The first historical period, a knowledge of which is of consequence to the understanding of the following Memoirs, is that marked by the conquests of Chengîz Khan. In the earlier days of that Prince, the Kara Khitan was the most powerful Tartarian dynasty. Within the extensive range which their empire embraced, from the Chinese wall to the Ala Tagh Mountains, though the population was chiefly Tûrki, were included several tribes of different races, Tûrks, Oighurs, and Moghuls. Their power was broken in the year 1207 by the Naimans, another Tûrki race; and soon after, the Moghul tribes, impatient of a foreign yoke, rose under Chengîz Khan, shook off the authority of the Kara Khitans, and, under his conduct, rapidly subdued them in their turn. The name of Kara Khita indicates their connexion with Khita,* or Northern China, on which their chiefs acknowledged a dependence. It was, however, a dependence that originated in a previous conquest of that very country made by their predecessors the Khitans, or Leao, to whom the Chinese had paid tribute; and the dependence, in the first instance, was on the Emperor rather than the empire. The title of Ung-Khan given to the chief prince of the Kara Khitans, and assumed by him, shows that they were not ashamed of their dependence on China; the title Ung being one purely Chinese, and bestowed on Mandarins + of the highest class. The Tûrki t population at that time probably extended farther east than it does at the present day, and tradition informs us that the Kerghis and some other tribes, now far to the west, then occupied ground close to the Chinese wall. They migrated westward, flying from the vengeance of their enemies when the Moghuls proved victorious. On the other hand, we have heard of Kalmuks on the borders of Poland; and several Moghul tribes may now be found as far west as the Wolga, and pushed in between Tûrki tribes, who still differ from them in aspect, language, and religion. These last appear to have been chiefly the tribes that were induced to settle in the west, after the conquests of Chengîz Khan. They accompanied that conqueror, and remained with his sons for their protection, or to overawe the conquered. One of the most remarkable of these was the grand tribe of Moghuls, who, in the age of Baber, were settled, one branch on the territory of Tashkend and the plains in its vicinity, in a country by Baber called Moghulistân, and the other probably in the present Soongaria, the Jetteh of the Institutes of Taimur, on the river Illi. They seem to have been part of the royal horde of Jaghatâi Khan, the son of Chengîz, who fixed his capital at Bishbâligh on the Illi; and many particulars of their manners, which continued extremely rude, are detailed in a very picturesque manner by Baber in his Memoirs.

In the division of the empire of Chengîz Khan among his sons, one of them had the provinces to the east of the Tûrki frontier; Jaghatâi had the country westward as far as the Sea of Arâl, and perhaps nearly to the river Jaik; while a third had all the other regions to the west, along the Caspian, and far into modern Russia. The country occupied by Jaghatâi Khan was long afterwards held by his descendants, and the inhabitants acquired the name of Jaghatâi or Chaghatai Tûrks, and the country itself

There is reason to think, that though the term Khita is now applied to Northern China and its Tartar dependencies, it was at first given to a Tartar tribe who overran that country.

+ See Du Halde's China, vol. IV.

d

*

that of Jaghatâi. The connexion subsisting between the different tribes, in consequence of their having a point of union by being under the same government, seems to have favoured an approximation in language; and their dialect, which became highly cultivated, has continued down to the present day, and is still spoken, especially in towns and by the stationary Tûrks, over nearly the whole extent of the ancient Jaghatâi territories. The power of the Khans of Jaghatâi was nearly lost before the age of Taimur, who founded a new dynasty, the capital of which he fixed at Samarkand. He, in common with Chengîz Khan, † traced up his descent to Toumeneh Khan, a Moghul prince, so that both were of the royal race of Moghuls; but the family and dependent tribe of Taimur had been settled for nearly two centuries at Kesh, to the south of Samarkand, and, being in the midst of a country inhabited by Tûrks, spoke the language, and had adopted the manners and feelings, of those among whom they dwelt. The families descended from Taimur, therefore, though strictly Moghul, always regard themselves as Tûrki.

Baber had a close connexion with both races of Tartars. He traced up his descent on the father's side in a direct line to the great Taimur Beg, whence he always speaks of himself as being a Tûrk; while by the mother's side he was sprung from Chengiz Khan, being the grandson of Yunis Khan, a celebrated prince of the Moghuls. All Baber's affections, however, were with the Tûrks, and he often speaks of the Moghuls with a mingled sentiment of hatred and contempt.

In spite of the various changes that have occurred in the course of six hundred years, the limits of the Tûrki language are still not very different from what they were in the days of the imperial Chengîz. These limits have already been roughly traced. The object of this Introduction does not require that we should enter farther into any details concerning these countries, the cradle of the Tartarian ancestors of Baber. Our attention is more immediately called to that division of it generally called Great Bucharia, but which may with more propriety be denominated Usbek Turkistân, which not only contains his hereditary kingdom, but is the scene of his early exploits. It will, in the first place, however, be necessary to give some idea of the high country of Pamere and Little Tibet, whence the rivers flow that give their immediate form to all the surrounding countries.

