242     IN RUSSIAN TURKESTAN
he continued, "you will not think it nearly so high,
for there are two cupolas, one inside the other, and
the inner one is considerably lower than the other."
And such indeed was the case. Over the door of
the side entrance is written in white letters, again
on a blue background, an inscription which my
friend translated as  "Here is buried Timur
Kuragan."
The word Kuragan signifies that he was allied
by marriage to a royal princess. The floor of the
antechamber was covered with pieces of coarse
matting. When the Sarts who accompanied us
had taken off their shoes, we entered the chamber
beneath the cupola, in the centre of which, enclosed
by a beautifully sculptured marble railing about two
feet in height, lay the flat tombstones in honour of
Tamerlane, his confessor, and several members of
this family.  The actual graves are in a vault
below. We visited them afterwards, descending
a winding stair of seven stone steps, which was
illumined for our benefit by our Sart companions,
each of whom carried a piece of lighted candle.
There, in front of our eyes, lay the renowned block
of shining jasper, in two pieces. It was a very dark
green, almost black, in colour, and covered all over
with Arabic writing. There is a legend that it was
broken by some robbers when they tried to carry
it away.
"How many camels," said my friend as we looked