Khan.

Abulkhair grandfather of the second Sheibâni, was a contemporary of Abusaîd Mirza. When that monarch had expelled Muhammed Jûki Mirza from Samarkand, the young prince, as has already been mentioned, had fled for protection to Abulkhair Khan, who sent him back, accompanied by one of his sons, with a powerful army, which took Tâshkend and Shahrokhîa,* and occupied all the open country of Mâweralnaher. The approach of Abusaîd compelled them to retire beyond the Sirr.

1460.

The ambition and power of Abulkhair Mirza were so formidable as to justify a combination of all the neighbouring Tartar princes against him, by which he was deHis death. feated and put to death with several of his sons; the others saved themselves by 1481. flight. But his grandson Sheibâk or Sheibâni Khan, the son of Borak or Budak,† Sheibana regained at least a part of his hereditary dominions, and not only retrieved the

Khan.

1494.

Baber.

honour, but greatly extended the power of the family. The confused state of the country between the Amu and the Sirr, soon after attracted him into the territories of Samarkand; an expedition to which the Uzbeks were probably equally called by the invitation of the contending princes of the country, and by the remembrance of the plunder and spoil which they had carried off from these rich and ill-defended countries twenty-four years before. From some expressions used by Baber, it seems pretty clear that, in spite of the extent of his conquests along the banks of the Oxus, Sheibâni Khan had never regained the power enjoyed by his grandfather in his native deserts, and was confined to the range of territory around the town and country of Turkistân, to the north-west of Tashkend, which was a recent conquest made by that division of his tribe that adhered to his interests. His subjects were a mass of tribes of Tûrki, Moghul, and probably of Fennic race, moulded down into one people, but with a great preponderance of Tûrks. His army was latterly swelled by volunteers from all the Tûrki and Moghul tribes from Kâshghar to the Wolga; ‡ and he appears, even under the partial colouring of his enemy Baber, as a prince of great vigour of mind, and of no contemptible military talents.

Such was the general division of the neighbouring countries when Zehîr-ed-dîn Muhammed, surnamed Baber, or the Tiger, ascended the throne. Immediately before the death of his father Sultan Omersheikh Mirza, his neighbours Sultan Ahmed Mirza of Samarkand, and Sultan Mahmûd Khan of Tashkend, displeased with some parts of his conduct, had entered into a coalition, in consequence of which they had invaded his country.

Few incidents of the life of Baber previous to his mounting the throne are known.

• Tashkend and Shahrokhîa, as well as all the cultivated country down the Sirr, were at that period subject to Samarkand.

+ See Petis de la Croix's Life of Genghis, p. 393. De Guignes, Hist. des. Huns, vol. IV. p. 434, and the Tarîkh Alim-arai Abassi in the life of Shah Ismael, vol. I. MS. also D'Herbelot, Art. Uzbek. Abulgazi's Gen. Hist. vol. I. p. 217.

The Khanship of Kipchak expired A. D. 1506, and broke into several smaller divisions. That of Tura seems to have continued under a different branch of the family of Sheibâni Khan, until the year 1598, when the kingdom of Tura fell into the hands of the Russians.

It may be remarked, however, that he was born * on the 6th Moharrem 888, and 14 Feby. that when a boy of five years of age, he had paid a visit to his paternal uncle, Sultan 1483. Ahmed Mirza at Samarkand, on which occasion he was betrothed to his cousin, Aisha Sultân Begum, the daughter of that prince. This lady he afterwards married. Baber ascended the throne about two years after the discovery of America by Columbus, and four years before Vasco de Gama reached India. The year in which he mounted the throne, was that of the celebrated expedition of Charles VIII. of France, against Naples. His contemporaries in England were Henry VII. and Henry the VIII.; in France, Charles VIII., Louis XII., and Francis I.; in Germany, the Emperors Maximilian and Charles V.; in Spain, Ferdinand and Isabella, and Charles. The discovery of America, and of the passage to India by the Cape of Good Hope, the increase of the power of France by the union of the great fiefs to the crown, and of Spain by the similar union of its different kingdoms under Charles, the destruction of the empire of Constantinople, and the influence of the art of printing, introduced about that time a new system into the west of Europe, which has continued with little change down to our times. The rise and progress of the Reformation formed the most interesting event in Europe during the reign of Baber.

