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Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books
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The heart of a continent : vol.1 |
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OCR Text
Chinese; I also saw there men from nearly every part of
Asia. It is a curious meeting-ground of many nationalities
from north and south, and from east and west of Asia; from
Russian territory and from India, from China, and from
Afghanistan and Bokhara, even men from Constantinople.
With all of these I had from time to time opportunities of
speaking. Ethnologically they differed greatly, but they were
all Asiatics, and nearly all traders, and their general character-
istics, in consequence, varied but little. The effect of Central
Asian listlessness had made itself felt on all. The wild
fanatical Pathan from the Indian frontier allowed his ardour to
cool down here till he became almost as mild as the comfortable
merchant from Bokhara. All were intelligent men who, in
their wanderings, had picked up much useful knowledge; and
as a rule the constant rubbing up against their neighbours had
produced good manners in them. They were seldom anything
else but courteous, if they knew that courtesy would be shown
to them, and a visit from any of them was always a pleasure.
They discussed politics constantly, as their trade depended so
much upon the political situation; and the man in all Asia
whom they watched with the keenest interest was Abdul
Rahman, the Amir of Kabul. On him and on his life so much
of their little fortunes depended. He was credited with bound-
less ambitions. At one time he was to attack the Chinese in
Kashgar, and turn them out; at another he was to invade
Bokhara; and four times during our stay in Kashgar he was
dead altogether. These Central Asian traders speculate freely
on what is to happen when he dies. If a son of his is to rule
in his stead, then Afghanistan will remain as much closed for
them as it is now, and the trade of Central Asia will be
strangled as before by the prohibitive tariffs, and other obstacles
to it which are imposed by the ruler of Kabul. But if
Afghanistan is swept away as an independent state, and the
Russian and Indian frontiers coincide either on the Hindu
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461
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471
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482
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