The Challis messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1912-current, 1922-08-02

khiva and the Emirate of Bokhara,
both of which claimed independence
after the World war, is three times as
large as Texas, yet 1t was almost lost
in the Tsars domains. 1t has as many
people as New York and Massachu-
sets combined and there are as few
Russians as there are native born
Americans on Manhattan isle. Its tive
largest rivers empty into sea about
the size of Vermont, New Hampshire.
and Massachusetts, and do their best
to keep it from drying up into a salt
pile; but they are slowly losing the
battle.
The first point of interest along the
railway is the Akhal oasis, which can
easily be distinguished in spring, but
resembles the desert in late fall and
winter. 1t is the largest oasis in Tur-
kestan, 160 miles long and 10 miles
wide. Here dwell the Tekke Turko-
mans-huge, tine-looking men, who
wear sheepskin hats a foot high. The
Turkomans owe as much of their
charm to their fantastic headgear as
does a stage beauty. When they re-
move them and reveal the shaved
heads and gaudy embroidered skull
caps beneath, they seem commonplace;
yet there are many of the older men
whose majesty of bearing is not a
matter of costume alone. Their red
cotton khalats give them princely
stateliness which the trousered and
h;c tr%
lacks.
Farther east lies the romantic mud
flower pot of BOkhara, which might
be any desert city inclosed In crum-
bling walls and composed of mud
houses which have almost no windows
on the streets. A good rain would
wash 1t away, and if left to the raw
ages of time this ancient city would
soon sink to the level of the dust from
which 1t was constructed. But Box.
hara. like many another ancient city,
does not owe its permanence to brick,
marble, or reinforced. concrete, and 1t
will probably survive for a few more
centuries, patching up here and re-
building there, never completely old
ana never wholly new.
Architecture Of Samarkand.
What costume does for Bokhara,
architecture did for Samarkand. The
Registrar, once the show-place Of Gen.
trail Asia, still retains much of its
former beauty, for the tinted tiles
which encase the imposing facades
of the mosque schools of Shir-Dar.
Tillah Kari and Ulug Beg have re-
tanned as much Of their Oriental brilli-
ance as is pleasing to the western eye.
Time has touched the tiles Of Samar-
kand with loving fingers, leaving all
that was beautiful and nothing that
was garish.
Baku is more cosmopolitan than
Bokhara. for Bokhara is only cos
mopolitan in an Asiatic sense, while
Baku contains European influences
and inhabitants as well. From one
end to the other. the Caucasus Is a
vast mine Of copper, iron, tin, zinc,
and other metals. In the lovely Ala
IAN Valley of kakhetia some of the
worlds finest wine Is grown. and the
North Caucasus is a granary where
American agricultural machinery has
reaped rich harvests; but at the cas-.
end of the Caucasus it is oil that has
made modern history and made Bakn
familiar name among business men
the world over.
Baku is we'll built In spots and Is
tremendously wealthy: but it lacks
the distinction Of city that has
grown gracefully. 1t savors of the
nouveaux riches and the boom town
still, at time when It is already
declining as an oil-production center
with Grozny and Maikop rising to
wrest its laurels from The oil port
ON the Caspian.