22 Continuation of the Route of Lieut. A. Burnes. (Jan. 
except China are seen here. Every body drinks tea, generally after 
our fashion, but without milk; there is a kind of tea called banka which 
comes vid Russia from China ; it costs 10 rupees, and is very fine flavor- 
ed, and it is said that a sea voyage injures it. 
The banka tea goes from China to Russia by a direct road, avoid- 
ing Yarkund, as by being packed up in small canisters it will not bear 
export by the mountainous route, and by coming here from Orenburgh 
it thus attains a very high price; the tea trade is immense. We 
first saw loaf sugar at Khulm, and it is the same as we have at home. 
Many people in Bokhara wear watches, all of London mechanism. 
In the Bazar we see tea urns with the red hot iron in the middle to 
keep the water warm, and many things remind us of Europe. 
We have tried horse’s flesh, and having beef at the same time, we 
gave the preference to the former; but whatever Elphinstone says about 
horse’s flesh being the food of any part of the people, it is at least very 
rare, and beef is far from frequent. 
The climate, that eternal subject, is warmer than is agreeable; in fact 
it is sultry, but dry, and otherwise delicious, the sun shining out his entire 
course, and not a cloud in the air. How very different from India at this 
season! The nights are generally cool, but we find sleeping in the air 
necessary for comfort ; the usual range of the temperature outside is from 
74° to 103°, rising to 106° in the streets: we loathe the air in a room 
heated to 96° and even 110°, and, although sitting quietly, we feel it rather 
disagreeable ; but in so arid aclimate, the sensation is less oppressive at 
this degree of temperature, than at 80° in India, at the same season. 
The most singular part of the climate is the intense cold of winter, 
which freezes such a stream as the Oxus. The blocks of solid ice in 
the bazars here indicate the severity of the weather, and can only be 
explained by the extreme dryness of the air. 
There are disturbances at Urganj, and their army has marched to at- 
tack the Persians on the line of our route ; we therefore know nothing of 
our prospects : but it strikes me we shall be forced to take the road to 
Meshid. Burnes and myself are now quite recovered. I have received no 
letters since the middle of March, and the only dawk which has reached 
us since crossing the Indus, we got at Khulm, and by it came Nos. 1 
and 2 of the Journal of the Asiatic Society ; it will please the Editor 
to know, that his work spreads itself over such distant regions. I have 
picked up some coins here, bearing Greek inscriptions and heads, and 
something like masonic insignia upon a small axe ; but I am too distant 
here to venture to send the originals, though I may impressions.” 
Bokhara, 15th July. 
