Hope, and of ex-man-of-war's men, with a few
trusted hands who had been with Sir Allen in his
Arctic voyages in the Pandora. The vessel was
brought round from Peterhead to London to be com-

142 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

pleted for sea, and lay in the West India Docks,
taking in her two years' stores and engaging her
crew, where she excited no little interest from the
peculiarity of her appearance — the crow's nest at the
maintop-gallant masthead being a novel feature in the
low latitude of London.

All being at length ready, articles were signed and
the blue ensign and burgee of the j^ew Thames Yacht
Club (the same to which the Eira belonged) hoisted
on June 1 9th ; and on the following day the relief
ship steamed out of the docks and down to Graves-
end. Their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess
of Wales evinced a lively and kindly interest in the
enterprise, and sent as a present to the officers' mess a
handsome silver inkstand and a silver bell for sum-
moning the waiter. On Saturday, June 24th, the
Hope finally left the shores of Old* England, passing
Flamborough Head towards evening, and thence steer-
ing due north on the meridian of Greenwich. On
the following morning England had sunk below the
horizon, and we continued our course towards the icy
regions over the solitudes of the ocean. The paucity
of bird-life in the K"orth Seas is very marked, as com-
pared with the great number and variety of sea-fowl
in the Antarctic regions, where the great wandering
albatross is a never - failing object of interest and
admiration, and petrels of smaller size, down to the
little "Mother Carey's chicken," are never absent
from the neighbourhood of the ship. At a point

IN SEARCH OF THE EIRA. 143

100 miles west of Stav Fiord in Norway, we chanced
upon a Norwegian fishing-boat lying at anchor in 100
fathoms of water, and obtained a very welcome supply
of fresh cod in exchange for tobacco, salt meat, and
biscuit. The gradually lengthening days, the setting
of the sun later evening after evening, and, finally,
the emerging into the long summer's day of months'
duration of the Arctic regions, brought home to all
the fact that we were getting well into the region in
which our work lay. Darkness had now vanished,
and with it the stars ; and the moon, shining with
but a feeble reflection of the great illuminator, alone
remained to remind us of such a thing as night.
Busily employed in getting ready stores to land at
depots, sledges and other travelling gear for use at
a moment's notice, and serving out and altering the
warm clothing to the various shapes and sizes of
humanity on board, we passed up the North Sea
and approached the coast of Norway in a thick fog
on the morning of July 2d, and encountered a Russian
barque, also groping her way in towards the land.
About noon the mist lifted and enabled us to make
out the precipitous cliffs of North Kvalo and its
dangerous outlying rocks, and to continue on our
course towards Hamerfest. Steaming across a broad
bay, hemmed in by high and snow -flecked islands
and by the mainland of Norway, we entered the nar-
row channel leading to Hamerfest towards midnight,
the stern and forbidding scenery lighted up and

144 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

softened by the warm hues of the midnight sky,
while the distant snow-peaks shone brilliantly in the
rays of the sun, which was hidden from us by the
high land to the north. Here we took a pilot, who
conducted us without mishap to Hamerfest, enlarging
the while upon the desirability of the barren land we
saw as a place of residence, and on the grandeur of
the city we were approaching. What a charming
provision of Nature is it that the great majority of
men, of whatsoever race they be, should be convinced
that their own country and no other, is the very
finest place in the world ; and how pleasant it was to
see our honest Norseman's face light up with pride
and pleasure as we praised his bleak hillsides and
wooden houses nestling beneath them ! This town,
the most northern in the world, is but 1160 miles
from the North Pole, a distance over which an express
train might pass in twenty-four hours, could the rails
only be laid. It contains about 2000 inhabitants,
who live on the products of the sea ; for those who
do not catch fish either cure them, trade in them, or
keep stores for the supply of clothes, &c., to the
fishing people. The little town is now pretty well
known to the British tourist bent upon " doing " the
midnight sun and doubling the North Cape ; for it is
the last port of call of the tourist steamers on their
way north. The island of Varo, on the west side of
which Hamerfest stands, is nearly circular, and about
ten miles in diameter, rising in the interior to a height

IX SEARCH OF THE EIEA. 145

of over 2000 feet, and is devoid of vegetation except
certain mosses and lichens, trees being represented
by a stunted birch, which attains a height of 7 or 8
feet in the sheltered valleys near the sea, but on
the hillsides grows horizontally along the ground,
being only thus able to support life in face of the
furious winter blasts. This scanty vegetation suffices,
however, to nourish herds of semi-wild reindeer, the
property of the mountain Lapps, which roam at plea-
sure over the interior, and are lassoed by their owners
as they are required for food, clothing, or draught
purposes. The interior of the island is cut up into
numerous valleys and covered for the most part witli
snow, so that progress is rather slow. I succeeded,
after four hours' trudging, in reaching the top of
a hill overlooking the sea-coast, and from it walked
along the central ridge of the island, from which the
surrounding islands and fiords could be surveyed to
advantage. The highest point I found to be 2180
feet, situated almost in the centre of the island
and commanding an extensive view of its desolate
snow-fields and rock-strewn valleys, down which the
heat of the afternoon sun was now causing the snow-
waters to dash towards the sea.

A lowering hill just to the south of Hamerfest is a
standing grievance to the inhabitants, for it robs
them of much of their dearly-prized sunshine, and
has earned for itself the title of Tyd Fjeld (Thief
Mountain). As the sun is altogether below their

VOL. VI. K

146 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

horizon for two months in the winter, and is then
cut off from them for a further considerable time by
this hill (which is 1420 feet high), the good people
regard it with no friendly feelings. Of the inhabi-
tants of the island, the Lapps are perhaps the most
interesting. These are of two kinds — mountain
Lapps, and sea or fisher Lapps. The mountain
Lapps are very few in number, and depending as
they do for every necessity of life upon their roam-
ing herds of reindeer, their habits are necessarily
nomadic. The reindeer supplies these diminutive
mountaineers with food and clothing, and with all
the Aveapons and utensils which are needed in their
simple life, and is besides their beast of burden and
sledge-drawer. The fisher Lapps are only met with
on the coasts, and indeed seldom leave their boats.
They are far more numerous than their brethren of
the mountains, living as they do on the products of
that Norwegian mine of wealth, the sea. They also
are small people, and as miserable-looking as they are
small. Whilst the mountain Lapps have the full use
of their limbs, and are healthy and vigorous, the sea
Lapps are doubled up in body, weak -legged, and
sickly-looking, taking advantage, when on land, of
every opportunity to support themselves against any-
thing which may be at hand to relieve their legs of
part of the weight of their bodies. An interesting
speculation presents itself as to what manner of man
will in future ages be developed from the fisher

IN SEARCH OF THE EIEA. 147

Lapps if they continue their present mode of
life.

The reason of the delay of one week at Hamerfest
was to buy and fit out a second vessel to act as a
tender to the Hope — the craft chosen being a Nor-
wegian smack of about 45 tons, called the Martha,
which had then to be double planked round the bow
and water-line to fit her to meet ice. A Norwegian
skipper and four hands were engaged to man her;
and as soon as all was settled, we took her in tow,
and left on 9th July, with great exchange of flag-
dipping and handkerchief-waving between the Hope
and the Martha on the one hand, and the town-
people on the other. AVe now made for Porsanger
Fiord, the great inlet on the east side of the North
Cape, passing, however, to the southward of the
Cape through Magarb Sund, the channel which
separates Magarb from the mainland. The North
Cape is, as is well known, one of the northern points
of Magaro. The scenery in Magarb Sund is striking
and impressive, on account of its extreme wildness
and desolation; and the narrowness of the channel
permits of both sides being closely scanned from the
deck of the passing vessel. The scream of sea-birds,
the swirl of contending tide-currents, and the splash of
fish, with an occasional rolling accompaniment, as some
boulder, with its attendant stone-shower, comes plung-
ing down the steep slopes, are the parts in the song
which Nature sings in this remote region of Finmarken.

148 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

"\Ve found the coal-hulk lying off Little Tamso, an
island well up Porsanger Fiord, and filled up our
bunkers from her, besides putting forty tons into the
hold of the Martha and taking a load on our own
decks, and finally left Xorway on our search for the
Eira on July llth, encountering a strong gale from
the south-east the same night, which lasted two days,
and drifted the Hope, with the Martha in tow, far
north into the Arctic Ocean. July 14th turned out
sunny and fine, with the remains of the gale blowing
cold from the south-east — so cold, indeed, that ice
was divined to be in that direction, and so probably
to the northward as well. And this turned out to be
the case ; for a look-out man having been sent to the
crow's nest, reported ice on the northern horizon in
detached hummocks, and we ran into it about mid-
day, finding it to be in loose streams lying north-west
and south-east, the direction of the wind. Dodging
the floes as we steamed on our course for Xova
Zemla, we got clear of the ice again about 5 P.M.,
having evidently passed through the tail of the pack,
which would probably be found compact twenty
miles or so further north.

We now maintained a general easterly course across
the Barents Sea, experiencing southerly winds, which,
when they drew to the south-east, became extremely
cold, which was afterwards found to be caused by the
presence of large masses of ice in the sea to the
south-west of Xova Zemla. Heavy mists were now

IN SEARCH OF THE EIRA. 149

frequent, so that caution was necessary to avoid run-
ning into the pack again. On the afternoon of Sun-
day, July 16th, we were twenty miles west of Cape
Britwin, in Nova Zemla; and the weather still re-
maining thick, we lay to under steam waiting for a
chance to make the land. It seemed inclined to
clear off in the evening, when we just caught a
glimpse of a band of snow on the land, but the mists
then closed in again. On the afternoon of the next
day it became rather clearer, and we steamed towards
Moder Bay, and were able to make out the land
vaguely, and presently saw a schooner standing out,
which proved to be the Dutch surveying schooner
"\Villem Barents, with which Ave communicated by
boat. This schooner had also been trying to get to
an anchorage, and had stood in to 17 fathoms, which
must have been close to the land ; but not being able
to make out any signs of it, was now going north to
Matotchkin Sharr to try to get through into the Kara
Sea. They were three weeks out from Vardo in
Norway, whence they had tried to reach Bear Island,
but had been prevented by close pack-ice ; they then
tried to get round the south point of Nova Zemla,
and were again stopped .by the ice, being at one time
actually beset, and having to cut their way out with
considerable labour. The "Willem Barents is sent
annually to these seas by a Dutch scientific society,
for the purpose of taking deep-sea temperatures and
making general scientific observations, with a view to

150 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

throwing light upon the course of the ocean-currents
and movements of ice in the polar area, and is com-
manded by officers of the Dutch Eoyal ]STavy. One
of their main objects was to reach Ice Haven, the
harbour on the north-east coast of Nova Zemla in
which "Willem Barents wintered in 1596-97, and to
place there a memorial-stone which they had brought
with them from Holland. For several years past the
Barents has tried to accomplish this object, hitherto
without success, and it will be interesting to hear the
results of their voyage this year. Having parted
company with the "Willem Barents, we again stood
into Mbder Bay, and made out the land dimly
through a rift in the fog — a snow-patched, ghostly-
looking land, — and then the mists closed in, and
we stood off to sea again after sounding in 25
fathoms.

On the afternoon of the following day, having
previously obtained an approximate position from
rough shots at the sun, with no horizon to speak
of to take his altitude to, we stood into Mbder
Bay again, and as the mist lifted a little, made out
our position by the land fairly well, at the same
time sighting a ketch ahead, with a crow's nest at
her masthead, which saw us simultaneously, and
tacked to approach us. She proved to be Sir Henry
Gore-Booth's yacht, the Kara, which we fell in with
at Hamerfest, and which left that place before us.
She was also trying to get to an anchorage, and had

IN SEARCH OF THE EIRA. 151

been in rather dangerous proximity to a bad reef two
miles south-west of Cape Brit win, on which we saw
great masses of ice piled up, making it look like an
island. Over this reef the northerly current, setting
out of the bay, rushes with great velocity, making it
a very dangerous place for a sailing vessel to get into
in light winds. We tailed the Kara on astern of the
Martha, Sir H. Gore-Booth and Mr Grant, his com-
panion in adventure, coming on board the Hope to
spend the night ; and thus, in stately procession, the
three vessels paraded Moder Bay all through the
night, sometimes making the land, sometimes seeing
nothing within fifty yards of us because of the fog,
and unable to anchor because we found nothing but
hard rock wherever we hove the lead. In the morn-
ing the fog suddenly lifted and rolled off up the hills,
revealing an Arctic scene of snow-clad mountains and
ice-dotted sea, bathed in warm sunshine. We were
instructed to land a depot of provisions at the Rus-
sian settlement, known to be somewhere in the great
bight called Moder or Moller Bay. After much ex-
amination of the inlets, we decided upon one as the
likeliest for the settlement to be in, chiefly from
seeing a vessel's masthead peeping over an interven-
ing point of land, and finally steamed into Little
Karmakula harbour, which turned out to be the
right place, — there being here a few wooden houses
tenanted by Eussians and Samoyedes, and several
Eussian schooners at anchor off them. The bay-ice

152 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

was streaming out as we entered, and large pieces of
the ice-foot, which runs round the base of the cliffs,
frequently broke off with a mighty splash and floated
away to sea. One of the Russian schooners was
positively beset by the outward-going ice, and would
have been carried out of the harbour had not her
crew turned out and cut her free.

From one of the walrus-hunters we had news of
the Eira — she having been seen and boarded off this
coast on the 8th July last year — the same day as the
Proven reported having seen her ; so we thus had
confirmation of previous intelligence, but nothing
new. The settlement at Karmakula consists of a
few wooden houses and a reindeer-skin tent or two ;
the inhabitants, when we were there, being a few
families of Samoyedes and- half-a-dozen shipwrecked
Russian walrus -hunters, who were living with the
Samoyedes. These people, who are akin to the
Esquimaux, are natives of the Samoyede peninsula
and neighbouring land along the coast of Siberia.
The men are stoutly built, and very short, being
only about five feet high ; they have a strong Mon-
golian type of feature, and olive-coloured skin. The
women are brighter-coloured in complexion than the
men, and three or four inches shorter. Both sexes
dress in seal or reindeer skin, trousers and boots in
one, with the hair outside ; and coat of the same
material, with a hood to pull over the head. They
stand about in clumsy attitudes, especially the

IX SEARCH OF THE EIEA. 153

women, who turn their toes in ; the men, on the
contrary, turn theirs out. They remind one of
nothing so much as a group of wax-work figures.
They have the reputation of being most kind and
hospitable to sailors in distress • and, indeed, endless
are the instances of their having befriended and saved
the lives of castaways on their barren coasts. Hence
Sir Allen Young distributed amongst them numerous
small presents, impressing upon them that, should the
crew of the Eira come among them, they would be
expected to do all they could for them, and would
be amply repaid for any expenditure. These people
live on fish and reindeer in summer, with the addi-
tion of seals, walrus, and bears in winter, when the
ice closes in. They are skilful hunters, and prepare
skins for barter with the Russians. Their tents are
made of two thicknesses of reindeer-skins spread on
converging poles, with an aperture at the top for the
escape of smoke ; the outer skin has the hair outside,
the inner one being turned inside, and the floor is
carpeted in the same manner. The cooking is done
in a separate tent, the hook-pot being then brought
into the living tent and slung on the fire to keep hot.
The interior of the tent into which I went was occu-
pied by men, women, and children, a number of dogs,
and a young polar bear, all lying about amongst a
profusion of skins and rugs of various kinds. We
had expected to find here a Russian officer, who pays
an annual visit as governor, but he had not arrived.

154 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

After waiting for some days, as he was expected
daily, Sir Allen Young decided to land a depot of
provisions at once, and to leave it in charge of the
head Samoyede. This depot would serve either for
the use of the Eira's crew should they arrive here, or
for ourselves, should we have to abandon the Hope
and fall back on our depots ; and it was carefully
stored in the lifeboat-shed, which we were surprised
to find here — and with a lifeboat in it too. I was
unable to find out its history, as our interpreter was
not very efficient, and if bored too much, would
answer " yes " to everything. We had expeditions
after reindeer and wild-fowl, and one day saw twenty-
four white whales captured, — all agreeable and some-
times exciting experiences, but which, having no
bearing upon the objects of the expedition, must
be left undescribed here. I got one good bird's-eye
view of Moder Bay from the top of a neighbouring
mountain, and could see that the whole country was
covered with large snow patches and drifts, with ex-
tensive snow-fields on the uplands, the heads of the
bays and fiords still choked with ice, and an ice-foot
running along the whole coast, under which the sea
surging and murmuring could be heard from afar.
After taking on board eight sledge-dogs for use in
case of wintering in Franz Josef Land, and being
delayed several days by thick fogs, we were able to
get away on July 25th ; and followed by the Kara,
and with the Martha in tow, we started with a fresh

IN SEARCH OF THE EIRA. 155

breeze from the S.-W. for Suchoi Noss, where the
next depot was to be placed ; but the breeze increas-
ing to a gale next day, it was deemed imprudent to
approach such an unknown lee shore, and instead the
ship's head was turned towards Matotchkin Sharr,
the strait which separates Nova Zemla into two
islands, and in which we were sure to find a secure
harbour. From thence we might perhaps send the
Martha on to Suchoi Noss to lay the depot down, as
that promontory is but thirty miles or so to the north,
and not convenient for a large ship to approach.

We found a good anchorage in a bight called
Altglaubigen Bay, or the Bay of the Old Eeligion,
so named long ago by a party of Germans who, like
the " Pilgrim Fathers," hoped to find abroad the
religious independence which was denied them at
home, but who had very soon to give up their
attempt to colonise barren Nova Zemla. As soon as
possible I went up one of the mountains to look
round, and was rewarded by a fine view of the strait
and the snow-clad mountainous country about this
part of Nova Zemla. I could see the schooner
Willem Barents about six miles up the strait, and
found out afterwards that she had been stopped by
the Ice a little further on, and was waiting for a
chance to get through. Two Russian schooners were
in the bay waiting for white whale and salmon, and
picking up an occasional walrus or reindeer. We
found geese and ducks here ; and there are plenty of

156 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

reindeer for those who can afford time to go after
them. As it was, the only one we nearly got was
hit by one of our men, who then dropped his rifle
and ran up to finish the deer with a stick ; but the
animal promptly recovered and ran off, followed by a
shower of uncomplimentary epithets in the Scotch
language. Sir Henry Gore-Booth and Mr Grant, in
the Kara, got plenty of deer ; but they went further
up the strait, where the animals had not been
frightened.

As the weather cleared up again, and seemed
settled, it was decided to take the Hope herself to
Suchoi Noss, and with that intention we left after
a very short stay, and commenced coasting as near
the land as possible, in order that we might see the
Eira's boats or their encampment, should they be
on their way down. Whilst thus engaged — the sea
being perfectly smooth, and no breakers visible over
shoals — we unfortunately grounded on a rocky bank,
lying two miles out at sea. This shoal is not marked
on the Admiralty chart, but is on a Russian one ;
and in consequence of this, Sir Allen Young had
made inquiries about it through our interpreter, who
said the Russian skippers had found 18 feet over it.
We found just half that depth.

The way in which the crew worked, without any
rest during the twenty-six hours we spent on that
shoal, was beyond all praise, and the assistance
rendered by Sir Henry Gore-Booth's little craft con-

IN SEAKCH OF THE EIRA. 157

tributed in no small degree to the happy result ; so
that when we escaped with only a sprung stern-post,
we considered that we had got off very cheaply, and
put back to Altglaubigen Bay to repair damages and
start afresh. As soon as the "Willem Barents heard
of the accident she came down the strait, and with
the assistance of her carpenter and one from the
Kara, our own men were very soon able to rig a jury
stern-post and rudder.

It really seemed as if all the vessels in these seas
had agreed to rendezvous at Altglaubigen Bay ; for
whilst we were preparing for another start north,
the Dutch Meteorological Expedition arrived in two
steamers to try and get through the strait into the
Kara Sea, and so on to Dickson's Haven, where they
proposed to winter. When we came away they were
still trying, and would not get through this year, 1
am sure. From them we heard of the war in Egypt,
and many other items of interesting news.

All being at length ship-shape on August 3d, the
Willem Barents took her carpenter back and got
under way, intending now to try to get to Ice Haven
round the north of Nova Zemla, Avhilst we prepared
to make an immediate start, place the depot at
Suchoi Noss, another at some point further north,
and then make a dash for Franz Josef Land, taking
the Martha with us or not, as circumstances might
dictate. After the Barents left we watched the
pretty little craft beating out of the strait, when she

158 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

suddenly hove to about two miles from us, and some
of us heard a sort of shout on board her : then she
anchored and hoisted flags at her mastheads. Some
said a boat had been seen to pull alongside her before
she anchored — at any rate, here was a puzzle which
no one could make out ; and as the Barents seemed
to be riding comfortably at her anchor, and not in
Avant of assistance, no further notice except an occa-
sional inquisitive inspection through a telescope was
taken of her eccentric proceedings. In about an
hour a boat was seen pulling from the Barents to-
wards us with three men sitting in the stern-sheets,
one holding a huge Dutch flag tied to a boat-hook ;
this again was extraordinary. " Why should Dutch-
men pull against a strong head-wind with a large flag
held up to make their work the harder ? " A sort of
glimmering of the truth began to prevail ; and as the
boat approached, Sir Allen leaning over the counter,
the better to use the only eye which frost and snow
have left him, shouted, "Who is that? who are
you 1 " To which a voice replied, " Don't you know
me ? am I so altered then 1 " when instantly a
tremendous yell and cheer broke out from every one
on deck, which was taken up by the Dutch boat's
crew, and re-echoed from the distant Barents, whose
crew were watching everything that passed. Up
tumbled all hands from below, into the rigging, any-
where they could see from and shout from, and a
scene of the wildest enthusiasm prevailed as Mr

IN SFAECH OF THE EIRA. 159

Leigh Smith was pulled, rather than walked, over
the side, followed by Dr Xeale, Mr Lofly, and then
by Captain Hoffman of the Barents. In a few
moments all was told, and the mystery we had been
sent to solve was cleared up. The Eira was lost a
year ago — having been nipped in the ice and sunk
off Cape Flora, Franz Josef Land. The crew were
now on shore here, close to us ; that was enough for
us. With one accord boats were manned, and a
race began to reach them and bring them off. We
found them soon — they were but three miles away ;
their boats, begrimed by blubber-soot, and jagged by
ice-collisions, hauled up on a beach at the head of
the very next bay — called henceforth Eira Bay. The
men — who ran our boats up on the beach for us as
we landed — were as healthy-looking as men could be,
and they were actually arraying themselves in their
best yachting clothes, which they had saved, when
we surprised them. They had lived for a year on
bears, walrus, and preserved vegetables, their only
sorrow having been that there was not enough of
such food to satisfy their enormous appetites. On a
rising ground behind their present camp they had
built a small cairn with a boat-hook staff surmounting
it, and flying on it was the Eira's burgee of the !New
Thames Yacht Club. The boats, in which they had
lived for forty-one days, and travelled over sea and
ice from Franz Josef Land, were housed in by canvas
awnings, and crowded with tools, weapons, and

160 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

clothes, everything wet through from the gale of
the day before, during which the Hope had been
dragging her anchor all round Altglaubigen Bay.
They had made straight for Admiralty Peninsula on
leaving Franz Josef Land, but being stopped by the
ice, had been obliged to keep more to the west — and
after many adventures had cleared the ice ninety
miles S.-W. of Matotchkin Sharr, and then had been
driven by a gale of wind right into the arms of their
deliverers, with but a few days' provisions left.
Their ship was lost on August 21st ; they lost the
sun on October 21st; the sun returned on February
21st; they left Franz Josef Land on June 21st; and
lastly, we landed the whole crew, officers and men
complete, at Aberdeen on August 21st, on the anni-
versary of the loss of their ship.

ADVENTURES IN LOUISIANA.

\MAGA. JULY-AUG. 1843.]

I.

Fwas a STiltry September afternoon in the year
18 — . My friend Carleton and myself had been
three days wandering about the prairies, and had
nearly filled our tin boxes and other receptacles with
specimens of rare and curious plants. But we had
not escaped paying the penalty of our zeal as nat-
uralists, in the shape of a perfect roasting from the
sun, which had shot down its rays during the whole
time of our ramble, with an ardour only to be ap-
preciated by those who have visited the Louisianian
prairies. "What made matters worse, our little store
of wine had been early expended ; some taffia, with
which we had replenished our flasks, had also disap-
peared ; and the water we met with, besides being
rare, contained so much vegetable and animal matter
as to be undrinkable unless qualified in some manner.
In this dilemma we came to a halt under a clump of

VOL. VI. L

162 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

hickory trees, and despatched Martin, Carleton's Aca-
dian servant, upon a voyage of discovery. lie had
assured us that we must ere long fall in with some
party of Americans — or Cochon Yankees, as he called
them — who, in spite of the hatred borne them by the
Acadians and Creoles, were daily becoming more
numerous in the country.

After waiting, in anxious expectation of Martin's
return, for a full hour, during which the air seemed
to get more and more sultry, my companion began to
wax impatient. " What can the fellow be about 1 "
cried he. " Give a blast on the horn," he added,
handing me the instrument ; " I cannot sound it
myself, for my tongue cleaves to my palate from
heat and drought."

I put the horn to my mouth and gave a blast ;
but the tones emitted were not the clear echo-
awakening sounds that cheer and strengthen the
hunter. They were dull and short, as though the
air had lost all elasticity and vibration, and by its
weight crushed back the sounds into the horn. It
was a warning of some inscrutable danger. We
gazed around us, and saw that others were not
wanting.

The spot where we had halted was on the edge of
one of those pine forests that extend, almost without
interruption, from the hills of the Cote Gelee to the
Opelousa mountains, and of a vast prairie, sprinkled
here and there with palmetto fields, clumps of trees,

ADVENTURES IN LOUISIANA. 163

and broad patches of brushwood, which appeared
mere dark specks on the immense extent of plain
that lay before us, covered with grass of the brightest
green, and so long as to reach up to our horses'
shoulders. To the right was a plantation of pal-
mettos, half a mile wide, and bounded by a sort of
creek or gully, the banks of which were covered with
gigantic cypress-trees. Beyond this, more prairie and
a wood of evergreen oak. To the east, an impene-
trable thicket of magnolias, papaws, oak and bean
trees ; to the north, the pine wood before mentioned.
Such was the rich landscape we had been sur-
rounded by a short hour before. But now, on
looking around, we found the scene changed ; and
our horizon become far more limited by rising clouds
of bluish grey vapour, which approached us rapidly
from the wind quarter. Each moment this fog ap-
peared to become thicker ; the sun no longer dazzled
our eyes when we gazed on it, but showed through
the mist like a pale red moon ; the outlines of the
forest disappeared, veiled from our sight by masses
of vapour ; and the air, which during the morning
had been light and elastic, although hot, became
each moment heavier and more difficult to inhale.
The part of the prairie that remained visible pre-
sented the appearance of a narrow misty valley,
enclosed between two mighty ranges of grey moun-
tains, which the fog represented. As we gazed
around us and beheld these strange phenomena, our

164 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

eyes met, and we read in each other's countenance
that embarrassment which the bravest and most light-
hearted are apt to feel when hemmed in by perils of
which they cannot conjecture the nature.

" Fire off your gun," said I to Carleton. I started
as I spoke at the alteration in my own voice. The gun
went off, but the report was, as it were, stifled by the
compressed atmosphere. It did not even alarm some
water-fowl that were plashing and floundering in the
creek a few hundred paces from us.

" Look at our horses ! " exclaimed Carleton. " They
are surely going mad." The animals were evidently
uneasy at something. They pricked up their ears,
turned half round, and gazed with startled eye be-
hind them ; then strained with their heads and necks
in the opposite direction to the vapour, snorting vio-
lently, and at last trying to break away from the
trees to which they were tied. A short time pre-
viously they had appeared much fatigued, but now
they were all fire and impatience.

"It is impossible to remain here," said Carleton.
" But whither shall we go ? "
" Wherever our horses choose to take us."
We untied the animals and sprang upon them.
But scarcely were we in the saddle when they started
off at a pace as frantic as if a pack of wolves had been
at their heels ; and taking the direction of the creek,
which ran between the palmetto plantation and a
cypress wood, continued along its banks at the same

ADVENTURES IN LOUISIANA. 165

wild gallop. As Ave advanced the creek began to
widen ; in place of palmettos, clumps of marsh reeds
and rushes showed themselves here and there. An
unearthly stillness prevailed, only broken now and
then by the cry of a wild-goose ; and even that ap-
peared strange and unnatural in its sound.

" What can be the meaning of this ? " cried Carle-
ton. " I am burning with heat, and yet I have not
the slightest moisture on my skin. All these signs
are incomprehensible. For God's sake, sound the
horn again."

I did so ; but this time the sound seemed to be
forced back through the horn, and to die away upon
my lips. The air was so hot and parching that our
horses' coats, which a short time previously had been
dripping with sweat, were now perfectly dry, and the
hair plastered upon them ; the animals' tongues hung
out of their mouths, and they seemed panting for
cooler air. " Look yonder ! " cried Carle ton ; and he
pointed to the line of the horizon, which had hitherto
been of grey, lead-coloured vapour. It was now be-
coming reddish in the south-west quarter, and the
vapour had taken the appearance of smoke. At the
same time we heard a sort of distant crackling, like a
heavy running fire of musketry, and which was re-
peated at short intervals. Each time it was heard
our horses appeared scared and trembling.

The creek was getting rapidly wider, and the
ground so swampy that it was impossible to proceed

166 TEAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPOET.

further. Seeing this, we agreed to return to the
prairie, and to try if it were not cooler among the
palmettos. But when we came to the place where
we had crossed the creek, our horses refused to take
the leap again, and it was with the greatest difficulty
we at length forced them over. All this time the
redness in the horizon was getting brighter, and the
atmosphere hotter and drier; the smoke had spread
itself over prairie, forest, and plantations. We con-
tinued retracing our steps as well as we could to the
spot where we had halted. " See there," said Carle-
ton ; " not half an hour ago those reeds were as fresh
and green as if they had just sprung out of the earth,
and now look at them — the leaves are hanging down,
parched and curled up by the heat."

The whole prairie, the whole horizon to the south-
west, was now one mass of dense smoke, through
which the sun's disc looked scarcely brighter than a
paper-lantern. Behind the thick curtain which thus
concealed everything from our view, we heard a loud
hissing, like that of a multitude of snakes. The
smoke was stifling and unbearable ; our horses again
turned panting round, and tore madly towards the
creek. On reaching it we dismounted, but had the
greatest difficulty to prevent them from leaping into
the water. The streaks of red to our right became
brighter and brighter, and gleamed through the huge
dark trunks of the cypress-trees. The crackling and
hissing grew louder than ever. Suddenly the fright-

ADVENTURES IN LOUISIANA. 167

ful truth flashed upon us, and at the very same mo-
ment Carleton and I exclaimed, " The prairie is on
fire ! "

As we uttered the words, there was a loud rustling
behind us, and a herd of deer broke headlong through
a thicket of tall reeds and bulrushes, and dashed up
to their necks into the water. There they remained,
not fifty paces from us, little more than their heads
above the surface, gazing at us, as though imploring
our help and compassion. We fancied we could see
tears in the poor beasts' eyes.

We looked behind us. On came the pillars of
flame, flickering and threatening through the smoke,
licking up all before them ; and, at times, a gust of
so hot and blasting a wind as seemed to dry the
very marrow in our bones. The roaring of the fire
was now distinctly audible, mingled with hissing,
Avhistling sounds, and cracking noises, as of mighty
trees falling. Suddenly a bright flame shot up
through the stifling smoke, and immediately after-
wards a sea of fire burst upon our aching eyeballs.
The whole palmetto field was in flames.

The heat was so great that we every moment ex-
pected to see our clothes take fire. Our horses dragged
us still nearer to the creek, sprang into the water,
and drew us down the bank after them. Another
rustling and noise in the thicket of reeds. A she-
bear, with her cubs at her heels, came towards us ;
and at the same time a second herd of deer rushed

168 . TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT,

into the water not twenty yards from where we were
standing. We pointed our guns at the bears; they
moved off towards the deer, who remained undis-
turbed at their approach ; and there they stood, bears
and deer, not five paces apart, but taking no more
notice of each other than if they had been animals
of the same species. More beasts now came flocking
to the river. Deer, wolves, foxes, horses — all came
in crowds to seek shelter in one element from the
fury of another. Most of them, however, went
further up the creek, where it took a north-easterly
direction, and widened into a sort of lake. Those
that had first arrived began to follow the new-comers,
and we did the same.

Suddenly the baying of hounds was heard.
" Hurrah ! there are dogs ; men must be near." A
volley from a dozen rifles was the answer to our
explanation. The shots were fired not two hundred
yards from us, yet we saw nothing of the persons
who fired them. The wild beasts around us trembled
and crouched before this new danger, but did not
attempt to move a step. We ourselves were stand-
ing in the midst of them up to our waists in water.
"Who goes there?" we shouted. Another volley,
and this time not one hundred yards off. We saw
the flashes of the pieces, and heard voices talking in
a dialect compounded of French and Indian. We
perceived that we had to do with Acadians. A
third volley, and the bullets whistled about our ears.

ADVENTURES IN LOUISIANA. 169

It was getting past a joke. " Halt ! " shouted we ;
"stop firing till you see what you are firing at."
There was a dead silence for a moment, then a burst
of savage laughter. " Fire ! fire ! " cried two or three
voices.

" If you fire," cried I, " look out for yourselves,
for we shall do the same. Have a care what you are
about."

" Morbleu ! Sacre ! " roared half-a-score of voices.
" Who is that who dares to give us orders ? Fire on
the dogs ! "

" If you do, Ave return it."

"Sacre/" screamed the savages. "They are gen-
tlemen from the towns. Their speech betrays them.
Shoot them — the dogs, the spies ! What do they
want in the prairie ] "

" Your blood be on your own heads," cried I.
And, with the feelings of desperate men, we levelled
our guns in the direction in which we had seen the
flashes of the last volley. At that moment — " Halt !
What is here1?" shouted a stentorian voice close
to us.

"Stop firing, or you are dead men," cried five or
six other voices.

" Sacre ! ce sont des Americains" muttered the
Acadians.

" Monsieur Carleton ! " cried a voice.

" Here ! " replied my friend. A boat shot out of
the smoke, between us and our antagonists. Carle-

170 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

ton's servant was in it. The next moment we were
surrounded by a score of Acadians and half-a-dozen
Americans.

It appeared that the Acadians, so soon as they per-
ceived the prairie to be on fire, had got into a boat
and descended a creek that flowed into the Chicot
creek, on which we now were. The beasts of the
forest and prairie, flying to the water, found them-
selves enclosed in the angle formed by the two creeks,
1 ~ and their retreat being cut off by the fire, they fell an
I easy prey to the Acadians, wild, half-savage fellows,
\ who slaughtered them in a profusion, and with a
brutality that excited our disgust, a feeling which
1 the Americans seemed to share.
L- — " Well, stranger ! " said one of the latter, an old
man, to Carleton, " do you go with them Acadians or
come with us ? "

" Who are you, my friends 1 "

" Friends ! " repeated the Yankee, shaking his
head, "your friendships are soon made. Friends,
indeed ! We ain't that yet ; but if you be minded
to come with us, well and good."

" I met these American gentlemen," now put in
Martin, "and when they heard that you had lost
your way, and were out of provisions, they were so
good as to come and seek you."

" You be'n't much used to the prairie, I reckon ? "
observed the American who had spoken before.

" No, indeed, my friend," said I.

ADVENTURES IN LOUISIANA. 171

" I told you a'ready," replied the man with some
degree of pride, "we ain't your friends; but if
you choose to accept American hospitality, you're
welcome."

"We glanced at the Acadians, who were still firing,
and dragging the beasts they slaughtered into their
boat and to the shore. They appeared perfect
savages, and there was little temptation to seek
guidance or assistance at their hands.

"If it is agreeable to you, we will accompany you,"
said I to the American, making a step towards
the boat. We were eager to be off, for the heat
and smoke were unbearable. The Yankee answered
neither yes nor no. His attention seemed taken up
by the proceedings of the Acadians.

" They're worse than Injuns," said he to a young
man standing by him. " They shoot more in an hour
than they could eat in a year, in their tarnation
French wastefulness."

" I've a notion o' makin' 'em leave off," replied the
young man.

" The country's theirs, or their masters' at least,"
rejoined the other. "I reckon it's no business of
ours."

This dialogue was carried on with the greatest pos-
sible degree of drawling deliberation, and under cir-
cumstances in which, certainly, none but a Yankee
would have thought of wasting time in words. A
prairie twenty miles long and ten broad, and a couple

172 TRAVEL, ADVENTUEE, AND SPORT.

of miles of palmetto ground, all in a blaze — the
flames draAving nearer every minute, and having, in
some places, already reached up to the shores of the
creek. On the other side a couple of dozen wild
Acadians, firing right and left, without paying the
least attention where or whom their bullets struck.
Carleton and myself, up to our waists in water, and
the Americans, chatting together as unconcernedly
as if they had been sitting under the roofs of their
own blockhouses.

" Do you live far from here ? " said I at last to the
Yankee, rather impatiently.

"Not so far as I sometimes wish," answered he,
with a contemptuous glance at the Acadians, "but
far enough to get you an appetite for your supper, if
you ain't got one already." And taking a thin roll
of tobacco out of his pocket, he bit off a piece of it,
laid his hands upon the muzzle of his rifle, leant his
chin upon his hands, and seemed to have forgotten
all about us.

This apathy became intolerable to men in our
situation.

" My good man," said I, " will you put your hos-
pitable offer into execution, and take "

I could not continue, for I was literally suffocated
with the heat and smoke. The very water of the
creek was getting warm.

" I've a notion," said the Yankee, with his usual
drawl, and apparently only just perceiving our dis-

ADVENTURES IX LOUISIANA. 173

tress, " I've a notion we had better be movin' out o'
the way o' the fire. Now, strangers, in with you."
And he helped Carleton and myself into the boat,
where we lay down, and became insensible from heat
and exhaustion.

When we recovered our senses, we found ourselves
in the bottom of the boat, and the old Yankee stand-
ing by us with a bottle of whisky in his hand, which
he invited us to taste. We felt better for the
cordial, and began to look around us.

Before us lay an apparently interminable cypress
swamp, behind us a sheet of water, formed by the
junction of the two creeks, and at present overhung
by a mass of smoke that concealed the horizon from
our view. From time to time there was a burst of
flame that lit up the swamp, and caused the cypress-
trees to appear as if they grew out of a sea of fire.

" Come," said the old Yankee, " we must get on.
It is near sunset, and we have far to go."

" And which way does our road lie 1 " I asked.

"Across the cypress swamp, unless you'd rather
go round it."

" The shortest road is the best," said Carleton.

" The shortest road is the best ! " repeated the
Yankee contemptuously, and turning to his com-
panions. " Spoken like a Britisher. Well, he shall
have his own way, and the more so as I believe it to
be as good a one as the other. James," added he,
turning to one of the men, " you go further down,

174 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

through the Snapping Turtle swamp ; we will cross
here."

" And our horses 1 " said I.

" They are grazing in the rushes. They'll be took
care of. "We shall have rain to-night, and to-morrow
they may come round without singeing a hoof."

I had found myself once or twice upon the borders
of the swamp that now lay before us, but had always
considered it impenetrable, and I did not understand,
as I gazed into its gloomy depths, how we could
possibly cross it.

"Is there any beaten path or road through the
swamp?" inquired I of the old man.

