The New York Herald Newspaper, November 29, 1873, Page 4

7 Passage of the Oxus and the Capture of Khiva. oF THE KHAN. —-—— TERRITORIES Manners and Customs ot the Khivans. —_-—_———_ HOW RUSSIA MAKES WAR. An Attack, a Skirmish and a Retreat. OCCUPATION OF THE CITY. Kurva, Sept. 15, 1875. Tuow started down the river towards the Rus- sans, and after crossing innumerable canals and ditches, which cut up the valley in every direction, Isucceeded in reaching them. ASI approached & young officer came towards me, and, as soon as I ‘was within hearing distance, cried out in Russian, “Kto vee ?” (“who are you ?”’) with a very strong emphasis on the you. “Americanetz,” I replied. sWhen I got within taiking distance—“You are the man who crossed the Kysil-Koom alone, are you t”” To which I answered in the affirmative, “All right, come along, and I wilkpresent you to the General, We heard you were onthe way to join us only a few days ago.” I dismounted, and he fed me to General Golovachof, whom I found sit- ting on @ cannon, smoking a papyross. Near him was another piece, dismounted, and not far off the bodies of two horses that bad just been killed. As I soon learned, this was the only {oss they had sustained, andalthough the ground waa ploughed up in every direction by the enemy’s cannon balls, and several officers had avery nar- row escape, nota single man had been touched. (the Khivans had had shells instead of solid shot the Russian loss must certainly have been heavy. ; General Golovachoff, a large, broad-shouldered man, with long beard and a frank, open expression of countenance that was very pleasing, shook bands with me cordially, told me I had done a very daring thing, and then invited me to breakfast, which, he assured me, would be ready in a few | minutes,. I suppose I loosed as though Ineeded a breakfast and something more. Hollow-eyed, hol- low-cheeked, dirty, dust-covered, uncombed, un- Kempt and ragged—my rifle, which I had carried for # month, slung over my shoulder ina dDandoulicre, | had worn my coat into holes—I presented but @ Sorry spectacle among the Russian oficers, who were all spruce in their white coats and caps with gold and silver buttons, as clean and starchy a8 though they were on grand parade on Isaac's square, St. Petersburg. The breakfast consisted of cold dolled beel, cold chicken, with a box of sar- dines and and alittle rodka, and the cloth was spread out on the grass, which was here rich and luxuriant. They were all very friendly, and mani- fested @ good deal of curiosity about my experi- ence in the Kystl-Koom, and surprise that I should hawe undertaken such a foolhardy journey alone. They said there were a hundred chances to one against me, and gave me such a lively account of the dangers I had escaped that [ really began to be frightened and experienced something of the feel- fag of the man who having killed, as he supposed, a fine large wolf, fainted with terror upon being old he had slain the largest and most magnificent fioness that had ever been seen in thai country. They were very jubilant over the afuir of the morn- tng, and I found that I could not have arrived at a more favorable time. Everybody was ina good fQumor. The great difficulties of the campaign were over, and the interesting part of it had just com- meneed. They acknowledged, however, that tf the Khivans had had shells instead of solid shot they would not all have been breakiasting there so gayly. While at break- fast Golovachoff was informed that some of the enemy had returned and were setting fire toa large boat that was lying under the fort. The sharpshooters were already at work, trying to drive them away, which they at last succeeded in doing before the fire had got fairly started. One of Kaufmann’s small iron boats was immediately despatched to the other side with 20 soldiers and ,8n officer of the topographical corps to capture the burning boat and make a hasty map of the river and surrounding country. In a couple of hours he returned with the boat which had been seton fire and which was but slightly damaged, and gave an interesting account of the condition of the place. The fort was of no use asa defence, it being very small and the walls very thin and of simple sun-dried earth, insufficient to stop even a tour-pound shell. The Russian suells had appar- ently done @ good deal of damage, as they found the soft earth saturated with blood in several Places. and pieces of legs and arms scattered about. CROSSING THE OXUS. It was now well on in the afternoon, but, instead Of occupying the abandoned fort, General Golo- Vachof gave orders to march back to camp, some five or six miles, where lay the main body of the army with General Kaufmann. For, as I soon learned, it was not their intention to cross the river at that point, but at Shoorahana, three or ur miles further down, and that the affair of the orning had been brought about in order to allow the boats to y@ss, which were captured at Oocn- Ooohak and had not yet arrived. The evening before General Kaufmann was riding up the river bank very uneasy at their non-arrival. As he passed this place the enemy opened on him in & very unexpected manner, for ne had not until then suspected the existence of a fort here. The firing was very correct, the cannon balls falling right among them, and, in fact, the correctnes of their aim was, as the Grand Duke Nicholas laugh- ingly told me, “remarkable~even disagreeapie.” As the boats would arrive in the aiternoon, and as the enemy were no longer there to offer any resistance, we would return to camp and com- Mence the passage next morning at a point lower down, WhenI reached the camp I accepted the hospitality of the officer who had first accosted me and who proved to be an old friend of Mr. Schuy- ler’s, changed clothes, mgdea bout de toilette ana shen presented myself to General Kaufmann, THE GENERAL COMMANDING. {found him sitting in anopen tent, wrapped up ina Bokharan khalat or rove de chambre, taking tea and smokjng a cigarette. A man between 45 and 60, bald and rather smaii of stature for a Russian, blue eyes, mustache without