I declined, beginning to suspect that what he really I
wanted was to spy from the yard what I was doing, I
and this suspicion increased when, chancing to look in I
the direction of the offices, I saw a man had taken I
a seat commanding a view of our room, off which he I
scarcely took his eyes. In the course of the morning I
a messenger came from the Emir and told us, to our I
disgust, that his Majesty, having heard how late we I
got to bed on the previous night, felt sure we must I
be tired, and so would not see us till the morrow. I
About midday we said that we should like to go out m I
the afternoon for a ride, and to see the town, where-1
upon I discovered that, in addition to being a guest, I I
was also a prisoner, for they said we must not leave I
the premises without the permission of the Emir, and!
this permission did not come. ^ I
In the evening we were informed of the arrival of I
the assistant to the commander-in-chief of the Bokhanot I
forces, the commander of a battalion, and a guard of I
honour, 30 strong. There was no need to fear, his I
Majesty said, but he had thought it better to send us a I
gu a rd* W e were just finishing our evening meal, and I
I invited the officers in, and plied them with— not I
cups, but— bowls of tea, bread, butter, and eggs. Upon I
these meats the gallant commanders made a vigorous]
onslaught, and it was not until each had disposed oil
half-a-dozen basins of tea that they cried “ enough,’
their politeness having come to an end; for I dis-l
covered that, according to Bokhariot etiquette; the} I
were bound to keep on eating as long as we kept
offering. , ' . , I
I then tried to amuse them by showing them
* To be ‘ ‘ valiant men about our bed . . . . every man with his sword I
upon his thigh, because of fear in the night ” (Cant. m. 8).
Ingravings of Central Asia in Madame Ujfalvy’s “ B e
IParis d S a m a r candr but the officers seemed somewhat
slow in taking in their meaning. It occurred to me
afterwards that they were perhaps the first pictures
Ihey had ever se en* T o Yakoob, who had been
brought up in Russia, all was plain enough, as he
looked over the book with pleasure, and interpreted ,
but it raised a curious question in my mind as^ to what
tvould be the impression produced on a man’s understanding,
at 40 years of age, who then saw a picture
for the first time.
ft Next morning we went out to look at our guard of
honour. One officer wore a tunic of red glazed calico,
a black sheepskin hat, and a sword, and his brother
Ifficer carried in his girdle, as indicative of his rank,
a battle-axe. T h e uniforms of the rank and file
were of the nondescript character, easily imagined
when I add that the Emir’s soldiers find their own food
and clothes. One soldier had buttons on his coat that
tad done service in various British regiments, the n th
limong them, whilst their muskets were of all degrees
©f antiquity, one having been stamped in the year of
•»race 1800! The Emir had twelve guns at Kitab,
and more at Bokhara, and his army consisted, it was
, ;|aid, of 14,000 warriors, of whom 6,000 were cavalry, t
I f these, thought I , are a specimen of the Sovereign’s
body-guard, and the pick of his troops, what must the
■ * The Sunni Muhammadans hold it contrary to their faith to represent
^tnything that has life, whether vegetable or animal, being taught, I
B^elieve, that those who paint animals will at the day of judgment have
K o put life into them. Anyway, not a ghost of a picture of any living
■thing did I see all through the khanate.
■ t Another informant, a courtier, said he thought it was 20 battalions
Hof 1,000 each, and the cavalry as many more ; but the Kush-beggi, or
■Viceroy, told me 15,000, of whom 5,000 were cavalry. All of them are
Hvolunteers, who serve from 18 till death, on the munificent pay in the