the mullahs. They thanked me much, and when we
walked on to the Shir-Dar, and gave an Arabic New
Testament, they were equally obliged. Another thing
to be thought of was that, on leaving Samarkand, we
were going not only out of the postal union, but of
the postal region, and that we must accordingly make
up our minds to be for a while dead to the civilized
world, and the world to us. As it was, I had received
no communications from Europe since leaving Tiumen,
though I had despatched many to England ; and when
I had finally made up my mind to enter Bokhara, I
telegraphed to London from Samarkand, at a cost of
24s., “ All well. Leave in three days for Bokhara
and Khiva. Found no letters at Tashkend. Expect
me in December,” thinking that this date would give
an ample margin for my return, but really expecting
to be home before.
During our stay at the palace, we of course learned
more of General Ivanoff, our absent host, whom we
had left at Tashkend. He was spoken of to us as
being of remarkably even temper, as never angry nor
particularly pleased, showing neither satisfaction nor
displeasure. He was said to have great powers of
endurance. An instance was quoted of his riding
from Petro-Alexandrovsk, where he was governor,
.to Nukus, a distance of 116 miles, staying for 2 hours
only, and then returning, doing the 233 miles in about
36 hours, and then setting to work reading and
writing immediately. His bravery, too, was spoken
of in terms equally high. A t the taking of Khiva,
he and nine others were surrounded in fight by Turko-
mans, and he was wounded in the arm ; also by a
ball passing through under his knee-cap, and another
through his regimental cap, cutting open the scalp ;
but even then he was said to have declined having his
own wounds dressed till he had looked after the welfare
of those wounded with him. I did not realize at
Tashkend that I had read of him as Colonel Ivanoff,
the Governor at the fortress to which Colonel B urnaby
was brought after his “ ride to Khiva,” or that he
was the same who generously gave up to MacGahan
a portion of his tent in the Khivan campaign; but I
shall not soon forget his kindness in giving us quarters
at his house, and doing so much to render pleasant
our stay at Samarkand.
Having now brought the reader through the whole
of the provinces that make up Russian Central Asia,
and having described how the invaders advanced up
the Irtish to occupy Semirechia, I shall next briefly
sketch their advance up the Syr-daria, and the Russian
occupation of Turkistan.