Climate and phenomena.
The climate of Bokhara is salubrious and pleasant; it is dry, and in the winter very cold, as is usual in sandy countries. Nothing proves this so satisfactorily as the freezing of the Oxus. In summer, the thermometer seldom rises much above 90°, and the nights are always cool. But this only applies to the city of Bokhara; for, in approaching it by the desert in June, the heat exceeded 100° of Fahrenheit. The exuberance of vegetation near the city must lower the temperature; and will account for the difference between the scorching heat around, and its milder climate. Bokhara has an elevation of about 1200 feet above the sea. There is a constant serenity in its atmosphere, and a clearness in the sky. The heavens are a bright azure blue, generally without a cloud. At night, the stars have uncommon lustre, and the milky way shines gloriously in the firmament. Even in moonlight, a star is visible on the verge of the horizon at an elevation of but three or four degrees. There is also a never-ceasing display of the most brilliant meteors, which dart like rockets in the sky: ten or twelve of these are sometimes seen in an hour, assuming almost every colour; fiery red, blue, pale and faint. It is a noble country for astronomical science, and great must have been the advantages enjoyed by the famed observatory of Samarcand. In the middle of July, after some days of greater than usual heat, we experienced a violent tornado of dust, accompanied by a hot wind. It approached from the N.W., and could be seen advancing. It passed off in a few hours, and left the air clear and cool; nor did the heat again return. I encountered a similar phenomenon at Mooltan, on the Indus, about the same time in the preceding year. These clouds of dust appear only to occur near deserts; but then every strong breeze should raise a similar cloud, which it does not. In winter, the snow lies for three months at Bokhara; and the spring rains are often heavy, but the climate is arid. The evaporation of water is so rapid, that after rain the roads dry immediately. I should judge the climate to be congenial to the human frame, from the great age of many of the inhabitants. I have been now speaking of Bokhara and the countries north of the Oxus. In Balkh, the heat is oppressive; and the climate is very unhealthy, which is attributed to the bad quality of the water. It is of a whitish colour, mixed up with earth like pipe-clay: nor can it be the abundance of it which causes marshes, for most of the canals are choked; and the country, when dry, continues equally unhealthy. In Balkh, the harvest is about fifty days later than at Peshawur; the wheat is cut in the middle of June, and at Bokhara it is a fortnight later.
Rivers.
In Bokhara, the rivers possess the highest importance, since they render a portion of these inhospitable lands habitable to man. There are five of them in Bokhara; the Amoo or Oxus, the Sir or Jaxartes, the Kohik, and the rivers of Kurshee and Balkh. I have devoted the next chapter to a description of the Oxus. The river Sir is hardly to be included in the dominions of Bokhara: it rises in the same mountains as the Oxus; and passing through the country of Kokan and Khojend, and traversing a desert, falls into the Aral, about the 46th degree of north latitude. It is a much smaller river than the Oxus, but is said to be more rapid. In summer it is fordable; and in winter it is covered with ice, sometimes two yards thick, over which the caravans pass. Next in importance to the Sir is the Kohik, or Zurufshan. It rises in the high lands east of Samarcand, and passing north of that city and Bokhara, forms a lake in the province of Karakool, instead of falling in the Oxus, as has been represented in our maps. In the upper parts of its course it fertilises the rich province of Samarcand; below that city, in Meeankal, its waters are diverted for the purposes of rice cultivation; for three or four months in the year, its bed is perfectly dry at Bokhara; and that city, and the country below it, suffer great inconvenience, since they depend on the river for a supply of water. It is a curious propensity in the people to raise in any portion of so dry a country a grain like rice, which requires such an exuberance of water. The lake into which the Kohik flows is familiarly known by the name of “Dengiz,” or sea, and is about twenty-five miles long, and surrounded on all sides by sand-hills. It is very deep; nor, from the accounts of the people, does it appear ever to decrease in size at any season of the year. When the snow melts in summer, the water flows as steadily into it, as it does in winter. Its water is salt, though its only feeder be a fresh river; but this is in accordance with the laws of nature, since it has no outlet of any kind. The next river is that of Kurshee, which rises in the same high lands as the Kohik, and passes through Shuhr Subz and Kurshee, below which it is lost in the desert. The blessings of water are most apparent in the neighbourhood of this river. The fields of Shuhr Subz yield rich crops of rice; and Kurshee is a sheet of gardens and orchards. For six miles on one side, and sixteen on the other, the waters of this rivulet are distributed by canals: when these cease, we have again a sterile desert to contrast with its green and beautiful herbage. The river of Kurshee is fed by the melted snow; and such is the command over its waters, that the chief of Shuhr Subz can at any time cut off the supply of the lower districts. In both this river and the Kohik it is usual to let the water run for a limited time in certain canals, which gives to each village the benefit of the stream once in ten days; such is the value of water, and such is the care of the husbandman in this country. The last river of the country is that of Balkh, which rises south of Hindoo Koosh, about twenty miles from Bameean, near the “Bund i Burbur,” a celebrated dam ascribed to a miracle of Ali, and which appears to be an avalanche of earth that has fallen in upon a ravine. The river then flows north among the mountains, and enters the plains of Toorkistan, about six miles south of Balkh. Here it is divided into numerous canals (which are said to be eighteen in number), and conducted to the city, as also to Mazar and Akhchu on either side. Akhchu is about fifty miles from Balkh; but none of the other canals extend so far, though some of their water trickles half way to the Oxus, and affords that necessary of life to the roving Toorkmuns. It is impossible to give any delineation of the canals of Balkh, since they intersect the whole country, and traces of them meet the eye every where. The gentle slope of the land towards the Oxus affords great facilities for irrigating the lands of Balkh; the soil is rich and productive; which will account for the great population, and vast fertility that was once to be found in this country.