It has been already remarked, that the Himmâla Mountains, those of Tibet, Kashmîr, Hindûkûsh, and Paropamisus, form a broad and lofty barrier, separating the countries of northern from those of southern Asia. The mountains, as they advance west, acquire a very great height; and measurements made at various places, towards Nepal and Hindûkûsh, by assigning to these ranges a height of upwards of 20,000 feet, would make them rank with the highest in the world. Nearly parallel to this great

Gibbon, vol. XII. p. 4, speaks of the Khans of Jaghatâi as extinct before the rise of Taimur's fortunes. But they still existed though stripped of their power; and accordingly, in the progress of the historian's narrative, p. 28, we find that the nominal Khan of Jaghatâi was the person who took Bajazet prisoner.

+ See D'Herbelot, Bibliotheque Orientale, art. Genghiz and Timour; and the Shujret-ul-Itråk. MS. Very recent measurements give to the highest of the Himmala Mountains an altitude of 28,000 feet, which would make them decidedly the loftiest in our globe.

chain, on the north, runs a considerable range, which has been called the Mûz-tagh, or Ice-Mountains. It extends on the east, at least from the northward of the Tibet range, near Leh or Ladak, and has a north-westerly direction, skirting Eastern or Chinese Turkistân on the south, till it meets the Belûr,* or Belût-tagh Mountains, in the latitude of about 40° 45', and longitude 71°; whence it seems to proceed on westward, as far as Khojend and Uratippa, under the name of the Asfera Mountains, and then divides into three or four principal branches, as will afterwards be mentioned. Connecting these two great ranges of Kashmir or Hindukûsh, and of Muz-tagh, a third range proceeds northward from that part of the Hindukûsh which lies near Kafferistân, in longitude 72°, and meets the Muz-tagh, as already mentioned. This range is called by geographers the Belûr, or Belût-tagh. It seems to revive again to the north of the Muztagh, running, under the name of the Ala,† or Alâk-tagh, and according to others of the Ming Bulâk, or Arjun Hills, first to the north as far as north latitude 42°, and next to the westward towards Tashkend, when it terminates in the desert of Arâl, about the 65th or 66th degree of east longitude.

The extensive country which lies between the three grand ranges of mountains, the Kashmirian, Muz-tagh, and Belût-tagh, does not properly belong to Tûrkistan, though some parts of it at the present day are traversed by Tûrki tribes. It seems rather, with the country immediately east of the Ala, or Alâk-tagh, to have belonged to one of the mountain races which inhabit the grand range of Hindukûsh, in an independent state, to this day. Baber mentions a curious fact, which seems to throw some light on the ancient history and geography of that country. He tells us, that the hill-country along the upper course of the Sind (or Indus), was formerly inhabited by a race of men called Câs; and he conjectures, that from a corruption of the name, the country of Kashmîr was so called, as being the country of the Kâs. The conjecture is certainly happy, and the fact on which it is founded important; for it leads us farther, and permits us to believe, that the Kasia Regio and the Kassii Montes of Ptolemy, beyond Mount Imaus, were inhabited by this same race of Kâs, whose dominion, at some period, probably extended from Kâshghar to Kâshmîr, in both of which countries they have left their name. The country at this day called Kâshkâr, and included within the triangular range just described, probably derived its appellation from the same origin, being only

* This name, in our older works on geography, is written Belûr. It is now generally called Belût, or the Dark or Cloudy Mountain. Yet Marco Polo, after travelling twelve days over the elevated plain of Pamer, travels for forty more over the country called Beloro. Ramusio, vol. II. p. 11. Add to this, that Nasirudin of Tûs, in his geographical tables, places Belûr four degrees east of Badakhshan. Hudsoni Geograph. Min. Græc. vol. III. p. 110. There seems, therefore, to be some uncertainty as to the tract of country to which the name was at first applied. The name, at least, of Belor, is also given to this country by Rabbi Abraham Pizol. Kircher's China Illustrata, p. 48. See also Bergeron, in cap. 27 of Marc. Paul. p. 31.

+ That is, the Chequered Mountain. It is said to be "bare of forests, and all over as if studded with rocks." Tooke's View of the Russian Empire, vol. I. p. 121.

Mîr is still united with the names of several districts, as Jeselmir, Ajmir,' &c.

|| The only edition of Ptolemy which I have had an opportunity of consulting, is the Latin transla. tion, Venice, 1564. See p. 234. The Chate-Scythæ may be either those of Khita or of Khoten.

a corruption of Kâshghar; within the territory of which it was long included, the name having survived the dominion.*

The mountains by which this country is buttressed on every side are very lofty, and bear snow on their summits the greater part of the year. It has been conjectured, that if we except some parts of the Greater Tibet, it is the highest table-land in Asia. In confirmation of which, it has been observed, that from this high land, which, for want of a general denomination, may be called Upper Kashghar, the rivers take their course in opposite directions, and to different seas: the Sind or Indus, and the Kâshkâr or Cheghanserâi river, flow through the mountains to the south, and after uniting near Attok, proceed to the Indian Ocean; while the Amu, which originates from the snows and springs of Pûshtekar, in the same high table-land, pours down the western mountains of Belût-tagh, and after keeping for some time along the Hindûkûsh range, pursues its course towards the sea of Arâl.+ No river is known to cross the Muz-tagh ; but the rivers which originate on its northern face, proceed down to the desert and the lake of Lop-nor. Of these which flow north, some originate not very far from the Indus, which flows from the eastward by Ladak, between the two ranges, in the earlier part of its course.

