garment. It became a question, therefore, how long
we were to continue, for in about half-an-hour we had
compassed 7 out of the 11 gates of the city, a distance
of about 5 miles, and to continue our flight beyond the
Talipaj gate appeared to require our making a détouré
I decided, therefore, to re-enter the city, and to finish
the circuit, if possible, on the morrow. W e had met
scarce anyone in galloping round the walls, save one
or two persons winding silk, and these looked not a
little astonished at our headlong career. Kolutch,
before the invasion of the Russians, had lived in
Bokhara, and so was able to pilot us back to the
embassy, where we had a wash, and calmly awaited
the arrival o f our custodians. Fortunately, the old
fellow, into whose special keeping we appeared to be
committed, took the thing pleasantly, and made the
best of it. He even complimented us upon our horsemanship,
but I said that we thought small things of
anything we could do, being accustomed only to caper
about in a riding-school, and one of us not that, but
that we had heard the Bokhariots were splendid riders,
to which he replied that anyhow we held in our horses
remarkably well ; and so the matter for the present
ended, the old man telling us that he had followed us,
inquiring at one gate after another whether we had
entered. This was not the last unwilling gallop we
gave the old gentleman, but we had immensely enjoyed
our first, though not without some little fear of rebuke
for our insubordination.
C H A P T E R L I.
THE J EW S OF BO KH A R A .
My plans concerning the Jews.— Inquiry about the alleged persecutions
in Moscow and South Russia—Russia: how regarded by Western
and Eastern Jews.—Oppressed condition of .Jews in Bokhara.—
Visits to their synagogue, and their sick. Inquiry for Hebrew
manuscripts.— Hints concerning their technicalities.—Wonderful
manuscript of the Old Testament.— Fear of the Jews to receive us.
My letter to the Emir on their behalf.
I H A D looked forward with great interest to what
I might see and learn in Bokhara of the condition
of the Jews, and, in crossing Europe, had called
on some of the rabbis, telling them o f my intended
journey, and my willingness to be of use, if possible,
to their countrymen, though I was not sanguine
that I could do much. “ A h ! that’s right,” said one
old Israelite, “ they are much oppressed in Bokhara,
and stand in need of help.” I took occasion also, on
some of these visits, to ask concerning the then recent
persecutions of the J ews in Russia. I had been present
at the Mansion House meeting in the early part of
1882, convoked on behalf of the persecuted, and had
been favoured, as I have said, with a letter from the
Lord Mayor as Chairman of the Jewish Relief Fund.
This letter I showed, so that they might see I was in
every way friendly to them and their cause ; yet I