Chapter II.
Transcaspia and Turkestan.
On Friday, March 28th, we left Meshed on our 'march' to Dushak, accompanied by General MacLean, who provided tents, servants, horses, and mules. 'Marching' differs from 'chaparing' in being a much slower, but more comfortable, mode of travelling. The distance covered in a day's march varies from sixteen to thirty miles, and a small army of servants and mules is required to carry and look after the tents, camp furniture, and heavy miscellaneous baggage. General MacLean's camp consisted of one double-bedded tent for us, one sleeping tent for himself, one for Chivers, one 'parlour' tent, besides small servants' and kitchen tents; and the ease and rapidity with which this camp was pitched every evening and struck every morning was mainly due to the skill and experience of Duffadar, i.e., Sergeant Ramazan
