What did the Caspian Sea?

From The Complete Saki, page 8.  

At that particular moment the croquet players finished their game, which had been going on without a symptom of finality during the whole afternoon. Why, I ask, should it have stopped precisely when a counter-attraction was so necessary? Every one seemed to drift towards the area of disturbance, of which the chairs of the Archdeacon’s wife and Reginald formed the storm-centre. Conversation flagged, and there settled upon the company that expectant hush that precedes the dawn—when your neighbours don't happen to keep poultry.

“What did the Caspian Sea?” asked Reginald, with appalling suddenness.

There were symptoms of a stampede. The Archdeacon’s wife looked at me. Kipling or some one has described somewhere the look a foundered camel gives when the caravan moves on and leaves it to its fate. The peptonized reproach in the good lady's eyes brought the passage vividly to my mind. 

 

What is that trigger, “What did the Caspian Sea?”  Clearly some sort of an allusion which would have been clear to an intelligent reader circa 1900-4.  

Researching the question, it seems that there are three possible interpretations.  One is that it is an allusion to a mutoscope, certainly an inappropriate subject in the vicinity of the Archdeacon's wife.  I recall the titillating "What did the butler see?" formulation from my youth in England in the 1960s but I remember no historical context such as Wikipedia provides.  It was merely a received implication that the butler saw something salacious.

What the Butler Saw is a mutoscope reel and an early example of erotic films dating from the early 1900s. It depicted a scene of a woman partially undressing in her bedroom, as if some voyeuristic "butler" were watching her through a keyhole. The film was seen by depositing a coin in a freestanding viewing machine, which then freed a hand-crank on the side which was turned by the viewer. Social standards are subject to change, and by the 1950s this and similar films were considered harmless when compared to contemporary erotica.

The title of this feature became widely used in Britain as a generic term for devices and films of this type. The phrase had entered British popular culture after the 1886 divorce case of Lord Colin Campbell and Gertrude Elizabeth Blood. The trial hinged on whether their butler could have seen Lady Colin in flagrante with Captain Shaw of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade, through the keyhole of their dining room at 79 Cadogan Place, London.

The second interpretation is that “What did the Caspian Sea?” is merely word play as in the innocent Delaware song in 1959 by Perry Como.

Delaware

by Perry Como

Oh what did Del-a-ware boy, what did Delaware

What did Del-a-ware boy, what did Delaware

She wore a brand New Jersey,

She wore a brand New Jersey,

She wore a brand New Jersey,

That's what she did wear

One, two, three, four

Oh, why did Cali-fon-ia

Why did Cali-fon

Why did Cali-fon-ia

Was she all alone

She called to say Ha-wa-ya

She called to say Ha-wa-ya

She called to say Ha-wa-ya

That's why she did call

Uno, due, tre, quattro

Oh what did Missi sip boy

What did Missi sip

What did Missi sip boy

Through her pretty lips

She sipped a Minne sota

She sipped a Minne sota

She sipped a Minne sota

That's what she did sip

Un deux trois quatre

Where has Oregon, boy

Where has Oregon

If you wan Al-ask-a

Al-ask-a where she's gone

She went to pay her Texas

She went to pay her Texas

She went to pay her Texas

That's where she has gone

Eins zwei drei vier

Oh how did Wis-con-sin boy

She stole a New-brass-key

Too bad that Arkan saw, boy

And so did Tenne-see

It made poor Flori-di, boy

It made poor Flori-di, you see

She died in Miss-our-I, boy

She died in Miss-our-I

Oh what did Del-a-ware boy, what did Delaware

What did Del-a-ware boy, what did Delaware

Other elaborations of some antiquity include:

How do you make a Maltese cross? (Stick a finger in his eye.)

How do you make a Swiss roll? (Push him down a mountain.)

Other innocent permutations might be:

What did the Caspian See?  He saw the Persian Golf.

What did the Caspian See?  He saw the Queue Wait.

 What did the Caspian See?  He saw the Arabian Dessert.

What did the Caspian See?  He saw the Kazakh Stand.  

 

But if so, it is hard to understand the social consternation.  Seems like there is more going on here than innocent word play.

se16teddy has an erudite suggestion based on Kazakhstan.  The third interpretation might be:

What did the Caspian see?

She saw the Kazakh's stand.

Extract from the definition of stand (noun 1) in the OED:

5d. = erection (n. 4). slang. 

 

1867 Rosa Fielding in S. Marcus Other Victorians (1966) v. 227 He had a tremendous cock-stand, and felt that if it was not allayed pretty quickly that he must burst. 

 

1868 tr. Martial Index Expuratorius 88 Maevius who while sleeping only gets A piss-proud stand that melts away on waking. 

 

1903 J. S. Farmer & W. E. Henley Slang VI. 346/1 Stand,‥(venery).—1. An erectio penis.

All possible.  Relying on Occam's Razor, I'd have to go with "What did the Caspian Sea?" functioning as a call on the lewdness of "What did the butler see?"

There are other rabbits that could be chased in this brief passage.  The look of peptonized reproach?  Invoking perhaps the discomfort of bad digestion.  

Kipling's reference (or someone's) to "the look a foundered camel gives when the caravan moves on and leaves it to its fate"?  I can't find that in Kipling or elsewhere.  But it is an evocative image.