The Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, S.C.) 1866-1891, 1879-01-09

body got out of his way as if he had
been q tiger. I learned sfterward that
he was the captain of the palace guard,
Shahrookh Khan.
My master told his story, and the
Afghans, on being questioned, gave the
whole history of the shooting-match in
which had beaten them. At the men
ton of that, I thought I saw Shah
rookh's face brighten, as if he had come
upon the very thing he wanted.
"This is matter for the ameer (king)
to Decide" said he. "Let the Oorooss
(Russian) be kept here tonight; to-
morrow he shall be sent for"
Sure enough; the first thing next
morning, three men made their appear
ance at the door of the room into which
I had been put. The foremost (who
wore rich robe of fowered silk had
round his forehead the yellow band
which was the badge of the ameer's
nuakhranas confidential servants); the
other two appeared TO be soldiers.
Follow us, Oorooss," said the makh-
ram; Il" his majesty calls YOU"
Away we went, right through the
heart of the city. It seemed much
larger and more populous than Khiva;
and after the silence and loneliness OF
the desert, all this crowd and bustle-
porters, fruit sellers, traders, camels and
wagons with seven foot wheels-fairly
made my head 60 round. Every race of
Asia, from the east to the west, seemed
to be gathered there. Sallow, narrow
eyed Tartars, with the dust of the desert
still upon them; tall, gaunt, hook.nosed
Turkomans; fat, lumpy Sarts, and lean,
hieh-cheeked Persians; squat, gnome-
like Bashkirs, who had almost the look
of bears on hind legs; yellow-faced
Cinnamon, with long pig-tails, and
shaggy, monkey-like Dhouwanas, in
huge fur bonnets; slender, graceful
Hindoos, wearing silver rings on their
wrists and ankles; portly Khokandese
merchants and filthy Kirghiz pilgrims;
skinny Kasbgarirs, with huge bat-ike
ears projecting from under their little
saucer.shaped caps; and tall, stately
Afghans, in white frocks and green
sashes, stuck all over with pistols and
daggers like the wall of an armory.
At the corner of one OF the principal
streets there seemed to be something
special going on, for such a crowd had
collected there that the street was quite
blocked up. Bot the makhram flourish
ed his saber-tipped rod, shouting,
"Make way for the servants OF the
king pa and the soldiers let fall their
on the toes of the people,
or prodded them behind with their
bayonets, so that there was way open
ed for us in no time. And when we got
into the middle OF the throng, what
should see but two men shaking lot
of human heads out of sack, just like
80 many potatoes-a sight which l saw
often enough in after days, but which
rather took me- ahkck shack Just Just theR t 'Fb The Ct
seeing that I looked puzzled,
kindly explained to me that it was one Of
the ameer's pleasant habits, whenever
any town or village offended him, to
levy upon, it tribute Of 80 many heads,
and thateif the man who collected them
happened to be short in his reckon
ing, off went his own head to make
matters straight-which must have
greatly encouraged the popular study of
arithmetic.
A little farther on we heard terrific |
yelling and screechiDg, proceeding ap- |
parently from group of native soldiers,
IN the midst of which lay man fat on |
his back, with huge fat fellow seated |
on his chest like night
mare, by way of keeping him comfort
able, while two sturdy Bokhariotes were |
laying on to the soles of his feet with |
whips with all their might and main. |
But the best of the whole affair was that |
the fellow who was being hogged never
uttered q sound, while the two who were |
6ogging him screamed and howled like
demons incarnate-to save him the |
trouble, perhaps, of doing it himself. |
30 he got his fve-and-twenty whacks,
and was cast off when instantly mp |
jumped two more soldiers, and whacked |
the FIRST two (for not hitting bard |
enough. I suppose); and then corpu-
lent old officer, who had been looking |
On with q pleasant smile, waddled up |
and gravely boxed their ears, all round,
,s If he had been giving them his bless
ing, after which the congregation dis
persed.
At last we came to steep hill, and as
ne assembled it, began to see overhead,
IS well as the clouds of dust would let |
me (for walking through the streets Of |
IN Asiatic town when the winds blow
ing is quite as bad as meeting simeon
in the desert), huge fortress-like
building, something after the style of
our governor-general's place at Oren-
burg, which, with its painted parapets,
and many colored towers, and great
white battlements, made quite grand
show in the bright morning sunsh ne.
The makhram told me that this was the |
ameer's palace, and that they were
going to take me before him at once !;
but when I ventured to ask what he
wanted with me, the Bokhariote only |
shook his head in way that wasn't at
all encouraging. It was curious to see,
as we neared the entrance, how silent |
all three of them became, and how the
swagger with which they had marched
through the town changed to cautious
tlmid step, like some one approaching
the lair of a wild beast, from which fact
could pretty well guess what this
worthy ameer must be like.
Just outside the great gate stood fifty
or sixty cannon (mostly brass twelve
all in row-like Napoleon's
guns in the Kremlin at Moscow. 1 mo-
ticed one that was made of iron and
silver bands, turn about; and the
makhram told me it had been taken at
the capture of Khokand, ten years
before. . ..-.
Two soldiers were standing, at the
gate as we entered !; and I saw one of
fha,n ,,n;nt 70 mo and draw his hand