nd are, numerous, accommodating from 60 to 600 students each. One
of them gained the notice and the pecuniary aid of the Russian Empress
Catharine.[32] Samarcand rivals Bokhara in fame; its university even in
the last century was frequented by Mahometan youth from foreign
countries. There were more than 300 colleges for students, and there was
an observatory, celebrated in the middle ages, the ruins of which
remain. Here lies the body of Timour, under a lofty dome, the sides of
which are enriched with agate. "Since the time of the Holy Prophet,"
that is, Mahomet, says the Emperor Baber, "no country has produced so
many Imaums and eminent divines as Mawar-al-nahar," that is, Sogdiana.
It was celebrated for its populousness. At one time it boasted of being
able to send out 300,000 foot, and as many horse, without missing them.
Bridges and caravansaries abounded; the latter, in the single province
attached to its capital, amounted to 2,000. In Bactriana, the very ruins
of Balkh extend for a circuit of 20 miles, and Sir A. Burns wound
through three miles of them continuously.

Such is the country, seated at present between the British and the
Russian Empires, and such as regards its previous and later state, which
the savage Huns, in their emigration from Tartary, had necessarily
encountered; and it cannot surprise us that one of their many tribes had
been persuaded to settle there, instead of seeking their fortunes
farther west. The effect upon these settlers in course of time was
marvellous. Though it was not of course the mere climate of Sogdiana
that changed them, still we cannot undervalue the influence which is
necessarily exerted on the mind by the idea of property, when once
recognised and accepted, by the desire of possession and by the love of
home, and by the sentiment of patriotism which arises in the mind,
especially with the occupation of a rich and beautiful country.
Moreover, they became the guests or masters of a people, who, however
rude, at least had far higher claims to be called civilized than they
themselves, and possessed among them the remains of a more civilized
era. They found a race, too, not Tartar, more capable of civilization,
more gifted with intellect, and more comely in person. Settling down
among the inhabitants, and intermarrying with them, in the course of
generations their Tartar characteristics were sensibly softened. For a
thousand years this restless people remained there, as if chaine