IIIF Color HighRes
National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
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| IIIF Color HighRes |
| Across Asia : vol.1 |
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| A group of Bukharians at Zirabulaq railway station. |
Citation Information
RECORDS OF THE JOURNEY
| A group of Bukharians at ,zirabulaq railway station. |
wheels, carriages broiling in the sun, dirty and tattered seats, ill-fitting doors, everything gave one an impression of disorder and lack of organisation.
The line runs along the seashore for hours through a barren sandy plain. Here and there you catch a glimpse of Turkomans riding their tall, beautiful horses, reminiscent of English thoroughbreds, or swaying on their camels, whose rolling gait is distressingly uncomfortable. One or two earth-caves or »yurts» (tents) appear on the endless plain, but you look in vain for any trace of agricultural or other activity. Some insignificant flocks of sheep, a few camels with saddles on their backs, grazing on ground where there is scarcely a blade of grass to be seen, are the only signs of life visible.
On Tuesday we reached Ashkhabad, a little town in a green oasis. The horses are July 17th. strikingly beautiful and elegant. The Turkomans are tall and thin and wear high sheepskin Ashkhabad. caps and long »khalats» (gowns) of subdued colours. From Ashkhabad the railway runs in a south-easterly direction along a valley with chains of hills in sight to the north and south.
On the following day we passed through Sukara, a fertile district with villages and towns July 18th.
surrounded by shady gardens and groves. The people wear turbans, one end of which Sukara.
hangs over the left ear. Their »khalats» and other garments are in bright and beautiful colours. The men are tall and stout and wear long, well-trimmed beards. Evident prosperity, larger flocks of sheep. The horses are in good condition, big, but of an inferior breed. In Samarkand, where we arrived at dusk, the Turkoman Khan, deposed by the Russians, boarded the train with his brother, who was dressed partly in Russian Cossack uniform. A band of inquisitive idle Bukharians followed him to the carriage and grouped themselves round the windows.
On Thursday morning the train arrived at Tashkent. In a comfortable carriage, drawn July 1gth. by a pair of horses, I drove along shaded avenues with a few, one-storeyed houses on either Tashkent.
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