quest; and Abulfeda* mentions the magnificent palaces of its kings. In Baber's time it was generally subject to Hissâr.

2. KARATIGIN.

This country, which is seldom mentioned in history,+ lies along the southern range of the Asfera mountains, and appears to extend, on the east, as far as those of Belûttagh; on the south, it has part of Khutlân and Wakhîka, and the country of Hissâr; on the west, it extends to the hill-districts of Uratippa and Yar-Ailak. It is altogether mountainous. The height of the Asfera and Belût-tagh mountains, the former covered with perpetual snow, prevents it from having much communication with the countries to the north and east.

3. HISSAR.

Before proceeding to make any remarks on this district, it is necessary to point out, in a few words, the course taken by the branches of the Asfera mountains, when they diverge, somewhat to the east of the longitude of Khojend, as has been already mentioned. All along the south of Ferghâna, their summits are everywhere covered with perpetual snow. As they approach Uratippa, they appear suddenly to lose their height, and to divide into three or perhaps four branches. One of these, running south by Derbend or Kohlûgha (the Iron Gate), under the name of Kara-tagh, or the Black mountains, divides the country of Hissâr from that of Késh. The northern part of this range, as described by Baber, is lofty and precipitous in the extreme; but it evidently declines in height as it approaches the desert along the Amu, where it probably altogether disappears. The second branch, running south-west from Karatigîn, extends to the south of Samarkand and Bokhâra, though much inferior in height to the former, and seems, like it, to die away in the desert towards the Amu. This may be called the Késh branch, and the country between it and the Kara-tagh, forms the territories of Késh and Kârshi. The hill between Samarkand and Késh is, by Sherifeddîn, called the hill of Késh. Ebn Haukal tells us, that the mountain of Zârkah, as he calls the same range, runs from Bokhâra, between Samarkand and Késh, joins the border of Ferghâna, and goes on toward the border of Chîn. The Arabian geographer, therefore, evidently considered the range south of Samarkand, as connected with the Asfera, and probably with the Muz-tagh ranges. The third range, called the Ak-tagh, or Ak-kâya, the white mountains, and by the Arabian geographers,§ Botom, or Al-Botom, extending to the westward, runs to the north of Samarkand and Bokhâra, and declines down to the desert. Where it leaves the Asfera mountains, it forms with the Kara-tagh and Kesh hills, the country of Yar-ailâk, and, lower down, one boundary of the celebrated valley of Soghd. This branch is lofty, and bears snow in its hollows all the year. The

* Geog. p. 77.-Ebn Haukal, p. 239.

+ It is called Cair Tekin in Petis de la Croix's Hist. de Timur Bec, vol. I. pp. 174 and 184. Ouseley's Ebn Haukal, p. 250. § Abulfeda, p. 33, and Ebn Haukal.

fourth branch is that which appears to run, but very ruggedly and uncertainly, to the north-west, through the country of Uratippa. It slopes down towards the sea of Arâl, and a portion either of this, or of the last branch, crosses the Amu below the cultivated country of Khwârizm, before that river works its way into the sea of Arâl. This may be called the Uratippa branch, as that country lies chiefly among its offsets, and towards the Ak-tagh hills. The Uratippa hills approach very closely to the Sirr, or

Jaxartes.

The country of Hissar, which was often traversed by Baber, and which, for some years in the middle period of his life, formed his head-quarters, is by the Arabian geographers denominated Saghâniân, while the Persians called it Cheghâniân and Jeghâniân, from the city of that name which lies on the Cheghan-rûd, more frequently, however, called the river of Cheghâniân. This country received, in later times, the name of Hissâr (or the Castle), from the fort of Hissâr-Shâdmân, which was long the seat of government of all the neighbouring regions. At the present day, this country is known by the name of Deh-nou (or New-Town), from a town of that name, where the Chief resides; and in general, it may be remarked, that all over the East, where the governments are fluctuating, there is a disposition to designate the government rather by the name of the city where the King or Governor resides, than by a general name taken from the whole country which he governs. And, in like manner, as to rivers, and ranges of mountains, it is seldom, except in books, that they have any general name; the former are usually described by the name of the nearest large town, the latter by that of some remarkable summit, and consequently change their denomination many times in their course. Frequent instances of this kind will be found in the Memoirs of Baber.

