Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1903 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER VI AMONG THE TEKKE TURKOMANS It was on our homeward journey that we visited Merv, Askhabad, and Bairam Ali. Askhabad, now the chief town of Transcaspia, was once a Turkoman encampment -- Eshkabad, or "the town of love." It was here that I paid my first visit to a Turkoman kibitka, which had been erected in the corner of a garden belonging to a Russian official. It was a cold, frosty day, and we were nothing loath to join the cosy family party that clustered round the wood fire, and thaw our frozen fingers while the smoke curled upwards to its only exit, a small hole in the roof; that roof, by the way, was nothing more than a covering of thick felt laid over a skeleton hut of willow withes. The mother held a blackeyed babe in her arms, and several other children belonging to another wife made up the group. Presently the father lifted the piece of felt that served as a door, and came and stood behind his wife. Being a trusted servant of the Russian family under whose protection we had come to visit him, he was anxious to show the hospitality of his race, and begged us to let him prepare some tea. "That baby came into the world just after the cold weather set in," said Madame H. "Until it was born the mother refused to lie down, though it took all the strength of a powerful female neighbour to support her in a standing position. She was true to the time-honoured custom of her race. It was a bitter day," she continued, "and as the poor creature's teeth chattered with the cold, I sent for an old coat to throw over her shoulders. It was not much use after all, for as soon as my back was turned her husband appropriated it for his own wear." There had been difficulty about deciding on a name for the child. The father had begged his...
