C H A P T E R X L V I .
FROM K IT A B 'TO SHAHR.
Curious hospitality.—Entertainment by dancing-boys and mountebanks.
% Native appreciation of batchas.—Visits from the Emir s court.
Our lodging and spies.— Reception of Bokhariot officers.— Guard
of native soldiers.—Dress for an audience with the Emir. —Procession
and arrival at the fortress,-Hrhe Emir Seid Muzaffar-ed-
Various estimates of his character.— Admission to his
presence.—My requests and presents.— Refreshment with courtiers.
Princely presents.— Drive to Shahr in the Emir s carriage.
OU R house at Kitab was certainly not a mansion,
for the principal room measured only about 12 feet
by 10. Perhaps lack of space was meant to be atoned
for by abundance of air, for there were 6 doors, and
over 3 of them unglazed lattices. W e learned,
however, that hereafter we should be lodged in better
guest-houses, but that few embassies came to Kitab.
Soon after our arrival we were asked what we should
like to do. I replied that we wished to see the town,
and that I should be glad if we could find some coins
and other antiquities or curiosities. I had been told
by the Russians that the shortest space etiquette would
allow of our staying at Kitab would be three days, and
this was the time I told them when they asked how
long 1 should remain their guest. My answers were
reported to the Emir, and his messenger came back to
I say that they thought we should stay at least a week,
I that my wish for coins should be attended to, and that
I we could see the town after our audience with the Emir.
On our arrival we had found, as at Kainar, the table
I laden with trays of sweets and fruits, and, in addi- I tion, there awaited me, as a present, at least half-a-dozen
■ loaves of white sugar, and as many boxes of sugar-.
■ candy, both imported from Russia. I soon voted my
■own tea preferable to the green tea drunk by the
■ natives, and, after taking refreshment, found that we
■were to be entertained that evening by a grand per-
■formance of musicians, batchas, and buffoons. A t
■dusk the scene was lighted up with 23 lamps, and we
■were to sit under a spreading vine that formed a
■rustic balcony at the back of the house, and from
■thence to see the fun. Three men, with tambourines,
■sat near a charcoal fire in a brazier, over which, from
■time to time, they held their instruments to tighten
■the parchment. Presently four boys, or batchas,
■arrived, and were presented to us as the artistes of
'ijjthe evening; and whilst they were drinking tea and
■eating fruit, the tambourines, increased to five, began
■to sound and the men to sing. T h e batchas were
■dressed in red, flowing robes, with loose, wide trousers,
■but had their feet uncovered, their most striking-
Bpeculiarity being their long hair, like that of girls. In
■ the first dance the four boys walked leisurely round
Band round, keeping time with clappers. In the next
I they danced faster, clapped their hands, and sang in
K unison,— love, on the part of the supposed girl, being
I the burden of their song. In the third dance the lover
■ answered this ditty, and in the fourth the dance was
I interspersed with somersaults and other antics.
Whilst the batchas were dancing and putting them