The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1879-07-23
In the Emir.0f B0khara's Land.


name. The writer says: might write
till tomorrow were l to repeat half the
stories I heard of the man IN whose pres
ence I stood; bnt the reader has now
made his acquaintance. Heis forty EIGHT
years old, and looks sixty. His eyes daz-
zle yours with their brilliancy. & He
strikes you as one with whom it would
scarcely do to joke withal. He offered
me his hand, made me sit, made my Rus
sian interpreter sit, too; but left the ORR
entail interpreter to stand. The latter
was my cook. There were only three
seats in The place. Then the converse
ton began. The Emir asked about my
health and details If tie voyage. That
was all he condescendod to say.@I told
him I was journeying to- Cabul, and pray
ed him to grant me all facilities. He
nodded and dismissed me, bidding me
inspect his garden As Igrese to 20 my
opera hat sprung up, like jack in a box.
The Emir was stupeied. Myinterpreter' s
hat followed suit. Bigger and bigger
grew the Emir's eyes. However, we
backed out, not without stumbling. We
mounted our horses and started for the
garden, half a mile from the palace. The
prime minister offered us the eternal
pilau, giving us the cue to eat it with our
fingers, and regarding us with fascinat
smile. Our dishes were as useful as ever.
Then came the presents "a sorry old nag
and ten dressing gowns. Thence home.
Everybody wanted to 7, know what the
Emir had given me. Il discovered that
the Emir himself sends certain honest
merchants to buy everything back as
chcaply as possible. I was only too glad
to get rid of my load. had more than
twenty dressing gowns. Id 5#
At night the Emir sent us his acrobats
Into their gambols 1 will initiate the
reader. The company consists of three
musicians and two nondescripts, who
dance and sing with beating of tambour-
ines. The hall is covered with carpets
and lighted by candles, with real Wen
nese sofa in the corner, destined for me.
The three musicians kneel-one behind
the Other and raise their tambourines
above their heads hiding their faces.
From their Threats issue sounds which
resemble no conceivable kind of music.
Rises dancer. These dancers. BY the
way, are lads Of years varying from ten to
sixteen. The center of their he,lds is
shaven. On either side hangs a love-lock,
covering their neck. They make a gest-
ure which they fancy is graceful another
which consists III an examination of their
finger nails. -, They are called Batchas.
Russian authorities tried to suppress them,
but Eastern habits were too strong, when
the Batchn natures, when his childish
awkwardness, called gracefulness is gone,
when his attractions have faded, the
BatchG turns clown. The clown follows
the Batc1D with absurd grimaces, which
are marks of grotesque admiration, and
tries with a torch to set fire to his girdle
if he succeeds, the audience shouts it's
applause; if he fails, the clown q,ivers
from head to foot and is very much dis
comited. When the 6atchn rises to
dance he stands before the tamb our1nists.
turning his back to them and facing the
principal parsonage Of the audience.
This, hardly need say, is myself, for the
rest are crouching round the wall. Tie
6a!cha raises his arm, forearm vertical,
hands in the air. His hands he twists
continually, now showing, now hiding
the palms: then lets His sleeves drop and
bares the arms. His feet are naked, and
be wears the wide trousers Of Oriental
womanhood, drawn tight at the waist.
His neck swells with the vigor of his
shouting II decline to call It singing.
The tambourines continue their din, til e
dancer whirls frantically on his toe, and
then suddenly the noise stops and all is
calm. This lasts for an hour and a half.
The cries and the hubbub, added to the
fumes of a stove burning in. the center,
make you simply lose your senses, and.
when the batcha has dressed himself like
woman and has ogled you, you rush
from this babel Of flies and, tambourines,
and would scarcely believe next day that
such a scene were possible if a violent
headache did not help to convince YOU.
My servants had it all over again in the
morning, and the Emir was told that
had enjoyed myself prod igiously. - ~ u II
vi. My next proceeding was to ramble
through the town On horseback. The
bazaar is virtually the whole, city The
rest is coil Of narrow and crooked streets
with mud walls and little doors pierced
in them here and there. There are
reservoirs Of water, too, but water in Box
hara, and the streets are only sprinkled
once week. The activity Of the bazaar
gives evidence Of a lively trade. Jewel.
ers are seated on carpets, each in his lit.
tie niche, for the shops are. niches-twc
yards wide, one yard and half in depth
They show me rings, turquoises, emer.
aids, rubies in framework Of silver. Fur
clad merchants offer you skin Of lambs
taken from them when born. Then there
are carpets manufactured by the turco
mans, those nomad highwaymen, whom
found Colonel Avinoff sweeping from
the road to Khiva with single battalion
and Of whom the Emir's $4,000 soldier
were powerless to rid the country. : =
Some years ago, whenever strange
visited Bokhara, the Emir would sent
him to the bazaar and invite him t,
choose costly object. If the strange
offered to pay the Emir's officers objected
and said that his master would settl'
with the merchant. The Emir used t,
cut off the merchants head. So as 500,
as stranger came near the bazaar, tn
dealers would scuttle away and the shop
be closed. They now have changed al
that. A foreigner draws the crowd in