Bokhara

Bokhara, capital of the above khanate, is situated on a plain a few miles from the Zarafshan, in 39° 48' N. lat., 64° 26' E. long., in the midst of trees and gardens. It is between 8 and 9 miles in circumference, and surrounded by embattled mud walls about 24 feet high, and pierced by eleven gates. The houses, which are small and ill lighted, are built of sun-burned bricks on a wooden framework; and the roofs of all are flat. The streets are ill paved and very narrow, the widest barely sufficing for the passage of a loaded camel. The palace of the khan occupies an eminence of between 200 and 300 feet in height in the centre of the city. It is surrounded by a brick wall 60 or 70 feet high. The mosques, which are said (fabulously) to be 365 in number, necessarily form one of the greatest features of Bokhara, which is the centre of religious life in Central Asia. The most imposing one occupies a square of 300 feet, and has a cupola 100 feet high, ornamented with blue tiles. Attached to it is a tower of about twice the height, built by Timur, from which criminals are hurled. The city has long been celebrated as a seat of learning, and contains, in addition to a vast number of schools, about 80 colleges, which are attended, it is stated, by some 5000 students; among these, in past times, have been pupils from India, Cashmere, and Chinese Turkestan. A canal intersects the city, but the water, which becomes very scarce in summer, is at all times a source of disease from the filthy state in which it is kept. Bokhara is still the most important commercial town in Central Asia, although the gradual drying up of the Zarafshan, through the Russian irrigation-works at Samarkand, has lessened the population by about a half. Silks, woollens, and swords are manufactured, and large slave-markets are held; but the most striking feature of the town is its numerous bazaars, gorged with the richest wares of Europe and of Asia. Bokhara was in 1888 connected by the Transcaspian Railway with Merv, and so with the Caspian ports. The pop. is estimated at 70,000. See TURKESTAN.