[547] The chief was Colonel Von Struve, who afterwards attended Kauffman in a diplomatic capacity during his campaign against Khiva in 1873, and, at a later period of his career, was envoy of Japan. Among the other members was Colonel Glukhovsky, who was an ardent pioneer for Russia in these little-known tracts (see Schuyler’s _Turkestan_, ii. 354, 386), and published an interesting account of his mission in the Paris Geographical Society’s _Bulletin_ for September 1868. [548] This illustrious soldier never regained imperial favour, and died almost unnoticed in August 1898. [549] See Schuyler’s _Turkestan_, i. 312. [550] It is to be found _in extenso_ in the _Journal de St. Petersburg_ of 16th July 1867. [551] 500,000 roubles; equivalent to about £53,000. This ultimatum is omitted in Vambéry’s admirable description of the Samarkand campaign in the _Monatsschrift für deutsche Litteratur_, 1896. He alleges that Kauffman ignored the Amīr’s embassies, and fell unexpectedly on Samarkand when the preparation for the campaign was complete. [552] Schuyler denies that this affair was really a battle. Judged by his standard, Plassey was a mere skirmish. The two battles closely resemble one another. See his _Turkestan_, i. 242. [553] Sarts, as we shall presently see, is the Russian term for the sedentary inhabitants of Central Asia. [554] Schuyler denies that the attack on a small isolated garrison was an act of treachery. It may not have been so on the part of the people of Shahrisabz; but the inhabitants of Samarkand were undoubtedly guilty of the basest dissimulation in welcoming the Russians and then secretly conspiring their destruction (_Turkestan_, i. 246). [555] This is now a Russian cantonment. [556] Quoted by Ney, _En Asie Centrale_, p. 221. [557] Hugo Stumm, _Russia in Central Asia_, p. 104. [558] The best account is one compiled by the Russian staff,--_The Khivan Campaign_, St. Petersburg, 1873. [559] Schuyler, who visited the capital just before the annexation, mentions that 500 prisoners taken in one of these emeutes had their throats cut in the bazaar, which literally streamed with blood (_Turkestan_, ii. 16). [560] Moser, _A Travers l’Asie Centrale_, p. 314. [561] Moser, _A Travers l’Asie Centrale_, p. 298. [562] The desert wells are termed _urpa_ when shallow, and _kuduk_ or _kuyu_ when they are deep and afford a constant supply. The only sign of their existence is the tracks converging on them from every quarter. They are mere holes, without kerb or fencing, and the sides are roughly shored up by the branches of desert shrubs (_ibid._ p. 299).