ind

to Fly on un costumed I think you will do," said ww find, a wing me well over;

but you will find your It takes a day or so to get

desirable appendages they may be when in a crowd-long legs. Three horses abreast, their coats white with pendant icicles and hoar-frost, were harnessed to the sleigh; the center animal was in the shafts, and had his head fastened to a huge wooden head-collar, bright with various colors. From the summit of the head-collar was suspended a bell, while the two outside horses were harnessed by cord traces to splinter-bars attached to the sides of the sleigh. The object of all this is to make the animal in the middle trot at a brisk pace, while his two companions gallop, their necks arched round in a direction opposite to the horse in the center, this poor beast's head being tightly reined up to the head-collar.

A well-turned-out troika, with three really good horses, which get over the ground at the rate of twelve miles an hour, is a pretty sight to witness, particularly if the team has been properly trained, and the outside animals never attempt to break into a trot, while the one in the shafts steps forward with high action; but the constrained position in which the horses are kept must be highly uncomfortable to them, and one not calculated to enable a driver to get as much pace out of his animals as they could give him if harnessed in another manner.

Off we went at a brisk pace, the bell dangling from our horse's head-collar, and jingling merrily at every stride of the team.

The sun rose high in the heavens. It was a bright and glorious morning in spite of the intense cold, and the amount of oxygen we inhaled was enough to elevate the spirits of the most dyspeptic of mankind. Presently, after descending a slight declivity, our Jehu turned sharply to the right; then came a scramble, and a succession of jolts and jerks, as we slid down a steep bank, and we found ourselves on what appeared to be a broad high-road. Here the sight of many masts and shipping which, bound in by the iron fetters of a relentless winter, would remain imbedded in the ice till the ensuing spring, showed me that we were on the Volga. It was an animated spectacle, this frozen highway,

tered 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 center 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 existed only in the fertile Muscovite imagination, which was eager to find an excuse for the appropriation of a neighbor's property. On the contrary, capital punishment was inflicted only 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 fired only solid shot, not being provided with shell. The khan seemed to have made no use whatever of the many enclosed gardens in the vicinity of the city during the Russian advance, as, if he had, and firmly contested each yard of soil, I much doubt whether the Tsar's troops could have ever entered the city.

It is difficult to estimate the population of an Oriental city by simply riding around its walls; so many houses are uninhabited, and others again are densely packed with inhabitants. However, I should say, as a mere guess, that there are about 25,000 human beings within the walls of Khiva. The streets are broad and clean, while the houses

belonging to the richer inhabitants are built of highly polished bricks, and colored tiles, which lend a cheerful aspect to the otherwise somewhat somber color of the surroundings. There are nine schools; the largest, which contains one hundred and thirty pupils, was built by the father of the present khan. These buildings are all constructed with high, colored domes, and are ornamented with frescos and arabesque work, the bright aspect of the cupolas first attracting the stranger's attention on his nearing the city.

ASIA

DELHI,

The Taj Mahal

By JOSEPH MOORE

ELHI, the capital of the extinct Mogul Empire, is the Mecca of the East. What a train of thought is suggested by its very name! With a history dating back to the mythical period of the early Aryans, it was destroyed seven times and as often rose again to dominion and grandeur.

Here the Pathans of Ghuzni, under Mohammed Ghery, founded (A. D. 1193) the Moslem empire of India, and two centuries later (1398) the ruthless Tamerlane came with his fanatical hordes to burn, plunder, and drench the streets with blood. Next the Sultan Baber, the descendant of Zhenghis Khan and Tamerlane, crossed the Indus and established the Mogul throne (1526) in the conquered city. This memorable dynasty continued to flourish, with only one interruption, and with increasing luster, for a hundred and eighty years, under a succession, unprecedented in Indian history, of six sovereigns distinguished by their gallantry in the field, and, with one exception, by their ability in the cabinet.

This galaxy of successful though cruelly rapacious and utterly unprincipled rulers consists of Baber, Humayoon, Akbar, Jehangeer, Shah Jehan, and Aurungzebe. About these names cluster the relics of the power and splendor of the Great Moguls, the superb monuments of dazzling extravagance by which travelers are chiefly drawn to the imperial seats of Delhi and Agra.