140     IN RUSSIAN TURKESTAN
she may be relieved of the housework. We were
greatly touched by the words of an old lady in
Samarkand, who said to us: "Every first wife prays
God that her husband may never become rich, so
that she may be his only wife always. We are
happy if there is just enough money to buy food
and drink. If there is a little over there comes a
new wife, and our happiness is gone." Then she
went on to tell us how a woman in the next house
had, quite recently, tried to poison her husband by
pouring mercury into his ear, but his life was saved
and the matter hushed up. Before the Russians
came women used frequently, out of jealousy, to
poison their husbands with aconite, which grows
wild in the country round; but now, afraid of being
punished for murder, they content themselves with
calling in the aid of sorcerers, and carrying prayers
in their amulets with such words as "Love me
best" written in Arabic.  If a bride is poor, her
people spend the calim in buying her a trousseau,
but if she is rich they return a double calim to the
bridegroom, a piece of silk or porcelain, or some
such present, stating at the same time the exact
worth of each gift. When a man wants a wife he
employs some elderly female relative to find out
where there is a suitable lady; and then, though
he is not supposed to see his future wife before
the betrothal, he sometimes bribes the aged match-
maker to let him get a peep at his intended through