228 | Description of Bokhara. EMar, 
Jew is as marked a being as the Hind« ; his costume differs from 
the follower of Brana, and a small conical cap marks the children of 
Israel. No mark however is so distinguishing as the well known 
features of the Hebrew people. In Bokhara they are a race remark- 
ably handsome, and J saw more than one Rebecca in my peregrinations. 
Their features are set off by ringlets of beautiful hair, which hang over 
their cheeks and necks. There are about 4000 Jews in Bokhara, origi- 
nally from Meshid in Persia. They are chiefly employed in dyeing 
cloth. They receive the same treatment as the Hindas. A strayed 
Armenian, in a still different dress, represents that wandering nation ; 
but there are few of them in Bokhara. With these exceptions, the 
stranger beholds in the bazars a portly, fair, and well-dressed mass of 
people, the Muhammedans of Térkistan. A large white turban, and a 
chogha or pelisse of some dark colour over three or four other of the 
same description is the general costume; but the Régistan leads to the 
palace, and the Uzbeks delight to appear before their King in a mottled 
garment of silk, called ‘‘adras,” which is of all and the brightest 
colours, and would be intolerable to any but an Uzbek. Some of the 
higher persons are clothed in brocade, and one may distinguish the 
gradations of the chiefs, since those in favour ride into the citadel, and 
the others dismount at the gate. Almost every individual who visits 
the King is attended by his slave; and though this class of people are 
for the most part Persians, or their descendants, they have a peculiar 
appearance, It is said, indeed, that three-fourths of the people of Bo- 
khara are of slave extraction, for of the captives brought from Persia, 
into Turkistdn, few are permitted to return, and, by all accounts, there 
are many who have no inclination to do so. A great portion of the 
people of Bokhdra appear on horseback. Whether mounted or on foot, 
they are dressed in boots, and the pedestrians strut on high and small 
heels on which it would puzzle a Corinthian to walk or even stand. 
They rise about an inch and a half, and the pinnacle is not one-third the 
diameter. This is the national dress of the Uzbek. Some men of rank 
have ashoe over the boot, which is taken off on entering a room. I 
must not forget the ladies in my enumeration of the inhabitants. 
They generally appear on horseback, riding as the men ; a few walk, and 
all are veiled with a black hair-cloth napkin. The difficulty of seeing 
through it makes the fair ones stare at every one as in a masquerade. 
There however no one must speak to them, and, if any of the King’s 
harem pass, you are admonished to look in another direction, and get 
a punch on the head if you infringe the advice. So holy are the fair 
ones of the holy Bokhdra. 
