192 SAMARKAND. 



CHAPTER XVII. 



SAMARKAND. 



Samarkand one of the great cities of Central Asia — The vicissitudes through 

 which it has passed — Timur's capital— Description of Timur — Samar- 

 kand taken by the Russians — A brilliant episode — The buildings of 

 Samarkand — The market square — A meal in the bazaar — The tomb of 

 Tamerlane — The mosque of Bibi Khanum — The mosque of "the 

 living king" — Ishak Khan — The end of the railway. 



" Samarkand is the face of the earth : Bokhara the 

 marrow of Islam : were there not in Meshed an azure 

 dome the whole world would be merely a ditch for 

 ablution," — which saying testifies to the honour in 

 which were held the two great cities of Central Asia. 

 For if Bokhara is one of the great names which ring 

 through the history of Central Asia, Samarkand is 

 assuredly the other, the fame of which, suffused with 

 a halo of glory, comes echoing from a remote antiquity 

 clown the dim corridors of time. 



A large and flourishing city, with walls 70 stadia in 

 circumference when it succumbed to the military genius 

 of Alexander the Great, the victim of the wildest 

 vicissitudes, it passed by fire and sword from one 

 conqueror to another till, adorned and beautified as 

 the capital of Timur, it reached the highest pinnacle 

 of its magnificence. Alexander the Great, Seyid ibn 

 'Othman, Harthama, Jengis Khan, Tamerlane, and 



