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Sheeauhs, Kaufirs, and Christians. In this point of view, the religion of Mahomet is the greatest curse that could have befallen Asia.

CHAP. IV.-BADAKSHAUN.

THIS is the eastern part of the ancient Bactria, and is one of the most mountainous countries in nature, and seemingly corresponds to the province of Bubacene, conquered by Alexander the Great, which is represented by Curtius as the richest in the world for gold, pearls, and precious stones. It is bounded on the N. and N.E. by the stream of the upper Oxus; on the E. by the Beloor; on the S.E. and S. by the Khaufirs, separating it from Afghaunistaun and the Cobis of Khaushkaur: and on the W. by Kadghaun. It is nearly of a triangular figure, the base being the course of the Oxus, the two sides the Beloor Tagh, the upland of Huzrutimaum, and the mountains of Taulikhaun, whilst the apex is the narrow angle which connects the Beloor and the Hindookhoosh. Its length from E. to W. alongst its base is 250 B. miles, and its greatest breadth upwards of 150 from S. to N. But, strictly speaking, its physical northern boundary is not the Oxus, but the lofty range of mountains which bound the valley of the upper Oxus, all the way from its remotest source, on the N. and N.W., to its confluence with the Kokcha at Kajaghar, for more than 300 miles. Badakshaun seems to be the generic name for the whole tract enclosed in the upper basin of the Oxus. It is composed of two great divisions: the valley of the Oxus, and that of the Kokcha; or Western and Eastern Badakshaun. Though Badakshaun be commonly ranked as one of the Usbec states, and included in Toorkistaun, yet this is not strictly correct, as it has always maintained its independence, and its inhabitants are of a different race, and speak a different language from the Toorkish,—at least they did so in the days of Marco Polo. They are Taujiks, and denominated Badakshees; but towards the W. are many camps of wandering Usbecs. The appellative, Taujik, belongs to the fixed and aboriginal population, in opposition to the Toorks, Usbecs, and other nomadic tribes. The religion of the natives is Mahommedan, which they probably received from the Arabs, who became their neighbours after the conquest of Persia and Toorkistaun. They are governed by a sultaun, and their present sovereign is called Mirza Abdool Ghafoor, the son of sultan Mohammed, who reigned there when Elphinston was at Peshawer in 1809. His revenue is stated to be 6 lacks of rupees, or £75,000, and his military force is estimated at 10,000 matchlock-men.

CHAP. V.-TOORKISTAUN NORTH OF THE AMOO.

THIS corresponds to the Sogdiana and the Regio Sacarum of Ptolemy, and the Mawaralnahar of the Arabians, or the country beyond the Oxus. It is the Tooraun of the mythic history of Persia governed by the famed Afrasiab. In modern times this region, collectively taken, is called Great Bukharia, from the Bukhars, the aboriginal natives or fixed population. Beginning with the vale of the upper Oxus, on the north side, we meet with a large district called Khotlaun.

1st, Khotlaun.] This name does not seem to be known at the present day, but was used in those of sultan Baber and Ebn Hawkel to denote

all the country on the upper Oxus, opposite Badakshaun as far up as the Beloor on the E., and bounded on the W. by the Soorkhaub, or Red river; on the N. by the mountainous and rugged district of Karratageen; and on the S. by Badakshaun. Its few valleys are said to be narrow, and overhung by lofty and precipitous mountains. Khotlaun was the seat of a splendid dynasty of kings in the days of the Sassanian monarchy; and Abulfeda mentions the magnificent palaces of its princes. These sove. reigns, according to Dr Hyde, assumed the title of Heeyatelah, or HeeAub-Telah, or prince of the golden river,' (the Oxus)—a title not altogether misapplied, when it is considered that the Oxus contains a vast quantity of gold in its bed, and that the natives are acquainted with the art of collecting it, when its rapid waves, during the melting of the snows on the western slopes of the Beloor, detach the grains from the mountains; and there can be little doubt that the Beloor range in Badakshaun contains very abundant mines of gold. The Byzantine writers, from ignorance of the Persian language, converted the title of the kings of Khotlaun into the name of their subjects, calling them Haiathelites, Ephthalites, Nephthalites, and Eutalites. Hence some European writers, misled by them, took these people for Jews of the tribe of Naphtali.

