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OCTOBER, 1917] A THIRD JOURNEY OF EXPLORATION IN CENTRAL ASIA
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Here, too, the recommendation of the Imperial Russian political representative, Consul Belaieff, had assured me all possible attention and help. As I travelled up the Vanaj Valley, and subsequently through the mountain tract known as Wakhia-bala, I could no: observe the gradual change in the physical appearance, houses, ways of living, etc., of the people, bearing testimony to the historically attested conquest of Turki tribes and the influence exercised by the civilization of the Turkestan plains. But we were still high up in the mountains, and had a trying task when on October 3 we crossed the Sitargh Pass, circ. 14,600 feet high, with its big and badly crevassed glacier, after the first winter snow had fallen, and just in time before it became closed to traffic. Finally, we gained by the Gardan-i-kaftar Pase, also under fresh snow, the main valley of Kara-tegin.
Here on the banks of the Kizil-su River, coming from the Alai, I found myself once more on the line of the ancient silk-trade route connecting China with Bactria. A marked change in the climatic conditions was brought home to me by the fact that the fertile slopes on the hillsides are being cultivated without the need of irrigation. Kara-tegin, as its modern name attests, had been long occupied by a Turki-speaking population. It was interesting to note here how the Kirghiz settlers, who represent probably the last wave of this Turkish invasion in what was originally Iranian ground, are now being slowly ousted again from the land by a steady reflux of Tajik immigrants.
From Kara-tegin, where I had interesting opportunities for getting to know the traditional administrative methods of Bokhara, a succession of rapid marches carried me westwards through the open and remarkably fertile valleys which the rivers of Kafirnihan and Surkhan drain. It seemed hard to forego a visit south to the Oxus, where it passes nearest to my old goal of Balkh or Bactra. But time was getting short for the remaining portion of my programme. So I took the nearest route to the confines of ancient Sogdiana northwestwards by the difficult track through the mountains which connects Hissar and Regak with the rich plains about Shahr-i-sabz. Finally, or October 22, I arrived at Samarkand and the Russian Central-Asian railway. Since the start from my camp in the Kashgar Mountains my journey had lasted just over three months, and within these we had covered on foot and on horseback an aggregate distance of close on 1700 miles.
A new and distant field of work lay ahead for me on Persian soil. So only a few days could be spared for renewed visits to the great monuments of Muhammadan art and Mughal power at Samarkand. It was the same at Bokhara, where I could personally thank M. Shulga, then officiating as the Imperial Russian representative, as well as the Diwan-begi, the head of H. H. the Amir of Bokhara's administration, for all the kind help and hospitality I had received in the State. So much survives, in that fascinating great city, of old-world CentralAsian life and of its own historical past that my three days' stay seemed a sadly brief time. Then the Trans-Caspian railway carried me to Askhabad, the great Russian cantonment on the Persian border, and crossing this I reached Meshed by November 4 after a four days' hard drive.
There, at the old capital of Khorasan, Colonel T. W. Haig, H. B. M.'s Consul-General for Khorasan, and a distinguished Oriental scholar, offered me the kindest welcome and the chance of a much-needed short rest. Under the hospitable roof of the Consulate and within its fine large garden I felt as if brought back to some English country house. Constant toil at much delayed official accounts kept me busy and, alas, left little time for glimpses of the interesting city outside. Seistan was my goal for the winter's work, and considering its great distance and the uncertain state of political affairs in Persia, I had much reason to feel grateful for the kind help and shrewd advice by which Colonel Haig facilitated my rapid onward journey.
