IN SAMARKAND

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1514, 7 March 1901, Page 62

IN SAMARKAND

THE ATHENS OF ASIA. The Central Asia of yesterday lives almost unaltered in the cities of Bokhara and Samarkand. The whole world has only two more interesting cities than the latter—Athens and Rome, and indeed, this was the Athens of Asia nearly a thousand year's' ago. Its consecutive history, however (says Mr Henry .Nor-

man, writing in the London “Chronicle"), gees back twice as far as that, for it was destroyed by Alexander the Great. Genghiz Elian razed it at the beginning of the thirteenth century, and Tamerlane rebuilt it and adorned.it with the superb buildings whose tottering’ ruins are still magnificent to-day. Russia’s ownership of it dates only from 1868. Between the railway . and tire native city is the Russian town, embowered in trees, the Governor’s residence being a large and handsome structure in spa-

cious grounds surrounded by a wall. Next in size is the'club, or casino, the only place where a decent dinner can - be had, for the only hotels for visitors are certain f< nnmera ; ,” or furnished rooms, where the accommodation is wretched and the cooking worse. The club_ on the .other hand, which is maintained solely by the officers of the garrison, .with an official subsidy, is spacious and comfortable, with excellent cooking, perfect service by military orderlies, reading rooms, billiard rooms, and a large ballroom. I may cite my experience here as a typical example of Russian hospitality to When I saw how miserably uncomfortable I was going to be in the “numrea,” I cast about for some relief. I knew nobody at Samarkand, but I decided to' try my luck at the club. So I boldly entered and asked who was the. chief official. I was told that a certain captain was officer of the day, but he was out-. Was any officer ‘in the club ? Yes,. Lieutenants So-and-So and So-and-So were playing billiards. . “Then,” I said, “please take my card to one of them.” In a moment a young officer camei out, and I apologised for disturbing him, proved my respectability, by showing him my official letters, explained that Samarkand, outside the club, did not afford a decent meal to a traveller, and begged, therefore, that I might be allowed the use of the club during my brief stay. "With- great pleasure,” was his instant reply, and he at once entered my. name and that of my . interpreter, a young Russian gentleman who accompanied me everywhere. in the members’ book, with his own name •and another .officer’s as introducers. So for several- days L took all my meals in company with, Russian officers, waited upon by Russian soldiers, and treated in every respect with, the most perfect and even friendly courtesy. And this, mind: you, while every Russian, paper was filled with abuse of England and lying stories, implicitly believed by every reader, to our discredit. i hope that a Russian stranger would be not less hospitably received at a remote British military station. Samarkand is a large city, nrud-colouredj like all the East, but it is' surrounded by a rolling fertile country, and high above its houses tower the glorious domes and portals and minarets of the handiwork of Tamerlane. The great market place of the city, called' the Rigistan, has three of these for its three sides —the Mahometan colleges called Shir Dar, the Lion-bearing; Tila Kari, the golden; and that of Ulugh Beg, the astronomer 4111 cl grandson of Tamerlane. The facades of these, in the marketplace, consist of a lofty arch, flanked by fluted domes and exquisite slender towers, the whole constructed of glazed tiles in several colours, a delicious Persian blue predominating—the blue of the '’Blue Mosque of Cairo. The Tila Ivar still retains some of the gold with which it was spread, and high above the gateway of the Shir Bar may still he seen huge emblems in once brilliant tiles of the Lion and the Sun of Persia. Behind the facade of each madrassa is a paved courtyardi, with a fountain and! a. few trees, and, all around are the cells of the scholars l and the imams. Time and earthquakes have wroughtdestruction, the portals are broken, some of the minarets are without tops, square, yards of tiles have fallen off, rubbish heaps have been formed of the debris, but still , the magnificence of these great structures persists, and I know no more impressive and picturesque sight than this great market, crowded with stalls and shouting buyers and sellers, while high above and all around the human ant-heap stand these vast architectural splendours of am age long past, the note of heavenly blue dominating all. The man who built them lies not far off, under another splendid dome, behind • another porcelain facade, at the end of another long avenue. On the ground level is an octagonal chamber and within a kind of fence of pierced alabaster are several oblong stones, chief among them a, great block of dark green, almost black, jade, said to be the largest in the world. Directly beneath this, in the vault below, was Tamerlane laid 600 years ago, one or two of his councillors around! him. Seme rough repairs have been made in the walls and dome of this structure, and, indeed, it would be a crime to allow so memorable a spot ; to fall into decay, but, on the whole, the Russians have done almost nothing to keep these splendid structures intact. They do strictly forbid the selling of the blue tiles, but thirty years after they came here an earthquake wrought destruction, and the piles of brick and mortal- and smashed 1 tiles lie just as they feii. . . . * . One of the most beautiful:’ domes of Samarkand, that of the Mosque Tamerlane,'built for . his spouse, the daughter , of the Emperor of China', has a huge open rift across it, and may collapse at any moment. : The cost of preservation would not be great, 1 and it is surprising that some archaeological society in Russia does not undertake the task which the Government' thus strangely neglects’., , ‘ ' T .’ ;. ‘

A SIX-MASTED SCHOONER.

For the first time since the days of the Great Eastern a craft of the six-masted type arrived in the harbour of New York on December 26. The vessel in question was the schooner George W. Wells, which was recently finished at the Bean Shipyards, jn Camden, Me. She is the first six-masted sailing vessel to receive a registry in America or any other country. When she was towed tip North-river "to her berth, at Erie pier, Weehawken, says the “New York Times/? she attracted much attention, her „ spick and span appearance making her the most attractive of the many picturesque craft that during recent years have arrived at this port.. At first, when her launching was effected and the time of her commissioning drew near, it was reported on apparently good authority that her masts, instead of being named according to the nomenclature of the sea were to be numbered • and the old designations dropped. When this report, reached the ears of her skipper, Captain Jack Crowley, he lost no time in announcing that, like the Great Eastern, the masts of the Wells would be known as follows— Foremast, mainmast, mizzenmast, spankermast, jiggermast and drivermast. When her proposed construction was announced there were many conjectures as to her probable success. Old skippers who for years had been sailing the seas and knew "they thought everything, from stem. to stern, connected with crafts of all kinds, declared that the failur© of the new vessel was a foregone conclusion. She was too big for a sailing vessel, they said, besides, such a thing as the construction of a sixmasted schooner had never up to that time been seriously thought of But all the prophecies have proved untrue, and not only does the Wells carry the cargo of a steam - propelled vessel of large dimensions, but she also transports it from port to port with a speed that would be a credit- to many a steamship now trading on the Atlantic. Her dimensions are 302 ft and llin on the keel and 345 over all. Her beam is 48ft and 6in 5 and she draws 23ft. -She has two full decks, with a poop 4ft deep, and a set of beams in the lower hold forward, bracedi with hanging, and fore' and aft knees. Her frame is white oak throughout and all her planking and sealing hard pine. The garbard® are Sin thick and the other planking 6in. ■■■* >