detained there in some measure from a desire of procuring shawls as a safe remittance to Bokhara, but principally in consequence of the contest in Afghanistan, between Runjeet Sing and the Dooranees; and of his having traversed Afghanistan, and ultimately having arrived in Turkestan.

"He further observed, that Morad Begh had conveyed to him the fullest assurances of safety, instead of which he had been detained three months, had suffered unreasonable exactions, and was threatened with the loss of property and life unless he would immediately pay an enormous sum as the price of his liberation. The Peerzada pledged his word to prevent, as far as might lie in his power, any further injury to Mr. Moorcroft, or his affairs. Our traveller was then hospitably entertained, and treated with attention and respect. In one of their conversations, the Peerzada informed him that a native of Enderab, named Moollah Mahomed Ameen, had brought against him very grave accusations before the chief, and was surprised to learn that the Moollah was unknown to him. Next day the Moollah made his appearance at Talikan, accompanied by a Hajee, and demanded to be admitted to a Durbar of the Peerzada, which happened to be that day very largely attended. His request being granted, he made a long speech, highly injurious to the interests of Mr. Moorcroft, alleging that the Europeans would speedily overturn the religion of Mahomet, and that their conquests were approaching the holy city of Mecca itself. Allusions were made to certain expeditions against Algiers and Mocha, and so strong an impression was produced against our traveller, that, on being informed, though imperfectly, of the proceedings at the Durbar, he instantly claimed, as a matter of justice, to be allowed to enter upon his defence at once. On being introduced to the Durbar, the Moollah was pointed out to him. Mr. Moorcroft them put to him the following questions :

"Q. What is my name? A. Metcalfe. Q. What is my occupation? A. That of a General. Q. You say that I am a General, what number do I command? A. You are the head of the whole army. Q. Do you mean that I am the officer known in Hindustan by the title of Sipur Sala? A. Yes. Q. How long have I been absent from Hindustan ? A. Seven or eight years. "Mr. Moorcroft observed to the Peerzada, that his accuser was wholly unacquainted even with his name, and that the idea of a Commander-in-Chief descending to the humble occupation of an itinerant merchant, and absenting himself from his army for seven or eight years, was too ridiculous to require any comment! The Moollah was not to be put down. He poured forth other charges which, for a time, made a deep impression upon the Peerzada, and seemed to ensure a victory. Mr. Moorcroft, however, repelled them successfully, and the Moollah was so mortified and enraged, that he threatened to assail him with accusations at every stage on his journey to Bokhara, for the sole purpose of frustrating his views. If you will not listen to my first advice,' said he to the Peerzada, at least make him go back, for if you do not, Turkestan will inevitably fall into the hands of the English.'

66

'After the Durbar, the Peerzada spoke to Mr. Moorcroft with great candour and kindness. He said that he was placed in a situation of much difficulty. If, in virtue of the office which he held, he should command Mahomed Morad Begh to desist from persecution, he must obey; but such an exertion of authority would break up the friendship between them, and render him personally obnoxious to all the heads of the Kuttaghuns. It might suffice, he thought, that on paying the further sum of 2,000 rupees, he would engage for the safety of all his party and property. To this proposition Mr. Moorcroft assented. The result, however, when made known to Morad Begh, produced so much dissatisfaction, that he repaired to Talikan, and on the night of his arrival the Kazee waited on the Peerzada to announce that there had been a large meeting of the heads of the Kuttaghuns, who, deciding that our traveller was a spy, had persuaded the chief to insist upon the Peerzada abandoning his Morad Begh repeated the decision of the heads of the tribes, and his conviction that Mr. Moorcroft was nothing but a spy. Kasim Jan Khaja was extremely embarrassed. He had gone farther than was right in countenancing

cause.

the payment of another sum of 2,000 rupees, and he conjured the chief to be satisfied with this concession. Morad Begh at last yielded a reluctant consent, but only on the condition that Mr. Moorcroft should remain in his territories until his return from an expedition he was about to undertake, with the option of joining the party at Koondooz, or of remaining at Talikan. Mr. Moorcroft preferred the sanctuary of the Peerzada, and passed a month of agreeable intercourse under his roof. Kasim Jan Khaja would not accept of any presents of value, and would only receive a bed-stead, recommended to prevent the repetition of attacks of rheumatism, to which he was subject, from sleeping on the ground; a case of razors, &c., some uttur of roses, and a few scissors and knives to bestow upon his dependents. When Mr. Moorcroft departed, the Peerzada prayed for him in public, embraced him in the Ozbuk fashion, and sent him a roll of black China satin, another of crimson, gold brocade, and some pieces of green silk, for dresses, which he hoped our traveller would wear for his sake.

