[719] Fath `Alī, Shāh of Persia, asked a European, who told him that his sovereign’s acts were subject to public approbation: “Wherein lies the pleasure of ruling if one can’t do exactly as one pleases?” [720] Moser, p. 160. [721] A very elaborate description of the old Court régime is given in chaps. xxiv. and xxv. of Khanikoff’s _Bokhara_. [722] Khanikoff, p. 233. [723] Since the opening of the Transcaspian Railway this has become a staple export, and it has ousted the produce of the United States. The term for unripe cotton is _gūza_; that for pods ready for export is _pakhta_. [724] The genealogy of the reigning house is not quite so clear as such matters usually are in Eastern countries. The founder was an Uzbeg general of the tribe of Mangit, named Mahammad Rahīm Bi. He was succeeded by his nephew, Dāniyāl Bi, whose son, Shāh Murād, alias Ma´sūm, commonly styled “Begi Jān,” was a soldier of the type of Chingiz Khān. He conquered Merv in 1784, and raised Bokhārā to a pinnacle of glory to which it had never attained since the spacious days of the Amīr `Abdullah, a contemporary of our own Elizabeth. Murād attained sovereignty in 1796, and died about 1801. His successor, Mīr Haydar, was a capable soldier, and the military caste had things entirely their own way during his reign, which ended in 1826. His successor was Nasrullah, a moody and treacherous tyrant, who gained an infamous reputation in England by the cruel slaughter of our envoys Stoddart and Conolly. His son Muzaffar resembled his father in cruelty and fanaticism. The story of his overthrow by the Russians has already been told. [725] The official figures for each district in 1896 were-- Dessiatines of 2½ acres District under cotton. Samarkand 5,252 Katta Kurgan 8,920 Jizāk 1,188 Khojend 2,784 ------ Total 18,144 In round figures, 45,000 acres. This is about 5 per cent. of the entire cultivated area of the province of Samarkand, which is officially stated as 364,200 dessiatines. [726] There were, in 1896, twenty, nine of which were worked by steam or oil engines, ten by water, and one by horse-power. Three hydraulic and seventeen hand-screw presses were at work. [727] The exact measurements of this stone are 6′ 4¼″ × 1′ 3¾″ × 1′ 5½″ deep. Round the edge is an Arabic inscription giving Tīmūr’s style and title, his genealogy, and the date of his death,--807 A.H., or 1405 of our era. [728] M. Schuyler states this man’s name as Mir Seid Belki Shaikh, and the date of his death as two years after Tīmūr’s, _i.e._ 1407 (ii. p. 253). [729] Schuyler, ii. p. 252. Tilā = gold. [730] Khanikoff, p. 134. In a note he adds that a Russian named Efremoff, who visited Samarkand in 1770, saw this gigantic book. [731] Schuyler’s _Turkestan_, i. p. 250.