Across Coveted Lands Part 33

We paid an interesting visit to the village of Fatabad, the older portion of which, formerly called Rustamabad, had from a distance the appearance of a strongly fortified place. It had a high broad wall with four circular towers at the corners, and quite an imposing gateway. The interior of the village was curious, the habitations being adjacent to the village wall all round, and each room having a perforated dome over it. There was s.p.a.cious stabling on one side for horses, and several irregular courts in the centre of the village. A long wall stretched from this village to the Fatabad gardens and palatial dwelling of Hussein-Ali-Khan, and on one side of this wall were nicely kept wheat fields, while on the other lay a capital fruit garden.

In the new village of Fatabad, directly outside the wall of Rustamabad, there were but few houses, with an interesting underground hammam, with water coming from natural mineral springs brought here from the village of Ikhtiyarabad, some little distance off. Behind this village, to the west, a barrier of high rugged hills closed the horizon before us, and made the view a most delightfully picturesque one.

In the evening, in the same grand carriage, we were again conveyed back to Kerman, as I intended to start at midnight on my journey across the Great Salt Desert.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Sketch Map Showing Route Followed by Author and Princ.i.p.al Tracks between k.u.m and Kerman (Persia).

Drawn by A. Henry Savage Landor.]

END OF VOL. I

RICHARD CLAY AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON AND BUNGAY.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Mahommed Hussein. Sadek.

(Author's Servants.)]

ACROSS COVETED LANDS

OR

A JOURNEY FROM FLUs.h.i.+NG (HOLLAND) TO CALCUTTA, OVERLAND

BY

A. HENRY SAVAGE LANDOR

_WITH 175 ILl.u.s.tRATIONS, DIAGRAMS, PLANS AND MAPS_ _BY AUTHOR_

IN TWO VOLUMES VOL. II

London MACMILLAN AND CO., Limited 1902

_All rights reserved_

Richard Clay and Sons, Limited, LONDON AND BUNGAY

LIST OF ILl.u.s.tRATIONS

_To face page_ Mahommed Hussein and Sadek (Author's Servants) _Frontispiece_ Kerman and Zeris, the two Kittens who accompanied Author on his wanderings 6 Author's Caravan and Others Halting in the Desert 20 Author's Caravan in the Salt Desert 26 Ali Murat Making Bread 26 Wolves in Camp 34 Author's Camel Men in their White Felt Coats 38 Camel Men saying their Prayers at Sunset 38 Author's Camels being Fed in the Desert 48 The Trail we left behind in the Salt Desert 54 Author's Caravan Descending into River Bed near Darband 58 Rock Habitations, Naiband 58 The Village of Naiband, and Rock Dwellings in the Cliff 60 Young Men of an Oasis in the Desert 64 Man and Child of the Desert 64 Naiband Barber Stropping a Razor on his Leg 68 A Woman of Naiband 68 Fever Stricken Man at Fedeshk 86 The Citadel, Birjand 86 The City of Birjand, showing main street and river bed combined 90 Women Visiting Graves of Relatives, Birjand.

