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 Hissâr, 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.

Hissar, 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, and what have been called the diets of his states. It was celebrated for its beautiful verdure, and the rich profusion of its flowers.

5. SAMARKAND AND BOKHARA.

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 Zirefshân† 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 Bokhara. 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 Fersia. 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 Bokhara, 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 vi-sited it in 1740, gives an amusing account of the city and it's 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, Penjshembeb, 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.

III. COUNTRIES ALONG THE SIRR, OR JAXARTES.

THE Countries along the Sirr have always been much less considerable than those on the Amu. The Sirr, or Jaxartes, rises among the lofty mountains which divide Ferghâna from Kâshghar. The chief source appears to lie east from Ush, nearly two degrees. On the west side of the Ala-tagh range are the sources of the Sirr, and on the east side, at no great distance, is the source of the Kâshghar river. The Sirr, after dividing Ferghâna, takes a turn to the north-west, passes to the south of Tâshkend, and flowing down through the sandy desert, is nearly lost in the sands before it reaches the Sea of Arâl.

1. FERGHANA.

The particular account of this country, with which the Memoirs of Baber open, renders it needless to enter into any description of it. It now forms the powerful kingdom of Kokân, whose capital, of the same name, is the ancient Khuakend, lying between Khojend and Ahsi. Though Ferghâna is in general fertile, yet several small deserts are to be found within its extent. It is divided into two parts by the Sirr: That on the left bank has for its boundary on the south the snowy mountains of Asfera, which on their northern face slope down into the hill countries of Wadil, Warûkh, Hushiâr, Sûkh, &c.; while their southern side forms the frontier of Karatigîn. On the west it has Uratippa, from which it is divided by the river Aksû, which flows into the Sirr. The portion of Ferghâna on the right bank of the Sirr, has for its western boundary a range of hills running south from the Ala-tagh, past Ahsi to Khojend, on the Sirr, and dividing Ferghâna from Tâshkend. The north appears to be protected by the lofty and barren mountains called Ala-tagh, which are probably always covered with snow, and which also wind round to its eastern frontier, where they separate it from the territory of Kâshghar. The country north of the Sirr, which formerly contained Ahsi and Kâsân, is now called Nemengân. The Ala-tagh mountains are generally represented as being joined, on their north-east angle, by a range of mountains running far eastward, and connecting them with those of Ulugh-tagh. None of them, however, are probably high, where they join in with the hills that bound Ferghâna, as we find that the Kirghis pass freely at all seasons, on the north and east of that country, from Tâshkend to the vicinity of Kâshghar; and the whole tract is, indeed, generally designated as belonging to the same pastoral range: thus, in the accounts of the Russian travellers, when speaking of the Great Horde of Kirghis, we find Kâshghar, Tâshkend, and Otrar put together, as constituting their range along the Ala, or Alaktagh Mountains, without adverting to any intervening hills.* One Usbek traveller, from whom I had an account of his journey from Kâshghar to Astrakhan, mentioned, that he passed some broad low hills near Almâligh; so that, if any connecting range