beard, anda Pleasant, kindly expression of countenance. He shook hands with me, asked me to sit down, and then re- marked that I appeard to be something of a molodyetz (a brave fellow), and asked me if 1 knew enough Russian to understand that. I tola him I did, and thanked him tor the compliment, After a few questions about my own adventures he gave me an account of the campaign up to that time. From Alti Koodook their march had been very dificult and trying. The last day before reach- \ng the river they had been surrounded all the time by the Tarcoman light horse, who kept galloping around them the whole distance, howling like a mons, but without doing any harm, as the sharp- Shooters kept them at a safe distance. It was here Thad seen so many dead horses. ‘The discipline of the troops was so good that, although many of them were mad with thirst upon arriving at the little lake of which I have already spoken, not @ man broke ranks to get to the water, along the edge of which they were marching, but waited without @ murmur until they had pitched their camp and received permissicy., Kaufmatin spoke Of the conduct of his soldiers a)most with tears in ae pba He oA there were no‘other. soldiers in capable of doing what the: done, 0d Lam funy of nis opinion, ee Once arrived at the Water, and the safety of the PR POCA iia ia cok Unk ae By wild geese for a distance of eight or ten miles, and capturing eleven “kayooks,” or boats, without which he would never nave been able to cross the river, It was these same boats which he had ordered to be brought down the river, while he marched down the bank, that he was looking for the day before, when the fort of Sheik-Arik opened on oim. who had gathered” [ses mountain of Ooch-Oochak, and then UNVEILING MY MISSION. The most diMiculs and delicate part of my inter- view still remained to be gov through with—in- forming Generai Kaufmann what was my business there. Astjudged that 1 would have suMcient |. di@iculty m reaching thf army without increasing rit by letting out my object in joining the army, I nad informed nobody what my real bugmess was, nor was the nature of my errand mentioned in my letter of introduction, After he had exhausted every other topre of con- versation I at last broached the subject,-with the remark that he would probably like to know why Thad come so far. He replied, “yes, he had some little curiosity on the subject,’ supposing, I think, that I had come through a mere love of adventure. “Well, General,” I said, with the uncomfortable feeling of a man who is about making a revelation which will immediately lower him in the good opinion of his listener; for the truth is I had been aimost sailing under false colors, “I am the cor- respondent of the New Yorr Henan.” I thought I could observe the slightest shade of disappoint- ment pass over bis usually benevolent face; but it was only fora moment. “Yes,"? he said, “I have heard of the New YorRxK HSRALD in connection with Dr, Livingstone, and as @ HERALD correspond- ent penetrated to Central Africa, | suppose it was the next thing to impossible to keep one out of Central Asia.” I hastened to assure him that I would try and give him no reason to regret my coming, and that, witn his permission, I would accompany the army during the rest of the cam- paign to Khiva, To this he consented willingly, and, as I was aiterwards informed, put me on his staff and ordered that 1 should receive the rations of a stam oficer. RUSSIAN KINDNESS. From this time forward until the end of the cam- paign against Khiva, and afterwards, during the war against the furcomans, I was with the Russian army, and I would here take occasion to remark the kindness with which I was treated on all hands, L arrived almost destitute. I had neither sugar nor tea, the very first necessities of life in that country, nor anything else to eat, but I never wanted for anything; and although for the first two days after my arrival—when their supplies were exhausted and they had not yet commenced receiving any from the other side of the river, during which time nobody had anything, not even the black dried bread of the soidiers—I suffered the | pangs of hunger, from the time they had anything to offer me I never passed a tent where they were eating or drinking tea that I was not invited. From | the Grand Dukes down to the smallest officer in the | detatchment it was the same. I was irvited on all | hands, tweaty times a day, to eat or take tea. In- | | | deed, until Ireached Khiva, I made no arrange- ments for naving my servants prepare meals for me, but lived on the community at large; and now, as 1 write, I cannot think of the bospitality I re- ceivedwithout a throb of grateiul remembrance, 1 take this occasion to thank them, to thank many whose names I do not even know, but whose kind- | Dess and generosity I have experienced, and whose friendly faces I will not easily forget. As I had no tent Iaccepted the hospitality of the officer be- fore mentioned, and, for the first time in three months, slept tranquiily. A GLIMPSE OF KHIVA. The next morning at Gaylight we took up the line of march, but instead of going to Shoo down the river, I was surprised to seé ti were going back to our position of the day before, and soon learned that Kaufmann had decided to cross at Sheik-Arik, the scene of the previous day’s engagement. We were soon on the spot, the boats had arrived, and within the hour the first boat load of fifty men had started across the river. This | was the 30tn of May. The morning was bright and | warm, and I threw myself on the fresh green grass before our tent, which we had piaced at the water's edge, and lazily watched the scene before me. It was extremely beantiful and animated. ‘The broad Oxus, flowing placidly, as it. had done thousands of years ago, when Alexander stood on its bauks, as it will do thousands of years hence, the sunlight dancing and glimmering over its sil- very suriace; the other shore dim and misty, lined with dense groves of fruit trees and elms in masses | ef richest green, through which could be seen here andthere the gray