Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-07-31

hind tables laden with steaming samo-
vars. jars of milk. bowls of hard-boiled
eggs, bottles of kOumfSS, raspberry SHRUB,
cider, sandwiches and other homemade
refreshments. while itinerant natives ped
died sweatmeats. sherbet, tea. conee.
bread and cakes and even cold water
among the passengers.
There is always a rush for places when
train arrives at a railway station. and
the second and third-class carriages are
always crowded. Sometimes the passen-
gers are packed in SO tightly that they
are very uncomfortable, and the atmOs-
phere within the cars Is insufferable be-
cause the windows are kept closed.
Somehow or other, and 1t is difficult to
understand, the Russians. although living
in a frigid country, are the enemies of
fresh air In theaters. Offices of govern
ment officials. waiting rooms in railway
stations. restaurants and other places
where the public assemblies, the atmos-
Rhere- is always sitting. and whoever is
required to occupy the same compartment
of a railway carriage with a Russian is
an object of sympathy.
The oasis of Bokhara and that of
Samarkand. which is $50 miles distant
by rail, are due to the abun-
Fertile dant waters of the Zerafshan
0.,;. river, which rises in the
mountains of India and runs
for 426 miles through Russian Turkestan,
irrigating, with its branches. $50 square
miles of territory of the most fertile part
of central Asia. Forty three large canals,
with total length of GOO miles, divert the
water upon the fields, far and wide. and
there are 900 miles of smaller canals
every part of the oasis
Of;
tive. and dates back into prehistoric
times. 1t is described by Arab Egyptian
and Persian writer's before the Christian
era, and the Greeks called the river
Zerafshan the ''Polytimetus. which
means in the native tongue the gold
strewer." 1t is a remarkable fact that
the largest supply of water comes in
July, from the melting SHOWS in the
mountains, when it is most needed, and
Cotton is the most important product,
and after that, wheat and other grain.
Cotton has been grown here from the
earliest times. The Spanish ambass
of its glory, during the reign of Tanner
lane, speaks of the cotton plantations,
and describes the vineyards and gardens
and melon fields, which he said pro-
duced wonderful quantities of delicious
fruit.
Between Bokhara and Samarkand all
the land is under cultivation. and the
grain and alfalfa are now being har-
vested in an old-fashioned, clumsy way
with sickles. Men cut 1t laboriously,
creeping along on their knees, and other
men. following after. pick up the stalks
by handfuls and bind them with their
hands in small sheaves, which are then
loaded upon the back of a donkey or a
camel or a man and carried to a mud
hut. where they are stored until they can
he fhraShPd rather frannnlod orf
used to be done in the days of the pa
triarchs of the Old Testament.
Every few miles the train passes a
village of mud huts. where the laboring
farmers live-one-story cabins
Fragile like those of Egypt, of mud
Home. walls made with very little,
~s' If any, straw to hold them to-
gether. They look as if a heavy rain
would melt them and wash them away
That has been the fate of several viii
lagos whose ruins we saw by the road
side. Acres, and, indeed, miles of the
steppe are covered with roof1ess walls
that have crumbled or have been washed
down to about half their original height
by the winds and the rains, and the in
beds and other furniture and moved
away. These mud houses are tolerable
only In rainless regions and the rainfall
here varies from nothing to thirteen or
fourteen inches. Sometimes the entire
twelve months will pass without drop
of moisture, either rain or dew, while an
other year may be frightened with fire.
quent showers. and all of the oldest in
habitants are familiar with snow
Around the railway stations are cabins
hyrtl 80
as you see in similar situations in New
Mexico. Arizona and other timberless re-
gions OF our own west. Several of the
railway officials and military officers have
erected log houses on the Russian plan,
which are familiar to those who have
travelled in the northern part of the en-
pire, and have painted them green and
blue and other bright colors. There are
Russian peasants at every station; un-
mistakable mujiks. with long. blonde
boards and their hair chopped off around
the neck as il it were cut by a wash
bowl. They wear the same linen blouses
and broad-crowned caps that you see
around the villages near Moscow and
st. Petersburg.
4
The houses are windowless. All the light
and the owners have to
Lack OF keep patching up the
ror,fo.+ walls all the time to keep
00A" them from being worn
away by the constant beating of the wind
against the dry particles of mud. Inside,
mud floor, straw mattress laid upon
a platform of boards, a few simple cook
ing utensils and articles of furniture
make up the outfit Of an absolutely COM
fortress home, even more comfortless
than the kibitkas Of the Kirghiz or the
tepees of North American Indian.
Strangers are always interested in see
ing droves of camels feeding in the fields
like focks Of sheep or goats, and little
baby camels trail along like kids or
lambs. The camel is a good deal like a
goat in its dietary. It will eat anything
it can chew. All fiocks and herds, in
Guiding camels, are usually attended by
shepherds or herdsmen, and it seems
queer to see farmers wearing quilted
dressing gowns of brilliant colors while
watching their focks in the pastures and
while working in the fields. The children
are dressed like their parents. 1t is the
ambition. of every man and child to have
silk coat like that of Joseph, of many
colors.
CENSUS RETURNS.