attendants— a cavalcade o f five, that afterwards
increased sometimes to a dozen. Further, my taran-
tass, with all my personal conveniences, was no
longer to be the chariot in which we could roll along
in comparative ease, but, at the outset at all events,
my baggage had to be reduced to a minimum, anid
myself to take to the* saddle. The tarantass was to
be sent by a carriage-road through Djam to Karshi, a
distance of 94 miles, and it was not easy at first to
decide what things were so necessary or so valuable
that they must be taken with me ; but when all was in
readiness there were 16 packages to be placed in
the carriage, besides such as could be locked up. The
common cart of the country is called an arba, and
the man who drives it an arba-kesh. One of these
men had undertaken to get my tarantass to Karshi for
£ \ , and there await my coming, asking, however, for
three-fourths o f the pay in advance,.
For some reason I did not clearly understand, the
arbakesh insisted on taking the wheels off the tarantass
and mounting it on an arba. I confess to having some
qualms about committing “ my little all ” to the care of
the man, especially in a new country where I should
be unable to invoke the aid of a friendly tchinovnik
if things went wrong. A happy thought occurred,
however, when all was in readiness, respecting the
importance attached by Easterns, and for that matter
by Russians too, to a seal, "I aking light and wax
I solemnly sealed up the curtain and hood, in the
presence of the arba-kesh and his helper, and then
called them in to put each “ his mark ” to a receipt for
the tarantass and its contents. I afterwards heard
that the natives were frightened by this formal proceeding,
especially as it took place in the house of the
Governor, and they drew from the transaction precisely
the inference I intended, that they had some
thing important committed to their charge, and must
mind what they were about with it. My tarantass
then rolled out of the yard like a miniature locomotive
onjone of Pickford’s trucks, after which, on October 2nd,
I placed my foot in the stirrup, as Tamerlane used to say,
when leaving Samarkand, and went forth to conquer.
■The two djiguitts, named Kolutch and Fazul, were
both Uzbegs, and dressed in long robes and white
turbans. They were to accompany us, if I pleased,
aslfar as the Oxus, but they were provided with little
luggage, for it was all stowed away in saddle-bags.
Ffizul could speak no Russian, and, so far as information
was concerned, was of little service ; so I sent him
forward to accompany the man who had charge of the
siimpter horse, which had been hired from the bazaar
atj 2s. a day to go with us as far as Karshi. Kolutch,
the other djiguitt, was a man of more character, and,
for an Oriental, had a considerable amount of “ go ” in
him; too much, I fancy, for the natives, over, whom he
appeared occasionally to lord it, but he was faithful to
me and mine. Our Tatar interpreter was one Suleiman
Yakooboff, whom we surnamed “ Yakoob.”
■Leaving the Governor’s palace, and its kind hospitality,
we passed the tomb of Tamerlane, and saw the
Russians at work on the exterior of the dome, and
then left Samarkand by what used to be the Khoja
Akhrar gate, so called after a celebrated saint of that
■ame, but now thrown down. Just beyond there sat a
Woman by the wayside begging, who rose and lifted
her veil, to show the white leprous spots on her face;*
■ * Like the four leprous men at the entering- in of the gate of Samaria,
Bvho said, “ Why sit we here until we die ” (2 Kings vii. 3).