This elevated country of Upper Kashghâr, though plain when compared with the huge and broken hills which raise and inclose it on all sides, is, however, crossed in various directions by numerous hills and valleys. As the slope of the country is from the north and east, the Muz-tagh, though certainly of less height than the other ranges, probably rises from a more elevated base. Of this high and thinly-peopled country, the south-west part is called Chitrâl, the north-west portion Pamîr, or the Plain, whence the whole country is often denominated. The country of the Dards lies in the south-east, and the rest of it is occupied by Little Tibet, which, on the east, stretches away into Great Tibet. +

The country of Usbek Tûrkistân may be considered as a large basin, hollowed out by the waters descending from the Paropamisan and Hindûkûsh hills on the south, and those of Belût-tagh and Alâ-tagh on the east and north, but formed into two divisions by the Asfera Mountains; on the south of which lies the vale of the Amu or Oxus, and on the north the vale of the Sirr or Jaxartes. Both of these great rivers, after receiving all the tributary streams that pour into them from the valleys and smaller branches of hills which they meet with in their course, force their way with difficulty through extensive sandy plains to the sea of Arâl. Usbek Tûrkistân on the south, after the termination of the Paropamisan hills, may be considered as divided from Persian Khorâsân by a line beginning north of Herât, in latitude 35o, and running northwest along the south verge of the Desert, so as to terminate on the Caspian, about

Since writing the above, a friend pointed out to me Major Wilford's Discourse on Caucasus, in the sixth volume of the Asiatic Researches, in the beginning of which a similar train of reasoning is pursued. I certainly am not prepared to follow Major Wilford in all his subsequent conclusions, but he had good opportunities of ascertaining the existence of the Kas, or Khasay, in Almora, and the neighbouring hill-country.

+ Lieut. Macartney's MSS., and a memoir of Capt. Irvine.

Lieut. Macartney and Capt. Irvine's MSS.

latitude 39o. The Caspian forms its western boundary; and a line, from the Caspian to the sea of Arâl, and thence again to the Alâ-tagh, or Ming Bulâk Mountains, which run north of the Sirr, or Jaxartes, as far as Tashkend, completes its northern frontier.

That part of Usbek Tûrkistân which lies south of the Asfera Mountains, may be divided into the countries south of the Amu, or Oxus, and those to the north of that river.

The divisions to the south of the Amu, including also those that extend to both its ́banks, or which are contained between its branches, are four: 1. Badakhshân; 2. Balkh; 3. Khwârizm; and, 4. The Deserts of the Turkomans.

The divisions to the north of the Amu are five: 1. Khutlân; 2. Karatigîn; 3. Hissâr, or Cheghâniân; 4. Kesh, or Sheher Sebz, including Karshi and Khozâr; and, 5. The Vale of Soghd, in which are the celebrated cities of Samarkand and Bokhara.

The countries lying along the Vale of the Sirr, or Jaxartes, may be considered as being six in number: 1. Ferghâna, now called Kokân and Nemengân; 2. Tashkend; 3. Uratippa, or Ushrushna; 4. Ghaz, or the Arâl Desert; to which may perhaps be added, 5. Ilak, extending between Uratippa and Tashkend; and, lastly, The district of Tûrkistan Proper.

I. DIVISIONS SOUTH OF THE AMU.

It may be convenient, in reviewing the different divisions of Usbek Tûrkistân, to follow the course of the two great rivers, as they proceed from the hills to the Sea of Arâl.

It will not be necessary to say much of the southern divisions, as they are, in general, sufficiently well known.

1. BADAKHSHAN.

Badakhshan is the first district to the south of the Amu. In the age of Baber, it was considered as being bounded on the south by Kafferistân, on the east by Upper Kâshghar, on the north by Khutlân, and on the west by Kundez and Anderâb. It is chiefly mountainous, and appears to be formed by the course of two considerable rivers, that unite to form the Amu. That river of the two which has the longest course and the greatest body of water, is the Penj, called also the Hammû,* which appears to be the Harat of the Arabian geographers. It has lately been ascertained to rise in the high grounds east of the Belût-tagh range, issuing from under the snow of the lofty mountains of Pûshtekhar, and working its way by the lower grounds of Shughnan and Derwâz. The second river, which is called the Kokcha, or Badakhshân river, is inferior in magnitude and length of course to the first, rising to the south of it, in that high mountainous ridge of Belût-tagh, which separates Badakhshân from Chitrâl, and

* Hence probably the name of Amu.

+ Mr Elphinstone's MSS.