Page:A History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 2.djvu/578

562 SARACENIC ARCHITECTURE. Part IIL when properly investigated they will serve to explain much that is now obscure in the history of the art in that countrv. The buildings of these Northern capitals will proV)ably also prove interesting as historical indications in another direction, as they retain traces of a modern style of architecture which, notwithstanding the distance in time, seems to be traceable back to the palaces of Nineveh and Persepolis. Verestchagin's paintings gave several illustrations of this style, which in a modified form is found in the oldest cave temples in India. Its most marked peculiarity is the elongated bulbous form of the shaft, rising from a broad shoe-like base, and sup- porting a small bracket capital. The sketch on the previous page of a pavilion at Khiva explains its general features, but its merits as an architectural form arise from the beauty of the carved details with which it is ornamented, which cannot be expressed in so small a scale. We probably know enough now of Northern Asia to render it probable that we can hardly expect to find there any buildings of great antiquity, or any of greater magnificence than those of Samar- cand ; but it seems equally, or more clear that, when properly investi- gated, these buildings will supply many missing links in our history,, and exjilain. a great deal that now seems mysterious.