" Path or road ! Do you take it for a gentleman's
park ] There's the path that natur' has made." And
he sprang upon the trunk of a tree covered with moss
and creepers, which rose out of the vast depth of mud
that formed the swamp.

" Here's the path," said he.

"Then we will wait and come round with our
horses," I replied. ""Where shall we find them1?"

"As you please, stranger. We shall cross the
swamp. Only, if you can't do like your horses, and
sup off bulrushes, you are likely to fast for the next
twenty-four hours."

" And why so ] There is game and wild-fowl for
the shooting."

" No doubt there is, if you can eat them raw, like
the Injuns. Where will you find, within two miles

ADVENTURES IN LOUISIANA. 175

round, a square foot of dry land to make your
fire onl"

To say the truth, we did not altogether like the
company we had fallen amongst. These Yankee
squatters bore in general but an indifferent character.
They were said to fear neither God nor man, to trust
entirely to their axe and their rifle, and to be little
scrupulous in questions of property ; in short, to be
scarce less wild and dangerous than the Indians
themselves.

The Yankee who had hitherto acted as spokesman,
and who seemed to be in some way or other the chief
of the party, was a man apparently near sixty years
of age, upwards of six feet high, thin in person, but
with such bone and muscle as indicated great strength
in the possessor. His features were keen and sharp ;
his eye like a falcon's ; his bearing and manners
bespoke an exalted opinion of himself, and (at least
as far as we Avere concerned) a tolerable degree of
contempt for others. His dress consisted of a jacket
of skins, secured round the waist by a girdle, in
Avhich Avas stuck a long knife ; leather breeches, a
straAV hat Avithout a brim, and mocassins. His com-
panion Avas similarly accoutred.

" Where is Martin ? " cried Carleton.

"Do you mean the Acadian lad Avho brought us
to you?"

"The same."

The Yankee pointed toAvards the smoke. " Yonder,

176 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

no doubt, with his countrymen ; but I reckon their
infernal hunt is over. I hear no more shots."

"Then we will go to him. But where are our
horses ? "

" I've a notion," said one of the younger men, " the
stranger don't rightly know what he wants. Your
horses are grazing half a mile off. You would not
have had us make the poor beasts swim through the
creek tied to the stern of the boat 1 'Lijah is with
them."

" And what will he do with them 1 "

" Joel is going back with the boat, and when the
fire is out he will bring them round," said the elder
Yankee. " You don't suppose — 1 " added he — He
left the sentence unfinished, but a smile of scornful
meaning flitted over his features.

I looked at Carleton. He nodded. ""We will
go with you," said I, " and trust entirely to your
guidance."

" You do well," was the brief reply. " Joel,"
added he, turning to one of the young men, " where
are 'the torches 1 We shall want them."

" Torches ! " exclaimed I.

The Yankee gave me a look as mxich as to say —
You must meddle with everything. " Yes," replied
he ; " and if you had ten lives, it would be as much
as they are all worth to enter this swamp without
torches." So saying, he struck fire, and selecting a
couple of pine splinters from several lying in the

ADVENTURES IN LOUISIANA. 177

boat, he lighted them, doing everything with such
extraordinary deliberation, and so oddly, that in spite
of our unpleasant situation we could scarce help
laughing. Meantime the boat pushed off with two
men in it, leaving Carleton, myself, the old man,
and another American, standing at the edge of the
swamp.

" Follow me, step by step, and as if you were
treading on eggs," said our leader ; " and you,
Jonathan, have an eye to the strangers, and don't
Avait till they are up to their necks in the mud to
pick them out of it."

"We did not feel much comforted by this speech ;
but, mustering all our courage, we strode on after our
plain-spoken guide.

We had proceeded but a very short distance into
the swamp before we found out the use of the
torches. The huge trunks of the cypress - trees,
which stood four or five yards asunder, shot up to
a height of fifty feet, entirely free from branches,
which then, however, spread out at right angles to
the stem, making the trees appear like gigantic
umbrellas, and covering the whole morass with an
impenetrable roof, through which not even a sun-
beam could find a passage. On looking behind us
we saw the daylight at the entrance of the swamp as
at the mouth of a vast cavern. The further we went
the thicker became the air ; and at last the effluvia
was so stifling and pestilential, that the torches burnt

VOL. VI. JI

178 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

pale and dim, and more than once threatened to
go out.

" Yes, yes," muttered our guide to himself, " a
night passed in this swamp would leave a man ague-
struck for the rest of his days. A night — ay, an
hour would do it, if your pores were ever so little
open ; but now there's no danger : the prairie fire's
good for that, dries the sweat and closes the pores."

He went on conversing thus with himself, but still
striding forward, throwing his torchlight on each log
or tree-trunk, and trying its solidity 'with his foot
before he trusted his weight upon it, — doing all this
with a dexterity and speed that proved his familiarity
with these dangerous paths.

"Keep close to me," said he to us, "but make
yourselves light — as light at least as Britishers can

make themselves. Hold your breath, and ha !

what is that log1? Holloa, Nathan," continued he to
himself, " what's come to you, man ? Don't you know
a sixteen foot alligator from a tree 1 "

He had stretched out his foot, but fortunately,
before setting it down, he poked what he took for a
log with the butt of his gun. The supposed block
of wood gave way a little, and the old squatter,
throwing himself back, was within an ace of pushing
me into the swamp.

" Ah, friend ! " said he, not in the least discon-
certed, " you thought to sarcumvent honest folk with
your devilry and cunning."

ADVENTURES IN LOUISIANA. 179

"What is the matter?" asked I.

"^N~ot much the matter," he replied, drawing his
knife from its sheath. " Only an alligator : there it
is again."

And in the place of the log, which had disappeared,
the jaws of a huge alligator gaped before us. I
raised my gun to my shoulder. The Yankee seized
my arm.

" Don't fire," whispered he ; " don't fire so long as
you can help it. We ain't alone here. This will do
as well," he added, as he stooped down and drove his
long knife into the alligator's eye. The monster gave
a frightful howl, and lashed violently with its tail, be-
sprinkling us with the black slimy mud of the swamp.

" Take that ! " said the squatter with a grim smile,
" and that, and that ! " stabbing the brute repeatedly
between the neck and the ribs, while it writhed and
snapped furiously at him. Then wiping his knife,
he stuck it in his belt, and looked keenly and cau-
tiously around him.

" I've a notion there must be a tree-trunk here-
away ; it ain't the first time I've followed this track.
There it is, but a good six foot off." And so saying,
he gave a spring, and alighted in safety on the
stepping-place.

" Have a care, man," cried I. " There is water
there. I see it glitter."

"Pho, water! What you call water is snakes.
Come on."

180 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

I hesitated, and a shudder came over me. The
leap, as regarded distance, was a trifling one, but it
was over an almost bottomless chasm full of the foulest
mud, on which the mocassin snakes, the deadliest of
the American reptiles, were swarming.

II Come on ! "

Necessity lent me strength, and pressing my left
foot firmly against the log on which I was standing,
and which was each moment sinking with our weight
deeper into the soft slimy ground, I sprang across.
Carleton followed me.

" Well done ! " cried the old man. " Courage, and
a couple more such leaps and we shall be getting over
the worst of it."

"VVe pushed on, steadily but slowly, never setting
our foot on a log till we had ascertained its solidity
with the butts of our guns. The cypress swamp ex-
tended four or five miles along the shores of the
creek : it was a deep lake of black mud, covered over
and disguised by a deceitful bright -green veil of
creeping plants and mosses, which had spread them-
selves in their rank luxuriance over its whole surface,
and over the branches and trunks of trees scattered
about the swamp. These latter were not placed with
any very great regularity, but had yet been evidently
arranged by the hand of man.

" There seems to have been a sort of path made
here," said I to our guide, "for "

" Silence! " interrupted he, in a low tone; "silence,

ADVENTUEES IN LOUISIANA. 181

for your life, till we are on firm ground again. Don't
mind the snakes," added he, as the torchlight re-
vealed some enormous ones lying coiled up on the
moss and lianas close to us. "Follow me closely."

But just as I stretched forward my foot, and was
about to place it in the very print that his had left,
the hideous jaw of an alligator was suddenly stretched
over the tree-trunk, not six inches from my leg, and
the creature snapped at me so suddenly, that I had
hut just time to fire my gun into his glittering lizard-
like eye. The monster bounded back, uttered a
sound between a bellow and a groan, and striking
wildly about him in the morass, disappeared.

The American looked round when I fired, and an
approving smile played about his mouth as he said
something to me which I did not hear, owing to the
infernal uproar that now arose on all sides of us, and
at first completely deafened me.

Thousands, tens of thousands, of birds and reptiles,
alligators, enormous bull-frogs, night-owls, ahingas,
herons, whose dwellings were in the mud of the
swamp, or on its leafy roof, now lifted up their
voices, bellowing, hooting, shrieking, and groaning.
Bursting forth from the obscene retreat in which they
had hitherto lain hidden, the alligators raised their
hideous snouts out of the green coating of the swamp,
gnashing their teeth, and straining towards us, while
the owls and other birds circled round our heads,
flapping and striking us with their wings as they

182 TEAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

passed. We drew our knives and endeavoured to
defend at least our heads and eyes ; but all was
in vain against the myriads of enemies that sur-
rounded us ; and the unequal combat could not pos-
sibly have lasted long, when suddenly a shot was
fired, followed immediately by another. The effect
they produced was magical The growls and cries of
rage and fury were exchanged for howls of fear and
complaint ; the alligators withdrew gradually into
their native mud; the birds flew in wider circles
around us ; the unclean multitudes were in full re-
treat. By degrees the various noises died away ; but
our torches had gone out, and all around us was
black as pitch.

"In God's name, are you there, old man?"
asked I.

" What ! still alive 1 " he replied, with a laugh that
jarred unpleasantly upon my nerves, " and the other
Britisher too 1 I told ye we were not alone. These
brutes defend themselves if you attack them upon
their own ground, and a single shot is sufficient to
bring them about one's ears. But when they see
you're in earnest, they soon get tired of it, and a
couple more shots sent among them generally drive
them away again ; for they are but senseless squealin'
creturs after all."

While the old man was speaking, he struck fire,
and lit one of the torches.

" Luckily we have rather better footing here," con-

ADVENTURES IN LOUISIANA. 183

tinned he. " And now, forward quickly ; for the
sun is set, and we have still some way to go."

And again he led the march with a skill and con-
fidence in himself which each moment increased our
reliance on him. After proceeding in this manner for
about half an hour, we saw a pale light glimmering
in the distance.

" Five minutes more and your troubles are over ;
but now is the time to be cautious, for it is on the
borders of these cursed swamps the alligators best
love to lie."

In my eagerness to find myself once more on dry
land, I scarcely heard the Yankee's words ; and as the
stopping-places were now near together, I hastened
on, and got a little in front of the party. Suddenly
I felt a log on which I had just placed my foot
give way under me. I had scarcely time to call out
" Halt ! " when I was up to the armpits in the swamp,
Avith every prospect of sinking still deeper.

" You will hurry on," said the old man with a
laugh ; and at the same time, springing forward, he
caught me by the hair. " Take warning for the
future," added he, as he helped me out of the mud ;
" and look there ! "

I did look, and saw half-a-dozen alligators writhing
and crawling in the noxious slime within a few feet
of us. I felt a sickening sensation, and for a moment
I could not utter a word : the Yankee produced his
whisky-flask.

184 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

" Take a swallow of this," said he ; " but no, better
wait till we are oxit of the swamp. Stop a little till
your heart beats quieter. So, you are better now.
When you've made two or three such journeys with
old Nathan, you'll be quite another man. Now —
forward again."

A few minutes later we were out of the swamp,
and looking over a field of palmettos that waved and
rustled in the moonbeams. The air was fresh, and
once more we breathed freely.

" Now then," said our guide, " a dram, and then
in half an hour we are at the Salt Lick."

" Where ?" asked I.

"At the Salt Lick, to shoot a deer or two for
supper. Holloa ! what is that ? "

"A thunderclap."

" A thunderclap ! You have heard but few of
them in Louisiana, I guess, or you would know the
difference betwixt thunder and the crack of a back-
woodsman's rifle. To be sure, yonder oak wood has
an almighty echo. That's James's rifle — he has shot
a stag. There's another shot."

This time it was evidently a rifle-shot, but re-
echoed like thunder from the depths of the immense
forest.

" We must let them know that we're still in whole
skins, and not in the maw of an alligator," said the
old man, who had been loading his rifle, and now
fired it off.

ADVENTUKES IX LOUISIANA. 185

In half an hour we were at the Salt Lick, where
we found our guide's two sons busy disembowelling
and cutting up a fine buck that they had killed, an
occupation in which they were so engrossed that they
scarce seemed to notice our arrival. We sat down, not
a little glad to repose after the fatigues and dangers
we had gone through. When hind and fore quarters,
breast and back, were all divided in right huntsman-
like style, the young men looked at their father.
" Will you take a bite and a sup here 1" said the
latter, addressing Carleton and myself, " or will you
wait till we get home 1 "

" How far is there still to go 1 "

" How far ? With a good trotting horse, and a
better road, three-quarters of an hour would bring you
there. You may reckon it a couple of hours."

" Then we would prefer eating something here."

" As you will."

Without more words, or loss of time, a haunch
was cut off one of the hind-quarters ; dry leaves and
branches collected ; and in one minute a fire was
blazing brightly, the joint turning before it on a
wooden spit. In half an hour the party was collected
round a roast haunch of venison, which, although
eaten without bread or any of the usual condiments,
certainly appeared to us to be the very best we had
ever tasted.

186 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

II.

Supper over, and clenched by a pull at Nathan's
Avhisky-flask, we prepared for departure. The Ameri-
cans threw the choicest parts of the buck over their
shoulders, and the old squatter again taking the lead,
we resumed our march. The way led us first across
a prairie, then through a wood, which was succeeded
by a sort of thicket, upon the branches and thorny
shrubs of which we left numerous fragments of our
dress. We had walked several miles almost in si-
lence, when Nathan suddenly made a pause, and
let the butt-end of his rifle fall heavily on the
ground. I took the opportunity to ask him where
we were.

"In Louisiana," replied he, "between the Red
River, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Mississippi ; on
French ground, and yet in a country where French
power is worth little. Do you see that ? " added he
suddenly, seizing my arm, and pulling me a few
paces aside, while he pointed to a dark object, that at
the distance and in the moonlight had the appear-
ance of an earthen wall. " Do you know what that
is ? " repeated the squatter.

" An Indian grave, perhaps," replied I.

"A grave it is," was the answer ; " but not of the
Redskins. As brave a backwoodsman as ever crossed
the Mississippi lies buried there. You are not alto-

ADVENTUKES IN LOUISIANA. 187

gether wrong, though. I believe it Avas once an
Indian mound."

While he spoke we were walking on, and I now
distinguished a hillock or mound of earth, with
nearly perpendicular sides, on. which was erected a
blockhouse, formed of unhewn cypress trunks, of a
solidity and thickness upon which four-and-twenty
pounders would have had some difficulty in making
an impression. Its roof rose about ten feet above
a palisade enclosing the building, and consisting of
stout saplings sharpened at the top, and stuck in the
ground, at a very short distance from each other,
being moreover strengthened and bound together with
Avattles and branches. The building had evidently
been constructed more for a refuge and place of
defence than an habitual residence.

A ladder was now lowered, by which we ascended
to the top of the mound. There was a small door in
the palisades, which Xathan opened and passed
through, we following.

The blockhouse was of equal length and breadth,
about forty feet square. On entering it we found
nothing but the bare walls, with the exception of
a wide chimney of sun-baked brick, and in one
corner a large wooden slab partly imbedded in the
ground.

"Don't tread upon that board," said the old man
solemnly, as we approached the slab to examine it ;
"it is holy ground."

188 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

" How holy ground 1 "

"There lies under it as brave a fellow as ever
handled axe or rifle. He it was built this blockhouse,
and christened it the Bloody Blockhouse — and bloody
it proved to be to him. But you shall hear more
of it if you like. You shall hear how six American
rifles were too many for ninety French and Spanish
muskets."

Carleton and I shook our heads incredulously.
The Yankee took us both by the arm, led us out of
the blockhouse, and through the stockade to a grassy
projection of the hillock.

"Ninety French and Spanish muskets," repeated
he in a firm voice, and weighing on each word.
" Opposed to them were Asa Nolins, with his three
brothers, his brother-in-law, a cousin, and their wives.
He fell like a brave American as he was, but not
alone, for the dead bodies of thirty foes were lying
round the blockhouse when he died. They are
buried there," added he, pointing to a row of cotton-
trees a short distance off, that in the pale moonlight
might have been taken for the spectres of the de-
parted ; " under those cotton-trees they fell, and there
they are buried."

The old squatter remained for a short space in his
favourite attitude, his hands crossed on his rifle, and
his chin resting on them. He seemed to be calling
together the recollections of a tune long gone by.
We did not care to interrupt him. The stillness of

ADVENTURES IN LOUISIANA. 189

the night, the light of the moon and stars, that gave
the prairie lying before us the appearance of a silvery
sea, the sombre forest on either side of the block-
house, of which the edges only were lighted up by
the moonbeams, the vague allusions our guide had
made to some fearful scene of strife and slaughter
that had been enacted in this now peaceful glade —
all these circumstances combined, worked upon our
imaginations, and we felt unwilling to break the
stillness which added to the impressive beauty of the
forest scene.

" Did you ever float down the Mississippi 1 " asked
Nathan abruptly. As he spoke he sat down upon
the bank, and made sign to us to sit beside him.
" Did you ever float down the Mississippi ? "

" No ; we came up it from New Orleans hither."
" That is nothing ; the stream is not half so danger-
ous there as above Natchez. We came down, six
men, four women, and twice as many children, all
the way from the mouths of the Ohio to the Eed
River ; and bad work we had of it, in a crazy old
boat, to pass the rapids and avoid the sand-banks,
and snakes, and sawyers, and whatever the devil they
call them, that are met with. I calculate we weren't
sorry when we left the river and took to dry land
again. The first thing we did was to make a wigwam,
Injun fashion, with branches of trees. This was to
shelter the women and children. Two men remained
to protect them, and the other four divided into two

190 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

parties, and set off — one south and t'other west — to
look for a good place for a settlement. I and Right-
eous, one of Asa's brothers, took the southerly track.

"It was no pleasuring party that journey, but a
right-down hard and dangerous expedition, through
cypress swamps, where snapping-turtles were plenty
as mosquitoes, and at every step the congo and
mocassin snakes twisted themselves round our ankles.
We persevered, however. We had a few handfuls
of corn in our hunting-pouches, and our calabashes
well filled with whisky. With that and our rifles
Ave did not want for provender.

" At length, on the fourth day, we came to an up-
land, or rolling prairie as we call it, from the top of
which we had a view that made our hearts leap for
joy. A lovely strip of land lay before us, bounded
at the further end by a forest of evergreen oaks,
honey locusts, and catalpas. Towards the north was
a good ten mile of prairie ; on the right hand a Avood
of cotton-trees, and on the left the forest in which
you now are. We decided at once that we should
find no better place than this to fix ourselves ; and
we went back to tell Asa and the others of our dis-
covery, and to show them the way to it. Asa and
one of his brothers returned with us, bringing part
of our traps. They were as pleased with the place
as we were, and we went back again to fetch the
rest. But it was no easy matter to bring our plunder
and the women and children through the forests and

ADVENTURES IX LOUISIANA. 191

swamps. "NVe had to cut paths through the thickets,
and to make bridges and rafts to cross the creeks and
marshes. After ten days' labour, however, and with
the help of our axes, we were at our journey's end.

" We began directly clearing and cutting down trees,
and in three weeks we had built a loghouse, and were
able to lie down to rest without fear of being dis-
turbed by the wolves or catamounts. We built two
more houses, so as to have one for each two families,
and then set to work to clear the land. We had
soon shaped out a couple of fields, a ten-acre one for
maize, and another half the size for tobacco. These
we began to dig and hoe ; but the ground was hard,
and though we all worked like slaves, we saw there
was nothing to be made of it without ploughing. A
ploughshare we had, and a plough was easily made —
but horses were wanting ; so Asa and I took fifty
dollars, which was all the money we had amongst us,
and set out to explore the country forty miles round,
and endeavour to meet with somebody who would
sell us a couple of horses and two or three cows.
Xot a clearing or settlement did we find, however,
and at last we returned discouraged, and again began
digging. On the very first day after our return, as
we were toiling away in the field, a trampling of
horses was heard, and four men mounted, and fol-
lowed by a couple of wolf-hounds, came cantering
over the prairie. It struck us that this would be a
famous chance for buying a pair of horses, and Asa

192 TRAVEL, AD VENTURE, AND SPOUT.

went to meet them, and invited them to alight and
refresh themselves. At the same time we took our
rifles, which were always lying beside us when we
worked in the fields, and advanced towards the
strangers. But when they saw our guns, they put
spurs to their horses and rode off to a greater dis-
tance. Asa called out to them not to fear, for our
rifles were to use against bears and wolves and Red-
skins, and not against Christian men. Upon this,
down they came again ; we brought out a calabash of
real Monongahela ; and after they had taken a dram,
they got off their horses, and came in and ate some
venison, which the women set before them. They
were Creoles — half Spanish, half French, with a
streak of the Injun ; and they spoke a sort of gib-
berish not easy to understand. But Asa, who had
served in Lafayette's division in the time of the Avar,
knew French well ; and when they had eaten and
drunk, he began to make a bargain with them for two
of their horses.

" It was easy to see they were not the sort of men
with whom decent folk could trade. First they
would, then they wouldn't : which horses did we
want, and what would we give 1 We offered them
thirty-five dollars for their two best horses — and a
heavy price it was, for at that time money was scarce
in the settlements. They wanted forty, but at last
took the thirty-five ; and after getting three-parts
drunk upon taffia, which they asked for to wet the

ADVENTURES IN LOUISIANA. 193

bargain, as they said, they mounted two upon each
of the remaining horses and rode away.

" We now got on famously with our fields, and soon
sowed fifteen acres of maize and tobacco, and then
began clearing another ten-acre field. We were one
day hard at work at this, when one of my boys came
running to us, crying out, ' Father ! father ! — the
Redskins ! ' We snatched up our rifles and hastened
to the top of the little rising ground on which our
houses were built, and thence we saw, not Injuns,
but fourteen or fifteen Creoles galloping towards our
clearing, holloaing and huzzaing like mad. When
they were within fifty yards of us, Asa stepped for-
ward to meet them. As soon as they saw him one
of them called out, ' There is the thief ! There is
the man who stole my brown horse ! ' Asa made no
answer to this, but waited till they came nearer,
when one of them rode up to him and asked who
was the chief in the settlement. ' There is no chief
here,' answered Asa ; ' we are all equals and free
citizens.'

" ' You have stolen a horse from our friend Mon-
sieur Croupier,' replied the other. ' You must give
it up.'

'"Is that all?' said Asa quietly.

" ' !N^o ; you must show us by what right you hunt
on this territory.'

" ' Yes/ cried half-a-dozen others, ' we'll have no
strangers on our hunting-grounds ; the bears and

VOL. VI. N

194 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

caguars are getting scarcer than ever, and as for
buffaloes, they are clean exterminated.' And all the
time they were talking, they kept leaping and gallop-
ing about like madmen.

" ' The sooner the bears and caguars are killed the
better,' said Asa ' The land is not for dumb brutes,
but for men.'

"The Creoles, however, persisted that we had no
right to hunt where we were, and swore we should
go away. Then Asa asked them what right they had
to send us away. This seemed to embarrass them,
and they muttered and talked together; so that it
was easy to see there was no magistrate or person in
authority amongst them, but that they were a party
of fellows who had come in hopes to frighten us.
At last they said they should inform the governor,
and the commandant at i^atchitoches, and the Lord
knows who besides ; that we had come and squatted
ourselves down here, and built houses, and cleared
fields, and all without right or permission ; and that
then we might look out. So Asa began to lose
patience, and told them they might all go to the devil,
and that, if they Avere not off soon, he should be apt
to hasten their movements.

" ' I must have my horse back,' screamed the Creole
whom they called Croupier.

" ' You shall,' replied Asa, ' both of them, if you
return the five-and-thirty dollars.'

" ' It was only fifteen dollars,' cried the lying Creole.

ADVENTURES IN LOUISIANA. 195

" Upon this Asa called to us, and we stepped out
from amongst the cotton-trees, behind which we had
been standing all the while ; and when the Creoles
saw us, each with his rifle on his arm, they seemed
rather confused, and drew back a little.

" ' Here are my comrades,' said Asa, ' who will all
bear witness that the horses were sold at the prices
of twenty dollars for the one and fifteen for the other.
And if any one says the contrary, he says that which
is not true.'

"'Larifarif roared Croupier. 'You shan't stop
here to call us liars, and spoil our hunting-ground,
and build houses on our land. His excellency the
governor shall be told of it, and the commandant at
Katchitoches, and you shall be driven away.' And
the other Creoles, who, while Asa was speaking, ap-
peared to be getting more quiet and reasonable, now
became madder than ever, and shrieked, and swore,
and galloped backwards and forwards, brandishing
their fowling-pieces like wild Injuns, and screaming
out that we should leave the country, the game wasn't
too plenty for them, and suchlike. At length Asa
and the rest of us got angry, and called out to them
to take themselves off or they would be sorry for it ;
and when they saw us bringing our rifles to our
shoulders, they put spurs to their horses, and galloped
away to a distance of some five hundred yards.
There they halted, and set up such a screeching as
almost deafened us, fired off some of their old rusty

196 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

guns, and then rode away. We all laughed at
their bragging and cowardice, except Asa, who looked
thoughtful

" ' I fear some harm will come of this,' said he.
' Those fellows will go talking about us in their
own country ; and if it gets to the ears of the
governors or commanding officers that we have settled
down on their territory, they will be sending troops
to dislodge us.'

" Asa's words made us reflect, and we held counsel
together as to what was best to be done. I proposed
that we should build a blockhouse on the Indian
mound to defend ourselves in if we were attacked.

" ' Yes,' said Asa ; ' but we are only six, and they
may send hundreds against us.'

" ' Very true,' said I ; ' but if we have a strong
blockhouse on the top of the mound, that is as good
as sixty, and we could hold out against a hundred
Spanish musketeers. And it's my notion, that if we
give up such a handsome bit of ground as we have
cleared here without firing a shot, we deserve to have
our rifles broken before our faces.'

"Asa, however, did not seem altogether satisfied.
It was easy to see he was thinking of the women and
children. Then said Asa's wife, Eachel, 'I calculate,'
said she, 'that Nathan, although he is my brother,
and I oughtn't to say it, has spoke like the son of his
father, who would have let himself be scalped ten
times over before he would have given up such an

ADVENTURES IN LOUISIANA. 197

almighty beautiful piece of land. And what's more,
Asa, I for one won't go back up the omnipotent dirty
Mississippi ; and that's a fact.'

" ' But if a hundred Spanish soldiers come ? ' said
Asa, ' and I reckon they will come.'

" ' Build the blockhouse, man, to defend yourselves ;
and when our people up at Salt Eiver and Cumber-
land hear that the Spaniards are quarrelling with us,
I guess they won't keep their hands crossed before
them.'

" So, seeing us all, even the women, so determined,
Asa gave in to our way of thinking, and the very
same day we began the blockhouse you see before
you. The walls were all of young cypress-trees, and
we would fain have roofed it with the same wood ;
but the smallest of the cypresses were five or six feet
thick, and it was no easy matter to split them. So
we were obliged to use fir, which, when it is dried
by a few days' sun, bums like tinder. But we little
thought, when we did so, what sorrow those cursed fir
planks would bring us.

" When all was ready, well and solidly nailed and
hammered together, we made a chimney, so that the
women might cook if necessary, and then laid in a
good store of hams and dried bear's flesh, filled the
meal and whisky tubs, and the Avater - casks, and
brought our plough and what we had most valuable
into the blockhouse. We then planted the palisades,
securing them strongly in the ground, and to e,ach

198 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

other, so that it might not be easy to tear them up.
We left, as you see, a space of five yards between the
stockade and the house, so that we might have room
to move about in. It would be necessary for an
enemy to take the palisades before he could do any
injury to the house itself, and we reckoned that with
six good rifles in such hands as ours, it would require
a pretty many Spanish musketeers to drive us from
our outer defences.

" In six weeks all was ready; all our tools and ra-
tions, except what we wanted for daily use, carried
into the fort, and we stood contemplating the. work of
our hands with much satisfaction. Asa was the only
one Avho seemed cast down.

" ' I've a notion,' said he, ' this blockhouse will be
a bloody one before long ; and what's more, I guess it
will be the blood of one of us that'll redden it. I've
a sort of feelin' of it, and of who it'll be.'

" ' Pho ! Asa, what notions be these 1 Keep a light
heart, man.'

" And Asa seemed to cheer up again, and the next
day we returned to working in the fields ; but as we
were not using the horses, one of us went every morn-
ing to patrol ten or twelve miles backwards and for-
wards, just for precaution's sake. At night two of
us kept watch, relieving one another, and patrolling
about the neighbourhood of our clearing.

" One morning we were working in the bush and
circling trees, when Righteous rode up at full gallop.

ADVENTUEES IN LOUISIANA. 199

" ' They're coming ! ' cried he ; 'a hundred of them
at least.'

" ' Are they are far off1? ' said Asa, quite quietly, and
as if he had been talking of a herd of deer.

" ' They are coming over the prairie. In less than
half an hour they will be here.'

" ' How are they marching "? With van and rear
guard 1 In what order 1 '

" ' J^o order at all, but all of a heap together.'

" ' Good ! ' said Asa ; ' they can know little about
bush-fighting or soldiering of any kind. Now then,
the women into the blockhouse.'

" Righteous galloped up to our fort, to be there first
in case the enemy should find it out. The women
soon followed, carrying what they could with them.
When we were all in the blockhouse, we pulled up
the ladder, made the gate fast, and there Ave were.

" We felt strange at first when we found ourselves
shut up inside the palisades, and only able to look out
through the slits we had left for our rifles. We
weren't used to be confined in a place, and it made
us right-down wolfish. There we remained, however,
as still as mice. Scarce a whisper was to be heard.
Rachel tore up old shirts and greased them, for wad-
ding for the guns ; we changed our flints, and fixed
everything about the rifles properly, while the women
sharpened our knives and axes all in silence.

" Nearly an hour had passed in this way when we
heard a shouting and screaming, and a few musket-

200 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

shots ; and we saw through our loopholes some Spanish
soldiers running backwards and forwards on the crest
of the slope on which our houses stood. Suddenly
a great pillar of smoke arose, then a second, then a
third.

" ' God be good to us ! ' cried Rachel, ' they are
burning our houses.' We were all trembling and quite
pale with rage. Harkye, stranger, when men have
been slaving and sweating for four or five months to
build houses for their wives and for the poor worms of
children, and then a parcel of devils from hell come
and burn them down like maize-stalks in a stubble-
field, it is no wonder that their teeth should grind
together, and their fists clench of themselves. So it
was with us ; but we said nothing, for our rage would
not let us speak. But presently as Ave strained our eyes
through the loopholes, the Spaniards showed them-
selves at the opening of the forest yonder, coming
towards the blockhouse. We tried to count them,
but at first it was impossible, for they came on in
a crowd without any order. They thought lightly
enough of those they were seeking, or they would
have been more prudent. However, when they came
within five hundred paces, they formed ranks, and
we were able to count them. There were eighty-two
foot soldiers with muskets and carbines, and three
officers on horseback, with drawn swords in their
hands. The latter dismounted, and their example was
followed by seven other horsemen, amongst whom

ADVENTURES IX LOUISIANA. 201

we recognised three of the rascally Creoles who had
brought all this trouble upon us. He they called
Croupier was among them. The other four were
also Creoles, Acadians or Canadians, a race whom we
had already met with on the Upper Mississippi, fine
hunters, but wild, drunken, debauched barbarians.

" The Acadians were coming on in front, and they
set up a whoop when they saw the blockhouse and
stockade; but finding that we were prepared to receive
them, they retreated upon the main body. AVe saw
them speaking to the officers as if advising them ; but
the latter shook their heads, and the soldiers con-
tinued moving on. They were in uniforms of all
colours, blue, white, and brown, but each man dirtier
than his neighbour. They marched in good order,
nevertheless, the captain and officers coming on in
front, and the Acadians keeping on the flanks. The
latter, however, edged gradually off towards the cotton-
trees, and presently disappeared amongst them.

" ' Those are the first men to frick off/ said Asa,
when he saw this manoeuvre of the Creoles. ' They
have steady hands and sharp eyes ; but if we once
get rid of them we need not mind the others.'

" The Spaniards were now within a hundred yards
of us.

"'Shall I let fly at the thieving incendiaries?'
said Righteous.

"'God forbid!' replied Asa. 'We will defend
ourselves like men ; but let us wait till we are at-

202 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

tacked, and the blood that is shed will lie at the
door of the aggressors.'

" The Spaniards now saw plainly that they would
have to take the stockade before they could get at us,
and the officers seemed consulting together.

" ' Halt ! ' cried Asa, suddenly.

" ' Messieurs les Ainericains/ said the captain, look-
ing up at our loopholes.

" ' What's your pleasure ? ' demanded Asa.

" Upon this the captain stuck a dirty pocket-hand-
kerchief upon the point of his sword, and laughing
with his officers, moved some twenty paces forward,
followed by the troops. Thereupon Asa again
shouted to him to halt.

" ' This is not according to the customs of war,'
said he. ' The .flag of truce may advance, but if it
is accompanied, we fire.'

" It was evident that the Spaniards never dreamed
of our attempting to resist them ; for there they
stood in line before us, and if we had fired, every
shot must have told. The Acadians, who kept them-
selves all this time snug behind the cotton - trees,
called more than once to the captain to withdraw his
men into the wood ; but he only shook his head con-
temptuously. When, however, he heard Asa threaten
to fire, he looked puzzled, and as if he thought it
just possible we might do as we said. He ordered
his men to halt, and called out to us not to fire till
he had explained what they came for.

ADVENTUKES IN LOUISIANA. 203

" ' Then cut it short,' cried Asa, sternly. ' You'd
have done better to explain before you burned down
our houses, like a pack of Mohawks on the war-
path.'

" As he spoke, three bullets whistled from the edge
of the forest and struck the stockades within a few
inches of the loophole at which he stood. They
were fired by the Creoles, who, although they could
not possibly distinguish Asa, had probably seen his
rifle-barrel or one of his buttons glitter through the
opening. As soon as they had fired they sprang be-
hind their trees again, craning their heads forward to
hear if there was a groan or a cry. They'd have done
better to have kept quiet ; for Righteous and I caught
a sight of them, and let fly at the same moment.
Two of them fell and rolled from behind the trees,
and we saw that they were the Creole called
Croupier, and another of our horse-dealing friends.

" When the Spanish officer heard the shots he ran
back to his men, and shouted out, ' Forward ! To
the assault ! ' They came on like mad a distance of
thirty paces, and then, as if they thought we were
wild geese to be frightened by their noise, they fired
a volley against the blockhouse.

" ' Now, then ! ' cried Asa, ' are you loaded, Nathan
and Righteous ] I take the captain — you, Nathan,
the lieutenant — Righteous, the third officer — James,
the sergeant. Mark your men, and waste no
powder. '

204 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

" The Spaniards were still some sixty yards off, but
\ve were sure of our mark at a hundred and sixty,
and that if they had been squirrels instead of men.
We fired : the captain and lieutenant, the third
officer, two sergeants, and another man writhed for
an instant upon the grass. The next moment they
stretched themselves out — dead.

"All was now confusion among the musketeers,
who ran in every direction. Most of them took to the
wood, but about a dozen remained and lifted up their
officers to see if there was any spark of life left in
them.

" ' Load again, quick ! ' said Asa in a low voice.
We did so, and six more Spaniards tumbled over.
Those who still kept their legs now ran off as if the
soles of their shoes had been of red-hot iron.

" We set to work to pick out our touch-holes and
clean our rifles, knowing that we might not have
time later, and that a single miss-fire might cost us
all our lives. We then loaded, and began to cal-
culate what the Spaniards would do next. It is true
they had lost their officers ; but there were five
Acadians with them, and those were the men we
had most cause to fear. Meantime the vultures and
turkey-buzzards had already begun to assemble, and
presently hundreds of them were circling and hover-
ing over the carcasses, which they as yet, however,
feared to touch.

"Just then Eighteous, who had the sharpest eye

ADVENTURES IX LOUISIANA. 205

amongst us all, pointed to the corner of the wood,
yonder where it joins the brushwood thicket. I
made a sign to Asa, and we all looked and saw there
was something creeping and moving through the un-
derwood. Presently we distinguished two Acadians
heading a score of Spaniards, and endeavouring,
under cover of the bushes, to steal across the open
ground to the east side of the forest.

" ' The Acadians for you, Nathan and Righteous,
the Spaniards for us,' said Asa. The next moment
two Acadians and four Spaniards lay bleeding in the
brushwood. But the bullets were scarce out of our
rifles when a third Acadian, whom we had not seen,
started up. 'Now's the time,' shouted he, 'before
they have loaded again. Follow me ! we will have
their blockhouse yet.' And he sprang across, fol-
lowed by the Spaniards. We gnashed our teeth
with rage at not having seen the Acadian.

" There were still three of these fellows alive, who
had now taken command of the Spaniards. Al-
though we had shot a score of our enemies, those
who remained were more than ten to one of us, and
we were even worse off than at first, for then they
were all together, and now we had them on each side
of us. But we did not let ourselves be discouraged,
although we could not help feeling that the odds
against us were fearfully great.

" We now had to keep a sharp look-out ; for if one
of us showed himself at a loophole, a dozen bullets

206 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

rattled about his ears. There were many shot-holes
through the palisades, which were covered with white
streaks where the splinters had been torn off by the
lead. The musketeers had spread themselves all
along the edge of the forest, and had learned by ex-
perience to keep close to their cover. We now and
then got a shot at them and killed four or five, but it
was slow work, and the time seemed very long.

" Suddenly the Spaniards set up a loud shout. At
first we could not make out what was the matter, but
presently we heard a hissing and crackling on the
roof of the blockhouse. They had wrapped tow
round their cartridges, and one of the shots had set
light to the fir-boards. Just as we found it out, they
gave three more hurrahs, and we saw the dry planks
beginning to flame, and the fire to spread.

" ' We must put that out, and at once,' said Asa,
'if we don't wish to be roasted alive. Some one
must get up the chimney with a bucket of water.
I'll go myself.'

" ' Let me go, Asa,' said Righteous.

" ' You stop here. It don't matter who goes. The
thing will be done in a minute.'

" He put a chair on a table and got upon it, and
then seizing a bar which was fixed across the chim-
ney to hang hams upon, he drew himself up by his
arms, and Rachel handed him a pail of water. All
this time the flame was burning brighter, and the
Spaniards getting louder in their rejoicings and

ADVENTURES IN LOUISIANA. 207

hurrahs. Asa stood upon the bar, and raising the
pail above his head, poured the water out of the
chimney upon the roof.

" ' More to the left, Asa,' said Righteous ; ' the fire
is strongest more to the left."

" ' Tarnation seize it ! ' cried Asa, ' I can't see.
Hand me up another pailful.'

" \Ve did so ; and when he had got it, he put his
head out at the top of the chimney to see where the
fire was, and threw the water over the exact spot.
But at the very moment that he did so the report of
a dozen muskets was heard.

" ' Ha ! ' cried Asa in an altered voice, ' I have it.'
And the hams and bucket came tumbling down the
chimney, and Asa after them all covered with blood.

