The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1873-07-10
The Conquest OF Khiva.
what is Expected to Result from it---A
Sketch OF the Country.

knowledge OF the policy and proweSs oil
Russia, and the extent of her prepare
tions, L shall be disappointed if the
Russian flag does not wave over Khiva
by the time this article comes from the
hands of the printer. The emperor
will extend his dominions as rapidly as
possible, and after Khiva has fallen
there is fair ground for expecting the
conquest of Afghanistan. Plenty of
time will be taken, though something
may occur to induce haste. In such
case Russia will not be found wanting.
The conquest of Central Asia up to the
frontiers of British India is likely to be
made within the next ten or twenty
years, and possibly it will be accom-
plished in the present year.
That the Russians will attempt to
push into India do not believe they
have no wish to provoke war with
Great Britain by any aggressive move
ment. What the latter power holds she
may keep Afghanistan may possibly
become bone of contention, and DOS
sibly Russian and English troops may
meet in her territory, but they are not
likely to fight it out there. The dispute
that arises is more likely to be settled
by diplomacy than by war, unless Eng
land takes the aggressive. Besides the
onquest of Central Asia, Russia seeks
to establish q port on the Indian Ocean;
she already has project for railway
to India, and the subject of navigating
the Oxus and Jaxartes has long been
under consideration. The chief diff
Guilty in the way of running boats on the
Oxus is the absence of water for several
he &c -. Of fhn
river, and the daily shifting of the sandy
channel in other parts. Water is gen
orally regarded as sine qua non in
steam navigation, and for most practi-
cal purposes the Oxus is useless. The
Jaxartes is somewhat, though not much,
better, but it has not yet been deter
mined to what extent it is available.
The railway is the only certain means
of rapid communication, but the dis
tances are SO great and the local re-
sources so few that it can not be looked
for at present.
The khanate of Khiva is defined by
the geographers as lying between lati-
tude go and 45o north, and longitude
500 and $40 east, bounded north by the
Kirghiz Steppe and the Aral Sea, east
by Bokhara and the Kizikum Desert,
south by Khorassan, and west by the
Caspian Sea. 1t has an area of 150, 900
square miles, and population esti-
mated at 100000. Most of the land
is an arid desert, and the fertile portion
of Khiva is mainly along the Oxus,
where there is considerable agriculture
Cotton is extensively cultivated, and
great numbers of sheep, goats, horses,
and dromedaries are raised. Silk, cot
| ton, and wooden fabrics are made, and
! large quantities of the raw materials are
exported to Russia by caravans. Most
of the work is performed by slaves,
| and the capital of Khiva is great slave
mart.
The Russian conquest will doubtless
break up this traffic, and it is for this
reason that Persia favors instead of op-
posing the Muscovite ambition. More
than twenty thousand Persians are
held in bondage in Khiva occasionally
these slaves escape to Russia, and are
protected, and it is this protection OF
fugitives which has caused much of the
i'll feeling between Russia and Khiva
| In Barnaul, Western Siberia, 1 saw sew
eral persons who had thus escaped, and
from the lips of one of them, an officer
of the Persian army, heard the terri
BILE story of his sufferings during {
seven years captivity, and of the crue
treatment visited upon him and his fel
ow-prisoners.
Khiva, the capital, is situated on ,
plain near the Oxus, has a population
of little over 10000, and is surround
ed by mud walls, easily broken by th,
modern appliances of war The Turco
man slave-hunters bring their captive'
to the city, where they are sold in th'
public square in the same way tina
slaves are sold at the barracoons on tn,
African coast. Sometimes when tribes
in various parts of the khanate are il
revolt, the troops of the emir are sen
to chastise them. The heads of tn,
slain are brought in by the victors, ant
paid for at stipulated prices. The pris
oners, such as are under forty years o
age, are sold into slavery the old mel
are beheaded or tortured, according t,
the will of the khan. Vambery thu
describes the treatment of a party O
rebel prisoners brought into Khiva a
the time of his visit: "The young mel
were chained together by their iron col
lars in numbers of ten to fifteen, ant
leu away lue Oll uleH dNulIeu SuDllllS
sively the punishment awarded to them
While several were led to the gallows o
block, l saw how, at sign from the exc
cutioner, eight aged men placed them
selves down on their backs upon tn
earth. They were then bound han,
and foot, and the executioner gouge'
out their eyes in turn, kneeling to do 81
on the breast of each poor wretch an,
after every operation he wiped hi
knife, dripping with blood, upon tn
white beard of the hoary unfortunate.
The Khivans have all the appliance
of torture known to ancient or moderl
times. The bare enumeration of them
with the briefest description, woul
cause the most stoical of readers t
shiver with horror.
Humanity will be greatly benefited b.
Russia's absorption of Khiva. TIL
Crescent must give way to the Gross
and the mercy and love taught by tn
Nazarene must be substituted for tn
cruelty enjoined by him who preache
death to unbelievers, and spread his re
: ligion with fire and sword.
A nrunkopdsS Warnin0