Page images
PDF
EPUB

2

;

may be reckoned the paradises of this world ; Shâb Bavván, the Ghútéh-i-Demeshk1 (or Damascus), the Soghd of Samarkand, and the Nahr (the river or canal) of Ubullah and the Shab Bavván extends twenty-six farsangs, from Arján to Nubendján.

6

5

:

SHAMKÚR, a city of the fifth climate, in the province of Arrán,' and it gives name to the plain or desert called Sahrá Shamkúri.

11

SHÚSH, (equivalent in rhyme to Gúsh,10) a city in the province of Khúzistán: it is called Sús " by the Arabs.

12

SHÚL, (equivalent in metre to Ghúl,13) is a tribe of the people of Irán, after whom the territory of Shúlistán 1 has been so named.

14

SHAHRNÁW,15 a name signifying "the city of the ship or boat:" this is a place in Chín.16

[blocks in formation]

ص

SAKLAB,' the son of Japhet the son of Noah, on whom be the peace of God! After Sakláb is named the most northern region of the seven climates; and in that region such is the coldness of the air, that the people construct their dwellingplaces under ground.

SUVÁDIK, a city of the seventh climate, between the country of the Franks (or Europeans) and Sakláb. The inhabitants are Christians.

5

b

6

TABRISTAN, a province of Irán or Persia: it is also called Mázinderán. The chief city of it is Ámol; and it comprises besides, Sári, Farrahábád, and other towns; and, according to one account, Tabristán and Dár-al-marz are of the same signification, implying the provinces of Gílán, Mazínderán, Dílmán, Rustamdár, and Jurján.

1

tries.

2

Sclavonia, Siberia, and other northern coun

Bordering on the ancient طبرستان 3 - صوادق

Hyrcania, of which some writers regard it as forming a part.

مازندران *

آمل 5

6

ساري

فرح آباد 7

3

2

TOKHARESTÁN,1* a province situated on the banks of the river Jaihún, and extending from Balkh to Kábul, and from the Kúhistán 5 (or mountainous region) of Badakhshan to Gharjestán."

6

TURTUS, a city of the fourth climate, in Syria, near to Masísah.

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

* Or "the residence of the Tokhar tribe;" once a considerable nation, according to Ptolemy, (Geogr. lib. vi. cap. 7.) Υπο δε τους Ζαριασπας, ΤΟΧΑΡΟΙ, μεγα εθνος. That most excellent geographer, Major Rennell, seems inclined to think that Ptolemy has placed this tribe too low, and that the Jaxartes may have been its original seat. "It is worthy of re"mark," adds he," that two tribes of the names of Taochari "and Pasiani are now seated near the Araxes in Armenia; the "first answering to the Taochi of Xenophon, the other pro

[ocr errors]

bably giving its name to the Araxes; as Xenophon calls it "Phasis; so that they seem to have penetrated southward on "both sides of the Caspian."-See his observations on the Eastern Scythians, or Massagetæ, in the "Geography of Herodotus," p. 227. (Quarto Edition.) But this remark, however ingenious, could scarcely induce an etymologist conversant in Eastern languages to regard the tribe of Tokhár (Ptolemy's Toxapo above mentioned) as the same with Xenophon's Taochi (Taoxo, Anabas. lib. iv.).

TURTÚSHAH,' a city of the fifth climate, in Andulus, adjoining the territory of the Franks; and this is the last place of Islám, or the country inhabited by the Muselmáns.

2

TARAF, a territory of Bengálah.

TARFAN,3 a country of Khatáí.*

TAVÁLISH, a territory between the provinces of Gílán and Múghán: it comprises a district inhabited by the people of Tálish.7

ع

OMMÁN, (or UMMAN,8) a country of the first climate from this the Bahr-i-Ommán (the Sea of Ommán, or the Persian Gulf) derives its name; and the chief town of this country is called Sahhár.9

10

ÂMÚRÍAH,1o a city of the fifth climate, in Rúm.

ÂVÁSIM," a country of Shám (or Syria): its chief place is Antakíah. The celebrated historian Ibn Jarir Tabri 12 relates that Hárún Ar'ra

[blocks in formation]

shid,1* in the year 170, brought families separately from the province of Jezîreh and from Kaniserín, and so peopled this place, and called it Avásim.

E

GHIJDAVÁN,3 a place near Bokhárá: from this place the Sheikh Abd al Khálek,* distinguished for his skill in painting, derives the surname of Ghijdáváni.5

GHALATIFÚN, an ocean in the extreme borders of the north; and the islands of it are called Zulmát," or "Darkness."†

[blocks in formation]

• This was the great Khalifah () so distinguished in Arabian and Persian history. The year 170 of the Muhammedan era corresponds to 780 of Christ.

† In the article " TÚRÁN," our author has already mentioned the region of Zulmát, the hyperborean country of Cimmerian darkness,

« PreviousContinue »