Page:The Boy Travellers in the Russian Empire.djvu/450

444 were greeted by the Turcoman chief who ruled in that district; he was very hospitable, and entertained them for a whole month merely for the sake of having visitors.

"In a caravan of Turcoman horsemen they journeyed to Khiva, crossing a desert region where for days they had only the water they carried on their saddles. They fell short of water, and while their suffering was severe they were relieved by the chief of the caravan, who had an extra store concealed in his baggage. As he doled it out to the pilgrims he said it had always been his custom to carry an extra supply of water while crossing the desert, and distribute it when most needed. But this same man had proposed a few days before to leave Vámbéry to perish in the desert, on the mere suspicion that he was a European in disguise.

"Vámbéry gives an excellent description of the Turcoman character, which has been fully confirmed by other travellers, and later by the Russian conquerors of Turkestan. They are honest in their dealings with each other, and often display much tenderness; at the same time they are the most brutal of slave-masters and man-stealers, and capable of the severest cruelty. Vámbéry says that one day a Turcoman said it was a sin to destroy a basket in the desert, because it had once been the seat of a man on a camel; the same man denied a drop of water to a slave whom he had fed on salt-fish for two days, and his delight at the suffering of his victim was equal to that of a countryman over the antics of a clown at a circus.

"Some of the tribes, in their wars with each other, cut off the heads of those whom they slay in battle, and bring them home as trophies; Vámbéry happened to be present in Khiva when, one day, the Khan's treasurer was paying for human heads. As each warrior came forward he emptied his sack on the ground, and an accountant made note of the number of skulls and the name of their owner.

"The payment was not in money, but in robes of honor, which were of different colors, according to the number of slain to each warrior's credit. Some received the robe of forty heads, others the robe of twenty, and others that of ten, five, or four. It was like the different degrees of the decorations awarded by the rulers of the nations of Europe, or the rewards of merit issued by a school-teacher to diligent and well-behaved pupils.

"Another time Vámbéry was in the public square of Khiva when about three hundred prisoners of war were brought in. They were separated into two divisions, those who had not reached their fortieth year, and were to be sold as slaves or given as presents, being placed in one category. They were chained together and led away, and then the old men were brought forward for punishment; and what do you suppose it was?