DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5542#0244
Chap, xliv.] SARAI KIEUI. ~°
some way between gardens, orchards, and corn fields, until
we came upon a barren plain ten or twelve miles wide, and
producing only a few patches of wheat, lupins, and rye ;
the low hills on the left gradually receded as we advanced,
and no trace of cultivation appeared, but in the immediate
neighbourhood of a few Turcoman villages. The level
plain extended uninterruptedly in all directions for many
miles, with the exception of two low hillocks near the road,
which had been used by the neighbouring peasants as
burial-grounds, as if to protect the dead from the winter
inundations. They were strewed with broken columns and
large blocks of marble.
Our road for the first six miles was W. by S. until we
reached the village of Adjem, situated near a rising ground,
the winter residence of a Turcoman tribe. The houses
were all flat-roofed, and on each was a stack of hay or
dried weeds laid up as winter fodder for the cattle. The
road was level and excellent, but we were much incommoded
by the dust; on our way towards the marshes near the lake,
we met many large waggons or arrabahs, laden with hay for
Adjem. Our course changed to the N.N.W. as we left the
Bcas Su winding across the plain towards the west; and
soon after one we reached the tents of another Turcoman
tribe from the village of Sarai, two miles off the road to the
north. Here I had my tent pitched in the middle of the
encampment for the night, there being no fresh water
between this place and Kodj Hissar. I was much pleased
with watching the varied scenes of these patriarchal en-
campments, when the flocks and herds came home at sun-
set, crossing the plain in long lines from every quarter of
the compass; the busy activity attendant on their arrival
at the tents, when the young women and children shout
and scream, and run about on all sides, collecting their
property and driving them to their own dwellings, forms
a striking contrast to the silence of the day; while
the elder matrons light fires before their respective dwell-
ings, to prepare the evening meal for their lords and
some way between gardens, orchards, and corn fields, until
we came upon a barren plain ten or twelve miles wide, and
producing only a few patches of wheat, lupins, and rye ;
the low hills on the left gradually receded as we advanced,
and no trace of cultivation appeared, but in the immediate
neighbourhood of a few Turcoman villages. The level
plain extended uninterruptedly in all directions for many
miles, with the exception of two low hillocks near the road,
which had been used by the neighbouring peasants as
burial-grounds, as if to protect the dead from the winter
inundations. They were strewed with broken columns and
large blocks of marble.
Our road for the first six miles was W. by S. until we
reached the village of Adjem, situated near a rising ground,
the winter residence of a Turcoman tribe. The houses
were all flat-roofed, and on each was a stack of hay or
dried weeds laid up as winter fodder for the cattle. The
road was level and excellent, but we were much incommoded
by the dust; on our way towards the marshes near the lake,
we met many large waggons or arrabahs, laden with hay for
Adjem. Our course changed to the N.N.W. as we left the
Bcas Su winding across the plain towards the west; and
soon after one we reached the tents of another Turcoman
tribe from the village of Sarai, two miles off the road to the
north. Here I had my tent pitched in the middle of the
encampment for the night, there being no fresh water
between this place and Kodj Hissar. I was much pleased
with watching the varied scenes of these patriarchal en-
campments, when the flocks and herds came home at sun-
set, crossing the plain in long lines from every quarter of
the compass; the busy activity attendant on their arrival
at the tents, when the young women and children shout
and scream, and run about on all sides, collecting their
property and driving them to their own dwellings, forms
a striking contrast to the silence of the day; while
the elder matrons light fires before their respective dwell-
ings, to prepare the evening meal for their lords and