XII. TRADE VALUE OF THE SEISTAN ROUTE COMPARED WITH COMPETING ROUTES 536 XIII. AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE UNITED KINGDOM AND JAPAN 537 XIV. CHRONOLOGICAL SKETCH OF AFGHAN HISTORY 540 INDEX 547 ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE Lord Curzon of Kedleston _Frontispiece_ Market-cart, Orenburg 1 Tomb in the Market-place, Samarkand 3 Palace of the Governor, Baku 5 The Picturesque Camel 6 The Shir Dar Medresse, Samarkand 7 On the Road in Asia 9 Kirghiz Elders 17 Kirghiz Women 19 Native Quarter, Tashkent 21 Shir Dar, Samarkand 25 The Amir of Bokhara on Palace Steps 27 The Gates of Bokhara 31 The Prison, Bokhara 35 The Minar Kalan, Bokhara 36 The Ark, Bokhara 37 The Tomb of Tamerlane, Samarkand 41 Samarkand--the Hour of Prayer 44 Samarkand--a Bird’s-eye View 45 Sobornaya Boulevard in Tashkent 47 Bazaar Scene 51 Breaking Camp on Manœuvres, Tashkent 53 Native Quarter, Tashkent 58 Koran Stand, Samarkand 58 Peasants from the Golodnaya Steppe 60 The Column of Tamerlane, Samarkand 63 The Registan, Samarkand 65 Throne-Room--Palace of the Amir of Bokhara 68 Amir’s Palace, Bokhara 70 The Dervishes of Bokhara 72 The Kara Kum--Black Sands 76 Mosque at Bairam Ali 77 The Gur Amir 78 The Military Quarter, Merv 80 The Amu Daria Bridge 81 Near the Source of the Oxus 83 The Valley of the Oxus 83 Beside the Oxus 87