" ' In God's name, man, are you hurt ? ' cried
Rachel.

'"Hush! wife,' replied Asa; 'keep quiet. I
have enough for the rest of my life, which will not
be long : but never mind, lads ; defend yourselves
well, and don't fire two at the same man. Save your
lead, for you will want it all. Promise me that."

" ' Asa ! my beloved Asa ! ' shrieked Eachel ; ' if
you die, I shall die too.'

" ' Silence ! foolish woman ; and our child, and the
one yet unborn ! Hark ! I hear the Spaniards !
Defend yourselves, and, Nathan, be a father to my
children.'

I had barely time to press his hand and make him

208 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

the promise he wished. The Spaniards, who had
doubtless guessed our loss, rushed like mad wolves
up to the mound, twenty on one side, and upwards of
thirty on the other.

" ' Steady ! ' cried I. ' Righteous, here with me ;
and you, Rachel, show yourself worthy to be Hiram
Strong's daughter, and Asa's wife ; load this rifle for
me while I fire my own.'

" ' 0 God ! 0 God ! ' cried Rachel, < the hell-hounds
have murdered my Asa ! '

" She clasped her husband's body in her arms, and
there was no getting her away. I felt sad enough
myself, but there was scanty time for grieving ; for a
party of Spaniards, headed by one of the Acadians,
was close up to the mound on the side which I was
defending. I shot the Acadian ; but another, the
sixth, and last but one, took his place. ' Rachel ! '
cried I, ' the rifle, for God's sake, the rifle ! a single
bullet may save all our lives.'

" But no Rachel came, and the Acadian and Span-
iards, who, from the cessation of our fire, guessed
that we were either unloaded, or had expended our
ammunition, now sprang forward, and by climbing,
and scrambling, and getting on one another's shoulders,
managed to scale the side of the mound, almost per-
pendicular, as you see it is. And in a minute the
Acadian and half-a-dozen Spaniards, with axes, were
chopping away at the palisades, and severing the
wattles which bound them together. To give the

ADVENTURES IN LOUISIANA. 209

devil his due, if there had been only three like that
Acadian, it would have been all up with us. He
handled his axe like a real backwoodsman : but the
Spaniards wanted either the skill or the strength
of arm, and they made little impression. There were
only Righteous and myself to oppose them ; for on
the other side a dozen more soldiers, with the seventh
of those cursed Acadians, were attacking the stockade.

" Righteous shot down one of the Spaniards ; but
just as he had done so the Acadian tore up a palisade
by the roots (how he did it I know not to this hour,
there must have been a stump remaining on it), held
it with the wattles and branches hanging round it
like a shield before him, guarding off a blow I aimed
at him, then hurled it against me with such force
that I staggered backwards, and he sprang past me.
I thought it was all over with us. It is true that
Righteous, with the butt of his rifle, split the skull of
the first Spaniard who entered, and drove his hunting-
knife into the next ; but the Acadian alone was man
enough to give us abundant occupation, now he had
got in our rear. Just then there was a crack of a
rifle, the Acadian gave a leap into the air and fell
dead, and at the same moment my son Godsend, a
boy of ten years old, sprang forward, Asa's rifle in
his hand still smoking from muzzle and touchhole.
The glorious boy had loaded the piece when he saw
that Rachel did not do it, and in the very nick of
time had shot the Acadian through the heart. This

VOL. vi. o

210 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

brought me to myself again, and with axe in one
hand and knife in the other, I rushed in among the
Spaniards, hacking and hewing right and left. It
was a real butchery, which lasted a good quarter of an
hour ; but then the Spaniards got sick of it, and
would have done so sooner had they known that their
leader was shot. At last they jumped off the mound
and ran away, such of them as could. Righteous and
I put the palisade in its place again, securing it as
well as we could, and then, telling my boy to keep
watch, ran over to the other side, where a desperate
fight was going on.

" Three of our party, assisted by the women, were
defending the stockade against a score of Spaniards,
who kept poking their bayonets between the palisades,
till all our people were wounded and bleeding. But
Rachel had now recovered from her first grief at her
husband's death, or rather it had turned to a feeling
of revenge, and there she was, like a raging tigress,
seizing the bayonets as they were thrust through
the stockade, and wrenching them off the muskets,
and sometimes pulling the muskets themselves out
of the soldiers' hands. But all this struggling had
loosened the palisades, and there were one or two
openings in them through Avhich the thin -bodied
Spaniards, pushed on by their comrades, were able
to pass. Just as we came up, two of these copper-
coloured Dons had squeezed themselves through,
without their muskets, but with their short sabres

ADVENTUKES IN LOUISIANA. 211

in their hands. They are active dangerous fellows
those Spaniards in a hand-to-hand tussle. One of
them sprang at me, and if it had not been 'for my
hunting-knife, I was done for, for I had no room to
swing my axe ; but as he came on I hit him a blow
with my fist, which knocked him down, and then
ran my knife into him, and jumping over his body
snatched a musket out of Rachel's hand, and began
laying about me with the butt-end of it. I was sorry
not to have my rifle, which was handier than those
heavy Spanish muskets. The women were now in
the way — we hadn't room for so many — so I called
out to them to get into the blockhouse and load
the rifles. There was still another Acadian alive,
and I knew that the fight wouldn't end till he was
done for. But while we were fighting, Godsend and
the women loaded the rifles, and brought them out,
and firing through the stockade, killed three or four,
and as luck would have it, the Acadian was amongst
them. So when the Spaniards, who are just like
hounds, and only come on if led and encouraged, saw
that their leader had fallen, they sprang off the
mound, with a ' Carajo I Malditos ! ' and ran away
as if a shell had burst amongst them."

The old squatter paused and drew a deep breath.
He had forgotten his usual drawl and deliberation,
and had become animated and eager while describing
the stirring incidents in which he had borne so active
a part. When he had taken breath, he continued.

212 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

" I couldn't say how long the fight lasted ; it
seemed short, we were so busy, and yet long, deadly
long. It is no joke to have to defend one's life, and
the lives of those one loves best, against fourscore
bloodthirsty Spaniards, and that with only half-a-
dozen rifles for arms, and a few palisades for shelter.
When it was over we were so dog-tired that we fell
down where we were, like overdriven oxen, and
Avithout minding the blood which lay like water on
the ground. Seven Spaniards and two Acadians
were lying dead within the stockade. We ourselves
were all Avounded and hacked about, some with knife-
stabs and sabre-cuts, others with musket-shots ; ugly
wounds enough, - some of them, but none mortal.
If the Spaniards had returned to the attack they
would have made short work of us ; for as soon as
we left off fighting and our blood cooled, we became
stiff and helpless. But now came the women with
rags and bandages, and washed our wounds and
bound them up, and we dragged ourselves into the
blockhouse, and lay down upon our mattresses of dry
leaves. And Godsend loaded the rifles and a dozen
Spanish muskets that were lying about, to be in readi-
ness for another attack, and the women kept watch
while we slept. But the Spaniards had had enough,
and we saw no more of them. Only the next
morning, when Jonas went down the ladder to recon-
noitre, he found thirty dead, and several others dying,
and a few wounded, who begged hard for a drink

ADVENTURES IN LOUISIANA. 213

of water, for that their comrades had deserted them.
We got them up into the blockhouse, and had their
wounds dressed, and after a time they were cured and
left us."

"And were you never after attacked again?" said
I. " I wonder at your courage in remaining here
after becoming aware of the dangers you were ex-
posed to."

" We reckoned we had more right than ever to the
land after all the blood it had cost us, and then the
news of the fight had got carried into the settlements,
and up as far as Salt River ; and some of our friends
and kinsfolk came down to join us, and there were
soon enough of us not to care for twice as many
Spaniards as we had beaten off before."

While he was speaking the old squatter descended
the ladder, and led us out of the forest, and over the
ridge of a low hill, on the side of which stood a
dozen loghouses, which cast their black shadows on
the moonlit slope. We found a rough but kind
welcome — few words, but plenty of good cheer — and
we made acquaintance with the heroes and heroines of
the blockhouse siege, and with their sons and daugh-
ters, buxom strapping damsels and fine manly lads,
Yankees thoiigh they were. I have often enjoyed
a softer bed, but never a sounder sleep than that
night.

The next day our horses were brought round from
the swamp, and we took our departure ; but as hard-

214 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

ships, however painful to endure, are pleasant to look
back upon, so have I often thought with pleasure of
our adventures in the prairies, and recurred with the
strongest interest to old Nathan's thrilling narrative
of the Bloody Blockhouse.

KASHMIR

BY ANDREW WILSON.

[MAGA. APRIL-MAY 1875.]

I.

4 LMOST every one longs, and many hope, to see
-t*- the beautiful Vale of Kashmir. Probably no
region of the earth is so well known to the eye of ima-
gination, or so readily suggests the idea of a terres-
trial Paradise. So far from having been disappointed
with the reality, or having experienced any cause for
wishing that I had left Kashmir imvisited, I can most
sincerely say that the beautiful reality excels the
somewhat vague poetic vision which has been associ-
ated with the name. But Kashmir is rather a diffi-
cult country to get at, especially when you come
down upon it from behind, by way of Zanskar and
Siiru. According to tradition, it was formerly the
Garden of Eden ; and one is very well disposed to
accept that theory when trying to get into it from
VOL. vi. p

216 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

the north or north-west. Most people go up to it
from the plains of India by one of the four author-
ised routes ; but I have a habit of getting into
places by some quite unusual way, and did so in
this instance.

From Siiru to Kartse and Sankii, a day's journey,
the road was • not bad, except at one place, where I
had to ride high up the mountains in order to find
a path possible for ponies, and at another where the
path was so narrow, running athwart precipices and
nearly precipitous slopes of shingle, that a man whom
I met leading his pony along it, had to take his steed
back for more than a mile before the two ponies could
pass each other. At Sankii there was a fine grove
of trees for a camping -ground, giving promise of a
more genial clime, though there was snow lying
under the trees ; and the way from Sankii to Omba,
up the valley of the Nakpo Chu, was tolerably easy ;
but after leaving Omba I did come upon some places
which were "a little difficult to get over." Unfor-
tunately I had no proper map of that part of the
country ; and starting early from Sankii, we reached
the mountain village of Omba at half-past ten in the
morning. That seemed rather a short day's journey,
so I asked one of the coolies, who spoke a little Hin-
dusthani, how far it was from Omba to Dras, and he
said it was the same distance as we had come from
Sankii to Omba, and farther illustrated his meaning
by grasping my alpenstock by the middle, and indi-

KASHMIR. 217

eating the two halfs of it as illustrations of the equal
length of the two distances. "\Vhen I afterwards
reproached this man for the difficulty into which he
had led us, he answered, with true Ivashmirian effron-
tery, that he had said nothing of the kind ; that it
was a Drasicallah, a fellow from Dras, who, he alleged,
had passed at the time, that had said so. But no one
objected to our going on, and all the bigarries showed
a remarkable alacrity in starting. "What in earth
their motive was I cannot say positively. Perhaps
they really wished to get on to Dras that day, from
fear of being cut off from their homes by a fall of
snow ; but it is more probable that they were afraid
of going there, and proposed to give me the slip
among the mountains ; for about this time the envoy
of the Yarkand ruler was expected to be coming up
the Dras Valley, on his return from a visit to Con-
stantinople, and immense numbers of Kashmir coolies
were being impressed in order to take his European
purchases up to Leh. At all events there must have
been some secret motive for their hurrying me into
the injurious task of undertaking in one day what
ought properly to have been a three days' journey.
I was ignorant of the fact when among those moun-
tains ; but find now, that in 1822 Moorcroft went
over the same road, and he took three days to it,
though it was July, and he started from above
Sankii, and on the third day did not reach Dras,
but only the hamlet opposite it, which I reached in

218 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

one day from Sankil ; so it can be understood how
tremendous was the day's journey, and how great the
mistake into which I was led.

So we started from Omba, and began to ascend a
hill. I do not say " a hill " sarcastically, because had
I seen, soon after starting, what a mountain this hill
was, I should immediately have turned back and
camped at Omba ; but, though immense mountains
rose before us, they did so in such a manner as to
make it appear likely that a low pass ran between
them. It was not until we had laboured up steadily
for about a couple of hours that the horrible truth
began to dawn upon my mind that there was no
pass, and that it was up the face of one of those
gigantic mountains that we were now going by a
corkscrew path. There really appeared to be no end
either of the path or of the mountain, and we soon
got involved in large patches of snow, though this
was the south side of "the pass." It was like going
up, not to Kashmir, but to heaven ; and I should
even then have returned to Omba but for the con-
sideration that the ligarries Avere from Sankii, and
that it might be difficult to supply their places or to
get them to go on next day. Meanwhile they began
to show symptoms of distress, and two or three at-
tempted to leave their luggage and bolt. One man
nearly effected his escape by getting leave to go down
a little way to a snow rivulet to drink. Whenever
he got there he took to his heels down the pass, but

KASHMIR. 2 1 9

was cut off and forced to come back by one of my
servants who had fallen behind and was coming up
on horseback.

However, I ignorantly thought that if we got to
the top of this tremendous Omba La, or Omba Pass
(which Avas as steep, and must have been as high, as
the Ki'mg-ma, which leads from Xamgea over into
Chinese Tibet), it would be all right ; and so I en-
couraged the bt'/art-i''* to labour upwards. There was
deep snow at the summit ; and looking down the
northern side, an immense sheet of snow was seen
stretching down into a desolate valley, and broken
only by the truck of a party of Baltis we met at the
summit. One of these Avas crying bitterly, and on
inquiring into the cause, I found he had been struck
Avitli snoAV-blindness by the reflection of the sun. I
had scarcely time to look round, and the dazzling
whiteness Avas too much for my eyes, even Avhen pro-
tected by blue glass ; but Moorcroft says that Avhen
he crossed it, and Avhen there must have been much
less snow. " the VICAV from the crest presented a
majestic line of snow-covered mountain- tops, very
little above the level of the pass, extending round a
circle of at least twenty miles in diameter. The uni-
formity of the ridges was A'ery remarkable; for al-
though broken Avitli peak and gorge, yet there Avere
no single mountains or mountain-chains that towered
ambitiously above their felloAvs."

Tt took us a long time to get doAvn that snow-slope,

220 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

and for riders it was rather ticklish work. On reach-
ing the desolate valley, where there were only a few
stunted bushes, I thought it high time to refresh the
inner man, fancying we had only to go down this
valley a little way to come upon Dras and human
habitations ; but I had only taken a few mouthfuls
when I learned that it led nowhere, that it had no
human habitations, and that, in order to reach Dras,
we should have to cross another snowy range, pos-
sibly higher than the one we had just got over with
so much difficulty. The effect upon me of this piece
of information was precisely like that of a hot potato.
On inquiry, I found that the score of coolies had
little more than a pound of flour among them, and
that my servants were in almost as bad a predica-
ment. I had told the latter always to be provided
for such an emergency ; but they excused themselves
on the ground that they had supposed we had got
out of the high mountains. I myself could have
camped with perfect comfort, having plenty of pro-
visions and clothing ; but the Ingarries had no suffi-
cient means of protecting themselves from the cold,
besides being destitute of provisions. The situation
was an extremely difficult one, because by this time
it was past three o'clock ; the sun was completely
shaded off the valley by the mountains around ; an
intense cold began to make us all shiver ; and to at-
tempt a snowy pass at that hour in the afternoon,
after having been almost continuously travelling from

KASHMIR. 221

before seven in the morning, Avas a distasteful and
exceedingly hazardous thing to do.

On the other hand, it occurred to me very forcibly
that if I did camp there I should find in the morning
that all the coolies had disappeared. It could hardly
be supposed that they had led me into this position
merely for the pleasure of doing three days' journey
in one, or of themselves spending a night unpro-
tected from the cold and with empty stomachs, in
the Twajeh valley. The most rational supposition
was that they wanted to give me the slip, and so I
determined to proceed at all risks. It was most for-
tunate I did so, because next day a tremendous snow-
storm fell over these mountains. If we had remained
in this elevated valley all night, we certainly could
not have got over to Dras the next day, or for several
days, and it is almost as certain that we could not
have got back to Omba. The most of the party must
have perished ; and hence I really was indebted
to the imaginary Dnuualtah ; though, from the ex-
posure of that evening, I suffered for months.

But having determined to proceed, it was abso-
lutely necessary to secure that the bearers of my bag-
gage should do so likewise. Fortunately all my ser-
vants were mounted, so I broke up our party into three
divisions, in order that the coolies might more easily
be kept in hand. I sent on my most valuable articles
in front, carried by coolies xinder charge of the violent
Chota Khan, and a sowar, or trooper, who had been

222 TEAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

sent with me by the Thanadar of Siirti. Keeping
the sharp boy Nurdass with me, I took the most
refractory of the men under my own charge, and
made Thooleyram and Silas Avith his gun look after
a small section in the rear. My servants saw as well
as I did the necessity for the most decided action,
and we soon reached the foot of the second range.
Here the man who had before nearly succeeded in
running away gave me some trouble by making a
similar attempt, and afterwards by lying down and
refusing to budge an inch further, so I had to show
him that such conduct might involve worse evils
than those of going on. I was not at all afraid of
their running away once I got them well over the
summit of this infernal second snowy range, because
from that point they could hardly have reached
Omba on empty stomachs ; so my great anxiety was
to get them over the brow of the range before dark,
so long as there was light enough for us to keep them
in hand. By various kinds of encouragement I man-
aged to push them up that lofty mountain at really
an astonishing rate, considering the ground they had
got over that day ; and when I saw men nagging
really from want of strength, I made them hold on
by our horses' tails, which, in making an ascent, is
very nearly as good as riding on the animal itself.

The sun had disappeared, and the light on the
snoAv we were crossing had become pale, Avhen I got
my party up to the summit of this great mountain-

KASHMIR. 223

ridge. But instead of a descent to Dras, I saw be-
fore me, with dismay, a large valley of snow, athwart
•which ran the tracks of Chota Khan's party, rising
up into a higher mountain-range beyond. It was, in
fact, a sort of double pass we were on ; and though
the descent between the two ridges was not great,
yet it was sufficiently formidable, and the distance
between them was enough to alarm one in the cir-
cumstances. How weird that scene was in the grey
fading light ! The cold made me shiver to the bone ;
but there was something in the scene also to make
one shiver, so cold-looking was it, so death-like. A
crescent moon gleamed in the sky with exceeding
brightness, and the whole disc of the moon was dis-
tinctly visible ; but its light was insufficient to dispel
the darkness which seemed to be creeping up from
the valley over the wastes of snow. We had quite
sufficient light, however, to take us over the second
summit of the pass ; but I suffered much from the
cold, being insufficiently clad, having had no expecta-
tion whatever of being up about 16,000 feet at such
an hour. It was with a feeling of great relief that I
learned that we had now only to descend, and had no
more snowy ridges to surmount on our terrible way to
Dras.

But how to descend1? That was the question
which immediately forced itself upon me. I was in-
clined to stick to the pony so long as I did not find
it upon the top of me ; and fortunately it was a won-

224 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

derful steed, equalled only by that of the Shigri
valley ; but by this time the night had become dark,
the crescent moon was disappearing behind the moun-
tains, and there were long slopes of snow to be trav-
ersed. Here the pony absolutely refused to move a
step without my allowing it to put its nose down close
to the snow; and though, when it was in such an
attitude on a steep slope, there was considerable diffi-
culty in keeping on its back, I found it could be
trusted to go down safely in that way ; and carry me
down it did, until we got into a deep and excessively
dark gorge, where it was impossible to ride. It was so
dark here that we could hardly see a step before us, and
I scrambled through in a manner that I could hardly
have believed possible. Our way lay along the bed
of a stream full of great stones, over which we often
fell. Then we would break through ice into pools
of ice-cold water, and come to falls where we had to
let one man down and descend upon his shoulders.
The pony meanwhile followed us, obedient to the
voice of its owner ; and it seemed to have more power
of finding its way than we possessed, for it got round
descents which it could hardly have jumped, and
which we could find no way of avoiding.

After that frightful passage we came on more gentle
and easy descents ; but it was with intense relief that
I saw the flames of a large fire of thorn-bushes which
Chota Khan and the sowar had kindled for oiir
guidance at a hamlet opposite to Dras, on our side

KASHMIR. 225

of the river. "We gladly turned our steps in that
direction, and stayed there for the night, the men
of the hamlet assisting in setting up my tent. It
Avas past ten before I reached this place, so that
we had been above fifteen hours almost continuously
travelling. The party under Silas came in soon ; but
he himself did not turn up for nearly an hour, and
when he arrived he was in a very excited state.
After dark he got separated from his party, and came
down that awful gorge in company with one old
coolie, of whose language he understood only the
single word balii, or " bear " ; and no doubt there
were likely enough to be bears about. This was
clearly not treatment such as a Bombay butler had a
right to expect ; but a little cocoa had a beneficial
effect upon him : and whenever my tent was set up I
went to sleep in spite of the Avind, Avhich UOAV began
to bloAV violently, accompanied by rain — and Avas so
Avorn out that I did not rise, or almost aAvake, till one
o'clock next day.

The morning Avas Avet and windy ; thick clouds
covered the mountains which Ave had descended, and,
as they lifted occasionally, I saAV that heavy SHOAV had
fallen. In such Aveather, and being in a fatigued
condition, it Avas quite sufficient to move from our
exposed camp only tAVO miles, to the Thana of Dras,
Avhere there Avas the shelter of trees and of Avails.
The Thanadar there spoke of the snoAV being forty
feet deep in Avinter, though the height is little over

226 TEAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

10,000 feet, and he seemed a highly respectable old
officer. His quarters are detached some way from
the large fort where the most of his troops are
stationed ; and I suppose these latter are not much
needed now, unless for purposes of oppression. Dras
is a dependency of Kashmir, being one of the provinces
which have been added to it by Mohammedan force
and Hindi! fraud, which do not fail, in the long-run, to
break the shield of the mountaineers. This valley
is sometimes called Himbab, or the " Source of Snow,"
— which must be a very suitable name for it, if that
prodigious story about the forty feet of snow be true.
There remains, however, another pass to be
crossed before we get into the valleys of even
Upper Kashmir. A very cold and wet day's journey
took us up the Dras river to the miserable hamlet
of Mataan, where, before getting out of my tent next
morning, I learned that the Yarkand envoy could not
be far off. I heard a loud voice crying out, Gaffe
banao, cha banao — "Make coffee, make tea," — fol-
lowed by whack, whack, as the blows of a stick
descended upon a man's back. This turned out to
be the Wuzeer's "Wuzeer, or the envoy's avant-courier,
who was pushing on ahead of his patron, and pre-
paring the way. Like many gentlemen's gentlemen,
he was extremely indignant at the comforts of life
not being ready for him. I do not believe that
this miserable hamlet of Mataan could have turned
out a cup of tea or coffee to save the lives of all

KASHMIR. 227

its inhabitants ; and it seemed to me that the
Wuzeer's Wuzeer administered the stick to the entire
population of that unhappy village. When I came
out of my tent, I had a momentary glimpse of a little
man in something like a red dressing-gown, dancing
furiously round a very big man, and hitting him with
a long stick ; but, on my appearance, he suddenly
retired into his dull. After that, on the six marches
down to Srinagar, I never found myself clear of the
retinue of the Yarkand envoy : for the whole road
down was covered with men carrying his things ; and
tents, guarded by Kashmir soldiers, had been pitched
for him at various places. There were said to be
3000 coolies employed in carrying up himself and
the effects he had purchased in Europe. I cannot
say as to the exact number ; but really there seemed
to be no end of them, and they came from all parts
of Kashmir. They were to be met with at almost
every turning, and in very various positions. At one
moment I would find half-a-dozen of them resting
to groan under the weight of a 24-pounder gun,
wrapped in straw, while a sepoy of the Kashmir
Maharajah threatened them with his stick, or even
with his sword ; half an hour after another party of
them were pulling down walnuts from some grand old
tree, while some grand -looking old dame (for the
Kashmir women who survive to old age have an aris-
tocratic appearance, which would attract attention in
the Courts of Europe) was looking on the spoliation

228 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

of her property, or on that of her grandchild, now
with a melancholy dignity, which might have become
the tragic muse, and anon with shrieks and impreca-
tions which might have excited the envy of a mrenad.
Again, I would come across three or four hundred of
them at sundown, kneeling down at prayer, with their
faces turned towards what was supposed to be the
direction of Mecca, but which really was more in the
direction of the North Pole star than of anything
else. At another time a party of them would halt as
I came by, support their burdens on the short poles
which they carried for that purpose, and some Hin-
dusthani spokesman among them would say to me :
" 0 Protector of the Poor ! " (Gurib Parwdr pro-
nounced Guripur), "you have been up among these
snowy mountains — shall we ever see our house-roofs
again 1 " They all had the same story as to their
monetary position. Each man had got five rupees (I
do not know whether small chilki, Kashmir rupees,
or British, but should fancy the former) in order to
purchase rice for the journey ; but their further
expectations on the subject of pay were of the most
desponding kind, and the only anxiety they showed
was, not as to how they were to get back again, but
as to whether it would be at all possible for them
ever to get back again. I must have missed the
Yarkand envoy himself about Ganderbahl, a day's
march from Srinagar ; but shortly before getting to
Ganderbahl I came across three of his retinue, who

KASHMIR. 229

puzzled me a little. It was very wet and very muddy,
when I suddenly came across three riders in black
European waterproofs, one of whom said to me —
" Bones sore, Mushil 1 " After being for months up
in the Himaliya, one is unaccustomed to being
accosted in a European language ; and the matter
was complicated by the fact that my bones were sore
at the time, and most confoundedly so, from the
combined effect of that evening on the Omba La and
of a fall. Hence it was that I had fairly passed the
three curious riders before it at all occurred to my
mind that the salutation was "Bon soir, Monsieur."
They were doubtless Frenchified Turks, Avhom the
envoy had brought from Constantinople ; but they
had scarcely any ground to expect that their peculiar
French would be recognised, on the moment, in one
of the upper valleys of Kashmir.

But I have not quite yet got into even the o\\t-
skirts of the Garden of Eden. The Zoji La had to
be crossed ; and though it is a very easy pass, and
set down by the Trigonometrical Survey as only
11,300 feet high, yet I have heard, and suspect, that
a mistake has been made there, and that nearly a
thousand feet might have been added to it. Let
Major Montgomerie's map be compared with the
sheets of the Trigonometrical Survey on which it
must be supposed to be based, and discrepancies will
be found. The Trigonometrical Survey has achieved
more than would allow of absolute accuracy in all

230 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

its details ; but, considering the means at its com-
mand, it has done wonders. Still, though the Zoji
pass may be higher than it has been set down, yet it
seems almost child's-play to the traveller from Zans-
kar and the Omba La. Though it seemed to me
nothing after what I had gone through, yet this pass
must have a formidable appearance to travellers com-
ing upon it from below, judging from the following
description of it by Dr Henderson, the ornitholo-
gist of the first of Sir Thomas Forsyth's missions "to
Yarkand : " The road we had ascended was in many
places rather trying to the nerves, being very steep,
and sometimes consisting merely of a platform of
brushwood attached to the face of the precipice. This
road, owing to its steepness, is quite impassable for
baggage animals after a fall of snow, and it is then
necessary to wait at Baltal until the snow has
melted, or to follow the stream up a very narrow
rocky gorge, with precipices of from 500 to 1000
feet on either side. This gorge, however, is only
practicable when filled up by snow to about fifty
feet in depth, as it usually is early in the season : it
is then the usual route ; and at that season, in order
to avoid the avalanches, it is necessary to start at
night and get over the pass before sunrise. Aval-
anches do not fall until late in the day, after the
sun begins to melt the snow/'1

I do not think the road has been improved since
1 ' Ijahore to Yarkand.' London, 1873.

KASHMIR. 231

Dr Henderson passed over it ; and now that I think
of it, I remember that there was something like the
brushwood platforms of which he speaks. The great
interest of it is that it leads suddenly down upon the
beautiful wooded scenery of Kashmir. After months
of the sterile, almost treeless Tibetan provinces, the
contrast was very striking, and I could not but revel
in the beauty and glory of the vegetation ; but even
to one who had come up upon it from below the
scene would have been very striking. There was a
large and lively encampment at the foot of the pass,
with tents prepared for the Yarkand envoy, and
a number of Kashmir officers and soldiers ; but I
pushed on beyond that, and camped in solitude close
to the Sind river, just beneath the Panjtarne valley,
which leads up towards the caves of Ambernath, a
celebrated place for Hindi pilgrimage. This place
is called Baltal, but it has no human habitations.
Smooth green meadows, carpet-like and embroidered
with flowers, extended to the silvery stream, above
which there was the most varied luxuriance of foliage,
the lower mountains being most richly clothed with
woods of many and beautiful colours. It was late
autumn, and the trees were in their greatest variety
of colour ; but hardly a leaf seemed to have fallen.
The dark green of the pines contrasted beautifully
with the delicate orange of the birches, because there
were intermingling tints of brown and saffron. Great
masses of foliage were succeeded by solitary pines,
VOL. vi. " Q

232 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

which had found a footing high up the precipitous
crags.

And all this was combined with peaks and slopes
of pure white snow. Aiguilles of dark rock rose out
of beds of snow, but their faces were powdered with
the same element. Glaciers and long beds of snow
ran down the valleys, and the upper vegetation had
snow for its bed. The effect of sunset upon this
scene was wonderful ; for the colours it displayed
were both heightened and more harmoniously blended.
The golden light of eve brought out the warm tints
of the forest ; but the glow of the reddish-brown
precipices, and the rosy light upon the snowy slopes
and peaks, were too soon succeeded by the cold grey
of evening. At first, however, the wondrous scene
was still visible in a quarter-moon's silvery light, in
which the Panjtarne valley was in truth—

" A wild romantic chasm that slanted

Down the sweet hill athwart a cedarn cover —
A savage place, as holy and enchanted
As e'er beneath the waning moon was haunted
By woman wailing for her demon lover."

The demon lovers to be met with in that wild
valley are bears, which are in abundance; and a
more delightful place for a hunter to spend a month
in could hardly be invented ; but he would have to
depend on his rifle for supplies, or have them sent
up from many miles down the Sind valley.

The remainder of my journey down this latter

KASHMIE. 233

valley to the great valley or small plain of Kashmir
was delightful A good deal of rain fell, but that
made one appreciate the great trees all the more, for
the rain was not continuous, and was mingled with
sunshine. At times, during the season when I saw
it, this "inland depth" is "roaring like the sea;"

" While trees, dim-seen, in frenzied numbers tear
The lingering remnant of their yellow hair ; "

"but soon after it is bathed in perfect peace and
mellow sunlight. The air was soft and balmy ; but,
at this transfer from September to October, it was
agreeably cool even to a traveller from the abodes
and sources of snow. As Ave descended, the pine-
forests were confined to the mountain-slopes ; but the
lofty deodar began to appear in the valley, as after-
wards the sycamore, the elm, and the horse-chestnut.
Round the picturesque villages, and even forming
considerable woods, there were fruit-trees — as the
walnut, the chestnut, the peach, the apricot, the
apple, and the pear. Large quantities of timber
(said to be cut recklessly) was in course of being
floated down the river; and where the path led
across it there were curious wooden bridges for which
it was not necessary to dismount. This Sind valley
is about sixty miles long, and varies in breadth from
a few hundred yards to about a mile, except at its
base, where it opens out considerably. It is con-
sidered to afford the best idea of the mingled beauty

234 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

and grandeur of Kashmir scenery; and when I passed
through its appearance was greatly enhanced by the
snow, which not only covered the mountain-tops, but
also came down into the forests Avhich clothed the
mountain-sides. The path through it, being part of
the great road from Kashmir to Central Asia, is kept
in tolerable repair, and it is very rarely that the
rider requires to dismount. Anything beyond a
walking pace, however, is for the most part out of
the question. Montgomerie divides the journey from
Srinagar to Baltal (where I camped below the Zoji
La) into six marches, making in all sixty-seven miles ;
and though two of these marches may be done in one
day, yet if you are to travel easily and enjoy the
scenery, one a-day is sufficient. The easiest double
march is from Sonamarg to Gond, and I did it in a
day with apparent ease on a very poor pony ; but the
consequence is that I beat my brains in vain in order
to recall what sort of place Gond was, no distinct
recollection of it having been left on my mind, ex-
cept of a grove of large trees and a roaring fire in
front of my tent at night. Sonamarg struck me as
a very pleasant place ; and I had there, in the person
of a youthful captain from Abbotabad, the pleasure
of meeting the first European I had seen since leav-
ing Lahaul. We dined together, and I found he had
come up from Srinagar to see Sonamarg, and he
spoke with great enthusiasm of a view he had had,
from another part of Kashmir, of the 26,000 feet

KASHMIR. 235

mountain Xanga Parbat. Mary means a " meadow,"
and seems to be applied specially to elevated
meadows ; sona stands for " golden " : and this place
is a favourite resort, in the hot malarious months of
July and August, both for the Europeans in Kashmir
and for natives of rank. The village, being com-
posed of four houses and three outlying ones, cannot
produce much in the way of either coolies or supplies.
Its commercial ideas may be gathered from the fact
that I was here asked seven rupees for a pound of
tea which was nothing but the refuse of tea-chests
mixed with all sorts of dirt. In the matter of coolies
I was independent, for the biyarries who had taken
my effects over the Zoji La were so afraid of being
impressed for the service of the Yarkand envoy, that
they had entreated me to engage them as far as Gan-
derbahl, near the capital, hoping that by the time
they reached that place the fierce demand for coolies
might have ceased.

At Ganderbahl I was fairly in the great valley of
Kashmir, and encamped under some enormous c/iundr
or sycamore trees ; the girth of one was so great that
its trunk kept my little mountain-tent quite sheltered
from the furious blasts. Truly —

" There was a roaring in the wind all night,
The rain fell heavily, and fell in floods ; "

but that gigantic chundr kept off both wind and rain
wonderfully. Xext day a small but convenient and

236 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

quaint Kashmir boat took me up to Srinagar ; and it
was delightful to glide up the backwaters of the
Jhelam, which afforded a highway to the capital. It
was the commencement and the promise of repose,
which I very seriously needed, and in a beautiful land.
At Srinagar, where I stayed for a fortnight, I was
the guest of the Resident, the amiable and accom-
plished Mr Le Poer Wynne, whose early death has
disappointed many bright hopes. I had thus every
opportunity of seeing all that could be seen about the
capital, and of making myself acquainted with the
state of affairs in Kashmir. I afterwards went up
to Islamabad, Martand, Achibal, Vernag, the Rozlu
valley, and finally went out of Kashmir by way of
the Manas and "Wular Lakes, and the lower valley of
the Jhelam, so that I saw the most interesting places
in the country, and all the varieties of scenery which
it affords. That country has been so often visited
and described, that, with one or two exceptions, I
shall only touch generally upon its characteristics. It
doubtless owes some of its charm to the character of
the regions in its neighbourhood. As compared with
the burning plains of India, the sterile steppes of
Tibet, and the savage mountains of the Himaliya and
of Afghanistan, it presents an astonishing and beauti-
ful contrast. After such scenes even a much more
commonplace country might have afforded a good
deal of the enthusiasm, which Kashmir has excited in
Eastern poetry, and even in common rumour ; but

KASHMIR. 237

beyond that it has characteristics which give it a
distinct place among the most pleasing regions of the
earth. I said to the Maharajah, or ruling Prince of
Kashmir, that the most beautiful countries I had
seen were England, Italy, Japan, and Kashmir ; and
though he did not seem to like the remark much,
probably from a fear that the beauty of the land
he governed might make it too much an object of
desire, yet there was no exaggeration in it. Here, at
a height of nearly 6000 feet, in a temperate climate,
with abundance of moisture, and yet protected by
lofty mountains from the fierce continuous rains of
the Indian south-west monsoon, we have the most
splendid amphitheatre in the world. A fiat oval
valley about sixty miles long, and from forty in
breadth, is surrounded by magnificent mountains,
which, during the greater part of the year, are covered
more than half-way down with snow, and present
vast upland beds of pure white snow. This valley
has fine lakes, is intersected with water-courses, and
its land is covered with brilliant vegetation, includ-
ing gigantic trees of the richest foliage. And out of
this great central valley there rise innumerable, long,
picturesque mountain - valleys, such as that of the
Sind river, which I have just described ; while above
these there are great pine- forests, green slopes of grass,
glaciers, and snow. Nothing could express the general
effect better than Moore's famous lines on sainted
Lebanon —

238 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

" Whose head in wintry grandeur towers,

And whitens with eternal sleet ;
While Summer, in a vale of flowers,
Is sleeping rosy at his feet."

The great encircling walls of rock and snow contrast
grandly with the soft beauty of the scene beneath.
The snows have a wonderful effect as we look up
to them through the leafy branches of the immense
clnindr, elm, and poplar trees. They flash gloriously
in the morning sunlight above the pink mist of the
valley-plain ; they have a rosy glow in the evening
sunlight; and when the sunlight has departed, but
ere darkness shrouds them, they gleam, afar off, with
a cold and spectral light, as if they belonged to a
region where man had never trod. The deep black
gorges in the mountains have a mysterious look. The
sun lights up some softer grassy ravine or green slope,
and then displays splintered rocks rising in the wildest
confusion. Often long lines of white clouds lie along
the line of mountain-summits, while at other times
every white peak and precipice - wall is distinctly
marked against the deep-blue sky. The valley-plain
is especially striking in clear mornings and evenings,
when it lies partly in golden sunlight, partly in the
shadow of its great hills.

The green mosaic of the level land is intersected by
many streams, canals, and lakes, or beautiful reaches
of river which look like small lakes. The lakes have
floating islands composed of vegetation. Besides the

KASHMIR. 239

immense cliundrs and elms, and the long lines of
stately poplars, great part of the plain is a garden
filled with fruits and flowers, and there is almost
constant verdure.

" There eternal summer dwells,
And west winds, with musky wing,
About the cedar'd alleys fling
Xard and cassia's balmy smells."

It is a pity that so beautiful a country should not
have a finer population. At the entrances of the
valleys, looking at the forests, the rich uncultivated
lands, and the unused water-power, I could not hut
think of the scenes in England,

" Where lawns extend that scorn Arcadian pride,
And brighter streams than famed Hydaspes1 glide."

My mind reverted also to the flashing snows of the
American Sierra Nevada, the dwarf oaks and rich
fields of wheat, the chubby children, the comely,
well-dressed women, and the strong stalwart men of
California, For, though the chalets were picturesque
enough at a little distance, they could not bear a close
examination ; and there was not much satisfaction to
be had in contemplating the half-starved, half-naked
children, and the thin, worn-out-looking women. One
could not help thinking of the comfortable homes
which an Anglo-Saxon population would rear in such
a land.

The beauty of the Kashmir women has long been
1 The Jhelain.

