A Ride to India across Persia and Baluchistán

ረA Ride to India across Persia and Baluchistán

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Baluchistán, by Harry De Windt This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net
Title: A Ride to India across Persia and Baluchistán
Author: Harry De Windt
Release Date: February 7, 2004 [EBook #10974]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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[Illustration: IN THE DESERT SUNRISE]

A RIDE TO INDIA
ACROSS PERSIA AND BALUCHISTáN.

BY

HARRY DE WINDT, F.R.G.S.,
AUTHOR OF "FROM PEKIN TO CALAIS BY LAND," ETC.

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS
BY
HERBERT WALKER FROM SKETCHES BY THE AUTHOR.

1891.

TO
AUDLEY LOVELL, ESQUIRE,
COLDSTREAM GUARDS,
THIS VOLUME
IS
DEDICATED.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER
I. TIFLIS--BAKU
II. THE CASPIAN--ASTARá--RéSHT
III. RéSHT--PATCHINAR
IV. PATCHINAR--TEHERáN
V. TEHERáN
VI. TEHERáN--ISPAHáN
VII. ISPAHáN--SHIRáZ
VIII. SHIRáZ--BUSHIRE
IX. BALUCHISTáN--BEILA
X. BALUCHISTáN--GWARJAK
XI. KELáT--QUETTA--BOMBAY
APPENDIX
MAP

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
* * * * *
IN THE DESERT SUNRISE
TIFLIS
A DIRTY NIGHT IN THE CASPIAN
ASTARá, RUSSO-PERSIAN FRONTIER
CROSSING THE KHARZáN
TEHERáN
PERSIAN DANCING-GIRL
POST-HOUSE AT KUSHKU BAIRA
A CORPSE CARAVAN
A DAY IN THE SNOW
A FAMILY PARTY
YEZDI-GHAZT
THE CARAVANSERAI, MEYUN KOTAL
SONMIANI
OUR CAMP AT OUTHAL
MALAK
A "ZIGRI" AT GWARJAK
NOMAD BALUCH TENT
JEBRI
KELáT
PALACE OF H.H. THE KHAN KELáT
THE KHAN OF KELáT

A RIDE TO INDIA.

CHAPTER I
.
TIFLIS--BAKU.
"Ceci non!"
A spacious apartment, its polished parquet strewn with white bearskins and the thickest and softest of Persian rugs; its panelled walls hung with Oriental tapestries, costly daggers, pistols, and shields of barbaric, but beautiful, workmanship, glistening with gold and silver. Every detail of the room denotes the artistic taste of the owner. Inlaid tables and Japanese cabinets are littered with priceless porcelain and _cloisonné_, old silver, and diamond-set miniatures; the low divans are heaped with cushions of deep-tinted satin and gold; heavy violet plush curtains drape the windows; while huge palms, hothouse plants, and bunches of sweet-smelling Russian violets occupy every available nook and corner. The pinewood fire flashes fitfully on a masterpiece of Vereschágin's, which stands on an easel by the hearth, and the massive gold "ikon," [A] encrusted with diamonds and precious stones, in the corner. A large oil painting of his Majesty the Czar of Russia hangs over the marble chimneypiece.
It is growing dark. Already a wintry wilderness of garden without, upon which snow and sleet are pitilessly beating, is barely discernible. By the window looms, through the dusk, the shadowy shape of an enormous stuffed tiger, crouched as if about to spring upon a spare white-haired man in neat dark green uniform, who, seated at a writing-table covered with papers and official documents, has just settled himself more comfortably in a roomy armchair. With a pleasant smile, and a long pull at a freshly lit "papirosh," he gives vent to his feelings with the remark that heads this chapter.
There is silence for a while, unbroken save by the crackle of blazing logs and occasional rattle of driving sleet against the window-panes. It is the 5th of January (O.S.). I am at Tiflis, in the palace of Prince Dondoukoff Korsákoff, Governor of the Caucasus, and at the present moment in that august personage's presence.
"Ceci non!" repeats the prince a second time, in answer to my request; adding impatiently, "They should know better in London than to send you to me. The War Minister in St. Petersburg alone has power to grant foreigners permission to visit Central Asia. You must apply to him, but let me first warn you that it is a long business. No"--after a pause--"no; were I in your place I would go to Persia. It is a country replete with interest."
I know, from bitter experience of Russian officials, that further parley is useless. Making my bow with as good a grace as possible under the circumstances, I take leave of the governor and am escorted by an aide-de-camp, resplendent in white and gold, through innumerable vestibules, and down the great marble staircase, to where my sleigh awaits me in the cutting north-easter and whirling snow. Gliding swiftly homewards along the now brilliantly lit boulevards, I realize for the first time that mine has been but a wild-goose chase after all; that, if India is to be reached by land, it is not _via_ Merv and Cábul, but by way of Persia and Baluchistán.
The original scheme was a bold one, and I derive some consolation in the thought that the journey would most probably have ended in defeat. This was the idea. From Tiflis to Baku, and across the Caspian to Ouzoun áda, the western terminus of the Trans-Caspian Railway. Thence by rail to Merv and Bokhára, and from the latter city direct to India, _via_ Balkh and Cábul, Afghanistán. A more interesting journey can scarcely be conceived, but Fate and the Russian Government decreed that it was not to be. Not only was I forbidden to use the railway, but (notwithstanding the