Mountains.
The mountains of Bokhara lie on its frontiers. On the east and south they form its boundaries; but the interior of the country is free from them, with the exception of some low-lying ridges near Shuhr Subz and Samarcand. The northern line of Hindoo Koosh, near Balkh, is incorrectly laid down; since that city stands on the plain six miles distant, and clear of the range which stretches to the westward, and never reaches so high a parallel. In our maps, Balkh stands upon it[20], and the range is even continued north-eastward to the Oxus. I have given a separate notice of this great belt of mountains, of which those near Balkh are but outlyers. Snow is procured from the valleys about twenty miles from Balkh, in the middle of summer. On approaching Kurshee we descried a lofty range of snow-clad mountains, running apparently north and south. The natives called them the mountains of Baeetoon, from a village of that name; and assured me they were six days’ journey, or about a distance of 150 miles, from Kurshee. In June they were entirely enveloped in snow, which would assign to them an elevation of at least 18,000 feet, judging by Hindoo Koosh. There were no remarkable peaks in sight, and the mountains ran in connected chain like a trap formation. There were many lesser and outward ridges between them and our view; but they towered far above all others, and gave an impression of great altitude. We saw them again at sunrise, but lost the splendid prospect as we travelled westward of Kurshee. I am at a loss for the correct designation of this range: the Emperor Baber speaks of the Kara Tagh, or Black Mountains, in Karatageen; but that name is unknown in these days. They appear to terminate the highlands of Pameer. They run at right angles to Hindoo Koosh, and very nearly in the same meridian, giving cover to an opinion that they are but a branch of that range. North of the Oxus, the mountains first rise in the independent province of Hissar, and these which I have described appear as a prolongation. In Hissar, however, they have no snow but in winter; and they have an elevation beyond what was to be looked for in this part of Asia. The country at their base is inhabited by the Kongrad Uzbeks.
Mineral productions.
When we speak of the mineral productions of Bokhara, our recollection is carried back to the ill-fated expeditions of Russia into these countries in quest of gold. The river of Bokhara, I have observed, has the designation of “Zurufshan,” or the gold-yielding stream. The result of Prince Bekevitch’s expedition is well known; he and his three thousand men perished. There are no gold mines in the kingdom of Bokhara, but that precious metal is found among the sands of the Oxus in greater abundance, perhaps, than in any of the other rivers which flow from Hindoo Koosh. From its source to the lake of Aral, the inhabitants wash the sand after the floods with great profit, and find grains or particles of gold larger than those in the Indus. A piece of virgin gold, about the size of a pigeon’s egg, was picked up last year on the banks of the Oxus, and is now in possession of a merchant in Khooloom. In the vicinity of Durwaz, the sands are most productive. The lapis lazuli cliffs, which overhang the river in Budukhshan, are also said to be interveined with gold; but, from the specimens which I have seen, it appears to be mica. All the other metals, such as silver, iron, and copper, are imported from Russia. Sal ammoniac (nouchadur) is found in its native state among the hills near Juzzak. I know of no other mineral productions in the kingdom but the salt deposits. In Hissar, salt is found in hills, not unlike the formations in the salt range of the Punjab. On the plains it is dug out in masses, and, when washed, is ready for the market. There is a bed of salt, about five miles in circumference, called Khwaju Hunfee, two miles from the Oxus, below Charjooee, on the right bank of the river. The salt is imperfectly crystallised, black, and very inferior; a camel load of 500lbs. sells for a quarter of a tilla in Bokhara.[21]
Vegetable kingdom.
