Page:Kennedy, Robert John - A Journey in Khorassan (1890).djvu/82

  me that Ishak Khan, the Afghan rebel and Pretender, is living quietly at Samarcand, under Russian protection, and is in receipt of an allowance from the Russian Government of 10,000l. a-year (100,000 roubles).

On the following day, Saturday, April 5th, I called on the Governor-General, Yafimovitch, and left a card, which was taken charge of by the porter, a fine,burly Sart, dressed in a long robe, and wearing a huge turban. I also called on his 'adjoint,' Colonel Poukaloff, but failed to find him at home. In the afternoon we hired horses and rode through the native quarter of Samarcand, passing numerous booths, crowded with white-turbaned Orientals, bartering, chaffering, smoking 'kalian,' or water-pipes, and drinking tea out of Russian samovars and china teapots. We dismounted at the Reghistan, a quadrangle, surrounded on three sides by medressehs, or religious colleges. The ruined facades are still covered with the most magnificent dark blue, light blue, and white tiles, forming the most lovely designs. The courtyard was crowded with Mollahs, reading and expounding the Koran, who watched our