ON THE ROAD TO

KHIVA.

BY

DAVID KER,

1842-1914

LATE KHIVAN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT OF THE "DAILY TELEGRAPH."

WITH PHOTOGRAPHIC ILLUSTRATIONS AND MILITARY MAP.

HENRY S. KING & Co.,

65 CORNHILL AND 12 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON.

I 874.

A FEW WORDS, PERSONAL AND

PREFATORY.

THE nature of the present work compels me to preface it with a few words about myself; but they shall be as few as possible. I make no apology for the delay which absence from home and severe illness have entailed upon me, knowing as I do that no man who has been condemned unheard can ever appeal in vain to the justice and good sense of an English public. So far as I can learn, the charges against me are as follow: I. Having concocted letters at a distance from the scene of action; 2. Having wilfully sent false news of the fall of Khiva; 3. Having written magazine articles subsequent to my engagement with the Daily Telegraph, in direct violation of my own written contract; 4 Having filled my letters with extracts from my former articles.

To the first of these charges I reply, that the official passes given me to Orenburg, Fort No. 1, and Tashkent, General Kolpakovski's telegram to me at the latter place, with permission to visit Samarcand, and the letters written me en route by various Russian officers, are open to inspection. With regard to my "false