Journal of the Royal United
Service Institution
VOL. XIX. 1875. No. LXXX.
LECTURE.
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cultivated lands of the Khivan oasis are fairly seen.
From this place "to Khiva * * * the whole country is
covered with smiling fields, '' unwalled villages, and,
as in Europe, houses and gardens in the open '' fields, a
proof of the feeling of security from oppression rarely
met” with in civilized Persia. The alluvial tract is
of little breadth, but is “intersected in all
directions by canals for irrigation. Every spot ":
which has been reclaimed or preserved from the
encroachment of the " surrounding desert, is
carefully brought into cultivation. The importance
attached to husbandry in this country is marked by the
national ceremonies in opening the great canals for
irrigation, which "' are annually performed in the
spring by the ruler of Khiva in person." He adds,
" The ground being everywhere level, single-horse
carts of rude construction, the wheels without any
girding of iron, are employed by the peasantry for the
transport of their farm produce, " instead of, as in
Persia, being carried on the backs of donkeys, horses,
“and mules. Against the rearing of the latter there
is a religious “prejudice."
Mr. Thomson's account of the country between Merv and the
Oxus is hardly that of an unmitigated desert. There is a
coating of verdure thrown over it in the spring which
gives the appearance of a rich sward, extending in all
quarters to the verge of the horizon. Nor is it unclothed
with jungle. One tree grows to the height of 15 or 20
feet, and the very dryness of the wood renders it all
that can be desired for the traveler’s fire. But the
scarcity of water, the absence of villages, and the
severity of certain seasons, must be considered and
provided for by those who, however prepared to rough it,
in common parlance, would not wish to be classed with the
fatalist pilgrim and the homeless wayfarer.
I will not weary your patience by describing Khiva or the
sandy tract. For this has been done systematically and
well by more than
one recent writer, English and foreign. To revert to a
prior remark, such persons as have never read, or, having
read, have lost recollection of Abbott's and
Shakespeare's journeys, should, if really interested in
the subject, at once refer to these safe and genuine
authorities, for they give no diluted information, nor
tell second-hand tales, but speak from personal
experience and ocular demonstration.
Jamshidis and Turkmen.
— So much has lately been published about the Turkmen,
that a very brief notice will suffice for such of the
number as are found between Herat and Khiva. But before
touching upon these marauders of the plains, something
should be said on the people inhabiting the more
mountainous country and valleys immediately contiguous,
met with by both Abbott and Shakespeare on first leaving Herat.
These are, for the most part, Jamshidis; and here we have
a division of the Hazara tribe of Aimaqs, speakers,
according to Lord Strangford, of archaic Persian. They
dwell in black felt tents on the banks of mountain
streams ; they are shepherds, herdsmen, cultivators, and
robbers ; neither their courage nor general character is
of a high order, and they assist, rather than oppose, the
traffic in human beings, of the Turkmen;
VOL. SIX. C
JBOC
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