from Heraut is ruined; if he survives, he can never be of service during this journey, his back being dreadfully wounded by the saddle. It may be as well to describe here the khurgab, (literally donkey-house,) which is the dwelling of the Turcoman tribes. I am now living in one which is eighteen feet high. The wall is five feet high, and is formed of dried willow boughs, crossing each other diagonally. At each cross a leather thong is passed through both the pieces of willow, so that the whole can be shut up and placed on a camel. This wall is first pitched, and a broad strap of carpeting passed round it, binding it to a doorway. The roof is formed of a ring of willow-boughs, having holes in it for the insertion of other willow-boughs, covered at one end, which radiate from the ring, and slope down, to the top of which they are firmly fixed; over this framework thick felts are bound; and, with good carpets on the floor, a dwelling is formed, which keeps out heat, cold, and rain, and is easily removed to any other spot. It is certainly better than any tent, and has the advantage of excluding thieves. The camels are bought, the leather bags for water ready, all supplies laid in, and off we go to-morrow. May 26th.-Called after all on the governor. The fact is, I could not omit this attention without appearing to slight the Khan Huzarut. I found a very old gentleman, with a very white beard, sitting under an awning. He did not move one inch to receive me, (served me right for calling, and yet I think I was right, and the old fellow wrong, in spite of his grey beard.) I fear I must bring this insult to the Khan Huzarut's notice. Called immediately afterwards on the Khuleefa, another greybeard, but a very different character; he received me like a patriarch. This old gentleman has very great influence with all Turcomans, by whom he is much respected and trusted; he is considered almost a saint; and the Turcomans are only too glad to make him the distributor of their charitable donations. I believe he is well worthy of the trust, though they say that some of his attachés eat an unconscionable share of the poor-rates. The Khuleefa is a very small man, of very quiet and retiring manners a rara avis-a bashful Turcoman. His face is pleasing, notwithstanding the loss of the bridge of his nose, which was caused by frost. The two sexes appear very similar, except that the women here all wear red head-dresses of a curious shape. Brutus is much scandalized at their wearing no veils. I have seen one or two tolerable beauties amongst them; their morals are not spoken highly of, but they appear to me to be quiet, careful housewives. There are several Jews at Merve, and, to my surprise, I found one located here, who astonished me by offering me 100 ducats for a bill on Heraut. True to his caste, he asked exorbitant interest. He is now busy getting the fair sex of this khail to make up covers for my horses' ears and bellies, a precaution necessary, owing to the number of venomous flies on the road we are taking. There are two roads from Merve to Khyva, or, as it is more generally called here, Corgunj. One is called the Rah-i-chushmah; we take the former, as it has more water. May 27th.-After many intrigues, on the part of the governor's servant, to detain me and to prevent the guide I procured yesterday from coming with me, I at last got away from the khail, and marched sixteen miles; water and grass abundant, camelthorn most luxuriant, wood rather scarce; stopt during the heat of the day. It now appears that the guide, who is to receive eight tillahs from me, only knows one road, and that that road is impassable; he has, however, he says, found a Turcoman who has just come across the desert from his khail on the Khyva road. In the evening, we moved seventeen miles and a quarter to the river Moorghaub; grass scarce, wood plentiful. May 28th.-Marched in the morning fifteen miles along the banks of the Moorghaub, which we crossed at an excellent ford the stream about thirty yards wide, three and a half feet deep, and bottom hard. The river is, however, full of quicksands, and the greatest care must be taken in searching for a good ford. There is but little grass on its banks, wood abundant, the air cool and pleasant. In the evening started again, intending to make a long march, but at five miles came on another stream; very foolishly tried to find the ford myself, and got into a bad quicksand in which I nearly lost my horse. The mules and camels crossed lower down without any accident. : May 29th, Friday.-The Turcoman who is to receive eight tillahs from me, is missing; his mare trotted into our camp last night covered with mud and water, and we fear the poor wretch must have been drowned, as it is known that he could not swim I have now only the guide whom he had provided for me to trust to. Moved this morning four miles, when we came to a third stream of the Moorghaub, where we had difficulty in finding a good ford. We are halting on the bank while the people go to search for the body of the unfortunate Turcoman. At one P. M., no light being thrown on the Turcoman's fate, we started, and moved fifteen miles, when we came to a fourth stream, nearly as large as the first, which detained us two hours. We then moved four miles into the desert. I sent for the Governor of Merve's servant and my only remaining guide, and cross-questioned them as to where they intended to take me. The Governor's servant acknowledged that he had no idea whatever of the road. The guide said, he knew of two reservoirs of water in the desert, and that he would stake his life on taking me to them before twelve o'clock the next day; he confessed he was much surprised at coming on the last stream, as he thought we had been clear of the river, but that he had crossed much higher up. He is a very intelli·ligent-looking young fellow, and I will trust him. I take with me water sufficient for one day, and have told this young guide that he shall have the eight tillahs promised to the deceased Turcoman, whose family I will try to provide for. He says that he is confident of finding the water, and that my sword is on his neck if he fails. » May 30th.