strength of the army of Abbas Mirza; he said to Awaz, my Turkornaun, "This is Youssuf Wolff, the Englishman, who argued with the Mullahs at Meshed." My Turkomaun observed, that he must not make a noise about me at Mowr; for if any thing should happen to me on the road, no caravan must ever appear again from Bokhara at Sarakhs. He promised to be quiet about me on the road.

Feb. 16.-We arrived among the wild Turkomauns at Mowr, likewise called Merve. It was very odd to see the Turkomaun ladies of Merve with a kind of ivory horns, as their head ornaments, such as the females of the Drooses in Mount Lebanon wear. They saluted us kindly; for the King of Khiva had given orders to the Turkomauns at Mowr to receive kindly the Awliyaan, i. e. Holy man of England. The Turkomauns of Merve, or Mowr, live in four different camps, several miles distant from each other: viz. Mowr, or Merve, or Akhal; Tatshan, which corresponds with our word Dutch; Tekka; Talkhtoon.

A party of Turkomauns were just going to one of their priests, for the purpose of obtaining his blessing, previous to their going on a plundering expedition. They then recited a portion of the Koran, called on the name of God and the Prophet, stroked their beards, and off they rode.

2.

The Turkomauns here, derive their genealogy from Salor, a descendant of Japhet. Of the first and last of those four great divisions above mentioned, I have learnt that they subdivide themselves as follows. 1. Akhal: Sarog, Bahraj, Khorossaunle, Sohkte, Goltsha, Ali Shah, Batang, Kay-Ali, Kale-Bash, Kusel. Talkhtoon: Ortoo Khoja, Alam, Beyk-Bolook, Jolom, Aloo-Bolook. The second and third contain the following subdivisions, which I am not able to assign with certainty. 3. At Tekka and Tatshan: Konkor, Yoossoof, Khar-Konkoor, Sishmas, Bakhshe, Amaanshah, Saryase, Koktsha, Karamaat, Borghaz, Khoja, Arok, Karatsha, Kara, Mojawr, Tasheeakh. Here I was informed likewise about the tribes of Turkomauns residing in the city of Orgauntsh, which are mixtively of the former: Yimr-Ali, Yamoot, Tshotoor, Goglan, Karakalbag, Kheterle, Alele.

The disciples of that Jewish Saint, Joseph of Talkhtoon, who follows principles similar to those of Madame Guyon, came out to meet me with the rest of the Jews, and thanked God that I entered their tents in peace, to speak to them about Jesus of Nazareth; for they had heard of me by Jews of Meshed and Sarakhs, and that I had given New Testaments to them. Joseph of Talkhtoon is engaged with the Khaleefa of the Turkomauns in prayer, for obtaining a higher light. He was just occupied in reading a Persian manuscript on Divine love. I translated to them several portions of the New Testament; for I had no more to give them. The Jews of Mowr believed from Ezechiel xxxvii. that that Prophet raised the dead. I gave them the true interpretation of it. They observed, "Mullah Mohammed Ali at Meshed is an interest

ed liar, but you speak the truth." The Jews here are, as was said before, from Meshed; but they reside here constantly. A few years ago, two of them were killed by Turkomauns; but Allah Kolle Khan of Khiva avenged their death.

The chief Jews here are, Mullah Eliahu Ben Mullah Daniel, Mullah Michael Ben Mordecay, Mullah Ishak Ben Ahron Masse, Mullah Mordecay Ben Aga Shelome, David Ben Aga Joone Nissim. I preached to them in their reed-cottages, Jesus Christ, and him crucified; and ransomed an old Guzl-Bash from slavery by means of a Jew. A great demand for New Testaments was made by them; but even here, infidelity has crept in among the Jews, who are more fond of reading Hafiz than the Bible.

I wrote the following letter to Mirza Baba:

"Under the protection of H. R. H. Abbas Mirza, I have arrived safely so far, where I am in the tents of hospitable and kind Jews, surrounded by Turkomauns; and to-morrow morning I set out for Bokhara, accompanied by the principal Turkomaun of Sarakhs, two Osbeks, and one Jew. I am already announced to both the Kings of Bokhara and Khiva. I cannot now write to you more, lest my letter, by its bulk, excite suspicion in the eyes of the Turkomauns, who are the bearers of it. I have preached the Gospel fully to the Jews and Turkomauns of Mowr and Sarakhs: the latter consider me as the Forerunner of the Saheb Zemaan (the Lord of the age)."

I insert here the following letter to His Royal Highness Abbas Mirza himself, as the best answer to a mistaken statement of Lieut. Burnes, asserting that I had travelled about as a Mohammedan pilgrim.

Mowr, in Toorkestaun, in the Territory of the King of Khiva. February 16, 1832.

