seventh year he knew the Koran by heart, and in his seventieth he died. Hence also the contributions and gifts laid upon his grave are to have the pecul iarity that they must not be any thing else than multiples of seven, or the number seven itself. A quarter of a league from the tomb of Baha-eddin, in an open field, is that of Miri Kulah, the master and spiritual chief of the former. But the master is far from enjoying the same honor and repute as the disciple. CHAP. XI. BOKHARA TO SAMARCAND. 235 CHAPTER XI. BOKHARA TO SAMARCAND.-LITTLE Desert of chÖL MELIK.-ANIMATION OF THE ROAD OWING TO WAR.-FIRST VIEW OF SAMARCAND.-HASZRETI SHAH ZINDE. MOSQUE OF TIMOUR.—CITADEL (ARK).· -RECEPTION HALL OF TIMOUR.-KÖKTASH, OR TIMOUR'S THRONE.-SINGULAR FOOTSTOOL.-TIMOUR'S SEPULCHRE AND THAT OF HIS PRECEPTOR.-AUTHOR VISITS THE ACTUAL TOMB OF TIMOUR IN THE SOUTERRAIN.-FOLIO KORAN ASCRIBED TO OSMAN, MOHAMMED'S SECRETARY.-COLLEGES.- ANCIENT OBSERVATORY.-GREEK ARMENIAN LIBRARY NOT, AS PRETENDED, carried off BY TIMOUR.—ARCHITECTURE OF PUBLIC BUILDINGS NOT CHINESE, BUT PERSIAN.—MODERN SAMARCAND.-ITS POPULATION.-DEHBID.-AUTHOR DECIDES TO RETURN.ARRIVAL OF THE EMIR.-AUTHOR'S INTERVIEW WITH HIM.-PARTING FROM THE HADJIS, AND DEPARTURE FROM SAMARCAND. ... "Hinc quarto die ad Maracanda perventum est. Scythia confinis est regio, habitaturque pluribus ac frequentibus vicis, quia ubertas terræ non indigenas modo detinet, sed etiam advenas invitat.”—Q. Curtii Rufi, libb. vii. et viii. OUR whole caravan had now, on starting from Bokhara for Samarcand, dwindled down to two carts. In one of these sat Hadji Salih and myself; in the other, Hadji Bilal and his party. Sheltered from the sun by a matting awning, I should have been glad to settle myself quietly on my carpet; but this was impossible, owing to the violent motion of our very primitive vehicle: it disposed of us "at its own sweet will," shaking us now here, now there; our heads were continually cannoning each other like balls on a billiard-table. During the first few hours I felt quite sea-sick, having suffered much more than I had done when on the camels, the shiplike movements of which I had formerly so much dreaded. The poor horse, harnessed to the broad heavy cart, besides having to make the clumsy wheels-far from perfect circles-revolve laboriously through the deep sand or mud, was obliged also to convey the driver and his provision sack. The Turkoman is right in doubting whether the Bokhariot will ever be ready to justify in another world his maltreatment of the horse-the noblest of the brute creation. As it was night when we started from Baha-eddin, the driver (a native of Khokand), not sufficiently familiar with the road, mistook his way, so that, instead of midnight, it was morning before we reached the little town of Mezar. It is distant from Bokhara five tash (fersakh), and is regarded as the first station on the road to Samarcand. We halted here but a short time, and about noon arrived at Sheikh Kasim, where we encountered some of our brother pilgrims. They were taking the road by Gidjdovan. We consequently indulged ourselves by remaining there quietly together until late at night. I had heard many wonderful accounts of the flourishing cultivation of the country between Bokhara and Samarcand, but thus far I had seen nothing astonishing during our day's journey, nothing at all corresponding to my high-wrought expectations. We perceived, indeed, every where, and on both sides of the road, with rare exceptions, the land under cultivation; the following day, however, a real surprise awaited me. We had passed the little desert of Chöl Melik (six leagues in length by four in breadth), where there are a caravanserai and water reservoir, СНАР. ХІ. BOKHARA TO SAMARCAND. 237 and at last reached the district of Kermineh, which constitutes the third day's station. We now passed every hour, sometimes every half hour, a small bazarli djay (market-place), where there were several inns and houses for the sale of provisions, and where gigantic Russian tea-kettles, ever on the boil, are held to be the ne plus ultra of refinement and of comfort. These villages have quite a different character from those in Persia and Turkey, the farm-yards are better filled with earth's blessings; and were there only more trees, we might say that all the way from the Pontos Mountains this is the only country resembling our own in the far West. About midday we halted at Kermineh, in a lovely garden, on the side of a reservoir, where we found abundant shade. My friends seemed to endear themselves to me more and more the nearer the moment of our separation approached; it appeared impossible that I was to journey alone that long way back from Samarcand to Europe! We started from Kermineh about sunset, considering that the freshness of the night would lighten, in some respects, the torments of our overtasked horse; at midnight we halted again for two hours, as we hoped to reach our station the next morning, before the heat of the day commenced. I remarked in many places along the road square milestones, some entire, others broken,* which owe their erection to Timour; nor need this surprise us, for Marco Polo, in the time of Oktai, found regular post *The Turkish word for stone is tash, which is also used to denote mile. So the Persian word fersang (in modern Persian fersakh) is compounded of fer (high) and seng (stone). roads in Central Asia. The whole way from Bokhara to Kashgar is said, indeed, still to bear marks of an ancient civilization which, although with frequent intervals, is nevertheless traceable far into China. The present emir, also wishing to distinguish himself, has caused in several places small terraces to be raised for purposes of prayer, these serving as a sort of occasional mosques, and mementoes to passers-by to fulfill their religious duties. duties. So each age has its own peculiar objects in view! The evening we passed at the village Mir, taking up our quarters there in the mosque. This rises from the centre of a pretty flower-garden. I lay down to sleep near a reservoir, but was startled out of my slumber by a troop of quarrelsome Turkomans. They were the Tekke horsemen who had served the emir as auxiliaries in his campaign against Khokand, and were now returning to Merv with the booty they had taken from the Kirghis. The emir, in his anxiety to civilize them, had presented many with a white turban, and hoped that they would throw aside altogether their wild fur caps. They wore them as long as they were under the eye of the emir, but I heard that they had subsequently sold them all. From Mir we proceeded to Kette Kurgan ("great fortress"). It is the seat of a government, and has the most famous shoemakers in the whole khanat. This fortress is defended by a strong wall and deep fosse. By night no one is permitted either to pass in or out; we therefore remained in a caravanserai on the road outside the fort. There were wagons every where; the roads, indeed, in all directions pre |