Fruits and wines.

The fruits of Bokhara have attained a great celebrity; but it is more from quantity than quality. They consist of the peach, plum, apricot, cherry, sour cherry, apple, pear, quince, walnut, fig, pomegranate, mulberry, and grape; also the melon, pumpkin, and cucumber. Most of the stone fruit is inferior to that of Persia, only excepting the apricots of Balkh, which are highly flavoured, and nearly as large as apples. They are called “Bakur khanee;” and 2000 of them may be purchased for a rupee. There are many kinds of grapes; the best are the Sabibee and Hooseinee: the first is a purple grape, the other yellow, and of a long shape; and both have a flavour truly luscious. The vines are not pruned as in Europe. The raisins prepared from the Bokhara grapes stand unrivalled in size and flavour: the best are dipped in hot water, and then dried, from which they have the name of “ab-josh,” which means water boiled: they are soft and beautifully transparent. The wines of Bokhara are unpalatable to European taste, with little flavour; some of them might even be mistaken for beer. They cannot be preserved for more than a year; which evinces some defect in their manufacture. The mulberries are delicious: they are dried like raisins; and a syrup called “sheeru” is also extracted from them and grapes. The apples are indifferent. The plum of Bokhara, which is so well known in India, is not exported from the country itself, but grows at Ghuzni in Cabool: it is highly esteemed. The melon is the choicest fruit of Bokhara. The Emperor Baber tells us that he shed tears over a melon of Toorkistan, which he cut up in India after his conquest: its flavour brought his native country and other dear associations to memory. There are two distinct species of melons, which the people class into hot and cold; the first ripens in June, and is the common musk or scented melon of India, and not superior in flavour; the other ripens in July, and is the true melon of Toorkistan; In appearance it is not unlike a water melon, and comes to maturity after being seven months in the ground. It is much larger than the common sort, and generally of an oval shape, exceeding two and three feet in circumference. Some are much larger; and those which ripen in the autumn have exceeded four feet. One has a notion that what is large cannot be delicate or high flavoured; but no fruit can be more luscious than the melon of Bokhara. I always looked upon the melon as an inferior fruit till I went to that country: nor do I believe their flavour will be credited by any one who has not tasted them. The melons of India, Cabool, and even Persia, bear no comparison with them: not even the celebrated fruit of Isfahan itself. The pulp is rather hard, about two inches thick, and is sweet to the very skin; which, with the inhabitants, is the great proof of superiority. A kind of molasses is extracted from these melons, which might be easily converted into sugar. There are various kinds of melons: the best is named “Kokechu,” and has a green and yellow coloured skin; another is called “Ak nubat,” which means white sugar candy: it is yellow, and exceedingly rich. The winter melon is of a dark green colour, called “Kara koobuk,” and said to surpass all the others. Bokhara appears to be the native country of the melon, having a dry climate, sandy soil, and great facilities for irrigation. Melons may be purchased in Bokhara throughout the year, and are preserved by merely hanging them up apart from one another; for which those of the winter crop are best suited. The water melons of Bokhara are good, and attain also an enormous bulk: twenty people may partake of one; and two of them, it is said, form sometimes a load for donkey. The cucumbers are likewise superior.[22]

Domestic animals.