walls of an “Uzbeg’ farm- house or the slender fagade ofa graveyard mosque, forming a delictous repose for our sun scorched eyes after the burning sands. Silent it iay and lonely, without any living moving figure to give it life, this strange, unknown land of Khiva, dim and mysterious in the smoky dis- tance away over the shining water, in a silent, sleepy, glorious splendor, over which the sunshine seemed to hang lovingly—beautilul, dreamy and mystical in its golden atmosphere as the far-tamed fabled land of the melancholy, mild- eyed lotus eaters. . STILL LIFE IN CENTRAL ASIA. And I lay on the grass before my tent, idly watching it, and thinking of all the stories I had ever heard of regarding it, of its cruel and despotic khans, its wild, fanatical Mohammedan population; its beautiful women, its strange, mysterious char- acter and isolated position, which had rendered it the mountain—unable to realize my position and half expecting to wake up and find myself some thousands of miles away, in another sphere. The quiet of the other shore contrasted powerfully witn our side, wnich was all ment. Groups of soldiers, horses'and camels and Cossacks, some just arriving, some splashing about in the water, climbing into the boats, drag- ging in the artillery, forcing in the unwilling horses, tumbling in the baggage, shouting and crying to each other the while like mad. Here was @ boat load just putting off from the shore, here 20 brawny, muscular fellows, stripped naked, drag- ging a boat up stream against the current, in order to give ita fair start for crossing, that it should not be borne too far down bejore reaching the other side; everywhere bustle, animation, life and movement, and I thought it was not the least remarkable passage of the Oxus recorded in his- tory. THE PASSAGE OF THE RIVER, Icould not help admiring the Russian soldiers, Most of them had never been in a boat in their lives before, nor even seen one, probably, but tney seemed as much at home here as though they had been born onthe water and lived on it ail their lives. It took @ boat only about 20 minutes to cross, and the same length of time to return, but it was borne down the river so far each time that dragging it back to the siarting point against the current required fully an hour. There were three large boats, capable of carrying each 50 or 76 men, and eight small ones that would hold only about 10, These were tne native boats, caked kayooks, and are constructed of the trunks of small trees, rough hewh to an even thickness of about six inches, nearly flat-bottomed and with a very heavy piece of timber forming the*stem and stern, projecting three or four feet above the hull, making a very heavy and unwieldy craft. Ali day the passage of the river Was continued without any Opposition on the part of the enemy, and their utter incapacity for defending themseives was shown by the fact that they thus quietly allowed Kaufmann to cross the river here without the slightest molestation. They might have hidden behind the banks, out of reach of the artillery, and upon the arrival of each boat, which never con- tained more than 60 men, might have fallen on them and overpowered them by piecemeal, It would have been impossibie (or the artillery to pro- tect them in such ap atiack from the other shore, The Russians were allowed to cross without moles+ tation, however, and all that day the passage was rapidly continued. In @ few hours two companies and four small four-pounders had safely crossea and taken up a defensive position in and about the fortress, which put them out of danger of being overpowered by any sudden assault, and thus the inaccessible to Europeans as the enchanted caves of | life, animation ana move- | ANXIETY ABOUT KMIVA, Would the Khan think of making any serious re- sistance after thus giving indisputed of the Amoo, his strongest line of defence Or would he simply run away and betaxe himself to the desert ? We had no means of deciding this ques- tion, and could only conjecture as to what his future line of action would be, That night, about twelve o'clock, when everybody had gone to sleep, we were suddenly awakened by the reveille. Springing to our feet, in the half belief that the enemy were making a night attack, we found that it was not the Khivans, but the water, that was advancing upon us, The old Oxus, angry, per- haps, at this ‘unusual attempt to crogs him, had suddenly commenced rising since dark, a though hoping to catch us napping, and haa risen about six feet in the course of three hours, threatening todrown us out. The order was given to decamp and move to higher ground, which order was obeyed in confusion, My comrade and I got separated from our servants and baggages in the darkness and were unable to find them—a misfortune which was not lightened by our being obliged to swim our horses over a canal along with camels and Cossacks in order to Teach safe ground, im the execution of which movement we got wet to the skin. As it was im- possible to find anybody we had nothing to do but throw ourselves on the damp grass, with our sad- die blankets for a cover, and wait until daylight, THE RIVER RISES, The next morning the entire aspect of affairs had changed, The Oxus was so wide and the current so rapid that Kaufmann was obliged to change his base of operations and move up the river about a mile. This was effected and the passage continued without interruption, but much mere slowly than the day before. It now required fully three hours for a boatto make the round trip, The horses swam over for the most part, and nearly all the camels were sent back for the detachments of Alti-Koodook and Kiiala-ata. 1 crossed with Gen- eral Kaufmann and his staf! on the Ist of June, We found the fort of Sheik-Arik very smail—indeed, the ‘fort, properly speak- ing, “was not more than 30 feet in diameter, and was a mere toy house, so utterly insignificant was it as a place of defence, The situation, how- ever, was capable of a very formidable defence if the troops of the Kuan had known how to defend it. Shetk-Arik, as its name indicates, is a canal, now