[595] “The eyes of a cat, with the extremity raised towards the temple” (Ney, En Asie Centrale, p. 193).
[596] A Turkoman, while travelling in the desert with Wolff, said, “I smell a caravan of Uzbegs”; and in a few hours one was met with. They can hear conversation at a great distance by flinging themselves on the ground and listening intently (Wolff, Bokhara, p. 242). They can name the tribe and even the individual cavalier by his traces on the sand (Moser, p. 300).
[597] “The Tekke is the only woman in Central Asia who knows how to walk. Nothing is more graceful than a girl of this race going to fetch water from a well and carrying the tall amphora on her shoulder.” (Moser, p. 330).
[598] O’Donovan, p. 193.
[599] Moser, p. 330.
[600] O’Donovan, p. 254.
[601] It is generally admitted that these rules are slowly evolved by the community to which the individual who adopts them belongs. There are some still amongst us who looked with complacency at the cruelties once perpetrated in this Christian country in the name of justice. We see our own manners at earlier stages of our growth reflected in those of contemporary savages.
[602] Pilaw, a dish which has now spread over the Eastern world, had its origin in Central Asia. It is a stew composed of hot mutton-fat into which meat has been shredded, carrots and rice, and, cooked as only a Turkoman knows how to prepare it, is a dish fit for a royal table.
[603] Moser, p. 332.
[604] The efforts of Tekke musicians can only be described as grotesque. They perform on long bamboo trumpets, called twidak, with an accompaniment of bowings and contortions which is in ridiculous contrast to the bird-like notes emitted.