In the animal kingdom, the sheep and goats of Bokhara claim the first notice, since the one yields the celebrated skins, and the other a description of shawl-wool, only inferior to that used in Cashmere. These flocks graze on furze and dry grass; and their flesh is sweet and well-flavoured. Sheep. All the sheep are of the doombu kind, with large tails; some of which yield in season so much as fifteen pounds of tallow. The animal looks deformed from its size; and straddles along with evident uneasiness. The description of sheep which produces the jet-black curly fleece, that is made into caps in Persia, and so much esteemed everywhere, is peculiar to Karakool, a small canton between Bokhara and the Oxus. The animal will thrive in no other place, and has been transported to Persia and other countries without success; when removed, it loses the peculiarity in its fleece, and becomes like any other sheep. The people attribute this curly fleece to the nature of the pasture; and assert that the grass called “boyak,” and by the Persians “ronass,” which is a long kind of bent, changes the nature of the animal. If a Karakool sheep even strays to the banks of the Oxus, where that plant grows, it ceases, it is said, to have the curly wool. The skins of the male lambs are most highly prized: they are killed five or six days after birth; never later than a fortnight; but the popular belief of their being cut out of the womb is erroneous: a very few are procured from premature births in the ewes; and the skins of such are as fine as velvet, but not curled. These are called “kirpuk,” and exported to Constantinople, where they bear a very high price, as the supply is limited. The other kind is called “danudar,” or curled, and exported to Persia, Turkey, and China. They are of different fineness, according to the age at which the lambs are killed: some are exquisitely curled, others more coarse. Those which have the smallest curls are most prized; and in Persia, ten or fifteen skins will sometimes be cut up to make a single cap; which is the cause of their being so expensive. In Bokhara, a single skin never bears a higher price than three or four sicca rupees. The annual export of skins amounts to about two hundred thousand; the coarser ones being sent to Orgunje. Goats. They are cured by being rubbed with barley flour, and salt. The goats of Bokhara, which are to be found among the wandering Kirgizzes, yield the wool to which I have alluded: but these people were quite ignorant of its value till a late period; and yet manufacture it into ropes to bind their horses and cattle. For some years past it has been exported to Cabool and India. The stuffs prepared from it are good, but far surpassed by those of Cashmere, manufactured from the wool of Tibet. This wool is of a grey colour, and produced next the skin of the animal, from which it is combed out; if not removed, it makes its appearance in clotted lumps among the hair. The goat is about the common size, of a dark colour, and differing from that of Tibet, which is a small and beautiful animal. I am not aware if the goats of every country yield wool; but, in this respect, there is a resemblance between those of Toorkistan and Tibet. I am assured that the dogs of the latter country even yield wool from which a few shawls are annually manufactured in Cashmere. The curs of Bokhara yield nothing so valuable. Camels. In a country, surrounded by deserts, the camel is an animal of the first importance: they are very numerous; and the whole traffic of Bokhara is carried on by means of them. They bear a high price; a good one cannot be purchased under sixty or seventy rupees. The condition and appearance of the camel here differ from what is seen in India and Cabool, where they are often covered with eruptions, and almost destitute of hair. At Bokhara, on the other hand, they have a sleek coat, as fine as that of a horse, and shed their hair in summer; from which a fine water-proof cloth of close and rather heavy texture is manufactured. It is called “oormuk,” and retains the natural colour of the camel. I imagine that these camels owe their superiority to the climate, and the congenial thorny food, which is so abundant. This animal always thrives best in a dry country, and is very impatient under heat. They will travel with ease for fourteen successive hours; but their keepers never march during the day if it can be avoided. It is erroneous to believe that the camel can subsist for any great number of days without water. In summer they suffer much after the second day; and in winter they will only travel without it for double the time. The food of the camel is most cleanly; but nothing can be more offensive than the effluvia which proceeds from its stomach. The journeys performed, even with our caravan, bespeak the great hardihood of these animals. In one instance we travelled seventy miles in forty-four consecutive hours, including every halt. Our usual marches were thirty miles: and the camel scarcely ever travels more than two miles in the hour. The Bactrian camel, which has two humps, abounds in Toorkistan: they are bred by the Kuzzaks of the desert north of Bokhara. They have a fringe of long black hair under their neck, with a clump of it on both thighs, and are really pretty for a camel. In stature they are lower than the common camel or dromedary, yet they bear greater burdens by 140 pounds: the one carrying 640, and the other but 500 pounds English. I am assured that a most strong and useful breed of camels is reared by a cross between the two. The issue of these have but one hump. I reserve my remarks on the horses of the country for a separate chapter. Among the domestic animals of Bokhara none are more useful than the ass: the breed is large and sturdy, and they are much used both for saddle and burden. There is no objection to riding them, as in India. There are no mules, from a religious prejudice against them. The horned cattle of Bokhara are well sized, though far inferior to those of England. There are no buffaloes.

Wild animals. Birds. Insects. Fishes.

The wild animals of the country are few. Tigers of a diminutive species are found in the valley of the Oxus; also wild hogs, herds of deer, antelope, and the wild ass, roam on the plains; there are also foxes, wolves, jackals, and cats. There are bears in the Eastern mountains; rats, tortoises, and lizards are found in the desert. The scorpion is common; but its sting has little of its usual virulence: I speak from experience. It is said that there are no snakes (and we certainly did not meet with any) north of the Oxus. Locusts sometimes infest the country, particularly about Balkh. The eagle and hawk are found; all kinds of game are scarce. The plover and wild pigeon are common. Water fowl are numerous in certain seasons. The crane, or “lug lugu,” as it is called, builds its nest on the mosques of the cities: it is a bird of passage, and reckoned sacred. The fish of the Oxus do not differ from what are found in most Asiatic rivers. There is a species of the dog-fish called “lukha,” which has no scales, and is frequently caught of the weight of 600 lbs. English: the Uzbeks eat it. In the lake of Karakool the fish have as good a flavour as those of the sea. There are no monsters in the Oxus. We neither saw not heard of alligators. There are few insects in a dry country. I observed a peculiarity in the food of the bees and wasps which was new to me: they attacked a shoulder of mutton, and ate very large holes in it; in winter they are sometimes fed with flesh instead of sugar. The meat which I saw them devouring was fresh, not putrid. They also attacked dried fish.

Silk-worms. Silk.

The most valuable insect is the silk-worm, which is reared in all parts of the kingdom where there is water. Every stream or rivulet is lined with the mulberry; and the most extensive operations are carried on along the banks of the Oxus, where the whole of the wandering tribes are engaged in rearing the insect. The silk of the “Lub i ab,” or banks of the river, as it is termed, is the most valuable, both from the softness and fineness of its thread. The trees put forth their leaves about the vernal equinox, when the worm is brought out, the whole stage of its existence has terminated with the month of June. The worm is killed in the cocoon by immersion in hot water; and the silk is then reeled off on a wheel by an end or thread being taken from a number of cocoons which lie clotted together. This silk is exported to India and Cabool, and, from its abundance, may be purchased at a very cheap rate. Silk is likewise produced in the neighbouring country of Kokan; but it is more abundant than good. The raw silk is dyed by cochineal and the productions already named, madder and “esbaruk.” A black colour is produced by mixing iron filings with water in which rice has been boiled, and allowing it to stand for a month.

Diseases. Guinea-worm.