mountains, which the Greeks called Paro pamifus.

ALGEZIRAH, or the Peninfula, for fo the Arabians call the province of Mefopotamia, lies, as its Greek name imports, between the two rivers Tigris and Euphrates, or, as the Easterns call them, Degelah, and Forát. This extensive country is divided into four Diár, or cantons, which took their names from as many Arabian tribes, who formerly settled in them; that of Becr is best known to our Geographers. The principal cities of Mefopotamia are, 1. ROHA, called by our writers Edeffa, which was taken by the Crusaders, and afterwards recovered by the Perfians from Baldwin, King of Jerufalem. 2. HARRAN, which the Romans called Carrbæ, where Craffus and his army were defeated. RACCA, not Aracta, as it is written in the maps, the birth-place of the aftronomer Batáni, a very accurate obferver of the heavens. 4 NASSIBIN, the Nifibe of the Ancients, which has been a fubject of perpetual contention between the Perfian and Roman Emperors: and, 5. MUSEL, near which it is fuppofed, that Niniveh was anciently built; it was the native city of an excellent musician, thence named Mufeli, who, by the power his melody, is faid to have reconciled the

3.

of

Calif Al Rafbid to the fair Maridah, his mistress, at whofe behaviour he had taken fome offence.

CHAP. II.

The Tartarian Kingdoms.

THE large and beautiful kingdom, which lies between the Gibún and Sibún, or the ancient Oxus and Täxartes, is called by the Perfians TURAN *,by the Arabians, Mawarannahar† or, The province beyond the river, and by the Greeks Sogdiana, from the pleasant valley of Sogd, which fhall presently be described: they might have called it Mefopotamia, if that name had not been before applied to another country. It has Badakhshan on the east, and on the north, the vast regions of Turkestan or Scythia, which reach to the confines of the Ruffian and Chinese Empires. The valley or plain of SOGD‡, paffes among the Afia

*

توران

ما ورا النهر In Arabick +

+ In Perfian im

ticks for one of the moft delightful spots in the world; it is an hundred and twenty miles in length, and fixty in breadth, and a large river, named Caï, rolls through it, which branches into a thoufand clear ftreams, that water the gardens and cultivated lands, with which the whole plain is covered. In the midft of this vale ftands the city of SAMARCAND, which was very rich and flourishing in the fourteenth century: the territory is now poffeffed by the Uzbeks, a warlike nation, who took it from the defcendants of Tamerlane. That Conqueror was born at CASH, a pleasant city, about a day's journey from Samarcand. In fhort, Sogdiana lies in the fame climate with Italy and Provence, and has the advantage of a fky perpetually clear, the cooleft rivers, and the most excellent fruits. The other famous cities of Tranfoxiana are, 1. BOKHARA, through which the Ruffian merchants used to pass in their journeys to China; it was in this century the feat of a fovereign prince, whom Mirza Mabadi calls king of Bokhára, by which he means the whole territory of Sogdiana. NAKHSHEB, where a celebrated author was born, who wrote in Perfian a book called The Tales of a Parrot, not unlike the Decamerone of Loccace, 3. ZAMIN, where the

2.

fineft manna of all Afia is gathered. 4. OSRUSNAH, furrounded by a district, that has four hundred ftrong caftles in it. 5. FARGANA, the birth-place of a great aftronomer, ufually called Alfargáni, who flourished in the ninth century. The mountains near Fargána abound in turkis-stones, as well as in rich mines of gold and silver.

The vaft Empire, which lies beyond the Iäxartes, between the dominions of the Czar and the Emperor of China, is called by the Afiaticks, who speak correctly, TURKESTAN *, or, The country of the Oriental Turks, an ancient and martial people, who, under the names of Getes, Moguls, and Tartars, have, at different times, poured in great numbers into the more weftern and fouthern kingdoms. The principal cities of Turkestán are, 1. BALASAGUN, which was once its Capital. 2. SHASH, which gives its name to a river that flows from the Sibún, and joins another called Faráb. 3. SHAHROKHIA, built by Tamerlane upon the birth of his son, whom he called Shahrokh, or, Check with the rook, because he was playing at chefs, and had just beaten his adverfary by that stroke, when he received news of the prince's birth,

ترکستان

This city ftands on the banks of the Iäxartes, over which there is a large and elegant bridge in this part. 4. FARAB, or FARIAB, otherwife called Otrár, the birth-place of two very learned men, the great philofopher and musician Al Fariábi, and an able grammarian, known to us by the name of Al Fouberi, or, The Jeweller, who compiled a voluminous dictionary of the Arabick language, entitled Seháb, in which the principal words are illuftrated by chosen paffages from the old Arabian poets *. There is nothing very remarkable in the other cities of Turkeftán, as Ilák, Toncát, and the reft: they fland between the ninety-ninth and hundred and firft degrees of longitude, and are between forty-one and forty-three from the Equator. The province of KHOTOLAN deserves, indeed, to be more particularly mentioned; it lies between Tartary, Badakhshan, and the ter

* This laborious fcholar loft his fenfes through an excefs of learning, and was killed by a fall in a mad attempt to fly with a pair of waxen wings. The title of his work Sebab fignifies purity, and alfo health; which gave

て

occafion to a ridiculous mistake of a French Orientalift, who tranflated the life of Tamerlane, from the Arabick : the hiftorian, fpeaking of the death of a certain Arab, fays, he died like the author of Sehah, that is, by a fall from the tof his houfe, which the Frenchman, not knowing the allufion, tranflates, he died in perfect health.