who
have been found guilty of murder had their throats cut from ear
to ear.

The Khan's palace is a large building, ornamented with pillars
and domes, which, covered with bright-coloured tiles, flash in
the sun, and attract the attention of the stranger approaching
Khiva. A guard of thirty or forty men armed with cimeters stood
at the palace gates. We next passed into a small court-yard. The
Khan's guards were all arrayed in long flowing silk robes of various
patterns, bright-coloured sashes being girt around their waists, and
tall fur hats surmounting their bronzed countenances. The court-yard
was surrounded by a low pile of buildings, which are the offices
of the palace, and was filled with attendants and menials of the
court, while good-looking boys of an effeminate appearance, with
long hair streaming down their shoulders, and dressed a little like
the women, lounged about, and seemed to have nothing in particular
to do.

A door at the farther end of the court gave access to a low passage,
and, after passing through some dirty corridors, where I had
occasionally to stoop in order to avoid knocking my head against the
ceiling, we came to a large, square-shaped room. Here the treasurer
was seated, with three moullahs, who were squatted by his side, while
several attendants crouched in humble attitudes at the opposite
end of the apartment. The treasurer and his companions were busily
engaged in counting some rolls of ruble-notes and a heap of silver
coin, which has been received from the Khan's subjects, and were
now to be sent to Petro-Alexandrovsk as part of the tribute to
the Tsar.

The great man now made a sign to some of his attendants, when a
large wooden box, bearing signs of having been manufactured in
Russia, was pushed a little from the wall and offered to me as a
seat. Nazar was accommodated among the dependents at the other end
of the room. After the usual salaams had been made, the functionary
continued his task, leaving me in ignorance as to what was to be
the next part of the programme; Nazar squatting himself as far as
possible from one of the attendants, who was armed with a cimeter,
and whom he suspected of being the executioner.

After I had been kept waiting for about a quarter of an hour, a
messenger entered the room and informed the treasurer that the
Khan was disengaged, and ready to receive me. We now entered a
long corridor, which led to an inner court-yard. Here we found
the reception