ur animals was not sufficient to deeply impress the
Khivans with my importance, and that on this occasion it was better
to ride in without any caravan than with the small one I possessed.
We now entered the city, which is of an oblong form, and surrounded
by two walls: the outer one is about fifty feet high: its basement
is constructed of baked bricks, the upper part being built of dried
clay. This forms the first line of defense, and completely encircles
the town, which is about a quarter of a mile within the wall. Four
high wooden gates, clamped with iron, barred the approach from
the north, south, east, and west, while the walls themselves were
in many places out of repair.

The town itself is surrounded by a second wall, not quite so high
as the one just described, and with a dry ditch, which is now half
filled with ruined _debris_. The slope which leads from the wall to
the trench has been used as a cemetery, and hundreds of sepulchres
and tombs were scattered along some undulating ground just without
the city. The space between the first and second walls is used
as a market-place, where cattle, horses, sheep, and camels are
sold, and where a number of carts were standing, filled with corn
and grass.

Here an ominous-looking cross-beam had been erected, towering high
above the heads of the people with its bare, gaunt poles. This was
the gallows on which all people convicted of theft are executed;
murderers being put to death in a different manner, having their
throats cut from ear to ear in the same way that sheep are killed.
This punishment is carried out by the side of a large hole in the
ground, not far from the principal street in the centre of the
town. But I must here remark that the many cruelties stated to
have been perpetrated by the present Khan previous to the capture
of his city did not take place. Indeed, they only existed in the
fertile Muscovite imagination, which was eager to find an excuse for
the appropriation of a neighbour's property. On the contrary, capital
punishment was only inflicted when the laws had been infringed; and
there is no instance of the Khan having arbitrarily put any one
to death.

The two walls above mentioned appear to have made up the defenses
of the city, which was also armed with sixteen guns. These, however,
proved practically useless against the Russians, as the garrison
only fired solid shot, not being provided with shell. The Khan
seemed to have made no use whatev