<
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
>
Mr. Schuyler left St. Petersburg March 23, 1873, having as his companion Mr. MacGahan, whose desert ride on his way to Khiva was, a few months later, the subject of general wonder and admiration. Stopping at Moscow for a day, the two reached Saratof, 940 miles from St. Petersburg, on the morning of March 26. Almost their only fellow-passenger in the railway carriage was Prince Tchinghiz, a lineal descendant of the famous Tchinghiz Khan, -- or, as he is more popularly known, Genghis Khan, -- and son of the last Khan of the Bukeief Horde of Kirghiz. After the death of his father, he ¨C the eldest son -- was given the Russian title of Prince in memory of his ancient lineage and of the services of his father.
He had just returned from Mecca, whither, as a good Mussulman, he had just made a pilgrimage, and was going to spend the summer on his estates in the Government of Samara. During the journey, he was most of the time absorbed in a French novel. Mr. Schuyler sets him down as apparently a cultivated gentleman, and notes it as a curious coincidence that, on the threshold of Asia, he should have met the descendant of its greatest conqueror. From Saratof, the travelers struck across the Volga, and made their way down to Fort Uralsk. Thence going southward, they touched the extreme north-eastern limit of the Aral Sea, and, stopping at Kazala, they made their way next to Fort Perovsky, whence MacGahan started upon that famous desert ride, already mentioned, which he has himself fully described in his narrative, "Campaigning on the Oxus."
Although Mr. Schuyler heard from his adventurous companion directly but once during the whole summer, he states that he frequently heard from him indirectly, his ride across the desert being spoken of everywhere in Central Asia as by far the most wonderful thing ever done there, since he went far through a country supposed to be hostile, knowing nothing of the roads or of the language. Even the officer whose scouts had failed to catch the adventurous correspondent, and from whom, long afterward, Mr. Schuyler heard of his companion's safe arrival at Khiva, was delighted at his pluck, and used the significant Russian expression, molodetz, -- a brave young fellow, -- he greatest possible praise under such circumstances.
<
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
>
A kirghiz
Vambery - England in the Orient
Foreign retirees in Manchuria
First Japanese Buddhist Temple in America
An early traveler in Egypt
Japanese priest crosses desert to Tibet
Waiting in Ulaan Baatar
Central Asia after the battle at Penjdeh
Underground City near Bokhara
Central Asia
Bokhara
Central Asia
