The law of Islam prohibits drunkenness, but “the number of beng eaters (beng is a drug made from _cannabis Indica_) is greatest in Bokhara and Khokand, and it is no exaggeration to say that three-fourths of the learned and official world, or in other words the whole intelligent class, are victims to this vice. The Government looks on with perfect indifference while hundreds, nay thousands, commit suicide.... The few hints we have thrown out are sufficient to show the abyss of crime to which an exaggerated fanaticism degrades mankind” (Vambéry’s “Travels in Central Asia”). Bokhara is still the same to-day, the most fanatical and the most corrupt city in Asia, though outwardly to the eye of the casual stranger clothed with the respectability that its European masters exact. [Illustration: MOSQUE AT BOKHARA] We penetrated into the bazaars, but they offered no special features of interest, Bokhara having like the other cities of Central Asia to a large extent lost its ancient skill in art. The silks sold in it are made in Moscow mainly, and the cottons are also European. The railway and the protective tariff have combined to kill the old trade that used to exist between Bokhara and India, passing over the trade route through Afghanistan. The fine architecture all belongs to the past. One of the mosques was ornamented with beautiful designs in brickwork, enhanced by a fine note of colour near the top of the minarets in green tiles. The colour ornamentation of the mosques is for the most part much more restrained than that of Samarkand, but seen in the midst of the uniform dust colour of its sun-dried bricks it is the more effective. There are not nearly so many trees as at Samarkand, though outside one of the city gates we found a shady road, and there are twelve large canals in the neighbourhood to supply the gardens as well as the ordinary drinking supply. A crowd of camels was waiting hard by; presumably they remain outside the city because the streets are too narrow and tortuous to be blocked by such unwieldy beasts. There was an elevated booth on the other side of the gate where the gay throng seemed to be engaged in the act of worship and pleasure simultaneously; but the foreground of the picture was filled up with a compact mass of graves, looking as if they were centuries old. The largest building in the city is the mosque of Kelan, built by Tamerlane, and there are many other mosques varying in size and interest. We climbed up to the roof of one for the sake of the view, but it was not much, and we were told that we should have gone up a tower for the purpose. Almost every minaret is surmounted by a stork’s nest, for Bokhara is noted for its storks.