240 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

famous in the East, but if you want beautiful Kash-
miris do not go to Kashmir to look for them. They
have all fine eyes, and " the eyes of Kashmir " have
been justly celebrated in Eastern poetry ; but that
is almost the only feminine attraction to be found
in the country even among the dancing - girls and
the boat-girls. As to the ordinary women, there is
too much sad truth in Victor Jacquemont's outburst
against them — " Know that I have never seen any-
where such hideous witches as in Kashmir. [He
had not been in Tibet !] The female race is remark-
ably ugly. I speak of women of the common ranks —
those one sees in the streets and fields — since those
of a more elevated station pass all their lives shut up,
and are never seen. It is true that all little girls who
promise to turn out pretty are sold at eight years of
age, and carried off into the Panjab and India." I
am afraid a good deal of that traffic still goes on,
notwithstanding the law which forbids women and
mares to be taken out of the country ; and as it has
gone on for generations, it is easily explicable how
the women of Kashmir should be so ugly. A con-
tinuous process of eliminating the pretty girls and
leaving the ugly ones to continue the race must lower
the standard of beauty. But the want of good
condition strikes one more painfully in Kashmir than
the want of beauty. The aquiline noses, long chins,
and long faces of the women of Kashmir, would
allow only of a peculiar and rather Jewish style of

KASHMIR. 241

beauty ; but even that is not brought out well by the
state of their physique; and I don't suppose the most
beautiful woman in the world would show to ad-
vantage if she were imperfectly Avashed and dressed
in the ordinary feminine attire of Kashmir — a dirty,
whitish cotton night-gown.

It is unfortunate for the reputation of Kashmir
that a sudden death, not entirely free from suspicious
circumstances, should have befallen three of our
countrymen who had distinguished themselves by
exposing the abuses existing in the country ; and it
is at least remarkable that suspicion on the subject
should have been roused by the Kashmiris themselves
— that is to say, by reports generally current in Srina-
gar. I allude to Lieutenant Thorpe, Dr Elmslie, and
Mr Hayward. The first of these gentlemen had pub-
lished a pamphlet entitled — 'Kashmir Misgovern-
ment;' and in November 1868, Avhen almost all
visitors except himself had left Kashmir for the
season, he expired suddenly at Srinagar, after having
walked up the Takht-i-Suliman, a hill which rises
close to the city to the height of a thousand feet.
Katurally the supposition was that he had been
poisoned ; but Surgeon Caley, who happened to be on
his way down from Ladak, examined the body shortly
after death, and reported that there had been " rup-
ture of the heart." Dr Elmslie was a devoted medical
missionary, who did an immense deal of good in
Kashmir, and had published a valuable vocabulary

242 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

of the Kashmiri language ; but he had also published
letters complaining of the carelessness of the Govern-
ment in regard to a visitation of cholera which had
carried off large numbers of the people, and pointing
out that sanitary measures might save the lives of
thousands every year from small-pox and other dis-
eases. The Srinagar rumour was that his servants
had been offered so much to poison him within
the Kashmir territory, and so much more if they
would do so after he got beyond. Unfortunately
Dr Elmslie also died rather suddenly shortly after
he had got beyond the Kashmir borders, and, it
seems, also of heart disease. Mr Hayward had pub-
lished letters in the Indian papers complaining of
the conduct of the Kashmir troops in Gilgit, and on
the borders of Yassin, and he somewhat injudiciously
returned to that part of the world. .But I do not
attach any importance to the gossip of Eastern cities
— or of any cities, for that matter ; and there has
appeared no ground to suppose that his death was
planned by Kashmir officials, but what befell him
was very sad. He was on his way to the Pamir
Steppe, and somewhere about Yassin was in the
territory of a chief who camped two hundred armed
men in a wood near his tent. The next day's journey
would have taken Hayward beyond this chief's border ;
and, suspecting mischief, he sat up all night writing
with revolver in hand. Unfortunately, however, in
the grey of the morning, he lay down to take half an

KASHMIR. 243

hour's sleep before starting ; and the chief with his
people came down on him then, overpowered him,
tied his hands behind his back and took him into the
wood. Here, seeing preparations made for putting
him to death, the unfortunate traveller offered a
ransom for his life ; but his captors would not hear
of it. They made him kneel down, and, while he
Avas offering up a prayer, they hacked off his head
after the half-hacking half-sawing way they have of
killing sheep in the Himaliya. How this story was
gathered has been told in the Journal of the Royal
Geographical Society, and tolerably correct accounts
of such incidents get abroad in even the wildest parts
of the East. The moral of it is that one ought to
avoid Yassin rather than that it is dangerous to abuse
the Kashmir Government ; but it is no wonder that
the three cases just mentioned should have given
rise to suspicions when we consider the character of
the people, and the powerful motives which the
native officials have in preventing any outcry being
raised against them.

Many hundred years ago the Chinese traveller
Fa-Hian spoke of the people of Kashmir as being of
a peculiarly bad character. Ranjit Singh said to Sir
Alexander Burnes, " All the people I send into Kash-
mir turn out rascals (haramzada) ; there is too much
pleasure and enjoyment in that country. 'r Moorcroft
described them as " selfish, superstitious, ignorant,
supple, intriguing, dishonest, and false." A more

244 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

recent traveller, Dr A. L. Adams the naturalist, says
of them : " Everywhere in Cashmere you see the in-
habitants indolent to a degree, filthy in their habits,
mean, cowardly, shabby, irresolute, and indifferent to
all ideas of reform or progress." Their name has
become a by-word throughout a great part of Asia.
Even where there are so many deceitful nations they
have obtained a bad pre-eminence. According to a
well-known Persian saying, "you Avill never experi-
ence anything but sorrow and anxiety from the Kash-
miri." When these people got this bad name is lost
in antiquity, and so is the period when they first
passed into the unfortunate circumstances which have
demoralised them. They are, however, not unattrac-
tive, being an intellectual people, and characterised
by great ingenuity and sprightliness. I cannot deny
the truth of the accusations brought against them,
yet I could not but pity them and sympathise with
them. I think also that they have the elements of
Avhat, in more fortunate circumstances, might be a
very fine character ; but dwelling in a fertile and
beautiful valley, surrounded by hardy and warlike
tribes, they have for ages been subject to that oppres-
sion which destroys national hope and virtue. Their
population has hardly been large enough to afford
effectual resistance to the opposing forces, though,
unless there had been a large element of weakness in
their character, they might surely have held their
passes ; and, at the same time, they were too many

KASHMIR. 245

in numbers to retiro, for a time, before invaders, from
their fertile lands into their mountain fastnesses.
As it is, they are abominably used and they use each
other abominably. It seemed to me that every
common soldier of the Maharajah of Kashmir felt
himself entitled to beat and plunder the country
people ; but I noticed that my boatmen tried to do
the same when they thought they were unobserved
by me. The Maharajah himself holds an open court
on one day every week, at which the meanest peasant
is nominally free to make his complaint, even if it
be against the highest officials ; but I was told, by
very good authority, that this source of redress was
practically inoperative, not because the Maharajah
was unwilling to do justice, but because there was
such a system of terrorism that the common people
dared not come forward to complain. Great improve-
ments have already been made under the present
ruler of Kashmir ; but he is one man among many,
and when a corrupt and oppressive officialdom has
existed in a country for ages, it cannot be rooted out
in one reign.

Our position in Kashmir is a very curious one, and
reflects little credit upon the British name. By the
Treaty of Amritsar, concluded in 1846 after the first
Panjab war, we actually sold the country to Golab
Singh, the father of the present Maharajah, for seventy-
five lacs of rupees, or rather less than three-quarters
of a million sterling ; but so little welcome was he,

246 TKAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

that the first troops he sent up were driven out of the
country, and he was enabled to establish himself in
it only by claiming the' assistance of the Indian
Government, and getting from it an order that the
existing Governor was to yield obedience to the new
sovereign, or to consider himself an enemy of the
British Government. No doubt we wanted the money
very much at the time, miserable sum as it was, and
only double the revenue which Ranjit Singh drew in
one year from Kashmir. It is possible, too, that
there may have been some policy in thus making a
friend of one of the chiefs of the Khalsa ; but the
transaction was not an advisable one. Of all India
and its adjacent countries Kashmir is the district best
suited for Europeans, and it affords large room for
English colonisation. It has now a population of
about half a million ; but it had formerly one of four
millions, and it could easily support that number. It
has an immense amount of fertile land lying waste in
all the valleys, and it would have been just the place
for the retirement of Anglo-Indians at the close of
their periods of service. As it is, Kashmir is practi-
cally closed to us except as a place of resort for a few
summer visitors. Probably the visitors would be a
good deal worse off than they are at present if it were
under British rule ; but that is not a matter of much
importance. The Maharajah acknowledges the supre-
macy of the British Government, and yet no English-
man can settle in the country or purchase a foot of

KASHMIR. 247

land in it. "We are not even allowed to stay there
through the winter; for a recent relaxation of this
rule has been much misunderstood, and simply
amounts to a permission for British officers, who
cannot get leave in summer, to visit Kashmir in
winter. Visitors have to leave the country about
the middle of October, and the Panjab Government
has issued very strict rules for their guidance while
they are in the Valley. After mentioning the four
authorised routes for European visitors to Kashmir, the
first rule goes on to say (the italics are its own) : "All
other roads are positively forbidden ; and, in respect
to the direct road from Jummoo (known as the
Bunnihal route), the prohibition has been ordered at
the special request of his Highness the Maharajah.
The road branching from Rajaoree by Aknoor, which
is used by the Maharajah's family and troops, is also
expressly prohibited." lSrow this Jamii and Banihal
route is by much the shortest and much the easiest
route to Kashmir except for the small section of
visitors who come from that part of the Panjab which
lies to the west of the Jhelam ; and yet it is kept
closed, at the Maharajah's special request, though
another route is set apart for the movements between
Srinagar and Jamil of his family and troops ! In fact,
by this order, in order to get a tolerable route, the
traveller has to cross great part of the Panjab and go
up by Rawal Pindi and Mari, for neither the Pir
Panjal nor the Punah routes are convenient. In Rule

VOL. VI. R

248 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

II. we are told that every officer about to visit Kash-
mir " should engage, before proceeding, a sufficient
number of ponies or mules for the conveyance of his
baggage ; " which is tantamount to saying that no one
need put in a claim for getting any coolies, ponies, or
mules by the way. In Eule VI. they are told to
encamp only at the fixed stages and encamping-
grounds. In Eule X. it is said that "when going
out on shooting excursions, visitors are to take car-
riage and supplies with them." Eule XV. is amusing,
considering the high moral tone of the British sub-
altern : " Officers are not allowed to take away with
them, either in their service or with their camps, any
subjects of the Maharajah, without obtaining permis-
sion and a passport from the authorities." I have
heard of one visitor who tried to take away a Kash-
miri damsel by putting her in a Jtilta, or wicker-
basket used for carrying loads in, but the smuggling
Avas detected. This rule does not prevent the bagnios
all over India being filled with Kashmiri women ;
and a regular slave-traffic goes on, most of the good-
looking girls being taken out of Kashmir at an early
age ; but of course, the morals of the British officer
must be looked after. He is also by Eule XVI.
made responsible for the debts incurred by his ser-
vants, which is rather hard, as most Indians make
a rule of getting into debt up to the full amount
of their credit. In Eule XVII., all visitors are told,
in italics, " All presents to be refused. Presents of

KASHMIK. 249

every description must be rigidly refused." This
certainly is interfering in an extraordinary way with
the liberty of the subject ; but let the visitor beware
how he violates any of these rules, because the Resi-
dent at Srinagar has the power of expelling him from
the country. It is the Panjab, not the supreme
Government, which is directly responsible for these
extraordinary regulations ; and I daresay English
people will be rather surprised by them. The Maha-
rajah of Kashmir is called in them " an independent
sovereign ; " but it is distinctly stated in Article X.
of the Treaty which gave him his dominions, that
he " acknowledges the supremacy of the British
Government." Can the Panjab Government not
understand that when the power of England guaran-
tees the safety of the Maharajah and of his dominions,
it is not for British officials to treat British visitors
to Kashmir in so derogatory a manner, or to allow of
their being turned out of the country every winter,
and refused permission to purchase even waste land ]
This is only one of many subjects which may render
it necessary to raise the questions, — In whose interest,
on whose authority, and supported by what power,
does Anglo-Indian officialdom exist? The imperial
interests of Great Britain have been too much lost
sight of, and it is on these that the real, the vital
interests of the people of India depend.

The Eesident procured me a private audience of
the Maharajah Ranbir or Runbir Singh, which was

250 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

given in a balcony, overhanging the river, of his city
palace, within the precincts of which there is a temple
with a large pagoda-like roof that is covered with thin
plates of pure gold. His Highness is reputed to be
somewhat serious and bigoted as regards his religion.
It was mentioned in the Indian papers a few years ago,
that the Brahmins having discovered that the soul of
his father, Golab Singh, had migrated into the body
of a fish, Eanbir Singh gave orders that no fish were
to be killed in Kashmir, though fish is there one of
the great staple articles of food among the poorer
classes. The edict, however, was calculated to cause
so much distress, that the Brahmins soon announced
that the paternal spirit had taken some other form.
I never heard this story contradicted ; and it affords
a curious instance of the reality of the belief in trans-
migration which exists in India. As the character
of these transmigrations, and the amount of sxiffering
and enjoyment which they involve, is considered to
depend on the good or evil conduct of preceding
lives, and especially of those which are passed in a
human form, such a belief would be calculated to
exercise an important influence for good, were it
not for the sacrificial theory which attaches so much
importance, as good works, to sacrifices to the gods,
and to gifts to their priestly ministers ; and its bene-
ficial effect is also lessened by the tendency of the
Indian mind to assign an undue value to indiscrimi-
nate acts of charity such as often do harm rather

KASHMIR. 251

than good. It is curious to think of a Maharajah
looking from his balcony beside his golden temple
into the waters of the Jhelam, and wondering whether
his royal father is one of the big or of the little fishes
floating about in its stream or in some adjacent water.
Among the improvements introduced by Ranbir
Singh are those in the administration of justice and
the manufacture of silk. The Chief-Justice of the
Court of Srinagar is an educated native, I think
from Bengal, who was well spoken of — and, absurdly
enough, is in charge of the silk department also. He
has been at pains to make himself acquainted with
the breeding of silk- worms and the spinning of their
cocoons, as pursued in other countries, and has turned
this knowledge to good account in Srinagar. One
pleasing and extraordinary innovation which he has
been able to introduce, is that of inducing children
and others of the Brahmin caste to engage in the
spinning of silk. Anything like such an occupation
has hitherto been considered as degrading, and for-
bidden to Brahmins, and has hot been entered on by
those even in such advanced Indian cities as Calcutta
and Bombay. It shows a curious way of managing
matters that the Chief-Justice of Srinagar should also
be the head of the silk department ; but such is, or
at least very lately was, the case ; and under his
management sericulture has been improved and de-
veloped. In 1871, the Maharajah set apart £30,000
for the development of this branch of industry, and

252 TEAVEL, ADVENTUEE, AND SPOET.

part of the sum was expended on the construction
of buildings in which an equal temperature could be
maintained for the silk-worms. I saw the process of
extracting and winding the silk in the factory beside
Srinagar : it was skilfully conducted, and the threads
produced were remarkably fine and perfect. The
mulberry trees of Kashmir have hitherto enjoyed
exemption from disease and injury from insects, so
that the prospects of this production are very good,
and a commencement has been made in weaving the
silk into cloth. The whole production is a monopoly
of Government ; but it gives increasing employment
to a considerable number of persons, on what, for
Kashmir, are good wages. In 1872 the amount of
dry cocoons produced amounted to 57,600 lb., and
the resulting revenue was estimated at 124,000 cliilki
rupees, a portion of it, however, being required for
the improvements which were made.

The famous shawls of Kashmir are now somewhat
at a discount in the world, except in France, where
they still form a portion of almost every bride's
trousseau, and where, at least in novels, every lady
of the demi-monde is described as wrapped in un vrai
Cachemere, and wearing a pair of Turkish slippers.
France alone takes about 80 per cent of the Kashmir
shawls exported from Asia; the United States of
America take 10, Italy 5, Eussia 2, and Great
Britain and Germany only 1 per cent each. Of
course the late war almost entirely destroyed the

KASHMIR. 253

shawl trade, but it has for the time being returned
to its former state ; and, at the period of collapse,
the Maharajah humanely made enormous purchases
on his own account. The revenue from this source
has diminished to at least half what it was some
years ago ; but still a superior woven shawl will
bring, even in Kashmir, as much as £300 sterling ;
and about £130,000 worth of shawls is annually
exported, £90,000 worth going to Europe. The
finest of the goat's wool employed in this manufac-
ture comes from Turfan, in the Yarkand territory ;
and it is only on the wind-swept steppes of Central
Asia that animals are found to produce so fine a
wool. The shawl- weavers get miserable wages, and
are allowed neither to leave Kashmir nor change
their employment, so that they are nearly in the
position of slaves ; and their average wage is only
about three-halfpence a-day.

Srinagar itself has a very fine appearance when
one does not look closely into its details. As the
Kashmiri has been called the Neapolitan of the East,
so his capital has been compared to Florence, and his
great river to the Arno. But there is no European
town which has such a fine placid sweep of river
through it. The capital dates from 59 A.D., and
portions of it might be set down to any conceivable
date. For the most part the houses either rise up
from the Jhelam or from the canals with which the
city is intersected, and are chiefly of thin brick walls

254 TKAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

supported in wooden frames. Being often three
storeys high, and in a most ruinous condition, the
walls present anything but straight lines, and it is a
marvel that many of the houses continue standing at
all. Some of the canals present deliciously pictur-
esque scenes, such as even Venice cannot boast of,
and the view from any of the five bridges across the
Jhelam is very striking ; but, as remarked, it is better
to leave the interior unvisited beyond floating through
the canals. The British Residency, and the bunga-
lows provided free of charge for European visitors,
are above the city, on the right bank of the river,
which here presents a noble appearance, and in a
splendid line of poplar-trees. A wooded island op-
posite them adds to the beauty of the scene. Almost
every place about Srinagar that one wants to go to
can be reached by boat, and the wearied traveller may
enjoy a delicious repose.

II.

There is one excursion from Srinagar, which can
easily be made in a day by boat, that is specially
worthy of notice, and it takes through canals and
through the apple-tree garden into the Dal-o City
Lake, and to two of the gardens and summer-houses
of the Mogul Emperors. I write on the shore of
Ulleswater, at once the grandest and most beautiful

KASHMIR. 255

of the English lakes : the mountains and sky are
reflected with perfect distinctness in the deep un-
ruffled water, and the renewed power of the earth
is running up through the trees, and breaking out
into a dim mist of buds and tiny leaves ; but ex-
quisite as the scene before me is, its beauty cannot
dim or equal my remembrance of the lakes of Kash-
mir, though even to these the English scenery is
superior as regards the quality, to use a phrase of
Wordsworth's, of being " graduated by nature into
soothing harmony."

The Dal is connected with the Jhelam by the Sont-
i-Ivol or Apple-tree Canal, which presents one of the
iinest combinations of wood and water in the world.
The scene is English in character ; but I do not know
of any river scene in England which is equal to it —
so calm is the water, so thickly is the stream covered
with tame aquatic birds of very varied plumage, so
abundant the fish, so magnificent, as well as beautiful,
the trees which rise from its lotus-fringed, smooth,
green banks. An Afghan conqueror of Kashmir pro-
posed to cover this piece of water with a trellis-work
of vines, supported from the trees on the one side to
those on the other ; but that would have shut out the
view of the high, Avild mountains which heighten, by
their contrast, the beauty and peacefulness of the
scene below. Many of the trees, and a whole line
of them on one side, are enormous planes (Platanus
orientalis), mountains of trees, and yet beautiful in

256 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

shape and colour, with their vast masses of foliage
reflected in the calm clear water.

From thence we pass into the Dal, a lake about
five miles long, with half the distance in hreadth,
one side being bounded by great trees, or fading into
a reedy waste, and the other encircled by lofty moun-
tains. The most curious feature of this lake is the
floating gardens upon the surface of its transparent
water. The reeds, sedges, water-lilies, and other
aquatic plants which grow together in tangled con-
fusion, are, when they cluster together more thickly
than usual, detached from their roots. The leaves of
the plants are then spread out over the stems and
covered with soil, on which melons and cucumbers
are grown. These floating islands form a curious
and picturesque feature in the landscape, and their
economical uses are considerable. Moorcroft men-
tions having seen vines upon them, and has supplied
the detailed information regarding them which has
been made use of by succeeding travellers and statis-
ticians. " A more economical method of raising
cucumbers cannot be devised," — and, he might have
added, of melons also. According to Cowper, —

" No sordid fare,
A cucumber ! "

But, thanks to these floating gardens, you don't re-
quire to ruin yourself in order to eat cucumbers in
Kashmir ; and the melons are as good as they are

KASHMIR. 257

cheap, and must have valuable properties ; for Cap-
tain Bates says, "those who live entirely on them
soon become fat," which probably arises from the
sugar they contain. Usually, in the fruit season,
two or three watchers remain all night in a boat
attached to these islands, in order to protect them
from water-thieves. On the Dal I ca'me across
several boatmen fishing up the root of the lotus
Avith iron hooks attached to long poles. This
yellow root is not unpalatable raw, but is usually
eaten boiled, along with condiments. Southey's
lines, though strictly applicable only to the red-
flowering lotus, yet suggest a fair idea of the lotus-
leaves on this Kashmir lake, as they are moved by
the wind or the undulations of the water.

" Around the lotus stem
It rippled, and the sacred flowers, that crown
The lakelet with their roseate beauty, ride
In gentlest waving, rocked from side to side.
And as the wind upheaves

Their broad and buoyant weight, the glossy leaves
Flap on the twinkling waters up and down."

Still more useful for the people of Kashmir, as an
article of diet, is the horned water- nut (Trdba
bispinosci), which is ground into flour, and made
into bread. No less than 60,000 tons of it are
said to be taken from the "VViilar Lake alone every
season, or sufficient to supply about 13,000 people
with food for the entire year. These nuts are to

258 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

be distinguished from the nuts, or rather beans,
of the lotus (Nelumbium speciosum), which are also
used as an article of food, and prized as a delicacy.
These, with the lotus-roots, and the immense quantity
of fish, provide abundance of food for a much larger
population than is to be found in the neighbour-
hood of the Kashmir lakes ; but of what avail is
such bounty of Providence and all the land lying
round, when the first conditions of human pros-
perity are wanting?

Passing the Silver Island and the Island of
Chiinars, I went up to the Shalimar Bagh, or
Garden of Delight, a garden and pleasure-house, the
work of the Emperor Jehangi'r and of his spouse Xiir
Jahan ; but fine as this place is, I preferred the
Xishat Bagh, or Garden of Pleasure, which is more
in a recess of the lake, and also was a retreat con-
structed by the same royal pair, and planned by
the Empress herself. The Garden of Pleasure is
more picturesquely situated, though shaded by not
less magnificent trees. The mountains rise up close
behind it, and suggest a safe retreat both from the
the dangers and the cares of state ; and its view of
the lake, including the Sona Lank, or Golden Island,
is more suggestive of seclusion and quiet enjoy-
ment. Ten terraces, bounded by magnificent trees,
and with a stream of water falling over them, lead
up to the latticed pavilion at the end of this
garden. Between the double storeys of this pavilion

KASHMIR. 259

the stream flows through a marble, or, at least, a
limestone tank, and the structure is shaded by great
chundr trees, while, through a vista of their splendid
foliage, we look down the terraces and water-courses
upon the lake below. This was, and still is, a fitting
place in which a great, luxurious, pleasure-loving
emperor might find repose, and gather strength for
the more serious duties of power. Jehangir was a
strange but intelligible character. One historian
briefly says of him — "Himself a drunkard during
his whole life, he punished all who used wine."
And after the unsuccessful rebellion of his son
Khusrii, he made that prince pass along a line of
700 of his friends who had assisted him in rebelling.
These friends were all seated upon spikes — in fact,
they were impaled ; so we may see it was not without
good reason that Jehcingir occasionally sought for
secluded places of retirement. But these charac-
teristics, taken alone, give an unfair idea of this great
ruler. Though he never entirely shook off the dipso-
maniac habits which he had formed at an early age,
yet it may have been an acute sense of the incon-
venience of them which, made him so anxious to pre-
vent any of his subjects from falling into the snare ;
he hints an opinion that though his own head might
stand liquor without much damage, it by no means
followed that other people's heads could do so ; and
the severe punishment of the adherents of a rebellious
son was, in his time, almost necessary to secure the

260 TRAVEL, ADVENTUEE, AND SPORT.

throne. He did, in fact, love mercy as well as do
justice, and was far from being a bad ruler. He was
wont to say that he would rather lose all the rest of
his empire than Kashmir j1 and it is likely that in
this and similar gardens he enjoyed the most pleasure
which his life afforded. His companion there was
Mihrunnisa Khanam, better known as ]S"iir Jahan,
" the Light of the World." 2 When a young prince
he had seen and loved her, but they were separated
by circumstances ; and it was not until after the
death of her husband, Sher Afgan, and he had over-
come her dread of marrying one whom she supposed
to have been her husband's murderer, that Mihrun-
nisa became Jehangfr's wife, and received the name
of the Light of the World. A great improvement
in the Emperor's government resulted from this
union : the story is a curious illustration of the abid-
ing power of love, and it goes far to redeem the
character of this dissipated emperor, who would allow
nobody to get drunk except himself. I daresay, if
the truth were known, the Light of the World must
have had a sad time of it with her amorous lord ;
but she was at least devoted to him, and seriously

1 Voyages de Francois Bernier, contenant la Description des
Etats du Grand-Mogol. Amsterdam, 1699.

2 She was also, for a time, called Nur Mahall, the Light of
the Palace ; and under this name must be distinguished from
the queen of Jehttngir's son, Shah Jahdn, to whom was raised
the wonderful Taj Mahal at Agra.

KASHMIR. 261

risked her life for him when the audacious Mahabat
Khan unexpectedly made liim a prisoner. The
memory of these faithful lovers seems still to linger
about the Nishat Bagh, and to have transferred itself
into the imperial splendour of the plane-trees, the
grateful shadow of the mountains, and the soft dreamy
vista over the placid lake.

Nearly all the English visitors had left Kashmir
before I reached that country, and this gave me more
opportunity of enjoying the society of Mr Le Poer
Wynne, of whom I may speak more freely than of
other Indian officials who remain. Two or three
officers, on their Avay out of the valley, appeared at
the Residency, and a couple of young Englishmen, or
Colonials, fresh from the antipodes, who could see
little to admire in Kashmir ; but the only resident
society in Srinagar was a fine Frenchman, a shawl
agent, and Colonel Gardiner, who commanded the
Maharajah's artillery, a soldier of fortune ninety years
of age. Colonel Gardiner was born on the shores of
Lake Superior, and had wandered into Central Asia
at an early period. There was something almost
appalling to hear this ancient warrior discourse of
what have now become almost prehistoric times, and
relate his experiences in the service of Ranjit Singh,
Shah Shiija, Dost Mohammed, and other kings and
chiefs less known to fame. If (as I have no reason
to believe) he occasionally confused hearsay with his
own experience, it could scarcely be wondered at

262 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

considering his years, and there is no doubt as to
the general facts of his career. Listening to his
graphic narrations, Central Asia vividly appeared as
it was more than half a century ago, when English-
men could traverse it not only with tolerable safety,
but usually as honoured guests.

But most usually the Resident and myself spent
our evenings tete-a-tete, no one coming in except an
old Afghan chuprassie, whose business it was to place
logs upon the fire. This Abdiel had been a sepoy,
and was the only man in his regiment who had
remained faithful at the time of the [Mutiny —
" among the faithless, faithful only he ; " and the
honesty of his character extended down into his
smallest transactions. He took a paternal but re-
spectful interest in us, clearly seeing that the fire
must be kept up, though our conversation ought not
to be disturbed ; so he Avould steal into the room as
quietly as possible, and place logs on the fire as
gently as if we were dying warriors or Mogul em-
perors. Wynne himself was a man of very interesting
mind and character, being at once gentle and firm,
kindly and open, yet with much tact, and combining
depth of thought with very wide culture. When a
student he had employed his long vacations in attend-
ing universities of Germany and France, and was
widely acquainted with the literature of these coun-
tries, as well as able to converse fluently in their
languages. To the usual oriental studies of an Indian

KASHMIR. 263

civilian, he had added a large acquaintance with
Persian poetry, and really loved the country to which
he had devoted himself chiefly from a desire to find a
more satisfactory and useful career than is now open
to young men at home with little or no fortune.
Perhaps he was too much of a student, disposed to
place too high a value on purely moral and intellec-
tual influences, and too much given to expect that
young officers should renounce all the follies of youth,
and old fighting colonels conduct themselves as if
they were children of light. That sprang, however,
from perfect genuineness arid beauty of character, to
which all things evil, or even questionable, were
naturally repulsive ; and it was wholly unaccompanied
by any tendency to condemn others, being simply a
desire to encourage them towards good. There was
not a little of the pure and chivalrous nature of Sir
Philip Sidney in Le Poer Wynne ; and he might
also be compared in character to the late Frederick
Robertson of Brighton, whose sermons he spoke to
me of as having made quite an era in his life.
European culture and thought had not taught him
to undervalue either the methods or the results of
" divine philosophy," nor had his mind been over-
whelmed by the modern revelations of the physical
universe, though he was well acquainted with them ;
arid his departure from much of traditional theology
had only led him to value more the abiding truths
of religion. Our conversation related only in part to
VOL. VL a

264 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

the East, and ranged over many fields of politics,
philosophy, and literature. I cannot recall these
nights at Srinagar without mingled sadness and
pleasure. It never struck me then that we were in a
house at all ; but rather as if we were by a camp-fire.
My host had a way of reclining before the fire on the
floor ; the flames of the wood shot up brilliantly ;
brown Abdiel in his sheepskin coat suggested the
Indian Caucasus ; and instead of the gaudily-painted
woodwork of the Residency, I felt around us only
the circle of snowy mountains, and above, the shining
hosts of heaven. And to both of us this was a camp-
fire, and an unexpected happy meeting in the wilder-
ness of life. A few months afterwards, Mr "Wynne,
after a short run to Europe on privilege leave, re-
turned to Calcutta, in order to take up the office of
Foreign Secretary during the absence of Mr Aitchi-
son, and died almost immediately after. He had not
been many years in the Indian Civil Service, and the
highest hopes were entertained of his future career.
I had felt, however, instinctively that so fine an
organisation, both mental and physical, must either
" die or be degraded " ; and perhaps it was with some
subtle, barely conscious precognition of his early doom
that Wynne rose and made a note of the lines which I
quoted to him one night when we were speaking of the
early death of another young Indian civilian —

" But the fair guerdon when we hopev to find,
And think to burst out into sudden blaze,

KASHMIR. 265

Comes the blind Fury with th' abhorred shears,
Aud slits the thin-spun life. But not the praise."

But praise, or fame, as here used by Milton and some
of our older writers, is not to be confounded with the
notoriety of the world, which almost any eccentricity,
vulgarity, self-assertion, or accidental success may
command. It is even something more than the
" good and honest report " of the multitude, or the
approval of the better-minded of the human race, both
of which judgments must often proceed on very im-
perfect and misleading grounds. Milton himself ex-
pressed the truest meaning of fame when Phoebus
touched his trembling ears, and, immediately after
the passage just quoted, he went on to say —

" Fame is no plant that grows on mortal soil,

Nor in the glistening foil

Set off to th' world, nor in broad rumour lies,
But lives and spreads aloft by those pure eyes,
And perfect witness of all-judging Jove ;
As he pronounces lastly on each deed,
Of so much fame in heaven expect thy meed."

It may be fancied that the poet is rather inconsis-
tent here, because he begins by speaking of fame as
" the last infirmity of noble minds ; " and surely it
can hardly be an infirmity to value the judgment
which proceeds from the " perfect witness of all-
judging Jove." But there is no inconsistency when
the whole passage in Lycidas is considered, beginning,

"Alas! what boots it with incessant care 1"

The argument is that it must matter nothing, seeing

266 TRAVEL, ADVENTUKE, AND SPORT.

that when we expect to find the guerdon and break
out into sudden blaze, then comes Fate with the
abhorred shears ; but to this Phoebus answers reprov-
ingly that fame is not of mortal growth, and only
lives and spreads above. This suggests a double life
even now, and identifies fame with our own better
existence. There is no subject, however, on which
men are so apt to deceive themselves as when appeal-
ing to a higher and unseen judgment : probably few
criminals go to execution without a deceiving belief
that Heaven will be more merciful to them than man
has been, because they can shelter themselves under
the truth that Heaven alone knows what their diffi-
culties and temptations have been, forgetting that it
alone also knows their opportunities and the full
wickedness of their life. Every man should mistrust
himself when he looks forward to that higher fame
with any other feeling than one of having been an
unprofitable servant ; and even this feeling should be
mistrusted when it goes into words rather than to the
springs of action. It is in the general idea, and as
regards others rather than ourselves, that the consol-
ation of Milton's noble lines may be found. The
dread severance of the abhorred shears extends not
merely to the lives of the young and promising, but
to all in human life which is beautiful and good.
What avails the closest companionship, the fondest
love, before the presence of Death the separator?
In even an ordinary life how many bright promises

KASHMIR. 267

have been destroyed, how many dearest ties severed,
and how many dark regrets remain ! For that there
is no consolation Avorth speaking of except the faith
that all which was good and beautiful here below
still lives and blooms above.

There are several very beautiful or striking places
about the sources of the Jhelam which no visitor to
Kashmir should omit to see. Islamabad can be
reached in two days by boat, if the river is not in
flood ; and the mat awning of the boats lets down
close to the gunwale, so as to form a comfortable
closed apartment for night. In late autumn at least,
the waters of Kashmir are so warm, as compared
with the evening and night air, that towards after-
noon an extraordinary amount of steam begins to
rise from them. But the air is exceedingly dry not-
withstanding the immense amount of water in the
valley, and the frequent showers of rain which fall ;
and there is very little wind in Kashmir, which is
an immense comfort, especially for dwellers in tents.
There is now no difficulty in obtaining information
in regard to Kashmir amply sufficient to guide the
visitor. The older books on that country are well
enough known, such as those of Bernier, Jacquemont,
Moorcroft, Hiigel, and Yigne ; and it is curious how
much information we owe to them, and how repeatedly
that information has been produced by later writers,
apparently without any attempt to verify it, or to
correct it up to date. Three books on Kashmir,

268 TRAVEL, ADVENTUKE, AND SPORT.

however, which have been published very recently,
will be found of great use to the traveller of our day.
First and foremost of these is ' A Vocabulary of the
Kashmiri Language,' by the late lamented medical
missionary, Dr "W. J. Elmslie, published by the
Church Missionary House in London in 1872. It
is a small volume, and gives the Kashmiri for a great
number of English words, as well as the English for
Kashmiri ones ; and he has managed to compress
into it a large amount of valuable and accurate in-
formation in regard to the valley, its products and its
inhabitants. To any one who has a talent for lan-
guages, or who has had a good deal of experience in
acquiring them, it will be found a very easy matter
to learn to speak a little modern Kashmiri, which is
nearly altogether a colloquial language ; and for this
purpose Dr Elmslie's vocabularies — the fruit of six
laborious seasons spent in the country — will be found
invaluable. The acquisition of this language is also
rendered easy by its relationship to those of India
and Persia. The largest number of its words, or
about 40 per cent, are said to be Persian ; Sanscrit
gives 25 ; Hindusthani, 15 ; Arabic, 10 ; and the
Turanian dialects of Central Asia, 15. The letters
of ancient Kashmiri closely resemble those of San-
scrit, and are read only by a very few of the Hindu
priests in Kashmir ; and it is from these that the
Tibetan characters appear to have been taken. The
second important work to which I allude has not

KASHMIR. 269

been published at all, having been prepared "for
political and military reference " for the use of the
Government of India. It is ' A Gazetteer of Kash-
mir and the adjacent districts of Kishtwar, Badrawar,
Jamu, Naoshera, Piinch, and the Valley of the Kishen
Ganga, by Captain Ellison Bates, Bengal Staff Corps.'
This volume was printed in 1873, and will be found
very useful to those who can get hold of it. The
principal places in the valley, and in the districts
mentioned above, are enumerated alphabetically and
described; and there are nearly 150 pages in which
routes are detailed in such a manner that the traveller
will know what he has to expect upon them. It has
also an introduction which contains much information
in regard to the country generally, but a great deal of
this has been taken from the older writers, and some
of it does not appear to have been verified. In this
respect Dr Elmslie's ' Kashmiri Vocabulary ' affords
more original information than Captain Bates's
'Gazetteer,' but the latter will be found a very
valuable work of reference. The third volume I
speak of is of a less learned description, and is ' The
Kashmir Handbook : a Guide for Visitors, Avith Map
and Routes. By John Ince, M.D., Bengal Medical
Service;' and was published at Calcutta in 1872.
This work is not free from errors, as notably in its
rendering of the Persian inscriptions on the Takht-i-
Siiliman, and it indiscriminately heaps together a
crood deal of information from various sources : it is

270 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

also very costly for its size ; and the arrangement
is not very good ; but, nevertheless, it is a useful
guide-book. Armed with these three recently pub-
lished volumes, the visitor to Kashmir is supplied
with all the information which an ordinary traveller
requires in going through a strange country ; but
their maps are not satisfactory, and he will do well
to supply himself with the five mile to the inch
sheets of the ' Trigonometrical Survey.' The anti-
quarian may consult Cunningham's 'Ancient Geo-
graphy of India,' published in London in 1871, and
Lieutenant Cole's ' Illustrations of Ancient Buildings
in Kashmir.' For the sportsman there are 'Brink-
man's Rifle in Kashmir,' and several other books,
more or less of a light character. Bernier, the first of
all the European travellers in Kashmir since possibly
Marco Polo, is exceedingly good ; Jacquemont's
Letters are graphic and amusing, though full of
insane vanity ; and Moorcroft gathered himself
much more information regarding the country
than almost any other traveller has done, for
Elmslie may almost be regarded as having been a
resident.

At Pandrathan, not far up the Jhelam from Srin-
agar, we came upon the site of an ancient capital of
the Kashmir valley, and on a very ruinous old temple
situated in the middle of a tank, or rather pond.
The name of this place affords an excellent example
of the present state of our knowledge of Kashmir

KASHMIR. 271

antiquities ; Dr Ince, Captain Bates, and Lieut. Cole,
following General Cunningham, deriving it from
Puranadhisthana, or "the old chief city"- — -while
Dr Elmslie, adopting its Kashmir sound Pandrenton,
derives it from Darendun. and his five sons the famous
Pandus. Hiigel, again, made the mistake of calling
it a Budhist temple, though it is clearly Hindu, and
associated with the Xaga or snake worship. The
water round this temple makes an examination of
the interior difficult; but Captain Bates says that
the roof is covered with sculpture of such purely
classic design, that any uninitiated person who saw
it on paper would at once take it for a sketch from
a Greek or Roman original. This suggests actual
Greek influence ; and Cunningham says, in connec-
tion with the fluted columns, porches, and pediments
of Murtand, — " I feel convinced myself that several
of the Kashmiriaii forms, and many of the details,
were borrowed from the temples of the Kabulian
Greeks, while the arrangements of the interior and
the relative proportions of the different parts were of
Hindu origin." It is not improbable, however, that
these Kashmir ruins may have belonged to an earlier
age, and have had an influence upon Greek architec-
ture instead of having been influenced by it ; but, be
that as it may, this beautiful little temple, with its
profusion of decoration, and grey with antiquity,
stands alone, a curious remnant of a lost city and a
bygone age — the city, according to tradition, having

272 TEAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPOET.

been burned by King Abhimanu in the tenth century
of the Christian era.

Camping for the night some way above this, and
on the opposite side of the river, I saw some magnifi-
cent hunting-dogs of the Maharajah, which bounded
on their chains, and could hardly be held by their
keepers on the appearance of an unaccustomed figure.
They were longer and higher than Tibetan mastiffs,
and had some resemblance in hair and shape to New-
foundlands, but were mostly of a brown and yellow
colour. The men in charge said these dogs were used
for hunting down large game, especially leopards and
wolves, and they were certainly formidable creatures ;
but the ordinary dogs of Kashmir are very poor ani-
mals, even excluding the pariahs. Bates says that
the wild dog exists in some parts of this country, as
Lar and Maru Wardwan, hunts in packs, and, when
pressed by hunger, will destroy children, and even
grown persons.