(Ruined Fort can be observed on Hill.) 110 In the Desert. (Tamarisks in the Foreground.) 118 Women at Bandan 142 Dr. Golam Jelami and his Patients 142 The Main Street, Sher-i-Nasrya (Showing centre of City) 144 The British Bazar (Husseinabad), Sistan 150 The Wall of Sher-i-Nasrya at Sunset 156 The Sar-tip 162 The Customs Caravanserai, Sher-i-Nasrya, Sistan (Belgian Customs Officer in foreground) 166 The Sistan Consulate on Christmas Day, 1901 174 Major R. E. Benn, British Consul for Sistan, and his Escort of 7th Bombay Lancers 186 The Citadel of Zaidan, the Great City 202 The Zaidan West Towers and Modern Village 204 Towers of the Citadel, Zaidan 206 S.E. Portion of Zaidan City, showing how it disappears under distant sand acc.u.mulations 208 Double Wall and Circular Unroofed Structures, Zaidan. In the distance high sand acc.u.mulations above City 208 Interior of Zaidan Fortress 212 Graveyard of Zaidan City 212 East View of the Zaidan Citadel 214 The Figure we dug out at Zaidan 218 Arabic Inscription and marble columns with earthenware lamps upon them. Fragment of water-pipe. Stone implements. Brick wall of the "Tombs of Forty Saints" showing in top corners of photograph 218 Arabic Inscription on Marble dug by Author at the City of Zaidan 220 Transfer of Inscription dated 1282, found in the "Tomb of Forty Saints," Zaidan 222 Transfer of Ornament above four lines of Koran on Grave Stone 222 Transfer of Ornamentations on Marble Grave 222 Presumed Summits of Towers buried in Sand, Zaidan (Notice top of Castellated Wall behind.) 222 Sketch Plan of Zaidan Citadel, by A. Henry Savage Landor 228 Sketch Map of Summit of Kuh-i-Kwajah, by A. Henry Savage Landor 238 Dead Houses and Ziarat on Kuh-i-Kwajah 240 A Family Tomb (Eight Compartments) on Kuh-i-Kwajah 240 Kala-i-Kakaha, the "City of Roars of Laughter" 242 The "Gandun Piran" Ziarat on Kuh-i-Kwajah 242 A Bird's Eye View of Kala-i-Kakaha, the "City of Roars of Laughter" 246 Sher-i-Rustam. (Rustam's City) 260 The Stable of Rustam's Legendary Horse 260 The Gate of Rustam's City, as seen from Rustam's House 262 The Remains of the Two Upper Storeys of Rustam's House 266 Rustam's City, showing Rustam's House in Citadel, also domed roofs blown in from the north 268 Plan of Sher-i-Rustam 270 View of Sher-i-Rustam from Rustam's House. (West portion of City under the lee of wall) 272 View of Sher-i-Rustam from Rustam's House (South-east section of City) 274 Sad Khan, Duffadar and Levies at the Perso-Beluch Frontier Post of Robat 294 Beluch Musicians (at Sibi) 298 Beluch Dance (at Sibi) 304 The Beluch-Afghan Boundary Cairn and Malek-Siah Mountains in Background 306 Rest House at Mahommed Raza Chah overlooking Afghan Desert 310 Beluch Black Tents at Mahommed Raza Chah 314 Rock Pillar between Kirtaka and Saindak 314 Sand Hills 318 A Caravan of Donkeys in Afghanistan 320 In Afghanistan. Who are you? 322 In the Afghan Desert. Afghan Caravan Men 322 The Thana and New Bungalow at Saindak. (Saindak Mt. in Background.) 324 Beluch Prisoners at Saindak 326 Interior of Rest House, Mukak 332 The Rest House at Sahib Chah 332 Windmill at Mushki Chah 350 Three Beluch who would not be Photographed! 350 Ziarat at Chah Sandan. (Belind Khan Salaaming) 362 Desert covered with Gypsum, near Sotag 362 Circular Mesjid, with Tomb and Outer Kneeling Place 364 Mesjid on the Site where a Man had been Killed between Kis.h.i.+ngi and Morad Khan Kella 364 The Type of Thana and New Bungalow between Nushki and Robat 368 The Nushki-Robat Track 372 A Beluch Family 382 Beluch Huts thatched with Palm Leaves and Tamarisk 394 Circular Ziarat with Stone, Marble and Horn Offerings 398 Ziarat with Tomb showing Stone Vessels 398 Beluch Mesjid and Graveyard at Dalbandin 402 Kuchaki Chah Rest House 410 Old Beluch Mud Fort near Nushki 410 Beluch Huts and Weaving Loom 416 Cave Dwellers, Nushki 416 A Badini Sardar 422 The Salaam of the Beluch Sardars at Nushki 422 The New City of Nushki (overlooking the Tas.h.i.+l Buildings.) 426 Jemadar and Levies, Nushki 428 A Giant Beluch Recruit. (Chaman.) 428 The Track between Nushki and Kis.h.i.+ngi 432 Taleri (Kanak). The new type of Rest House between Nushki and Quetta 438 The Horse Fair at Sibi, Beluchistan 440 Beluch Boys off to the Races--Horse Fair at Sibi 442 Map at the End of Volume.

ACROSS COVETED LANDS

CHAPTER I

Difficulties of crossing the Great Salt Desert--The trials of arranging a caravan--The ways of camel-men--A quaint man of the Desert--A legal agreement--Preparations for the departure--"Kerman" and "Zeris," my two Persian kittens and travelling companions--Persian cats--The start--The charms of camel riding--Marching among mountains.

My intention was to cross the Salt Desert in an almost easterly direction by the route from Khabis to Neh, which seemed the most direct route from Kerman to the Afghan frontier, but on mentioning my project to the Consul and his Persian a.s.sistant, Nasr-el Khan, they dissuaded me from attempting it, declaring it impossible to get across in the autumn. Why it was impossible I could not quite ascertain, each man from whom I inquired giving a different reason, but the fact remained that it was impossible. The Governor of Kerman, all the highest officials in the town, told me that it could not be done till three or four months later, when the Afghan camels would come over, laden with b.u.t.ter, by that route. Even faithful Sadek, whom I had despatched to the bazaar to get camels at all costs, returned with a long face after a whole day's absence, and for the first time since he was in my employ had to change his invariable answer of "Sahib, have got," to a bitterly disappointing "Sahib, no can get."

