Khiva

“ They cultivate the soil, breed cattle, and their women make carpets. There are also about 10,000 Kirghiz, and when the Russians took Khiva in 1873 there were 29,300 Persian slaves, stolen by Turkoman raiders, and over 6500 liberated slaves, mostly Kizil-bashes. The former were set free and the slave trade abolished. Of domestic industries, the embroidering of cloth, silks and leather is worthy of notice. The trade of Khiva is considerable: cotton, wool, rough woollen cloth and silk cocoons are exported to Russia, and various animal products to Bokhara. ”

“ KHIVA, formerly an important kingdom of Asia, but now a much reduced khanate, dependent upon Russia, and confined to the delta of the Amu-darya (Oxus) . Its frontier runs down the left bank of the Amu, from 40° 15′ N., and down its left branch to Lake Aral; then, for about 40 m. along the south coast of Lake Aral, and finally southwards, following the escarpment of the Ust-Urt plateau. From the Transcaspian territory of Russia Khiva is separated by a line running almost W.N.W.-E.S.E. under 40° 30′ N., from the Uzboi depression to the Amu-darya. ”

“ Before sunset we started again, and marched without stopping in the vicinity of the river. Its deep banks are almost everywhere overgrown with willows, gigantic grass, and rushes. Although the way between Khiva and Bokhara had been described to me as a frequented one, we had as yet, with the exception of the frontier-watchers and the nomads who were roaming about, not met a single traveller. What, then, was our astonishment when, about midnight, we saw five horsemen approaching at full speed! These were Khivan merchants, who had come hither from Bokhara, by Karaköl, in four days. ”

“ At present it furnishes scarcely any articles of export, and carries on a comparatively small trade with Russia. Boukhara is the great Eastern emporium; but the traffic is much intercepted by Turcoman banditti, who are subjects of Khiva. The aspect of Khiva, after a journey over the steppe, which in every direction surrounds it, is most inviting. Canals intersect the country, forming little islands, upon which castellated houses are situated; tropical produce is abundant and luxuriant; vegetation affords a grateful relief to the eye of the weary traveller. ”

“ I must also class amongst the bazaars the Kitchik Kervanserai, where the slaves brought by the Tekke and the Yomuts are exposed for sale. But for this article of business Khiva itself could not exist, as the culture of the land is entirely in the hands of the slaves. When we come to speak of Bokhara, we will treat this subject more at large.
Mosques.
There are few mosques in Khiva of much antiquity or artistic construction. Those that follow alone deserve notice. ”

“ The chiefs of Khiva have not generally aimed at such combined attacks as here represented, but confined themselves to a marauding life; they continually send detachments to plunder in Persia, and seize the inhabitants. The Khan receives a fifth of all the booty so captured. The power of Khiva over the Toorkmuns gives them great facility in these forays, which are conducted with great success. They also seize upon the subjects of Russia on the Caspian Sea; and both Persians and Russians are sold in this country as slaves. ”

“ The injuries which Khiva inflicted on the kingdom, determines its influence over the destinies of Bokhara. With an inferior power, the chief of that state plundered its caravans, robbed its subjects, obstructed its commerce, and laid waste its territories. The intervening deserts protected him from reprisal, though a vigorous monarch might successfully invade his territories from the Oxus. If the Khan of Khiva continues friendly, the King will be able to extend his power to the eastward, where he has long meditated an expedition. ”

“ Khiva is peopled by 1. Özbegs; 2. Turkomans; 3. Karakalpak; 4. Kasak (called by us Kirghis) ; 5. Sart; 6. Persians.
1. Özbegs.
This is the designation of a people for the most part inhabiting settled abodes, and occupying themselves with the cultivation of the earth. They extend from the southern point of the sea of Aral as far as Komul (distant a journey of forty days from Kashgar) , and are looked upon as the prominent race in the three Khanats. According to their divisions they fall into thirty-two principal Taife (tribes) . ”