Hissâr, on the south, was bounded by the river Amu or Oxus, on the east by the hill country of Wakhsh and Khutlân, from which it was divided by the Sûrkhrûd or Karatigîn river, formerly called the Wakhshâb; on the north by Karatigîn, and on the west by the Kara-tâgh mountains. It is hilly, but not mountainous, in its chief extent. The soil is in general sandy, and inclining to degenerate into desert; but, being on the whole well watered, is capable of high cultivation. The river Weish or Wakhshâb, which proceeds from the north-west, joins the Oxus considerably to the east of Kobâdiân. The river of Cheghâniân, and that of Hissâr or Kafernihân, are the other streams of chief note in this district. In the days of Baber, the most important places in this division were Hissâr, Cheghâniân, Kobâdiân and Termiz.. The city of Termiz or Termed has always been famous as covering the best passage over the Amu; but somewhat higher up is the passage of Ubâj, lying between Cheghâniân and Khûlm, which • is several times mentioned, both in Baber's Memoirs and in the History of Taimur. The country towards Weishgird, where the natives were protected by the sudden rise of the hills, was the scene of many bloody battles between the ancient inhabitants and the Arabs, during their conquest of Mâweralnaher. The inhabitants of the hill countries were never fully subdued. Baber gives a very particular account of his passage up one of the long valleys of this country, called the valley of Kamrûd, which he

ascended in his flight from Hissâr to Yar-ailâk, after his defeat near Samarkand. The valley of Kamrûd leads up to the summit of the Kara-tagh range.

4. KESH.

This division has already been described as bounded on the east by the Kara-tagh mountains dividing it from Hissâr; on the south by the Amu or Oxus; and on the north and west by the Késh hills, which divide it from Yar-ailâk and the valley of Soghd.

The chief cities now, and they are the same that existed in the time of Baber, are Késh, also called Sheher-Sebz (or the Green City), and to the south Kârshi, also called Nakhsheb, and by the Arabs Nesef. Khozâr also has always been a place of consequence, and lies south-east of Kârshi, in a desert tract. The country round Késh is uncommonly fertile, full of streams, and rather marshy, but degenerates as it approaches the Amu, and becomes a perfect desert, insomuch that the rivers of this district disappear before reaching that great river. The famous Pass of Kohlûgha (the Iron Gate), or Derbend, lies in the hills between Késh and Hissâr. Fadlallah* pretends that it was cut in the rock, which only proves that it was narrow and difficult, and perhaps improved by art. Near Késh, the native town of the great Taimur, is the plain of Akiâr, where, close by the river Koshka, were held the Kurultais or annual reviews of his armies, andwhat have been called the diets of his states. brated for its beautiful verdure, and the rich profusion of its flowers.

5. SAMARKAND AND BOKHARA.

It was cele

The country which composes the territory of these famous cities, has always been deemed one of the most fertile and beautiful in the world. It lies between the Késh hills on the south, the Desert of Khwârizm on the west, and the Uratippa, and Ak-tagh mountains dividing it from Uratippa, on the north. On the east, it has the hill country of Karatigîn and the Kara-tagh mountains. It is traversed, in nearly its whole extent, by the Kohik or Zirefshânt river, which, coming from the north-east angle of the hills that rise out of Karatigîn, flows down by Yar-ailâk to Samarkand and the vale of Soghd, passing to the north and west of Bokhâra, considerably below which the small part of it that is not swallowed up in the sand, runs into the Amu. The country near the sources of the Kohik is hilly and barren, and in the time of Baber was full of petty forts, especially along the skirts of the hills. under the name of Yar-ailâk or Bar-ailâk. present day called Karatippa and Urgûl. the hills, to the north-west, except only the is higher up on the same side of the hills, and not far distant from Yar-ailâk. The

This is the district so often mentioned It seems to comprise the countries at the Uratippa extends over the opposite side of district called the Ailâks of Uratippa, which

* Hist. of Ghenigiscan, p. 257; and Hist. de Timur Bec, vol. I. p. 33, 62, &c.
ti. e. Gold-shedding.

