68      IN RUSSIAN TURKESTAN
slippers.  Among other vices he is addicted to
opium-eating, to which may be attributed the dazed,
half-imbecile expression of his countenance. The
native word for dervish, dervana, is also used, I may
add-and not inappropriately-to designate an idiot.
Before the Russians came the poppy was widely
cultivated in Turkestan, and opium dens were to be
found in many of the towns. Happily that is now
a thing of the past, and all opium consumed to-day
on Russian territory has been smuggled there from
India, Persia, or Bokhara, in which last, as the Amir
does not object to it, it is still grown, chiefly in
Sharisab (" Green City ") and in Khitab (" Book
City "), not far from Samarkand. There are several
ways in which this drug is taken. They mix oil of
opium, prepared in Persia, with their food, and it
stupefies them. They also prepare it like tobacco,
and smoke it in the chilim, or chew it in the form
of a red pulp till all its juice has been extracted.
A drink called kuknar is still sold in Bokhara, in
shops set apart for the purpose, and known as
kuknar khanas. It is a tea made from poppy-heads.
The Sarts in general, though not addicted to the
use of opium, are very fond of nas or green tobacco.
After it has been ground in mills, it is mixed with
ashes, oil, and lime. This preparation they chew in
great quantities. To those who are not used to it,
it is a powerful narcotic, while those who have
acquired the habit are its helpless victims. This