28 
BUKIIARS. 
On the man coming in, they began to prepare to cook the dinner 
for the aga, which consisted of a dish of bamia boiled in mutton 
broth, poured over bread, with a little mutton and some niince<l meat, 
mixed up with rice into balls ; what other ingredients might he mired, 
shall by me be nameless ; the cleanliness of this preparation I have 
not eloquence to describe; the horror 1 felt at the idea that I should 
be obliged to eat of it, w'as more than my English stoinach could re- 
concile' at that moment. They brought me all tlie dishes before 
they took them out to the aga, and Mr. 3. was to dine with him : tlie 
first was the bamia, which i refused, but I took a piece of the boiled 
mutton, as being the cleanest, with some bread : that would not do, 
the wife took some of the minced meat and rice in her hands, and 
insisted on ray eating it, making me understand it was the best. At 
last all was carried to the aga. I was then served with the custo- 
mary coffee and pipe. The house, or rather stable, consisted of four 
wails, which had the sky for its ceiling, enclosing two small rooms, one 
in which the aga used to keep his treasure locked, such as coffee, cof- 
fee-cups, tobacco, &c. ; the other was the wdfe’s, and contained all 
their great wardrobe, besides bread, onions, flour, dhourra, oil, and 
many other tilings of the kind. The furniture consisted of w'ater-jars, 
sieves to clean the corn and sift the flour, a few earthen pots to cook 
in, some wooden bowds to eat out of, an oven, and some burdocks 
for cooling water, a small coffee pot, and old mats to lie on. 1 took 
my leave, giving the children and women a small present of money, 
promising to call and see them on my return. Next morning, 
another w ife of the aga sent me word that she should be glad to see 
me. I felt little inclination to go, but not wdshing to make any dis- 
tinction between them, I went, and found, to my surprise, a very 
pretty young woman. She lived next, door to the other, w'ho got upon 
the wall to see what passed between us. She had no cofl'ee to give 
me, but, instead, presented me with some dates and dhourra in grain. 
She seemed much afraid of the other wife. Though pretty in my 
eyes, she w'as not thought so by her own people ; the other, though 
old, was considered the greatest beauty in Assouan, on account of 
her being so extremely fat. Their hair was plaited after the Nubian 
custom, adorned with a few gold ornaments, with plenty of stinking 
raw fat, and a. certain bark of a tree beat in powder, to make it black 
besides, giving a horrid perfume, which they consider as a great im- 
provement to their charms ; it is not the same pow'der they use in 
blacking the eye-brows and eye-iids. I made her a present of soihe 
beads, which she tried to hide, and I wished her flirewell. 
Account of the Bukhaus, theiii Houses, Customs, Marriage 
Ceremonies, and Religious Opinions. 
The Bukhars are the inhabitants of Bukharia, a country on the 
borders of China. They are for the most part sun-burned, and 
black- haired ; although some of them are very fair, handsome, and 
well made. They do not want politeness, and are addicted to com- 
merce, wdiich they carry on wdth China, the Indies, Persia, and Rus- 
sia : but they are ready to overreach those who deal wdth them. 
