of Tamerlane and the famous palace where the blue stone is kept
on which each new khan must seat himself on his accession,
is defended by a very strong citadel. Karschi, with its
triple cordon, situated in an oasis, surrounded by a marsh
peopled with tortoises and lizards, is almost impregnable,
Is-chardjoui is defended by a population of twenty thousand souls.
Protected by its mountains, and isolated by its steppes,
the khanat of Bokhara is a most formidable state; and Russia
would need a large force to subdue it.

The fierce and ambitious Feofar now governed this corner
of Tartary. Relying on the other khans--principally those of Khokhand
and Koondooz, cruel and rapacious warriors, all ready to join
an enterprise so dear to Tartar instincts--aided by the chiefs
who ruled all the hordes of Central Asia, he had placed himself at
the head of the rebellion of which Ivan Ogareff was the instigator.
This traitor, impelled by insane ambition as much as by hate,
had ordered the movement so as to attack Siberia. Mad indeed
he was, if he hoped to rupture the Muscovite Empire. Acting under
his suggestion, the Emir--which is the title taken by the khans
of Bokhara--had poured his hordes over the Russian frontier.
He invaded the government of Semipolatinsk, and the Cossacks,
who were only in small force there, had been obliged to retire
before him. He had advanced farther than Lake Balkhash,
gaining over the Kirghiz population on his way. Pillaging, ravaging,
enrolling those who submitted, taking prisoners those who resisted,
he marched from one town to another, followed by those impedimenta
of Oriental sovereignty which may be called his household,
his wives and his slaves--all with the cool audacity of a modern
Ghengis-Khan. It was impossible to ascertain where he now was;