THE LIBRARY. The Kuzzilbash. A TALE OF KHORASAN. -- INTRODUCTION. During a residence of many years in the upper Provinces of India, I had devoted much of my leisure to - certain investigations of an historical nature, connected with the period when the celebrated Nader Shah, Monarch of Persia, succeeded in the most gigantic of his undertakings, and acquired, for a time, military possession of the noble and venerable capitol of the Mogul empire. In pursuit of this object, I had sedulously collected all the MSS. and other papers within my reach, that promised to bear upon the subject; and applied much time and labour, often indeed to very little purpose, in ascertaining their contents. One morning, in the burning month of April, after a night rendered sleepless by heat, and by speculations on my favourite subject, I resolved to devote the following day to the examination of a large chest of old papers, which had lately come into my possession by the kindness of a native friend, and among which I had reason to expect some valuable tracts for my purpose. An early breakfast was over; the well-watered tatties* were applied to the windows, and diffused through the apartment a cool and fragrant atmosphere, which, as well as the grateful twilight they occasioned, was most comfortably contrasted with the white heat and roar of the fierce hot wind, and the wild, sweet, melancholy chant of the water-drawer, cheering his bullocks, as they raised the loaded water-skin from the deep well close by, and the occasional bubbling of my own hookah, which had just been furnished with another chillum.† Every thing about me was arranged after the most approved style of Indian comfort, or luxury, if you will; the great chest of papers was placed beside me, and by it, upon a low stool, sat my worthy old Moonshee, with his long white beard, his huge green turban, and his old-fashioned, black-rimmed spectacles, just perched on the tip of his nose-peering slowly, carefully, as if he was handling cobwebs, into the ample but confused contents of the ancient repository. I soon got hold of a promising volume, written in a fine bold Niskhee hand, while the moonshee continued dipping into each separate MS. as it came to hand, and Dow and then recommending one to my attention by an Most readers, perhaps, already know, that tatties are frames of bamboo covered with the roots of a sweetsmelling grass, which being applied to the windows, and kept constantly wet, preserve, by the evaporation caused by the hot wind, a grateful coolness. They aro usod over most of India. The piece of earthen ware on which the tobacco is placed in the hookah, is called the chillum-" a fresh chillum," therefore, is equivalent to " a fresh pipe." NO. 1.-JULY 3, 1838. emphatic nod. He stumbled, at length, upon a small thick volume, written in a neat close hand, which seemed particularly to arrest his attention. He turned more towards the light, carefully examined the title and annunciation of the MS.-read a few sentences-took off his glasses deliberately, wiped and replaced them; and then setting himself more firmly on his seat, recommenced his examination. Presently a smile stole over his old withered face; he nodded his head several times, and then looked sideways at me, as if uncertain whether he should interrupt me or no. "What have you got there, Meer Allum-jee ?" said I, at last attracted by his manner "is there any thing in that volume likely to be of use?" "I cannot tell that, sir," replied he;-" probably not ;but it seems to be a curious work, and one which, in my humble belief, would amuse many of the Sahib Log,* (European gentlemen.) It appears to be the history, or memoirs, of a person who lived about the period in which you are interested; but I cannot yet say whether it is likely to answer any purpose to you. I will enquire further, and report to master." The continued examination of the volume appeared to increase the old moonshee's delight; his countenance became more animated as he proceeded, and several halfsuppressed exclamations escaped him. At last, turning to me, he said, "I believe this book will not be disagreeable to master and if he permits it, his servant will read him a few pages." "By all means, Meer Allum," replied I; for I had by that time discovered that the volume which had occupied me was of little value. "Let us have a fresh chillum, and I shall be happy to learn what it is that has so strongly attracted your gravity." Meer Allum had not proceeded through many pages, before my curiosity was as fully awakened as he could have desired; I took the book from him, that I might examine it with attention, and as he had predicted, was soon deeply interested in its contents. I found that it contained the memoirs of a man who had been cotemporary with and in the service of Nader Shah; and, although it did not appear greatly calculated to promote the object of my enquiries, as I read I became impressed with the belief that, if it could be translated and put into a fitting dress, it might serve, in no unpleasing way, to convey a description of the manners of the age and country in which the writer had spent his life. Full of this idea I resolved to attempt a translation of the MS.; but, upon trial, I found it a much more difficult task than I had anticipated. Every language has its peculiar idiom, which seldom can be happily rendered into another tongue; and this is peculiarly the case with Persian; the spirit of which, figurative and periphrastic in a high degree, hardly admits of being transfused into English. I found also, that the author was apt to dwell too much upon subjects which, however interesting to himself, were not likely to prove so to others, yet which * The common appellation given to English gentlemen in India—literally, “ the gentlefolk.” were so intimately connected with some of the leading | events which it narrated, that it was very difficult to reject or abridge them. There was much of repetition and sameness of narration, and frequently a coarseness of expression-a fault too common with the author's countrymen-all of which it was absolutely necessary to get rid of, if possible, without destroying the thread or spirit of the story. determine. It may be the opinion of some, that the work might fully as well have been permitted to rest undisturbed in the dust and cobwebs of my friend the Meerza's chest; but if, on the contrary, it should have the good fortune to beguile others of its readers of a few tedious hours, or inspire in any of them a desire to become better acquainted with a portion of the world which for many years past has occupied too little the attention of the British public, the labour of its transrealised. Whether these labours shall ever be resumed, must depend on the reception vouchsafed by the public to this first portion of the "Kuzzilbash.”