of the Himalayas.

This temporary city, which exists during only two months of the year,
contained two hundred thousand inhabitants at the time of our visit.
During the remaining ten months it is utterly depopulated, the bazaars
are closed, and chains are drawn across the streets to prevent the
passage of vehicles. A single statement will give an idea of its extent:
the combined length of the streets is twenty-five miles. The Great
Bazaar is substantially built of stone, after the manner of those in
Constantinople, except that it encloses an open court, where a
Government band performs every afternoon. Here the finer wares are
displayed, and the shadowed air under the vaulted roofs is a very
kaleidoscope for shifting color and sparkle. Tea, cotton, leather, wool,
and the other heavier and coarser commodities, have their separate
streets and quarters. The several nationalities are similarly divided,
to some extent; but the stranger, of course, prefers to see them
jostling together in the streets,--a Babel, not only of tongues, but of
feature, character, and costume.

Our ladies were eager to inspect the stock of jewelry, especially those
heaps of exquisite color with which the Mohammedans very logically load
the trees of Paradise; for they resemble fruit in a glorified state of
existence. One can imagine virtuous grapes promoted to amethysts,
blueberries to turquoises, cherries to rubies, and green-gages to
aqua-marine. These, the secondary jewels, (with the exception of the
ruby,) are brought in great quantities from Siberia, but most of them
are marred by slight flaws or other imperfections, so that their
cheapness is more apparent than real. An amethyst an inch long, throwing
the most delicious purple light from its hundreds of facets, quite takes
you captive, and you put your hand in your pocket for the fifteen
dollars which shall make you its possessor; but a closer inspection is
sure to show you either a broad transverse flaw, or a spot where the
color fades into transparency. The white topaz, known as the "Siberian
diamond," is generally flawless, and the purest specimens are scarcely
to be distinguished from the genuine brilliant. A necklace of these,
varying from a half to a quarter of an inch in diameter, may be had for
about twenty-five dollars. There were also golden and smoky topaz and
beryl, in great profusion.

A princely Bashkir drew us to his booth, first by his beauty and then by
his noble manners. H