A Ride to Khiva: Travels and Adventures in Central AsiaIn the winter of 1875, a young British officer set out across Central Asia on a strictly unofficial mission to investigate the latest secret Russian moves in the Great Game. His goal was the mysterious caravan city of Khiva, closed to all European travellers by the Russians following their seizure of it two years earlier. His aim was to discover whether, as many British strategists feared, this remote and dangerous oasis was about to be used as a springboard for an invasion of India. Unknown to his superiors, who would have forbidden the venture, Captain Frederick Gustavus Burnaby rode for over a thousand miles across steppe and desert, struggling through blizzards and snowdrifts, to reach forbidden Khiva. Ordered home by an alarmed government, Burnaby immediately sat down and wrote this best-selling account of his adventures, which was to become a Great Game classic, the first of two he was to publish. |
Contents
1 | |
9 | |
15 | |
pianThe Russian Boundary Line in the EastRe | 27 |
Frauds on the Railway CompaniesOld Spirit | 34 |
Dragged through the WaterPreparing for | 45 |
lowed in the TownHotel AnaeffA Curiously | 56 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
Ameer of Bokhara Amou Darya animals arms arrived asked Balkh Bektchourin Bokhara brought camel-driver camels capital caravan Central Asia Chapter cold Colonel companion Cossacks despatched district driver Emperor England English European Russia eyes feet fire frozen ground guide's hands head Herat horses India informed inhabitants inquired inspector journey Kasala Kashgar Kauffmann Khan Khan's khanate Khiva Khivan territory kibitka Kirghiz Kokan Krasnovodsk Kryjinovsky Kulja latter looked Merve miles Milutin moullah Nazar night once Orenburg Orsk Oxus party passed Petersburg Petro-Alexandrovsk railway remarked replied ride road rode roubles route Russian officers saddle Samara Sea of Aral sent servant sheep sheepskin sian side sleep sleigh snow sovereign station steppes Syr Darya tarantass Tartar Tashkent Tchernayeff thick tion town travelling troops Turkistan Turkoman Tzar Tzar's Uralsk versts whilst wind winter wish
References to this book
Russian Central Asia, 1867-1917: A Study in Colonial Rule Richard A. Pierce No preview available - 1960 |