C H A P T E R L II.
BO KH A R A THE NO B LE (Continued).
Visit to a primary school.—Method of study.—A ride outside the walls.—
Mosque of Namazi-gah.—Visit to the Kush-beggi.—The Emir’ s
palace and curiosities.— Conversation with the Kush-beggi and his
son.— Some of my requests refused.—-Value of presents received.—
Visit to the bazaar.—Commerce and trade of Bokhara.— The Righi-
stan.— Bokhara after dark.— Standing up for my rights.— Ride
towards Katte-Kurgan.—The lepers’ quarter.— Fear of punishment.
— Return to our lodgings.
AS we were taking a morning ride during the
Saturday of our stay at Bokhara, I inquired
the meaning o f a sing-song noise that proceeded from
a house we were passing, and learned that it was a
school. We dismounted immediately, and, entering,
found therein from 25 to 30 scholars, of ages from
6 to 13. It was a good example of one of the
maktab or lower schools, just as in the medresses we
had seen specimens of the upper schools, of Central
Asia. Both are usually attached to the mosques, and
maintained on the wakuf or foundation; but if the
schools are not so maintained, they are kept up partly
at the expense of the people generally, and of the
parents of the scholars. The teachers of the lower
schools are usually chosen from among the inhabitants
o f the district in which the school is situated, and who
a retaxed at the rate of from 6d. to ii. per house for
the'teachers’ support. The building we entered was
small and simple enough— a single room roofed with
a dome, having several doors instead of windows, and
niches around for shoes, clothes, etc. On the floor,
and parallel to the walls, were raised benches, about
14 inches apart, consisting of beams o f wood 10 inches
high. T h e pupils sometimes sit on these, or, as we
saw them, on the ground, their books resting on the
beams. Tables or desks there are none* T h e pupils
sit with their faces towards the centre of the room, in
the direction of the teacher, who is in the middle of
them, and thus, like Saul of Tarsus, they are “ brought
up at his feet.” t T he floor is usually covered with
plaited reed mats or simple straw. I asked how much
the scholars paid, and found that their fees were partly
tendered in kind, and by way of presents ; but M. Kuhn,
who has written upon the subject somewhat fully, +
mentions as an ordinary school fee on beginning from
2,d. to is. per month, with a present of cakes and
raisins.
* I do not remember ever seeing a single native in Central Asia
writing at a table. They hold the paper in the left hand. Even the
Turks at Constantinople seemed to me only in a transitional stage m
this respect, for I observed in the Government offices that, though they
had tables before them, on which the ink was placed, the^ cler s cut^e
their legs under them on the chair, and held in the hand the paper they
wrote on.
+ Acts xxii. 3. „ , „ , _. c .
t In the Turkistan Gazette, Nos. 37, 47. 48> for l876- The firs
thing a novice does is to repeat after his teacher .
“ Merciful God, enlighten the heart of Thy slave.
Thy slave is a Mussulman,
Who is thirsting to read the Koran.
He seeks Thy protection,
For he has sinned much.”
After this dedication, so to speak, the teacher writes the alphabe ,
gives the pronunciation of the letters, and frequently an s e oy
0 r . . . i. _________— »•«-« 11 tr oonlnr ccnnlart;