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. |
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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
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Page 118 - The ground becomes covered with an impenetrable coating of ice, and the horses simply die of starvation, not being able to kick away the frozen substance, as they do the snow from the grass beneath their hoofs. No horses which I have ever seen are so hardy as these little animals, which are indigenous to the Kirghiz steppes ; perhaps for the same reason that the Spartans of old excelled all other nations in physical strength, but with this difference, that nature doles out to the weakly colts the...
Page 42 - How the wind cuts! does it not?" he continued, as the breeze, whistling against our bodies, made itself felt in spite of all the precautions we had taken. The vehicle now brought was broader and more commodious than the previous one, which, somewhat in the shape of a coffin, seemed especially designed so as to torture the occupants, particularly if, like my companion and self, they should happen to be endowed by nature with that curse during a sleigh journey — however desirable appendages they...
Page 108 - They rose in the evening air and shaded the wilderness around. A picture of desolation which wearied, by its utter loneliness, and at the same time appalled by its immensity ; a circle of which the centre was everywhere, and the circumference nowhere. Such were the steppes as I drove through them at nightfall or in the early morn ; and where, fatigued by want of sleep, my eye searched eagerly, but in vain, for a station. On arriving at the halting-place, which was about twenty-seven versts from Orsk,...
Page 40 - no cold could get through anyhow," he first put on three pairs of the thickest stockings drawn up high above the knee ; over them a pair of fur-lined low shoes, which in turn were inserted into leather goloshes ; and finally his limbs were encased in a pair of enormous cloth boots, reaching up to the thigh. A heavy flannel undershirt, and a shirt covered by a thick wadded waistcoat, together with a coat of the same kind, encased his body, which finally was enveloped...
Page 202 - Not only was it far from the intention of the Emperor to take possession of Khiva, but positive orders had been prepared to prevent it, and directions given that the conditions imposed should be such as could not in any way lead to a prolonged occupancy of Khiva.
Page 118 - In fact it is extraordinary how any of these animals manage to exist through the winter months, as the nomads hardly ever feed them with corn, trusting to the slight vegetation which exists beneath the snow. Occasionally the poor beasts perish by thousands. A Tartar who is a rich man one week may find himself a beggar the next. This comes from the frequent snowstorms, when the thermometer sometimes descends to from 40 to 50 degrees below zero, Fahrenheit ; but more often from some slight thaw taking...
Page 41 - I think you will do," said my friend, scanning me well over ; but you will find your feet get very cold for all that. It takes a day or so to get used to this sleigh travelling, and though I am only going a little beyond Samara I shall be uncommonly glad when my journey is over." He was buckling on his revolver ; and as we were informed that there were a great many wolves in the neighbourhood, I tried to do the same. This was an impossibility, the man who made the belt had never foreseen the gigantic...
Page 118 - The country now began to change its snowy aspect, and parti-coloured grasses of various hues dotted the steppes around. The Kirghiz had taken advantage of the more benignant weather, and hundreds of horses were here and there to be seen picking up what they could find. In fact it is extraordinary how any of these animals manage to exist through the winter months, as the nomads hardly ever feed them with corn, trusting to the slight vegetation which exists beneath the snow. Occasionally the poor beasts...
References to this book
Russian Central Asia, 1867-1917: A Study in Colonial Rule Richard A. Pierce No preview available - 1960 |