Muhammadan festival of Kurban, at which time the
adjoining gardens are filled with people, who come not
only to pray, but to feast and play. W e rode through
the gardens, but on approaching the mosque they requested
us to dismount, though there was not enough
within to repay one for the slight trouble, the nine
stone vaults being very plain. The front of the
building was ornamented with blue and white tiles
formed into texts from the Koran, but the whole of it
appeared to be in a very dilapidated condition.
From this Muhammadan temple we asked to be
conducted to a despised place, where the Jews meet
to worship. It was hardly a synagogue, but rather
a shanty, approached through a dirty yard, and the
poorest place of Jewish worship I ever saw. It appeared
that the Jews came to the town about 40 years
ago, and there were usually only from 30 to 40
persons, and of these only 3 or 4 families resident.
They had a few old and dirty, but not ancient, books,
and I promised to give the man who received me a
book in his own tongue if he would come to my
lodging. Three came, to whom I gave two Hebrew
New Testaments ; one to a rabbi, who said he had not
seen the book before, and kissed it.
In the evening the Bek again offered us amusement
by batchas, but we declined on religious grounds,
saying that it was our Sunday, and got off early to
bed, intending to leave the next day.
C H A P T E R XLVI I I .
FROM K A R SH I TO THE OXUS A N D BO KH A R A .
Khanate of Bokhara : dimensions, soil, and divisions.—Recent exploration
of mountain districts.—Maieif’s journeys to Upper Oxus.—
Bokhariot recovery of old territory and annexation of new.—
Oshanin’s exploration of Karategin.— Darwaz.—Bokhariot communications.—
Our departure from Karshi.— Kishlaks of semi-nomads.
*—Khoja-Moburak„-«ifScamper on m.y hòrse “ Diotrephes.”—Kakir
cistern.— “ Unfurnished apartments” and oven,— Karaul bazaar.
- Lake KunjalSfStay at Chitarik.=Approach to Bokhara.
THE Bokhara khanate, as at present constituted,
bears on the map a rough resemblance to a
huntsman’s horn, of which the outer curve, 800 miles
long, formed by the Amu-daria, indicates the southern
and western boundaries. The inner curve, 400 miles
in length, formed by the H issar mountains, constitutes
a part of the northern boundary, whilst the remainder
of the northern frontier, corresponding to the wide
mouth of the instrument, and about 250 miles in
length, is bounded by the Kyzyl-Kum desert.*
* A straight line drawn from the easternmost part of Darwaz to the
north-west corner at Uch-Uchak measures 650 miles, but east Of Karshi
the average width of the khanate from north to south is 100 miles, and
at Katte-Kurgan, where the Zarafshan enters, the width east and west
is about 200 miles. Réclus gives it an area barely half as large as that
of France. On the north-east the country is bounded by huge mountain
chains, but on the north the hills are unimportant, being called
after the wells in the valleys. Towards the west and south the surface
VOL. II. 4