Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-08-01
AT GATE OF INDIA
Russia Threatens Possessions
and Trade of England.
IN A STRATEGIC POSITION
Has Gained Much Commerce That
Was Formerly British.
EXTENSION OF THE RAILWAYS
Scene of Famous Victories Of Tanner
lane and His Grandson-River
Stained With Blood of Victims.
EXTENSION OF THE RAILWAYS
By WILLIAM f.. CURTIS.

bI StRllS.
Special Correspondence of The Star and the
Chicago Record Herald
TASHKENT Turkestan, June 90 1910.
The gate of Tamerlane is a narrow
gorge between lofty jagged precipices
on both sides. which the river Jizak has
cut through the foothills. 1t is known on
the map as the pass of Jilanuti, and is
the only way across the range without a
detour of twenty-five or thirty miles in
one direction the other.
This rocky portal commands the ap-
proach to the city of Samarkand in one
direction and the city of Tashkent in the
other, and many a bloody conflict has
been fought during the centuries for it's
possession Some of the victors have
boastfully inscribed a record of their
triumphs upon the smooth faces of the
rock, as Trajan did above the iron gates
of the Danbue. The Oldest. carved in
Arabic announces that the great Tanner
lane (Timur) passed this gate in 1869
after five days of battle with his enemies
when the Jizak ran red with their blood
'Henceforth no human being can pass
without his permit
The next inscription announces a VIC
tory of the forces of Ulug Beg, a grand
of Abdullah, Khan of Bokhara, in 1911.
who boasts that he slew 100000 of his
enemies so that for month the water
was bloody in the river OF Jizak.
Under these imperishabie boasts of an
cient braggarts IS a small bronze taolet
bea ring IN relief the imperial eagle of
Russia and few words saying that
Alexander II, Car of all the Russia,
built a railway through this gate i'll
1882
Tbo oordnctor of o,,r train from, whom
sought information concerning the in
scriptlons. gave a slightly different YER
sion. Tamerlane, he said, wrote on the
rock that nobody, and especially Rus
slams, should pass that way without his
permission, and that they should not build
railway through the gorge under any
circumstances, but the railway was built
just the same. and the car now rules
in this country, and he threw up his
hands with an expression of defiance
against the rest of the world and its
armies.
Like the Gorge Of the Arkansas.
The gorge of Jilanuti is very much Ike
the Royal Gorge of the Arkansas in Colo
RADIO, although it Is little wider. The
walls rise a thousand feet more on
either side. The Jizak goes roaring
through in triumph on it's way to water
the GASES of Samarkand. and it does good
kork when it gets beyond the mountains.
On both sides of the pass for a distance
of 200 miles are ranges covered with cat
tie, goats, sheep, horses and camels 1t
takes some time to become accustomed
to black sheep. which, you know,
have disreputable associations, but out
here you nothing else, and, strange
to say, black lambs are more valuable
than white ones, and are even worth
more than sheep. because their skins,
hni
like polished ebony, are needed for mi
lady's wraps. The ranchmen are COM
PEELED to keep a certain number of lambs
every year, Of course. or their tlockS
would become eXterminated, but most of
the annual crop are sold Tor their skins
when they are only few months old
The meat is practically worthless.
The landscape reminds me of central
Wyoming There are long rows of snow
capped peaks always in sight and at this
time of year the slopes of the foothills
are green This might be called a semi
desert 1t is dry enough, to be sure, but
| there is a slight rainfall and this spring
and summer it has been much more
abundant than usual Inc grass is Sun
green and tender and more plentiful than
CUSTOMARY Last night we had a series of
heavy showers. but the weather prophets
declare that they are the last of the sea-
son and within three weeks, they predict,
the surface of this section of the earth
will be as dry as the bottom of a frying
pan. Then the shepherds will seek pas
lures irr the mountains where the herbag e
lasts the year around and every stream is
kept alive by the melting SHOWS.
The Trade in Lambskins.
From the lambs of these black sheep
and they seem to be millions in number
the people of the country receive their
largest revenue. Carloads CT skins are
chit nd fol
from samarkand Bokhara. Andijan' ko-
kand. Charjui and other stations, lie last
named place furnishing the a largest not mum nay
for stranss1r to buy the skins here. hoy,
DEALERS dssr espee tour1 to s eftaa there
an active demand for every skin they can n
secure they will charge IN 9uS MOSCOW as e or
London which are the largest I'll, mar .,senn
The Price depends" irieno sl sn,0 and his
the DEALERS estimate of the SIKH anu "s
estir. ,Ate of YOU p.-s,or
lamb skins and thew are valueless unless
they match. Sometimes they nave u 81