5. Khojend.

dens, the almond trees are most numerous. The inhabitants are all mountaineers and Sarts. Among the small hills to the south-east of Asfera,' is a slab of stone called sang aineh (the stone-mirror), its length is about ten gez. It is in some places as high as a man, in others not higher than his middle; everything is seen in it as in a glass. The district of Asfera is separated into four divisions, all situated at the foot of the hills; one of them is Asfera, another Warûkh, another Sukh, and the fourth Hûshiâr. When Muhammed Shiebâni Khan defeated Sultan Mahmûd Khan and Ulchi Khan, and took Tâshkend and Shahrokhîa, I spent nearly a year in Sûkh and Hûshiâr among the hills, in great distress; and it was from thence that I set out on my expedition to Kâbul.

Khojend, another of the districts, is situated on the West of Andejân, at the distance of twenty-five farsangs, and it is also at the same distance from Samarkand.3 This is a very ancient city. Sheikh Maslehet and Khwâjeh Kemâl1 were of Khojend. Its fruits are very good, particularly its pomegranates, which are so celebrated, that the apples of Samarkand and the pomegranates of Khojend have passed into a proverb; but excellent as the latter are, they are greatly excelled at present by the pomegranates of Marghinân. The fortress of Khojend is situated on an eminence, having on the north the river Seihun, which flows past at the distance of about a bowshot. On the north of the fort and of the river Seihun, there is a hill, which is named Myoghil, where they say that there are turquoise and other mines. In this hill there are many serpents. Khojend is a good sporting country; the white deer, the mountain goat, the stag," the fowl of the desert, and the hare, are found in great

6

largest equal to the breadth of eight barley-corns, that of the smallest equal to that of only six, according to some, each equal to six hairs from the tail of a yabu horse. A fourth is mentioned as used in ancient books, and containing two spans and two inches. Hanway mentions three species of Gez; one of thirtytwo fingers; the Ilahi gez of forty-one fingers, and that of Bokhara of thirty-one inches English. In India the small gez is a cubit, or eighteen inches; the larger a half more, or twenty-seven inches, being three quarters of a yard. There is, however, one in common use of twenty inches; that used at Bombay is twenty-four inches; the Surat gez is twenty-three and a half. Baber himself makes the cubit six hand-breadths, and the gez or pace a cubit and a half, or nine hand-breadths. A fair allowance for the pace or gez of Baber would thus be thirty inches, which applies to his regular tenab or surveying cord. But as the regulated measures were larger than the ordinary one, we may perhaps assume two feet or a little more as an average popular gez. A great variety of other gez are to be found.

The farsang, the ancient parasanga, may be safely taken at about four English miles.

The varieties of the kos are numerous, as will be seen in Rennell's Memoir of a Map of Hindostan. Baber's measured kos at 4000 paces of thirty inches each, would be one English mile, seven furlongs, and thirty-three yards. But if the ordinary gez of twenty-four inches be taken, the kos will be one mile, four furlongs, and twenty-seven yards. The usual kos is perhaps nearly an English mile'and a half. The Turki Yeghaj is properly the farsang, but is frequently translated in the Persian by Shiraa, which, I fancy, is the long kos.

In general I have, in a rough way, considered the gez as equal to two English feet, the kos as equal to an English mile and a half.

1 The Persian has "on the south one Shiraa cos from Asfera, among rising grounds," &c.

2 About 100 miles.

3 The words," and it is also at the same distance from Samarkand," are not in the Persian translations. The chasm still continues in the Tûrki copy.

4

These were two men eminent for their sanctity.

5 Gawazen.

6

Mûrgh-deshti.

dâm.

plenty; but the air is extremely noisome, and inflammations of the eyes are common ; insomuch, that they say that even the very sparrows have inflammations in the eyes. This badness of the air they ascribe to the hill on the north. Kandbâdâm is one of Kandbathe districts belonging to Khojend. Though of no great extent, yet it is rather a fine little district, and its almonds, from which it derives its name,1 are of excellent quality, and are exported to Hindustân, Hormuz, and other quarters. It is distant from Khojend five or six farsangs to the east. Between Kandbâdâm and Khojend, there is a desert, named Ha-dervîsh, where a sharp wind prevails, and constantly blows from the desert in the direction of Marghinân, which lies to the east of the desert, or in the direction of Khojend, which lies to the west, and this wind is excessively keen. It is said that certain Dervishes having encountered the wind in this desert, and being separated, were unable to find each other again, and perished, calling out," Ha, Dervîsh! Ha, Dervish!" and that hence the desert is denominated Ha-dervîsh unto this day.

