TREES AND FRUITS

It was not till we found ourselves in Bokhara, with
no Russians at hand to caution us, that we tried
them. Here we set one before our native friends
and helped to eat it: the first was by no means
the last. Though they had been hung up for four
months, they were as fresh as those I had so
greatly appreciated in September during my first
visit. There are also several kinds of water-melon,
but they are not equal to those that grow in the
vicinity of Samara, on the banks of the Volga.
There is a kind of gourd or pumpkin, remarkable
chiefly for the size to which it can be grown and
the uses to which it can be adapted. I saw one at
a friend's house a foot and a half high and two feet
and a half in circumference.' The smaller kinds are
trained in the shape of a bell, and are used as snuff-
boxes or medicine-bottles; while gourd-pipes, and
the dervish's money-boxes, are made out of the
larger ones. I have seen several beautifully deco-
rated with artistic designs of inlaid silver. Mar-
gelan is the town in which to look for these. The
chilim or gourd-pipe is often dyed brown and studded
with turquoises set in silver.
I found two kinds of fig in the bazaar in
September, bright yellow ones, which were the
most expensive, and others blue-black. The Sarts
do not dry them, so we did not meet with any of
this fruit during our winter visit.
I This will account for the size of Cinderella's pumpkin!