I arrived last night at Mowr. Awaz-Aga, who accompanies me to Bokhara, behaved very well. Your Royal Highness has shewn me such great kindness, that I feel it to be my duty to inform your Royal Highness, that on my return to Meshed I shall be accompanied by fifty Turkomauns and Teemooree, whom I have convinced that slave making is sin; and they will come with me to your Royal Highness, and take service in the army of your Royal Highness. The Jews of Mowr beg me to mention to your Royal Highness, that they had been falsely accused by the people of Meshed, of having taken part in the men-selling of the Turkomauns; and your Royal Highness may rest assured, that that report is a lie. On the contrary, they gave meat and money to the unfortunate slaves. As the report of my Mission to the Jews already reached the ears of the King of Bokhara, and express messengers are gone on my account, from the agents of the King of Bokhara, to His Majesty, I humbly petition your Royal Highness to recom

* Mullah Mohammed Ali, to whom the Jews of Mowr alluded, is the Sooffee, whom I have mentioned as the teacher of Sooffeism among the Jews of Meshed.

mend me strongly to the Kings of Bokhara and Khiva, and mention to them that I am a Missionary to the Jews. I beg your Royal Highness to command Mirza Baba to send a copy of this letter to Lady Georgiana.

I am, Prince, Your most dutiful servant,

JOSEPH WOLFF, Missionary. My letter to His Royal Highness Abbas Mirza was copied by Mirza Baba, and sent off to Lady Georgiana with a letter from Mirza Baba himself, by which it will be seen still more clearly, that it was known by Mussulmans (for Mirza Baba is a Mussulman) as well as by the Jews, that I am a Missionary. The letter is copied verbatim.

My Lady,

Meshed, March 18, 1832.

I beg to have the honour to send to your Ladyship, by the desire of His Royal Highness Abbas Mirza, the copy of a letter from His Excellency the Rev. Mr. Joseph Wolff, and am happy to state that His Excellency has safely reached to Bokhara, and is likely, finding the roads safe, he will proceed to Khiva and Caubul, after being sometime in Bokhara. With your Ladyship's permission I will do myself the pleasure to inform your Ladyship the news I shall be favoured from His Excellency in future.

Hoping to remain, My Lady,

Your Ladyship's humble servant, (Signed) M. BABA.

The Jews observe that in these four places, Mowr, Tekka, Tajan, and Talkhtoon, there are altogether 100,000 Turkomauns. Every Turkomaun is in possession of one horse.

HISTORY OF OMAR KHAN, SON OF THE LATE KING HYDAR OF BOKHARA.

Shah Hydar died several years ago; after his death Omar Khan took possession of the throne, and killed the rest of his brothers, except Behador, the son of a slave-girl, who escaped to some other place. Goosh-Bekee, the present Prime Minister, expelled Omar Khah, and wrote to Behador Khan, that he should come and take possession of the throne. He killed the greater part of his relations, and was contriving to kill Omar Khan; when suddenly the news reached him, that Ömar Khan had been killed, and solemnly buried. But Omar was not dead; his mother had killed a slave in his stead, and sent her son away in the dress of a Dervish. Omar went to Mazaur, to perform his devotion at the tomb of ShaheMerdaun, the King of men, i. e. Ali: thence he went to Constantinople; and whilst I was at Mowr, he appeared at Tekka, where he was recognized by a Mullah of Bokhara, who had been his teacher in former times, in the house of the Turkomaun Rasa Tekka, of the tribe Khora Ahmed. Omar Khan sent off immediately an express to Allah Kolle Khan, desiring him to assist him in regaining the throne of Bokhara.

The Jews brought me to their respective cottages, into which the Turkomauns came to see the Awliyaan, arrived from a distant'

land. It is a current belief among the Jews of Mowr, that a Jew, Simon Ben Shatakh, had assisted Mohammed in compiling the Koran.

DEPARTURE FROM MOWR.

After having given the blessing to my Jewish brethren, and to the Turkomauns, and recited Psalm 121, according to the custom of the Jews here, I parted from my kind hosts, and continued my journey to Bokhara, in company of my two servants, a Jew and a Guzl-Bash, and Awaz the Turkomaun, the two Osbeks, and the six slaves. One of the slave boys continually lamented, saying, “The Al-Aman have taken me, poor, poor Guzl-Bash, and carry me to Orgauntsh and Bokhara!" He was of the holy city of Meshed; he had only gone out of the gate to play, and the Al-Aman came, and took the poor, poor Guzl-Bash, and carried him to Orgauntsh and Bokhara. In the morning, as soon as the poor boy opened his eyes, he lamented, "The Al-Aman have taken me, poor, poor Guzl-Bash, and carry me to Orgauntsh, and Bokhara.”

