at the very moment you are eating his salt, your host is thinking how, at a future occasion, he may best transfer part of your wealth to himself, and when you do meet him on his plain, the odds are very much against you.

We are taken with the poetically expressive idiom of the Arab, who, as a hint to a stranger to surrender his property, says, "Cousin, undress thyself; thy aunt is without a garment;"-but we think it expedient to hang a man who translates and applies the saying in our own country. The fact is, that, in our love for the romantic, we judge these wild people nearly by the same standard with which they measure themselves. The Arabs for instance,-we only think of them as a nation of freemen, whose deeds have been chivalrous, and whose annals are told in high-sounding verse, and we overlook their vices; but the Bedouins are perhaps the greatest rogues who wander (read Burckhardt's summary of their character, and ask any one who has gone the land route to Mecca about them). The virtues and vices of all Nomade people are much the same; they entertain exaggerated notions of hospitality and bravery, but they are generally greedy, mean, and thievish; and, though they may keep good faith with their own race, they will find means to evade the spirit of a pledge given to a stranger, if it be much to their interest to do so. Their hospitality appears greater than that of settled people, because when travelling they rely upon each other for food and shelter; but they must of necessity do so. Perhaps in earlier times the feeling was exercised more as a virtue, but now there is to the full as much pride as generosity in it, for you will anger a man to the extent of making him your enemy if you pass his tent, though he may not have wherewithal to feed you; and, even allowing that a generous feeling prompts his courtesy, it is not so strong a one but that avarice will get the better of it if you have that which tempts him.'-vol. i. pp. 166-169.

It is a wild scene, a Toorkmun camp. All its tenants are astir at day-break, and the women, after a short busy period, retire to work within their tents. Towards the evening the men get together, and sit in circles discoursing: the mistress of a tent is seen seated outside knitting; near her is "an old negro woman, dry and withered as the deserts of Libya," who is churning in a skin hung upon three sticks, or dandling the last born; and the young fry, dirty and naked, except perhaps a small jacket, or skull-cap, fantastically covered with coins, bits of metal, or beads and charms, run about in glee like so many imps, screaming and flinging dust on each other, the great game of these unsophisticated children of nature. As the day declines, the camels are driven in, and folded within the camp; soon after the sun has set, a few watchers are set; here and there perhaps in a tent, remain for a short time" the light of the candle and the sound of the millstones," but soon the whole camp is in still repose.

'There certainly is a charm about this mode of life, and I can understand the dislike that a Toorkmun has to living in a city. It has been thought that inhabitants of mountainous countries have the strongest feelings of love for their homes, because they retain the

most

most vivid recollection of the bold scenery that they were born in; but the Swiss or Highlanders scarcely sigh more for their mountains than do the Arabs and the Toorkmuns for the desert-home is home all the world over.'-vol. i. pp. 172-174.

We had often heard of the powers of endurance of the Turcoman horse, without giving full credence to the narrator; but here we are furnished with some facts which we conceive are fully worthy of notice :

'Orauz Kellije's horse excited our astonishment: for two days we saw that he got no water, and fed only upon what he could pick up (coarse grass or weeds) as we went along, or when we halted: corn he did not taste a grain of, "nor should he, please God," said his master, "till he reached home, when he should lie down before a hill of it." He explained this expression by saying, that it was their custom, when they had no foray in view, to allow their horses entire discretion as to their food. "We tether them," he said, "within reach of abundance, and they know better than to eat too much." I would rather state the Toorkmuns' own accounts of some of their customs, than my entire belief in them, for some of their stories were only just within the bounds of credibility, though it cannot be doubted that both they and their horses perform astonishing feats; and, as they are themselves as lazy at home as active when abroad, what Orauz Kellije said about their mode of treating horses may be true. The Toorkmuns roll a piece of fat round their snaffles, to keep their horses' mouths moist on a long march. Some said that they bled their steeds to relieve them when they were much fatigued; and others spoke of drinking the blood in case of their being short of water; but, as some of the latter, in allusion to their own great prowess, hinted that they were man-eaters," I learned to consider the first account as hyperbolical.'-vol. i. p. 57.

