The next group of ancient buildings which meets the eye is the great market square, the Righistan, three sides of which are surrounded by madressahs or colleges, the fourth side being bounded by a row of small native shops. The four sides are quite separate from one another, a street passing along the north side of the square in front of the Tilla-Kari Madressah. It would be impossible to describe the magnificent effect of these buildings due to their great height, simplicity of design, brilliancy of colour, and the noble space which they enclose. The square is more than two centuries later in date than the days of Tamerlane, but it is the harmonious continuation and completion of his work. The eastern building is the oldest of the madressahs, called after its builder, Uleg Beg (A.D. 1420 approximately); he was the grandson of Timur, a great patron of art and science. He made a table of the fixed stars, agreeing pretty closely with that made by the celebrated Danish astronomer, Tycho-Brahé, more than a century later. It is the smallest of the three madressahs, containing accommodation for only fifty students, but attached to it was the world-renowned observatory and school of mathematics. Uleg Beg used the quadrant, the radius of which, says d’Herbelot, equalled the height of St. Sophia. A description of one madressah will suffice for the three, as they are all built on the same plan. The front of the quadrilateral building is about 100 to 150 feet in height, with an immense porch nearly extending to the top of it; the porch is mostly filled in with beautiful tiles, but contains a small window in the upper part and a wide door below, with smaller ones on either side. The broad spaces of masonry flanking the porch are subdivided into three sections, which are all differently and richly decorated with tiles, in which blue is the predominating colour. The two small doorways lead into a paved court surrounded by buildings, in the centre of each of which is a pointed porch called “pichtack,” similar to that of the façade, but on a much smaller scale, and generally of finer workmanship. This is surrounded by arcades, the central one being a hall for prayer, decorated with suitable inscriptions cut in hard stone or marble slabs in the walls. The courtyard corresponds to our cloister of the West, and trees cast a pleasant shade in it where the studious Mohammedans spend so many weary hours, for the university training lasts from twenty to twenty-seven years. One of the students showed us his tiny cell with its store of books—a very limited one. As we entered another student or Mullah stood praying just within the porch at the top of his voice, and in shrill and dolorous accents: the Sunnites adopt this tone in order that there may be no suspicion of tune or melody. The studies are by no means confined to religion, however, for they embrace all the faculties, and men are here trained to fill every office of Church and State.