2d, Karratageen.] This district, like that of Khotlaun, is more inaccessible and less known than any of those which compose Western Toorkistaun. It is seldom mentioned in history, and only twice by Sherefeddin, who calls it Cair Tekin. It extends along the southern range of the Asfera mountains as far E. as the Beloor, having Khotlan, Wakhika, and the district of Saganian on the S., and reaching westwards to the hilly districts of Uratippa and Yar Ailak. It is wholly a mountainous country; and the great elevation of the snowy ranges of Asfera and the Beloor nearly prevent all communication with the adjoining districts, especially to the N. and E.

3d, Hissaur.] Hissaur, or Saganian, is a large independent district, bounded by Karratageen on the N., Khotlaun and Waksh on the E., the Amoo on the S., and the Karadagh range on the W. In its chief extent it is more hilly than mountainous. The soil is generally sandy, and tends to degenerate into desert, but, being on the whole well-watered, it is capable of high cultivation. The present chief of Hissaur is, we believe, independent of Bokhara, being enabled to defend himself against the Usbec cavalry by means of the Karadagh mountains, which cover his principality on the side of Bokhara, as cavalry cannot act in mountains as in plains. The late khaun of Bokhara, Shah Hyder, was married to the daughter of the Usbec chief of this region.

4th, Kesh.] Kesh, or Subz, lies W. of the Karadagh mountains, which divide it from Hissaur, to the N. of the Amoo, and is bounded on the N. and W. by the Kesh hills, which divide it from Yar-Ailak and the valley of Sogd. The chief cities are the same as in the days of Timoor and Baber, namely, Kesh and Karshee, also called Naksheb and Nesef. Khozar has always been a place of note, and lies S. E. of Karshee, in a desert tract. The country round Kesh is uncommonly fertile, and rather marshy, as being full of streams; but it degenerates as it approaches the Amoo, and becomes a perfect desert,-insomuch, that the rivers disappear before they reach the Oxus. The famous pass of Koluga, or the iron gate,' lies in the Karadagh range, between Kesh and Hissaur.

5th, Samarcand and Bokhara.] We have now got quit of the Regio Sacarum, and have arrived at the vale of the Sogd, the Sogdiana of the ancients. The territory in which these cities are contained is one of the most beautiful and fertile in nature. It has the Kesh hills on the S., the desert of Karazm on the W., the Karadagh range and the district of Karrataggeen on the E., and the hilly country of Uratippa on the N. The chief river of this charming district is the Sogd, or Polytimetus of the ancients, most precious,' and denominated in the modern Persian Zurufshan, or the gold-shedding stream,' which rises in the Karadagh, and flows down by Yar-Ailak to Samarcand, and from thence passes to the N. and W. of Bokhara; considerably below which, what small portion of it is not swallowed up by the sand, falls into the Oxus. The winters are very severe in Bokhara, and the cold intense. The rivers continue frozen for nearly three months; the Oxus itself is then rendered passable for caravans on the ice. The wind during this period is dry and piercingly cold; but though the snow lies sometimes for three months, it is seldom above knee deep. During the three months of spring, gentle rains come every three or four days from the W. The two first months of summer are very hot, the wind generally blowing from the N.W., and scorching; but the air is occasionally cooled by light showers. During the last month of summer the air gets cooler, and autumn is very pleasant. The rains are then very heavy from the W. The mountains in the vicinity of Bokhara are said to contain inexhaustible mines of fossil salt, and in the mountain Al-Botom is abundance of mineral coal. This range is the Ak-Tau, or Ak-Kaya before described. The soil of Bokhara is argillaceous; the whole tract to the foot of the mountains is an argillaceous plain, precisely similar to all those which precede or follow the sandy deserts in the route from Orenburgh to Bokhara. Many salt lakes occur, which have been drained, for the most part, by means of human labour. But in many places the argillaceous soil is rendered barren by the superabundance of saline particles, and these the Bokharians leave untilled in the midst of cultivation. There are two harvests in this country,—those of spring and autumn. The former is of the seed sown at the beginning of the rains, and which is reaped in six months; and the latter of that which is sown in autumn, and which is reaped the ensuing summer. The spring crop. consists of one species of wheat and barley, jowaree, maust, nakood, coonjid, arzun, gall, cotton, madder, sweet and water melons, cucumbers, and other plants. The population of the Khanate of Bokhara is composed of the nomadic tribes, or wandering hordes; and the Taujiks, or fixed inhabitants, who live in towns, and villages, and farm-houses. The nomadic tribes are composed of many hordes, but are generally classed under two heads, Usbecs and Turkmauns: the former are said to be by far the most numerous, and are found inhabiting the towns and villages, as well as tents in the desert. Of the Turkmaun tribes we know little; but there is one tribe of that denomination, called Aersanee, which wanders on both banks of the Oxus, and contains 40,000 families, which in their turn are subdivided into a number of smaller tribes under particular chiefs. The Salera and Suhawah tribes of Turkmauns are of much more importance and strength, and may be considered as the collective names of a number of smaller tribes, or Turs, dispersed over all Mawaralnahar, and the tracts to the N.E. as far as Chinese Toorkistaun. Their subdivisions are said to be very numerous. Amongst the names of tribes noticed as wandering over one or another part of its deserts, are: the Kuthai Kipchauks, Kuz