"Kasim Jan Khaja thought it unnecessary for Mr. Moorcroft to see Morad Begh on his return; but on his reaching Koondooz, the latter expressed a wish to see him. After enquiring respecting his health, he declared that in the late transactions he only wished to make trial of his firmness, having no intention whatever of hurting him. When Mirza Abool Toorab, on Mr. Moorcroft's taking leave, read the Fateea, or prayer, for the safety and prosperity of his party, Morad Begh joined in the ceremony, and stroked his beard with great solemnity and apparent fervor.

"Morad Begh, in his conquests, appears to have had no notion of the wealth that his derived from the soil, and the employment of his new subjects in agriculture and commerce; for in the course of last year, it is said, the treasury of Kuttaghun received four lacs and a half of rupees from the sale of slaves, on a contract with his minister, at the rate of fifteen tilas, or about six rupees per head. The fertile and salubrious valleys of Budukshan have been robbed of their inhabitants, for the purpose of transplanting them into the marshy lands of Koondooz, and upon the barren tracts of Talikan. The effluvia from the putrefaction of vegetable matter in summer, with the simoom from the desert, generates a fever of a very destructive nature. The African slave in the West Indies is fed, clothed by his master, and has medical aid when afflicted with disease. The Budukshanee slave in Koondooz experiences nothing of this care; and the reduction of the families to one-fourth in six years exhibits a waste of human life not often known in other parts of the world. Vicissitudes in the condition of life in this country,' says Mr. Moorcroft, are great and sudden. Those inhabitants of Khorum who were at ease when we passed through that town, since transplanted by force into Talikan, asked for a piece of bread from individuals of our party, to whom they had tendered refreshments at their homes three months before.'

"When Mr. Moorcroft returned to Tash Koorghan from his second journey to Koondooz, he was hailed with exclamations of joy on account of his safety. He did not stop a single day at that place, and set off, with his party, and traversed the dangerous pass of Muzar, without any interruption. Shooja-oodeen, the chief of Muzar, despatched his Secretary to meet the travellers, and to conduct them to a convenient house, sending them at the same time sheep, rice, fuel and whatever else he thought might be acceptable. Next morning Mr. Moorcroft, accompanied by Mr. Trebeck, waited upon the chief with a present, which was well received, and he observed, that they had experienced a treatment that would bring a bad name upon every chief of Turkestan. On account of very bad weather the party remained four days with this hospitable man, who wrote a letter to the king of Bokhara in their favor, and sent

Here is evidently some mistake: in p. 715, the tila is said to be equal to six rupees; here the rupee is supposed to be worth two tilas and a half. The price paid for the slaves must be more than six rupees per head, which would make the number of slaves purchased 75,000! -Ed.

a person to accompany them to Bulkh. At Bulkh they were received with civility by Eshan Khojee, who commented severely on the perfidious behaviour of Mahomed Morad Begh.

"After crossing the Jehoon, Amoo, or Oxus, the party were met by a person from Tora Bahadur Khan, the second son of the King of Bokhara, who conducted them to Kurshee, of which town he is the Governor.

"At Bokhara, the Seraee Oorgunjee was appropriated for the reception of the party, but the baggage was carried direct to the custom-house, where it was placed under lock and seal for two days. In the first interview with the Kosh Beghee, or lord of the household, it was explicitly stated, that Mr. Moorcroft came as a private English merchant, was not charged with any political mission or message to the King of Bokhara, and had no intention of entering into his Majesty's Service in any capacity whatsoever. He only wished to obtain permission to sell such merchandize as he had brought, to invest the produce in the purchase of horses, and to establish a foundation upon which English merchants might trade with Bokhara in future.

"The Kosh Beghee explained, that the Shirra, or written law, enjoined Mussulman princes to levy upon foreign merchants, not professing the faith of their Prophet, one-tenth of their property, as duty. But the payment of this rate was suspended until the return of the monarch from an expedition against the Kuthay Kepchaks, who had rebelled against him. On the Kosh Beghee seeing two small pieces of cannon among the baggage, he wished to forward one of them to the King, with which His Majesty was so much pleased that he intimated a desire to possess both, and they were accordingly presented, along with the chests of ammunition prepared for them.