dry, but which formerly received and con- ducted water from the river into the interior of the khanate, and may do yet, when the river is high, Its banks were from 20 to 80 fect high, running for a short distance almost parailel to the river, and forming an excellent defence—an earthwork of formidable dimensions, The stx- pound shells of the Russians might have exploaed here a long time before making any impression on the solid banks of earth. The utter ignorance of the Khivans of military matters was most strik- ingly shown in the construction of the little mud fort on the summit of one of these banks, whose walls were so thin that the Russian shells went throngh them like cardboard. I only remarked on this afterwards, for upon setting foot on shore my comrade and I made a rush for the bazaar, which had been opened that day for the first time by the Khivans, in response to a friendly proclamation of General Kaufmann, We had had nothing to eat for thirty-six hours, not even the dried black bread of the soldiers, and we had been subsisting on tea and a little joogerie, a kind of plant very much resembling the American broom corn. stances, when you are in good condition, physically speaking, is a matter of no consequence at all. But when you have been on short rations for a month, during which time you have consumed ‘Jour Superfiuous store of fat, it becomes @ very serious matter Indeed. We made a rush, then, for the bazaar, or market, as it might more properly be called. The Khivans had responded to Kaufmann’s proclamation with cart loads of flour, fruit, chick- ens, sheep, fresh wheaten hot cakes and hot apricots, rice, sugar, tea, great quantities of white mulberries, and clover and joogerie tor the horses, They had drawn up their great lumbering wooden carts just outside the camp and were now sur- rounded by the Russian soldiers, with whom they | seemed to be on excellent terms. A few of the soldiers spoke Tartar or Kirgheez, but those who could not managed to get on somehow by signs, and the most lively exchange was going on be- tween them when we arrived upon the scene, The Russians were paying, as I observed, triple and quadruple prices without hesitation. Where they got the money I do not know and cannot guess to this day, but the fact is they all seemed to have money to spend. Itis true, many of those Isaw were servants of the officers, but by tar the greater number were the common soldiers. MARKETS OPENED. My friend and I bought hurriedly several pounds of flour, a sheep, a calf, a quantity of warm bread, some Bokharian‘honey, apricots and mulber- ries—enough provisions, in short, to last a month, never doubting for a moment but we would eat it ali the same day. We were so hungry, that we were noteven then quite satisfied that we had enough to supply our present wants. The Khivans who brought us these things were the “Usbegs,” of the environs, and, having satisfied my craving of hun- ger by two or three wheaten cakes and alittle honey, I commenced examining the strange people belore mie with great curiosity. THE KBIVAN PEASANTS. They were generally medium-sized, lean, muscu- lar fellows, with something of a sinister cast of countenance and jong black beards, Their cos- tume consisted of a white—or what was once white--cotton shirt and loose pants of the same material, over which was worn a “khalat,” a kind of long robe, cut straight and reaching to the heels. Most of them were barefooted, and wore on | 4 the heads a tall, heavy, black sheepskin cap, weighing fully six or seven pounds. The khala of the Khivans is very ugly of a dirty brown and yellow, disposed in narrow stripes, entirely unlike the beautiful khalat of the Boxherans, with its brilliant colors. Altogether the costume of the Khivans is, I think, the ugifest and most incon- venient Ihave ever seen. The heavy sheepskin cap alone is enough to destroy the intelligent working of the mest active brain, and I no longer wondered at the backward state of, their civilization upon seeing thelr monstrous hats. The khalat, besides being hideously ugly, is most inconvient, and although generally wadded with cotton and very Warm, is never taken off, appar- ently, during the bottest days, not even when their owners are performing manual labor. They were very friendly, seemingly, and, so far from being afraid of their conquerors, did not hestitate, ag I before remarked, to ask triple and quadruple prices for everything they sold. They had, at first, thBught the Russians would simply take what they wanted without pay, not even excepting their wives—a very naturhl, proceeding, according to their ideas, and one which they themselves would certainly have adopted, But when they found this ‘was hot the case they, with true Asiatic acuteness, commenced driving the best possible bargain, without @ grateful thought for the generous man- ner in which they were treated. RUSSIAN KINDNESS TO THE CONQUERED. To tell the trath, I myself was considerably sur- prised at the orderly proceedings of the Russians, I understood that Count Schouvaloff had informed the corrrespondent of an English paper, who had applied to him for permission to accompany the expedition, that they did not wish to have corre- spondents there; because they made war in these countries in a very barbarous manner; that Kniva would probably be pillaged and burned and the imhabitants massacred, and that they did not want the eyes of Burope fixed on them while committing these atrocities, 1 was, therefore, not a little astonished to see that the Russians conducted themsecives with these savages in a way that eontrasted forci- bly with the conduct of the Prussians in France, still more forcibly with the conduct of “Sberman’s bummers” in the South. To tell the truth, the world in general has a very imperfect and exag- gerated notion of the Russians, and especially of the Russian soldiery. I remember what my notion of a Russian soldier was not many yearsago. Tall, Giant-like fellows, with enormous bristling beards passage of the Oxus was assured. Meanwhile we | and mustache, flerce eyes and a terrible aspect, Sruiy (hus assured, he threw a few sells among the | knew nothing of what was passing at Kbiva, and.