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told him that I would forward any letters for him. The poor young man had been taken by the Turkomauns.

Nov. 4.-We arrived at Mohammed Abad, 28 English miles from Shooshot.

Nov. 5.-We arrived at Nogaw, 28 English miles from Mohammed Abad. We saw at a distance Turkomauns on horseback, overladen with slaves, which prevented them from coming near us. Nov. 6.-We arrived at Monabatsh, 24 miles from the former place. In the morning we continued our journey, and met on the road with poor peasants in the fields, who were about to retire farther into the mountains, for fear of being taken by the Turkomauns. On perceiving my guard, myself and servant, they believed us to be Turkomauns, and suddenly we heard the cries of the poor women and children; but we quieted them. Oh! that the Lord Jesus may soon renew the face of the earth, that violence and destruction may no longer be known in the land!

Nov. 7.-We arrived at Senoo, 28 miles from the former place.

Nov. 8.-We arrived at Morandis, 40 miles from Senoo. The soldier who was sent with me by Assaad Ullah Khan, wanted me to sleep there one night in a mosque; but I protested against such a course, being assured, that if it became known in the town, that a Christian had taken up his abode in a mosque, they would put me to death; we slept therefore in a house.

Nov. 9.-We went over the same ground which the Turkomauns had passed the day before, with 1500 slaves, captured in the territory of the Khan of Tursheesh; we observed dead horses in the road, and the footsteps of the Turkomauns. After a ride of 40 miles, we arrived at Tursheesh, a strong fortress and considerable town; the place of residence of Mohammed Takee Khan, who lives in a large burg, like what one sees belonging to noblemen in Hungary; surrounded by soldiers, some of them dressed like Russians. I heard here the beating of the drum quite in the Russian style, and found several Russian soldiers. In this burg, I saw a large stable with beautiful horses, which the Khan had taken in battle from the Turkomauns; or as a ransom for Turkomauns, whom he had made prisoners; for as soon as one Turkomaun becomes a captive, the rest either ransom him for money, or exchange him for horses.

Mohammed Takee Khan gave me and my servant a lodging in his house. My servant began to behave in a horrid way, though I had increased his salary; he had secretly robbed me of my money, and was impertinent in the extreme, as is usual with such characters.

I called the next day on the Minister of the Khan, Haje Aga, in whose house many Mullahs and chief men of the Khan were assembled. They offered a galyoon (i. e. Persian pipe) to my servant, but not to me. They had a long discussion on the subject of clean and unclean. Haje Aga was of opinion, that an Armenian was cleaner than a Jew and a Guebre; but he was not yet quite

sure, whether a Frank (European) was not cleaner than the Armenians. Others were of different opinion, and thought that Guebres, Armenians, and Europeans, were alike Najas, i. e. unclean, according to a Mullah of Sabzewar, Fasl Ullah by name. Another observed, that Haje Sayd Baker, the chief Mullah at Ispahan, is of opinion, that one may make use of a galyoon, which was made use of by a Christian. One present exclaimed, God forbid! Another, more liberal, thought that one might make use of a galyoon of an European, after its having been washed. I then called on Mohammed Takee Khan, an old, venerable, and mild looking man; his whole room was crowded; they were just discussing the arrival of Abbas Mirza in Khorossaun. Mohammed Takee Khan, I observed, was resolved not to deliver his fortress into the hands of the Prince Royal. There was among them, Mohammed Hussein Khan, the brother of Abd Resa Khan, who had likewise rebelled against Abbas Mirza, with his brother Abd Resa Khan at Yazd; he was there as a fugitive in the land. Mohammed Takee Khan told me, that it was his advice that I should go on with Mohammed Hussein Khan towards Meshed, or wait until a caravan was proceeding there. I was resolved to go on alone. There are no Jews at Tursheesh. The town may contain 12000 inhabitants.

DEPARTURE FROM TURSHEESH.

Nov. 10.-We arrived at Ali Abad, 20 miles from Tursheesh. Nov. 11.-We continued our journey, and met on the road with the above mentioned Mohammed Hussein Khan from Yazd, who made me such a horrid offer,* that I let him proceed alone. We arrived at Rooshneabad, 28 miles from the former place.

The Mussulman in whose house I slept here, was the kindest man I met with in Khorossaun.

