Note 710 — Chapter IX · Bokhārā, a Protected Native State

In 1872 M. Petrofsky, agent of the Minister of Finance, visited Bokhārā in order to study the commercial system. He stated, in the European Messenger for March 1873, that the city was then an entrepôt for English and Afghan wares. Green tea in those days arrived by way of Afghanistān, and was distributed throughout the Khānates from Bokhārā. “Who can guarantee,” he asks plaintively, “that with our carelessness with regard to the Bokhāran market, all the trade with Central Asia will not pass into the hands of the English and Afghans?” This fearful contingency has been obviated by protective tariffs and the Transcaspian Railway.