"The Kosh Beghee remarked that the number of soldiers which accompanied Mr. Moorcroft, had given rise to exaggerated reports of the military strength of his party, and to other conclusions at variance with commercial views. This observation was met by referring to the dangers of the journey, and reminding him that the caravans, which now arrived at Bokhara, might truly be said to fight their way to that city. Mr. M. added that, first proceeding upon the road of Thibet, which was tolerably safe, he had only a small guard; but that, thrown by adverse circumstances on the countries of the Punjab and Afghanistan, he was compelled to increase the number of armed men ; and that unquestionably the safety of the party mainly consisted in the generally received ideas of its strength. These arguments were admitted to be satisfactory.

"On the second day after the return of the King, Mr. Moorcroft and Mr. Trebeck were summoned to the fort, or palace, for the purpose of being introduced to His Majesty. At the door of the great Court, the Shegawul and Yesawul Bashee, who ushered them into the presence, directed them to follow with their arms folded across the breast, and on coming to a particular place to make the usual salute. The Ameer, or Commander of the Faithful, was seated in small room, about fifteen feet higher than the area of the court, dressed in a plain drab-colored coat of broad-cloth, with a large loosely-folded turban of white muslin, having a narrrow gold border, and before him was a large book, the leaves of which he frequently turned over with apparent

earnestness.

"Meer Ameer Hyder is about forty-eight years of age, of a complexion somewhat olive, and rather dark than fair. His features partake of the Ozbuk character, in some degree, and the deep lines on his face, with the rapid change of expression from lively to serious, seemed to indicate a mind of great activity, in which benevolence and good temper are said to be strangely mixed up with distrust and hauteur. He enquired after the health of the visitors, their names, ages, country and occupations; and from the long intervals between the questions, it was suspected that a Secretary, concealed behind, was occupied in committing the dialogue to writing. He asked the name of the King of England, and was curious to know why he was called George the

Fourth. Report, he said, had swelled their property to a vast amount, but an examination had reduced it to a very moderate value. To this observation it was remarked, that the journey was merely an experimental one, and that when better informed as to the nature of the articles most in demand, commercial intercourse with this country, on a large scale, would be established. His Majesty adverted to the unjustifiable and treacherous treatment which Mr. Moorcroft had received from Mahomed Morad Begh, and trusted that nothing of that kind would happen at Bokhara. Our traveller was then invested with full liberty to sell his property, and to purchase in return whatever articles he might think necessary. The King now explained the written law, prescribing the amount of the tax to be levied on foreign merchants, not Mussulmans, frequenting Bokhara, and according to which he had directed one-tenth of the property to be exacted. The enquiries he had made, he said, had not entirely satisfied his mind as to the amount of duties charged on the frontier of India, from Mussulman merchants; but whenever he learnt that the British Government levied only one-fortieth part upon such property, he would reduce his customs upon merchandize, brought by its Christian subjects to the same amount.

"Mr. Moorcroft and Mr. Trebeck had been directed to stop at the distance of about twenty paces from the window, near which His Majesty was seated, but after a time the King beckoned them to approach nearer, and indeed as close as they could conveniently get to the window, which they afterwards understood was to be held as a special mark of condescension, favor, confidence and honor.

"The King directed Mr. Moorcroft to be seated in a situation from which he could see the mode of despatching business, which was summary and rapid. To the petitions of those whose claims were admitted the King himself affixed a finger seal, which a Secretary occasionally smeared with ink from a stick of that substance prepared in China. His Majesty frequently assigned reasons why he rejected the suit of the petitioner, and in every instance the rejected petition was torn up. At the conclusion of every decision the master of ceremonies repeated a short prayer in Toorkee, for the preservation of His Majesty's impartial administration of justice; at the end of which the whole assembly joined in approving by stroking their beards. There was much of respectful solemnity in the whole proceeding, and the King delivered his commands with great promptitude and rapidity.

"At Bokhara, foreign merchants have never been allowed to ride on horses in the streets, but this rule was dispensed with in regard to Mr. Moorcroft and Mr. Trebeck, and they were the first foreigners who had ever enjoyed that privilege in the city of Bokhara.