“ A treatment of prisoners such as I have described is indeed horrible; but it is not to be regarded as an exceptional case. In Khiva, as well as in the whole of Central Asia, wanton cruelty is unknown; the whole proceeding is regarded as perfectly natural, and usage, law, and religion all accord in sanctioning it. The present Khan of Khiva wanted to signalise himself as a protector of religion, and believed he should succeed by punishing with the greatest severity all offences against it. ”

“ There are a score of mosques, of which the one containing the tomb of Polvan, the patron saint of Khiva, is the best, and four large madrasas (Mahommedan colleges) . Large gardens exist in the western part of the town. A small Russian quarter has grown up. The inhabitants make carpets, silks and cottons. ”

“ The Khan can raise a force of 10,000 men, and has a park of nine pieces of ordnance. His troops are either Uzbeks or Toorkmuns, who are armed in the same manner as the levies in Bokhara: some of the latter carry bows and arrows. The great object of the Khan of Khiva is to subdue the Toorkmun tribes between his territories and Persia, as well to increase his revenue as his power. The position of Khiva has enabled him to exert a greater influence over these wanderers than either Persia or Bokhara; who are thus set at defiance by a body of robbers, holding an oäsis in the desert. ”

“ There are festivals and sports in Khiva which have been handed down from the primitive inhabitants, who were fire-worshippers; they once existed in other parts of Central Asia before the introduction of Islam, but they are at the present day quite forgotten.
2. Turkomans.
Of these we have already spoken at large. There are in Khiva (a) Yomuts who inhabit the borders of the desert, from Köhne to Gazavat, the district of Karayilghin, Köktcheg, Özbegyap, Bedrkend, and Medemin. ”

“ Cast for centuries upon the extreme limit of Persian nationality, their numbers have melted away in consequence of constant warfare. They count now no more than about eight or nine thousand tents. The inhabitants live in a state of great destitution, scattered over the above-named valley and neighbouring mountains. As will be seen in the history of Khiva, a great part of them were forced by Allahkuli Khan to quit their country, and form a colony in that Khanat, where a new place of settlement was marked out for them in a fertile district (Köktcheg) , abundantly watered by the Oxus. ”

“ On the other side the war with Bokhara continued; the Göklens were also subdued, and a great number of them sent to colonise Khiva. It is an old but singular custom in this country that a whole tribe is taken altogether and forced to submit to a transportation which transfers them to Khiva itself; there they receive every possible succour, and as their own feelings of animosity continue to exist, there is no difficulty in maintaining over them a close surveillance. ”

“ About the same time we received some good news in regard to a caravan which was to go to Khiva. The Khan of Khiva, whom the physicians had ordered to drink buffalo milk for his health, had sent his kervanbashi (chief of the caravans) to Astrabad to buy two buffaloes, there being no such animals in his dominions. The kervanbashi had already passed through Gomushtepe, and we were to join his caravan and start at once with him upon his return. A better guide we could not desire, for there was not a man more familiar with the desert than he. ”

“ Florio Beneveni, an Italian who passed some time at Bokhārā in the early part of the eighteenth century, informed Peter the Great that 3000 Russians were held captive there, and, at the commencement of our own, Mouravieff reported that a similar number languished in bondage in Khiva.586 Wolff, writing in 1843, estimated the number of Persian slaves in Bokhārā at 200,000, and those detained at Khiva about the same period were stated by Major Abbott to exceed 700,000. The price paid varied with the age of the prisoner, children and young girls being twice as valuable as adults. ”

“ He had quite forgotten his real enemies--the gold pieces of Bokhara; for the sympathies of the Turkomans are ever with those that pay best. Thus far of the internal policy of Bokhara.
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Khiva has been much enfeebled by the continual wars it has had to maintain with its own tributaries--who are ever ready to renew the contest--the Yomuts, Tchaudors, and Kasaks. The superiority of numbers is on the side of Bokhara; and if the Emir has hitherto been unable to conquer Khiva, the sole cause is the bravery of the Özbeg population. ”

