From this list we see, that the exports of 1840-1850 did increase more than double during the next ten years, and under favourable political circumstances would, no doubt, continue to increase.
We must add the remark, that although Bokhara shows in this list throughout the largest figures, it does not by any means follow that they are the result of its own exclusive production. Much Khiva cotton has been included, as well as the cotton which the Urgends traders carry to Orenburg on the Bokhara road. The Orenburg custom-house furnishes the list, and all the cotton is entered under the head of Bokhara. In like manner much Khokand cotton is mixed up with it. The Khokand traders give themselves out for Bokhariots on the frontier, on account of the frequent hostilities between their tribe and the Russians.
2. The Animal Kingdom.
We must mention first of all the domestic animals, and among these the genus, sheep. Two species are usually distinguished: 1, the Kazak koy (the Kirghis sheep); and, 2, the Œzbeg koy (the Œzbeg sheep). The Kirghis sheep is preferred to the latter, for its wool as well as its meat. Throughout Central Asia we meet with the fat-tailed sheep. Of these it is said, that their masters are obliged to fasten either cylinders or wheels under their broad, thick tails, which they drag after them on the ground, in order to render walking easier to them, or rather to enable them to walk at all—a story which is by no means exaggerated, however incredible it may appear. The so-called Bakkan koy, the fatted sheep, give often from two to three batman of pure fat. The meat I found, in point of taste and flavour, superior to any in all those parts of Asia I am acquainted with. The highly celebrated Kivirdjik and Karaman sheep in Turkey cannot be compared to them; and even the south Persian sheep, of which the Persians are exceedingly proud, are inferior to them.
The wool is not of the same excellence, and is used less for clothing (probably for want of knowledge in the preparation of it) than for carpets, travelling-bags, horse-cloths, and similar other coarse stuffs; it is little seen in the export trade. Black, curly lamb-skins, on the other hand, form an important article of trade. Its chief source is Bokhara, especially Karaköl; from here it is exported all over Asia, and even to Europe, where it is known under the name of Astrachan. The skin is drawn off the young lamb two or three days after its birth, and then softened in barley meal and salt. It is said, that washing it in the water of the Zerefshan gives it the beautiful lustre; and in the month of July thousands of them may be seen spread out for drying along its banks, between Bokhara and Behaeddin. The skins are everywhere admired, but mostly in request in Persia, where they are made into the fashionable hats of the country. If we take into account, that a külah (a hat, for which three or four skins are used) costs there as much as from ten to fifteen ducats, we may feel assured that our Astrachan of a considerably lower price is no Bokhara production. With the nomads of Central Asia the breeding of sheep is a chief means of maintenance, and we can easily form an idea of the innumerable flocks of sheep which graze and rove upon the steppes. The Kirghis send great quantities of sheep to the Khanats and to Russia, where the importation is constantly on the increase. In the year 1835 about 850,000, and in the year 1860 already 3,644,000 roubles' worth of sheep were imported.[30] In addition to this enormous quantity of sheep, raw sheep-skins to the value of 75,000, and wool to the value of 86,000 silver roubles, passed the Russian frontier at Orenburg in the same year.
The goat is, after the sheep, one of the most important of domestic animals. Goats' flesh is not so palatable as that of sheep, but it is here better than anywhere else in Asia. The wool of the goat, according to Burnes, is far inferior to that of the Cashmir goat, but tolerably good; and waterproof stuffs are made of it.
Horses, of excellent breed, are found among the Turkomans, who export the finest to Afghanistan, India and Persia. The Turkoman horse, especially the Akhal and Yomut race,[31] is very little inferior to the Arab horse in point of swiftness and endurance, as well as in beauty of form. The Œzbeg horse, or the species met with in Bokhara, Khiva, and Maymene, possesses more strength than swiftness.
The camels of Central Asia, among which the breed of Bokhara and the two-humped Kirghis are considered the best of their kind, are surpassed in point of strength and swiftness only by the Arab, and especially by the Hedshaz camel. The story that the camels can preserve water pure and cool in their second stomach, and that travellers, when suffering from thirst, drink it in their utmost need, is perfectly unknown here; and on questioning the nomads on the subject, they only laughed and seemed highly amused. These animals are famous in Central Asia for their rare contentedness, satisfied as they are with the very worst water, and most miserable food, consisting of thistles and briars, and in spite of which they hold on for days, loaded with the heaviest burdens. They are at the same time entirely free from the spite and viciousness of the Arabian camel. They are exported to Russia and Afghanistan; less to Russia. Their hair is cut twice a year, and is used in the manufacture of ropes and coarse stuffs. Cattle on the whole are not very numerous, and in rather a poor condition. The finest cattle are said to exist in Khokand, and among the Karakalpaks on the Oxus, whose exclusive occupation is to rear them. Beef is, in Central Asia, still more tough and unpalatable than in Persia or Turkey, and the consumption of it is therefore limited to the poorest class of the people. Butter and cheese are made of cow's milk, but in comparatively small quantities. Mules are not found in Central Asia, from a religious superstition against disgracing the horse, the noble animal, "par excellence;" but all the greater care is bestowed upon the breeding of the ass, which undoubtedly is here the finest and most excellent of all I have seen in Asia. The ass is, in Bokhara, not only of a vigorous frame and high stature, but of surprising nimbleness, and in long caravan marches can be relied upon as much as the horse. The fowls are of the long-legged Chinese breed. Geese are smaller than those in Europe; and there are several species of ducks. Besides these, there are swans, partridges, guinea-fowls and pheasants, of which the finest sort is found in Khokand.
3. Mineral Kingdom.
My readers will not feel surprised that we should have but a scanty knowledge of the mineral riches in the three Khanats. Lehmann, and other Russian travellers, who, furnished with sufficient geological knowledge, might have made closer investigations, were thwarted in their efforts at every step by the jealousy of the Tartar officials. I incline, however, to the opinion of Burnes, that Central Asia possesses either no precious metals or extremely few, and that the gold dust in the Zerefshan is not the property of the country, but washed down by the small rivers that rise in the Hindukhush. According to a statement of the Central Asiatics, the mountainous country round Samarkand and in Bedakhshan, the Oveis-Karayne mountains on the left bank of the Oxus (in the Khanat of Khiva), and the Great Balkan in the desert near the Caspian Sea, are rich in metallic wealth. That gold mines really do exist near the upper Oxus, is proved by a certain considerable quantity of gold annually obtained from it, although the gold-washing is carried on in the most primitive and negligent manner.