But there is one great inconvenience in Bokhara, for which all its fruits can scarcely make amends.  There is bad water.  For Bokhara is not built on the banks of a river, or among running brooks:  all the water is brought by canals, from a small stream near the town, and when the canals are dried up by the heat, there is no water, except in the tanks where it is kept.  This stagnant water produces a disease called the Guinea worm.  In this complaint the skin is covered with painful swellings, and when they burst, a little flat worm is discovered in each, which must be drawn out before the poor sufferer can recover.

RELIGION.—­It is the Mahomedan.  The Amir is a strict observer of his religion.  Every Friday he may be seen going to prayers in his great mosque.  The Koran is carried before him, and four men with golden staves accompany him, crying out, “Pray to God that the Commander of the Faithful may act justly.”  As he passes by, his people stroke their beards to show their respect.  Bokhara is reckoned by Mahomedans a very religious city; for in every street there is a mosque; every evening people may be seen crowding to prayers; and if boys are caught asleep during service, they are tied together, and driven round the market by an officer, who beats them all the way with a thick thong.

There is a school, too, in almost every street of Bokhara, and there the poor boys sit from sunrise, till an hour before sunset, bawling out their foolish lessons from the Koran; and during all that time they are never allowed to go home, except once for some bread.  They have no time for play, except in the evening, and no holiday, except on Friday.  Seven years they spend in this manner, learning to read and write.  When they leave school, if they wish to be counted very wise, they go to one of the colleges; for there are many in Bokhara.  Some spend all their lives in these colleges, living in small cells, and meeting in a large hall to hear lectures about the Mahomedan religion.  It is a happy thing, however, that in summer the students go out to work in the fields; for how much better is it to work with the hands, than to fill the head with the wicked inventions of Mahomed.

The Mahomedans, however, are very proud of their religion, because they say, they do not worship idols; (yet they do worship at Mecca, a black stone, and other like things in other places).  They imagine that all Christians are idolaters, for they know that the Russians bow down to pictures.

Once the Vizier of Bokhara conversed a long while with two Englishmen about their religion.

He asked them, “Do you worship idols?”

The Englishmen replied, “No.”

The Vizier would not believe them, but said, “I am sure you have images and crosses hung round your necks.”

Upon which, they opened their vests to show there was nothing hidden.

Then the Vizier smiled, and said to his servants, “They are not bad people.”