zauks, Noghays, Kirgees, Naimauns, and Kara Kalpaks, or black bonnets; but it is impossible to say if they are all really Turkmauns. But one thing is certain, that, excluding the Kalmucks, a few of whom still wander in this khanate, they are all, whether Usbecs or Turkmauns, of the Great Toorkee family, and all speak the same Toorkee or Jaghatai language, the only difference being that of dialect, as they all closely approximate, and can converse with and understand each other. What proportion the Taujik population may hold to the Usbec and Turkmaun, is impossible to say; but their language, employments, habits, and mode of life, are quite different from those of the Toorkee family. Their language is Persian, which is that of all the cities to the N. of the Hindookhoosh, and is employed as the vehicle of all polite and commercial intercourse. As these Taujiks, called Sarts and Bokhars by their Tartar masters, are the descendants of the ancient Sogdians, there is presumptive evidence that Persian was the original language of all the fixed population of this extensive region, whether commercial or agricultural; whilst the Toorkee was, at the same time, the language of all the Scythian or nomadic tribes, who wandered in the deserts and mountains between the Oxus and the laxartes. Arabic, though introduced by the Arabian invaders, has always been considered as the learned language, and sacred, its use being chiefly confined to the study of the Koran and its commentators. The Persian spoken at Baulkh and Bokhara is the Deri, or court dialect, on account of its elegance, and is usually denominated by classical orientalists, the language of Baulkh, of Baumeeaun, and Bokhara. The Toorkee, on the contrary, was not a written language till the thirteenth century.