“ The next day the hadjis assembled in the court of the monastery in which they had resided since arriving in Khiva. The caravan, thanks to the generosity of the faithful, presented a very different appearance from that which it offered at its arrival. They were no more those ragged beggars, covered with sand and dust, whose pious sufferings the multitude had admired; every pilgrim had the head enveloped in a thick turban as white as snow, the haversacks were full, and even the poorest had a little ass for the journey. ”

“ The intention of this man was to do honour to the departed, for praise such as he bestowed none but the noblest of men could deserve. 'We had in our karavan,' said the speaker, 'several Persians, journeying from Khiva to Astrabad, and amongst them there was a very wealthy merchant, named Mollah Kaszim, from the city last named. He had for years been engaged in the traffic carried on between Persia and Khiva, and, having constant occasion to visit the latter country, was the guest of the deceased, and consequently under the safeguard of his hospitality, both in Khiva and in the desert. ”

“ Khokand, owing to the continual dissensions between the Kiptchaks, Kirghis, and Kasaks, is a prey to the same evil as Khiva. When we add to this the unexampled cowardice of its Özbeg inhabitants, it will no longer appear surprising if, in spite of its having the greatest population and the most extensive territory of the three Khanats, it has, nevertheless, been continually conquered by Bokhara. ”

“ Pious legends have grown up to supply the lack of sober historical record of such conversions. The city of Khīva reveres as its national saint a Muslim wrestler—Pahlavān—who was in the service of a heathen king of K͟hwārizm. The king of India, hearing of the fame of this Pahlavān, sent his own court wrestler with a challenge to the king of K͟hwārizm. A day was fixed for the trial of strength and the nobles and people of Khīva were summoned to view the spectacle ”

“ Every week brings fresh business; and all the world will now have it that Russia has advanced on Khiva. What of that? She has the right to relieve her enslaved countrymen; and if she have the power, why should she have so long hesitated? But the time she has chosen for this blow is an awkward one. I hold, however, that the man who recommends the cantonment of a British or an Indian soldier west of the Indus is an enemy to his country. ”

“ The injuries which the Khivans have inflicted on the neighbouring countries have given them a greater importance than they deserve, for at best they are but an organised banditti, protected by the natural strength of their country. The situation of Khiva, between Russia and Bokhara, makes it the entrepôt of commerce between these kingdoms, which extends its influence. Orgunje itself has no internal trade, and is thinly peopled. It is doubtful if the population amounts to 200,000 souls. ”

“ It consisted of 30,000 Uzbegs under the command of a general of distinction named Mahammad Niyāz Bi. The avenging host followed the course of the Amū Daryā until the confines of Khiva had been reached.483 In the meantime, Iltuzar, overjoyed at the prospect of victory, crossed the Amū Daryā in the enemy’s rear and established himself in an entrenched camp with 4000 chosen men. The invaders were on the horns of a dilemma. To leave the river was to enter a waterless desert, wherein none would emerge alive; while retreat to Bokhārā was barred by the Khivans’ entrenchments. ”

“ The charity and liberality of the inhabitants of Khiva was manifestly traceable in the altered appearance of the mendicant caravan. The moth-eaten fur caps which we had adopted amongst the Turkomans had given way to turbans of spotless white. The conglomeration of tatters, dignified by the name of apparel, was gone, and the very travelling outfit was far superior to our former holiday apparel. Our bags were filled to bursting, and we experienced great satisfaction in observing that even the poorest of us was provided with an ass, however diminutive. ”

“ Thus, although Russia was said to have formed a quadruple alliance with the Khans of Khiva and Boukhara, and Dost Mahomed, it was nevertheless necessary to seize the town of Khiva, which succumbed after an energetic resistance of thirty-two days—certainly a most improbable mode this of cementing the alliance. At the same time, it is due to another portion of the home community to give them the benefit of holding views of a very different character. ”