Of the districts to the north of Seihun, one is Akhsi, which in histories is called 6. Akhsi. Akhsîkat. Hence Asîr-ed-din, the poet, is termed Asîr-ed-din Akhsîkati. There is no town in Ferghâna after Andejân, which is more considerable than this. It lies to the west of Andejân, at the distance of nine farsangs. Omer-Sheikh Mirza made it his capital. The river Seihun flows under the walls of its castle. The castle is situated on a high precipice, and the steep ravines around serve instead of a moat. When Omer-Sheikh Mirza made it his capital, he, in one or two instances, scarped the ravines outside of the fort. In all Ferghâna there is no fortified town so strong as this. The suburbs are rather more than a shiraa kos from the fort. The proverb, "Where is the town, and where are the trees ?" applies in a particular manner to Akhsi. The melons here are excellent; there is one species which is termed Mîr Taimûri, no such melons are known to exist in the world. The melons of Bokhâra are also celebrated; but, at the time when I took Samarkand, I had melons brought from Akhsi and Bokhâra, and cut open at an entertainment, when those of Akhsi were judged beyond comparison the best. There is good hunting and hawking. From the river of Akhsi to the town there is a desert, in which the white deer are very numerous. Towards Andejân is a waste, abounding with the stag, the fowl of the desert, and the hare, all of which are extremely fat.

Another district is Kâsân, which lies to the north of Akhsi, and is of small extent. 7. Kâsân. As the river of Andejân comes from Ush, so the river of Akhsi comes from Kâsân. The air of Kâsân is extremely good, and its gardens are beautiful. In consequence of its gardens being all sheltered along the banks of the stream, they call it the mantle

1 Kand or kend signifies a town in Tûrki, and bâdâm an almond.

? Our Isle of Ormus, in the mouth of the Persian Gulph.

3 Help, Dervish! help, Dervîsh!

It is singular that D'Herbelot expresses doubts whether Tâshkend, Khojend, and Akhsîkat, are not all the same place. See these articles in the Bibliotheque Orientale; a very strong proof of the imperfection of the geography of these quarters down to his time.

5 About 36 miles. 6 i. e. Where are your houses and gardens ?-Leyden.

7

Gawazen.

Reign of
Omer-
Sheikh
Mirza.

1

of five lambskins. There is a standing quarrel between the inhabitants of Kâsân and those of Ush concerning the beauty and climate of their respective districts.

All around the country of Ferghâna, among the mountains, there are excellent Yailâks2 (or summer stations). The tabûlghû wood is found here among the mountains, and in no other country. The tabûlghû, which has a red bark, is a wood of which they make walking-staves, whip-handles, and bird-cages. They also cut it into the forked tops of arrows. It is an excellent wood, and is carried to a great distance, as a rarity in much request. In many books it is related, that the Yabruj-us-sannam* grows on these hills; but now it is quite unknown. There is, however, a species of grass which is produced on the mountains of Bete-kend, and which the people of the country term aikoti, that is said to have the virtue of the mehergîah, and is what passes under the name of mehergîah. In these hills, also, there are mines of turquoise and of iron.

The revenues of Ferghâna may suffice, without oppressing the country, to maintain three or four thousand troops.

As Omer-Sheikh Mirza was a prince of high ambition and magnificent pretensions, he was always bent on some scheme of conquest. He several times led an army against Samarkand, was repeatedly defeated, and as often returned back disappointed and desponding. He oftener than once called in to his assistance his father-in-law, Yunis Khan, who was descended of Chaghatâi Khan, the second son of Chengîs Khan, and who was at that time the Khan of the tribe of Moghuls in the dominions of Chaghatâi Khan. He was also my maternal grandfather. Every time that he was called in, Omer-Sheikh gave him some province; but as things did not succeed to the Mirza's

