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6 ADVENTURES IN TIBET.
last golden ray that it suffered to linger for a moment upon
the crests of the dunes. In those regions the twilight is
short ; the deserts are soon clasped in the shades of night,
and it gets very dark. Although the temperature dropped
but a few degrees, the air seemed to be decidedly cooler,
I woke up as from a swoon, unlocked my carriage door,
and walked to the dining-saloon at the other end of the train
for a late dinner. Upon returning to my salon, I used to
take off every stitch of clothing, and stretching myself on
one of the couches, read The Three Musqueteers ; not that
I was preparing for an adventurous robber’s life, but simply
because this book happened to have fallen into my hands.
At length we arrived at Samarcand, classic ground in the
history of the world. Whilst we are feasting our eyes for a
few minutes upon the magnificent mosques of the time
of Tamerlane, amongst which I spent a couple of weeks,
sketch-book in hand, 14 years ago, let me recall in a few
words some of the claims which Samarcand has to be called
the queen amongst the cities of Central Asia. According
to the local tradition, this city was founded by the hero
Afrasiab, but it is first known to history under the name of
Maracanda (Strabo, XI. ii.), and as such was the capital
of Sogdiana when Alexander the Great conquered that
country. Leaving a part of his army in Bactria, to keep
that country in check, Alexander (Arrian, IV. 16)
crossed the Oxus and invaded Sogdiana. Then, dividing
his forces into five divisions, he " put himself at the head
of the fifth and so marched across the country to Mara-
canda." Alexander’s fame still lives indelibly in the tradi-
tions of Central Asia, and many of the chieftains along the
banks of the Amu-daria trace their lineage back to one or
other of the great warriors who stood about his throne.
There is a little lake in the vicinity of Samarcand which for
2,200 years has borne his name—Iskander-kul. How
strange that a man who died so young should thus power-
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