Star.
London, England, 1824-07-22 00:00:00

Notesfroat a Traveller's Pockd•book. No.l.

CEOR THE STAR].
The city of Bukhira* is nettily in the form of an ellipse,
of which the greater axis, from north to south. is from
one and a half to two miles ; but its breadth from east
to west is not so great.- It is surrounded by a great
mud wall, from twenty to twenty-four feet high, with
a broad platform round the inside, and loop-holes at
intervals. The streets are often so narrow, that two
men can hardly pass; and a loaded camel reaches from
side to side of the widest streets. Houses of mud or
bricks, one or two stories high, with flat roofs, low
doors, and no windows to the street, make the town a
picture of gloom and dreariness to an European who
has never seen any Asiatic city before. On a lofty
mound of clay, sixty feet high, and more,than a mile
in circumference, stands the Erc, or citadel, in which
the Kirin resides. The palace is decorated with glazed
tiles and Arabic inscriptions, and surrounded by huts
for slaves and attendants. Two minarets mark the en-
trance to the Royal abode ; and many others ornament
the city ; from the highest of them criminals condemned
to death for great enormities, are thrown headlong.
The bodies of all persons executed, and the heads of
enemies, are exposed for three days in the Rigistein, the
only open area in the town ; and consequently the place of
the green-market and the shambles. The horrible state
of its atmosphere in warm weather, may be more easily
conceived than described. Many canals, called rid,
traverse the city; those which divide the fields in the
country are termed arik. Many reservoirs, enclosed
with free-stone walls formed into steps, are filled from
these canals. They supply the inhabitants with water
for all domestic purposes, and are emptied out and re-
plenished twice every month. The number of Mosques
amount to 360, and the Medresehs, or colleges, are
285. They are endowed with lands and houses, managed
by a governor named by the Khan.
The baths are commonly open every day; but the
lapidarys and slave biza,•, only twice a week. All is
bustle, noise, and confusion in the markets ; and at
every step one hears such exclamations as these, Hell !
if thou be a Mussulman, let me have it for so much
! if thou be a Mussulman, how canst thou offer so
little ? The slave markets are principally supplied by
the Turkmaos, who continually make incursions into
the Persian provinces, and carry off thousands of those
heretics, the followers of Ale, to atone for their heresy,
by labouring in the service of the orthodox Mussul-
mans in the North. Of all the trades followed here,
none is more abundantly supplied than that of medi-
cine; almost every student gives prescriptions, and there
are innumerable druggists in the Uzi's; but as the fee
is only a t?nga, or about sixpence of our money, medi-
cine is not a profession which soon makes a man rich
at Bukhara.

The inhabitants, in general, are among the basest and
most corrupt on the face of the earth, slaves to fanati-
cism and a soi did love of gain ; they are entirely ab-
sorbed by a minute attention to the outward ceremonies
of their religion, and a continual struggle to ascertain
who can circumvent and defraud most adroitly. Tne
moral precepts of the Kotin are entirely disregarded;
and excesses the most odious a!4 disgusting, are more
openly indulged than in any other Mussulman country.
The reigning sovereign is a genuine fanatic, and a con-
summate hypocrite, who gives lectures on the Kota,),.
and assumes the airs of a saint, while he makes no
scruple to violate every law human or divine. The
government, as in most Mohammedan State!, is despotic.
A vigilant police is maintained, or rather a sort of
open espionage; but punishment may be always
evaded by bribes; and offenders are never seized, un•
less private pique, or an interested doticeur atts as a
stimulus on the officers of justice. This is supposed to
be the native country of the camel ; and a large shaggy
vatiety, called Luk, is very remarkable, which has the
singular property of blowing a large' bladder out of its
mouth, when it utters a cry or is m eary. A fine breed
of horses, similar to the Khorisanis, so much esteemed
in Persia, is peculiar to this country the asses, for
number and variety, exceed all belief. Sheep and cows
are scarce, through want of fodder, and an indifference
to milk on the part of the Bucharians.