'Persia and the Persian Question by the Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, M.P.' [‎95] (128/714)

/"
"be
FROM ASIIKABAD TO KUCHAN 95
preparations of the previous day. 1 I remembered that when
Colonel Baker came to Kuchan in 1873, in the time of the same
Keception Hkhani, he was treated with a similar scant ceremony on
on arrival his arrival, the reason being that the Khan was sleeping
off the effects of a heavy debauch the night before. As these orgies
were said to be of constant occurrence, it was extremely likely that
the same plea might be forthcoming for the failure to receive me
now. However, I was sufficiently versed in Oriental etiquette to
know that in matters of ceremony a foreigner is taken at his own
estimation, and that any failure to vindicate his titular importance
is ascribed not to modesty but to weakness. 2 Accordingly I
halted outside the walls of the town, which I declined to enter
under such auspices, and sent on my Afghan sergeant and one of
the Turkoman sowars 3 to the house of the Khan, to say that I
had arrived at the hour agreed upon, and was surprised at the
indignity of being compelled to halt in a caravanserai A roadside inn providing accommodation for caravans (groups of travellers). outside the
walls. In about ten minutes there was a clatter of hoofs ; eight
or ten horsemen galloped up ; and a somewhat dilapidated single
brougham, drawn by two grey steeds, on one of which was mounted
a postilion, rumbled up to the door. The leader explained that
the Khan was very much distressed at my legitimate annoyance ;
that he had intended to meet me as arranged, but that the
messenger from Imam Kuli, the old fellow with the skewbald
beard, had named one o'clock as the hour of my arrival. He
begged I would forgive the mistake and accept a house which he
had prepared for me. My wounded dignity having received this
balsam, I mounted the vehicle; my horse was led before; my escort
came behind ; and the Khan's cavaliers galloped in front, clearing
a way through the streets and bazaars with astonishing rapidity.
Entering the town by a low gateway with earthen towers in
the earthen wall, we jolted along a number of narrow and tortuous
lanes, and at length pulled up at a house which, I was
?f 0 the tallty informed, the Khan had furnished and placed at my
Khan disposal. Three excellent rooms, carpeted and with
whitewashed walls, relieved by shallow niches, looked out on a
1 Istikhal is the name of the mounted escort usually sent out to meet a guest
of distinction; viehmandar, that of the official who, on behalf of the prince or
governor, welcomes the new arrival.
2 A Persian grandee will frequently try to get the better of his guest in this
manner, not so much with the intention of being rude as to magnify his own im
portance. 3 Fiwfo next chapter.