At Bijbehara, immediately above which the Jhelam
begins to narrow considerably, there is one of those
numerous and exquisitely picturesque-looking Kash-
mir bridges, resting on large square supports formed
of logs of wood laid transversely, with trees growing
out of them and overshadowing the bridge itself. This
town has 400 houses ; and the following analysis,
given by Captain Bates, of the inhabitants of these
houses, affords a very fair idea of the occupations of
a Kashmir town or lame village : Mohammedan zemin-

KASHMIR. 273

dars or proprietors, 80 houses ; Mohammedan shop-
keepers, 65; Hindil shopkeepers, 15; Brahmins, 8;
pundits, 20; goldsmiths, 10; bakers, 5; washermen,
5 ; cloth-weavers, 9 ; blacksmiths, 5 ; carpenters, 4 ;
toy-makers, 1 ; surgeons (query, phlebotomists), 2 ;
physicians, 3 ; leather-workers, 5 ; milk-sellers, 7 ;
cow - keepers, 2 ; fishermen, 10 ; fish - sellers, 7 ;
butchers, 8 ; musicians, 2 ; carpet - makers, 2 ;
blanket - makers, 3 ; Syud (descendant of the pro-
phet), 1 ; Miillas (Mohammedan clergymen), 12 ;
Pir Zadas (saints!), 40; Fakirs, 20. It will thus
be seen that about a fourth of the 400 houses are
occupied by the so-called ministers of religion ; and
that the landed gentry are almost all Mohammedan,
though the people of that religion complain of their
diminished position under the present Hindu (Sikh)
Raj in Kashmir. For these 400 houses there are 10
mosques, besides 8 smaller shrines, and several Hindu
temples, yet the Kashmiris are far from being a re-
ligious people as compared with the races of India
generally. Let us consider how an English village
of 4000 or 6000 people would nourish if it were bur-
dened in this way by a fourth of its population being
ministers of religion, and in great part ruffians with-
out family ties.

It is a very rough and uncertain calculation which
sets down the population of Kashmir at half a million.
The whole population of the dominions of the Maha-
rajah is said to be a million and a half, but that includes

274 TKAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

Jainii, which is much more populous than Kashmir.
Captain Bates says that the estimate of the Maha-
rajah's Government, founded on a partial census taken
in 1869, gave only 475,000; but that is better than
the population of the year 1835, when oppression,
pestilence, and famine had reduced it so low as
200,000. It is, however, not for want of producing
that the population is small ; for, according to the
same authority, " it is said that every woman has, at
an average, ten to fourteen children." I do not quite
understand this kind of average ; but it seems to
mean that, on an average every woman has twelve
children. That shows a prodigious fecundity, and is
the more remarkable when we learn that the propor-
tion of men to women is as three to one. This dis-
proportion is produced by the infamous export of
young girls to which I have already alluded ; and
it is impossible that such a traffic could be carried
on without the connivance of the Government, or, at
least, of a very large number of the Government
officials. Dr Elmslie's estimate of the population of
Kashmir, including the surrounding countries and
the inhabitants of the mountains, was 402,700 — of
these 75,000 being Hindus, 312,700 being Siiri
Mohammedans, and 15,000 Shias. His estimate of
the population of Srinagar was 127,000 ; but the cen-
sus of the Government in 1869 gave 135,000 for
that city.

At night our boatmen used to catch fish by holding

KASHMIR. 275

a light over the water in shallow places and transfix-
ing the fish with short spears. So plentiful are these
creatures, that between two and three dozen were
caught in about half an hour, and many of them
above a pound weight. I cannot say much of them,
however, as articles of diet. The flesh was insipid
and soft as putty, and they were as full of bones as
a serpent. Vigne acutely observed that the common
Himaliyan trout varies so much in colour and appear-
ance, according to its age, season, and feeding-ground,
that the Kashmiris have no difficulty in making out
that there are several species of- it instead of one.
Bates mentions eleven kinds of fish as existent in the
waters of Kashmir ; but, with one exception, all the
fish I had the fortune to see seemed of one species,
and were the same in appearance as those which
abound in prodigious quantities in the sacred tanks
and the ponds in the gardens of the Mogul emperors.
The exception was a large fish, of which my servants
partook on our way to the Wular Lake, and which
made them violently sick. Elmslie agrees with Vigne
in mentioning only six varieties, and says that the
Hindus of Kashmir as well as the Mohammedans,
eat fish. Fly-fishing is pursued by the visitors to
this country, but .the fish do not rise readily to the
fly, and Yigne says he found that kind of fishing to
be an unprofitable employment. Much, however, de-
pends on the streams selected for this purpose, and
an Angler's Guide to Kashmir is still a desideratum.

276 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

Dr Ince mentions several places where good casts
are to be had, but otherwise he affords Piscator no
information.

Islamabad is a fine name, and the town which it
denotes is the terminus of the navigation of the
upper Jhelam. Boats do not go quite up to it, but
within two or three miles of it, and there are a
number of highly interesting places round it within
a radius of thirty miles. Though the second town
in the province, it has only about 1500 houses, and
its population is a little doubtful, as the statistician
leaves us at liberty to calculate from ten to thirty
inhabitants to the house. It lies beneath the apex
of the table-land, about 400 feet higher, on which
the ruins of Martand are situated. By the Hindus
it is called Anat K~ag; and it is of importance to
notice the number of Nags there are in Kashmir in
general, and in. this part of the country in particular,
as the name relates to the old serpent-worship of the
country. The present town of Islamabad is a miser-
able place, though it supports no less than fifteen
Mohammedan temples, and its productions are shawls,
saddle-cloths, and rugs. At the Anat Nag, where
the sacred tanks are alive with thousands of tame
fish, there are fine plane-trees and a large double-
storeyed building for respectable travellers. I only
stopped for breakfast ; but a very short experience of
the interior of that building drove me out into a
summer-house in the garden. There is no doubt

KASHMIR. 277

that if the fleas in the larger edifice were at all
unanimous, they could easily push the traveller out
of bed. The water of the sacred tanks proceeds from
springs, and is slightly sulphureous in character,
which does not appear to affect the health of the
fish ; but it is strictly forbidden to kill these fish.

At Islamabad, when I visited it, a good many
newly-plucked crocus-flowers were in course of being
dried in order to make saffron, though the great
beds of this plant are farther down the Jhelam. I
entirely agree with the Emperor Jehangi'r — the man
who would let nobody get drunk except himself —
when he says, in his journal, of these crocus-flowers,
" Their appearance is best at a distance, and when
plucked they emit a strong smell." With some
humour Jehangir goes on to say — " My attendants
were all seized with a headache ; and although I
myself was intoxicated with liquor at the time, I
also felt my head affected." One would like to
know how the Light of the World was affected on
this occasion, but history is silent ; and, so far as I
know, only Tmolus loved to adorn his head with
crocus-flowers, as we learn from the first Georgic of
Virgil, 56—

'' Xonne vides, croceos ut Tmolus odores,
India mittet ebur, molles sua thura Sabsci."

Notwithstanding their odious smell when fresh, these
saffron-flowers, when dried, are much valued as con-

278 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

diment for food, as medicine, and as supplying one
of the colours with which Hindus make some of
their caste-marks. The saffron is called hung in the
Kashmiri language ; and, according to Elmslie, 180
grains of saffron — the dried stigmata of the Crociis
satiwifi — bring nearly a shilling in the valley itself.
In good seasons about 2000 iraks of it are annually
produced in the valley, and a trait seems to be equal
to nearly 10 Ib. English. October is the season for
collecting the flowers. A dry soil is said to be
necessary to the growth of them ; and in from eight
to twelve years they exhaust the soil so much that
eight years are often allowed to elapse before growing
it again on the exhausted ground.

The garden at Islamabad was full of soldiers,
priests, and beggars ; and I was glad to move on five
miles to Bawan, on the Liddar, where there is a
similar grove and fish-ponds, but far more secluded,
and with more magnificent trees. This is a delight-
ful place, and almost no one was to be found in the
enclosure round the tanks, which are held specially
sacred. On the way thither I passed large flocks of
ponies on graze, this part of Kashmir being famous
for its breed. They are not in any respect, except
size, to be compared with the ponies of Tibet ; but
they are tolerably sure-footed, and can continue pretty
long daily journeys. At Srinagar I had purchased,
for my own use, a Khiva horse from a Panjabi
colonel and well-known sportsman. It had been

KASHMIR. 279

brought down to India in the year. 1872 by the
envoy whom the Khan of Khiva sent to Lord JvTorth-
brook to ask for assistance against the Eussians — a
request which was politely but firmly declined. This
animal was of an iron-grey colour, with immensely
thick, soft, short hair, and Avas of extraordinary
thickness and length in the body, and so shaped
that a crupper was required to keep the saddle from
slipping on its shoulders. Nothing startled it ; it
was perfectly sure-footed, and could go long journeys
among the mountains ; but, though it had been shod,
its feet soon got sore when I rode it with any rapidity
along the plains. Its favourite pace was an artificially
produced one, which consisted chiefly in moving the
two feet on one side simultaneously, and in that Avay,
which was rather an easy pace, it went almost as fast
as it could trot or canter.

The caves of Bhumjii, in a limestone cliff near to
Bawan, do not present very much of interest. One
of them penetrates indefinitely into the mountain,
and the belief is that it goes on for twenty miles at
least ; but it gets so narrow and low that I was fain
to come to a stop after going about 200 paces with
lighted torches. Dr Ince, in his Kashmir Handbook,
calls it the Long Cave, and says that it "may be
traversed for about 210 feet ; beyond this the passage
becomes too small to admit a man, even when crawl-
ing, so that its total length cannot be ascertained ;
the natives, however, believe it to be interminable.

VOL. VI. T

280 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

It is the abode of numerous bats, and the rock in
many places is beautifully honeycombed by the action
of water, which is constantly trickling from the higher
portions of the roof." The water does trickle down
upon one beautifully, but the honeycombing of the
rock is the deposits of lime made by the water ; and
even within the 200 feet a sense of pressure is ex-
perienced from the rock-walls. Of course I was told
all sorts of stories as to what Jies beyond, such as
great galleries, halls, sculptures, inscriptions, rivers,
waterfalls, evil demons, gods, goddesses, and so forth.
All this sounded very interesting and enticing ; but
worming along a small aperture is by no means suited
to my constitution or tastes, so I resisted the tempta-
tion, and said to myself, " Let General Cunningham
creep up it : he is paid for looking after the archae-
ology of India." About fifty feet from the entrance
of this passage, and opening from the left of it, there
is a small cave-temple. In a still smaller excavated
room nearer the entrance there are the bones of a
human being ; but skeletons are not scarce in Kash-
mir, and no particular antiquarian interest attaches
to these remains. Another cave in the immediate
neighbourhood, which is reached by ladders and very
steep stone steps, shows more traces of human work-
manship. This is called the Temple Gave. At its
entrance there is a fine trefoil arch, and on one of
the platforms inside there is what Ince speaks of as
" a Hindu" temple built of stone, of pyramidal shape,

KASHMIR. 281

about 11 £ feet square, and one of the most perfect
specimens of this style of architecture to be seen in
any part of the country." I examined this cave
rather hurriedly, and took no notes concerning it, so
I cannot speak with absolute certainty ; but my recol-
lection of this Hindu temple and perfect specimen
of architecture is, that it was a somewhat ordinary
but large Limjam, an emblem which need not be
explained to polite readers.

On the sides of the bridle-path from these caves to
the table-land above, successive lake -beaches were
distinctly visible. Geology leaves no doubt as to the
truth of the old tradition that the great valley of
Kashmir was once a magnificent lake, which has now
subsided, leaving only remnants of itself here and
there. The name of this ancient lake was Sahtisar,
and the mountains surrounding it were thickly
peopled. The tradition goes on to say that the lake
became the abode of a terrible monster called Yaldeo,
who, after devouring all the fish there were in the
great water, proceeded to appease his hunger by
devouring the inhabitants of the surrounding hills,
who, in consequence, had to fly into the higher
mountains above. At this stage the traditional Eishi,
or holy man, makes his appearance on the field : his
name was Kashaf, and his great sanctity had given
him the power of working miracles. This holy man
proceeded to the north-west end of the lake, where
the Jhelam now issues from the valley at Baramula,

282 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

struck the ground with his trident, and the opening
earth caused the waters of the lake to disappear,
which soon brought about the death of the monster
Yaldeo. Hence the name Kashmir, which is made
out to be a contraction of Kashafmar, the place or
country of Kashaf, the liishi, who may thus be said
to have made it. As to the truth or probability of
this story about Kashaf, I need say nothing. The
Hindu may turn round upon us and argue : " You
say the age of miracles is over, and you can show no
modern ones in support of your religion more prob-
able or less puerile in appearance than those which
the masses of this country believe that our devotees
still accomplish. As the age of miracles is past for
you, so, unhappily, is for us the age for the incarna-
tion and appearance on earth of our gods, otherwise
you would not be here. This we have long been
taught, and see abundant reason to believe, is the
Kola Yogi, or Black Age, when the gods have retired
from the earth ; but that does not prove they have
never been here before. We find that even the
rationalistic Socrates did not deny the actual exist-
ence of the gods of Greece ; and that, in an age of
culture and criticism, the historian Plutarch thor-
oughly believed in them. Is the universal belief of
whole nations and of hundreds of millions of people
for tens of centuries, to go for nothing in elucidation
and proof of the past history of the human race 1 If
so, what importance, what value, can we attach to

KASHMIR. 283

the reasoning and conclusions of a few "\Vestern
scientific men and critical historians who have formed
a school within the last century1? The probability
would be that they, too, have fallen into delusion,
and are blindly leading the blind. It is more ra-
tional to believe that the gods of ancient Greece and
India really existed, as at the time they were univer-
sally believed to exist, and that they have now, alas !
passed away from this portion of the universe, or
have ceased to display themselves to the degraded
human race."

Some way up on the table-land, in a now lonely
and desolate position, which commands the great
valley of Kashmir, I fcmnd the wonderful ruin of the
great temple of Martand. Vigne was quite justified
in saying that, "as an isolated ruin, this deserves, on
account of its solitary and massive grandeur, to be
ranked, not only as the first ruin of the kind in
Kashmir, but as one of the noblest amongst the
architectural relics of antiquity that are to be seen in
any country." According to tradition, a large city
once stood round it — and there are indications that
such may have been the case ; but now this wonder-
ful ruin stands alone in solitary unrelieved glory. It
is strange, in this secluded Eastern country, where
the works of man are generally so mean, and sur-
rounded by these lofty snowy mountains, to come
upon a ruin which, though so different in character,
might yet vie with the finest remains of Greek and

284 TRAVEL, ADVENTUEE, AND SPOET.

Roman architecture, in its noble dimensions, in its
striking and beautiful form, in the gigantic stones of
which it is composed, in its imposing position, and
by the manner in which gloom and grandeur are
softened by its exquisite pillars, and its delicate
though now half-defaced ornamentation.

This temple is situated within an oblong colon-
nade, composed of fluted pillars and decaying trefoil
arches and walls. It rises above these in such per-
fect majesty that one can hardly believe its present
height is only about forty feet. Its majestic outlines
are combined Avith rich and elaborate details ; but
a description of these, or even of its outlines, would
give no idea of its grand general effect, while desola-
tion and silence are around. Moreover, as Captain
Bates remarks, " It overlooks the finest view in
Kashmir, and perhaps in the known world. Beneath
it lies the paradise of the East, with its sacred streams
and glens, its brown orchards and green fields, sur-
rounded on all sides by vast snowy mountains, whose
lofty peaks seem to smile upon the beautiful valley
below."

Baron Hiigel asserts of this ancient ruin, which he
calls by its name of Korau Pandau, or, more usually,
Pandu-Koru, that it "OAVCS its existence and name
to the most ancient dynasty of Kashmir. The great
antiquity of the ruin Avill be acknoAvledged, therefore,
when I remind the reader that the Pandu dynasty
ended 2500 years before Christ, after governing

KASHMIR. 285

Kashmir, according to their historians, nearly 1300
years." That would give an. antiquity of nearly
5000 years to this temple : later archaeologists, how-
ever, are more moderate in their demands upon our
belief, and set it down as erected between A.D. 370
and 500 ; but the reasons for this are by no means
conclusive. When one knows nothing about the
history of an ancient temple, it is always safe to call
it a temple of the sun ; but in this case there is some
support for the supposition in the Sanscrit meaning
of the word Martand. That, however, does not
throw any light upon its age ; and we may as well
ascribe it to the Pandu dynasty as to any other
period of ancient history. Kashmir may have been
the mountain-retreat where Pandu himself died before
his five sons began to enact the scenes of the Mahab-
harata ; but modern Indian archaaologists have got
into a way of constructing serious history out of very
slight and dubious references. This is not to be won-
dered at, because the first synthetical inquiries, as
conducted by Lassen in particular, yielded such
magnificent historical results, that later antiquaries
have been under a natural temptation to raise start-
ling edifices out of much more slender and dubious
material. Hiigel's date is quite as good as that of
A.D. 370 ; and where all is pretty much speculation,
we are not called upon to decide.

But sufficient is dimly seen in the mists of anti-
quity to reveal something of the past, as we stand by

286 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

this ancient temple and gaze over the Valley of Roses.
A temple such as Martand, and the city which once
stood in its neighbourhood, would not, in all proba-
bility, have found a place on this plateau, except at
a period when the valley was a great lake. Hence
we may presume that this temple and city of the
Pandus belonged to a very ancient period when the
inhabitants of Kashmir were located on the slopes of
the mountains round a great beautiful lake, more
picturesquely surrounded than any sheet of water
now existing upon the earth. The people were
Indo-Aryans, retaining much of the simplicity and
rich, powerful naturalness of the Vedic period, but
civilised in a very high degree, and able to erect
splendid temples to the Sun-god. Associated with
their Aryan religion they indulged in the serpent-
worship which they had adopted from more primitive
races, and perhaps from the rude Turanians of the
neighbouring abodes of snow. In these ancient times
the people and rulers of Kashmir would be very
effectually secluded from aggressive forces. Ju> rapa-
cioxis neighbours would be strong enough to disturb
their family nationality; and in their splendid climate,
with a beautiful lake connecting their various settle-
ments, it is far from unlikely that the Aryans in
Kashmir may have presented a powerful, natural,
and art-loving development, analogous to that which,
about the same period, they were beginning to obtain
in the favoured Isles of Greece. But, whether pro-

KASHMIR. 287

duced by natural or artificial causes — whether due to
Fate or to a short-sighted desire for land — the disap-
pearance of the lake and the desiccation of the valley,
which tradition assigns to the year 266 B.C., must
have wrought a great change in. their circumstances,
associated as it was with the increase of the warlike
mountain-tribes around. Gradually the valley-plain
would afford a more fertile and easily worked soil
than the slopes of the mountains, which were soon
forsaken for it. The primitive serpent-worship and
the natural Vedic religion would be affected by the
evil Brahminism of the plains of India; and this,
again, had to struggle against the rising influence of
Biidhism, which is unfavourable to warlike qualities.
Tartar chiefs began to dispute the kingdom with
Hindu dynasties ; fierce mountaineers in the Hindu
Kiish would greedily listen to rumours about the
terrestrial paradise ; and there would be the com-
mencement of that state of hopeless vassalage which
has condemned the Kashmiri to centuries of misery,
and developed in his character its falsity and feeble-
ness. Nothing more definite can be discerned of that
early period except that the Kashmiris were a brave
and warlike people ; and that, even then, its women
were famous for their beauty, as illustrated by the
legend of the two angels Harat and Marat, who were
sent on earth by God to reform men by their example,
but were ensnared by the beauty of a fair Kashmiri.
Other countries are not without stories of the kind ;

288 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

but to Kashmir it was reserved to corrupt the reform-
ing angels by means of a simple courtesan. Mer-
maids, too, there appear to have been in the lake —
the beautiful daughters of the serpent-gods, before
whom even Brahmins trembled and were powerless.
"With the Mohammedans there comes a more troubled
era. After an ineffectual attempt in the end of the
tenth century, Mohammed of Ghuzni conquered
Kashmir in the beginning of the eleventh century ;
chiefs of Dardistan and kings of Tibet make incur-
sions into it, and forcibly marry the daughters of its
tottering Hindu monarchs ; even distant Turkistan
sends vultures to the prey ; and the only heroism is
displayed by Queen Kajputani, the last of its Hinchi
sovereigns, who, rather than marry an usurping prime
minister, upbraided him for his ingratitude and treach-
ery, and stabbed herself before him. The sixth of
the Moslem monarchs who succeeded and who reigned
in 1396 A.D., was the ignorant zealot Sikander, nick-
named Bhutshikan or the Image-breaker, Avho devoted
his energies to destroying the ancient architecture
and sculpture of Kashmir, and succeeded only too
well in his endeavours. In the next century reigned
the Badshah or Great King, Zein-ul-abdin, who gave
Kashmir its most celebrated manufacture, by intro-
ducing wool from Tibet and weavers from Turkistan,
as also papier-mache work and the manufacture of
paper. This extraordinary man reigned fifty-three
years ; he was a patron of literature, a poet, and a

KASHMIR. 289

lover of field-sports, as well as a most practical ruler,
and he gave the country a great impetus. This van-
tage-ground, however, was lost almost immediately
after his death, and, as he had foreseen, by the
growing power of the native class of the Chdks,
who soon rose to supreme power in Kashmir by
placing themselves at the head of the national party.
Under one of their chiefs the valley asserted itself
nobly and victoriously against its external enemies ;
but this advantage was soon lost, through internal
jealousies, enmities, and treachery ; and a request
for assistance offered by one of the Chak chiefs
afforded Akbar the pretext for conquering the
country and making it a part of the great Mogul
Empire.

On the way from Martand to Achibal I saw the
only serpent which appeared before me in Kashmir ;
but, before I could get hold of it, the wily creature
had disappeared in the grass ; and those who have
closely observed serpents know how readily they do
disappear, and how wonderfully the more innocuous
ones, even the large rock-snakes, manage to conceal
themselves from the human eye in short grass, where
it might be thought that even a small snake could
easily be detected. I have been instructed by Indian
snake-charmers, who are rather averse to parting with
their peculiar knowledge, and have tried my hand
successfully on a small wild cobra, between three
and four feet in length, so I speak with knowledge

290 TEAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

and experience on this subject; but this Kashmir
snake I refer to eluded my grasp. It was only about
two and a-half or three feet long, and had the appear-
ance of a viper; but I do not know what it was.
The ganas, or aphia, is a species of viper which is
said to be very dangerous, and is most dreaded by
the people of the country. The latter name has
suggested, and very properly suggests, the o<£is of
the Greeks. Serpents are scarce in Kashmir, and
do not at all interfere with the great pleasure of
camping-out in that country. There is more an-
noyance from leopards, especially for people who
have small dogs with them ; for the leopard has quite
a mania for that sort of diet, and will not hesitate
to penetrate into your tent at night in quest of his
game.

Achibal and Yernag are two delightful places, such
as no other country in the world can present ; but
their general characteristics are so similar that I shall
not attempt to describe them separately. They re-
semble the Shalimar and Nishat Gardens, to which I
have already alluded, but are more secluded, more
beautiful, and more poetic. Bal means a place, and
Ash is the satyr of Kashmir traditions. Ver, accord-
ing to Elmslie, is the name of the district in which the
summer palace is situated ; but it is properly vir, which
may be either the Kashmir word for the weeping
willow (which would suit it well enough), or an old
Aryan form for the Latin vir. On the latter sup-

KASHMIE. 291

position it would be the haunt of the man-serpents,
and it is exactly the place that Avould have suited
them in ancient or any times.

Both Achibal and Vernag were favourite haunts of
our friend Jehangi'r, and of his wife !N"ur Jahan, the
Light of the "World. If that immortal pair required
any proof of their superiority, it would be found in
the retreats which they chose for themselves, and
which mark them out as above the level of ordinary
and even royal humanity. At Achibal, a spring of
water, the largest in Kashmir, rises at the head of
the beautiful pleasure - garden, underneath an over-
shadowing cliff, and this is supposed to be the
reappearance of a river which disappears in. the
mountains some miles above. At Vernag, also, a large
spring bubbles up in almost icy coldness beneath
a gigantic cliff, fringed with birch and light ash
that

" Pendent from the brow
Of yon dim cave in seeming silence make
A soft eye-music of slow-waving boughs.'

It is more specially interesting, however, as the
source of the Jhelam or Hydaspes ; and as I sat be-
side it on an evening of delicious repose, an old
schoolboy recollection came to mind, and it was
pleasant to find that if I could not venture to claim
entirely the

" Integer vitsc scelerisque purus,"

292 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

yet I had escaped the Maurian darts, and had been
enabled to travel in safety —

" Sive per Syrtes iter sestuosas,
Sive facturus per inhospitalem
Caucasum, vel quse loca fabulosus
Lambit Hydaspes."

SALMO-HUCHO FISHING IN BAYAEIA,

BY GILFRID \V. HARTLEY.

[MAGA. MARCH 1SS4.]

A HAPID river passes at the foot of the little town
-^A- of Tb'lz in Bavaria, 011 its way to the Black Sea
via the Danube, — of a deep blue-green colour in fine
weather, and white and yeasty-looking in spate. It
is but a small river compared with the Danube, yet
probably most English children have its name im-
pressed upon their minds long before they hear of
the great stream in which its waters are lost. For if
you ask them about the Isar, they will tell you of the
fiery Huns and furious Franks, the waving banners of
Munich, the white graves of the soldiers, and — most
of all — how it " rolls rapidly." But it was by poetical
licence that Campbell coupled Hohenlinden and the
Isar, for the quiet meadows on which the chivalry of
Munich charged are some distance from the latter.
The Englishman who, at the end of last September,
drove through the steep streets of Tb'lz, and climbed
laboriously up towards the mountains in a diligence,

294 TEAVEL, ADVENTUEE, AND SPOET.

forgot all about the dead warriors and their quarrels,
and looked at its blue waters solely from a fisherman's
point of view. In ordinary weather it runs swiftly
within well-defined banks — no rocks stand up per-
petually fretting and fighting with its waves ; and if
the huge rafts of silver fir, which float down in great
numbers, shoot the lashers in safety, they have nothing
to fear from running aground on its shingly banks
except delay. But in bad weather, after heavy rains,
it loses its bright transparent colour, and becomes
a furious milky-coloured torrent, carrying down an
immense body of sand, with quantities of chips, and
logs, and trees, and anything it can get the grip of,
when it encroaches on the land. It spreads out to
a breadth of a quarter of a mile, or more, when it
can ; and the worn grey shingle it has deposited, and
the stunted, smothered-looking alders it invades and
prevents from flourishing, form rather dreary objects
at low water in an otherwise beautiful valley. The
shingle runs out in spits, sometimes forming a bar
almost across the stream, and so helps to make many
fine pools of all sizes, which have generally a rapid,
sometimes, alas ! a too rapid "tail." Below the prin-
cipal dams also there are generally large pools, deep,
and often with a strong backwater. The Englishman
was on his way to Lenggries, a little village a few
miles up the valley, to join a friend, and, in company
with him, to wage war on a species of salmon Avhich
inhabits these waters. In the still pools, and in the

SALMO-IIUCHO FISHING IN BAVARIA. 295

quieter runs, swims a fish called in German huclien,
the classical name being Salmo hucho. He prowls
about 'below the lashers, seeking in the froth for
unwary trout, or dace, or insects ; and indeed, judging
by the reports Avhich were given of him, he might be
considered capable of devouring anything under a
good-sized child. Our fishermen, casting about for
information as to what was to them an entirely new
kind of fish, were told that he ran up to 90 Ib. in
weight. Xow a 90-lb. fish, combining the fierceness
and voracity of a pike with the strength of a salmon,
in a rapid stream with deep shelving banks, might
fairly be considered an ugly customer, capable of
drowning a man who was unfortunate enough to get
in over his waders ; and perhaps some little credit
is due to the pair who voluntarily went to attack him
in his stronghold, for no one obliged them to do it.
That the hnchen proved not to be of such dimensions
was not their fault, and should not be brought against
them : they Avere prepared to tackle the 90-pounder
if he turned up.

At Lenggries the traveller found his friend wait-
ing the arrival of the " Post." He was an English
admiral, and we will give him his title in our paper ;
whilst the former will, for the sake of euphony, be
referred to hereafter by the letter G. The Admiral,
who had been fishing for a few days, had killed one
huclien of about 7 Ib., and lost several more in a very
provoking way : they had broken, not the gut or line,

VOL. vi. u

296 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

but the hooks of the Steward tackle he used. Three
times had he got hold of a fish in a certain pool, and
the creatures had invariably retired with the greatest
rapidity to a part of it where the current was very
strong, quickly gone through some performance or
other there, and then disappeared, taking with them,
probably as a memento of their visit, a bit of steel.
It is not every day that Bavarian kitchen meet an
English admiral, and they acted in much the same
way as Mr Calverley's maiden did, when she secured
her precious cherry-stones. G. listened with great
attention to this account, and declared that no fish
could break any of his tackle ; but there are other
Avays of killing a cat than drowning her, and it is a
foolish thing to boast when a liuchen has anything
to say in the matter. The Admiral soon went off
to the river, G. shortly afterwards following him,
but they missed one another, and did not meet till
night.

The latter, left to his own devices, put on a salmon-
fly, found his way over the river, and ran promptly
into the arms of two big men, who seemed to look
on him as rather an intruder. Under the shelter of
umbrellas they were smoking cigars and watching
a third man, who was also smoking, and fishing
with an implement and tackle which needs a more
eloquent pen than ours to do justice to. He was
the biggest of the lot — a great, stout, fine-looking
old Bavarian, with a thick white moustache and

SALMO-HUCHO FISHING IN BAVAEIA. 297

a ruddy face ; and he was spinning, what in courtesy
might be called a minnow, but in reality was a good-
sized trout. It was not the length of his rod, or
its weight, which were so astonishing — it was the
inordinate thickness of its top, the stupendous hook,
and the cable which connected the two, which was
similar to that used by the ancient "who sat upon
a rock and bobbed for whale." There was a good
deal of lead* hanging about the line near the swivels,
and when the apparatus was pitched into the water,
it made a splash which could be heard a long way off,
and if it had alighted on the head of any TiticUen it
would certainly have hurt him very much. But
lest it should be thought that we are poking fun
at this gentleman, or affecting to despise his pro-
ceedings, we hasten to say that he was a master
of his craft, and needed no lessons from any one
as to spinning his trout. He was the Oberforster
of the Duke of Nassau, the head of the woodmen
and keepers, and we got to know him and like
him very much. Possibly no one, after reading
this paper, will feel inclined to start off for the
Bavarian Oberland for the sake of the sport we
describe, but it is as well to say here that the river
is strictly preserved, and not open to strangers.
The Oberforster span his pool without anything
appearing, and then G. tried another with his
"thunder and lightning." The three men were
interested in the performance, but evidently did

298 TRAVEL, ADVENTUKE, AND SPOET.

not think a fly likely to do any good, whilst the
long salmon -rod seemed to them rather a slim
weapon for its work. It was an Irish greenheart,
and, in reality, stronger than the giant's pole ;
but they judged by bulk, and did not make allow-
ance for the difference in the Avood. But that pole
must be of good stuff too. It was popularly sup-
posed that when the Oberforster hooked anything
under 10 Ib. he threw it over his shoulder — as a
boy does a small trout or parr. At any rate, in
that rapid river, often with tree-covered or broken
banks, and with such a short line, the fish must be
dealt with very summarily. We would have given
good money to have seen him ram his great hook
into the inside of a 20-pounder, and watch how
he played him. The interior arrangement might
give way — that would be the only chance for the
liuclien — none of the tackle would : there were
about thirty yards of a kind of window-blind cord
on the reel. Presently it began to drizzle, and
then to pour, and the two spectators went home,
but G. and the Oberforster sat in the shelter of the
eaves of a little toll-house on the bridge, and dis-
cussed fishing in England, Scotland, and Bavaria,
and chamois-shooting, and the price of wood, and
many other things — the natural courtesy of this
forester preventing him from even smiling at
the ludicrous blunders and idiotic mistakes of his
companion. After the Admiral had been given up

SALMO-HUCHO FISHING IX BAVARIA. 299

as drowned, he appeared, and reported having lost a
huchcn, a good one, on natural bait.

That evening G. was introduced to the society at
the Post. The men were a fine-looking lot. There
was only one lady, and she was fine-looking too.
The landlord had a particularly handsome face. He
was a silent, unemotional individual, who drank his
own good beer all day long and all night long with
his friends and guests, but never seemed the worse
for it ; and his eye and skin were as clear as if he
were dieted regularly for the Oxford and Cambridge
boat-race. Then there was a burly baron, such as
one reads of in books, clad in the green-trimmed
garments in which sporting Germans take delight.
Also the doctor, the inspector of taxes, the school-
master, a retired priest, an artist, an individual who
acted as paymaster to the duke, and a lieutenant
of a cavalry regiment from Munich. This officer
had married the landlord's sister, and though we
mention her last she deserves the first place, for
she had a beautiful face, and a stature and figure
verging on the gigantic. A few years ago there
can have been few women between Lcnggries and
Munich whom that Frau Lieutenant need have
looked on as rivals in good looks. This couple had
a daughter called Josephine ; and G. being the for-
tunate possessor of a very long Pharaoh's serpent
cut iii horn, and living in a carved bone box, gave
it to her, and won her small heart. All these people,

300 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

except the baron and the lieutenant, lived perma-
nently in the village, and they came with unfailing
regularity each night to the inn, sometimes to eat
their supper, but always to drink beer, play cards,
and then drink beer again : when they were not
drinking they were smoking. None of them were
what we in England would call " gentlemen " ; but I
fancy if the question of condescension ever came
into their minds with reference to mixing with the
foreigners — they considered that it lay on their side.
They held their little nightly club at the inn: if a
stranger was well behaved to them, they would be
civil to him. But that could not well be perfect
equality — so they would have said — between wan-
dering tourists, who might be anybodies, and estab-
lished residents always to be found at their posts.
Probably G., if he had been there by himself, would
never have advanced further in intimacy with them
than to be politely saluted on entering or leaving a
room, or have some casual remark made to him about
the weather. But the Admiral could talk German as
well as any one in Lenggries. He had none of the
pride which most Englishmen are supposed to have ;
and before he had been there many days, he was on
intimate terms with the whole club, and G., being
his friend, shared the intimacy. After supper they
always joined the circle at the large table, and G.
would sit one night between the priest and the baron,
another between the doctor and the artist, and on a

SALMO-HUCHO FISHING IN BAVARIA. 301

third was able to discuss — to a very limited extent — the
advantages of horse-breeding establishments with the
cavalry lieutenant. At first the presence of strangers
made a little awkwardness at this big table — but it
soon wore off; and after a short time an outsider
peeping in and surveying the noisy talkers, might
have thought that they had all run about and played
with one another in petticoats.

So the first day passed, and G. went to bed and
dreamed partly of huchen catching, and partly of
going in the morning to pay his formal call in dress
clothes at the Schloss, the idea of which rather fright-
ened him.

The tAvo friends were down by the river in good
time the next day, and they went straight to a pool
where the Admiral said he knew there was a huchen.
It was a niceish pool to look at, with two or three
big stones in it, suitable for fish to sit under, and a
rapid and strong stream at its head, tail, and further
side, for the pool only stretched half over the river.
The first portion of it could be commanded from the
bank, and the Admiral began operations, throwing
his trout up stream and bringing it very quickly
down with the current, and then as quickly up. He
had not made a dozen casts when the water opened
a little, a head appeared, there was a good splash, and
G. saw his first huchen. The fish seemed a heavy
one, he made the rod bend well, and took out line
freely. There was some anxiety felt as to whether

302 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

he would run out into the stream or pass down to
the awkward corner at the bottom of the pool ; but
he left no one in suspense long. He got the trout
and its hook out of his mouth somehow, and quickly
went off — to Tb'lz, probably, to tell his friends about
the foreign devils who had come to Lenggries. Great
was the disgust of the two he left behind : with a
rueful countenance the Admiral rearranged his trout,
which had been sorely doubled up by what it had
gone through. There were teeth-marks on the shoul-
der, but the big hook had somehow missed its hold.
Wading was now necessary. G. went into the water
and essayed to do battle with its inhabitants. He
was not so good a hand at spinning as his friend, and
his bait made a fearful splash ; but, nevertheless, in
three minutes he too was fast in a liuchen. And this
creature also, finding that what he had got was not
what he had wanted, spat it out, and went away
shaking his tail. Then for half an hour the men
sat and groaned in chorus on the bank, the while,
with trembling fingers, they put on a fresh bait,
added more hooks, and then G. once more waded
in, and he had not fished more than half-a-dozen
yards when up came a third liuclien, seized the trout,
and made off as if he meant to stick to it for life.
This time he had, or ought to have had, four hooks
in his mouth. " Aha ! the third time for luck ; we
shall have him now." But will our readers believe
that in five minutes this fish also sot off1? We are

SALMO-HUCHO FISHIXG IX BAVARIA. 303

not writing a romance, or an account of an ideal day's
fishing, but stern facts ; and that fish got away. It
does not -seeni as if it was a thing likely to happen in
real life, but it did. Those left behind almost wept.
The wretched trout came back empty, blobbing and
jumping on the stream, tied up in a kind of knot,
and spinning in a way that was enough to frighten
a shark. "\Ve draw a veil over the next half-hour's
conversation.

G. viciously stripped off the curly trout, and swore
it was no good trying any more till they had got the
Admiral's gaff-hook stuck in it as a weapon of offence.
(Xow the Admiral used a small click manufactured
by himself out of a large corrugated-iron dolphin-
hook.) It was plainly no use going on in that
fashion ; and besides, they had to pay their call at
the Schloss, so they left the pool and went growling
home to change. " We must yack it into them,"
said the Admiral ; " we shall never do any good till
we yack it into them." The visit to the Hochburg
was pleasant, and not formidable. The ladies showed
the strangers over the large stables, and were much
distressed at the bad behaviour of their liwltcn.

Then there came a broiling day with a bright sun,
— " good for fishing," said the Oberforster. It might
have been, but somehow nothing was done. The
Englishmen, the Oberforster and his rod, drove a few
miles up the river. They had some beer at a snug
little mrtschaff, and then they all fished. They

304 TKAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPOET.

tried trout and worm and minnow, and flailed away
diligently, but with no result. The Admiral lost his
worm-tackle, G. got over the tops of his waders, and
the Oberfbrster was so exhausted at the end of the
day that he had to be left at another ivirtschaft to
recruit himself. Hearty maledictions were bestowed
on the hucJten, and on the great dolphin-hook. G.
cut this off the gaff, and buried as much of it as he
could in a trout of gigantic size, from which an inch
or two stuck out like the fluke of an anchor. It was
so heavy that it sank the bait without the need of
lead, and was always catching in the bottom. " Ah !
if I could only get it well into a big one," said the
disconsolate owner, fondly eyeing it.

