164 



The Journal of Heredity 



by one person, but also not to be so 

 light that one can easily run away with 

 it ; and this piece of baggage always has 

 to be taken care of the very first thing 

 and is always at night at my own head. 

 Well, we passed this road, which is one 

 of the worst I have seen in my life, safe 

 and sound, and slept that night beneath 

 old apricot trees in the court of a local 

 dignitary in the prosperous town of 

 Orono, situated in the rich valley of the 

 Zarafshan. 



WILD VEGETATION SCARCE. 



On Wednesday, July 13, we followed 

 the Zarafshan the whole day and passed 

 several villages, where orchards of apri- 

 cots, mulberries and walnuts inter- 

 mingled. Wild vegetation, however, is 

 almost absent. In a naturally dry 

 climate, the long occupation of men has 

 exterminated what little there formerly 

 grew upon the mountain slopes and in 

 the glens and today everything is 

 scorched and barren. 



On Thursday, July 14, we left the town 

 of Langar, where we had stopped for the 

 night, and passed through a region where 

 almost no level spot was found at all; 

 everywhere mountains and precipices, 

 all rock and cliffs. As a result no villages 

 have been established, and as distances 

 are too long for peasants to carry away 

 woody vegetation to their homes, we 

 found lots of interesting plants: Pis- 

 taches, almonds in three species, Prunus 

 divaricata, maples, junipers, coluteas, 

 etc. In the herbarium material I sent 

 off a few weeks ago, you'll find many 

 labels bearing the date July 14, 1910. 

 As I had to do all the collecting myself, 

 my men not being intelligent enough for 

 it, I was rather tired that day and was 

 glad to sleep again on the porch of a 

 Muhammadan mosque, notwithstanding 

 a strong wind blew all night through the 

 tall walnut trees and made one dream of 

 storms at sea and fights in forests. 



Friday, July 15, saw us leave Wishist, 

 and late in the afternoon we came back 

 again in Pendshikeiit, where our early 

 return caused lots of surprise, since we 

 had said we would stay out at least one 

 month. And now we went to the police 

 again and found out my name had been 

 booked, but that the acting chief of 



police was at faiilt. Then the horse- 

 men to whom I had paid 100 roubles 

 in advance, besides having lent them 

 money on the road, wouldn't return the 

 money and we had to ask the assistance 

 of the police and a judge to get most of 

 it back ; even at that I lost twelve roubles 

 on the transaction, besides finding it an 

 extremely unpleasant business which 

 lasted all through Friday evening and 

 Saturday, July 16. The guide, to whom 

 I had given some money, too, got dead 

 drunk and made troubles worse. Yes, 

 this whole trip was tragi-comical ! It 

 is good that I am sufficiently hardened off 

 to stand a wee bit of trouble, otherwise 

 such matters are able to make one lose 

 temper and sense. 



SECOND DEPARTURE. 



On Sunday, July 17, we left Pendshi- 

 kent again by cart and after a long day's 

 ride we arrived in Samarkand at nine 

 p. m. 



On Tuesday next I went to the gov- 

 ernor of Samarkand and complained 

 verbally about this treatment I had 

 experienced at the hands of his subor- 

 dinates. He was a very kind man, had 

 investigations made straightway, and in 

 less than an hour I had a paper in my 

 possession giving mc full rights to travel 

 in the same district from which I had 

 been chased out. The very adminis- 

 trator who had been so suspicious, was 

 smiles all over, and pointed out places 

 on the map where many plants were 

 found, and even offered to collect mate- 

 rial. And there the matter rests. 



When in Samarkand, my interpreter 

 in the meantime had found out that cer- 

 tain things had been taken from his 

 dwelling, while he was absent, and he 

 made this as an excuse for not being 

 willing to go any longer with mc, 

 although I knew that it was the hard- 

 ships and the want of the "flesh pots of 

 Egypt" that made him stay back. He 

 promised, however, to accompany mc to 

 Tashkent and find me another inter- 

 l)rctcr, but after having had private 

 troubles at home, he did not want to do 

 that either, and left me wholly alone. 

 Now I could have gone to the police and 

 forced him to stay with me, as I had a 

 witness that I had engaged him for at 



