to send us batchas, and I accepted them for the sake of
Yakoob and the natives, who were said to have the
chance of seeing such performances only when a
visitor came ; but we did not keep them late, being
anxious to get to bed and start early in the morning.
O f the three boys, one sang and danced unusually well,
and it was amusing to see one stout old man drinking
tea, looking admiringly on, and getting heated with
excitement.
Next morning I stirred up Yakoob before sunrise,
and tried hard to put the Toksaba in a bustle; but it
is not easy to hurry Asiatics. The Bek, they said,
must be informed of our departure, and this took some
tim e ; but when the messenger returned he brought
with him presents of khalats, a horse and saddle-cloth
for me, and khalats for Sevier. Meanwhile our groom
had arrived with the agreeable intelligence that the
tarantass was shipped and awaiting us some 11 miles
off at Ghuzari-Tozakar. This hanger-on also put a
scrap of paper into my hand to inform me politely that
he wished to quit my service (to which, by-the-bye, I
had never engaged him), and return to Bokhara,
Yakoob pleading that he had been very useful in
taking care of my stud. In due time, therefore, we
started once more for the Oxus. It was a bright, fresh
morning, too cold by half to think of sedate riding, so,
as soon as we reached the fields, I galloped off, leaving
those to remain behind who pleased. One of the
Bek’s dj'iguitts had no mind to be outstripped, and took
care to keep ahead. I followed his fleet horse, and
we covered the distance in about an hour and a half.
Arrived at the Oxus, we found a tent put up for
us, with bedsteads, in case we had returned to sleep,
and Fazul and Kolutch ready to give us the story o f
their difficulties with the tarantass. They had dragged
it over the sand barkhans, actually without a scratch
or a visible strain, and it was now safely shipped for
our departure. Yakoob, by agreement, was to go on
with us at least to Petro-Alexandrovsk, whilst Fazul and
Kolutch were to return; and the latter asked that I
would write a note to General Korolkoff to say how they
had served me. I had only one peccadillo to complain
of, of which Yakoob had officiously informed me, that
when I had sold the two horses at Bokhara, Kolutch
had seized the two wooden saddles, sold them for a
trifle, and appropriated the money. Accordingly, after
giving Fazul his present, and paying the groom with
a Cashmere khalat, of which I did not know the value,
but was afterwards told it wTas worth three or four times
as much as I supposed, I took Kolutch alone and
quietly lectured him. He was distressed on being
accused, said he thought the saddles were of too little
value to be of importance, and urged that, had he
wished to steal, he could easily have done so when in
charge of the tarantass. I tried to show him, however,
the importance of honesty in trifles, and then wrote a
letter saying how well Fazul and he had served us,
as indeed they had. This I gave him with his present,
and added a pound of tea for each of the three. A
crowd had assembled on the bank, who bade us farewell
as we pushed off into the stream ; but before we
commence the descent of the Oxus, I purpose to say a
few words on the upper portion of the river.