There was a sweet simplicity about the domestic
arrangements and commissariat at Lenggries, and
surely never since the days of Dick Swiveller's
Marchioness had men so queer a little handmaiden
to look after them. The inn was full, but for the
sum of four shillings per head per week, large bed-
rooms were secured over the principal shop in the
place. The small lassie, aged about ten, was the
only servant : she was a bright, queer, barefooted
little thing, exactly like the Marchioness, except in
being better fed. For coffee in the morning and
three rolls, threepence was charged. At the Post it
was customary to pay for one's food directly it was
eaten, and dinner seldom cost less than 90 pfennif/s,
or about elevenpence ; though it was indeed possible,

SALMO-HUCHO FISHING IN BAVARIA. 305

by indulging one's appetite in beetroot or some such
luxury, to bring it up to fifteenpence or so. The
very plain food was served up hot, and everything
was clean, so no one grumbled at the absence of a
tablecloth. After supper and a cigar and some beer
with the club, the Englishmen used to retire to their
own quarters. There the Admiral generally pro-
duced his tackle and overhauled and tested it, and
tied various hooks which would hold the 90-pounder
himself if he got into them. He discoursed, too,
eloquently of his travels. He had been all over
the world, had met many distinguished people and
seen many strange sights ; and he had had the yellow
fever, the small-pox, and the cholera, and yet lived
to catch Jiwhen in Bavaria. So G. listened to tales
of fishing for infernal machines in the Baltic, and
for salmon in Newfoundland, and queer doings in
the tropics, and the nights never seemed long.

After the hot day came a very wet one, and the
beautiful blue of the water disappeared. Xo one
seems to account very satisfactorily for this colour.
It is to be seen in little pools, and crevasses, and
moulins on glaciers, and high up in the Alps where
every footstep leaves a delicately tinted hollow in the
white snow, and in rivers where the glacier-mud has
settled, and in rivers also which rise at a compara-
tively low elevation. It cannot be the sky which
causes it, for clouds and rain do not drive it away.
It is sometimes seen on high mountains in Scot-

306 TKAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

land, when the snow is fresh. It is sometimes too
blue, and looks artificial, as if a tank in some works
had burst, and the dye which was meant for Bavarian
soldiers' uniforms had escaped into the stream. The
peat -stained burns of the Highlands fit far better
with mountain scenery, or the black waters of such
loch - fed rivers as the Awe and ]^ess. G. often
thought of the Argyleshire stream, for he had been
fishing there a few weeks before. Considering that
the Awe and the Isar are both rivers flowing through
a hilly country, there are wonderfully few points
of resemblance between them, — unless, indeed, the
Highlanders who have been sleeping for 500 years
under their many cairns just below the rock of Bran-
der, can be compared to the warriors who fell at
Hohenlinden. Five miles of rocky bed carries the
dark waters of the one into Loch Etive, and the
other rolls swiftly and smoothly to the Danube, and
then travels for weeks across Europe to the Black Sea.
The next day was G.'s last at Lenggries, and the
Admiral, to give his friend a better chance, unself-
ishly refused to take a rod, contenting himself with
a gaff. The water had cleared a little, though it was
still loaded with sand. The men walked up the
valley to a place where a smaller stream, called the
Ja'che, joined the Isar. The place where the rivers
met was very beautiful ; the hills were densely
wooded with fir, but their dark masses were bright-
ened up here and there by tiny bits of gorgeous

SALMO-HUCIIO FISHING IN BAVAPJA. 307

colouring from beech and birch and plane tree which
had caught the first touch of frost. It was too early
for uniform autumn tints, but the reds and yellows
and crimsons were the more striking for their being
so widely scattered. On the barer hills narrow strips
of plantation had been made in regular order for the
sake of shelter. A number of men were working on
the rivers at their rafts, — picturesquely clad, wild-
looking fellows, deft workers with the axe, and, if
report does them no wrong, with the gun also.
There are many chamois on the mountains, and hares
and roe. In the wilder parts of the Tyrol the
peasants are often great poachers, and wage a des-
perate and sometimes bloody war with the keepers.
The Avork of the river-raftsmen must be often dan-
gerous. One evening in the dusk G. was startled
by seeing what he thought was a woman's figure
standing on a narrow plank over a foaming lasher.
But it was only an image of the Virgin, and was so
contrived that, whilst one side represented her, the
other gave the artist's idea of some masculine saint ;
and no doubt many a hearty prayer is sent up to the
quiet figures as the rafts begin to feel the force of the
current which is to carry them over the fall.

About a mile from the junction there is a dam,
with the usual pool below. G. fished one side, and
then cautiously waded across and commenced opera-
tions from the other, just where a heavy beam lay
over part of the channel. Here he threw his trout.

308 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

From the dark shadow cast by the beam a huge fish
shot out, showing a yard-long brown back, in striking
contrast to the clear green water in which he moved.
He seemed to hesitate a second, and then ran at the
dead trout and seized it, and retreated hastily to his
lurking-place. Clearly and indisputably this was the
time to follow the Admiral's advice, and yack it
into him, and G. struck at the liuclien as if he had
been a crocodile, and the tackle adapted for the cap-
ture of such an animal. Nothing gave.

" By George ! " said G. to himself (it was no good
shouting his views across the stream to his friend),
" I believe I have you now."

Directly the great huchen felt the unpleasant ac-
companiment carried by the trout, he gave up all
idea of going back to his own dwelling, and bolted
out with a fierce rush right into the middle of the
stream. He took out twenty yards of line, and then
it was the old, old story — as old as love or anything
else, — lie got away. It was a horrid exhibition of
brute force, quite calculated to make one sick.
There was no skill about it — no science ; an arm-
chair or a hen-coop could have done what he did
just as well, if they had been lightly hooked. The
Admiral, on the other bank, had just got his gaff
ready — he laid it aside and lit a cigar. It is
possible he said something, but if he did, the roar
of the stream prevented it being heard. G. cut off
his useless minnow and threw it away, putting on a

SALMO-HUCHO FISHING IN BAVARIA. 309

Loch Tay phantom, — and he went back to a bridge
which crosses the Jache. In a pool under it he got
a pull from something — it might have been a stone,
but it was uncommon like a fish. A friend of ours,
when he has been fishing some time without doing
any good, is in the habit of thrashing the water for a
few minutes with his rod — thrashing it till it foams.
He says it is good for soothing the mind, and also
calling the attention of the fish. Under that bridge
G., out of sight of the Admiral, relieved his outraged
feelings in the same way. Presently the latter saun-
tered up, placidly smoking.

'; Well, was he a good one 1 "

" Good one ! Didn't you see him 1 But I did
drive it into him that time ! "

"Ah ! but you didn't drive it in hard enough."

Then they tramped sulkily over a horrid wilder-
ness of shingle and rubbishy trees, till they came to
another dam on the larger river again. Here the
water was still thick, and the work seemed hopeless.
But the longest lane has a turn ; the most weary
night must end. The despised and much-abused
artificial minnow, which had been declared by the
collective wisdom of the whole club to be an ab-
surdity, was taken possession of by a huchen, and
this time really appreciated. He expressed a strong
desire to nib himself under the wood-work of the
dam, and then evinced a remarkable attraction for a
post whose top was just visible under water. " He

310 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

say he 'bliged " to run round that post. But there
was more true nobleness about this huchen than any
of the others, and when this pleasure was denied
him, he gave in, came to the side, and was whipped
out by the Admiral before he had quite made up his
mind as to the proper course to pursue. He was a
handsome, well-fed 5-lb. fish, with a dark back and
grey sides, set off with the tiniest red spots. But G.,
as he looked at him, thought — " Ah, if I hadn't lost
that other fellow ! "

Later on a suspicious old liuchen came out of his
quarters into a rapid stream to look at the bait He
made a run at it. It is difficult, when one sees a fish
do this, to prevent jerking the bait a little, or else
staying its motion. After two or three minutes'
delay it was shown him again. He made another
rush at it, but did not touch. Another wait, and a
third time the same performance was gone through.
The fourth time the bait was left to itself; the
ghostly-looking, shadowy form did not appear. G.
did not now want to catch such a horrid, ill-bred,
and evil-minded old fish, and — after trying him once
more — left him. Soon after, however, another came
up — a lively gentleman. He took the fisherman a
merry run for 150 yards down a very rapid stream,
and was well gaffed by the Admiral before he was
half done. He weighed about 6 Ib.

The shades of evening found the men once more
at the ill-omened pool where the three fish were

SALMO-HUCHO FISHING IN BAVARIA. 311

lost the first day. G. tried it carefully down, but
just before finishing got his bait stuck on a stone
deep in the water. Something had to go, and
as the stone declined to move, it was the gut :
the good brown minnow was left behind. G.
reeled up and landed, and prepared to take his rod
down.

" You have another minnow 1 " said the Admiral.

" Yes ; but it's not worth while trying it."

But the indefatigable Admiral got it out.

"There's always," he said, slowly, "another huchen
in that pool ; " and he was right — for in three
minutes the blue minnow was inside him (the fish).
He was a big one. He ran madly out into the
middle of the river, and set out for Tolz as hard as
he could go. G. had to scramble up an awkward
bank, for the water grew too deep to follow in ; but
the Iniclien was still on. He raced along the firm
ground, and then had to jump into the stream again,
to avoid some trees ; but still the huchen was on.
He got out fifty yards of line, however, whilst he
had a chance ; and as the powerful current aided his
own energetic exertions, it was not easy to get a pull
on him. A long sandy spit let the fisherman gain a
little ; and then, just as the latter made up his mind
that it would be necessary to give the fish the butt at
the end of the spit, owing to the wooded banks which
followed, the fish also made up his mind and — broke
his hold.

VOL. VI. X

312 TKAVEL, ADVENTUEE, AND SPORT.

The Achniral arrived in a great hurry, just in time
not to see the last of him.

"How," said G., "can one yack a hook into a
brute like that? and what is the good of trying it,
when they have mouths made of china or cast steel 1 "
It was a disastrous finish to a not altogether unsuc-
cessful day.

The next day G. left Lenggries and went to
Munich. There at the exhibition he wandered
through acres of pictures, many beautiful, many
most miserable, and some ghastly and horrible and
hideous to a degree. One small painting he coveted,
called " The Poacher's Grave," — a man lying on his
face in the snow in a chasm between steep rocks
from which he had fallen, — a wild picture of an
open grave in which he might lie for ever and not
be seen again by mortal eyes. Then he began the
long journey back to Argyleshire. He left the Ad-
miral behind ; and that gentleman, after contending
with noble obstinacy against heavy spates, which
occurred when he was well, and bad colds, which
kept him to his room when the river was in order,
and moreover, against vicious and wicked liuchen,
succeeded in capturing a 1 2-pounder and an 8-pounder,
besides smaller fry. These men had to encounter
many difficulties. They had to find out where, in
many miles of water, the fish lay, and what they
would take, and how they would take it ; and they
had to teach themselves to use strange tackle. But

SALMO-HUCHO FISHING IN BAVAKIA. 313

if ever they fish again in the Isar, they natter them-
selves that they will be able to render a better
account of the Salmonidae which inhabit its blue
waters.

We can fancy some one throwing down this book
and saying, " Why, confound the fellow ! he never
got the 90-pounder at all, or anything like it." We
take credit for the omission. It would have been
just as easy to have made out that we got, — not the
90-pounder, for that would have attracted attention,
and might have led to inquiry — but say a dozen,
running from 50 to 75 Ib. Then a little judicious
reticence as to names would have made all safe. Our
paper is a full, true, and faithful recital of what really
happened, and we think that such an account of a
fishing expedition is very rare. And if the reader
does not believe us now, we hope he will go to
Lenggries to find out for himself, and fish (with-
out leave) in the Isar. There, whether he meets
with huclien or not, he would soon make the ac-
quaintance of the Herr Oberforster, and of his stal-
wart, heavy-shoed, green -footless -stocking- wearing
subordinates.

TEAYELS IN CIECASSIA.

BY LAURENCE OLIPHANT.
[MAGA. JUXE-JULY 1856.]

I.

THE object of this sketch is to give some account,
from personal observation, of Abkhasia and its
neighbouring province of Circassia.

The capital town of Abkhasia is Souchoum Kaleh.
Here it was that a large Russian force was perma-
nently garrisoned in the war with Eussia, and it was
hoped that the troops of the Czar, supported by the
powerful influence of Prince Michael, would eventu-
ally lead to the subjugation of those wild mountain-
eers who professed to OAvn allegiance to their prince,,
and to the annexation of the entire province to the
Muscovite Empire. That anticipation had not been
realised when the war broke out. Notwithstanding
the exertions of Prince Michael in favour of Russia,
the greater portion of his subjects could not be in-

TRAVELS IN CIRCASSIA. 315

duced to relinquish that independence which he
(perhaps compelled by the force of circumstances)
had already forfeited. Secure in their mountain
strongholds, they bade defiance to the imperial troops,
who dared not penetrate beyond a few miles into the
interior. A line of Russian forts along the coast,
however, ensured the obedience of those of the in-
habitants who preferred their worldly possessions to
their liberty; while, as the plains which extend in
a south-easterly direction from Souchoum Kaleh in-
crease in breadth as the mountains recede from the
sea-shore, the population which inhabits them found
any attempt at opposition hopeless, and have long
since resigned themselves to their fate, to which they
have been the more easily reconciled, as they are
opposed in religion to the Mahometan mountaineers
in the north, and sympathise in their Christian wor-
ship with their wily conquerors. These have sedu-
lously fostered that disunion in the country which a
difference of faith Avas likely to engender ; and there
can be little doubt that, if the old regime be restored,
this policy will be at last successful.

Prince Michael, called by the Turks Hamid Bey, is
himself a Christian ; but his father was a Mahome-
tan, and most of his family still profess that faith.
He has two country residences, one situated at Shem-
sherrai, about thirty-six miles to the south-east of
Souchoum Kaleh ; the other at Souksou, about fifteen
miles to the north-Avest of that place. The former

316 TEAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

of these I had already visited. A large wooden
mansion it was, with elaborately carved overhanging
eaves, and gaunt unfurnished rooms, looking doubly
desolate in the absence of the owner, \vith nothing
but a couch in one, and two or three rickety chairs
and a table in another, and a heap of suspicious-look-
ing bedding piled in a corner of a third, and a quan-
tity of noble antlers, the spoils of many a hard day's
chase in the mountains, ornamenting a fourth. Prince
Michael had often asked me to pay him a visit, and I
was not sorry to find that he was aAvay from home on
this occasion, as it involved an expedition to his
northern residence at Souksou, and an opportunity
would thus be afforded of visiting a new part of his
territory. Meantime Abkhasia was becoming a place
of considerable resort. On my first arrival I had
found it an unvisited and almost unknown country ;
now English and Turkish men-of-war lay at anchor in
the beautiful bay of Souchoum, and English travellers
and Turkish soldiers encountered one another in its
formerly deserted streets. It was with a party of
the former that, in the beginning of last October, I
undertook the expedition to Souksou, with a view of
afterwards extending our wanderings, and penetrating,
as far as time and circumstances would permit, into
some of the hitherto totally unknown and unexplored
valleys of Circassia.

Souksou is situated at a distance of about five
miles in the interior, and we proceeded in two men-

TEAYELS IN CIRCASSIA. 317

of-war steamers to a little village upon the coast, not
far from the dismantled Eussian fortress of Bambor.
The arrival and disembarkation of so formidable a
party at this remote harbour caused no small sensa-
tion. A Turkish flag, of minute dimensions, was
hoisted upon the steep bank which overhung the
water, and the houses were soon emptied of their
inmates, collecting in wondering groups on the beach.
The singular attire and handsome figures of Caucasian
mountaineers render such assemblages doubly inter-
esting ; and whether in Circassia, Abkhasia, or Min-
grelia, I always thought that their picturesque in-
habitants formed their most characteristic feature.
The scenery is indeed probably unequalled in the
world ; but if those rocky gorges and smiling lovely
valleys were not inhabited by such a peasantry, they
would lose their highest charm.

There was a steep little street, composed of wooden
houses, leading up to the top of the rugged and
precipitous bank, where a winter torrent had rendered
the ascent easier ; and there were quaint old houses
perched upon the edge of the cliff, with deep veran-
dahs, where the old men of the village sit and smoke
their pipes, and no doubt discuss Abkhasian politics.
Dogs and children were playing together upon the
short green grass in front of one of these as we
approached, and broke off the game abruptly to bark
and cry at the strangers. An old patriarch, whose
more elaborate costume betokened a man in authority,

318 TKAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

advanced to offer us horses on which to ride np to
Prince Michael's ; and while they were getting ready
we sat down in chairs of a civilised construction at
the edge of the cliff, and became the centre of a
group of admiring Abkhazians.

At length a number of diminutive but wiry ponies
made their appearance, with slippery, impossible-look-
ing saddles, upon which, we perched ourselves with
difficulty. It requires a short residence in Circassia
before one becomes thoroughly reconciled to the seat
of the country. The saddle-bow is about six inches
high, and terminates in a sharp point. There is a
corresponding elevation similarly shaped behind, so
that one has very much the sensation of being
jammed down between two perpendicular hunting-
knives. As the stirrups are so short as to throw the
knees considerably above the withers of the horse,
there is a natural tendency to rise in them ; and when
one is thus thrown above the saddle, an anxiety sug-
gests itself about getting safe back again. However,
we were in an impatient humour, and, reckless of
consequences, dashed off at a gallop with our knees
up to our chins, and our arms extended to assist
in preserving our balance.

We did not visit Bambor, as there was nothing to
distinguish it from the other forts on the coast ; nor
had we time for a diversion to the ruined castles of
Anakopi or Psirste, distant four or five miles to
the right. After crossing the undulating plain of

TRAVELS IN CIRCASSIA. 319

Bambor, covered only with fern, holly, and butcher's
broom, we entered a noble forest, composed of trees
the dimensions of which were gigantic, even in
Abkhasia. Their magnificent proportions could be
the better appreciated because they were not crowded
in such a way as to impede their growth. There was
no underwood to prevent us from galloping under the
wide-spreading branches of majestic beech or linden
trees, while from their topmost boughs drooped in
sweeping festoons the graceful tendrils of the wild
vine, waving softly above our heads their luscious
burdens of purple grapes. Here and there the
darker green of the box - tree contrasted with the
surrounding foliage, while the unusual size of its
growth almost entitled it to a position among forest-
trees. The grateful shelter afforded by such luxuri-
ance of vegetation was taken advantage of by the
peasants, and we cantered along grassy glades to a
little village composed of neat wooden cottages em-
bowered among trees, in the twisted branches of
which the people had stacked their newly-gathered
maize. Its golden hue, sparkling out from, under
green leaves at a height of twenty or thirty feet
above the ground, produced a most singular and
uncommon effect. All the male inhabitants of this
village were collected upon the smooth green lawn
on which Prince Michael's house was situated. It
was a large massive building, constructed partly of
roughly-hewn stone, and partly of wood ; and, con-

320 TKAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPOET.

signing our steeds to the charge of the country-
people who clustered round and contended for the
honour of assisting us to dismount, we followed our
guide up a narrow stair to the apartment of the
Prince, who, surrounded by plenty of attendants and
very little furniture, received us with much urbanity,
and a polish which plainly indicated a familiarity
with St Petersburg saloons. I was surprised to find
that one who had lived in the Eussian capital, and
enjoyed the comforts of civilisation, should not have
introduced more of them into his own residence.
Nothing could be more cold and cheerless than the
interior of this princely habitation ; and, with the
exception of the chairs we sat on, and a spittoon, I
did not observe any furniture in his reception-room.

Though we could not compliment our host upon
the comfort of his apartment, we could conscientiously
congratulate him upon the magnificence of his terri-
tory, and especially upon the charming situation of
his house. The lovely country through which we had
been riding stretched away seaward in rich luxiiriance,
and bore completely the character of an English park,
except that the trees which dotted its undulating
slopes were more imposing, and the effect of their
beauty was enhanced by the constant intermingling
of vine-leaves with their own foliage ; for all these
forest giants were united in one loving embrace by
the lusty arms of this noble creeper. Inland the
country was more thickly wooded; the undulations

TRAVELS IN CIRCASSIA. 321

swelled into hills ; the park was converted into forest ;
from its tone of exquisite softness the scenery gradu-
ally changed to one of majestic grandeur ; deep gorges
cleft the precipitous ranges of the lower Caucasus —
hitherto untrodden by the foot of the western traveller
— and gave rise to a longing desire to penetrate into
the mysteries of their gloomy recesses. Sweeping
down the rugged side of the lofty range beyond,
enormous glaciers descended into dark - blue haze,
and, towering over all, a chain of glittering snowy
peaks, round which hovered a multitude of fleecy
clouds, shot into the sky.

There Avas a picturesque old church within a few
yards of the house, which we went to inspect. It is
of Byzantine architecture, and probably dates from
the eighth or ninth century. The walls, built of a
freestone, are in the shape of a square, and sur-
mounted by an octagonal dome. The interior is
ornamented with numerous rough frescoes ; while
slabs, inscribed with Georgian characters, mark the
burial-places of some of the former rulers of Abkhasia.
An intelligent young priest, with locks flowing over
his shoulders, did the honours of the church, and
showed some curious illuminated Bibles in Georgian
character. It is said that the emperor had intended
to form this church into a monastery, and the seat of
a colony of priests for Abkhasia.

While one of our party, whose Crimean sketches
have gained for him a world- wide notoriety, was

322 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

engaged in immortalising the scene, we strolled
through a rough, ill - tended garden, and regaled
ourselves on pomegranates, and then, not without
reluctance, once more inserted ourselves into our
saddles, and bidding adieu to the Prince and his
enchanting domain, galloped down to the boats, and
pursued our northward course.

After rounding the low promontory of Pitzounda,
we found ourselves approaching the northern frontier
of Abkhasia. The undulating plains which separate
the lower range from the sea gradually narrow, and
through them numerous streams take their winding
course. The gorges by which these issue from the
mountains become more clearly discernible — dark and
gloomy portals to unknown and mysterious valleys
beyond. Above all towered the stupendous Ochetene,
rearing its snow-crowned summit to a height of about
13,000 feet. Distant scarcely twenty-five miles from
our ship, its altitude seemed even greater, and it re-
duced to insignificance the intervening range, which,
though from 7000 to 8000 feet in height, was free
from snow, and presented that rugged and precipitous
aspect which characterises the limestone formation
generally. From the Ochetene to the Djoumantau,
the main chain is composed of a series of peaks of
an almost uniform elevation. It forms the north-
eastern frontier of Abkhasia, and separates that pro-
vince from the Circassian tribes of the north, serving
as a barrier which, except at one or two points, is

TRAVELS IN CIRCASSIA. 323

insiirmountable. "We were assured that the only
practicable pass from Abkhasia across these moun-
tains, for horses, was from Souchoum Kaleh to
Karachai, a province situate upon the western
shoulder of Mount Elbruz. We had indeed at one
time entertained the idea of attempting this pass in
company with some of the chiefs of Karachai, who
were about to return to their homes. As it turned
out, however, it was fortunate that circumstances
obliged us to change our plans, as a few weeks after-
wards our friends returned to Souchoum, having found
their province in the hands of the Russians, who had
pushed their successes over the Naib, farther into the
mountains than they had ever before ventured to do.
The people of Karachai, leaving their homes at the
mercy of the conquerors, had taken refuge in the
more inaccessible parts of the mountains, knowing
that the approach of winter would compel the enemy
to evacuate the valleys. N~ever before had that re-
mote district been visited by Eussian soldiers, and
the utmost terror and dismay had been inspired in
consequence.

The pass by which these men had traversed the
range will henceforward be blocked up, and the day
is in all probability far distant when such an oppor-
tunity will again be afforded to Europeans of pene-
trating into these mountains. The Russians them-
selves are unable to go beyond five or six miles from
Souchoum Kaleh into the interior. The journey to

324 TEAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPOET.

Karachai, although the distance is not very great,
occupies about a week, in consequence of the im-
practicable nature of the road : during the few
summer months, however, it is reported to be free
from snow.

A convulsion of nature, more remarkable for its
violence than any we had as yet observed, marks the
western limit of Abkhasia. At this point the moun-
tains come precipitously down to the sea, and are
cleft by a gorge so long, and deep, and narrow, that
it looks like a sharp cut from some gigantic sword.
There are tall poplars growing in this pent-up Valley
of Gagra, but the sun rarely glints through their top-
most leaves ; and a stream which, issuing from its
gloomy recesses, only sparkles for an instant in the
light of day as it crosses the narrow beach, and then
loses itself in the sea. At this point has been built
the massive Fort of Gagra, to guard the only entrance
into Circassia which exists in this direction. It is
considered the most disagreeable station on the coast
by the unfortunate Russian soldiers, who are doomed
to a choice of such evils. Completely shut in by the
rocks which form the sides of the gorge, not a breath
of air ever circulates through their wretched quarters.
Unable to venture beyond the walls of the fort, they
are limited to a few yards of shingle for exercise.
Before them is the endless breaking sea ; behind them
the enormous chasm, into which they dare not enter,
and into whose black mysteries their curious eyes

TRAVELS IN CIECASSIA. 325

cannot penetrate. On each side rise precipitous
walls of limestone, on the summits of which hostile
Circassians often congregate and fire down into the
very houses of the fort below. They are dependent
for supplies upon ships from Souchoum, and are some-
times exposed to famine — always to war and pesti-
lence. To such an existence are doomed more
especially those regiments of the Eussian army whose
fidelity is doubted ; and, singular as it may appear,
the great majority of those men who fall by the hands
of Circassians fighting for their independence, are
themselves martyrs for the cause of liberty. Thus
does the Eussian Government consummate a twofold
vengeance, and to the horrors of political exile add a
service which forces its victims to fight for the exten-
sion of that tyranny by which they are themselves
oppressed. The consequence is that the mountains
of Circassia swarm with Eussian soldiers, generally
Poles, who prefer abject servitude amongst these
barbarians to service in the Eussian army.

We had fixed upon Vardan as the point from which
to start upon our expedition into the interior, as the
principal chief in the district was an old friend.
Vardan is situated about sixty miles farther up the
coast than Gagra, and is a somewhat important place
among Circassians, as it boasts an apology for a bay,
and there is no Eussian fort on either side for some
miles : it is therefore a favourite place for that trade
Avhich Eussians are pleased to call contraband, because,

326 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

in order to be earned on, the blockade must be broken
which they have established in the prosecution of
their nefarious war against these tribes. But few
houses, however, are apparent from the sea. The
hills are not so precipitous as they are nearer Gagra,
and the gorges have widened out into fertile valleys.
Immediately en our dropping anchor, the shore,
which at first seemed deserted, became thickly dotted
with human forms, and we were received upon land-
ing with profound demonstrations of respect. Our
friend Ismail Bey, however, was ill at his house,
and in his absence no great encouragement was mani-
fested when we explained the object of our visit.
However, we sent messengers to inform him of our
arrival, and strolled up to three or four houses hidden
among trees, which composed the village ; here we
soon became the centre of attraction to numbers of
natives, who, seeing from their hill -tops the ships
anchored in their bay, nocked down to inspect us.
There was an elaborate little rest-house, of a form and
construction common at all Circassian villages, open
at the sides ; its roof supported by pillars of carved
wood, and with seats for tired travellers inside, not
unlike a summer-house. Here we held a levee, and
discussed the chances of the expedition with chiefs of
various degrees of importance and magnificence of
attire. There was an evident indisposition on the
part of these gentry to assist us in our desire of
penetrating into their country, and they looked with

TRAVELS IN CIRCASSIA. 327

perhaps a pardonable suspicion at so large a party
demanding admittance into regions hitherto un-
visited by Europeans. Moreover, we could assign
no other motive for our journey than curiosity,
and they seemed incredulous of this being a suffi-
ciently powerful stimulant for so novel a proceeding,
more particularly when they saw two men-of-war
lying in their bay, also there from curiosity. They
therefore depicted, in the strongest terms, the diffi-
culties of travelling in the interior, the impossi-
bility of procuring horses, guides, &c. However, we
determined to await the result of our mission to
Ismail Bey, and meantime I went with an exploratory
expedition up the valley.

We followed the banks of a clear sparkling
stream, full of trout, to a village where the female
inhabitants peered curiously out of chinks in their
doors at us, and then ascended the side of a steep
hill, through fields of millet and Indian corn, until
we reached a ridge from whence we had an exten-
sive view : here we stayed to rest, and our Circassian
guide, who spoke Turkish, sent a boy to a village to
bring us something to eat. While we were bask-
ing in the sun, watching the blue smoke ascend from
the clumps of trees which here and there marked a
hamlet, a ragged figure approached, carrying a load
of wood, and almost naked, and throwing his bundle
at our feet sat down to rest. Upon looking at his
features I scarcely needed the information of our

VOL. VI. Y

328 TRAVEL, ADVEKTURE, AND SPOKT.

guide that he was a Russian. He said he had been
eleven years a slave in Circassia, a hewer of wood and
drawer of water — condemned all those long years to
the most servile offices, and yet he manifested no
desire for change. He looked at us with dull leaden
eyes, and what little expression his face still retained
was one of resigned melancholy.

We lunched off walnuts and hard-boiled eggs, and
prevailed upon a pretty Circassian girl to give us a
light for our cigars, which she did with much grace
and modesty, holding just enough of the thin white
handkerchief over her face to satisfy her conscience,
and at the same time to exhibit her charms. Her
mother scolded her from within for such barefaced
behaviour, and appeared to the rescue with only one
eye visible. We did not regret the loss of the rest
of the countenance so much as the result of her in-
dignant reproaches to her daughter, who flung her
veil back over her shoulders, and throwing a glance
of defiance at her mother, and of farewell at us, dis-
appeared into the house, and we walked down the hill
smoking thoughtfully.

We found the rest of the party mounting their
ponies to go to Ismail Bey's house, as that distin-
guished personage was too unwell to come to us. Our
way led up another valley very like the first, also
with a clear stream, which was continually to be
crossed, through green meadows, fields, and woods,
and past cottages. Following it for about two miles

TRAVELS IN CIRCASSIA. 329

from the shore, we reached a substantial-looking
mansion, the residence of Ismail Bey, who was visited
in his room, where he was confined to his bed, by
some of the members of our party, and arrangements
were made for our departure on the morrow. He
was public-spirited enough to turn out his harem for
our inspection, and his wives and daughters came
trooping out, much to their and our satisfaction.

At first they kept at a respectful distance, and
tittered immensely among themselves, and got behind
one another with a great affectation of coyness.
When, however, they saw that presents were to be
obtained by nearer advances, they crept forward,
sending the little children on as pioneers, who ad-
vanced timidly, keeping their fingers in their mouths
like civilised infants, until within reach of the prize,
when they clutched it ravenously, and rushed back
triumphant. At last we were surrounded by a galaxy
of beauty, and showed them their own lovely counte-
nances in looking-glasses, and explained the mysteries
of intricate housewives, or taught them to look
through opera -glasses. One of our party who had
come well provided with such articles soon became
immensely popular. At last the shades of evening,
and our sense of what was due to the owner of so
much charming property, warned us to terminate the
scene ; and after many expressions of unbounded ad-
miration, we parted with mutual regret. One or two
of these girls were very beautiful ; their soft dark

330 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

eyes, fringed with long black lashes, luxuriant hair,
regular features, brilliant complexions, as purely pink
and white as that of any European, combined to
render their countenances peculiarly attractive, while
they had a sweet and refined expression, which was
scarcely to be expected among savages.

We returned to the ships well satisfied with the
result of our visit to Ismail Bey ; he had promised us
four guides, and as many horses, and these, in addi-
tion to ten of our own, sufficed for our somewhat
formidable party. Notwithstanding the early hour
at which we were astir on the following morning,
considerable delay was necessarily involved by the
landing of the horses, the loading of the pack-saddles,
and the minor preparations for the start. The beach
presented a scene of picturesque confusion. Sailors
and Circassians united their. efforts in the loading of
the nags ; servants of various nationalities, and in
diverse costumes, from that of the Albanian to that of
the Yorkshireman, bustled about ; while their masters
superintended operations, clad in the shooting-jacket
characteristic of Englishmen, and long jack-boots, and
with girdles sufficiently Avell provided with revolvers.
At last every load was adjusted — -every man in his
saddle ; the more prudent amongst us had provided
ourselves with English ones, and the welcome order
was given to start. Our way at first lay along the
beach ; and as we jogged over the sand and shingle,
we saw the Highflyer and Cyclops get up their steam

TRAVELS IN CIRCASSIA. 331

and leave us to the mercy of our Circassian friends.
The former was bound for Souchoum ; the latter was
to return for us to Trebizond. Our cavalcade, num-
bering fifteen, presented quite an imposing appear-
ance. We were obliged to devote three horses to the
transport of baggage, the greater portion of which was
composed of presents for the native chiefs at whose
houses we expected to lodge, as a currency is un-
known in the country ; and the only way of return-
ing hospitality is by the donation of small articles
of European fabrication. The animals we bestrode
were mere ponies, ragged and miserable in appear-
ance, but, as our experience proved, possessing great
pluck and powers of endurance. The verdant hill-
sides came almost down to the sea, leaving only a
narrow strip of beach to serve as a road. Owing,
however, to the inaccessible nature of their country,
the sea-shore forms by far the most frequented route
for Circassians, whenever they can manage to avail
themselves of it ; and in spite of our energetically ex-
pressed wishes to proceed inland, the guides evidently
manifested some reluctance to leave the shingle beach
for the mountain -pass. Nor is the sea itself alto-
gether neglected as a means of communication by
the Circassians, although unable to trade upon it.
We observed a method of making it available for
purposes of water - carriage, which has never yet
occurred to the islanders of Great Britain. It was
perfectly calm, the breakers of a few days before had

332 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

subsided with a series of living ripples murmuring on
the sand ; and as we rounded a point, we observed a
large object, at a distance of not many yards from
the shore, which was towed by two men. As we
got nearer, we discovered that it was a raft, steered
by a third individual, and upon which had been
placed a small wooden habitation. We were informed
that this was a process by which a family, in Yankee
phraseology, sometimes changed their " location," and
in this primitive manner transported bodily all their
worldly substance to some more favoured vale. At
last, where another stream sparkled between green
meadows down to the sea, we turned inwards, resting
for a while at a charming little rest-house, more
highly finished and ornamented than the one we had
seen at Yardan. Then, climbing the steep sides of
the valley, our path became more rugged, and led us
amid the most luxuriant vegetation to a high shoulder,
from whence we had a panoramic view over the
broad bed of the Soubachi, up which our path was
now to lead us, never before, so far as we knew,
explored by Europeans. At the mouth of the river
we observed a substantial Eussian fort, now deserted,
as the group of Circassians clustered beneath its walls
plainly indicated.

We were soon afterwards stumbling along the
stony bed of the Soubachi, at this time of year
shrunk within its proper limits, and leaving a broad
margin of rocks and stones to denote its winter

TRAVELS IN CIRCASSIA. 333

character. The beds of the numerous rivers which
descend from the western slopes of the Caucasus to
the sea form indeed the only means of communica-
tion with the interior, and, when these are flooded,
the Circassians stay at home. For months at a time
all communication between the opposite sides of the
valley is suspended. We were compelled to cross
this stream twice, and as the current Avas excessively
rapid, and reached to the saddle-straps, the operation
was by no means agreeable. As evening was draw-
ing in we reached the Iwnak of the Bey with whom
we were destined to pass the night, situated upon the
hillside on the right bank. His habitation consisted
of a group of single rooms standing separately upon a
green lawn, and overshadowed by noble beech and
chestnut trees, the whole enclosed by a neat paling.
In the neighbourhood were numerous other cottages
surrounded by fields of maze and millet, sloping down
to the stream. The situation of the village was
charming, and commanded a lovely view of the fertile
valley and lofty mountain-range beyond. Our arrival,
of course, created a great sensation. The Bey received
us with the utmost warmth and cordiality, placing
two cottages at our disposal. Every man of influence
in Circassia has one or two rooms which are called
guest-houses, and are devoted to the reception of
strangers, for the Circassians themselves are always
gadding about, like the Tartars of the Crimea or the
gentry of England, paying visits and staying at each

334 TEAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

other's country-houses. There is no such thing as a
single house containing a number of rooms. Each
room is separate, standing ten or fifteen yards from
its neighbour ; the walls are composed of wattle-and-
daub, the thatch of Indian corn. There is gener-
ally a door swung upon a hinge of primitive construc-
tion, but seldom any other aperture for the admission
of light. The most characteristic feature of these
habitations is the chimney. It is a huge semicircular
projection about four feet above the ground, occupy-
ing about nearly half the room ; it consequently
possesses the immense advantage of never smoking —
a most unusual peculiarity for a savage habitation,
where the smoke is generally allowed to discover its
own exit, and revenges itself on the eyes of those
who have not provided one for it. The lower border
of the chimney is generally ornamented with rude
painting, while it is carried up through the roof in a
circular form, and thatched or boarded over at the
top. The furniture sometimes consists of a low
wooden stretcher ; more frequently the sleeping-place
is indicated by a low bank of earth raised a few
inches above the floor. Immediately 011 our arrival,
numerous coverlets and quilts of soft luxurious tex-
ture, and downy cushions, were brought in and spread
upon the floor. Nothing could be more acceptable
than the repose which is thus afforded to the tired
traveller immediately on his arrival at his journey's
end. Here he stretches his weary limbs, and watches

TRAVELS IN CIRCASSIA. 335

the crackling blaze, towards which he has turned the
soles of his feet, while his head is pillowed upon
a tower of cushions. At first our suspicions were
naturally excited at the appearance of so much com-
fort, and we feared that our enjoyment of it was
destined to be short-lived when we saw what delight-
ful receptacles our beds formed for various descrip-
tions of animals which generally monopolise all the
sleeping accommodation of a savage country. In
this respect, however, we were most agreeably dis-
appointed, and during the whole period of our trip,
with an experience of a great variety of bedding,
I never once discovered any that contained another
animal in it besides myself. But the traveller in
Circassia needs more than ordinary consolation in the
shape of comfort to reconcile him to the long period
which must elapse between the time of his arrival
and the appearance of his dinner. The process is
trying to one's powers of philosophical endurance.
"When the host has seen that his guests are all
comfortably squatted on their quilts round the fire,
and has interchanged with, them a few expressions of
civility, he makes a dignified exit, and we well know
that he has only then gone to order the sheep to be
caught, which must be killed and cooked before we
can expect to have those ardent cravings satisfied
which a long mountain ride has engendered. Gradu-
ally the company relapse into a mood of sullen
discontent. It is an occasion on which the most

336 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

imperturbable amiability is vanquished. The only
legitimate expression of its wrongs which an insulted
stomach in a state of collapse possesses, is in that
hatred of one's species which one entertains under
such circumstances ; and it is almost a compensation
to feel the genial glow of a returning love to your
neighbours stealing over you, as the appetite becomes
gradually satisfied. Your whole moral nature is
elevated, until at last the very cook is forgiven, and
you love your enemy.