6

1 Postîn-pish-burra. The Persian has postîn e mish burra, or lambskin mantle.

2 The wandering tribes all over Persia and Turkestân are accustomed to shift their ground according to the season. In summer, they move northward, or ascend the hills and higher grounds. The Persian Court is often transferred to these summer quarters, for the purpose of shunning the excessive heats. They are called Yailâks, from the Tûrki word Yai, summer. In winter, they move southward, or descend to warm and sheltered valleys, to their winter stations, which are called Kishlûks, a word derived from Kish, which in the Tûrki signifies winter. The custom is as old as the age of Cyrus.-See Xenoph. Inst. Cyr. Lib. viii, p. 222. 3 Giz.

i. e. The mallow consecrated to idols.-Leyden. The Yabruj-us-sannam is the plant called the mandragora or mandrake.-See the Ulfaz Udwiyeh, or Materia Medica of Noureddeen Mohamed Abdalla Shirazy, published with a translation, by Gladwin, Calcutta, 1793. The name aikoti is derived from the Tûrki word ayek, vivacity, and oti, grass. Mehergiah seems to be merely a Persian translation of the name, from meher, affection, and giah, grass. It is, however, called atikoti, or dog-grass, a name which comes from the way in which it is said to be gathered. They have a fancy that any person who plucks up this grass dies; on which account they are said to dig round its roots, and when these are sufficiently loosened, tie it to the neck of a dog, who, by his endeavours to get away, pulls it out of the earth.-See D'Herbelot, Art. Abrousanam. The same story is still told.

5 Bete-kend.—Mr Elphinstone's Tûrki copy has Yetikent; Mr Metcalfe's Persian MS. Bikesht; my Persian MS. Neikenet. 6 Ulûs.

7 It would seem, that when Jaghatâi or Chaghatâi Khan received possession of his share of the empire of Chengîs Khan, he also got a tribe of Moghuls to attend him, and to confirm his authority over the Turki population. The same appears to have been the case in Kipchak, which was given to another brother; and also in the formation of the kingdom of Tûra, under Sheibani.

1502-3.

wish, Yunis Khan was unable to keep his footing in the country, and was therefore repeatedly compelled, sometimes from the misconduct of Omer-Sheikh Mirza, sometimes from the hostility of other Moghul tribes, to return back to Moghulistân. The last time, however, that he brought his force, Omer-Sheikh Mirza1 gave Yunis Khan the country of Tâshkend, which was then in the possession of the Mirza. Tashkend is sometimes denominated Shâsh, and sometimes Châch, from whence comes the phrase, a bow of Chách. From that time to the year 908, the countries of Tashkend and Shah-A. D. rokhîa remained subject to the Chaghatâi Khans. At this time, the Khanship of the (Ulûs or) tribe of Moghuls was held by my maternal uncle, Sultan Mahmûd Khan, the eldest son of Yunis Khan. He and Sultan Ahmed Mirza, the King of Samarkand, who was my father Omer-Sheikh Mirza's elder brother, having taken offence at Omer-Sheikh Mirza's conduct, entered into a negotiation, the result of which was, that Sultan Ahmed Mirza having given Sultan Mahmûd Khan one of his daughters in marriage, they this year concluded an alliance, when the latter marched an army A. D. 899. from the north of the river of Khojend, and the former another from the south of it, against against that prince's dominions.

2

Alliance

him.

life.

At this very crisis a singular incident occurred. It has already been mentioned that the fort of Akhsi is situated on a steep precipice, on the very edge of which some of its buildings are raised. On Monday, the 4th of the month of Ramzân, of the 9th June, year 1494. that has been mentioned, Omer-Sheikh Mirza was precipitated from the top of the His death. steep, with his pigeons, and pigeon-house, and took his flight to the other world. He was then in the thirty-ninth year of his age. He was born at Samarkand in the His early He was the fourth son of Sultan Abusaîd Mirza, being younger than A. D. 1456. Sultan Ahmed Mirza, Sultan Muhammed Mirza, and Sultan Mahmûd Mirza. Sultan Abusaîd Mirza was the son of Sultan Muhammed Mirza, the son of Mirza Mirânshah, who was the third son of Taimur Beg, being younger than Omer-Sheikh Mirza and Jehangîr Mirza, and elder than Shahrokh Mirza. Sultan Abusaîd Mirza had at first given Kâbul to the Mirza, and sent him off for that country, attended by Baba Kâbuli as his Beg-atkah, (or Protector and Regent.) He, however, recalled him to Samarkand, when he had reached the Dera-Gez,3 in order that he might be present at the festival of the circumcision of the Mirzas. After the festival, as Taimur Beg had given Omer-Sheikh Mirza the elder, the country of Ferghâna, Abusaîd was induced, by the coincidence of names, to bestow on his son Omer-Sheikh the country

1 The character of the restlèss Omer-Sheikh, as given by Catrou, may serve to show how history is sometimes written :-" Jamais Prince Tartare ne parût d'ûn naturel plus paisible que Sec Omor. Content du royaume que la Providence lui avoit assigné, il ne troubla point ses voisins par son ambition, et n'accabla point ses sujets de tributs et de fatigues."-Hist. Generale du Mogol, p. 47.