| with all she Terocious instincts of the rageorugl, Now, fasting for 36 hours under ordinary circum- i is not by any means the flerce savage we have always heard bim represented to be. He ts neither cruel nor bloodthirsty, a8 far as I have seen, but, on the contrary, rather kind and gentie when not en- in many little The lower classes of the Russian people, although ignorant and superstitious to tne last degree, are not by. nature either cruel or brutal, like the genu- ine Anglo-Saxon, For cold-blooded brutality the latter has no equal among any of the races of Eu- Tope, and if there should ever be a Commune at London the Commune of Paris will appear a8 a rather virtuous affair than otherwise, THE PROCLAMATION, To return to she Russian in Khiva. General Kauimann as soon ag he reached the river waued & proclamation warning the Khivans that if they would stay quietly in their homes they woula not be molested, that their property and their women would be respected and that the Russians would pay with ready money for supplies, provisions ana forage brought into camp; but if they had to go into the country foraging for supplies they would take what they needed without paying for it, and would besides pillage and burn every abandoned house they should find. The supphes brought in that day were in answer to this proclamation. The Khivans at first refused the Russian paper money, a8 they had never seen it before and did not understand it. They accepted with eagerness, however, the small silver money in pieces of 10, 15 and 20 kopecks, of which the kussians had a large supply. _A piece of 20 kopecks, about 15 cents of our money, passed’readily for one ‘‘kokan,”’ a sil- ver coin of Khivan money. . BREAD AND FRUIT. The most curious of the things they brought us were the white mulberries, @ kind which I had never before seen, and the wheaten cakes, These Were made of unbolted four, mixed apparently, simply with water, and rolled out thin about the size of a large dinner plate and baked a nice brown on the inner sidgs in a littie mud oven. This is the only bread known in Khiva, and when eaten warm is really excellent, 1¢ must be eaten when fresh, however, as it grows sour and unpalatable in 4 few hours, The gardens and cultivated land do not extend quite to the river at Sheik-Arik, but stop short within sbout half a mile of the fort. As there were neither trees nor grass here we found we were much worse off than on the other side, where there was plenty of fresh green grass atleast;and the dust here was terrible—worse even than at Khala-Ata, The banks of the canal, formed of dry soft earth, had first been trampled into powder by the Khivans and now by the Rus- sians, until it was a footdeep and the wind kept blowing it about in whirlwinds that at times were suffocating. Inever sudered so much from dust and beat in my life, and what made it worse were the fresh green gardens and the cool, dark shade of mighty elms which were within a few minutes’ walk of usand which we were not allowed to approach. KHIVA—NO. 8. PUSS MINS vq Kaiya, Sept. 16, 187: We had been here nveo MaPPLS Ta ORE a, the army crossing as rapidly as possible, when sud- denly the Khivans ceased bringing in supplies, As this was tire. only dependence the army had for food, it became necessary to take active meagures for procuring supplies, and Kaufmann prepared to put his threat of foraging into execution. It ap- peared that the troops of the Khan, having recov- ered at last from their iright at the affair of Sheik- Arik, had returned to the neighborbood and threat- ened with death anybody who should bring in sup- plies to the Russians, Kaufmann, therefore, sent out @ reconpoitring and foraging party, under the command of Colonel Cherkovsky, consisting of two companies of iniantry, or 300 men, two little four-pounders and 200 Cossacks. The Cossacks were to do the foraging, bat not to take anything by force which could be had for money. They had privilege to pillage any abandoned houses they might find, and the officer in command was to in- form the inhabitants that if they did not imme- diately bring in supplies for money he would send and take them for nothing. ‘he miantry was to advance into the interior, reconnoitre the ground and endeavor to find ana feel the enemy. THE GARDENS OF KHIVA, We marched out of camp about noon, and, after crossing the short space of country between us and the gardens, and which was cut up in every direction by canals, we crossed a bridge over a deep and narrow canal, and, advancing along a broad and well kept but (usty road, soon found ourselves in the renowned gardens of Khiva. A vision of béauty and enchantment, such as even by book-fed imagination we never expected to see, broke upon our view. The change was so sudden from the redhot giare of the sand to the cool shade and fresh, green verdure which greeted our weary eyes, the little flelds of waving grain, fruit trees of all kinds bending under their loads of ripe and green fruits, tall, noble old elms spreading their long arms ana thick green foliage, and the dark, cool shade over little pools of water, gray, battlemented walls of the houses and farm yards peeping out from among the trees, apd the newness, the strangeness of the place, the mystery hanging over it, its isolation and impenetrability, made us survey the scene that was thus opened for the first time to the gaze of Europeans with a delight and admiration only equalled by that of Columbus when first setting foot ina new world. There were mulberry trees holding out their rich, imscious berries over the road for us to eat from oar horses’ backs; ‘apple trees, with their mass of dark green foliage; apricot trees, aglow with the rosy bloom of their delicate, delicious fruit; cherries, gleaming rich and red among their dark green leaves; tall young poplars lifting their stender forms against the sky, and streams of water, shaded with bushes, run- ning about in every direction. It seemed to be as thickly populated as Belgium; farmhouses