The goal I pursued on my journeys from the Bosporus to Samarkand is therefore easy to conclude. Geological or astronomical research was outside my field, and in the dervish disguise I had to assume, even an impossibility. My focus was largely on the peoples of Central Asia, of whose social and political conditions, character, customs, and traditions I attempt to provide a faint sketch in these pages. The Hungarian Orientalist Hermann Vámbéry (1832-1913) spoke not only several European languages but also Arabic, Turkish, and Persian. Learning other languages enabled him to explore the relationship between languages and the linguistic affinity of his mother tongue, Hungarian. Disguised as a dervish, he traveled through Central Asia and summarized.