2 The Musulman princes of Asia are often ridiculously fond of training tame pigeons. These are taught to take circular flights, to tumble in the air, to attack each other when on the wing, and to stand on the defensive. Abul-fazl tells us (Ayeen Akbery, vol. I. p. 251,) that in Akber's pigeon-houses each pigeon, before he received his allowance of grain, performed fifteen circular flights and seventy tumbles. In the same place may be found a curious account of the mode of training them.

3 The valley of Gez or Manna, which lies on the Dehâs or Balkhâb south of Balkh.

4 The festival given by Abusaîd Mirza at Mour or Merv, A. D. 1465, to celebrate the circumcision of his sons, lasted five months, and was famous for its uncommon splendour.

His person.

His opinions and habits.

of Andejân,' appointed Khoda-berdi Taimur-Tâsh his guardian and regent, and sent him off to his government.

Omer-Sheikh Mirza was of low stature, had a short bushy beard, brownish hair, and was very corpulent. He used to wear his tunic extremely tight; insomuch, that as he was wont to contract his belly while he tied the strings, when he let himself out again the strings often burst. He was not curious in either his food or dress. He tied his turban in the fashion called Destâr-pêch (or plaited turban). At that time all turbans were worn in the char-pêch (or four-plait) style. He wore his without folds, and allowed the end to hang down, During the heats, when out of the Divân, he generally wore the Moghul cap.

5

2

As for his opinions and habits, he was of the sect of Hanifah, and strict in his belief. He never neglected the five regular and stated prayers, and during his whole life he rigidly performed the Kaza,3 (or retributory prayers and fasts.) He devoted much of his time to reading the Koran. He was extremely attached to Khwâjeh Obeidullâh, whose disciple he was, and whose society he greatly affected. The reverend Khwâjeh, on his part, used to call him his son. He read elegantly: his general reading was the Khamsahs, the Mesnevis, and books of history, and he was in particular fond of reading the Shahnâmeh. Though he had a turn for poetry, he did not cultivate it. He was so strictly just, that when the caravan from Khita? had once reached the hill-country to the east of Andejân, and the snow fell so deep as to bury it, so that of the whole only two persons escaped; he no sooner received information of the occurrence, than he dispatched overseers to collect and take charge of all the property and effects of the people of the caravan; and, wherever the heirs were not at hand, though himself in great want, his resources being exhausted, he placed the property under sequestration, and preserved it untouched; till, in the course of one or two years, the heirs, coming from Khorasân and Samarkand, in consequence of the intimation which they received, he delivered back the goods safe and uninjured into their hands. His generosity was large, and so was his whole soul; he was of an excellent temper, affable, eloquent and sweet in his conversation, yet brave withal, and manly. On two

1 Andejân, it will be recollected, was the capital of Ferghâna, and the name is often given to all that country.

2 It is very well known that the Musulmans must, by their law, pray five times a-day regularly; at dawn, at noon, between noon and sunset, at sunset, and about an hour and a half after sunset.

3 These are prayers and fasts performed, if the expression may be allowed, by pious Musulmans, to make up for any omissions at the stated times. If sick, if on a journey, or in war, they are not bound to fast at the time, but should do so afterwards.

* Several Persian poets wrote Khamsahs, or poems, on five different given subjects. The most celebrated is Nezâmi.

The most celebrated of these Mesnevis is the mystical poem of Moulavi Jilâleddin Muhammed. The Sufis consider it as equal to the Koran.

6 The Shahnameh, or Book of Kings, is the famous poem of the great Persian poet Ferdausi, and contains the romantic history of ancient Persia.

7 North China, but often applied to the whole country from China to Terfân, and now even west to the Ala-tagh Mountains.

s This anecdote is erroneously related of Baber himself by Ferishta and others.-See Dow's Hist. of Hindostan, vol. II. p. 218.