The gold-washing, or more correctly the gold-fishing, is done with camels' tails, of which several are hung up side by side between two poles. People beat them about in the water for some time, or they dip them into the river, and then hang them up. Those places are always chosen where the water is troubled, and the work is generally performed in June and July, the months in the year most fit for the purpose. I doubt whether any gold-dust is exported; it is not probable, since the smaller ornaments are made of native metal, as the Persian goldsmith in Bokhara informed me. Silver is found in Khiva in the above-mentioned mountains, and a considerable quantity of this valuable metal was really gained during the reign of Allahkuli-Khan, when the miners were worked for three years under the management of a native of India, who had been educated for this department. It is said that after the death of this prince he either fled or was murdered. Since that time the mines have been much neglected. I also heard some vague reports of the existence of silver mines near Shehri Sebz.
Of precious stones, we must mention first of all the rubies of Bedakhshan, which were formerly of high repute in Asia, under the name of Laali Bedakhshan; at the present day not many of them are found. Cornelian exists in large quantities in the mountain-rivers of Bedakhshan. It is very cheap, and is exported to Arabia, Persia, and Turkey. Lapis lazuli, which is used in dyeing, is of small value in Central Asia, and is exported to Russia and Persia. The turquoise of Bedakhshan and Khokand is far inferior in colour to that of Nishapur in Persia, and is purchased by none but the nomads and Nogay silversmiths; it is of a green instead of a blue colour, and liked far less than the latter.[32]
This sketch of the productions of the oasis countries in Central Asia will have convinced my readers, and especially those who are acquainted with Asiatic countries and their conditions, that Turkestan cannot be numbered among the sterile countries. Called by the natives "a jewel set in sand," from its own peculiar value and the barrenness around it, Central Asia will certainly play an important part one day among the countries of the far East, and occupy a prominent position, as soon as the beneficent beams of our European civilisation shall have dried up the stagnant pool of its miserable social relations, and as soon as the grand results we have gained for industry and agriculture shall there likewise have received their acknowledgment. It is robbery, murder, and war, but not the barrenness of nature, which convert the shores of the Oxus and Jaxartes into a desert. In Bokhara, but especially in Khiva, agriculture is almost exclusively in the hands of slaves, of which there are in the latter Khanat more than 80,000. Their rude manners have placed the sword in the hands of the inhabitants,—the plough is considered degrading, and is entirely given over to slaves. When will these Khanats learn to see that a great part of their misfortunes, and the unsettled state of their political and social relations, originate in the perversity of their nature and conduct?
A government which endeavours to smooth existing relations deserves our full acknowledgment and cordial wishes for success, although it is premature to anticipate a complete change. Nor must we grudge it the natural wealth of the country. Setting aside the moral influence of such a Government, and its possible future political schemes, the material gain is, on the whole, not large; nay, I maintain, that it is small, when compared to the trouble and expense the occupation and administration of such a province require—a province, the communication with which must always be attended with endless hardships and difficulties.
CHAPTER XV.
ON THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF BOKHARA.
What I have to impart in this chapter on the ancient history of Bokhara is taken out of a Persian MS., brought by the late Sir Alexander Burnes from Bokhara, which bears the name of "Tarikhi Narshakhi," the history of Narshakhi. The author, Mehemmed ben Djafer el Narshakhi, wrote this highly interesting work in Bokhara, in the year of the Hegirah, 332, under the government of Emir Hamid the Samanide, in Arabic. Later, in the year 522, it was translated into Persian, and augmented by quotations from a not less interesting work, Khazain ul Ulum, "The Treasures of Wisdom," which Ebul Hassan wrote at Nishapur. In consideration of its historical value it is well worth the trouble (in a quite literal translation) to give the whole. The distinguished orientalist, Monsieur de Khanikoff, has already done this, and it will very probably be put before the scientific world. We have here only selected that which is suitable to the outline of our sketches, and for this reason given an extract in a free translation, since this is less fatiguing to the majority of readers, and more acceptable.