-Started last night at half past one, and moved eleven miles and a quarter; when the first dawn of day appeared, it was fine to see the young Turcoman gazing like a startled antelope from side to side, scampering up to every mound and peering over every sand-hill. He saw me using a telescope, and begged to be allowed to look; upon my giv " * ? ing him the glass he seemed a little frightened, suspecting infernal agency; but summoning up his courage, he shouted, "In the name of God! and applied the glass to his eye, prepared for the worst that might happen. It was long before he could arrange the focus to suit his eye, but at length an exclamation of « God is great!" showed that he began to see the use of the instrument. He had been most anxious, during the last two miles, for a certain mark which he said he must be near. At length he pulled up, and said, that if I would give him a trooper to go with him, he would find the water and return to me. I complied, and lay down in the mean time for a nap. My dream was a confusion of drowning Turcomans, telescopes, streams of water, and the horrors of dying of thirst. In an hour and a half these dreams were disturbed by shouts and yells, and on getting up I saw the Turcoman, with his cap in his hand, screaming, and urging his horse towards us. Long before he reached us, his shouts of, Water, I have found the water, there is plenty of it! were to be heard, and, after five miles we reached it. The reservoirs were mere pools dug in the bed of a small ravine; the water was muddy, but of good flavour; and the coarse grass on the edges of the banks proved a «bonne bouche» to the horses. Having reached this water, the difficulty is to hit upon the road, from Merve to Khyva. The Turcoman says he hopes before night to hit upon a road from Meshed to Bokhara which crosses the road to Khyva. Started again in the evening, and marched fifteen miles, until it was so dark that we feared the camels might lose our track. No signs of the road as yet, but my guide says he can go as well by the stars as by daylight; he says, we must move all night, and warns us that we shall not reach water until late to-morrow, May 31st.-Moved last night thirteen miles at the tails of the camels; it is dreadful work, crawling along at two and a half miles an hour, particularly without any road. At last, by the greatest good-luck, in the middle of the night, and without a moon, the road was discovered. It was pointed out to me, and though I dismounted and tried hard to distinguish it, I failed. The Turcomans of the party,, however, were very positive, and took the greatest trouble in tracing it. After marching some hours they begged me to halt until the morning, lest the track should be lost. We slept two hours, and then started again. By daylight even, it was difficult to trace the road, the soil being nothing but loose sand, which drifts with every breeze. The only good marks are the bones of dead camels and other animals, of which there are great quantities. Some public-spirited people have been at the trouble of occasionally putting the skeleton of a camel's head on a bush near the road, and this is considered an infallible sign. At one or two places branches of trees are also heaped together as a mark, but these are few and far between. This desert is very uneven. I have seen one very like it in India, which extends along the eastern bank of the Indus near Bhawalpore. There are innumerable bushes of a dwarf description, and in places the ground is almost hard, but some of the sandhills are of great height and of the finest red sand. We came on twenty-seven miles this morning; the heat was dreadful, and the loose sand and the fatigues of the previous night added much to our thirst: all the water we had in the leather bottles with the riding-horses was consumed, the camels were far in the rear, and there was no appearance of a well. The Turcoman_guide, however, was positive as to the vicinity of a well, and in reply to my question of Whether my sword was on his neck if he failed? » he laughingly said, "Yes, I will find the well if you'll find the tillahs; and on we plodded, a fiery hot wind blowing. At length I almost despaired, and Brutus wanted to lie down, but I thought on the Turcoman's former successes, and pushing up the sand-hill over which he had gone, had the happiness to see him dismounted and leaning down peering into the long-sought well. My panting steed got an extra kick from my heels, and I was soon by the guide's side pulling up a bucket of water, which, alas! was so very offensive in smell and taste, that I could not drink it. The servants, however, and the horses, drank it most greedily. The Turcomans say that there is nothing injurious in this water; on the contrary, that it is cooling to the blood. It is strongly impregnated |