rest be like, and would it not have been passing strange
if the Russians had not beaten them ? * But whilst I
was taking stock of the soldiers, and showing them my
revolver, some courtiers came to say that the Emir was
ready to receive me, and I had to think of a fitting
Court dress.
Dr. Wolff, who escaped with difficulty from the
clutches of the present Emir’s father, wore his gown
and hood into Bokhara, carried a huge Bible under
his arm, and announced that he was the great dervish
of England ; and he partly attributed his safety to
having maintained throughout his ecclesiastical character.
I had some thought, therefore, of taking a
leaf from his.book, and the more so because Russians
had told me that the Emir would not distinguish
between my clerical coat and that of a Russian
merchant, and that all the Russian dignitaries this
Asiatic sovereign had seen were in uniform and
decorated with medals. This suggested to me that
it might be desirable if I could combine in my raiment
the splendours of ecclesiastical vestments and military
uniform. But where was the Emir ? Was he living
close by, our house being a part of his palace, or
was he a mile off? because, if I were going to get
myself up very gorgeously, and his Majesty were
country of 17J. 6d. a month, or, at the capital, of 20J. Another account
I heard said i o j . a month, that these hired troops are a militia rather
than a standing army, of which there was said to be none in Bokhara.
The men live at home, and come up for drill occasionally, and when they
wish to quit the force, simply give up their muskets and uniforms, and
go about their business.
* The natives told me that, at the occupation Of Samarkand, the very
sight of the Russian soldiers, before they had crossed the river, made
the enemy run like sheep. I heard, too, that when a fortress was
stormed, the natives entirely gave up hope, and simply sat down, each
awaiting his turn to be killed.