. A visit to the Russians in central Asia. artar prince. The hugemarble lectern, or resting-place for the Koran,opposite to the entrance of the building, is theonly thing that shows no sign of ruin. The great Righistan, or market place, is thecentre of life in Samarkand. On three sidesof the square are gigantic medresses—one builtby Ulugh ^^g, the grandson of Timur, 142 i, isthe oldest ; that called Shir Dar, from the lionin enamel tiles which is on the fa9ade, wasbuilt in 1601 ; and the third, called Tillah Karifrom its gold decoration of which there is nowno trace, dates from 1618. Lord Curz
. A visit to the Russians in central Asia. artar prince. The hugemarble lectern, or resting-place for the Koran,opposite to the entrance of the building, is theonly thing that shows no sign of ruin. The great Righistan, or market place, is thecentre of life in Samarkand. On three sidesof the square are gigantic medresses—one builtby Ulugh ^^g, the grandson of Timur, 142 i, isthe oldest ; that called Shir Dar, from the lionin enamel tiles which is on the fa9ade, wasbuilt in 1601 ; and the third, called Tillah Karifrom its gold decoration of which there is nowno trace, dates from 1618. Lord Curzon con-sidered the Righistan of Saniarkand to be the noblest public square in the world. Ihave never seen any place with which it canbe compared. From the top of the Shir Dar{^Jrontispiece)—a formidable climb—you lookdown, without a parapet of any description,upon the busy crowd of men dwarfed to thesize of ants. It is a relief to forget the giddyprospect and gaze upon the lovely mountainsthat know no change, and must always enchant. in Central Asia 219 the eyes that behold them. English eyes gazewith a special interest, feeling that not very faroff on the other side we should meet with theadvance guard of our own countrymen. Thesethoughts naturally find no utterance in thepresence of Russian friends. I wandered about alone in the Riehistan fora long time, unmolested and almost unnoticed,wishing to impress the scene upon my a question of true art, I cannot think it con-sistent that buildings of stupendous dimensionsshould be decorated outside with fragile anddelicate ornamentation, but this is the generalrule in the East, and the same remark may beapplied to the beautiful Duomo at was surprised to observe the dog tooth mould-ing in huge proportions at the foot of theminarets, each of which diverges more or lessfrom the perpendicular. It was extremelyamusing to observe the ways of the people,the strange mixture of business and drew near to a g
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