could be seen everywhere as we advanced, within 200 or 300 yards of each other, HOME LIFE IN CENTRAL ASIA, This part of the country ts inhabited by the Usbegs. Their houses and farm yards are enclosed with heavy walls, from 15 to 20 feet high, strength- ened with pillars placed at ‘regular intervals, and strong corner towers, and are entered by an arched and covered gateway, closing with a very heavy wooden gate. They are all built on the same rectangular plan, from 25 to 76 yards square, cach farmhouse being a little fortress in itself far more formidable than the one at Sheik-Arik, and are actually bulit to serve that purpose against the Turcomans, who neatly every year make raids on their Usbeg neighbors. The walls are composea of mud, but of a certain kind that gets comparatively bard, and it is not worked up invo smaii bricks, like the adobes of the Mexicans, but into huge blocks like granite, three or four feet square and as many thick. Inside of this rectangle, which contains the stables for horses, cattle, sheep, and, in fact, all their live stock, as well as the dwelling of the in- habitants, is always @ little pool of clean water, 30 or 40 feet square arid shaded hy three or four large elms, The elms of Khiva are very beautiful. J saw many ofa size and beauty that would make the heart of the ‘Autocrat of thé breakfast table” leap for joy, and which were probably many hundred years old, so that the farms containing them can boast of as great antiquity as many @ feudal castie of Burope. Under these trees, during the summer, the family pass most of tneir time, preparing and ating their meals, passing their hours of idleness, of which there are @ good many in the life of an Usbeg, while the women weave and spin the golden threads of tho stik worm. ‘The interior of their houses is aark, gloomy and uncomfortable, only lighted by small holes in the walls, window glass being on- known, but very often fitted up with a quantity of bright colored mats, ruga and cushions, ‘We came to--the found three or they bad to bell to the cump, and that asthe Rus- sians were immediately going to occupy tho country he would.ace that they were protected. ‘They promised to obey, and we advanced to the next house, where the aame Scene was repeated. GENTLE WARFARE, We only found a few houses deserted, but we did not pillage them; indeed there was nothing to pillage, if we had wished, as there rarely remained anything but the bare walls,” The Cossacks spread themselves about through the country on each side of the road, foraging, while the infantry marched forward to reconnoitre. The country was most ad- mirably adapted to defence, and, if the Khivans had Known how to de! it, they might bave made 4 formidable resistance. Kvery few rods there was a bridge, which might have been de- stroyed, aud there werg walls, hedges and ditches, clumps of trees and houses in such & grand number in which masses of men might have found cover and protection, that our cavalry would have been useless, and would have reduced ou artillery, as weil as breech loaders, to a level with that of the Khivans, Their heavy brass pieces, charged to the muzzle with sh and iron, would have been quite as effective at short range as the Russian shells. Rvery house was a fortress whose walls would have to be battered down and stormed, with loss to the Russians and little or none to the defenders, who could casily escape in time to avoid a collision . With the bayonet, The Kussians would, of course, have overcome every obstacle after a fight and a smaller or greater loss; but they were, after all, comparatively few, while the Khivans were nu- merous, and a war of this kind cafried on for a few days would have so reduced them that they would have been unabie to take advantage of their victory. A MARCH AND NOT A CONFLICT, But the Kaivans showed neither inclination nor capacity for self-deience, and the Russian march was almost unmolested. Our little column moved forward through green flelds of beautiful wheat, joogerie, rice and barley, which were in a most flourishing state. The road, which was very crooked and tortuous, was lined sometimes with muiberry trees, from which the soldiers plucked the ripe fruit in passing, sometimes shut in by huge mud walis, over which the branches of the apricot trees hung in rich profusion, or bounded on either side by deep canals, with high banks, covered with verdure, and full of running water, and again shaded by giant eims, whose thick, cool shade fell across the road in dark blotches. As it rarely rains here the road was very dusty, and we raised a cloud of dust, which rose high, making our march visible for along distance and ominous to #he Khivans of approaching misfortune, THE ENEMY IN SIauT. At length, after we had gone about six miles, we commenced seeing signs of the enemy. We began to come upon abandoned houses in great number, which their owners had been forced to desert by the Knan’s troops, and now and then a horseman would start out from behind a wall and scurry off along the road, comet-like, leaving a train of dust aiter him. AC last the horgomen begap to appear more umeroqs gba Noaeaaenced to catch glimp- got.gr them Through the trees, galloping through the gardens on either side of us. Our skirmish line wis thrown out, and almost immediateiy the sharp; ringing report of the rifle broke on the still afternoon air. The sileuce which had reigned until thea was instantly broken; shouts and cries were heard all around us, coming apparently trom thousands of throats, and the firing on the skir- mish line grew lively andrapid. Before us the skir- misners, dodging forward, sheltering themseives bebind trees, walls or whatever else they found in their way, firing their pieces at every opportunity, and reloading aud firing again; the Turcoman cavalry, glimpses of which we could catch scurry- ing through the trees, with their tall hats and beautiful horses, in groups of 16 or 20, while the whole country for miles around seemed to resound with their wila cries. To judge by this latter indl- cation one -would have thought we were