"Until lately, Bokhara was the great emporium of Central Asia ; but within the last few years the commerce of the whole of Oorgunj has been lost to it, in consequence of the Prince of that country having thrown off his allegiance, and the chief of Shuhr Subz and the Kuthay Kepchacks have followed the example. The minister acknowledged that formerly he had received, as duty, upwards of twelve lacs of rupees from one caravan, and now the whole of the customs are framed at little more than one-third of that sum. 'Nor is the amount first mentioned so very large,' says Mr. Moorcroft, 'considering the enormous number of camels in the caravans from Meshed, Russia, and China, which, at Bokhara, were accustomed to sell and exchange the merchandize of almost every part of the world; and that specie and bullion are subject to duty. In a caravan now on the road from Russia the letters of merchants announce twenty-five byjoons, or lacs, of sequins, or gold ducats of Holland.' "Two large caravans from Russia have been plundered in succession by the Oorgunjees, and five years have now elapsed since a caravan arrived from that country.

"The mountains in the neighbourhood of Bokhara are said to contain inexhaustible mines of fossil-salt, and Budukshan is rich to profusion in all the mineral productions of the earth, and in other products of a most valuable nature. Almost all the varieties of bread-corn are raised with facility; the orchards are fruitful to a degree seldom known in Europe; indigo may be successfully cultivated in certain places; and there exists a substitute for the sugar of the cane, so rich, so fine, so wholesome, and so cheap, as to leave nothing to be wished for in its manufacture, except its reduction to a solid form for the convenience of transport. At the lowest calculation, the towns depending on Bokhara, not including those of its immediate vicinity, yield about 70,000 maunds annually, and there are not, apparently, any bounds to the power of raising it. The ordinary price is about two rupees a maund, and it forms the basis of a sweetmeat greatly in use among the lower classes. It may be a mortifying reflection to men of science, especially in France, that whilst a host of French chemists, at the command of Buonaparte, were long employed in ransacking the vegetable kingdom for a sweet juice, which, converted into sugar, might serve as a substitute for the sugar of the cane, when that substance bore a very high price in France, and could find nothing more productive than the parsnip and beet the Ozbuks and Afghans, who are completely ignorant of the elements of chemistry, and even of the term, except as applied to the art of transmuting metals, should have stumbled upon a discovery which converted a substance, which France possesses in profusion, into syrup so excellent, as to leave little to regret in being deprived of the sugarcane; and which, by a cheap, easy and obvious management, may be made at least to rival that article in regard to quality. Mr. Moorcroft does not divulge the name of the substitute.

"The cotton-wool of Turkestan is beautifully soft and fine, and the nankincolored is probably little inferior to that of Khoten, or China Proper. The silk of Turkestan is plentiful and good. Vast quantities of shawl-wool might be raised, but in several parts of the country it is suffered to rise and fall disregarded by the owner, whilst the fleece of the Arab variety of the broad-tailed species of sheep, capable of being appropriated to the manufacture of woollen cloths, is made only into ropes and felts; and the Kuzak and Ozbuk breeds of this animal yield in their tails a marrow, like fat, little inferior to the butter of the cow.

"The vine breaks into numerous varieties. The red grape of Shibbergan, under a process practised by a Georgian, yields a wine in quality between the best port and the red hermitage. Another, under the management of Jews, gives a liquor that may rival the finest red Burgundy; and the Sheer Takh, and other luscious grapes, would furnish dessert wines as rich as those of Alicant, Malaga, Lachryma, or Tokay.

"By some Russians who had escaped from slavery, Mr. Moorcroft was told that there is the extraordinary number of from four to five thousand Russian Christians in slavery at Oorgunj and its dependencies. It appeared that some of them had been taken by the Yemoots, on the shores of the Caspian, and that several had been in slavery nearly forty years.

"Whilst looking for horses in the city one day, Mr. Moorcroft saw three persons, whose features and complexions resembled those of Europeans. They were stated to be Russians who had escaped from slavery with the Oorgunjees, and had, under great difficulties, made their way to Bokhara, where they now waited the determination of the king respecting their fate. A few days afterwards a person, who said he was a slave-broker, went to our traveller with two of these Russians, whom he declared he had bought, and was about to send into the country; but, on their stating that Mr. Moorcroft might possibly ransom them, he had been touched with compassion at their distress, and had accompanied them to witness the result of the appeal. Enquiry was made to know what had become of the third Russian; who, after some frivolous