It was long ere we were destined on this occasion
to experience this charming revulsion of sentiment.
While dinner was being prepared our host came and
talked to us. He was a fine old man, and had been
so severely wounded in a skirmish with the Russians
that he was deprived of the use of one leg. His
green turban indicated a pilgrimage to Mecca, but he
was by no means a bigoted Mussulman, to judge by
the disapprobation he expressed of the !Naib, who
owes his influence to his rigid fanaticism and the
affectation of superior sanctity. This old Bey evi-
dently had a most exalted opinion of the prowess of
the English. He had seen that nation whose power
was looked upon as so vast ; who had for so many
years expended thousands of men and millions of
roubles in the Circassian war ; who had established
a line of forts in his own valleys, in spite of the
most determined opposition, and under most adverse
circumstances; whose fleet had swept the sea and

TRAVELS IN CIRCASSIA. 337

blockaded the coasts ; — he had seen that nation
evacuate their forts on the mere appearance of a
couple of English men-of-war, and his country freed
of its invaders as if by magic. No wonder he was
profuse in his professions of civility to the represen-
tatives of such a nation, upon whom depended, he
verily believed, the future independence of his be-
loved country. If the motives for that civility which
we universally met with in the interior of Circassia
proceeded from a desire to conciliate those in whose
hands the people believed the destinies of their
country to be placed, we can hardly regard them as
mercenary, since they were the result of patriotism.
No doubt, in addition to this sentiment, were added
feelings of genuine hospitality, and a natural hope of
being presented with a revolver as a token of regard.
Circassians, like their neighbours, are actuated by
mixed motives. The Bey told us that the Russians
had never been able to penetrate so far up the valley
as his house, and that the natives of that country
were determined never to submit to the Muscovite
yoke. We could of course offer him no assurance as
to the point upon which he was chiefly anxious — viz.,
the future fate of his country. While the interest of
our conversation was beguiling the weary moments,
our servants had hit upon another device for filling
up the time, and having made a huge fire in front of
the Jconalf, were busily engaged preparing tea. We
adjourned to the cheerful blaze ; and as it threw its

338 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

bright light upon the wild countenances, manly fig-
ures, and romantic costumes of the Circassians stand-
ing gazing at our proceedings, and over the surround-
ing group of recumbent horses, and bustling servants
and tired travellers reclining amid baggage and pack-
saddles, smoking, or sleeping, or lazily sipping their
tea, I thought the scene one well worthy a place in
the memory. It has since been portrayed in a vivid

and graphic water-colour drawing by Mr S . At

last, about half an hour before midnight, a tin basin
and water was brought round, and we washed our
hands with the utmost despatch, preparatory to the
arrival of dinner, of which that ceremony was the
indication. The sheep made its appearance in a
state of elaborate dissection upon a round table,
about eighteen inches in diameter and as many above
the ground. Upon this were piled the junks of plain
boiled mutton, and from their midst rose a pyramid
of pasta, a sort of consistent porridge made of millet
seed, and by no means disagreeable when one is
accustomed to it. Of course plates, forks, chairs,
&c., are unknown in Circassia ; and it was with the
utmost difficulty that our large party of seven could
squeeze ourselves round the little table which sus-
tained the precious burden on which our desires were
centred. When we had satisfactorily arranged our-
selves, our attitiides were sufficiently grotesque : one
squatted on both heels, another on one, and rested his
chin on his knee ; a third knelt, and a fourth seated

TRAVELS IN CIRCASSIA. 339

himself uncompromisingly on the floor, and stuck out
his legs in other people's way ; another ate moodily
in a corner, and only approached to make plunges at
junks with his knife, and carry them off triumphantly
on its point. Knowing individuals explored amid
the pile for tender bits ; generous ones gratified their
neighbours by sharing their discoveries with them ;
rash ones alarmed them by flourishing their knives in
the air in a reckless manner ; fastidious ones retired
satisfied with a hurried repast, to allow their imagi-
nation to wander back to London dinner-parties,
under the influence of tobacco. Soup followed meat,
of a greasy suspicious character ; it was contained in
a large bowl, and into it we all dipped promiscuously
the wooden spoons with which Ave were provided ;
and then stretching ourselves once more on our downy
couches, we resigned ourselves to the somniferous
effects of fatigue, dinner, and midnight. Although
well disposed to do justice to my bed, I was not per-
mitted to enjoy its luxury without disturbance, for I
was awoke out of a sound sleep by the strangest com-
bination of sounds I ever heard from human throats.
The Circassians who were watching our horses were
keeping themselves awake by singing, and they
certainly performed the same kind office for me ;
though, as I lay and listened to the singular
cadences and fitful tones, now sinking to a low
plaintive wail, now swelling almost to a yell of
defiance, I considered myself more than compen-

340 TKAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

sated for the temporary loss of rest by so novel a
serenade.

On the following day we had again to wait an
interminable time for breakfast. AVhen it made its
appearance it was a far more elaborate repast than
dinner ; six or seven of the little round tables followed
one another ; the meat and soup were succeeded by
a sort of cheese-cake and honey, a most delectable
mixture ; then chicken, curried with a sauce of re-
markable and indescribable flavour, but by no means
unpalatable ; then rice and milk, and then yougli-
ourt, or curds - and - whey, the invariable finale.
After we had done justice to each successive table,
it was handed over to the servants, who did not fail
to clear it of the debris. These breakfasts by no
means conduced to a long day's ride, and our late
hours involved short journeys ; still, it would have
been considered an unpardonable breach of hospital-
ity to start without breakfast, or to suggest a dinner
which did not involve the slaughter of a sheep ; and
as we were the first specimens of English our enter-
tainers had ever seen, we did not wish to give them
an unfavourable impression of the race by any con-
duct which should brusquer their prejudices. The
consequence was, that we kept most fashionable hours :
breakfast at ten, luncheon at half-past two, a cup of
tea after our ride on arrival about six, and dinner at
nine or ten. Our host accompanied us during the
first part of the day's journey. The path again

TRAVELS IN CIRCASSIA. 341

descended to the bed of the Soubachi, and crossed
and recrossed that impetuous stream perpetually. In
some places it was with the utmost difficulty that our
ponies managed to keep their legs as they stenibled
over the large stones, and at the same time stemmed
the torrent. Occasionally the Circassians themselves
Avere at fault, and made two or three vain efforts to
find the ford. Then we all splashed in together, and
the moment was exciting as we urged our steeds,
Avdth heads well directed up stream, to the opposite
bank. Once our interpreter got out of the line into
a hole ; his pony fell ; the rider incontinently rolled
off, but clutched his nag frantically round the neck.
They were swept down the stream for some yards
together in this affectionate embrace ; the terrified
countenance of L , who had by this time swal-
lowed an immense quantity of water, surmounted by
his red fez cap, giving a ludicrous effect to the scene,
except that we were not without apprehension of its
terminating tragically; and he had repeatedly informed
us that he could not swim, and had moreover been
most anxious in his inquiries from the Circassians as
to the frequency of deaths by drowning among them-
selves. Fortunately, by dint of severe struggling, and
a friendly bend of the stream, he got ashore, dripping
and dejected, and it was some time before he recovered
those conversational powers with which he contributed

largely to the amusement of the party. L was

a Georgian by birth, but he had lived for some time

342 TRAVEL, AD VENTURE, AND SPORT.

in Circassia with Messrs Bell and Longworth, and
had come to England with the former a perfect Mez-
zofanti. He spoke twelve languages fluently, and his
knowledge of Circassian rendered him invaluable ;
indeed, he is the only man I know who can speak
Circassian and any other civilised language except
Turkish or Arabic. Many of the Circassians have
picked up a smattering of the former in the course
of their visits to Constantinople, or their intercourse
with slave-dealers ; and Arabic is the medium of com-
munication between Schamyl the Xaib and those few
individuals among the tribes who are well-educated
and learned Mahometans. Circassian itself is the
most impracticable dialect that ever unfortunate
travellers attempted to acquire. It consists of sounds
which bear a greater resemblance to a succession of
sneezes and coughs than to words. It is not a written
language ; there is consequently no alphabet, grammar,
or mechanical assistance to the tyro, who has to trust
entirely to ear ; and then — even however correct that
organ may be — it requires long practice before it
catches the peculiar intonation. I attempted to make
a vocabulary, but no allocation of our own letters
could form the faintest approximation to the words
they were intended to express ; so I gave up the
attempt in despair, and tried to learn phrases. It
was a disheartening process, however, for although
the man from whom I learnt them understood me
whenever I repeated over my lesson, not another soul

TRAVELS IX CIECASSIA. 343

could ; and yet I was not aware myself of any differ-
ence between his pronunciation and my imitation of
it. There are said to be thirty different languages
in the Caucasus. Of these I heard six, nor could I
trace any affinity in the sounds. The natives them-
selves said they were totally distinct. It may easily
be supposed that, with such practice, Circassians
easily acquire Turkish or Arabic.

I was struck by the scanty population in the Valley
of the Soubachi ; the hills were only partially culti-
vated; and I observed, with some surprise, that the
northern side was better settled than the southern,
and the greater part of the cultivation confined to the
most elevated portion. We only passed through one
village of any extent, perched upon a bold spur of a
hill, round which the stream swept with a graceful
bend ; from thence we looked forward into the blue
mountain-gorges from which it issued, and back over
the stony track we had followed. The houses of the
village were all neatly fenced round, and the female
portion of the population gaily attired in loose
trousers, tight at the ankle, and a long tunic, the
colours of both generally bright and in good harmony.
We had not, however, much opportunity of inspect-
ing them, as they Avere very shy ; and we could only
catch transient glimpses of them, as they flitted from
one house to another, changing their posts of obser-
vation as we passed through. When we once more
descended to the stream we saw them all collected on

VOL. vi. z

344 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

the brow of the hill, to gaze at us, in a picturesque
group.

Although the Circassians are a restless race, we
did not meet many travellers in the course of our
day's journey. We found two, however, resting
under a clump of magnificent horse-chestnuts, who
attracted our attention. One was attired in the
costume of a prosperous usden, or gentleman ; the
other was holding a loaded horse, and had the dingy
ragged coat of the serf. He Avas a man of ill-favoured
countenance, with a short red heard, and sinister
expression. Our guide rode up and addressed the
master. He was the only specimen of a travelling
pedlar we saw in the country, and indeed there is
not much encouragement for such gentry, as the in-
habitants have nothing to give in exchange for their
merchandise. The slave was a Russian, and, despite

his forbidding countenance, C became seized

with a sudden desire to become his purchaser. To
our remonstrances upon the illegality of this proceed-
ing, he replied that he intended to free his purchase ;
and against so laudable an object nothing more was
to be urged, so the bargain began in earnest. The
Circassian at first valued his serf at £30, saying that
he had become used to the country, could speak the
language, was of a hardy constitution, and otherwise
a valuable piece of property. Our interpreter looked
contemptuously upon the object of barter, and denied
that he was worth £5. The man himself was by

TRAVELS IN CIBCASSIA. 345

no means offended at this depreciation of his merits.
He was evidently anxious to change owners, but was
afraid to manifest much feeling in the matter. The
Circassian, seeing that we were not to be taken in, at

once reduced his price £10, upon which C raised

his bid £5, and stated his determination not to gratify
his generous propensities by any further outlay. The
Circassian said he could not possibly part with the
article for less than £15, and the transaction in
consequence terminated unsatisfactorily. This man
had been a deserter from the Russian service, and,
like the one before mentioned, preferred his present
to his former mode of life.

In the afternoon we left the valley, and followed
the course of a mountain tributary, the bed of which
was more rugged and impracticable than the one
we had just left. Compressed between overhanging
banks, the stream up which we had to struggle fretted
and foamed within its narrow limits ; lofty trees met
overhead, and flung their broad dark shadows on the
turbid water, their giant roots hanging from the
undermined bank, or twisted and contorted like
writhing snakes in the clayey soil Sometimes a
rocky barrier stretched across, and formed a small
cascade, and a few scattered sun -rays struggled in
and played upon the glittering spray. Pools lay
dark and silent, and looked so deep and still that we
Avere obliged to clamber up the bank to avoid them.
Occasionally the valley widened somewhat, and we

346 TEAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

found relief upon little islands flooded by winter
torrents, but generally it was a mere gorge, densely
wooded, and Avith but a strip of sky overhead. At
last, to my satisfaction, we left these gloomy recesses,
where the rushing water confused one's senses, and
the projecting rocks scarified and bruised one's shins,
and commenced boldly to scale the steep hillside.
But our former experience was mere child's play to
what we now underwent. No sooner had we, by
dint of most frantic exertion, succeeded in driving
or pulling the horses after us, to a height of about
a hundred feet, than one who carried the baggage,
thinking he had done enough, incontinently pitched
head-over-heels down the precipice, his laden sides
thumping roundly against the bank as he rolled to
the bottom. Fortunately it was not very steep, so that
his velocity was not great, and the baggage, in some
measure, protected him ; still it was a work of toil
and difficulty to reinstate him on his legs, when he
looked considerably humiliated and bruised, and came
limping after, with his pack in somewhat the same
shattered condition as himself.

These adventures now became common, and our un-
fortunate horses had one or two more tumbles in the
course of the day, but not from any serious height.
At last we had acquired so great an elevation that the
stream we had left looked like a silver thread, and
still the path kept winding up, seldom more than
eighteen inches broad, very slippery from recent

TRAVELS IN CIRCASSIA. 347

rains, often rounding promontories which projected
unpleasantly, and left nothing visible between us and
eternity. Generally, however, there was sufficient
wood on the steep bank to stop any rolling body.
Sometimes the hill sloped back a little more, and
advantage was taken of some little valley in its side
to erect a cottage, and cultivate a few acres of ground.
These were always carefully fenced in, and the path
was thus blocked ; but the owner never hesitated to
rush out, and in the most obliging manner removed
all obstacles. The cultivation never varied from
millet and Indian corn. Once we passed through a
mulberry plantation, and the whole country is covered
with fruit-trees and vines, some wild and some
planted. In these parts, however, the latter were
not in the same luxuriance as we afterwards saw
them. Towards evening we found we had almost
reached the head of the valley, and rested in a grove
of walnut-trees, while one of our Circassians went on
to prepare the Bey, at whose house we were to lodge,
for our arrival. Here, too, we collected our forces, a
good deal scattered by the terrible path along which
we had journeyed. As one by one they wearily
approached, it was amusing to hear of the different
adventures and the narrow escapes that each had to
recount. The poor baggage-horse had tottered over
another precipice, and there evidently was not above
one more day's work in him. Our artist, in sticking
too pertinaciously to his saddle, while ascending a bit

348 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

of almost perpendicular cliff, had been left behind,
saddle and all, having disappeared from the scene
over the pony's tail, while that sagacious animal
performed the rest of the ascent unencumbered by
anything but his primitive bridle. His rider, whose
devotion to his pencil was inextinguishable by any
event short of absolute annihilation, had never re-
linquished his grasp of his portfolio, and took advan-
tage of his seat in the mud to sketch the romantic
scene of his disaster, and recover from the smart

of his bruises. C was too much absorbed in a

novel of " Alexander Dumas fils " to take heed to his
pony's steps, and, lost in admiration of the heroine
of his story, is to this day profoundly ignorant of the
magnificence of the scenery, the dangers he miracu-
lously escaped, and the debt of gratitude he owes to
his intelligent steed. His domestic, an exact repre-
sentative of Methley's Yorkshire servant, who looked
out for gentlemen's seats on his ride through Bulgaria,
obediently followed in a Circassian saddle, and a
state of general abrasion and misery.

The interpreter L , who had secured the atten-
tions of a Circassian, brought up the rear; in that
position he had undergone several remarkable adven-
tures, unseen by the rest of the party. In fact, his
own account of his hairbreadth escapes was far more
marvellous than the whole of the others united, and
we only regretted that no one was present to witness
them. He proposed instantly returning to more

TRAVELS IN CIRCASSIA. 349

civilised regions, and urged in forcible and moving
language the folly of our thus perilling our valuable
lives through mere curiosity. For his part, he said,
he had seen already far more of the detestable coun-
try than was at all agreeable. He declared that no
pecuniary considerations justified the risk he was

now running of depriving Mrs L of her better

half. If it were any comfort to him, we assured
him we should be as much distressed at his untimely
end as Mrs L , for there never was a more amus-
ing and serviceable fellow. During those long pauses
before dinner, he poured forth in quaint and glowing
language the varied information he had acquired from
Circassians during the day, with a running commen-
tary of his own, full of shrewd common-sense and
originality. He had an insatiable curiosity, un-
flagging energy in the acquisition of knowledge, an
eager readiness to impart it, an intense love of the
marvellous, unbounded good temper, and anxiety to
oblige ; nothing short of a ducking in a river, or a
roll down a precipice, damped his ardour ; and now
that he had undergone both, he was but temporarily
subdued. He appealed to the old Circassian who
was taking care of him, whether the route we were
to pursue on the morrow was not even more danger-
ous than the one we had already traversed, and was
overcome by hearing us express a determination to
proceed, in spite of an answer in the affirmative.
This old man was the patriarch of the party, a

350 TKAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

venerable-looking Hadji with a long grey beard, and
something Jewish and sinister in his countenance.
Having made the pilgrimage, he was too good a
Mahometan, and had seen too much of the world,
to be as agreeable a companion as a more unsophis-
ticated native would have been. To the last I feel
convinced, he suspected us of some secret motives,
and did his utmost to show us as little of the country
as possible. Indeed, it was very difficult to make
our guides understand that we simply wished to
make a tour through their country, which should last
a certain number of days, without naming any one
point. It seemed to them incomprehensible that we
should not wish to go anywhere in particular, but
merely clamber over their mountains. Had time
permitted, we should have endeavoured to cross
Abbasack. and reach the plains of the Kuban by
continuing our present route, which would have be-
come a highly interesting expedition ; but it was
impossible to rely upon the statements of the natives
for time and distance, and we were ultimately com-
pelled to limit our explorations ; still there can be
110 doubt that we might have gone farther, had our
guides been really anxious to show us as much of the
country as possible.

The nephews and companions of the old man were
three brothers, extremely handsome young men, of a
thoroughly Anglo-Saxon type of countenance. They
were so refined and distinguished in their whole

TRAVELS IN CIRCASSIA. 351

tearing and manner, and so remarkably good-looking,
that had they been attired in long overcoats of black
cloth reaching almost to their ankles, instead of a
drab woollen garment ; if their parti-coloured gaiters
had been replaced by loose trousers with a broad
stripe, their neat red-leather slippers by patent-leather
boots ; had their necks been surrounded by a rigid
piece of linen of surpassing whiteness, instead of ex-
posed in all their fine proportions to the public gaze ;
had their hair been well greased and parted accurately
down the middle, instead of closely cropped ; had a
well-brushed hat reposed upon the curls, and not
a tall woollen kalpak ; had a gold -headed cane taken
the place of the silver-mounted kamur, or short sword,
and a gigantic pin ornamented their breasts, instead
of those rows of ammiinition-tubes which form the
most striking feature in their costume ; — had all these
changes been effected, and my three friends sent to
saunter arm-in-arm down. Eegent Street, I have not
the slightest hesitation in saying that their appear-
ance would have filled the male portion of the com-
munity who display their elaborate persons upon
that much - frequented pavement with envy and
dismay, and inspired the rest of the society with
very different sentiments. At last the youngest of
the Adonises returned with the welcome news that
•we might push on ; and accordingly we remounted,
and again followed him up dry water - courses and
over rocky paths to a village situated at the head of

352 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

the valley, and embowered amid gigantic trees, a
little beyond which we emerged upon a large green
meadow surrounded by a paling, in the centre of
which stood a group of cottages, and at the gate the
stalwart and venerable person of our host.

The process of the evening before was repeated :
the beds were spread and the sheep killed, and con-
versation carried on. with our entertainer. Fortu-
nately the sun had not yet set, and nothing could
exceed the beauty of the scene as we sat at the door
of the konak. We had attained an elevation of be-
tween four and five thousand feet above the sea, and
from our lofty point of view looked over the inter-
vening ranges to the level horizon-line of the ocean.
As the sun descended, lights and shadows played over
the vast extent of mountain country which lay heaped
in a confused mass before us. In wonderful and
rapid variety we could watch the night creeping
slowly over valley after valley ; the bright tints upon
the hill-tops became gradually circumscribed until
they disappeared altogether, and the golden path
upon the distant ocean vanished; but on the fan-
tastic outline of the clouds was still painted a bright
record of its departed glory, until at last that too
melted away, and the long and eventful day was over.
It was a worthy recompense for all our toil to revel
in such a scene, and then to wait until the moon
appeared above the highest mountain-peak, and to
watch its silvery rays glancing into the dark recesses

TRAVELS IX CIRCASSIA. 353

of the valleys at our feet, into which no traveller
had ever penetrated ; and to think how many curious
nooks and crannies in this Avorld of ours there are
which have been illuminated for centuries by its
calm, cold light, but which will remain for centuries
to come unknown and unexplored. How long will
it be before another party of Englishmen Avatch a
sunset from that spot, or cross the range behind
which the moon has just risen? And yet there is
not a country in the world more full of attractions
to the traveller ; every steps he takes is over un-
trodden ground. Every village he passes through
has remained heretofore unvisited. Almost every
man he meets gazes with wonder for the first time
in his life upon a stranger from the West. The
hammer of the geologist has never tapped the rocky
mountain-sides ; its luxuriant vegetation has never
been subject to the scrutiny of the botanist. Its
vegetable and mineral resoxirces are alike unknown,
and its inhabitants uncared for. They know indeed
more of us than we do of them ; for the more enter-
prising among them occasionally undertake journeys
to Mecca, or go to Constantinople upon visits to their
wives or daughters who are luxuriating in the harems
of that city. There they often stay for some time,
and become familiar with the appearance of Franks,
and come to their highland villages with wonderful
stories of the race that never visits them, and of
which they know nothing more than that they are

354 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

Giaours, and are for the most part called Anglia, and
Frances, and that they hate the " Muscovs," and that
therefore something is to be expected of them ; and
so they were not astonished when they saw our
steamers upon the coast, though they may not have
anticipated so rapid a result. That only inspired
them with the more ardent hopes and notion of our
prowess. But with the desire of freedom is mixed
up a little suspicion of the purity of our motives in
thus espousing their cause ; and now that we have
deserted it, the probable opinion in Circassia will be,
that the English, after destroying the Russian forts,
sent a party into Circassia to explore it, and see
whether it was worth possessing ; but finding it only
a rocky and impracticable country, containing a very
independent set of savages, they have relinquished
the idea, and have no objection to Russia's expend-
ing her resources in the acquisition of this strip of
mountains. Among many of the Circassians the idea
exists, which is also common in Turkey, that the Sul-
tan is the kingmaker-general throughout the world,
and that the origin of this last war has been the con-
tumacious conduct of one of his vassals, to wit, the
Emperor of Russia, who has attempted to throw off the
authority of the Padisha. In order to punish this
powerful rebel Turkey has called in her liege subjects
the Emperor of France and Queen of England, who are
bound to maintain " the integrity and independence
of the Ottoman empire," of which Russia forms part,

TRAVELS IN CIRCASSIA. 355

and they have in consequence been spending them-
selves in the good cause. The Circassians, who
entertain the highest reverence for the head of their
religion at Constantinople, would desire nothing bet-
ter than to owe him that nominal allegiance which
they suppose is professed by other nations, for then
they think they would be protected. At present they
regard themselves at the mercy of Russia, England,
or any other voracious Power who may manifest a
desire to annex them. In order, therefore, to travel
comfortably in Circassia, it is necessary to be provided
with a firman from the Sultan, which always com-
mands the highest possible respect ; while, on the
other hand, a traveller without being thus accredited
is always an object of suspicion and distrust.

The more bigoted the Mahometan the more un-
willing he is to receive him, and the Naib has be-
haved ungraciously to those who have visited him
even though provided with a Sultan's firman. This
feeling of antipathy to Giaours generally has been
increasing a good deal lately under the influence of
this man. In future it is not to be expected that
Englishmen attempting to travel in Circassia will be
received even as we were, for not only is the power
of the Naib spreading, but our conduct in having
allowed the Russians to re-establish their blockade
will make us unpopular, while the difficulty of break-
ing through it will remain the same as it was before
the war. Meantime the night air is getting chill,

356 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

and the sounds of animated conversation which pro-
ceed from the Jconak warn me not to remain specu-
lating any longer upon the neglected condition of
the interior of Circassia, if I have any regard for the
equally neglected condition of my own.

I have, indeed, allowed myself a sufficiently long
digression ; since sunset the sheep has been caught,
killed, and cooked, and there is absolutely the little
round table even now being carried into the kondk.
So revenons a nos moutons.

II.

One of the most severe trials of patience to which
the traveller in a wild country is subjected, is invari-
ably to be found in the impracticability of his guides.
Circassia, I regret to say, did not prove a bright
exception to this rule.

We had, before starting from Vardan, distinctly
explained to Ismail Bey the length of time and the
line of country over which we wished our travels to
extend. He assured us that our guides should be
given explicit directions upon this head ; and there-
fore, when we found ourselves in a remote valley of a
province which had never before been entered by a
European, it was with no little dismay that we
listened to their query, of where we wished to go to
next. "We had followed them with the blindest con-

TRAVELS IX CIRCASSIA. 357

fidence over precipitous mountains, through impetuous
streams, along narrow rocky valleys, and by dangerous
paths, for two days; and had, by dint of extreme
exertion and no little peril of our necks, at last almost
attained the summit of a lofty range, only to be asked,
when we got there, to inform them as to our future
destination. The guides insinuated (and their sugges-
tions were strongly supported by L ), that having

only reached our present position with much toil and
risk, we had better retrace our steps, and not tempt
our fate any more upon the wild mountain-sides of
Circassia. We held a very different opinion. Having
got so far, we voted that it would be unworthy in the
extreme to be daunted by the perils of the road or the
vagueness of our destination. We declared that, in
spite of the precipices, we had not seen enough of
Circassia, and that it was a matter of perfect in-
difference to us in which direction we went, seeing
that on every side it was new and hitherto untrodden
ground. It Avas perfectly clear that our escort had
received instructions to lead us to the inaccessible
residence of the Bey with whom we were now lodged,
and who was a half-brother of Ismail's, under the
belief that we should have had enough of journeying
by that time, and be glad to return : they had not,
therefore, received instructions as to the course to be
pursued in the event of our persisting in extending
our tour. The main objection seemed to be in the
difficulty of procuring us our night's lodging. Ismail

358 TKAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

Eey had only a certain number of friends in the
country, and his influence only extended over a
limited district, "beyond which it was doubtful whether,
as his proteges, we should receive that hospitality
which had hitherto been so freely accorded to xis.

The province in which his influence, though not
paramount, was principally felt, is called Ubooch,
and lies between Abkhasia and Shapsugh, the latter
forming at present part of the government of Sefer
Pasha, who has just headed the Circassian deputation
to Constantinople, praying for independence and a
protectorate.

The village at which we passed the night of
the 17th October, is one of the most remote in
this district of Ubooch, and is situated upon the
western slope of the range which divides it from
Abbasack : we were, in fact, at this point, not above
five or six miles from the boundary of this latter
province, and consequently the same distance from
the head-waters of those streams which flow into the
Kuban. We had, however, determined not to at-
tempt to cross this range, which becomes more pre-
cipitous and impracticable near its summit ; and as
we were equally decided against turning back, the
only alternative remained of following along its
western slopes, until we thought fit to bend our
steps towards the coast. This intention we accord-
ingly announced, and declared, moreover, that we
should trust to chance for our night's lodging. This

TRAVELS IN CIRCASSIA. 359

"weighty matter having been settled, we held some
interesting discourse with our host, who, like our
last, was a pilgrim or Hadji, and who also professed
a decided antipathy for the Xaib. He considered
that gentleman a great deal too much addicted to
forms and ceremonies — a sort of Puseyite, in fact,
and consequently an object of aversion in his low-
church eyes. He said that he was introducing
fanatical customs, which were destroying the sim-
plicity of the Circassian character, and which had
for their ultimate aim and object his own self-
aggrandisement. He had an infinitely higher respect
for Schamyl, but then Schamyl lived two hundred
miles off, and he could afford to respect him; the
Xaib Avas his nearest neighbour, and constantly
threatening his influence in his own country. More-
over, he expressed a very low opinion of the military
capacity of the lieutenant of Schamyl, and remarked
with a sneer upon the singular custom which pre-
vailed with respect to him in time of war. The
Kaib, he said, had so great a reputation for prowess
in battle, that wherever he was likely to meet the
enemy in the field, he was always accompanied by
four men, whose business it was to hold him back.

"We had reason afterwards to congratulate our-
selves upon the liberal religious sentiments of our
host, who despised that narrow-minded injunction of
the Prophet, which commands the women to veil
their faces. I happened after dinner to stroll into

VOL. vi. 2 A

360 TEAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

one of the neighbouring rooms, and there found S —
surrounded by a bevy of damsels, with whom he had
already succeeded in establishing friendly relations.
Conversation was of course somewhat limited, as we
had no interpreter, and were obliged to convey our
sentiments of admiration and respect by the most
expressive signs which occurred to us. The young
ladies, however, did not depend upon our conver-
sational powers for their amusement. They were
quite satisfied with staring at us in amazement, and
giggling among themselves, while we found food for
.contemplation in speculating whether their remarks
were likely to be complimentary or not. Gradually,
as they found we were quite tame, the group in-
creased ; one damsel after another crept in, and
squatted upon her heels round the little konak —
and one bolder than the rest offered us a quantity
of roasted chestnuts, which we skinned and handed
to one another with profound civility. At last the
group became so noisy that the sounds of merriment
reached the ears of the rest of our party> who did not
linger over their flesh-pots under such inviting circum-
stances. Soon the room was crammed full of English-
men and Circassian girls, the male portion of the
native community being collected at the door, and
manifesting the most intense interest and amusement

in our proceedings. Then, by means of L •, we

held a little conversation, but they became shy again
under so formal a ceremony as interpretation, and

TRAVELS IN CIRCASSIA. 361

indeed were evidently a little overwhelmed by the
rapid increase to our party, and the general attention
they were attracting. So we thought it time to create
a diversion by the introduction of a few presents, and
a great many yards of printed calico were extended
before their glistening and admiring eyes. This, we
informed them, we should divide equally and im-
partially. At the same time I inwardly resolved to
secure as large a portion as possible for a charming
little creature who had been feeding me with chest-
nuts, and Avhose soft lustrous eyes and long jet lashes
I had compared deliberately with every other in the
room, and had arrived at the conclusion that they
were unrivalled. In virtue of this superiority, there-
fore, it was clear that she was entitled to the largest
share ; and I was just debating within myself how
this was to be managed, when she settled the matter
for herself in the most off-hand way, by making a
vigorous snatch at the tempting prize, evidently with
an idea of appropriating the whole. A beauty on the
other side resented so strong a measure, and firmly
grasped the other end. Each one now saw that it
would become the property of the stoutest arm, and
the whole of the party threw themselves into the
contest with frantic ardour. Not even in the most
excited game of hunt-the-slipper could more scram-
bling, screaming, pulling, and romping have been
displayed. It Avas utterly hopeless to attempt to
interfere ; crack went the calico in every direction.

362 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

First one and then another would nourish a fragment
of the crumpled trophy in the air, and then pass it
through the window to her mother or some of the
old beldames who were looking greedily on, and
then plunge into the ring again for more. I had
the satisfaction of seeing my little protegee, Avith
flushed face, and eyes that flashed with a fire some-
what at variance with their former deep repose, come
out of the strife victorious. I took charge of at
least two yards of the precious article for her while
she recovered her breath and smoothed her ruffled
feathers.

Gradually order was once more restored, and those
whose dejected countenances and swimming eyes
betrayed the ill-success with which they had come
out of the conflict, were presented with some new
pieces of patterns so bright and gaudy that they were
more than recompensed. The young ladies of that
hamlet will flaunt about, for years to come, in such
trousers as never before graced the limbs of fair
Circassians, except in the harems of Stamboul. And,
doubtless, swains from neighbouring villages will be
attracted by their brilliant plumage to pay their de-
votions to the maidens who captivated the Anglia.
Assuredly, never can Manchester calico be converted
to nobler use than when, cut into the shape of a
short tunic, it shall adorn their graceful figures ;
and the sun-flower pattern cannot be more highly
honoured than when, in the form of loose trousers,

TRAVELS IN CIRCASSIA. 363

tight at the ankle, it shows to advantage the tiny
little white foot peering out from beneath.

On the following morning we bade a tender adieu
to all these lovely damsels, who were paraded upon
the green by our host for that purpose. They formed
a most fascinating array. In front stood the two
daughters of the Bey in their richest attire, and
perched upon curiously-shaped pattens, which raised
the wearers five or six inches above the ground, and
which were richly mounted in silver. Behind them
a row of handmaidens waited in respectful attendance,
the children of serfs belonging to the great man, and
the humble companions of his own daughters. He
pointed with a dolorous expression to all this valuable
property rendered utterly worthless by the recent
firman, which forbids the exportation of slaves, and
which he knew perfectly well emanated from the
English. Here was an extensive stock-in-trade
thrown upon his hands ; and their proprietor found
himself deprived of his entire income, for girls have
hitherto been the only raw material of Circassia
which could be converted into money. The only
currency which ever found its way into the country
was in exchange for the female part of the popula-
tion ; and now that this source of revenue is cut off,
the owners will be compelled to barter them amongst
themselves for horses. Girls and horses are almost
convertible terms in Circassia, and are valued as
nearly as possible alike, though I am bound to say

364 TEAVEL, ADVENTUEE, AND SPOET.

that in any other country the former would fetch a
far higher price than the latter. It is very seldom
that a Circassian will give two horses for one girl.
We laughingly asked some of these young ladies if
they would come with us to Stamboul, and their
eyes sparkled with delight at the idea, as they
unhesitatingly expressed their willingness to do so.
A Circassian young lady anticipates with as much
relish the time when she shall arrive at a marketable
age as an English young lady does the prospect of
her first London season. But we have prevented the
possibility of their forming any more of those brilliant
alliances which made the young ladies of Circassia
the envy of Turkeydom. The effect is, in fact, very
much the same as that which an Act of Parliament
would have in this country forbidding any squire's
daughter to marry out of her own parish, thus limiting
her choice to the curate, the doctor, and the attorney ;
and the result, in all probability, will be anything
but beneficial to the morality of the community.
Hitherto the female portion of society was influenced
by a powerful, though perhaps an unworthy motive,
to maintain that propriety of conduct, a violation of
which would seriously have depreciated their value
in the market. Now that restraint (and among a
savage people it is difficult to substitute a more
efficient one than interest) is withdrawn, — in the
absence of any moral principle no motive exists to
induce them to cherish that virtue which the sup-

TRAVELS IX CIRCASSIA. 365

pression of slavery appears to them to have deprived
of its value.

"\Ve were half tempted to put off our departure for
a day, for the purpose of visiting a cave and some
ruins which our host described as the wonder of the
neighbourhood. It so often happens, however, that the
traveller is misled by the extravagant description by
savages of the marvels of their country, that we were
scarcely disposed to risk the expenditure of our valuable
time iipon the word of the Bey, though it is possible
we may have missed a discovery which may rejoice
the heart of some future traveller. It was late before
we were en route toiling up the steep side of the range,
which rose abruptly in rear of our quarters of the
previous night. "\Ye had replaced our shattered
baggage-pony by a fresh animal, and were progressing
prosperously, when the other pack-horse tumbled
over a precipice. It was fortunately not above fifty
feet in height, and his velocity was checked by the
brushwood, which cracked under him as he gently
revolved to the bottom, and was brought up on his
back in the bed of a stream. The process of hauling
him up again to the path caused some delay, and the
extreme difficulty of our way rendered our progress
necessarily S!OAV. As we attained a higher elevation
the character of the vegetation underwent its usual
change, and here and there a pine-tree mingled its
dark-green with the more vivid foliage of the beech.
These were already beginning to assume autumnal

366 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

tints, and at the top of the range to drop their yellow
leaves. We estimated our elevation at the highest
point at about 6000 feet above the sea-level, and it
was no small relief to exchange the upward scramble
for the downward rush. The Circassian ponies re-
tain their centre of gravity on these occasions with
wonderful instinct, and they are by no means to be
sitpposed to lack sure-footedness because they occa-
sionally tumble over precipices. In no other country
that I have ever been in are horses expected to
perform such extravagant feats. Indeed, except in
!N"epaul, I have never seen such dangerous roads, and
there men carry the passengers, and sheep the mer-
chandise. The wonder in Circassia is, not that the
horses fall over the precipices, but that they do it
with so much impunity. It is singular also that in
a highland country a horse should be as indispensable
a possession to a mountaineer as his wife. Xo Cir-
cassian is without one or two horses, and yet, except
tipon the occasional stony bed of a river, or along
the sea-shors, there is not fifty yards of level ground
in the country. Even the natives are obliged fre-
quently to dismount, though they fearlessly ride over
ledges of slippery rock, over hanging dizzy heights,
which make one shudder to think of, past which it
requires some nerve even for a man trusting to his
own stout legs and careful steps to carry him, and
to attempt which on horseback seems little short of
insanity. As we descended towards the valley of the

TRAVELS IN CIECASSIA. 367

Schacho, our guides pointed out to us amongst the
bushes the leaves of a plant resembling as nearly as
possible the tea-plant of China, and from which they
assured us the natives were accustomed to infuse a
similar beverage. We never had an opportunity of
tasting Circassian tea. The valley of the Schacho
was prettily cultivated, and the scenery assumed a
somewhat softer tone as we descended from the
higher elevation. We stopped to rest in a grove of
magnificent trees, where some singular monuments
arrested our attention. Large masses of rock, which
protruded here and there from the hillside, had been
smoothed by the hand of man, and presented an
almost perpendicular plain surface about six feet
square. On each side the rock had been shaped into
somewhat the form of a buttress, so as to give a sort
of finish to the work, and in the centre was a circular
aperture about eighteen inches in diameter. Upon
looking through this, we perceived an excavation in
the solid rock, of about six feet square and four in
height. The roof was formed by a single slab of
stone, which had apparently been hewn for the pur-
pose, and placed upon the top. The hypothesis
which most immediately presented itself to our
minds, upon inspecting these singular cavities, was,
that they were sarcophagi, although it was difficult to
divine the object of the circular aperture in front.
We asked the guides their explanation of the mystery,
and they said that in former times their country was

368 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

inhabited by a race of dwarfs, who were served by
a race of giants ; that one great use to which the
dwarfs put the obedient giants, was the construction
of durable and substantial habitations, and that the
excavations we were inspecting were the result of
their labours. The circular apertures were the en-
trances, and as the little people used to ride on hares,
their dimensions were most appropriate. While

L was delivering this marvellous history with

great unction, we were sketching the subject of his
discourse. Their whole aspect and position invested
them with an air of solemnity and mystery. The
gnarled trunks of gigantic oaks rested heavily upon
the rude architecture, or twisted their giant roots
into the crevices of the sculptured rocks. The dense
foliage overhead drooped sometimes over the whole,
so as almost to conceal it ; rank grass and ferns grew
in dark moist corners, and mosses and lichens clung
to the weather-beaten surface. It was a silent hidden
spot, at the bottom of a deep valley, from which no
view was visible, seldom visited even by the natives,
for the path we were travelling was so little fre-
quented that it was often nearly invisible, and never
seen before by a European. We were the first to
discover its secrets, and speculate upon their origin ;
doubtless, for years to come the majestic grove in
Avhich lie concealed these monuments of a bygone
race will remain untrodden and unknown.