vale of Soghd, which commences lower down* than the Ailâks, is an extensive plain, a great part of which is admirably watered and cultivated, by means of cuts from the river. Baber has given so correct and detailed an account of this whole country in his Memoirs, that little need be added regarding it. This tract of plain is the Sogdiana of the ancients, so called from the river Soghd, the ancient name of the Kohik. Samarkand was a city of note, at least as far back as the time of Alexander the Great, when it was known under the name of Marakanda, a name which may lead us to suspect that even then the country had been overrun by Tûrkit tribes. The country beyond the Amu, called by the Arabs Mâweralnaher, (i. e. beyond the river,) was conquered by them as early as the years 87, 88, and 89 of the Hejira; and their geographers present us with the most dazzling picture of its prosperity at an early period. Ebn Haukal, who is supposed to have lived in the tenth century, speaks of the province as one of the most flourishing and productive in the world. The hospitality of the inhabitants he describes, from his personal observation, as corresponding to the abundance that prevailed. The fortunate situation of the country, and the protection which it enjoyed under the Arabian Khalifs, produced their ordinary effects, and the arts of civilization, the civilities of social life, and the study of literature, all made a distinguished progress. We are told that the inhabitants were fond of applying their wealth to the erection of caravanseras or inns, to the building of bridges and similar works, and that there was no town or stage in Mâweralnaher without a convenient inn or stagehouse § for the purpose of accommodating travellers with every necessary. One of the Governors of Mâweralnaher, which included all the Arabian conquests north of the Amu, boasted, probably with considerable exaggeration, that he could send to war three hundred thousand horse, and the same number of foot, whose absence would not be felt in the country. The Vale of Soghd was reckoned one of the three paradises of the world, the Rûd-Abileh and the Ghuteh of Damascus || being the other two; over both of which, however, Ebn Haukal assigns it the decided preference, both as to beauty and salubrity. The glowing description which he gives of it in the tenth century is confirmed by Abulfeda in the beginning of the fourteenth; and early in the sixteenth, Baber informs us, that there was no more delightful country in the world. The beauty and wealth of these cities had rendered the names of Samarkand and Bokhâra proverbial among the poets of Persia. Several streams from the hills, on both sides, join the Kohik in its course. As you recede from the Soghd river or approach the Amu, the soil becomes sandy and desert.

The chief cities in the days of Baber, as at the present time, were Samarkand and Bokhâra. The former lies on the south of the Kohik on a rising ground, and has always been very extensive, the fortifications having varied, by different accounts, from eight to five miles in circumference;¶ but a great part of this space was occupied by

* Abulfeda tells us that it commences twenty farsangs (about eighty miles) higher up than Samarkand, p. 33. + Kend is the Tûrki for a town, as in Tashkend, Uzkend, &c. &c. Ibid. p. 235.

Geography of Ebn Haukal, p. 233. Abulfeda ap. Geog. Græc. Min. vol. III. p. 32, in Chorasmiæ Descript. adds the Shaab-Bhowan in Persia. The name of the second of these paradises is sometimes erroneously read Rûd Aileh.

Ebn Haukal, p. 253.

gardens. When D' Herbelot and Petis de la Croix* give the city a compass of twelve farsangs, or forty-eight miles, they have not observed that the whole garden-grounds around it must have been included in the range. A wall one hundred and twenty farsangs in length, said to have been built by Kishtasp, King of Persia, to check the incursions of the Tûrks, and to protect the province of Samarkand, is probably fabulous, no notice being taken of any remains of it in latter times. Yet a similar one certainly existed, lower down the river, for the defence of the highly-cultivated districts of Bokhâra.

A town of considerable note in the northern part of the country is Jizzikh or Jizik, better known in history by the name of Dizak. It lies towards the Ak-tagh mountains, on the road to the Pass of Ak-Kûtel. To the south of Jizzikh, on the road to Samarkand, is Shirâz, which has long been in ruins.

Down the river, below Samarkand, was the town of Sir-e-pul (or Bridgend), so frequently mentioned by Baber. It is probably the place noticed by Abulfeda+ under the name of Kashufaghn, and by the Arabs called Râs-al-kantara, a translation of its Persian name.

The town and castle of Dabûsi or Dabûsîa, often mentioned in the history of Bokhâra, lies between that city and Samarkand.

The city of Bokhâra, which is now the capital of the country, as it frequently was in former times, has given its name in Europe to the countries of Great and Little Bucharia. These names, however, are unknown in Asia, the name of Bokhâra being confined to the city of that name and the country subject to it. It lies far down in the Valley of Soghd, in the middle of a rich country intersected by numerous water-courses. It is said, at the present day, to contain a hundred thousand inhabitants, and it is, perhaps, the most eminent seat of Musulman learning now existing. Thompson, who visited it in 1740, gives an amusing account of the city and its trade. It was visited by Jenkinson in the reign of Queen Elizabeth,§ and in 1812 by Izzet Ulla, whose account of its present state is highly interesting.

The fort of Ghajhdewân, which lies north-west of Bokhâra close on the desert of Khwârizm, is remarkable for a great defeat sustained by Baber and his Persian auxiliaries, when he was compelled to raise the siege.

The hills of Nûrattâu lie ten miles north from Bokhâra, and run from east to west for about twenty-four miles. This is probably the Nûr of the Arabian geographers, with the addition of tau, a hill.

Miânkâl, which is several times mentioned by Baber, includes Katta-Korghân, YungKorghân, Penjshembeh, Khattichi, and some other places on both sides of the Kohik near Dabûsi.

But the minuteness of Baber's own description of the country, its rivers and mountains, precludes the necessity of any farther remarks.

* See Bibl. Orientale, Art. Samarkand; and Hist. de Ghengiz-can, p. 220.

+ P. 35.

Hanway's Travels, vol. I. p. 240.

§ Hakluyt's Voyages, vol. I.