It is called “chal,” and has a salt, bitter taste. The thinner part of the milk is considered a grateful draught by the people, but to me it tasted sour and acrid. I believed that the Uzbeks and Toorkmuns drank mare’s milk and fermented liquors; but these are unknown in Bokhara, and only peculiar to the Kuzzaks and Kirgizzes, between that city and Russia. ~An Eastern caravan.~ A caravan is a complete republic; but I do not believe that most republics are so orderly. Of our eighty camels every three or four belonged to different individuals; and there were four Cafila-bashees. Still there was no disputing about the arrangement or order of the march; and it is a point of honour, that the one shall at all times wait for the other. If a single camel throws its load, the whole line halts till it is replaced; and one feels pleased at such universal sympathy. These feelings make it agreeable to travel in a caravan, for the detentions are much fewer than would really be imagined. The more I mingled with Asiatics in their own sphere, and judged them by their own standard, I imbibed more favourable impressions regarding them. One does not see in civilised Europe that generous feeling, which induces the natives of Asia, great and small, to share with each other every mouthful that they possess. Among Mahommedans we have no distinction of gentleman and villain,--at least, so far as hospitality is concerned. The khan fares as simply as the peasant; and never offers to raise a morsel to his lips till he has shared it with those near him. I myself frequently have been partaker of this bounty from rich and poor, for nothing is enjoyed without society. How different is the feeling that besets the sots of lower society in Britain! Nor is this good fellowship among the Asiatics confined to the travelled merchant: it is to be found in the towns as well as the country. It is a pity that civilisation, with all its advantages, does not retain for us these virtues. Barbarians are hospitable, civilised men are polite; but hospitality added to politeness makes it more acceptable. A caravan is an interesting scene at all times; and the shifts of the pious to prevent its detention in the Toorkmun desert were not unworthy of notice. The line was too extended to sound a general halt for prayers; and at the appointed time, each individual was to be seen on the back of his camel or in his pannier, performing his orisons before the Deity, in the best manner which he could accomplish them. The laws of the Prophet admit of a true believer being cleansed by sand, where there is no water; and the back of a horse or a camel is as legitimate a position for prayer, as the most splendid mosque of a city. The busy scene on our reaching the halting-ground in the evening, was both lively and entertaining. The Uzbeks, like ourselves, do not water their horses when they are warm: in this journey, we had no sooner arrived