DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.15174#0024
8
CHARJOOEE.— THE DESERT. chap. xn.
occasion there was not a female to be seen, veiled
or unveiled. Most of the people were Toorkmuns
of the Oxus, dressed in high sheepskin caps, like the
natives of Orgunje. There were about two or three
thousand people in the bazar; but there was very
little bustle and confusion, though there was much
both of buying and selling. The custom of having
market days is uncommon in India and Cabool, but
of universal use in Toorkistan: it perhaps gives a
stimulus to trade, and is most convenient; since all
the people of the country, for miles round, assemble
on the occasion. Every person seems to think it
incumbent upon him to be present. The different
articles are arranged in separate parts of the bazar,
with as much regularity as in Bokhara itself: here
you may buy grain, there fruit; here is meat, there
is cloth, &c. The streets are so narrow, that the
bazar is generally held at one end of the country
towns; and such was the case at Charjooee; so that
fruit, grain, or any thing which requires to be dis-
played, is spread out on the ground. The bazar
lasts from eleven to four o'clock, which is the hottest
time of the day.
The wants of all had been supplied during our
stay at Charjooee; every one was ready to move ;
and every skin, pot, and pitcher was filled to the
brim, from the canals of the Oxus. At noon on the
22d we commenced our march ; and, before we had
travelled a distance of two miles, entered upon
the great desert which separates the kingdoms of
Iran and Tooran. The mode of travelling in Toor-
kistan is to start at midday, and march till sunset
CHARJOOEE.— THE DESERT. chap. xn.
occasion there was not a female to be seen, veiled
or unveiled. Most of the people were Toorkmuns
of the Oxus, dressed in high sheepskin caps, like the
natives of Orgunje. There were about two or three
thousand people in the bazar; but there was very
little bustle and confusion, though there was much
both of buying and selling. The custom of having
market days is uncommon in India and Cabool, but
of universal use in Toorkistan: it perhaps gives a
stimulus to trade, and is most convenient; since all
the people of the country, for miles round, assemble
on the occasion. Every person seems to think it
incumbent upon him to be present. The different
articles are arranged in separate parts of the bazar,
with as much regularity as in Bokhara itself: here
you may buy grain, there fruit; here is meat, there
is cloth, &c. The streets are so narrow, that the
bazar is generally held at one end of the country
towns; and such was the case at Charjooee; so that
fruit, grain, or any thing which requires to be dis-
played, is spread out on the ground. The bazar
lasts from eleven to four o'clock, which is the hottest
time of the day.
The wants of all had been supplied during our
stay at Charjooee; every one was ready to move ;
and every skin, pot, and pitcher was filled to the
brim, from the canals of the Oxus. At noon on the
22d we commenced our march ; and, before we had
travelled a distance of two miles, entered upon
the great desert which separates the kingdoms of
Iran and Tooran. The mode of travelling in Toor-
kistan is to start at midday, and march till sunset