Let us have a look at Khan Kil’dy Mirza-Bashi, the official Bukharan in his travelling outfit. His oriental robe, with colossal flowers in all the colours of the rainbow and a silver belt, was so splendid that when he appeared with me in Kokand, our starting point, I felt awkward. It appeared that it was not he who escorted me but I him. He was 50 years old. [1] It also disturbed me that he might refuse to cross over the pass, where it was necessary to walk on foot. But all turned out better than I had dared to believe. In Bukhara, Mirza-Bashi obtained horses comparatively quickly and cheaply and alleviated our progress by notifying district heads in advance so that shelter and night quarters were always ready and often more than comfortable for the Pamirs. Mirza-Bashi became very interested in collecting plants and in questioning local people. He knew a little Russian and acted as interpreter and was in general not a bad assistant. He somehow got across the Karagushkhana, although constantly stating that in all his life, travelling all the mountains of Bukhara, he had never seen a more wretched area.
Photo from here.
Notes:
- Vavilov was 29. [↩]
