Semi-weekly herald., 1910-09-26

walls were only of mud. but the IA
natical natives got the notion that the
calamity was a manifestation of the
dlspleasure of Allah at the execution
of his servant. and the governor gen
eral decided that it was good policy
not to punish any more deryishes. For
that reason the wretched creatures
were permitted to return and are now
az numerous and important as before.
Although they are kept under the
strictest surveillance. they are capa'
BILE OF much mischief.
But an earthquake was not an IN
usual experience for Andijan This
part of the country is subject TO such
shakings. The city was entirely de
stroyed in 1912 and several times pre-
vious to that date. Earthquakes OF
more or less violence are expected oc-
| oasIonally throughout Turkestan. and
tne popular explanation of abandoned
| irrigation canals upon high plateans
where water cannot possible reach
them. is that uplifts of the surface OF
the earth have occurred in past cen
turies because of subterranean conyul
sions.
The women Of Turkestan do not
| work in the fields as in Russian, Aus
| tria, Hungary and other European
countries. Outdoor labor is impossi'
| hle under Mohammedan restrictions,
so they stay at home and weave rugs
mother and daughters taking turns at
the looms and managing between them
to keep the shuttles humming all day
lcng Formerly they spun their own
yarn. but they can buy it so much
more cheaply now that they sell the
wool from their sheep and get 1t ready
dyed, or have 1t advanced to them by
| tine commission men. or agents of the
! big rug houses in Bokhara, Constant
nople, Smyrna, Samarkand or Merv.
Women and girls can earn about 20
cents day rugmaking, but it is rather
hard work They use no patterns in
weaving, but work entirely from mem
ory. which is not as difficult as it ap-
pears, because only two or three pat
terms are used in this part of the
country Each tribe. or, rather, all
the tribes of district, habitually use
the same pattern and the same ma
terial. but there is great difference
H., hn nf ba a1HOrI q
to the skill of the weaver.
Looms can be found in the kibitkas
(tents of the nomad tribes), as well
as in the houses of the mud villages,
which we see from the windows of the
cars at frequent intervals, and they
look as if a hard rain would wash
them into oblivion. The roofs are flat
matched with reeds and straw and
covered with earth, which catch the
seeds that are floating about in the
air, and with the slightest encourage
ment of moisture become flower gar
dens, often of exquisite beauty. We
have seen roofs that were blazing scar
let because of the thick growth OF
poppies upon them. and others have
looked as if blankets of blue, purple
and yellow blossoms had been spread
upon them.
Previous to the Russian occupation
the opium habit was very general here,
he government took immediate and
decisive steps to exterminate it, and
the penalty for using as well as for
dealing in the drug is very severe
virtually Imprisonment for life, and
when native gets into a Russian
prison for violating the Russian laws
it is the end of him. He is never
seen among his fellow men again. The
only way in which the narcotic is
used now, | am told. is in the form Of
a tea made from the heads of poppies.
which are gathered from the house
tops and the fields by old women and
dried by hanging them from the cell.
iugs of the cabins. When perfectly
dry they are crushed with mortar and
pestle and prepared like ordinary tea
The mud huts remind us of the In.
dian pueblos of New Mexico. but they
are not so well built; nor are the
mud bricks so hard or enduring as the
adobe blocks of New Mexico and Ari.
zona. The dwellings of the Sarts and
other tribes of Central Asia are more
like those of the Fellahs of Egypt that
you see on the desert along the banks
of the Nile. The walls are window
less: all the light and air comes in
through the door; the cooking is done
outside. the door is mother earth. and
the furniture is limited TO few de.
crepit chairs and benches. The newt
able loom, with half-finished rug on
the frame, always occupies a promi.
nent place.
The women who live in these hum
BILE habitations will not allow their
faces to be seen under any circum-
stances. If strangers are so imperti-
nent or taotess as to manifest any
interest in the feminine portion of a
family they usually suffer a severe
penalty. The most serious troubles
that have occurred with the natives