DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.15172#0016
X
PREFACE TO
our best safeguard. We discharged the whole of
our Indian servants but one individual, Ghoolam
Hoosn, who demands my lasting gratitude for the
hardships which he underwent on my account, and
who is yet my faithful servant.
From the time I made up my mind to traverse
the countries that lie between India and the Caspian,
I determined to retain the character of a European,
accommodating myself in dress, habits, and customs,
to those with whom I should mingle. The sequel
has proved that the design had much to recommend
it, though the character involved us in some diffi-
culties. I adopted the resolution, however, in an
utter hopelessness of supporting the disguise of a
native ; and from having observed that no European
traveller has ever journeyed in such countries with-
out suspicion, and seldom without discovery. From
long intercourse with Asiatics, I had acquired some
insight into their character, and possessed at the
same time a fair colloquial knowledge of the Persian
language, the lingua franca of the people I should
meet. I did not, then, hesitate to appear among
them in their own garb, and avow myself a foreigner.
By all the accounts which I collected, it did not
appear to me that there was any just cause for ap-
prehending personal injury or danger ; but I received
little consolation from my friends in India, who
referred to the fate of our predecessors, poor Moor-
croft and his party, as our inevitable lot. I trust,
however, that the happy termination of this jour-
ney will give^ a more favourable impression of the
Asiatic character, and stimulate others (which I
PREFACE TO
our best safeguard. We discharged the whole of
our Indian servants but one individual, Ghoolam
Hoosn, who demands my lasting gratitude for the
hardships which he underwent on my account, and
who is yet my faithful servant.
From the time I made up my mind to traverse
the countries that lie between India and the Caspian,
I determined to retain the character of a European,
accommodating myself in dress, habits, and customs,
to those with whom I should mingle. The sequel
has proved that the design had much to recommend
it, though the character involved us in some diffi-
culties. I adopted the resolution, however, in an
utter hopelessness of supporting the disguise of a
native ; and from having observed that no European
traveller has ever journeyed in such countries with-
out suspicion, and seldom without discovery. From
long intercourse with Asiatics, I had acquired some
insight into their character, and possessed at the
same time a fair colloquial knowledge of the Persian
language, the lingua franca of the people I should
meet. I did not, then, hesitate to appear among
them in their own garb, and avow myself a foreigner.
By all the accounts which I collected, it did not
appear to me that there was any just cause for ap-
prehending personal injury or danger ; but I received
little consolation from my friends in India, who
referred to the fate of our predecessors, poor Moor-
croft and his party, as our inevitable lot. I trust,
however, that the happy termination of this jour-
ney will give^ a more favourable impression of the
Asiatic character, and stimulate others (which I