Semi-weekly herald., 1910-09-26
y any other city where Mohammedan

| books OF most exquisite penmanship.
made a thousand years before Gutten-
berg was born, and the thick, finS
| parchmentlike paper upon which +,
they are written was produced froA
linen rags at Kokan. People claim tbat
| the art of paper making was invented
here. although | do not believe that is
the case. The Chinese also claim the
| invention and it is mere likely thar
the KolSaners learned 1t from their
neighbors over the mountains YI
though Central Asia has been occupiad
by the human family quite as long as
China.
However, practically the entire spn.
ply of the paper used by the empiras
OF central Asia. since they have had =
literature. was manufactured in tbie
town for the same reason that orr
finest stationery is made at Holyoke
ard that neighborhood of Massacbu.
process used here would amuse n
iolyoke paper manufacturer. They
soak the rags in a strong lye. which
causes the fiber TO disintergrate. tLen
they stamp II TO pulp about the con.
slstency of library paste, which is fore.
ed through sleves of varying fneness.
he smaller particles making the best
paper and the larger particles a
| coarser variety. The pulp is spread
out upon flat stones as thinly as
possible, like a paste, covered with
sheets of felt, held under weights
until the moisture is squeezed entire
| ly out of it, and is then oalendared, or
given a lustrous surface by washing it
in solution of gum.
The paper trade is dying out how.
ever. Since printing presses and type
| became so cheap it doesn't pay for
even a monk to spend his time copying
| literary works with that marvellous pa
tience and skill that is so much ad-
mired in ancient manuscripts. The art
Of penmanship is also extinct, and
| therefore there is no demand for hand
made paper.
| Kokan, like Samarkand and Box
hara, was an educational center for
several centuries, and there are said
TO be fifty-six medresses or colleges
stil existing here, but it is difficult
to find them-quite as difficult as il is
to find the 500 mosques the city is
credited with. There are, however,
several large colleges, the chief one,
known as the Diammi, having l,200
softas, or students. II has been liner
ally endowed by rich men in the past
and education costs nothing but the
bare living expenses of the student
Kokan is surrounded by prosperous
villages of farmers, most of them being
are many large flocks of black sheep
and many Persian lambs skins are
shipped from this point. Everybody is
engaged in doing something. There is
no idle class, except the dervish beg
gars. The wheat fields are large
much barley is raised; rye and oats
were introduced by the Russians, and
extensive rice fields are to be found
on the lower levels, although the Rus
sian regulations will not permit them
| near the villages or towns because of
| mosquitoes and the miasma which are
bred in the stagnant water.
l notice that the bales OF cotton
are bound with steel wire instead of
bands, as in the United States, which,
| am told, is very much more econOm-
ical. There is cotton compress at
every railway station and on the larg
er plantations; all of them from the
United States. 1t seems good TO see
the names of American firms printed
in English letters. Russian signs and
inscriptions make one giddy. The Rus
slams use all of our letters and ten
more, but some of them are reversed
and the sign boards over the shops
look as if the alphabet was on a strike
There is nothing more wonderful in
all the world than the irrigation sys-
tens which have existed in Turkestan
since this corner of the footstool was
inhabited by mankind. Without them
no living thing could have survived.
Traces OF ancient canals in what is
now a hopeless desert inaccessible to
water from any source. convince the
scientists who have made investiga-
lions here. that several rich and popu-
lous cities, and large area of cult.
waited soil once existed where there is
now no human habitation. Russian en-
aineers have sought in vain to find
means to bring water back to spots
which were once under cultivation, and
to adapt the canals and bitches which
were part of the irrigation system
or the ancients, but have found IL I'm.
possible to do so, and the only ex-
planation is that the levels of the pa-
teaus of the steppes have been ele-
waited by earthquakes.
Margilan another new town. is push.
ing ahead so fast that it will soon
be rival of Kokan, and many civilians
prefer it as place of residence be.
cause the military element is absent,
IL lacks interest, however, except for