A delay was predicted on all hands of at least a month or two in Kerman before I could possibly obtain camels to cross the desert in any direction towards the east. The tantalising trials of arranging a caravan were not small.

I offered to purchase camels, but no camel driver could be induced to accompany me. Offers of treble pay and baks.h.i.+sh had no effect, and I found myself in a serious dilemma when a camel man appeared on the scene.

His high terms were then and there accepted, everything that he asked for was conceded, when suddenly, probably believing that all this was too good to come true, he backed out of the bargain and positively refused to go. Had I chosen to go by the southern route, skirting the desert _via_ Bam, the difficulty would not have been so great, but that route is very easy, and had been followed by several Europeans at different times, and I declined to go that way.

I was beginning to despair when Sadek, who had spent another day hunting in the various caravanserais, entered my room, and with a broad grin on his generally stolid countenance, proclaimed that he had found some good camels. To corroborate his words a clumsy and heavy-footed camel man, with a face which by a.s.sociation had become like that of the beasts he led, was shoved forward into the room.

He was a striking figure, with an ugly but singularly honest countenance, his eyes staring and abnormally opened, almost strained--the eyes of a man who evidently lived during the night and slept during the day. His mouth stretched, with no exaggeration, from ear to ear, and displayed a double row of powerful white teeth. What was lacking in quant.i.ty of nose was made up by a superabundance of malformed, shapeless ears, which projected at the sides of his head like two wings. When his legs were closed--_pour facon de parler_--they were still some six inches apart, and a similar s.p.a.ce was noticeable between each of his arms and his body.

Unmistakably this fellow was the very picture of clumsiness.

He seemed so much distracted by the various articles of furniture in the Consul's room that one could get no coherent answer from him, and his apprehension gave way to positive terror when he was addressed in flowing language by the various high officials who were then calling on the Consul. Their ways of persuasion by threats and promises alarmed the camel man to such an extent that his eyes roamed about all over the place, palpably to find a way to effect an escape. He was, however, so clumsy at it, that the consul's servants and soldiers checked him in time, and Sadek broke in with one of his usual flows of words at the top of his voice, which, however, could hardly be heard amid the vigorous eloquence of the Persians present, who all spoke at the same time, and at an equally high pitch.

With a sinking heart I closely watched the camel man, in whom rested my faint and last hope of crossing the Salt Desert. He looked so bewildered--and no wonder--almost terror-stricken, that when he was asked about his camels, the desert, the amount of pay required, he sulkily mumbled that he had no camels, knew nothing whatever about the desert, and did not wish to receive any pay.

"Why, then, did you come here?"

"I did not come here!"

"But you are here."

"I want to go away."

"Yes, sahib," cried the chorus of Persians, "he has the camels, he knows the desert; only he is frightened, as he has never spoken to a sahib before."

Here a young Hindoo merchant, Mul Chan Dilaram, entered the room, and with obsequious salaams to the company, a.s.sured me that he had brought this camel man to me, and that when he had got over his first fears I should find him an excellent man. While we were all listening to the Hindoo's a.s.surances the camel man made a bolt for the door, and escaped as fast as he could lay his legs to the ground towards the city.

He was chased by the soldiers, and after some time was dragged back.

"Why did you run away?" he was asked.

"Sahib," he replied, almost crying, "I am only a man of the desert; my only friends are my camels; please have pity on me!"

"Then you have camels, and you do know the desert; you have said so in your own words."

The camel man had to agree, and on being a.s.sured that he would be very well paid and treated, and have a new pair of shoes given him, and as much tea brewed for him on the road, with as much sugar in it as his capacity would endure, he at last said he would come. The Hindoo, with great cunning, at once seized the hand of the camel man in his own and made him swear that death should descend upon himself, his camels and his family if he should break his word, or give me any trouble. The camel man swore. An agreement was hastily drawn up before he had time to change his mind, and a handsome advance in solid silver was pressed into his hands to make the agreement good and to allay his feelings. When requested to sign the doc.u.ment the camel man, who had sounded each coin on the doorstep, and to his evident surprise found them all good, gaily dipped his thumb into the inkstand and affixed his natural mark, a fine smudge, upon the valuable paper, and licked up the surplus ink with his tongue.

The man undertook to provide the necessary camels and saddles, and to take me across the Salt Desert in a north-easterly direction, the only way by which, he said, it was possible to cross the _Lut_, the year having been rainless, and nearly all the wells being dry. It would take from twenty-two to twenty-six days to get across, and most of the journey would be waterless or with brackish water. Skins had to be provided to carry our own supply of water.