a curved sword in the center and an image of a Tatar over the crest who is holding a red curved saber" (p. 245).

As a young student, in 1916, Baskakov met an old friend of his father's, Bessonov, a Russian dragoman or envoy to Jedda (then part of the Ottoman Empire). The Russian diplomat's stories about eastern countries affected young Baskakov's imagination. He took a great interest in the East, and Turkey in particular. He began