the basin to be of Christian origin, I joined my conductors,
who took me out of a side door, sent to
Fazul to bring our horses there, and hurried us off,
seemingly glad to get us away.
There were some few other Muhammadan religious
buildings we entered in Bokhara. One I have noted
down as the Jumma mosque of Abdul Aziz Khan, said
to have been built about 200 years, and to hold 2,000
people. There is also a medresse, named after that same
Khan. A t the Mosque of Hazret Imlah, 132 years
old, we saw the tomb of the great saint Imlah, whereon
were two spear-heads, and above, a pole with a
horse-tail suspended. Lastly, at the Hazret Haifa
Khu-daidat was a covered cistern, where sick people
drink the water for recovery. Pious turbaned Yakoob
went down to taste, but, having so done, made a
grimace, and said the water stank. We saw comparatively
few monumental inscriptions, but at this
well, over the door, it was written in Persian that the
building stood 71 years, was then destroyed, and
rebuilt 28 years ago.
W e went afterwards to the Hindu Sarai, somewhat
similar to the one we had seen in Khokand.* A t
Bokhara the Hindus lie under the same disabilities as
the Jews. They paint a red circle about two inches in
* At Khokand we found in the priest’s house a reading-room, and a
temple. In the former was a central seat, or dais, something like a
bedstead, also a sacred book, written in Hindustani, laid open, but
having a cover with pendants, and a brush of peacocks’ feathers to
keep off flies. There was a priest and his attendant, who opened
for us in the temple the doors of a shrine, in a cupboard, with pictures
of Vishnu and offerings of flowers, incense, candy, and apples. When
Bishop Alexander, from Viemy, visited them, they said he explained
the pictures. There were also stones placed in the altar, said to have
been found by saints, but the priest would not suffer me to touch them.
He seemed pleased with our visit, and offered us candy and apples.
There are about 30 Hindus at Khokand, all usurers.
diameter on their forehead— whether by compulsion or
for glory and beauty I know not— and they wear the
black calico cap and girdle of string. Their temple
in Bokhara was carpeted, and we found therein a
looking-glass, with a musical-box, a lectern, and a
cupboard with books; but I doubted whether they
had the freedom of religious worship that their coreligionists
enjoyed in Khokand.
Since my guides had baffled me in mounting the
minaret, whence I might form an idea of the area of
the city, I determined to go round its walls, and, therefore,
asked to be taken to one of the gates, keeping my
counsel till I got outside the portal of the Saleh-Kaneh.
Then I told my conductors what I wished to do, whereupon
they began to raise objections ; but by this time
I was disposed to have my own way. So I gave my
horse his head. Diotrephes had not had a gallop all
day, and, after creeping through the crowded streets,
was quite prepared for a run. Sevier, Kolutch, and
Fazul followed, and we soon put space between us
and the malcontents, among whom Yakoob stayed
behind to curry favour, as we supposed, with the
Emir’s grandees. This galloping off was very undignified,
according to Bokhariot ideas, but we enjoyed
immensely the race and the pleasure of being pursued.
W e passed the Kuale or Karshi gate by which we had
arrived, then the Mazar gate that leads to the famous
shrine of Boghu-eddin, on to the Samarkand and Imam
gates, the Urlan, or Uglan, and Talipaj. By this time
the run had given a wet jacket to horses and men.
T he temperature had been rather fresh in the morning,
and Kolutch had put on his best fur-lined khalat.
This he nowr opened, and held up to show me how wet
he was, and how his horse’s sweat had damaged his