not had since leaving Samarkand. By the time we
returned to the dressing chamber, some more natives
had been admitted, and they watched us with not
a little curiosity as we finished our toilette and put on
our European garments. A tooth-brush appeared to
them quite a novelty. I am not so sure about a comb,
but, as all the men shave their heads, hair- brushes are
to them unknown.
Having returned to our house, we went after
breakfast to call on Astanakul Bi, Bek of Karshi.
He came into the courtyard to meet us, a young man
of intelligent countenance, dressed in cloth of gold and
white turban, and who, when we reached the hall of
reception, seemed somewhat under constraint,, and
formal in the presence of several older men standing
around. I invited him to question me about England,
and asked if there was anything he would like me
to send him, but in both cases he answered in the
negative. His bekship extended, he said, from Chim,
on the east, to about 40 miles in the direction o f
Bokhara.* Thinking to draw him out, I told him of my
travels, to which he replied that, to be successfully
accomplished, such journeys needed brains, and then
he added, “ You are constantly on the move, and see
many persons, whilst we sit still and see nobody.” I
told him he should come to England, but he replied
that without permission he might not so much as leave
his bekship. 1 particularly asked that the remainder
of our journey to Bokhara might be accomplished in
two days, to which he replied that it rested with ourselves,
and should be done. A s we bade him farewell,
* The bekship of Karshi consists of the districts of Karshi, Khozar,
Shirabul, Sadabad, and Chirakchi, the total of the land revenue given
oy Bumes being 32,000 tillahs.
he accompanied us to the fortress gate, where was said
to be a prison, and he told us we might see it. We
were conducted certainly to a room in the guard-house,,
with a fireplace and matting on the floor, lighted from
above, which, if it were the prison, was tolerably good
for Bokhara; but one native of our party thought that
they were deceiving us, and that the real prison was
underground. A t the time I did not believe him,
though my subsequent experience taught me that he
was very likely right. They had no prisoners, they
said, just then, , the Emir on his last journey having
released the few they had. Near the so-called prison
was a guard-room, and on the walls were hung old
firearms of unknown antiquity, one long blunderbuss
affair being supported on legs, and fired with a fuse.
I had, as usual, sent a present to the Bek, and afterwards
he sent me some loaves o f sugar and boxes of
sugar-candy ; but the messengers said, in reply to my
inquiry for the sick, that there were none ! Thus
we were disappointed of getting into the houses of the
people, as we had hoped to do, to see something of
their domestic life. I then asked to be permitted to
visit the lepers’ quarter, but this the Bek did not dare
allow without the permission of the Emir. I next
asked that we might be shown the town, thinking that
we should possibly see some sick people, and also visit
the J ews. Accordingly we were taken to see the chief
medresses, of which there are four, and by a roundabout
road, outside the walls, we were conducted to a
large mosque I have called in my note-book Kok-
Chum-Bass, built 320 years ago by Mir Bika, who was
made governor of Karshi by Abdullah Khan. It is
the oldest building in Karshi, and'"is chiefly used
during the month of Ramazan, and the other great