66

Lieutenant Conolly presents us with an account of Beggee Jan, a former sovereign of Bokhara, famed throughout Persia and Tartary for his humility and affectation of poverty. Those who are extravagant in their love of cheap government will doubtless read this portion of the book with exultation, and in this pauper king find the prototype of the first magistrate' they would have. Instead of those magnificent establishments called royal kitchens, with their appropriate utensils, patent steam apparatus, and the thousand and one necessaries for cooking, he possessed one wooden bowl, an iron cauldron, and some earthen pots. No Vatel killed himself in his service for want of fish-he required no head cook, under cooks, and a regiment of gentlemen in white night-capshe went to market himself, cooked his own pot au feu, and ate from the same bowl with his courtiers. And in the luxuries of the stable, instead of cream-coloured horses, the body-coachman, the grooms, the outriders, his whole stud consisted of one donkey, which he bestrode without a saddle.

'Shah

Shah Moraud Beg, familiarly and par excellence called Beggee Jân, was a king whose equal has not been known since the days of the Caliph Omar, whose character, indeed, he appears to have closely imitated; like him, affecting to despise the honours of sovereignty, and descending to undignified and affected actions to display his humility. He surrounded himself with a court of devout and learned doctors, to whose opinion he professed to bow, and, assisted by whom, he used to sit in open durbar to judge the people according to the principle of the Mohummudan law. In such assemblies, the parties sat on goat-skins, which were ranged round the room, and the Shah took any seat to show that he did not esteem himself above his fellow-men in the faith. He performed the most menial offices: his kitchen establishment consisted of a wooden bowl, an iron cauldron, and some earthen pots; he made his own market, cooked his own pot au feu, and when he had guests, went round himself to pour water on their hands, and ate from the same bowl with them. He had a donkey of no price, which he would ride without a saddle through the streets of Bokhara, and the common people, charmed by this show of humility, thought that there never had been so single-hearted a man; but many stories which are related of him show how much worldly sagacity lay under his assumed simplicity. He was the Louis XI. of his day: cold-blooded and hypocritical, but superstitious, and covering much craftiness and knowledge of mankind with a quiet and smooth exterior. Not of "Shah Abbas the Great" are more good stories told, than of "Beggee Jân:" in hearing them related, you cannot but be struck with the recurrence of phrases and idioms that appeared so singular and amusing in the “ Arabian Nights," and it is to be regretted that an Omar al Siftee does not exist to embody the tales that are related of these two monarchs in another series of a thousand and one evenings.

The following striking anecdote was told my friend by one Hâjee Hossein Khan Mervee, an old Cujjer nobleman, who was governor at Merve, when it was taken by Shah Moraud, and who was carried away prisoner to Bokhara: he vouched for the truth of the circumstance, having been in Bokhara when it occurred.

• One day, as the Shah was riding through the city on his ass, followed by a cortège of Oosteg, Affghaun, and Kuzzilbash nobles, he led the way to the coppersmiths' bazaar, and stopped at the shop of an artisan, to whom he addressed the following singular conversation: "Salaam Alekoom."—" Alekoom Salaam.' "Your health is good?" -"By your condescension and favour."-" I am concerned to see you, born a gentleman, toiling in an occupation that is beneath you: rather abandon this profession, and come live in the town as becomes a man of your birth: fear not to write to your friends all that goes on here; God be thanked, our actions are not such as we are ashamed should be known; but what you do write, write truly, and send it openly and worthily." The pretended coppersmith whom he ad dressed, he had discovered to be a man of some rank, sent secretly

by

by the Affghaun court to report upon his actions; and, by taking this quiet way of exposing him, he both preserved his reputation for mildness, and gained credit for knowing everything that passed.

It was his custom to speak of himself in the third person, under the affected designation of the Fakeer, though he allowed himself to be addressed by the title of Huzzurut-e-'Vullee Naiamee (His Excellency the Lord of Beneficence), and a very characteristic anecdote on this head was related to my friend by Ameer Nausir ud Deen (Toora) a brother to Ameer Hyder, who, leaving Bokhara for some political reason, resided many years at Meshed, and afterwards went to Constantinople, where I believe he now is.

