THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



269 



every one is a male. A Bokhara woman 

 has no place in the color scheme, unless 

 it be as a neutral background. She hides 

 behind a horsehair veil four feet by two 

 and wears a cloak of gray that conceals 

 any fascination she may have. The pret- 

 tier ones wear thinner veils than the 

 grandmothers. Oriental veils will con- 

 tinue to be considered a means of punish- 

 ment, but as far as the man on the out- 

 side is concerned, they are, more often 

 than not, a kindness. 



where "every friday is easter 

 Sunday" 



The Friday service in the Registan in 

 front of the Emir's castle is most impres- 

 sive. From the entrance of the ark the 

 cobbled square slopes down to the melon 

 stalls and fruit venders' shops at the 

 lower end, from whose shelter even a 

 foreigner can observe the ceremony. 



Stretching down the incline from the 

 wide doorway is a line of white-bearded 

 Moslems dressed in their heaviest silks 

 and broad silver belts, standing on such 

 glossy, faded rugs as never reach a deal- 

 er's hands. Fifty or sixty feet lower 

 down there is a cross-line of other wor- 

 shipers. There in the bright sun of the 

 market-place , forming a color picture 

 that only an Eastern sun could harmon- 

 ize, hundreds of men bow and kneel and 

 rise in unison. The timing of their move- 

 ments is perfect. One sees broad silk- 

 clad backs and massive white turbans at 

 one instant and white beards and erect 

 forms the next. Larger groups of wor- 

 shipers may be seen in Samarkand and 

 Delhi ; but nowhere will one see a finer 

 grouping of color. Every Friday is 

 Easter Sunday to the Bokhara Moslems, 

 and the kindly sun of the desert softens 

 and harmonizes the varied scene into a 

 pleasing whole. 



THE BAZAARS OE BOKHARA 



Not only are there varieties of color, 

 but of race as well. Persians, Jews, 

 Hindoos, and Armenians mingle with the 

 Sarts, Uzbeks, Tajiks, and Afghans. Ta- 

 tars and Turkomans can be seen side by 

 side with the Mongolian Kirghizes, and 

 even Chinese wander through the maze 

 of covered bazaars or swing across the 

 brilliantly lighted squares. If Bokhara 



resembles a crocus or pansy bed in color 

 effects, it resembles an anthropological 

 museum in types of nose, mouth, cheek- 

 bone, and eyes. But on all sides one sees 

 the broad face, high cheek-bones, and 

 round head of the Turanian. 



The bazaars of Bokhara are her main 

 charm. Even Damascus has nothing finer. 

 The streets are covered and the lights 

 subdued. Each tiny shop, a Mother Hub- 

 bard cupboard in everything but empti- 

 ness, where the shrewd merchant sits 

 with his entire stock within reach, has a 

 rug at its tiny front porch, where the 

 customer can sit and smoke or drink tea 

 until the bargain is complete. 



One can see processes as well as prod- 

 ucts and hours may be spent in watching 

 the fascinating handicrafts of the East. 

 The brass-ware is inferior to that of Da- 

 mascus, but adds a mellow glow to the 

 long, dark bazaars, and gaily-colored 

 saddles and gaudy velvet caps, edged 

 with glossy fur, light up the scene. 



Bokhara is a very important religious 

 center, with 364 mosques. Why not one 

 more, with a temporary tabernacle for 

 leap years, it is hard to say. But the 

 Moslem year is shorter than ours, so that 

 perhaps they have enough mosques for 

 one mud city. There are more than a 

 hundred theological colleges, with small 

 rooms for the students surrounding a 

 paved quadrangle from the corners of 

 which rise small domes surmounted by 

 stork nests. 



THE BOKHARA MOSLEMS 



The Bokhara Moslems are ceremonial- 

 ists to the tips of their fingers. They 

 have shifty eyes, intellectual faces, and 

 indolent bodies. Many of them are fat 

 and greasy. One will see more fat men 

 among the worshipers at Bokhara than 

 he will in weeks of travel in Georgia or 

 among the Turkomans. The Moslem re- 

 ligion fits a sleek beard and a fat body, 

 and it is no wonder that the Turkomans 

 are considered very poor churchmen. 



But if one would really know the charm 

 of Bokhara and its Oriental spell, he must 

 not alone thread the murky bazaars, 

 where the copper-workers' fires cast fan- 

 tastic shadows on the tiny shop-faces op- 

 posite, or sit at the busy braziers eating 



