Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1910-04-26
CAPITALS OF ROMANCE.
Two Famous Cities In Central Asia
Still Retain Ancient Customs.

TWO Famous cities In CentraI Asia
Still Retain Ancient Customs.
At first sight, Bokhara impresses one
as being cold and poverty stricken. Its
exterior Is a wilderness Of fiat clay
roofs above whose level surface tower
the fortress-cast called the Ark, the
great Tower of Execution, and count
less turquoise domes. The interior Of
the city is a wilderness Of dim bazaars
and crowded alleys, which twist and
turn between the windowless walls Of
clay-built houses, with stagnant pools
Of green -scummed water, used alike
for washing and drinking, in every open
place. From the unsanitary condition
Of this water supply results the dread
ed Bokharan disease known as the
reshta, a parasite which afflicts more
than a quarter of the population, and
the still more virulent "Bagdad but
ton,' a small black pustule, usually
about the size Of 10-cent piece, which
appears on the face and eats its way
straight across the countenance, des-
pite every effort to check its advance,
and the cause and cure of which have
thus far baffled all the Investigations
Of European physicians. AS the result
Of the warnings / received from many
sources I did not touch a glass Of wa
ter during my entire stay in Central
Asia, depending entirely upon tea to
quench my thirst, while on the rare oc-
casions when I ventured to wash had
the water boiled under my supervision
and then dissolved boracic tablets in
it. 1t is sucn discomforts as these that
make one forget the romance.
The same manners and customs pre-
vail in the Bokhara Of today that were
familiar to our night -prowling friend Of
Bagdad. A blindfolded horse still plods
round and round beneath beam, grind
ing the corn between an upper and
neither milestone. The cotton is still
carded by the primitive agency of a
double bow, the smaller one affixed to
the ceiling and the larger one attached
to it by cord and struck by mallet
so as to cause sharp rebound. The
Reisi- Shariat, or censor Of the morals,
still rides slowly through the town,
compelling the children to attend the
schools, and their parents the mosques,
inspecting the weights and measures
and keeping a watch over the behavior
Of the community as a whole. When
a tradesman is found guilty Of cheating
he is stripped bare in the streets, fore
ed to his knees and flogged with STIR
rup- Leather by one Of the censor's at
tendants. The world moves slowly in
Bokhara. The city gates still close
with the setting sun, and after dark no
one is allowed abroad, the only sound
at night being the melancholy beating
of the watchmans drum as he patrols
the streets with a lantern, in his quest,
unlike Diogenes, of dishonest man.
Samarkand has long been celebrated
for it's swords, its silks and its fruits,
and none of them proved disappointing.
In ancient days the weapons Of Damas-
Gus were the most famous in the world,
but Timur captured the city on one OF
his periodic raids and carted all the ar
morers off to Samarkand, where their
descendants carry on their trade to this
day. For temper Of steel and beauty
of inlay their workmanship is unequal
led even in Torledo, though might add
that even in this remote corner Of the
globe a good weapon is never cheap.
and If you want Samarkand blade
you must pay handsomely for it. The
silks and velvets of Samarkand, long
famous for the rainbow blending Of
their colors have a season, exactly like
fruits or garden truck, and can only be
purchased at that particular time or
the year. When the worms are ready
for spinning they are all brought to the
silk bazaar and sold. The silk is then
spun and dyed, and all that is not used
in the makers family is exported in the
form of cloth. Thus unless you happen
to be in Samarkand during the season,
1t is all but impossible to find any Of
the native silk for sale except in the
form of ready made khalats, which are
a sort Of glorified dressing gown. The
fruits Of Samarkand and the vicinity
are of such exaggerated size that
rather hesitate to tell about them for
fear that you will not believe me, and
scepticism is quite pardonable when l
assure you that the currants Of this
region are as large as grapes, the
grapes as large as apricots, the apri-
cots as large as peaches, the peaches as
large as cantaloupes, and the canta-
loupes as large as watermelOns, all of
them retaining to the full their quality
and flavor -Everybody's