Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-08-08


a large fortune here. The natives own
the camels and handle the caravans, the
camel drivers being Turkomans or Per-
SLAMS.
The population of certain sections of
China on the eastern side of the noun
tains is quite dense. and until the Cen
trail Asia railway was built their limited
supply of foreign merchandise came up
the Yangtse river from Shanghai, being
handled largely by English firms. but
trade away. The Jewish merchants are
very enterprising.
Ancient Place Of Learning.
Kokand has had a monopoly of the pa
per and stationery trade in Tnrkestan for
ages. This seems very odd. The aver
age reader will consider it strange that
the people inhabiting the deserts Of Cen
trail Asia should need much stationery.
but YOU must remember that for thou
sand years Bokhara, Samarkand, Merv
and khiva were centerS OF learning
They were the homes or famous schoiars
when Rome was a kindergarten ant
Athens was being taught to read. so ia
speak. II you will visit the Libraries OF
the mosques of Constantinople or Cairo,
or any other city where Mohammedan
scholarship still retains any vitality. you
will find libraries of manuscript books
thousand years before Gutenberg was
born, and the thick. fine parchmentllke
paper upon which they are written was
produced from linen rags at kokand
People claim that the art of paper max
ing was invented here, although l do not
believe that is the case. The Chinese
also claim the invention. and IT Is more
likely that the kokanders learned II
from their neighbors over the mountains
although Central Asia has been occupied
So rt,it 90
China.
Papermakers for Asia.
However, practically the entire supply
of the paper used by the empires of Cen
trail Asia since they have had a litera-
ture was manufactured in this town for
the same reason that our finest station
cry is made at Holyoke and that neigh
borhood Of Massachusetts-the quality OF
the water. The process used here would
amuse a Holyoke paper manufacturer
They soak the rags in strong I've which
causes the fiber to disintegrate, then they
stamp it to a pulp about the consistency
of library paste, which is forced through
sleeves Of varying fineness. the smaller
particles making the best paper and the
larger particles a coarser variety. The
pulp is spread out upon fiat stones as
thinly as possible like a paste, covered
with sheets Of felt held under weights
until the moisture is squeezed entirely
out of it, and is then calendered, or given
a lustrous surface, by washing 1t in a
solution Of gum.
The paper trade is dying out. however.
Since printing presses and type became
SO cheap it doesn't pay for even monk
to spend his time copying literary works
with that marvellous patience and skill
that may be so much admired in ancient
manuscripts The art OF penmanship IS
also extinct, and therefore there is no
demand for handmade paper.
Kokand. like Samarkand and Bokhara.
was an educational center for several
centuries. and there are said to be fifty
six medresses, or colleges, sill existing
here but it is difficult to find them, quite
as difficult as 1t is to find the 5t)
MOSQUES the city is credited with. There
are. however. several large colleges, the
chief one, known as the Djammi. having
I 2,O softas. or students 1t has been
literally endowed by rich men in the
mast and education costs nothing but the
hare living expenses of the student.
Only the Dervishes Idle.
Kokand is surrounded by prosperous
villages of farmers, most of them being