pointed out to us as the recently erected fort. The emissary who had brought me the Commandant's letter spurred his horse forward, leaving his companion with my party and self. "He has only gone on to say that you are coming," was the reply to my inquiry, and a few minutes later we rode into Petro-Alexandrovsk. It has been built on the site of a house and garden, which formerly belonged to the uncle of the Khan of Khiva, the materials of his house having been used in constructing the wall which has been erected round the fort.

A clean-looking, well-built house stood in a small open space in the centre of the enclosure. A flagstaff at one end of the dwelling, and two sentries walking up and down in front of the doors, made me think that this was probably the house of the chief of the Amou Darya district. My guide, who was each moment more alarmed at the possible consequences to himself for his having taken us to Khiva, now informed us that here lived the celebrated Colonel Ivanoff.

The Commandant was out hunting, so a servant informed me. At that moment a young officer coming up accosted me by my name, and said, "We expected you before this. Come with me. There is a room prepared;" and he led the way to a small building inhabited by some of the officers in the garrison. Here I found several of them congregated in a small room, and was introduced in due form by my newly-made acquaintance. I then heard that the telegram which had arrived for me was from H.R.H. the Duke of Cambridge, the Field-Marshal Commanding in Chief, and that he required my immediate return to European Russia. The document had been waiting for me several days at the fort, and, in the event of my having gone first to Petro-Alexandrovsk, I should never have seen Khiva.

A little later an officer brought a message from Colonel Ivanoff, to say that he had returned from

COLONEL IVANOFF.

shooting and was waiting to see me.

301

He is a tall

man, considerably over six feet in height, but very thin, and of a German type, his whiskers having a decided Teutonic appearace. I was received by him at first a little stiffly, but his demeanour soon changed, and he began to laugh about my journey.

"Too bad," he said, "letting you get so far, and not allowing you to carry out your undertaking.” "It was lucky," I remarked, "that I did not come here first."

"Yes," said Ivanoff; "when I "when I received the despatch, and found that you did not arrive, I sent back a special Tartar courier to Fort Number One, to say that you had probably gone on to Bokhara, and had thus given us the slip; but we should have caught you there," he continued.

"It is the fortune of war," I said. have seen Khiva.”

The Colonel here winced a little.

"Anyhow, I

"Khiva; that is nothing," he said. "Why, Major Wood, one of your compatriots, an officer in the Engineers, was here last summer; he could have gone to Khiva any day if he liked; indeed, I was a little surprised that he never asked me to let him go there."*

66 'Well," I remarked, "as I have to return to European Russia, there can be no objection to my going to St. Petersburg vid Tashkent and Western Siberia, or by Krasnovodsk and the Caspian."

"My orders are very strict about this," said the

"I

Apparently there was a slight misunderstanding between Major Wood and Colonel Ivanoff on this point, or possibly the atmosphere of Central Asia has somewhat affected the Colonel's memory. After my return to London from Khiva, I dined one evening with Major Wood, and asked him why he had not gone to Khiva. His reply was, wanted to go there very much; I frequently asked Ivanoff to let me, saying that it was a great nuisance to have come so far and not be allowed to enter the town, However, Ivanoff replied that he was very sorry, but he could not allow me to do so, as he had received a strict order from General Kauffmann on that subject."

Colonel. "You must go back the shortest way through Kasala. But you can write if you like to General Kolpakovsky, the officer commanding our troops in Turkistan. I will send on the letter with the same courier who leaves this afternoon to announce your capture; and then, if you return to Kasala in the course of three or four days' time, you will there receive the General's answer."

I dined at Ivanoff's that evening, and had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of the officers on his personal staff. They were all of them intelligent men, and, to my surprise, very abstemious, which is indeed a rare quality amidst the officers in European Russia.

We talked for a long time about England and Russia, the general tone of conversation being that England and Russia ought to be on the most friendly terms, but that our interests were so diametrically opposite that it would be impossible, sooner or later, to avoid a collision.

With reference to Merve the Colonel remarked that he could take it at any time, provided his Government would allow him to do so, whilst he said that the fortress he would then build there would be a great deal stronger than the one at PetroAlexandrovsk.

"In fact," he added, "here we hardly require a fort. You see it only consists of a low earthen parapet. The Khivans are quiet people, they do not give us any trouble, and they pay their tribute very regularly. The Turkomans, however, are quite another race; they were perpetually quarrelling with our Kirghiz. However, a few months since I caught an armed band, which had crossed the Oxus; I ordered two of my captives to be tried by court-martial, and afterwards had them hanged. Since then the Turkomans have been very quiet. However, they have got one of my soldiers a prisoner at Merve."