THE MINAR KALAN, BOKHARA
A smaller market-place, where transactions in cotton are carried out, is surrounded by several imposing edifices that rise with infinite grace to the sky, besides countless minarets of prayer acting as landmarks to the faithful. Here is the Great Mosque, the Masjid-i-Jama, while facing it is the Medresse Mir-i-Arab. This latter building ranks first among the many stately colleges of Bokhara. Near at hand is the Minar Kalan, 36 feet at the base and tapering to a height of over 200 feet. From a small platform just below the lofty pinnacle, miscreants were hurled to destruction in bygone days. With the exception of these buildings the city contains little of antiquity.
For its size the native quarter is a centre of the greatest importance; and its streets, although mean and sinuous, are filled by a crowd most typical of Asia. Ten thousand students receive instruction in its schools. It contains:
| Streets | 360 |
| Caravansaries | 50 |
| Covered bazaars | 50 |
| Mosques | 364 |
| Native schools | 138 |
| Russian school | 1 |
| Russian hospital and dispensary | 1 |
THE ARK, BOKHARA
The houses, which are set in small compounds approached by narrow alleys, are composed of clay with low roofs and without windows. A hole in the roof suffices for a chimney, and the open door affords light.
Samarkand, the administrative centre of the province of the same name and founded in 1871, is a close reproduction of a large Indian cantonment. The streets are wide, well paved, fringed with tall poplars and set with shops which are kept by Europeans. For the Russians, as the centre of the province and the location of army headquarters, it has special importance. Although without any architectural pretensions—the buildings are all one-storey structures on account of frequent visitations from earthquakes—its comparatively lofty position makes it an agreeable station and one of the most attractive gathering-places for Europeans in Asiatic Russia. The city is situated upon the south-western slopes of the Chupan Ata range, 7 versts from the Zerafshan river. The close proximity of the hills naturally influences its rainfall, which is greatest in March and April. The period from June to September is dry; and by February or March the trees are in bloom. By a happy choice in construction it has been planned upon exceptionally generous lines which, although imparting to the outskirts a desolate aspect, have been the cause of securing to the community a number of spacious squares, around which are placed the barracks and certain parks. The principal square, named after General Ivanoff, a former Governor of the province, is Ivanovski Square. Another interesting memento of the Russian conquest of Turkestan is situated between the military quarter and the green avenues of the Russian town, in a spot where the heroes who fell in the defence of the citadel in 1868 were buried. At the same place, too, a memorial has been erected to Colonel Sokovnin and Staff-Captain Konevski, who were killed in 1869.
The population of Samarkand at the census of 1897 was 54,900: