THE

MEMOIRS OF BABER.

In the month of Ramzân,' in the year eight hundred and ninety-nine, and in the Account of twelfth year of my age, I became King of Ferghâna.

Ferghana.

The country of Ferghâna is situated in the fifth climate, on the extreme boundary of Boundaries. the habitable world. On the east, it has Kâshgar; on the west, Samarkand; on the south, the hill-country on the confines of Badakhshân; on the north, although in former times there were cities such as Almâligh,2 Almâtu, and Yângi, which is known in books of history by the name of Otrâr; yet, at the present date, in consequence of the incursions of the Uzbeks, they are desolate, and no population remains.

Ferghâna is a country of small extent, but abounding in grain and fruits; and it is surrounded with hills on all sides except on the west, towards Samarkand and Khojend, where there are none; and on that side alone can it be entered by foreign enemies. The river Seihun, which is generally known by the name of the river of Khojend, comes from the north-east, and after passing through this country, flows towards the west. It then runs on the north of Khojend and south of Finâkat,3 which is now better known as Shahrokhîa; and thence, inclining to the north, flows down towards Tûrkestân; and meeting with no other river in its course, is wholly swallowed up in the sandy desert considerably below Tûrkestân, and disappears.

In this country there are seven districts, five on the south of the Seihun, and two on the north.

Of the districts on the south of the river, one is Andejân, which has a central posi- Divisions. tion and is the capital of Ferghâna. It abounds in grain and fruits, its grapes and me

1 The month of Ramzân, A. H. 899, begins on the 6th June, A. D. 1494. This was the year of Charles VIII.'s expedition to Naples.

* Almâligh or Almâlig, in Tûrki, signifies "a grove of apple trees." Almâtu, in the same language, signifies "abounding in apples." Almâligh is a city which lies north-east from Kâsân, on the other side of the Alâ-tagh mountains. Otrâr lies between Tâshkend and the sea of Arâl; and in the days of Taimur was a place of great note. He died there while preparing for his expedition against China.

3 Finâkat is also called Benâkat and Fiâkat. It is situated on the Seihun or Sirr, between Tâshkend and Khojend.

1. Andeján.

2. Ush.

lons are excellent and plentiful. In the melon season it is not customary to sell them at the beds. There are no better Nâshpâtis2 produced than those of Andejân. In Mâweralnaher, after the fortresses of Samarkand and Kêsh, none is equal in size to Andejân. It has three gates. The citadel is situated on the south of the city. The water-courses of the mills by which the water enters the city, are nine;3 and it is remarkable that of all the water that enters the city, none flows out of it. Around the fortress, on the edge of the stone-faced moat, is a broad highway covered with pebbles. All round the fort are the suburbs, which are only separated from the moat by this highway that runs along its banks.

4

The district abounds in birds and beasts of game. Its pheasants are so fat, that the report goes that four persons may dine on the broth5 of one of them, and not be able to finish it. The inhabitants of the country are all Tûrks, and there is none in town or market who does not understand the Tûrki tongue. The common speech of the people of this country is the same as the correct language of composition, so that the works of Mîr Ali Shîr, sirnamed Nawâi, though he was bred and flourished at Heri, are written in this dialect. The inhabitants are remarkable for their beauty. Khwâjeh Yûsef, so famous for his science in music, was a native of Andejân. The air is unwholesome, and in the autumn agues are prevalent.

Another district is Ush, which is situated to the south-east of Andejân, but more to the east, and distant from Andejân four farsangs by the road. The air of Ush is excellent. It is abundantly supplied with running water, and is extremely pleasant in spring. The exellencies of Ush are celebrated even in the sacred traditions. 10 On the south-east of the fort is a mountain of a beautiful figure, named Bara-koh, on the top of which Sultan Mahmûd Khan built a small summer-house, beneath which, on the shoulder of the hill, in the year 902,11 I built a larger palace and colonnade. Although the former is in the more elevated situation, yet that built by me is the more pleasant of the two; the whole town and suburbs are seen stretched out below. The river of Andejân, after passing through the suburbs of Ush, flows on towards Ande

1i. e. Passengers eat them gratuitously.-Leyden.

2 The Nashâpti is a species of melon.

3 The Persian translations here differ-My copy reads, "Nine streams of water enter the fort, and it is singular that they do not all come from the same place."-Mr Metcalfe's copy reads, "And it is singular that they all issue from the same place."-A leaf of the Tûrki original is here unfortunately torn out, so that the text cannot be corrected from it. The original may perhaps be, " a stream of water large enough to turn nine mills," that being a Persian mode of describing the size of a stream; though the reading of Mr Metcalfe's copy is admissible.

4 Kirghâwel.

5 The broth here mentioned is called Ishkaneh, and is a sort of stew, or rather jelly broth.

6 The ancient name of Herât, whence probably the Aria of antiquity.

7 The Persian here differs, "The air is, however, corrupt, so that inflammations and swellings of the eyes are common; such as by physicians are called qerb." The chasm in Mr Elphinstone's Tûrki copy still continues.

$ Tirmâh.

The farsang may in general be taken at four English miles. It is the ancient parasanga.

10 The Hadîs.

11 About A.D. 1496-7.

jân. On both of its banks there are gardens, all of which overlook the river. Its violets are particularly elegant. It abounds in streams of running water. In the spring its tulips and roses blow in great profusion. On the skirt of this same hill of Barakoh, between the hill and the town, there is a mosque, called the Mosque of Jouza; and from the hill there comes a great and wide stream of water. Beneath the outer court of the mosque, there is a meadow3 of clover, sheltered and pleasant, where every traveller and passenger loves to rest. It is a standing joke among the common people at Ush to carry across the three streams all such as fall asleep there. On this hill, about the latter end of the reign of Omer-Sheikh Mirza, there was discovered a species of stone finely waved red and white, of which they make the handles of knives, the clasps of belts, and other things of that sort, and it is a very beautiful stone. In all Ferghâna for healthiness and beauty of situation, there is no place that equals Ush. Another is Marghinân, which lies on the west of Andejân, at the distance of seven 3.Marghifarsangs, and is a fine district. It is noted for its pomegranates and apricots. There is one species of pomegranate named dâna-kilán (or great seed), which, in its flavour, unites the sweet with a sweet acid, and may even be deemed to excel the pomegranate of Semnân. They have a way of taking out the stones of the zerd-âlu (or apricot), and of putting in almonds in their place, after which the fruit is dried. When so prepared, it is termed Seikkhâni, and is very pleasant. The game and venison are here also excellent. The white deer is found in its vicinity. All the inhabitants are Sarts; the race are great boxers, noisy and turbulent, so that they are famous all over Mâweralnaher for their blustering and fondness for boxing, and most of the celebrated bullies of Samarkand and Bokhâra are from Marghinân. The author of the Hedâya was from a village named Rashdân, a dependency of Marghinân.

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nân.

Asfera is another district. It is situated at the foot of the mountains, and possesses 4. Asfera. numerous streams and beautiful gardens. It lies south-west of Marghinân, at the distance of nine farsangs. 10 Many species of fruit-trees abound there; but, in the gar

1 The river of Andejân is one of those that form the great river Sirr.

2 The Persian has "between the garden (palace) and the town."

3 The Persian reads "a meadow (or plain) of extraordinary beauty, having three fountains of water." The meaning of this passage is obscure.

5 Mr Metcalfe's MS. has Marghilân, which is its present name. It is a considerable town, and the capital of Ferghâna-proper. Its trade consists chiefly in silk and shawl-wool.

6 Semnân, a town between Khorasân and Irâk, near Damghân.

7 The âhue werâk is said to be the arkâli, described in many books of natural history. See Voy de Pallas, vol. IV. p. 325.

s The Sârts or Tajîks of these countries are the inhabitants of the towns and villages, and the cultivators of the ground, who speak the Persian tongue; as opposed to the Turks. They appear to be the remains of the more ancient population, and probably received the name of Tâjîk from the Tûrks as being subjects of the Arab or Tâzi government; the Persians and Tûrks having first known the Arabs by the name of Tâzi or Tâji.

10 About 36 miles. It is not easy to convert the Tartar and Indian measures used by Baber into English ones, with any degree of certainty; but a few observations are required to account for the mode of reduction adopted in the notes:

The smaller measure most commonly used is the Gez. Abul-fazl (Ayeen Akberi, vol. I. p. 281) specifies three kinds of it, each consisting of twenty-four tesuj (fingers or inches), but the inch of the

A

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,1 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.

2

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

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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 10 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.

These were two men eminent for their sanctity.

5 Gawazen.

6 Mûrgh-deshti.