I was struck by observing some of the slaves from Beloochistan calling the Turkomauns Franke, i. e. Franks, or Europeans.

Thus we wandered through a barren, cold, and unkind desert, drinking snow, and making tea with it, all the way to Jehaar-Joo.

ARRIVAL AT JEHAAR-JOO.

Feb. 25.-We arrived at Jehaar-Joo, which means four wells; for there are four wells there. It is a city of a considerable population, belonging to the King of Bokhara. The Governor of the place is a Calmuc; he has the title of Emeer.

There were arrived in the Caravan-seray several Jews from Bokhara; as I had sent on before my Jewish servant, they came out to meet me, and took me to their rooms; they were Mullah Gaday, his son, and several others. The Governor sent his men, desiring me to tell him who I was, and at the same time giving me to understand, that I should tell the truth; for he was obliged to report my arrival to the Goosh-Bekee, i. e. Prime Minister of the King of Bokhara.*

I sent him word, that I was a Jew, who believes in Moses, the Prophets, and Jesus; and that I came to this country with letters for Goosh-Bekee, and with firmauns from the Sultan of Constantinople: my object was to see the Jews of Bokhara and Balkh, and speak to them about Jesus, and to find the Ten Tribes of Israel; that I was an English subject, and a Mehmoon (Guest) of Goosh-Bekee; that Goosh-Bekee was already informed of my coming, &c. Rabbi Gaday informed me, that the old Rabbis of Bokhara assert, that Balkh and Bokhara were the Habor and Halah of 2 Kings xvii. 6, and that the Ammoo, called likewise the Gihoon or Oxus, is the river Gozan, mentioned in the same

The name of the Goosh-Bekee was formerly Hakeem Beyk, i. e. Chief Physician; but since he is King's Minister, he is called Goosh-Bekee, i. e. Ear of the Lord (King).

chapter; that the Jews of Sabzawar had been carried by some King to Samarcand, Balkh and Bokhara.*

Rabbi or Mullah Gaday told me the following fact. A Jew with whom he had a quarrel, went to a wizard, who bewitched his son, so that he dislikes to sleep with his wife. He also told me, that a few years ago a New Testament had been sent from Orenburg to Bokhara. Joseph Mooghrebee, or Joseph Maarabee, as the Jews of Bokhara call him, ordered it to be burnt. A long discussion took place between us, about Jesus being the Son of God, and the Messiah promised to our nation.

Rabbi Gaday gave me different information about the state of the Jews at Bokhara; which, after my arrival there, I found to have been an exact statement. He tells me, that the Jews of Meshed stand in bad reputation among the Jews of Bokhara, on account of spending their time in reading Hafiz. They are prohibited at Bokhara, by their Rabbis, to learn either Persian or Arabic; and if any one were to know how to write or read either language, he would be obliged to become a Mussulman.

Isaac Ben Aga Shlome could read Persian, and had studied witchcraft; for which reason he was killed, four years ago, by order of Shah Hydar; for he was suspected of having bewitched the Queen.

Bokhara being called the strength of Islamism, the Jews, although they were allowed to worship in their old synagogues, are not permitted to repair them, much less to build new ones. They are obliged to wear a mark, and a little cap, which distinguish them from the Mohammedans; but they are upon the whole well treated by the King. Rabbi Gaday advised me to go to the following Rabbis on my arrival at Bokhara, who, as he expressed himself, are the great men of the Congregation of Bokhara. Rabbi Pinehas the elder, chief Rabbi. Mullah Moshe Eliaboy, Ahron Shohed. Moshe Cohen. Mullah Benjamin Shohed. Mullah Isaac Fathe. Mullah Isaac Melammed. Mullah Khoydad. Mullah Isaac, son of Mullah Badal. Mullah Yehoodah Ben Mullah Halefda. Mullah Gaday Ben Joseph Cohen Calandar, (President of the Jews). Mullah Matathia. Mullah Moshe Shahak. Mullah Moshe Calandar. Mullah Moshe Cosa. Mullah Abraham Hakham. Mullah Pinehas Ben Simha, the most learned of the Jews of Bokhara.

The people of Jehaar-Joo have been very civil; they only objected to my not wearing a mark of distinction, as they might easily have the misfortune to take me for a Mussulman, and give me the Salaam; a salutation only given to a Mussulman; which would be a serious matter at Bokhara, the (Kawate IslaamedDeen) Strength of Islamism. I replied that I was the Mehmoon

This was before and in the time of Tshingis Khan; but before this time, Jews came directly to Samarcand, Bokhara and Balkh, during the captivity of Babylon; as I ascertained after my arrival at Balkh.