246 Dm^vislies and Hadjis. 



mans call Kudush* or Divane (insane) . In the whole of the 

 great deserts which stretch from the eastern boundaries of 

 China to the Caspian Sea, it is only these people, in their ragged 

 dress, who are able to move unmolested. They do not take any 

 notice of the differences of tribe or family, and the mighty 

 words Jaghi or H (friend or enemy) have to them no meaning. 

 In travelling along they join whomsoever they meet, be it a 

 peaceful caravan or band of robbers. The dervishes who travel 

 through Kirguese or Turkoman steppes are generally this class 

 of people, who from a strong inclination to do nothing, follow 

 a trade which, throughout the East, is considered respectable, 

 viz., that of a mendicant. All they have to acquire is a few 

 prayers and a certain power of mimicry, with which the chiro- 

 mantic feats are performed, and I have never seen a nomad 

 who has not been moved when he found himself in the close 

 presence of one of those long-haired, bare-headed, and bare- 

 footed dervishes, who with his fiery eyes, stared hard at the 

 son of the desert, and whilst shaking his Keshkulf howled a 

 wild" Ja Ku>" 



The arrival of one of these fakirs in a lonely group of tents 

 is regarded as a joyful event, or al most a festival ; it is of 

 especial importance in the eyes of the women ; and the time of 

 his arrival is differently interpreted. Early in the morning 

 signifies the happy birth of a camel, or a horse ; at noon a 

 quarrel between husband and wife ; and in the evening a good 

 prospect of marriage to the marriageable daughters. The 

 dervish is generally taken in hand by the women, and is well 

 supplied with the best things the tent .contains, in hopes that 

 he may be tempted to produce from beneath his battered dress 

 some glass beads, or other talisman. Alms, which amongst 

 the nomads seldom consist of money, are rarely denied him ; 

 and he often receives an old carpet, a few handfuls of camel 

 hair or wool, or an old garment. He may also stop with the 

 family for days, and move about with it without his presence 

 becoming a burden. If the dervish possesses musical talent, 

 *. e., able to sing a few songs and accompany himself on the two- 

 stringed instrument called Dutara, he is made much of, and has 

 the greatest difficulty in getting away from the hospitable host. 



It is very seldom that dervishes are insulted or ill-treated; 

 this, however, is said to be the case amongst the Turkoman, 

 whose rapacity knows no bounds, and prompts them to commit 

 incredible acts of cruelty. A dervish, from Bokhara, of 



* Xuddus (Hungarian : Kodus, i. e., beggar), is derived from Kudurmak, to 

 become mad ; tbus the Arabs call the dervishes " Hedjnun," i. e., insane. 



t Keshkul is a vessel formed of half a cocoa-nut, the vade tnecum of the der- 

 vishes, in which he plunges all the food he has collected by begging, whether dry 

 or fluid, sweet or sour. Such a dish of tutti frutti would but ill suit our gastro- 

 nomers, and yet how delicious it tasted to me after a long day's march. 



