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

ause of the fear they inspired in the horses, more than 50 men decided to ride along the riverbank to their destination.'® Both groups began their parallel journeys on September 24, hoping to reach Khiva in less than two weeks. Occasionally the kujaks would strike a sandbar, and the owners had to push the heavily laden boats with long poles to free them. Sometimes they met empty boats on their way upstream, drawn by men who walked slowly along the bank. The Mennonites were glad to be going downstream, even though strong winds slowed their progress at times. Even this relatively easy journey claimed its victims, as Mrs. Graeve, a beloved wife and mother of five children, died on one of the boats. She was buried on the bank of the Amu Darya under a small clump of apricot trees. Stopping for the night, some slept on deck while others found a spot on shore; fires had to be kept going all night because tigers and other preda- tors inhabited the area. The men riding overland had to worry more about bandits than tigers. As they were following the mail road, they were told that ban- dits in the hills had recently killed a postal employee and stolen his mail. Indeed, Jacob Jantzen encountered a band of brigands, but for- tunately escaped unharmed. Having unknowingly dropped a saddle bag The Khivan Refuge 157 late in the night, he had to ride back along the trail alone to pick it up. He then came upon two riders who had rifles slung over their shoulders, revolvers on the belts, cartridges across their chests, and long swords. Riding straight toward them, he saw the saddle bag on the ground and picked it up, just as one of the riders asked, ‘‘ Where are the others?” Jantzen answered, “Behind the hill,” though they were, of course, miles away. They probably knew he was lying, but they let him ride away unharmed. '* Arrival in Petro- Alexandrovsk The two separate parties reached Petro-Alexandrovsk on October 1, some 200 miles from their embarkation point at IIdshik. The horse- men camped near the wall of the garrison while the remainder of the party bivouacked on the river a few miles from the town. On Sunday, October 4, a few of the horsemen walked to the other camp to take part in worship services and to see how the river journey had been.'” It had not been easy. One woman in the party wrote friends on the Trakt that she had completed the trip only with the help of God. The camel-back journey and the crowded boats were the most trying conditions she had experienced in more than two years of traveling. Soon after arriving in this Russian garrison town, a rumor was passed around that the khan of Khiva had changed his mind about admitting the Mennonites. But they sent word of their arrival to the khan, and General Grottenhelm personally rode to their camp to en- courage them and advise them to buy plenty of supplies for their new homes, such as windows, doors, hinges, and nails. On October 5, both part