THE LAND OF LAMBSKINS 



"Elsewhere the light descends from 

 above ; in Bokhara it radiates upward," 

 tradition gives as among the last words 

 of Mohammed as he was being translated 

 to heaven. Between the ninth and four- 

 teenth centuries Bokhara was the gather- 

 ing place for the most studious men of 

 Asia. It still has nearly a hundred col- 

 leges where students learn to read the 

 Koran, and there are more than 300 

 mosques. It remains a center of Islam- 

 itic learning, though greatly diminished 

 within recent years. The observer is im- 

 pressed with the dignity, reserve, and con- 

 servatism of the men. The women when 

 out of their abodes are invariably heavily 

 veiled. 



A more unfavorable situation for rais- 

 ing live stock can hardly be conceived 

 than that encountered in this region. 

 Grass, to any extent, is available only 

 from the first of March, soon after the 

 winter breaks, till the latter part of May. 



A HAPPY, PRIMITIVE PEOPLE 



On the journey from the city of Old 

 Bokhara to the steppes to study the Kara- 

 kul sheep, across the Zerafshan and its 

 innumerable tributary irrigation ditches, 

 one encounters a considerable population 

 of apparently satisfied and happy people, 

 engaged for the most part in intensive 

 agriculture. 



All work is carried on in the most 

 primitive fashion and with hand-made 

 instruments of the kinds dating back 

 thousands of years. One sees during the 

 day horse, camel, or man-motived wheels 

 raising the irrigating water from one 

 level to a higher, the cutting of alfalfa 

 with hand scythes and transporting it on 

 the backs of donkeys, the reaping of 

 grains, also by hand, and threshing with 

 flails or by the tramping of goats, camels, 

 and donkeys, and winnowing in the man- 

 ner of Biblical times. 



Slow-moving, crude water-power mills 

 on the main canals clean the rice and 

 grind the grains. Occasional small flocks 

 of sheep and goats, chaperoned always by 

 some one, usually an old man or boy, 

 even when there are only two or three, 

 are seen grazing on the banks of ditches 

 or vacant small fields. 



For many years the Russian Govern- 

 ment kept several of its best engineers 



engaged in devising means of extending 

 the irrigated areas as far as the available 

 water allows. At the outbreak of the 

 war this work was making good progress 

 and considerable areas were being added 

 to cotton culture. 



A beneficial influence was being exer- 

 cised on the agriculture of Turkestan 

 through the Department of Agriculture 

 at Tashkent, an excellent general experi- 

 ment station and the special dry-farming 

 station, both located near Tashkent, and 

 a Karakul sheep-breeding station, near 

 Samarkand. 



The semi-official Turkestan Agricul- 

 tural Society was performing valuable 

 services to the country in studying soils, 

 climate, crops, introducing modern ap- 

 pliances, and improving the markets. I 

 have never become acquainted with a 

 more intelligently active body of men. 



So far as could be observed, the ad- 

 ministration of the country was highly 

 beneficial. The Russian railways af- 

 forded transportation for exports and 

 imports, and although the natives were 

 badly cheated by the Western traders, 

 many of whom were entirely without 

 business ethics, their produce at least 

 brought them something, and they were 

 enabled to purchase many necessities; — a 

 situation undoubtedly greatly improved 

 over the times prior to the Russian occu- 

 pation. 



Whatever may be said of the short- 

 comings of the former Russian Govern- 

 ment (and most that I have read and 

 heard about it does not coincide with my 

 observations), it appeared that the na- 

 tives were being aided in many ways and 

 under very great difficulties, with the 

 least possible disturbance of their re- 

 ligion and customs. 



It must be remembered that, as in case 

 of most of their own races with whom 

 the Russian officials had to deal, these 

 people are extremely ignorant and at the 

 same time excessively conservative. It is 

 not claimed that conditions were ideal, or 

 ever promised to become so. but they 

 were greatly improved and showed prom- 

 ise of still further betterment. 



Fifty-four head of Karakul sheep, 

 mostly rams, have been brought from 

 Russia to America since 1909 by Mr. 

 C. C. Young. These and their offspring 