The vegetable productions of this country are more abundant. The different trees will be best known by the names of the fruit after noticed. The wood used for house-building is the poplar, which grows every where. The cotton plant is extensively cultivated, and exported both in a raw and manufactured state. Hemp is reared, but the people are ignorant of its use in manufactures. They extract oil from the seeds of the plant, as also the intoxicating drug called “bang,” and give the stalks to cattle. I have been informed that the tea plant thrives between Samarcand and Kokan; but I doubt the information, which was never properly confirmed. There is a small yellow flower, called “esbaruk,” growing in the low hills near Kurshee and Balkh, which is used as a dye, and produces a better colour than the rind of the pomegranate. Madder, called “bayak,” is also produced; its roots are permitted to remain eighteen months in the ground; but a dye equally good and serviceable is found in the creeping roots of the vine, which yield a colour that is dark red. Neither indigo nor sugar cane grow in Bokhara. They are the great imports from India, and might be acclimated. There is a curious and common substitute for sugar, called “turunjubeen.” It is a saccharine gum, which exudes from the well-known shrub called the camel’s thorn, or the “khari-shootur.” Towards the end of August, when this shrub is in flower, it may be seen in the morning covered with drops like dew, which are shaken into a cloth placed beneath the bush, and form what is called “turunjubeen.” Some hundred maunds are collected annually, and the whole sweetmeats and confections used in the country are prepared from it; it is also exported. Though the “khari-shootur” be a plant common to most of the countries in Asia, it does not always, as in Bokhara, produce “turunjubeen.” The gum is unknown in India and Cabool, and not found westward of Bokhara, or near that capital; though in great plenty to the eastward, near Kurshee and Samarcand. It appears to be peculiar to certain soils; abounding in dry deserts; and is probably the rich sap of the shrub, which exudes and hardens into small grains. The inhabitants entertain an absurd opinion, that it is really dew; but I never heard that it was made by an insect, as has been asserted. It cannot be doubted that sugar could be manufactured from it,—a discovery that would be invaluable, since they now use syrup of grapes and mulberries on account of the expense of that article. Sugar might also be extracted from juwaree, beet root, and melons. There is another valuable jungle shrub, called “usl-soos,” and “achick booee,” by the Uzbeks, which appears to be a bastard indigo, and grows most luxuriantly on the banks of the Oxus and the other rivers of the country. The roots of this plant extend deep into the soil, and at certain seasons of the year have a small globular worm attached to them: this creature produces a purple dye, like that of cochineal (kirmiz), and some of the merchants applied for my advice regarding it: the insect, when exposed to the sun, comes to life; when destroyed in an oven, it shrivels up, but still produces a dye, only inferior to cochineal. I compared it with American cochineal, and they appeared to me similar, only that the native preparation was softer. Should this insect yield cochineal, the discovery would be highly important in a silk country; nor is it to be doubted that its vivifying power might be destroyed by steam. An ingenious native of Cashmere had tried to bake it in bread, but without better success than when placed loose in the oven. The different grains of the country are rice, wheat, barley, juwaree, here called “jougan,” “sesamum,” “urjun,” Indian corn, gram, moong, and beans. It is an astonishing fact, that, in the provinces south of the Oxus, the wheat yields a crop for three successive years. When the harvest is finished, the cattle are turned in upon the stubble fields, and in the ensuing year the same stalks grow up and ear. The second crop is good, the next more scanty; but it is reaped a third time. In Bokhara Proper, the soil has not such fecundity, for the crops of Karakool do not yield more than sevenfold. Trefoil is cultivated, and may be out seven or eight times in the year. Lucerne requires too much water. The tobacco of Kurshee is superior. The wild rhubarb, or “rhuwash,” as found in Cabool, likewise grows in the hillocks of this district. Vegetables abound; there are turnips, carrots, onions, radishes, brinjals, and a variety of greens, with most extensive fields of beet-root. The potatoe has not been introduced. Though Bokhara is so celebrated for its fertility, the necessaries of life bear a high price, which in the city itself may be attributed to the density of population. The following table will furnish more correct data on this subject:—