The date of his birth is recorded in a Persian couplet, preserved by Abul-fazl, who makes some characteristic remarks on them, founded on his fondness for astrology:-" As that generous prince was born on the sixth of Moharrem ; the date of his birth is also (Shesh Moharrem) the sixth of Moharrem." The numeral letters in these two words happen to give 888.

MEMOIR

REGARDING THE

CONSTRUCTION OF THE MAP OF FERGHANA AND

BOKHARA.

BY CHARLES WADDINGTON, Esq.

OF THE EAST INDIA COMPANY'S ENGINEERS.

I

SOME time ago, at the request of Mr Erskine, undertook the construction of a map, to illustrate the operations of the Emperor Baber in Ferghâna and the neighbouring countries. For the execution of this design, Mr Erskine had been for some time employed in making collections, as he found it difficult, or impossible, to trace the expeditions and marches of Baber, in the erroneous and defective maps of those countries, extant. Mr Erskine had procured several routes, written by natives who had visited those countries, with which the kindness of Mr Elphinstone and other gentlemen had supplied him. In addition to these materials, I was furnished with the longitudes and latitudes of many of the principal towns, chiefly from the Arabian geographers, with some particulars regarding these countries, contained in a sketch drawn up by Mr Elphinstone, and with all the books and maps which could throw any light on the subject; besides having the constant benefit of the advice and assistance, which Mr Erskine's extensive reading, and intimate knowledge of the country, enabled him to afford me.

The chief difficulty which presented itself on the commencement of my labours, was the want of some well-ascertained points, from which the intermediate spaces might be filled in with tolerable accuracy. Samarkand alone, from the numerous observations that have been taken in it, appeared to be a station sufficiently well determined, to be depended on; and, unfortunately, it is situated so much to the south of the country which was the chief object of my attention, that it promised to be of but little use to me. From the peculiar nature of the country, there must always be the greatest difficulty in ascertaining the relative positions of Ferghâna and Bokhâra,

as there is but one communication between them, by a long narrow pass near Khojend, between the mountains and the river. The whole of Karatigîn is perfectly impracticable from its mountainous nature, and precludes the possibility of procuring a cross route from Badakhshân or Hissâr, which would determine at once, with accuracy, the true position of Ferghâna. On the uncertain method of laying down this country, from the circuitous routes through Khojend, the only check that can be obtained, is by continuing those routes to Kâshghar, which, besides being pretty well ascertained by observation, has a direct route from Badakhshan. Of this check I endeavoured to avail myself.

My first step, after laying down Samarkand in long. 64° 53′ and lat. 39° 40′, which was the mean of the best observations in my possession, was to protract separately all my routes; when, by comparing them together, and making due allowances for the winding of roads and other impediments, I have reason to think that I obtained the distance very correctly, between those places through which the routes most frequently passed. The distance between Samarkand and Bokhâra, I found in this manner to be 112 miles in a direct line, which agrees remarkably well with the distance which Baber gives between these two cities.

It may not be amiss here to remark, that I did not see the translation of Baber's life, till I had laid down the whole of my routes to the north of Samarkand; and when the minuteness of his descriptions, and the opportunities he had of being well acquainted with the country, are considered, the coincidence of his accounts with the positions I had already given to the principal towns, will be esteemed no slight proof of the general accuracy of the map.

Having observations on the latitude and longitude of Bokhâra, by almost all the geographers, from whose observations Samarkand had been fixed, I easily ascertained the latitude of the place; and, intersecting it with the distance between the two cities, I also determined its longitude. Khojend, which is a considerable place, and has had many observations taken of its latitude, was fixed in like manner; that is to say, comparing the differences of the latitude of Khojend and Samarkand, as given by my several authorities, I found that they agreed very well, and I thus determined with considerable correctness, the latitude of Khojend to be 41° 5', and, by intersecting it with its distance from Samarkand, I made its longitude 66° 49'; for the longitudes, as given by geographers, differ so widely, that much confidence cannot be placed in them.

I should mention here, that some of my routes and Baber himself, always speak of Khojend as lying to the east of Samarkand. I do not, however, think that this should be taken in its strict sense, as the natives of the East express themselves always in a loose way with respect to the direction of a place, though in giving its distance they will be pretty correct. I consider, therefore, that in calling Khojend east of Samarkand, they merely mean, that it lies more to the east, than it does to the north or south of that city. Now, there can be no doubt, from the concurrence of all geographers in giving about one and a half degree of difference, in the latitude of the two cities, that it cannot lie to the east of Samarkand. On the other hand, the