Distribution of Population.
| Town. | Population. |
| Bokhara | 100,000 |
| Karshi | 60,000 |
| Shaar | 10,000 |
| Guzar | 25,000 |
| Kara Kul | 5,000 |
| Ziadin | 8,000 |
| Hissar | 15,000 |
| Shir Abad | 20,000 |
| Karki | 10,000 |
| Charjui | 15,000 |
| Kermine | 12,000 |
| Kelif | 7,000 |
According to ethnographic distribution the population falls into two divisions. To the first belong those of Turki extraction and to the second the Iranian group. Amongst those of Turki descent the Uzbegs take the most prominent place, constituting not only a racial preponderance but the ruling power in the Khanate. Among the remaining constituents of the Turki division are the Turcomans (chiefly Ersaris) and the Kirghiz. To the Iranian category belong the Tajiks—the original inhabitants of the country, even now constituting the principal section of the population throughout its eastern and southern portions; the Sarts, a conglomeration of Turki and Iranian nationalities, comprise a considerable proportion of the urban and rural population. In smaller numbers are the various colonies of Jews, Afghans, Persians, Arabs, Armenians, Hindus and others. With the exception of the Jews and the Hindus the entire population is Mahommedan.
It will be seen that the population is represented by sedentary, semi-nomadic and nomadic classes. The first, constituting about 65 per cent. of the whole population, is distributed principally in the plains, a considerable proportion comprising Tajiks, Sarts, Jews, Persians, Afghans and Hindus. The semi-nomadic population forms about 15 per cent., consisting partly of Uzbegs, Turcomans and Tajiks dwelling in the hills. The nomads, who make up 20 per cent. of the population, live in the steppes of the western portion of the Khanate, in Darwaz and along the slopes of the Hissar mountains. They comprise Uzbegs, Turcomans and Kirghiz.
The soil, in general adapted to agriculture, yields with irrigation excellent harvests. The amount of cultivated land in the Khanate is little in excess of 8000 square miles; but, in order to make full use of the waters of the Amu Daria, Surkan, Kafirnigan and Waksh rivers, a large expenditure would be required, the present system of irrigation being very inadequate. Apart from cotton which is exported in the raw state to the value of several million poods annually and the silk industry which, owing to disease among the worms, has deteriorated, the chief agricultural interest lies in the production of fruit, the produce of the orchards forming a staple food during the summer months. As a consequence, many different varieties of grapes, peaches, apricots, melons, water-melons, plums, apples, and pears are cultivated in the several gardens and orchards. Cattle-farming is conducted extensively in the valleys of the Hissar and Alai ranges and in Darwaz; in Kara Kul, situated in the vast Urta Chul steppe between the towns of Bokhara and Karsi, is the home of the famous caracal sheep. Other industries are the manufacture of leathern goods: shoes, saddles, saddle-cloths, metal and pottery ware; while a staple product, employed in the manufacture of felts, carpets and the clothes of the people, is cotton wool.
The yearly budget of the Khanate amounts to 8,000,000 roubles, 1,005,000 roubles of which are spent upon the army. The standing army, comprising Guards, battalions of the line, cavalry regiments, a brigade of mounted rifles and a small corps of artillerists, possesses a strength of 15,000 men with twenty guns. In addition there is a militia liable for duty in case of necessity but, equally with its more imposing sister service, of little practical utility.
THE GATES OF BOKHARA
The city of Bokhara is surrounded by massive walls which were built in the ninth century, 28 feet in height, 14 feet in thickness at the base, with 131 towers and pierced at irregular intervals by eleven gates. These ramparts contain, within a circuit of 7½ miles, an area of 1760 acres. The population numbers some hundred thousand and the variety of types included in this estimate is immense. The Tajiks, who predominate, are well favoured in their appearance; they have clear, olive complexions with black eyes and hair. Polite, hard-working and intelligent, they possess considerable aptitude for business. Against these excellent traits, however, must be noted the fact that they are inclined to cowardice and dishonesty. On this account they are regarded with contempt by the Uzbegs, a race whose physical characteristics cause them to resemble the rude warriors of the Osmanlis who supplanted the Cross by the Crescent in the fifteenth century. Independent in their bearing, the Uzbegs possess high courage together with something of the inborn dignity of the Turk; but they are distinguished from that nation by a greater grossness of manner and less individuality. Equally with the Kirghiz and the Turcomans, the Uzbegs are divided in their classes between sedentary people and nomads. Then, also, in this dædalus there is the Jewish community, which is traditionally believed to have migrated hither from Baghdad. The Jews in Bokhara are forbidden to ride in the streets; while they must wear a distinctive costume, the main features of which include a small black cap, a dressing-gown of camel’s hair and a rope girdle. They are relegated to a filthy ghetto; and, although they may not be killed with impunity by a good believer, they are subjected to such grinding persecution that their numbers have been reduced in the course of half a century to something less than 75 per cent. of the 10,000 who originally composed the colony. The Jew in Bokhara shares with the Hindu settler there the profits of money-lending and the two classes are keen hands at a bargain. In addition to the Hindus there are a few Mahommedan merchants from Peshawar who are concerned in the tea trade. Other races among the moving mass comprise Afghans, Persians and Arabs, the variety of features shown by a Bokharan crowd suggesting so many different quarters as their place of origin that one would need to recite the map of High Asia to describe them.