Shortly after leaving this interesting spot, we found

TRAVELS IN CIRCASSIA. 369

ourselves in the valley of the Schacho. "We had ac-
complished the descent from the top of the ridge
with immense rapidity, and our host of the previous
evening, who had politely accompanied us thus far,
here bade us adieu. The crossing of the tumultuous
Schacho was the most perilous undertaking of the
kind which we had attempted. The horses could
barely keep their footing upon the stony slippery
bottom, while the rushing stream reached to the
holsters. After one or two unsuccessful attempts we
found a ford, and, with the exception of the baggage
getting drenched, suffered no other inconvenience.
"We now saw, to our dismay, a range before us quite
equal in height to the one we had just traversed.
The guides informed us that, if we did not stop
where we were for the night, there was a great risk
of our failing to accomplish the ascent, and thus
being compelled to camp out, as there were no houses
until we reached the other side. This was a most
disagreeeble prospect. At the same time the day was
still young; we had four good hours of daylight
before us, and we determined to push vigorously on,
and risk the chance of a night in the woods. Our
start was not auspicious. The path, more narrow
than ever, was at one place so unpleasant-looking
that some of the party dismounted; among others

L , whose chestnut horse was a proverbial fool at

picking his way. I did not think the same precaution
necessary with the clever little beast I bestrode ; but

370 TEAVEL, ADVENTUEE, AND SPOET.

the chestnut, though left entirely to himself, slipped
his hind foot, lost his balance, and went clean over
thirty feet perpendicular, performing a somersault in
the air, and landing upon a quantity of sharp rocks.
Of course we expected to find that his back was
broken — for although the height was not great, there
had been nothing whatever to check his fall. To our
amazement, however, he got upon his feet, and
though he was evidently much bruised, and bled a
good deal from the mouth, he managed to scramble
through the remainder of that tremendous day's
journey, and lived to undergo the horrors of Omer
Pasha's campaign. A few yards after this, and even
the Circassians were obliged to dismount. Recent
rains had made the path so sticky and muddy that
the ponies were soon utterly exhausted, and we
plodded up beside them, our progress being much
retarded by long jack-boots reaching to our thighs,
and to which adhered many pounds of pertinacious
clay — indeed, during the whole of this day's journey,
some of our party scarcely ever mounted their horses
at all. We must have ascended, in the course of
three hours, about three thousand feet, and as this
was the second range we had crossed since the morn-
ing, we arrived at the top thoroughly exhausted. But
we were amply compensated for our toils, by one of
the most magnificent views it was ever my good for-
tune to behold.

Upon our left rose in majestic grandeur the snowy

TRAVELS IN CIRCASSIA. 371

peaks of the towering Caucasus, and a flood of golden
light bordered their irregular outline. Lower down,
the glaciers met the dark green of the pine -forest ;
and the contrast was the more striking, because the
rays of the declining sun fell only on the glittering
snow, while the shades of evening were settling fast
upon the sombre woods of the lower mountains.
From these gushed boiling torrents, and forced their
way through narrow gorges, which expanded at our
feet into winding valleys, where the hills had ex-
changed their dark-green mantle for one in which the
many hues of autumn were combined ; and hamlets
were embowered amid fruit -trees and orchards ; and
the streams, like threads of silver, no longer swept
seething beneath overhanging rocks, but rippled
calmly under the drooping foliage which kissed the
water. Farther to the right the country opened still
more, and so they meandered to the sea between
variegated margins, formed of patches of yellow corn,
brown millet, and verdant meadow.

We revelled for some time in this glorious pros-
pect, for our path kept along the ridge of the hill for
some distance, and crossed a saddle before it thought
of once more descending into the long-wished-for
valley, where we expected to find food and lodging
for the night. Meantime the sun had set; and as
we turned our backs sharply upon the view we had
been admiring, and, rounding a shoulder of the moun-
tain, expected to have another and not less interesting

372 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

panorama at our feet, our surprise and dismay were
great when we burst suddenly upon an immense
expanse of dense fog, which lay like a white shroud
upon the earth, concealing it from us entirely, except
where two or three hill-tops still showed their wooded
summits. Gradually the mist rose, and one by one
they disappeared, as though submerged by some
mighty flood. "We could scarcely regret the loss of
the view as we gazed upon a phenomenon so singular
and striking, until at last we were ourselves enveloped
in its chill embrace. There was a warning sound in
the cold damp gusts that swept over the mountain-
side, which was anything but pleasant, as, wearied
and jaded, we commenced the arduous descent. Our
horses, with drooping heads, followed their plodding
masters down dry water-courses and steep slippery
banks. A general recklessness seemed to pervade the
party, as though life was momentarily becoming less
valuable as the chance of passing a rainy night in the
woods increased. At length, when the last glimmer
of twilight had almost disappeared, the bark of a dog
sounded cheerily on our ears, and soon after human
voices inspired us with hope. Their owners promptly
answered our shouts, and directed us, in a bewildered
manner, to the chief man of the village, furnishing us
with a guide to his residence, which we reached at
last, utterly worn out and exhausted.

Our host was a perfect specimen of a Circassian,
who had never travelled beyond his native valley ;

TI1AVELS IN CIRCASSIA. 373

but though wrapt in amazement at our appearance,
he did not allow his feelings of astonishment to get
the Letter of his hospitality. He at once commenced
the most active preparations for our comfort ; and
though he evidently was not so Avell off as our former
host, he seemed determined to make up by activity

for his want of means. We ventured, despite L 's

remonstrances to the effect that we should only give
offence, to hint our ravenous condition, and to express
a wish that the ceremony of the sheep should be dis-
pensed with for once, and that we should be supplied
with a turkey, or something less sumptuous, but more
rapidly prepared. Our host received this intimation
with a somewhat dissatisfied expression of counte-
nance, and left the room Avithout deigning a remark.
A few minutes after he returned, and, with a grin
of triumph, informed us that, in revenge for the seri-
ous reflection we had cast upon his hospitality, he
had ordered a bullock, instead of a sheep, to be
killed for our benefit. It was already nearly eight
o'clock, and we had had nothing to eat since break-
fast, and during the interval had been sustaining
almost without intermission the most severe exercise.
This announcement, then, was received with a mur-
mur of profound despair, and we flung ourselves in
our quilts in a state of sullen discontent. It Avas no
consolation to us to know that our Avretched horses
Avere as badly off as ourselves ; for it is the custom
in Circassia never even to take the saddle off a horse

374 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

for an hour or two after his arrival, much less to feed
him. There is always a post like a hat-stand before
the house of the great man, to which visitors fasten
their ponies, and there they are left to stand until
thoroughly cool. Our poor brutes could have foxmd
no great difficulty in arriving at this latter state
of body, for shortly after our arrival came a most
tremendous thunderstorm. The thunder seemed to
burst almost inside the konak, and then went echo-
ing and crashing through the narrow valleys as
though it would rend the very mountains. The
sluice-gates of heaven seemed open, and the rain
swept in through the chinks and crevices of our
miserable abode in spite of our utmost efforts to
keep it out. We could not, however, be sufficiently
thankful for the shelter we enjoyed, when we remem-
bered how nearly we had been destined to pass the
night in the woods, and how deplorable would have
been our condition had we done so. As it was, we
•were only suffering from a heated atmosphere and
voracious appetites, being confined in a small room
with a blazing fire, and deprived of our dinner until
half an hour after midnight. One was almost tempted
to believe that Bolingbroke must have been a Circas-
sian traveller, and spoke feelingly when he said —

" Oh, who can hold a fire in his hand
By thinking on the frosty Caucasus ;
Or cloy the hungry edge of appetite
By bare imagination of a feast ? "

TRAVELS IX CIRCASSIA. 375

It was late on the following morning before \ve
roused ourselves from the heavy slumbers consequent
upon our midnight meal, and we occupied the hour
before breakfast in paying our respects to the daughter
of our host, a ladylike -looking girl, who sat to Mr

S for her portrait with great satisfaction. Her

brother, a stalwart young fellow, who stood near, had
not long before been taken prisoner by the Russians.
He had, however, managed to shoot the officer on
guard, and effected his escape. This was the most
unsophisticated family we had met. They had never
been out of their native valleys ; neither father nor
daughter had ever before seen any Europeans, and
they were evidently genuinely anxious to show us
kindness and hospitality. As we parted from them,
and one of our party recompensed our host for his
entertainment of us by a handsome present, the old
man embraced the donor with much fervour, and
many professions of eternal friendship and regard.
The violent rain of the night before had swelled the
mountain torrents, always rapid — greased the narrow
paths, always dangerous — and rendered travelling in
Circassia, always difficult, almost hopeless. We made
up our minds to walk nearly the whole of our day's
journey, and found it difficult to keep our footing
upon the slippery path, not broader than a Highland
sheep-walk, which led along the edge of a hill some
eight or nine hundred feet above the brawling stream
at its base. Downwards, however, our steps were
VOL. VL 2 B

376 TKAVEL, ADVENTUEE, AND SPORT.

now directed, and we at last reached it, after a great
deal of trouble with our baggage-animals, whose packs
were continually tumbling off. Fortunately there
was nothing of any value contained in them, or the
combined effects of soaking in the rivers and rolling
over precipices would have been fatal. We were
amply repaid by the beauty of the valley of the
Tecumseh, for the difficulty we had experienced in
scrambling down to it. The path led through the
wood by the river -bank, sometimes diving into a
glen, and crossing gushing tributaries by rustic
wooden bridges ; sometimes, descending to the level
of the stream, it was shut in by rocks and overhang-
ing trees ; at others, where the channel became com-
pressed, and the banks rugged and precipitous, it
ascended to a height of a hundred feet, and, round-
ing the projecting rock, afforded romantic glimpses
of roaring cascades and boiling rapids ; then through
the open smiling valley, where hedges of gigantic box
were covered with the wild clematis, and azaleas and
rhododendrons mingled their glowing blossoms.

Surely nature has lavished an undue share of her
gifts upon the lovely valley of Tecumseh. Xever
was there such a combination of the sublime and the
beautiful. As we followed its course, we seemed to
pass from one to the other : we left behind us the
snowy peaks, and journeyed onward towards gently
swelling hills; issuing from deep narrow gorges
re-echoincr with the hoarse murmur of flooded tor-

TRAVELS IN CIRCASSIA. 377

rents, we entered silent, peaceful dells, where tiny
rills trickled between moss-grown stones ; and passed
from forests of grand majestic trees, dark and gloomy,
into summer gardens of wild flowers, bright and
cheerful; and so on through green meadows and
orchards of fruitful trees, where bunches of purple
grapes hung side by side with walnuts or chestnuts,
as the tree was covered by the tenacious creeper, and
apples and figs presented themselves temptingly to
our grasp, and half-ripe medlars suggested the idea
of a second visit. There was some little excitement
going on in the valley of Tecumseh as we passed
down it, for a message had been sent by Omer Pasha
calling upon the inhabitants for a cavalry contingent ;
and a grand meeting of the young men was appointed
to take place, in order that the district of Ubooch
might be properly represented in the Turkish army.

Our young men Avere very full of the anticipated
pleasures of campaigning, but I afterwards saw them,
in Mingrelia, considerably disenchanted. Many of
them had lost their horses from starvation, and they
were returning in a miserable plight. Meantime they
were great gossips, and what between the excitement
of being our guides, and of going to the wars, they
were extremely communicative to everybody they
met. The old Hadji told the same story over, of
who we were, where we had been, where we were
going, &c., for the edification of every passenger ;
and these roadside chats, though no doubt very full

378 TKAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

of interest to the parties concerned, were very tire-
some to us, whose only object was to push on without
losing any unnecessary time. We crossed over a low
range a little before nightfall, passing a large and
populous village charmingly situated, and looked out
for quarters among the numerous JconaJts with which
the valley we had now entered was dotted. For the
first time Ave applied in vain ; the family informed us
that, the master of the house being aAvay, we could
not be allowed admittance. We somewhat ques-
tioned the truth of this excuse, but had no alterna-
tive but to prosecute our search for some more
friendly householder.

At last we reached a village where the inhabitants
gladly placed two little cottages at our disposal, and
where we were permitted to dine off turkeys instead
of sheep. After dinner, a rough-looking Circassian
came into our konak, and informed us that he was
anxious to enter into the service of a European. He
was a native of Abbasack, and had fought against
the Russians ; he had also been the pilgrimage to
Mecca, and picked up a smattering of Turkish.
Altogether, though wild and uncouth in appearance,
there was something so amiable and prepossessing in
his face, that I at once offered to engage him and his
horse at the monthly stipend of thirty shillings.
Salary, however, was evidently " no consideration "
with my friend Hadji Mustapha, who only desired
the novelty of the employment with a European,

TRAVELS IN CIRCASSIA. 379

and thenceforward took me under his patronising
care.

Xor would it have been possible to find a more
good-humoured, affectionate, and hard-working slave
than this faithful creature afterwards proved. Thor-
oughly unsophisticated, his service was rather that of
a devoted friend than a paid domestic. It was re-
freshing to be waited upon by one utterly ignorant of
the ordinary relations subsisting between master and
servant — to receive from him good advice when well,
and the most unremitting attention when ill. He
united in his person the functions of groom, for he
took care of five horses; cook upon emergencies ;
valet after he had been initiated into the mysteries of
the toilet, which at first amazed him exceedingly ;
nurse when, unfortunately, the occasion offered, and
tutor and guardian always. He was the only servant
I had throughout the Transcaucasian campaign of the
Turkish army, and subsequently accompanied me to
Constantinople, where I parted from him with regret,
and where he astonished the world upon the quay at
Tophane by straining me to his bosom. His costume
by that time had become a curious mixture of English
and Circassian, for he had a great weakness for civil-
ised apparel, and, though thoroughly honest, was a
little covetous of his master's goods. It was impos-
sible to resist his insinuating appeal when he admir-
ingly contemplated a pair of thick shooting-boots of
mine, and then glanced ruefully at his own worn-out

380 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

tsualta or moccasins. In fact, if the truth must be
told, Hadji Mustapha was an incorrigible beggar,
and kept himself supplied with clothes very cleverly.
His wardrobe gradually expanded during our resi-
dence in camp, and I used constantly jto see garments
transferred from the backs of other servants to his
own. He was such a universal favourite, and so
ready to do good-natured things, and take any amount
of trouble, that he deserved all he got. Poor Hadji !
I gave him a character, in which I endeavoured to
describe his merits, and recommended him to Misserie's
good offices at Constantinople, but I fear he will not
again find an English master. There is a difficulty
in communicating with him, which will operate as
a serious objection. Nor could any bystander have
understood the jargon of Turkish, English, and Cir-
cassian, which formed a sort of language of our own
invention, and by which we held communion.

We had now reached the south-eastern frontier of
Ubooch. There is a narrow district intervening
between this province and Abkhasia called Djikethie,
inhabited by a tribe who speak the Asgar language,
and who were reported by our guides to have Russian
sympathies. They decidedly objected to the idea
of our travelling through the interior of this pro-
vince, and indeed we had had quite enough of clam-
bering over successive ranges ; so we bent our steps
seaward, and, passing the Russian fort of Mamai,
followed the coast to Ardiller. At Soucha, another

TRAVELS IN CIKCASSIA. 381

Eussian fort, now dismantled, we found a number of
brass guns in a perfectly good state of preservation.
The Circassians were revelling in the domain of their
old enemies, little dreaming that the day would soon
come when the barrier would again be established
which should cut them off from intercourse with the
whole civilised world. We, too, as we rode along
the shingly beach, under shelter of gigantic forest-
trees, speculated upon the happy future which seemed
now in store for this devoted land — when its resources
should be developed, and intercourse with Europe
produce its beneficial influence upon the benighted
population.

We found practical evidence of the truth of the
assertion of our guides as to the alteration which
existed in the sentiments of the people among whom
we were now journeying, when we arrived at our
night's quarters at Ardiller. Some of the villagers
came in to inspect us, and, accustomed as they were
to Russians, manifested no curiosity, and very little
interest in us. One of these, a fine stalwart fellow,
with a disagreeable sneer upon his countenance, in-
formed us, without circumlocution, that he was heart
and soul a Eussian. He said he regretted their
departure exceedingly, and hoped soon to see them
back again ; whereupon one of our Circassian guides,
of an impetuous disposition, applied an epithet to the
speaker which has its equivalent in civilised, but not
in polite society, accompanying the same with a ges-

382 TEAVEL, ADVENTUEE, AND SPOET.

ture so menacing that we feared for the public peace.
As we wished to have some more conversation with
our new acquaintance, we persuaded all the Circas-
sians to leave the room. He then said that it was by
no means to be wondered at that he should regret the
departure of the Russian s, as their presence always
secured a profitable market for corn and vegetables ;
for the garrison had orders to buy the produce of the
country at exorbitant prices. But this was not the
only method resorted to for obtaining the goodwill
of the people. Our informant assured us that he
received a monthly salary of seven roubles, on condi-
tion that he maintained friendly relations with the
Russians, and exercised his influence in their behalf
among the natives.

It was therefore most natural that the people of
Ubooch, who voluntarily deprived themselves of these
advantages for the sake of freedom, and suffered all
the inconveniences resulting from a determined hos-
tility to Russia, should have felt doubly indignant
with the base conduct of these Djikethians, who were
ready to sell their independence for a wretched
pecuniary advantage, and then boasted of their
treachery in their very faces. We were amused at
the hesitation which this fine gentleman displayed
when we informed him that he might retire, and he
contemplated the hostile party who were waiting to
receive him outside. We felt very little pity for
him, and were not surprised to hear the sounds of

TRAVELS IN CIRCASSIA. 383

strife proceed from the yard. It was perfectly dark,
and we could only speculate upon what was probably
passing. Xor did we think it wise to interfere ; but

L rushed out with his usual impetuous curiosity,

and came back with an excited account of an affray.
However, quiet was gradually restored, and our Cir-
cassians came dropping in after a little, with satisfied
countenances, like dogs who lick their lips after
feasting on the produce of the chase. It was clear,
however, that the locality was by no means congenial
to our friends, and they informed us of their inten-
tion to return on the following day to Ubooch. To
this we made no objection, as we hourly expected the
return of the Cyclops to the coast, and had agreed
that she was to look in for us at this point. We
were, moreover, gainers by the intimate relations
which had been maintained between the inhabitants
of the village and the garrison of the fort, situated on
the coast about a mile and a half distant There
were all sorts of evidences of civilisation apparent
about our habitation. It was a large wooden build-
ing, containing two rooms, constructed of planks, and
with a shingle roof, a most comfortable fireplace, a
couple of couches, and various other articles of furni-
ture unknown in Circassia, the whole belonging to
an old lady, who overwhelmed us with civility, and
entertained us most sumptuously. We were detained
at Ardiller for three days, during which time we were
dependent entirely upon the hospitality of this cxem-

384 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

plary person. It is true that we received a pressing
invitation from a neighbouring great man to honour
his konak with our presence, and we were very much
disposed to do so ; but we were assured that it would
give such mortal offence to our kind hostess, and cast
so dire a reflection upon her hospitality in the eyes of
the surrounding population, that the move was given
up. Meantime we rode about the country exploring
the neighbourhood, and sketching its beauties. The
fort, as usual, consisted of four walls, enclosing a
number of tall poplars and a great deal of rubbish.
All the forts to the north of Souchoum were dis-
mantled by the Russians prior to their evacuation ;
but Souchoum itself was left untouched, as Prince
Michael assured the Eussians that, if they damaged
the place in any way, the people of the country would
rise and cut off their retreat. As the weather was by
no means propitious, we congratulated ourselves upon
our good quarters, and did not regret the abrupt con-
clusion of our tour. The Circassians, too, lingered
on in spite of their hostile feelings towards the
country-people, and seemed disposed to be somewhat
intractable when the important duty of recompensing
them for their trouble was to be entered upon.

Like thorough savages, they resorted to all sorts of
manoeuvres to screw more out of us than they were
entitled to. First, they disputed the terms of the
agreement collectively ; then one of them adopted a
conciliatory tone, while the others departed in high

TRAVELS IN CIRCASSIA. 385

dudgeon. Finding he could not coax a present out
of us, he too left indignantly, and then one of the
others returned with a long face, and still longer
story, of his having lost all his wages, and tried
to work upon our compassion. When he found this
hopeless (like Mr Montague Tigg when Pecksniff
refused to lend him the ridiculously small sum of
eighteenpence), he swore eternal friendship, in which
he was joined by all the others, who now reappeared,
after having absented themselves in a fit of disgust
for twenty -four hours, and who remained with us
until we left the coast, Avhen we parted on the best
possible terms.

It was indeed difficult to be angry with these men
on the very ground which their gallant countrymen
had rendered sacred by many a deed of noble daring ;
and we were ready to forget that acquisitiveness,
which is so often the mark of barbarians, amid scenes
with which so much that was heroic was associated.
We could not turn our backs upon Ubooch without
regret. Of all the tribes of Circassians who have
so long and steadily resisted the Russian arms, none
have shown a more indomitable spirit than the in-
habitants of this district. Their enterprises have
been as bold as the execution of them has been
skilful ; they have produced warriors whose deeds
have rendered both themselves and their tribe famous
throughout the mountains ; and the name of Hadji
Dokum Oku is one which is painfully familiar to

386 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

Eussiaii ears. Their country has always been a region
of terror to the Muscovites, who have never succeeded
in penetrating it ; and with the exception of a Baron
Turnau, an officer who had been taken prisoner, and
kept in confinement amongst them for some time,
it was, prior to our visit, a complete terra incognita.
Indeed, as this gentleman was kept a close prisoner,
his description of the country was very meagre. The
best account of the episodes in which the Uboochians
have figured is to be gathered from Russian sources ;
for though by no means trustworthy, they are more
to be relied upon than the fables of the mountaineers.
Dr Wagner, who visited Ardiller in 1843, gives some
interesting details which he obtained from the officer
then in command. Three years before, this tribe,
together with some of the Shapsugh warriors, stormed
four Russian forts sword in hand. Out of the five
hundred soldiers composing the garrisons, only eleven
survived, and these were made prisoners. An enor-
mous number of Circassians, however, fell in the
assault, and perished in one of the forts, which was
ultimately blown up by a Russian soldier. In the
following year, the Czar determined to avenge this
disaster, and sent a mixed force of about three thou-
sand men to Ardiller, who attempted to penetrate
into Ubooch, between that fort and Soucha. They
no sooner turned inwards, however, than they were
attacked furiously by the Uboochians under Ali Oku,
the grandson of the old chief just mentioned, and

TRAVELS IN CIRCASSIA. 387

driven back, after a determined struggle, in which
that young chieftain was shot cheering on his men,
and his place taken by the venerable Hadji, Avho
more than avenged the death of his gallant grandson.
The Eussians admitted to a loss of five hundred men
on this occasion, and gave up any further idea of
punishing the Uboochians, or entering their country.
We passed over the scene of this bloody conflict on
our ride from Soucha to Ardiller. There is unfor-
tunately now no great Ubooch warrior. The most
dashing young man of the tribe, and a descendant of
the Hadji, was, at the period of our visit, only burn-
ing for an opportunity of maintaining the credit of
the family, and with this view put himself at the
head of the cavalry contingent which was supplied
by the district to Omer Pasha, Izak Bey was in-
deed one of the handsomest and most gallant young
fellows I ever saw ; he was in the thickest of the
fight on the eventful day of the Ingour, and we lay
together under the same cloak by the bivouac -fire
that night on the bloody battle-field. Poor fellow,
he succumbed under the hardships of the retreat, and
died of typhus fever at Choloni the day before I left
the army.

In the course of my journeys upon the Circassian
coast, I had now visited some eight or nine of these
abandoned Eussian forts, and always with sensations
very different from those which usually accompany
the contemplation of scenes of ruin and desolation.

388 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

Here the sight of dismantled walls, and tottering
towers, and heaps of rubbish, gave rise, not to feel-
ings of melancholy, but of satisfaction and of triumph ;
— of satisfaction that a noble and free-hearted people
should be relieved of the presence of foreign invaders ;
and of triumph, that this result had been due entirely
to our navy. It was pleasant, then, to see Circassians
cultivating gardens which formerly supplied their
enemies with vegetables, and building their cottages
within gunshot of those loopholed walls, then so
harmless ; and melancholy is it now to think that
Russian cannon will soon again fill up the empty
embrasures, and Russian soldiers reconstract and re-
occupy the ruined and deserted barracks; that the
gardens will again be abandoned by their rightful
owners, and their cottages destroyed. The effect of
any clause in the late treaty preventing the recon-
struction of these forts, is more important than people
in this country have been disposed to allow. It has
been contended that the Circassians had no claim to
our sympathies on the score of co-operation, and that
therefore any stipulation in their favour was uncalled
for. In the first place, it is easy to show that they
co-operated with us whenever they were asked, and
could do so ; and, in the second, it is not because the
Circassians deserve their independence that we should
endeavour to secure it for them, any more than it
was the purity of the Sultan's government which
induced us to undertake a war which had for its

TKAVELS IN CIRCASSIA. 389

object "the integrity and independence of his em-
pire." We acted in this from self-interested motives,
and we have only neglected to stipulate against the
reconstruction of the Circassian forts, because we did
not see that our interest demanded it ; or if perchance
we did, France did not, and Ave were not in a position
to insist upon it. The future will show that her
policy in this was as short-sighted as was ours in
concurring in it. The .whole question of Eastern
aggression by liussia hinges upon the existence of this
line of forts. Without them, Russia can never hope
to subdue Circassia, any more than she could have
taken Kars if she had left one gate open. The
success of the Eussian war in the Caucasus depends
upon the efficacy of the blockade ; that can only be
secured by the reconstruction of these forts. When
these are rebuilt, and Circassia will be again thrown
upon its own limited resources, the latter will at last
be exhausted, the besieged country will capitulate,
and the only barrier to Eussian aggression in the
East will thus be swept away. So long as a strip
of independent country remains to separate Eussia
from her Transcaucasian provinces, their value is not
only depreciated, but the difficulty of extending her
frontier in that direction is increased, as her armies
are in danger of being cut off, and reinforcements
can only be brought up with risk.

Thus at this moment she hesitates to annex those
provinces of Ghilan and Mazenderan to the south

390 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

of the Caspian, which have been mortgaged to her by
Persia. If, therefore, Russia intends to relinquish her
Eastern policy, she need not care for the subjugation
of Circassia, as the country itself is too impracticable
to be of any intrinsic value ; but if, as will un-
doubtedly be the case, Russia recommences her war
with Circassia and the reconstruction of these forts,
then we may infer that she has not relinquished that
policy, but that she intends again to threaten Turkey
when a convenient season offers — not this time upon
the banks of the Danube, but on those of the Araxes.
It is supposed that the rectification of the Bessarabian
frontier will secure us against a repetition of the siege
of Silistria. The non-reconstruction of the Circassian
forts was the only guarantee we could have had against
the recurrence of the siege of Kars. It is a pity that
the work was left half done. But this is not alL If
these forts are rebuilt, that clause of the treaty which
announces that the coasts of the Black Sea are for the
future opened to the commercial enterprise of all
nations will be remarkably restricted. The coast from
Anaklea to Anapa will be hermetically sealed against
the enterprise of all nations. The Russian troops,
posted at short intervals along it, will no more allow
a bale of Manchester calicoes to be carried into the
country, than they would have allowed a bag of
biscuits to be taken into Kars. They will, at all
events, bring their blockade within the terms of that
clause of the treaty which says, " A blockade, in order

TRAVELS IN CIRCASSIA. 391

to be binding, must be effective." Thus, unless
Eussia relinquishes her cherished policy in Asia, and
admits the independence of Circassia — a most im-
probable event — the resources of that country will
remain undeveloped, — its mineral wealth will never
be explored, — its magnificent forests, teeming with
valuable timber, will never ring with the sound of
the axe ; and the box-trees, unequalled in the world,
will decay where they stand. The small patches of
cultivation in the fertile valleys will never be en-
larged beyond what is necessary for a scanty popula-
tion. The grapes will wither upon the vine-stems,
and the fruit which loads the trees rot where it falls.
And yet the nation does not exist who would ap-
preciate more thoroughly the advantages of a free and
unrestricted commerce. Whenever the opportunity
has offered, they have manifested a spirit of mercan-
tile enterprise which only proves how anxious they
are for intercourse with other nations, and how
speedily civilisation would exercise over them its
benign influences ; but, like ourselves, they are ready
to sacrifice their internal prosperity to their liberty,
and would rather be annihilated as a nation, savage but
free, than purchase that degraded civilisation which
Eussia offers them, at the price of their independence.

With respect to the absence of any co-operation on
the part of the Circassians, that is easily accounted
for with regard to the eastern part of the range.
There are two reasons which doubtless operated with

VOL. vi. 2 o

392 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

Scliamyl : one was, that his assistance was never
asked ; and another, that he had no army — and it
is universally admitted that it is impossible for a
general to carry on a campaign in an enemy's country
without one. Nevertheless our statesmen expected
this of Schamyl, and of all the other chieftains in
the range ; the fact being that Circassians are guerillas
without either land-transport or commissariat corps, or
artillery, or infantry, or anything, in fact, but ponies,
and are indomitable upon their own mountain-tops.
If, therefore, we had expected their co-operation, we
should have asked them to do something in their own
country— block up the Russian passes, for instance —
and had we sent them a few regular soldiers and
some money, we should have had their co-operation
most cordially offered. As it was, when we asked
the Naib to attack the Eussians, he did, and got well
beaten in Karachai ; and when we asked the people
of Ubooch to raise a contingent, they did, and their
irregular horse accompanied Omer Pasha on the cam-
paign, until all the horses died of starvation, as they
were allowed neither pay nor rations, and were for-
bidden to plunder, and the men returned on foot to
their own valleys, to praise the generosity of the
Allies, and, after losing their property, to hear from
Constantinople that they did nothing to deserve
sympathy, and that the forts are all to be rebuilt,
which are to exclude them for ever from intercourse
with the rest of their species.

TRAVELS IN CIRCASSIA. 393

At last, just when we had given up the Cyclops,
and had determined upon riding down the coast to
Souchoum, we observed the line of smoke upon the
distant horizon, and soon after were actively engaged
in the process of embarkation, leaving our Circassians
collected in a group upon the beach, shouting " Oay-
maff" or farewell.

It would have been interesting, could we have
spared the time, to have visited the church of Pit-
zounda, celebrated as the oldest Christian church in
the Caucasus, and situated upon a remarkable pro-
montory, which we steamed past the morning after
leaving Ardiller. It is almost exactly similar to that
of Souksou, but upon the scale of a cathedral instead
of a church. It has been described at length in the
elaborate work of Mons. Dubois de Montpereux, whose
extensive researches into the history and antiquities
of the Caucasian province are a most valuable source
of reference. Founded by the Emperor Justinian
about the middle of the sixth century, it embraced
within its patriarchate nearly all the Caucasian
countries. The invasions of the neighbouring Cir-
cassians, however, forced the bishops to abandon it,
and its importance declined, until under Muscovite
auspices there appeared some prospect of its old
position being assigned to it. As in former times
it was the repository of many valuable documents,
which have since been removed to the monastery of
Ghelathi, and from which a history of the Caucasian

394 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

provinces was compiled by a Georgian chronicler, and
translated by Klaproth, it may not be uninteresting,
in conclusion, to glance cursorily at the history of this
part of the coast of Circassia and Abkhasia, as gath-
ered from that record and the pages of Montpereux.

It is satisfactory to find that, according to these
traditions, no obscurity hangs over the early portion
of the history of these countries. They carry us
boldly back to the Flood, and decide that Togarmah,
who, it will be remembered, was a great-grandson of
Noah, after the confusion of tongues consequent on
the building of the Tower of Babel, established him-
self in Armenia, but whose possessions extended to
the banks of the Kuban. He divided his territory
between his eight sons, and Abkhasia was included
in the portion of the eighth, Egros. These princes
owed allegiance to Nimrod, then, in the language of
the chronicle, " the first king among the inhabitants
of the earth." At the instigation of the elder brother
they revolted, and the mighty hunter fell by his
hand. This prince, whose name was Hhaos, then
became king over his brothers, and his rule was
paramount in Caucasia and Armenia.

It is precisely at this epoch that the Argonautic
expedition is placed by the Greeks, the reputed origin
of those colonies which sprung up along the eastern
shores of the Black Sea, in the country then called
Colchis, and which includes Mingrelia and the greater
part of Abkhasia, In the subsequent wars between

TRAVELS IX CIRCASSIA. 395

the Persians and Georgians, these colonies took part
with the latter, who, according to the chronicle, were
only ultimately conquered by the first Artaxerxes.
This veracious history then proceeds to describe the
invasion of Georgia by the armies of Alexander the
Great. After subduing the country, the conqueror
is said to have left as its governor a Macedonian
named Ason, who united, under his rule in Georgia,
the province of Abkhasia. The tyranny of this man,
however, roused the spirit of an enterprising young
Georgian, who traced his descent to Ouplos, the
grandson of the great-grandson of Koah, by name
Phaniavaz, and who, in conjunction with a certain
Koudji, lord of Abkhasia, conspired to overthrow the
Greek oppressor. They collected a large army in
Abkhasia, crossed the Ingour, as better men have
done since, in the face of the enemy, and utterly
routing Ason, Pharnavaz became king of Georgia,
giving his sister in marriage to his faithful ally,
Koudji, prince of Abkhasia, who thenceforward
owned his suzerainty. The Greek colonies at the
mouths of the Ingour, Kodor, Ehion, and other
places upon the coast, and who had sided with
Ason, managed, however, still to preserve their in-
dependence, although surrounded by a hostile popu-
lation. Such was the condition of Abkhasia about
two hundred and forty years before the Christian
era, and so it remained until included within the
limits of the vast empire of Mithridates.

396 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

To those who know the country, the march of this
monarch, after his defeat by Pompey, from the Ingour
to Anapa, seems an achievement worthy of his great
reputation. The glory of the ancient Greek colonies
had now departed, and the far-famed shores of Colchis
and lovely valleys of Abkhasia became a Eoman
province under the rule of a governor appointed by
Pompey. Not long after, it was incorporated into
the kingdom of Bosphorus, under Polemoii I., who
had married a granddaughter of Mithridates. During
the reign of Polemoii II., or about forty years after
Christ, the apostles Simon and Andrew arrived,
according to the Georgian chronicle, in Abkhasia
and Mingrelia, to publish those truths which have
never since been altogether extinguished. The Em-
perors of Rome continued to arrogate to themselves
the right of naming the rulers of these provinces,
which Avere, nevertheless, practically independent.
When, however, war broke out between the Persians
and the people of the Caucasus, Justinian was obliged
to send his armies to the assistance of the latter, for
the Persians meditated the, conquest of Mingrelia ami
Gouriel, then united into one province, from which
they could threaten Constantinople itself. The
Abkhasians took this opportunity of withdrawing
themselves from their allegiance to the neighbouring
province, which had assumed the right of naming
their kings. They succeeded in this attempt, and
appointed two kings of their own. Justinian deter-

TRAVELS IX CIKCASSIA. 397

mined to punish them for such contumacious conduct,
and sent a picked force to Souchoum Kaleh. The
Abkhasians took refuge in a strong castle which
crowned a hill overlooking a steep gorge which issues
from the mountains a little to the right of Souksou,
and which still partially exists under the name of
Anakopi. Had we known, when we saw it in the
distance, what interesting associations have attached
to it, Ave might have attempted to visit it. The
Abkhasians, however, notwithstanding the strength
of the place, did not hold out against the military
tact of the Roman general, and the castle was taken
and burned ; but this spot owes its chief celebrity
throughout the country to the still older tradition
which attaches to it; for here, it is said, are laid
the bones of Simon the Canaanite.

The result of the war between Justinian and
Khosroes was to place more decidedly than ever
the Transcaucasian provinces under the suzerainty
of the Byzantine Empire.

Abkhasia, as well as the other provinces, felt this
influence, and between the fifth and tenth centuries
made considerable progress in civilisation. The greater
part of those churches and forts, the ruins of which
add so much to the picturesque character of the scenery,
date from this period. Hitherto the princes of Ab-
khasia, though owning allegiance to the Gfreek empe-
rors, were independent of the neighbouring provinces.
Towards the close of the tenth century, however, the

398 TRAVEL, ADVENTUKE, AND SPORT.

crowns of Georgia and Abkhasia became united in
the family of the Bagrats. Its history is, therefore,
identical with that of Georgia until 1442, when the
reigning king (Alexander) died, leaving his kingdom
divided between his three sons. Abkhasia and the
rest of the seaboard provinces fell to the share of one
of these, but his successors failed to preserve the
allegiance of several of the principal families, who,
finding their influence almost as great as that of their
sovereign, successively threw off his yoke, so that
very soon the kings ceased to exist, and their former
territory was divided amongst themselves by the most
influential families, whose authority is to this day
recognised by Eussia in the different provinces which
res-ulted from this separation. Meantime these petty
principalities became once more the theatre of Avar
between Persia and the empire of which Constan-
tinople was the capital, now no longer Christian.
Abkhasia with its neighbours was placed finally under
the suzerainty of the Porte ; and, in 1578, Souchoum
Kaleh and Poti at the mouth of the Ehion were built
and garrisoned by Turkish troops. For the next two
hundred years Abkhasia was a Turkish province, but
about the middle of the last century the Abkhasians
revolted, and the Turks abandoned Souchoum Kaleh,
still, however, retaining the suzerainty. Keliche Bey,
the Prince of Abkhasia, then living at Souchoum
Kaleh, soon after, by refusing to give up a Turkish
refugee, brought matters to a crisis, and called in

TRAVELS IN CI11CASSIA. 399

the protection of Russia, at the same time professing
himself a Christian convert. From that moment
Russia never relinquished the hold which she was
thus enabled to secure ; and at the close of that
war Avith Turkey which terminated in the treaty of
Yassy, she acquired Abkhasia, together with the
neighbouring provinces to the south. Shortly after-
wards Russian troops were quartered at Souchoum
Kaleh and other forts on the coast, and the princes of
Abkhasia became Muscovite vassals. Their subjects,
however, were by no means disposed to concur in
this transfer of allegiance, and the Mahometan portion
of the population have steadily refused to recognise
the sovereignty of their new masters. The Christians,
indeed, remain docile subjects of their prince. They
remember with abhorrence the barbarities of their
Turkish rulers, and even exaggerate those atrocities
which unfortunately but too often characterised their
dominion. The population of the north and interior,
on the other hand, have conceived an inveterate hatred
to the Russians, enhanced no doubt by the perpetual
struggle with them in which they have been engaged,
while they have forgotten the oppression of their
former masters, from whom they doubtless suffered
less than their Christian compatriots ; and regarding
them only as co-religionists, they hailed with joy the
arrival of a Turkish Pasha, shortly after the evacua-
tion of Souchoum Kaleh, as an earnest of that change
from the Christian to the Mahometan rule which they

400 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT.

so ardently desire. The consequence was, that when
the Turkish army arrived at Souchoum Kaleh, Prince
Michael found himself compelled to receive them with
the utmost friendship and cordiality, for he was as
unable to change the sympathies of the greater portion
of his own subjects as he was to prevent the landing
of Omer Pasha and his forces. Like the Uboochians,
they too contributed their quota to the Turkish army,
but, like them, they will gain nothing by the war
in return for their co-operation. Had a condition
prohibiting Eussia from rebuilding the forts on the
eastern coast of the Black Sea been inserted, that
alone would have sufficed to secure their independence.
For although she might have reserved to herself the
right of garrisoning troops in the interior of Abkhasia,
that attempt would have been found perfectly im-
practicable, except in the low country, where, as has
already been shown, the population is not so strongly
opposed to her rule. The evacuation of Souchoum
Kaleh by Eussian troops, and the residence there of
foreign consuls, would have opened up the whole of
the Mahometan part of the country to the commercial
enterprise of the world. So far from that being the
case, in consequence of those hostilities which must
inevitably be resumed between the Mahometan Ab-
khasians and Eussians, as soon as Souchoum Kaleh is
regarrisoned, the country will revert to the condition
in which it was before the war, and which is precisely
similar to that of Ubooch. The chances of their

TRAVELS IN CIRCASSIA. 401

ultimate civilisation are more remote than ever ; they
will be cut off again from intercourse with humanity.
Their villages and fields Avill be burnt and destroyed
as of old by rapacious soldiery, and war, incessant
war, will be their only occupation, until at last, deter-
mined never to submit, they will become exterminated
as a race, savage, but free to the end.

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