went along, cried out, "Woe, woe to
me, for I have fallen into the hands of a tyrant." At the place of
execution the two Englishmen kissed each other.

Stoddart said to the king's minister, (for the Amir was not present,)
"Tell the Amir that I die a disbeliever in Mahomed, but a believer in
Jesus. I am a Christian, and a Christian I die."

Then Conolly said to his friend, "We shall see each other in paradise
near Jesus."

These were their last words. Immediately afterwards their heads were cut
off with a knife.

Some time after this cruel murder, a clergyman, named Joseph Wolff,
arrived at Bukhara. He had travelled all the way from England, and all
alone, on purpose to inquire after Conolly, who had been his dear friend.
The Amir was surprised at his coming, and said, "I have taken thousands
of _Persians_ and made them slaves, and no one came from Persia to
inquire what was become of them; but as soon as I take two ENGLISHMEN
prisoners, behold a man comes all this long way to inquire after _them!_"

The Amir did not know how precious are the lives of Englishmen in the
eyes of their countrymen.

Joseph Wolff found it hard to get away from Bokhara. He was kept a long
while in prison, and he feared he should be slain; for when he asked the
Amir to give him the bones of Stoddart and Conolly to take to England,
this was the Amir's answer: "I shall send YOUR bones!" Yet, after all, he
was permitted to leave Bokhara, the Lord graciously inclining the tyrant
to let him go.

How can Missionaries be sent to such a country!

* * * * *

Bokhara is the only large town in the kingdom.

The sea of Aral lies to the north of the kingdom: it is an immense lake,
but not nearly so large as the Caspian Sea.

The river Oxus flows into the Caspian. It is famous for its golden sands.

The great trade of Bokhara is in black woolly lamb-skins, to make caps
for the Persians: the younger the lamb the more delicate the wool. Thus
many a pretty lambkin dies to adorn a Persian noble.

The best raisins in the world come from Bokhara.[8]

THE TOORKMAN TARTARS.

You have heard a great deal of the Tartars, and you have been told that
they are a quiet and peaceable nation. But not _all_; there is a tribe of
Tartars called the Toorkmans, of a very different character. They wander
about in the country between Bokhara and Persia, and their chief
employment is to steal men from Persia, and to sell them in Bo