The court sat a long time one morning in expectation of the Shah's entrance, but it was not till long after his usual hour that he came; he then walked in from the outer door, minus a considerable portion of his upper garment. When he had taken his seat, and exchanged "salaam alekoom" with the company, the eldest of the moolâs expressed a hope that nothing untoward had occurred. The king's answer was, "No-the fakeer had a friend whom he had not seen for many days, and he went yesterday to visit him. On returning, as the night was dark, and the road muddy, the fakeer turned into a mosque and slept there." "But what food did the Lord of Beneficence eat?" "A morsel of bread was in a beggar's wallet, and the fakeer ate that." "And where is the skirt of Huzzurut-e-'Vullee Naiamee's poosteen?" "The fakeer observed that the beggar's feet were cold, so, considering that the skirts of his garment were superfluous, he cut them off to make stockings for the poor man."

Notwithstanding his affected meekness, Shah Moraud caused himself to be feared by all classes of men. It is to be remarked in his character, that, though he overlooked many strong personal offences, he never forgave one which was directed against his sovereign power: still he had such command over his passions, that he waited to execute vengeance till he could bring it within warrant of the Mohummudan law, and thus he preserved the distinction that he prized; for those who feared and disliked him were bound for their own credit's sake to praise him for his sanctity. He introduced a very strict moral code into the city, but he was wise enough to give his orthodox brethren the full benefit of their law on points which much concerned them. He it was who made the rule by which a man, brought as a slave to Bokhara, professing himself a Soonnee, must prove himself such by four known Soonnee vouchers, whom he is little likely to find at no warning and far from his home. Some of the most scrupulous Bokharians are averse to purchasing a man who declares himself to be of the true faith, and Soonnees of other nations tell you, that the Toorkmuns, when they capture a stout man who persists in declaring himself orthodox, will prick his tongue so that he cannot articulate, and sell him in that state in the bazaar; or beat him dreadfully, till he is inclined, as the least of two evils, to deny his faith, and suffer himself to be sold as an infidel. Such men never can become truly religious,

for

for the greater the heresy of their neighbours the greater must be their profit.'-pp. 158-163.

Lieut. Conolly has produced an impression very little in favour of the Turcomans; they are a treacherous, canting, thieving, proud, avaricious, and barbarous race. They call themselves friends of the Persians; but their only object in life appears to be, how they may best attack Persian villages, pillage their property, and carry their men and women into captivity. They make their women work, and treat them as inferior beings, although their marriage ceremonies are conducted with great punctilio. Maidens are cheap-widows at a premium. Chastity is a universal virtue among the women; and they are also discreet, and shut or open their ears at pleasure. When men are talking together, and a woman is sitting by, she draws up a small piece of cloth from her bosom over her mouth, to signify that she takes concern only in her own occupation.' Perhaps, in the dearth of ingenuity for the invention of a new fashion, our Victorines and our Maradans might take a hint from the Turcoman ladies. The fichú à la Turcomane, we think, would sound very pretty; it might be ornamental-even useful.

Having failed in his endeavours to reach Khiva, our traveller determined to take the road to Meshed, and joined a company of pilgrims bound on a pilgrimage to the Tomb of Imaum Reza. For eight months in every year, dating from the vernal equinox, this road to and from Meshed is travelled by sixty thousand persons, chiefly pilgrims; and it is to be remarked that though much of the country is desert, every little station on the road furnishes supplies for this number of persons and their cattle. Stopping at Bostam they find one of the Shah's sons there, as governor. They are introduced to him, and he asks many questions, among others concerning Yankeedoonia,' America, or as it may be rendered, (so says our author,) the world of the Yankees.' This is an amusing mistake into which Lieut. Conolly has fallen, and natural enough to those who, like him, seem to have acquired the language by the roadside. Yengi doonia, in truth, means the New World. Yengi in Tartar language is new. Yankee is, according to Dr. Webster's Dictionary, a corrupt pronunciation of the word English by the Indians of North America.'

Many most characteristic scenes on the road, illustrative of the pilgrimage to Meshed, are described. We cannot resist inserting the following:

4

This march was a pleasant one-the air was fresh, and the pilgrims, relieved from the fear of the two most dreaded stages, unfurled their gay pennons, and moved along with lighter hearts. The Moojeteheid's face wore a smile, and, settling himself on his easy pad, he

condescended