The Great Trek of the Russian Mennonites to Central Asia, 1880-1884, Fred Richard Belk, 1976

eatedly was set up by which each wagon was pulled over a stretch of sand by five horses; men then rode these horses back, hitched them to another wagon and pulled it forward. During this long and painful crossing of about three weeks, water was very scarce, and if the Kirghiz drivers had not led them to deep wells they might have perished. In fact, the horses were continually thirsty, and many of the children became ill, probably because of the lack of good milk and water. As the children grew weaker from diarrhea and dehydration, the desert became a burning hell for the travelers. In all, the Kara Kum claimed eleven children among these ten families. In spite of the precaution of boiling all water, every child under four died before the journey was over. L. The Aral Sea was a welcome sight to these Weary travelers, and the horses and remaining 38 people drank their fill of water from springs near its shores. After arriving at the city of Kasalinsk on the Syr Darya, they stopped for a week to give everyone a rest and to care for the remaining members of the group who were still ill. They then moved on toward Fort Perovsk. This journey was com- paratively pleasant, because they followed the beautiful Amu Darya through a heavily wooded region where they found pheasants and many kinds of berries. They rested in Perovsk for a day, and after crossing the swift-running Aries River, they departed for the historic city of Turkestan, after which the province was named. From this point they hurriedly traveled to the city of Chimkent, where a festival was in progress. Here they purchased the necessary food for themselves, bought feed for the horses, and started for Tashkent and the final portion of their journey. One evening while on this final leg of their journey, the trav- elers were startled by an unexpected visitor. During their nightly devotional meeting, a Russian troika drove up, and one of the two men inside asked them what type of meeting they were holding. When they answered, they discovered that one of the two men inside was Governor-General von Kaufmann himself! After recognizing some of the leaders, he became very friendly, advised them as to which road they should take, and suggested they should plan to winter in Kaplan Bek, a former military post about thirteen miles from Tashkent. Wilhelm Penner left the next day to make arrangements for their stay and returned with a delegation from Kaplan Bek. The Mennonites were overjoyed that their grueling trip was finally near- ing an end. 90 The Great Trek of the Russian Mennonites Arrival in Kaplan Bek, October 18, 1880 Finally, after two more days’ driving, they reached their goal on October 18, 1880.'!! The 1,780-mile trip thus far had consumed fifteen weeks, and fourteen children ad died along the way. Br formerly had belonged to a ‘Kirghiz "bek “(or Tord) “who Taised horses there, but Governor Kaufmann had requisitioned the land for tem- p