sur- rounded by thousands of the enemy. I expectea we would be fired upon from behind the walls and embankments; but if they had even had any such design, which is doubtful, they were easily ee out of their ambuscades by the skirmishers an the column steadily continued its march. This continued for about three miles, A SKIRMISH. At last we came upon an open space of ground, about half a mile wide, across which the road led on a very narrow embankment. Beyond were more trees, gardens and houses, and there, massed to the number of several thousands, was the enemy, apparently waiting to give ns battle. They were firing their falconnettes, as the Rassians called them—a kind of heavy matchlock. Some ot these faiconnettes were mounted on wheels, like a cannon, four and five together, and when fired at once produced something of the effect of a mitrail- leuse, and were capable of doing considerable ex-s| ecution at short range. They were too far of, how- ever, todo us any harm. Our two little pieces ofartil- 1ery were brought forward and commenced throw- ing shells. Two or three exploded among them, seeming to do considerable damage, as they scat- tered in every direction, but they took shelter be- hind the walls and seemed disposed to stand their ground, without, however, showing any disposition toretreat. Many an officer in the place of Colonel Cherkovsky would probably have attacked at all hazards; put our force was very small, too small to take by storm the fortress and town of Hazar- Asp, which we knew must be near, and @ battle here would only have caused the loss of men with. out any sufficient object. The Colonel had already sent back word that he had engaged the enemy, with a request for reinforcements, and he con- cluded to await further orders before taking such a hazardous step. We, therefore, stood in front of each other for nearly an hour, while a continual fire was kept up along the skirmish Itne. We were in continual expectation of their artillery opening upon us, and at that distance not only small shot, but siugs and stones fired from their pieces might easily have reached us; but either because they were afraid of our captur- ing it or because they had no confidence in it they ; did not bring it forward, After waiting here about an hour, and no reiniorcements arriving, we com- menced retiring. The Khivans were immediately alter us, and folowed so closely that the rear gnard was kept continually engaged. Sevpral of the enemy were seen to fall, but were immediately picked up and carried off by their comrades, We were fired upon once from a house on the side of the road, and an officer was so severely wounded that he afterwards died—tne only loss we sustained dur- ing the day. We had got about half way back to camp, When we met the Grand Duke Nicholas, har- Tying forward with @ detachment to reinforce us, He expressed a good deal df chagrin at finding us on the homeward march, and was for returning and attacking Hazar-Asp at once. He was dis- suaded from this, however, by Colonel Vherkovsky, who convinced him that 1t was now too near night to make an attempt on a fortified place. A RETREAT. ‘We nevertheless gallope@ back again, as the Grand Duke wished to see the ground and observe whether the enemy were still disposed to give us battle. .We soon came to the corpse of a dead Tur- coman lying beside the road. He had approached too near the retiring rear guard, and had been shot fairly through the head and’ fallen apparently unnoticed by his comrades, who would otherwise have carried off the body. It 18 consideref dishonorable mong them to allow either killed or wounded to fall into the hands of their enemy. The corpse was dust covered, grimy and horrible, lying in the mud beside the road, and Lrode past it with @ shudder, It soon began to grow late; we turned back once more and started for camp, “I think,” said the Grand Duke, turn- ing to me, Janghingly, a8 we rode along, “I would like to forage @ little, The orders are to bring everything in the way of sheep and cattle fur which there are no owners, Will you come along?” $0 Wo leaped over a canal which bordered the road when he was least wanted, We delivered up, with instructions given through Ak-Mamateff to bring whatover they had to sell into camp or the next time they would mot esoape so easily, These © ders were given with such @ good-natured smile, however, by Grand Duke, who was like & schoolboy broken loose, considering the whole business ag “such 4 lark,” that the natives, I am afraid, were'not very much impressed by the neoes- sity of obedience, We generally found them stt- ting under the trees near the house, with their women and children, a little frightened and timid, but soon regaining their confidence and composure upon seeing thas the Russians were not ail evilly disposed. They offered us milk, a little fruit or sometimes fresh wheaten cakes as & peace offering, and seemed immensely relieved when we accepted. Once the Grand Duke seized the most hideously ugly donkey I ever saw, over which he went into ecstasies. ‘Quelles oreilles, mon Diew! regardez dono! My arms are nothing to them. And his eyes! What an expres. sion! It’s enough to put us all out of countenance— _ the very impersonation of obstinacy and entete. ment, He must be at least 500 years old. Char- mant, charmant! If he only let us hear his voice!” and the Grand Duke was about handing it over to one of his followers, when the inevitable owner appeared and claimed him. “est dommage,” said he, delivering nim up with regret; ‘# ¢tatt st lia! We continued our way homeward, the Grand Dake rattling away in French and English, evidently enjoying the excursion immensely, and regarding it more in the light of a picnic on an ex- tended scale than anyfing else. A FRIENDLY GREETING. I had just reached the road again, and was turn- ing into it in the direction of the camp, when | was hailed in English in the following terms:—“I aay, American, don’t you want a drink of sherry?” [ looked around, and beheld @ young officer holding up & pocket flask to my delighted gaze. “Cer tainly," I replied. “It 