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Khorassan and Central Asia
65
irresistibly comic look, rattled along in a way that must sorely have tried even the hardened bones and muscles of Gholam Ali Akbar.
The Russian quarter of Samarcand has only sprung up since 1868, when the town was captured from the Khan of Bokhara by General von Kaufmann. A recent traveller, Mr. Arthur Hardinge, has well described it as:—
'Consisting of a collection of broad streets, or rather boulevards, closely planted on each side with handsome trees, and bordered with one-storied whitewashed houses. These are generally detached, and in many cases stand within their own gardens, and their isolation from one another, and the grove-like look of the whole place, gives it a rural, or at least suburban, character, suggesting rather the outskirts of some continental pleasure resort that the streets of a populous town. The Governor's house, at the furthest end of the chief boulevard, is surrounded by lovely grounds, kept up with evident care, and the shade, the green lawns, and the sound of birds and water, produce a pleasant sense of coolness and repose very refreshing after the dust of the parched steppe. About a verst away lies the Sart, or native quarter, on the other side of a broad, open space,
