Sketches of Central Asia (1868): Additional chapters on my travels, adventures, and on the ethnology of Central AsiaVámbéry, Ármin
History
Sketches of Central Asia (1868): Additional chapters on my travels, adventures, and on the ethnology of Central Asia
Vámbéry, Ármin
Asia, Central -- Description and travel
In Turkey the contact with Christian elements has already introduced
many innovations, and the Yaschmak (veil) is rather treated as
part of the toilette than as the ensign of slavery. In Persia the
women are tolerably well muffled up, still they wear the Tchakshur
(pantaloons and stockings in one piece) of brilliant colouring and
silken texture, and the Rubend (a linen veil with network for the
eyes) is ornamented with a clasp of gold. In Bokhara, on the other
hand, there is not a trace of tolerance. The women wear nothing that
deserves to be named full dress or ornament. When in the streets,
they draw a covering over their heads, and are seen clad in dark
gowns of deep blue, with the empty sleeves hanging suspended to
their backs, so that observed from behind, the fair ones of Bokhara
may be mistaken for clothes wandering about. From the head down to
the bosom they wear a veil made of horsehair, of a texture which we
in Europe would regard as too bad and coarse for a sieve, and the
friction of which upon cheek or nose must be anything but agreeable.
Their _chaussures_ consist of coarse heavy boots, in which their
little feet are fixed, enveloped in a mass of leather. Such a
costume is not in itself attractive; but even so attired, they dare
not be seen too often in the streets. Ladies of ranks and good
character never venture to show themselves in any public place or
bazaar. Shopping is left to the men; and whenever any extraordinary
emergency obliges a lady to leave the house and to pay visits, it is
regarded as _bon ton_ for her to assume every possible appearance of
decrepitude, poverty, and age.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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