verses from the Koran. This dome, owing to its construction,
is said to have peculiar acoustic properties,
to which the Khivans attach superstitious importance.
There were pointed out to us the tombs of Abul-ghazi
Khan and Anusha. MacGahan alludes to the tombs
of Muhammad-Rahim, which may agree with one they
told me was the present Khan’s “ grandfather,” and
another of Shir-Ghazi, the Khan who outwitted
Bekovitch. Adjoining the apartment under the dome
were two side chapels. In one of them is the tomb,
says MacGahan, of Allah-Kuli Khan, who received
Abbott, Shakespear, and Conolly, and in the other
the tomb of Palvan himself.
I am under the impression that this latter is regarded
as particularly sacred and kept locked, but when the
door was unfastened, Yakoob, delighted no doubt with
the opportunity, went within, and I followed through a
cloth-covered door. Within the inner and almost
dark chamber was the saint’s tomb, but the whole
affair looked shabby and dirty ; and by the time I had
seen this, the information had reached me through my
two interpreters that persons were not allowed to go in.
Neither at the Shah Zindeh at Samarkand, nor in
Khiva, did we come in contact with anything like the
crowds that are to be witnessed flocking in Russia to
the monasteries of Moscow and Kiefif, or in Italy to
the holy places of Rome. I am not sure how far this
is any indication of the falling-off of Muhammadan
zeal, or that it much assists in forming an opinion on
the vitality of the Moslem faith in Central Asia ; but to
this end I shall put together such facts as I have
ascertained by inquiry or observation, from which the
reader may judge the matter for himself.
C H A P T E R L X I I I .
K I I IV A N MOSQUES A N D THEIR WORSHIPPERS.
Muhammadan religious ordersS-Ceremonies of the Jahria Brotherhood.
—Superstitious practices.—Dancing dervishes.BReligious condition
of Central Asiatics.—Morals of the people.—Fanaticism and
indifference.—Their attitude towards the Bible and Christianity.
—Importance of missions to Muhammadans.— Efforts of “ Orthodox
” missionaries.—Labours of the Bible Society.—Khiva seen
from a minaret.— The winter palace and J um m a mosque.— The
prison and gallows.'—Home entertammenih-SFarewell visit to the
Khan.— Hazarasp and its legendary origin.
I H A V E already spoken of our attendance at the
Friday mosque at Bokhara, where I thought we
saw Muhammadanism, so to speak, at its best. We
saw something of another religious service in the Shah
Zindeh, at Samarkand, that was less pleasing, namely,
the excited frenzied worship of the Jahria Brotherhood,
as Dr. Schuyler calls them, though the word I have
in my notes is the sect Nadamat. The proceedings
reminded me of the service of the so-called “ howling”
dervishes I had witnessed at Constantinople. Neither
there nor at Samarkand did I see the service
begin, and in both cases we came away before the
end. Dr. Schuyler has described their worship with
his usual thoroughness, which enables me better to
recount what I saw. A t Samarkand the mosque was
well filled with an audience seated on the floor,