Page:From Constantinople to the home of Omar Khayyam.djvu/92

 34 SAKUf THE CITY OF OIL WELLS

stone-ramparted citadel of the Khans, and beyond them rise arid, rocky hills, bare of any trace of vegetation, and dreary enough, were it not that the eye can catch a glimpse of intervening green, below the fortress bulwarks, in the public gardens, once the possession of the Khans.

Russian Baku begins at the fine stone quay, which extends for a mile and a half along the shore and affords excellent op- portunities for the shipping — steam craft and sailing vessels — that crowds its port in numbers. The entire modern section of the town, with its public square, cobble-paved or asphalted streets, and curbed sidewalks, is as European as St. Petersburg. We step out of the hotel into a phaeton with a Russian or Tatar driver to take us to the bank, post-office, and telegraph, or we walk from shop to shop, where all the up-to-date articles may be purchased. The Russian cathedral of Alexandro- Nevsky thrusts aloft its spire to overtop the towering Moslem minarets, and the Armenian church seeks to outdo its ecclesias- tical rivals by its prominent position on the Parapet Square. A city hall for the Duma and several handsome edifices for educational purposes, one of the best being for girls, together with a technological institute and various governmental build- ings, are as new as any in Europe or America.

The old town, the Oriental section, has the interest that is always imparted by a certain Eastern touch — and, I may add, smell. The Bala-Hissar, or 'High Citadel,' shuts within its walls the old palace of the Khans and two mosques, and it goes back to ancient times. The Persian Mustaufi, writing in 1340, speaks of the citadel as keeping the town in its shadow at mid-day by its commanding position.^ The origin of this palace is sometimes ascribed to Shah Abbas the Great, of Persia (1587-1629), who is mentioned in the fourth tablet (D), re- ferred to below ; 2 but at least one (J.) of the inscriptions, which

1 See Le Strange, op. cit. p. 181. Fauvelle, Samarkand, p. 17, Paris,

2 Thus attributed by Saint-Martin, 1901; Le Caucase et la Perse, p. 137, Nouv. Diet. geog. univ. 1. 315, Paris, Paris, 1885 ; and Shoemaker, Heart 1879, art. Bakou; by Durrieux and of the Orient, p. 87.

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