1833.] and Dr. Gerard, from Péshdwar to Bokhara. y 
‘these last we especially resemble in every thing except their features. 
The restriction we feel most is being unable to write, but this is more 
our fault, or our courtesy, than any actual prohibition of the state, for as 
we can elude suspicion by writing at night, it is only the chance of de- 
tection that prevents us taking up our pen in the day time. As I can- 
not see well by lamp light I shall not attempt making a single note, and 
by the time we leave this I shall remember nothing to write about. I 
have seen the minister, Ghés Bégi, once: heis a curious old man, and 
very fond of decorum, though without state or show in himself. He is 
always finding fault with our dress or posture in sitting ; and this last is 
no easy matter, although we have been trying it for six months past. 
With all the Bégi’s shrewd penetration, he seems to be at a loss what 
to make of us. 
Upon the whole, our reception at Bokhara, if not remarkable for dis- 
tinction (except indeed that regarding our dress), or favors (neither of 
which we had the least claim to, and I at least had no expectations of), 
has been sufficiently respectable and civil; and with the people, whether 
in the crowded bazars, in public sérais, in private converse, or in the 
mosques, Our name and country have been a recommendation instead of 
a pivot for insult and ignominy ; and this too in a city notoriously ortho- 
dox in religious duties, and where Muhammedan principles of every kind 
are fearfully arbitrary. We have not heard the epithet of Adfir from 
one end of our journey to the other, and only at one place, near Attok, 
some boys used the expression of monkeys. Wherever we have gone 
and appeared as Europeans, that character has been respected; and we 
may depend upon it, that the name of Englishman, whether this is un- 
derstood by Feringi or Angrez, if assumed with discretion, is our best 
passport. 
We have no chance of seeing the king, except in the open streets 
with the rest of the mob: the rascal of a Nazir has played us this trick. 
Dost Muhammed’s letter would have done us aservice. The bazars here 
are splendid, and the police regulations admirable. Bokhara is a large 
and populous city, eight miles in circuit, and exceeding any we have 
met with in our journey. There are many fine colleges and other build- 
ings ; the Uzbeks are a handsome race, but the Jews, (more especially 
the Jewesses,) carry off the palm of beauty. There is more religion, 
more law and justice, and more crime, than in any place of equal size 
inAsia; but property and life are safer than in most cities in the world, 
whether civilized or savage. The people here are much more fami- 
liar with the Russians than with the English, and another Russian em- 
bassy is soon expected at Bokhara. People from all parts of the world 