Nov. 12.-We continued our journey towards Neshapoor, and arrived near Sangerd. The inhabitants, seeing us at a distance, and believing us to be a party of Turkomauns (for we were in the whole seven persons, consisting of myself, servant, and five muleteers from Tabas) fired down upon us; but we soon undeceived them: the whole village in arms, asked us with a lamentable and half furious countenance, "When will our country no longer be disturbed by those Turkomauns, and by Mohammed Ishak Khan Kerahe of Torbad Hydarea, whose men are not two miles distant from the town, making Tshapow? (plunder.) When will our misery end?"

I observed, that Abbas Mirza will now establish order in the country. They replied, "Pedr sukhte, God burn the father of Abbas Mirza. He will never establish order in this country; if he had brought with him Arghuwan Mirza,† then he might have effected something!"

*Romans i. 27.

Arghuwan Mirza, the son of Hassan Ali Mirza, formerly Prince Governor of Meshed, was the terror of the Turkomauns.

SLAVERY.

We stopt at Sangerd for a few moments, and having learnt that the people of the famous Mohammed Ishak Khan Kerahe of Torbad Hydarea were wandering about in the neighbourhood, for the purpose of making slaves, we joined a caravan of ass-drivers and a horseman from Nishapoor. Those ass drivers had laden their asses with dates and lemons for Abbas Mirza, sent as a present by Ali Nakee Khan of Tabas. We had scarcely rode on for five miles, when we saw at a distance a band of horsemen, and heard a firing; they came towards us with their arms spread open. As I was already a good deal advanced before the caravan, I might easily have made my escape; but I thought it not right to leave my servant in the hands of the robbers, and therefore returned. One of the banditti took hold of my horse, whilst the rest bound the others. The one who came up to me was panting in an awful manner, and the match of his gun was smoking. Without looking into my face, he took hold of the bridle of my horse, and said, "Pool! Pool!" money! money! I gave him all the money I had in my pocket; he ordered me not to tell his comrades that he had taken it, and continually panting, he asked, "Have you no more money." I replied, "Yes, I have more in my trunk."

Soon after, I was surrounded by the rest; they took me down from the horse, and exclaimed, "Have you no money?" I replied, "I have given it to your comrade." They began to beat their fellow robber for having tried to keep the whole for himself. I was stripped in a moment of every thing, even of the shirt from my back: nothing, nothing was left to me; it was then extremely cold. They put a rag filled with vermin over me, and brought me out of the highway, where I met with the rest, weeping and crying, and bound to the tails of the robbers' horses. It was an awful sight, to see robbers (twenty-four in number) beating and cursing each other, and beating us poor Banda, (i. e. those that are bound;) disputing among themselves whose property every one of us should be. We were driven along by them in continual gallop, on account of the approaching Turkomauns: for if the Turkomauns had found us out, or come near us, our robbers would have been made slaves by them, they being Sheahs themselves. As I thought it would be better that the Turkomauns should take me, as they would have brought me immediately to Khiva, instead of being first taken to Torbad, and then sold to the Turkomauns of Khiva, I made a noise; but the people of Mohammed Khan Kerahe threatened to put me to death, which compelled me to be silent.

During the night, three of the prisoners had the good fortune to make their escape. The Chief, Hassan Khan by name, a horrid looking fellow, with a blue diseased tongue, which prevented him from being well understood, screamed out, "Look out for them, and if you find them, kill them instantly." However, they did not succeed in finding them. About 2 o'clock in the morning, we stopt in a forest; they had pity on me, and gave me a cup of tea,

made of my own, which they had taken. They broke open the cases, belonging to Abbas Mirza, filled with dates, and gave me a share of them. They began after this to put a price on us: my servant was valued at ten, and myself at five Tomauns. The moment they took the money from my servant, I found out that the fellow had robbed me of 16 Tomauns, which he now lost. Some tried again to make their escape, but were horridly beaten by a young robber 14 years of age. After this we were put in irons. Twelve of the robbers separated for the purpose of making another plundering expedition. It was an awful night, cold and freezing, and we were without any thing to cover us. The robbers consulted together about me, whether it was adviseable or not, to kill me, as I was known by Abbas Mirza: for they were afraid, if Abbas Mirza should hear of me, that he would claim me.

