ght. The Persian slaves and some thousands of women were spared.
Twenty thousand bodies lay in heaps within and without the fortress. The
Turkomans will never forget that day. The cavalry band played at the
head of the columns during the fight. Old Turkomans still remember the
strains. They cannot hear regimental bands without weeping for some
relative who fell at "The Green Hill." Here was the death-bed of their
freedom and they were swallowed up by mighty Russia.

I have crossed Turkestan many times by rail, in _tarantass_, and on
horseback. I have strolled for weeks through the narrow picturesque
streets and the gloomy bazaars of the old town called Bukhara, the
"Blessed." There silk is produced and carpets are woven; great caravans
pass by laden with cotton; disfigured by sores, lepers sit begging in
front of the mosques; mulberry trees raise their crowns above artificial
ponds. From the summit of a tall minaret criminals used to be thrown
down to be dashed to pieces on the street.

Sixty years ago there ruled in Bukhara a cruel Emir who took a delight
in torturing human beings. A mechanician from Italy fell into his
clutches and was sentenced to death. The Italian promised that if his
life were spared he would construct a machine wherewith the Emir could
measure the flight of time. His prayer was granted and he made an
ordinary clock. This called forth the Emir's astonishment and
admiration, and the Italian lived in high favour for a time. Later on,
however, the tyrant wished to force him to embrace Islamism, but he
steadfastly refused. At that time there was in Bukhara a cave called
"the bugs' hole," and into this the unfortunate man was thrown to be
eaten up by vermin. Seventy years ago two Englishmen languished in this
abominable place.

There are towns in Asia with names which impress us as soon as we hear
them, like Jerusalem, Mecca, Benares, Lhasa. Samarcand is one of these.
It is not a place of pilgrimage, but it is an ancient town and famous
among the Mohammedans of Asia. It was already in existence when
Alexander the Great conquered Central Asia. Since then vast swarms of
men and migrations of peoples have swept over this region. The Arabs
have subdued it, countless hordes of Mongols have passed through it
pillaging and devastating, and now at last it lies under the sceptre of
the Tsar. Samarcand attained the height of its splendour during the rule
of the powerful Timur. When he died in the year 1405 he