THROUGH ASIA 
78 
is provided with a black railing, and is built on piles 
resting on three wooden caissons filled with stones.^ 
The owner, who is a private person, made a profitable 
contract with the Government for thirty years. During 
the first twenty he was to be allowed free possession of 
his bridge ; but for the following ten he was to pay 3000 
silver roubles {7^300) a year to the Government. Of these 
ten years six have still to run. The cost of building the 
bridge was put down at _;^5000; but it has had to be 
rebuilt twice. When the ten years have run out, the 
bridge is to be handed over to the Government in good 
condition. 
Of Kokand, which I reached on January 29th, 1 am 
now able to add a few details, for the completion of my 
former description, d'here are thirty-five madrasas or 
Mohammedan theological colleges in the town. I mention 
in particular the madrasa Hak Kuli, which was founded 
in the year 1221 of the Hejra (1806). The madrasa 
Khan hcis eighty-six rooms and three hundred pupils. 
The madrasa' Jami, with its large quadrangle shaded by 
poplars, willows, and mulberry trees, its ^ minaret, its 
beautiful cloisters with vari-coloured paintings on the 
chequered ceiling, and its carved wooden pillars, between 
which a number of young mollahs (theological students) 
were sitting reading, likewise has eighty-six rooms, but 
only two hundred pupils. 
I also went to see the Hakim Ayim, which was built 
twenty-three years ago by Khodiar Khan s mother ; it has 
a library with a picturesque balcony or kitab-khaneh within 
the quadrangle. She gave land and gardens at the same 
time, the income from which amounts to 1500 tillahs 
(about /560) yearly, and is devoted to the maintenance 
of the college and the students. The madrasa Sultan 
Murad Beg was built by Khodiar Khan’s younger brother, 
and has ninety-nine rooms and a hundred and fifty pupils. 
The Madrasa-i-Mir is the oldest college in Kokand, having 
been founded by Narbuta Khan and restored in the year 
1212 of the Hejra (i 797 ); it has fifty-seven rooms and 
one hundred and forty pupils. 