19 a capital sherry,” he added, handing it te me. “I just gotit from-General Kaufmann.” I tasted it, and found it to be, as he said, capital, and we then rode along together to- wards the camp, conversing about the excursion of the afternoon. He had only arrived with the re- inforcement, aud, not knowing exactly what had happened, I related. to him the incidents of the afternoon, in which he waa deeply interested. “What @& beastly thing it ia that they won't fight a little,” he said. “There will be no fun at ail after our long marc. through the desert, I had hoped they were going) to oppose the passage of the fiver after the affair of Sheik-Arik, and they might have given us an in- finite deal of trouble, but they let us pass without striking a blow. And see what a defence they might have made here in these gardens; they coulé pick us offfrom behind every wall and canal at short range, where their arms would be as good ag ours, and yet we pass along here as unconcernedly as though we were riding along the Newsky in St. Petersburg. C'est dégoutant!"” RUSSIAN GRAND DUKES. : We arrived at camp at dark, and it was not untit next day that I learned that the officer whose pocket flask I so unceremoniously heiped to empty was the Grand Duke of Leuchtenberg. I knew he was with the expedition, but had not yet made his acquaintance, nor had he been pointed out to me, so that I had entered into conversation with hiny without in the least suspecting who he Was, T felt at first somewhat embarrassed when I remeni- bered the unceremonious manner in which I had made away with his sherry, but soon found I had no occasion forit. Both he and the Grana Duke Nicholas were very simple and anasauming in their manners, without either arrogance or presump- tion on account of their high social position, and were on even terms of gond fellowship with every- body. The former was especially a hail fellow well met with the humbiest oMcer in the detachment. He had even been reprimanded -by General Kaut- mann once, when at Khala-ata, for trying, witha few jolly boon companions, to drive away dull care at an hour of the morning not considered military by the Commander-in-Chief, for which he was none the less liked, however, I have found that the Russians, in spite of their despotic form of government, are far more liberal in their notions than many other peoples with more liberal governments, #& grand duke will associate on perfectly equal terma with the inferlor officers without social rank or title, and you never see a Russian nobleman afraid of compromising himself by associating with a ‘man who has no ‘‘de” to his name, as you may ob- serve with the French and Germans. And yet there are some of them, such as the Dolgouroukies, who can boast of a lineage dating back 1,100 years, beside which the proud Hohenzollerns appear in comparison like a mushroom upstart of yesterday. General Kaufmann decided to march against Hazar- Asp nexpday, a8 a sufficient number of the troops had now passed the river. He had, besides, news from General Vérevkine, the commander of ‘the Orenburg detachment, who had taken Kungrad ayd was now under marcn for Khiva. AN ANECDOTE. Genera! Kaufmann related to me a very curious anecdote about the way in which he received Gen- eral Vérevkine’s letter, that is very characteristic of the place and people. The three Kirgheez djegeeta’ cr guides, to whom the letter had been entrusted were captured by the troops of the Khan and the letter seized, together with some Russian paper money which they had. They were brought before the Khan and the chief dignitaries of State to be questioned. When asked why they were going towards the Russians, they replied that they were on the way to Bokhara to collect the money for heep they had previously sold. But as they could give no satisfactory explanation of the way in which they had come by the papers they were thrown .1nto prison and @ grand council of war hela over the captured papers, which hobody, of course, could read. A certain Khivan merchant, who had been in Russia, was called in to see if he could give any opinion as to the contents of the paper, and he, although unable to read, judging rightly that the letter was some important correspondence being exchanged between the two advancing armies, determined torget the paper into his own hands. — Alter examining them very intently for some min- utes, he gravely assured them that the letter was nothing at all—a bit of worthless paper, an® nothing more; but that the bank notes of 10 and 25 rubles were most important documents and should be carefally kept until some one should be found to read them. Having thus succeeded in . withdrawing attention from the letter, he slyly slipped it into his khalat when nobody was watch- ing, and made off with it, Before it nad been missed he had sent it with a trusty messenger to General Kautmann, then crossing the Amoo, The incident is an exceedingly characteristic one, as illustrating Eastern ignorance and cunning. No European, under such circamstances, would have ever thought of the ingenious device of making anybody believe that bank notes were valuable State documents. FORWARD MARCH. We marched next morning at sunrise for Hazar- Asp. Taking our way over the road we had tra- versed the day before, we soon arrived upon the acene of the previous day's engagement, The body of the dead Turcoman was still lying in the mud beside the road, where we left it yesterday. Api parently the enemy liad not been here since, or they would certainly have not left the body of their dead comrade here without burial. Wher we arrived where they had shown themselves the day before in such force we found the place de- serted. They had retired, ag we supposed, into the fortress of Hazar-Asp, which was reported as standing in the middie of & small lake, entirely surrounded by water, with only one gate, and as being very strong. It was thoughs they would make a stand here if they meant to resist any further, which we hag every reason to suppose thoy would do. We had reached about halfway when we met- coming to moct usin order to