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

no means seen the end of unsettling incidents along the way. At Chim- kent, after 16 full weeks on the road, even the routine process of making camp was transformed into a macabre experience. Late one Saturday evening, as they sought a site to spend the Sabbath, they found the city gates of Chimkent closed and bolted. After coaxing a town official to allow them to enter, they were led to a large open field covered by a number of earthen mounds. Very suspiciously the official warned the Mennonites not to leave their wagons for water or any other reason. Early the next morning, however, a young girl left her parents’ wagon to relieve herself and get some water from a nearby canal. Suddenly, the entire party was awakened by her screams. It was discovered that as she had walked over one of the mounds it had given way, and she fell through up to her armpits. She was shaking with fright when one of the brethren pulled her out. It was then that they found they had spent the night in an ancient graveyard. Peters, knowing that Muslims revere the dead, could not under- stand why they had been allowed to stay there, and he began looking around the site. Some of the graves had stone walls that were broken and fallen in so that one could see corpses through the holes in the ground. When Peters asked the city officials the reason they had been assigned this spot for the night, they replied that they had not been able to think of another area large enough for such a wagon train. No one, they explained, knew how old the graves were nor The Trek Continues 103 to what civilization they belonged. For some time the officials had wanted to destroy the graveyard, but because they did not know who was buried there, they hesitated doing anything. When the Mennonites arrived, the city fathers of Chimkent had become fearful because when large wagons entered their city before, they had been ac- companied by Russian guns and cannons. Peters assured the officials that they were only peaceful farmers seeking a future hope. Never again did these Molotschna Mennonites see a graveyard like the one in Chimkent."” Leaving this unique campsite behind, the travelers spent the latter half of November plagued by heavy rains, chuckholes, broken axles, and tracks too narrow for their wagons. As they approached Tashkent some of the brethren from Kaplan Bek came out to greet them, including Dietrich Peters and Peter Quiring from Molotschna who had come with the second wagon train. There was much re- joicing when these young men were reunited with their families. Arrival in Tashkent, December 2, 1880 Thi: third and longest trek had taken eighteen weeks; the pil- grims had left nine people buried along the trail. Instead of quartering this contingent at Kaplan Bek with their brethren, Kaufmann had ar- ranged accommodations for them in Tashkent itself. It was no wonder then that after a brief but refreshing stay with their friends, the