Yes, it was an awful night; and what consolation could I have expected from above, from my Saviour, if I had not put my trust and my faith in Him, and in his promise! At such an hour, one experiences the precious fruits of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed is he, who at such an hour knows that Christ is with him, and that neither bonds, nor cold, nor hunger, nor thirst, can separate him from the love of Christ, and that to him he can carry all his wants.

I prayed to that Saviour, and then spoke to the robbers, beseeching them not to kill me, and promising, that on my arrival at Torbad, (to which place they intended to bring me) I would ransom myself with the assistance of the Jews; which I could do, if they would permit me to write something in the Hebrew Bibles and Testaments that I had with me. They gave me those books, and then I wrote in Hebrew shortly, my name, condition, and present situation. The hope of a good ransom prevented them from killing me the first night.

Nov. 15.-We arrived at a village belonging to Ameer Khan of of the Kerahe; he treated me kindly, and desired Hassan Khan to give him one of my Persian Testaments, which he did. An Englishman was never seen in these parts. In the evening we arrived at Arkhshee, where I was sitting near a ruined house, together with my servant. Ali Khan, one of the robbers, came near me, and put the chains around my feet, and said, “Now you sit comfortably." But one of the robbers, having pity on me, loosed them again.

Nov. 16.-They put me upon a wild horse, and one of the robbers, 14 years of age, beat my horse, in order that it might throw me off; but fortunately I kept my seat.

Nov. 17. We arrived near Torbad: it was an impressive sight to witness the families of the robbers, who came out to meet their husbands, fathers or brothers, to congratulate them on their success. Turkomauns from Sarakhs, Khiva and Mowr, who were waiting there to purchase slaves from the Kerahe, came out of the town in order to look at us.

The Hazarah, descendants of the Moguls, another slave-making

tribe, sallied out of the town on horseback, for the purpose of making Tshapow. All these are in understanding with the great Mohammed Ishak Khan Kerahe of Torbad Hydarea.

Here I had again a specimen, such as I had frequently remarked before in those countries, that liberty of speaking consists with excess of slavery and tyranny.

The first question our robbers made openly to the people of Torbad, in the presence of the Turkomauns and Hazarah, was expressed in the following manner, "How is the tyrant Mohammed Ishak Khan going on? is he not yet dead?" They replied, "No, but one of his sons is dead." Robbers. "A pity that he died not himself, then we should be free from that tyrant, and not be obliged to plunder people in the high road, and eat the bread of blood! When will God save us from the hands of that tyrant? No wonder that the just Al-Nakee Khan of Tabas, his brother-in-law, does not eat bread with him, for his bread is the bread of blood!" We saw hundreds of blind men and women in the road near the gate of Torbad; the robbers turned to me, and said, "Do you see these blind men and women? Their eyes were taken out by that eye cutting tyrant, Mohammed Ishak Khan of Torbad Hydarea! God curse him, and curse his house; curse him in his getting up, curse him in his lying down! God curse his wife, and the fruit of her womb! And may he, that has made many widows, may he die, that the dogs should drink his blood, that his wives may be widows, and his children orphans!"

I asked Hassan Khan, whether they were not afraid of the day of judgment. He replied, "We neither enjoy this world, nor shall we enjoy the happiness of the other world!" Though naked, they examined us narrowly, believing we might have money concealed about us. Suddenly Jews came out of Torbad; I exclaimed, you

Hear Israel! (a common exclamation among the Jews throughout the world.) I was soon surrounded by all of them. Hassan Khan had delivered over to them for sale, my journals, beside the Bibles, not knowing what they were. They pledged themselves that I would not run away, and took me to their houses; and thus the first evening, though in a most wretched state, I had them all around me, and I proclaimed to them the Gospel of Jesus, of whose history, sufferings and death, they were quite ignorant.

HISTORY OF THE JEWS AT TORBAD.

The Jews of Torbad divide themselves into Meshedee and Yazdee, i. e. into those of Meshed, and those of Yazd. Those of Meshed are only here for trade, their families are at Meshed; but those of Yazd, are those, who sixty years ago had left Yazd, for the purpose of settling themselves at Meshed; but on passing through this place, they were detained by Ishak Khan, the father of the present man, and he gave them every encouragement in finding their subsistence; they are weavers; but the Jews of Meshed who are here, have traded to Meshed since the time of Nadir Shah, and their history is identified with that of Meshed. I went with

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