The town of Bokhara is supplied with water from the Shari Rud canal, which, in turn, is fed by the Zerafshan river. A considerable amount is stored locally in special reservoirs, of which there are eighty-five. As their contents are seldom changed the supply soon assumes a thick, greenish consistency, the use of which is extremely detrimental to the health of the inhabitants. The deficiency of fresh water for drinking purposes, the oppressiveness of the summer heat and the propinquity of numerous cemeteries, together with the dust and dirt of the crowded streets, make life in Bokhara almost intolerable. The city, too, is a hot-bed of disease, malaria being specially prominent at certain seasons. The _filaria medinesis_, a worm of burrowing propensity, is endemic. In Bokhara, as in most Eastern cities, the feminine element is entirely excluded from the street. The emancipation of women has not begun in the Middle East; should any have to venture forth they are muffled up so carefully that not even a suggestion of their personal appearance can be gathered. Yet there is a certain charm and mystery in the flitting of the veiled Beauty and one would fain linger to speculate further, if such dallying with fortune were not eminently injudicious. If there is no revelation of the female form divine in the bazaar there is, at least, a wonderful wealth of gorgeous colouring. In time of festival the scene, welling up to break away in endless ripples, suggests the myriad beauties of a rainbow splintered into a million fragments. There is relief, too, from the burning sunshine in the cool, lofty passages: shady, thronged and tortuous they extend in endless succession for mile after mile. The roof of the bazaar is a rude contrivance of undressed beams upon which there is a covering of beaten clay. Behind each stall is an alcove in the wall serving as home and office to the keen-visaged merchant who presides. In this little recess, piled upon innumerable shelves, rammed into little niches or strewn upon the floor, are the different articles which his trade requires. Carpets and rugs of harmonious hues, a wealth of parti-coloured shawls, innumerable lengths of dress pieces, cutlery, trinkets, snuff-boxes, gorgeous velvets and brilliant silks, the shimmer of satin and the coarse tracing of gold-wire embroidery, are here all displayed in prodigal confusion. As to the sources of supply, a good deal of the merchandise is the produce of Russian markets. For the rest, a certain proportion comes from Germany and a small amount is imported from France. England, it may be noted, is not represented at all.