* CHAPTER I. It cost me great labour to translate, and cut out, as it were from the block, the portion now submitted to pub-lator will have been repaid, and his most sanguine hopes lic judgment:-but after all my pains, I found that much remained to be done, in order to render the work in any degree tolerable to European readers. The figurative, and often obscure, oriental style would still hang around the translation, embarrassing it with a number of phrases and terms which seemed important to the truth and spirit of the narrative, yet which would be unintelligible to the majority of English readers without numberless notes. These it was necessary to reduce as much as possible; and, after no small consideration, I resolved on sacrificing a part of the object I had in retaining them, to the more important one of rendering the style easy and intelligible. A slight degree of oriental tone has still been preserved, as being essential to the true colouring of eastern scenery; but pains have been taken, both in description and in dialogue, to adopt a language that may sound as little strange or uncouth as possible to European ears. In the name of the most merciful God, &c., &c. He who by virtue of his own experience teaches unthinking youth to avoid the snares which beset the path of life, is like a pilot to the frail bark in a tempestuous sea. "Such a man," saith the sage, "ranks next to a prophet." My beard is now white with the snow of age, my eyes are dim, and my arms have lost the vigour of youth: but the wisdom bought by many perils may avail to warn the unwary from the snares of destruction, and teach them how to pluck the rose of safety from among the rude thorns of danger. In justice to the author, however, it is right to mention, The counsels of a wise and valued friend, induced me that his early education among the rude tribes of the de- to accustom myself, from an early age, to commit to writsert, and the use he continued to make of the Toorkeeing an account of such remarkable occurrences as fell tongue, which is by far more simple in its phraseology than the Persian, has given even to his Persian composition a degree of simplicity and freedom, uncommon among writers of that country, and which has, in no small degree, lightened the task of translation. After all, I found that it was impossible to make the work generally intelligible without some notes. Even after the strictest purgation, there were many phrases and expressions necessarily retained, and some customs alluded to, which required such explanatory notices; but pains have been taken to limit their number and extent, so that I hope they may not be found altogether obnoxious. It may, very possibly, be thought by many that the system of curtailment has by no means been carried far enough, and objections may be taken, by those who read for mere amusement, to the extent of historical matter which has been admitted, and the frequent occurrence of martial and sanguinary narrations. To this I can only reply, that the intimate connection which subsisted between my hero and the chief whose fortunes he followed, involved of necessity a considerable share of the first, which moreover promised not to be uninteresting, as it afforded the means of displaying somewhat of the character and disposition of the celebrated conqueror, developed to the eye of an associate high in his favour. With regard to the last it may be remarked, that war and bloodshed must naturally form prominent features in the history of an adventurer who was born and lived among a rude and turbulent people, divided into a multitude of tribes and districts, at continual variance with each other, and often under a very unsettled government. Nevertheless, attention has not been spared to vary these passages, and to relieve them by the introduction of matter more suited to the taste of general readers. To effect this, liberties in construction and arrangement, though not in matter of fact, have sometimes been taken with the original, and the translator has occasionally been forced to use his own form of narrative instead of that of the author. Much labour has thus been bestowed, —which may be compared with the subterraneous works in a great city, conducing to the general comfort, but not meeting the eye. How far such labour may have been successful, or even well bestowed, the public alone can under my observation from time to time; and although the practice was frequently interrupted by indolence, or suspended from want of leisure, it yet became the means of fixing passing events upon the tablet of my memory, and enabled me to amuse the friends of my latter years. with the tales of days long since gone by. The resolution, however, which produced this detailed account of my life and adventures, did not originate entirely with myself. It was after a conversation with the sage Meerza Hancefah, the profound Moollah Hoossain, and the witty, but sarcastic Wullee Khan, in which the subject of my early adventures had been discussed, when the free interchange of sentiment had excited our imaginations, and the confidence of friendship had expanded our hearts, that Meerza Haneefab exclaimed, “By the head of the prophet! Ismael Khan, you who have witnessed so vast a portion of what passes in this changing world; who have been a great traveller and a valiant soldier, and whose acquaintance with men and things has been so great and so very extensive, ought not to allow your experience to be lost. You might write a history of your own times, and of your personal adventures, which would not yield in interest to the delightful romance of Yussuff and Zuleika, or the tale of Ferhaud and Shireen, as related by the poets, while it would possess the superior excellence of reality and truth." The word Kuzzilbash, which is Turkish, signifies "red-head,” and was an appellation originally given by Shah Ismael the first, to seven tribes which were united and firmly bound to defend their king and the Sheah faith against all enemies and aggressors--(Vide Malcolm's History of Persia, vol. i. page 502.) These tribes wore a red cap as a distinguishing mark, which afterwards became the military head-dress of the Persian troopshence, the term Kuzzilbash is used to express a Persian soldier, and often, particularly among the Toorkomans and Oozbecks, is applied as a national designation to the people in general. |