City of Bokhara.] Bokhara is the capital of the whole khanate, and is a place of great celebrity and antiquity, though no mention is made of it in any of the Greek and Roman historians and geographers. It is mentioned as a city of great consequence at the period when the country beyond the Amoo fell into the hands of the Arabs in the early part of the eighth century, and was successively in the possession of the Saffarian, Sammanian, Ghaznevide, Seljookian, and Khowarasmian dynasties. It is situated near the Khurabad river, a tributary of the Sogd, and is encompassed with a wall 14 versts in circumference. According to Fraser's information it is fully inhabited within the walls, having no vacant spaces occupied with ruins, like Ispahaun, containing nothing but well-built and well-peopled houses of from two to three stories high, built of brick and often strengthened by wooden frame-work, and the whole plastered over with a coat of fine cement, and many of them handsomely decorated with painting both within and without. The city abounds in roofed bazaars and caravanseras for travellers; but the chief glory of Bokhara are its mosques and madresas. Of the latter there are above 80, they are generally built of stone and lime, and containing from 40 to 200 and even 300 chambers. The college of Gokultash, near the gate of Karshee, and the zearaut of Bohaoddin Nagshbaud, are stated to have each 300 apartments. The former is composed of three colleges, of which one was founded by the empress Katherine II., whose memory is much respected at Bokhara. These colleges have two pupils in each chamber, and are supported by the rents of houses and lands attached to them. Their revenues vary from 300 to 5000 rupees yearly, and support the lecturer and students. Many welldisposed and pious Mussulmauns build and endow colleges with 100 bigahs of arable land and a few shops, and the khan liberally assists all such institutions out of the taxes, allowing in many cases from 5 to 15 tillas a

month, so that in this respect Bokhara is the greatest seat of Mohammedan literature and theology in Asia. But it must not once be imagined, that these colleges are like ours. The sciences principally studied are theology and Mohammedan law, and in most of those sciences, says Elphinston, which we value, the Usbecs are far behind the Afghauns. The commerce of Bokhara was, at least very lately, great and extensive, notwithstanding the disordered state of the countries in its vicinity, but the foreign trade is much more extensive than its internal commerce. Caravans from Persia, Hindoostaun, Afghaunistaun, Baulkh, Badakshaun, Kashghar, Kokaun, Tashkunt, and Orenburg, in Asiatic Russia, are in the habit of going to Bokhara, loaded with the productions of their respective countries, which are either sold on the spot, or exchanged for other commodities. caravans from Orenburg arrive annually at Bokhara, the journey being completed in three months. Each caravan consists of from 4000 to 5000 camels. The commerce of Bokhara with Russia has been calculated at 20,000,000 roubles of annual value.

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Samarcand.] This city was once the capital of all Independent Toorkistaun, and in the days of Alexander the Great, under the name of Maracanda, was the capital of the Sogdians. Kand is the Turkish name for a city or town, as in those of Khowa-kand, Uz-kand, Ande-kand, Tashkand, and others. This city is distant 12 caravan-journies, or 175 roadmiles, almost due E. of Bokhara, but the direct distance, according to Waddington's map, is only 112 geographical miles, where it is placed in 39' 40′ N. lat. and 64° 53′ E. long. of Greenwich. But as the longitude of Bokhara has never yet been taken on the spot by a European geogra pher, qualified by previous science for that purpose, we cannot depend on the longitude of Samarcand in respect of Greenwich, however it may approximate to truth in respect of Bokhara. Samarcand is situated about four miles to the S. of the Sogd, here called the Kohik, from a hillock so denominated between it and Samarcand. A mile and a half to the S. of the city flows another stream called the Dargham, a branch of the Sogd. which separates from it a little above the city, the gardens and suburbs of which are situated on its banks. When taken by Alexander the Great it was surrounded with a wall of 70 stadia, or 81⁄2 miles. In the days of Ebu Hawkel, the circumference of the walls was much the same. In the days of sultan Baber, the walls were paced round the ramparts by his orders, and found to be 10,600 paces in circumference, or only five miles. When, therefore, Dr Herbelot and La Croix affirm, from the oriental authors, that Samarcand had a compass of 12 farsangs, or 48 miles, they forget that Samarcand was a walled district as well as a walled city, resembling, in this respect, the cities of Babylon and Nineveh, which were not merely walled cities, but walled districts, for this outer wall comprehended all the garden-grounds around the city, as well as cultivated fields, and even hills and valleys. This wall had 12 gates of iron, each a league distant from the other. But the inner inclosure, which contained the city itself, had only four gates, and the wall had neither battlements nor towers like the outer wall. Such was its ancient state when besieged by Jenghis Khan. The celebrated Timoor Bek made it the capital of his short-lived empire, and adorned it with a great number of magnificent buildings. But the glories of this place have passed away, like those of Bagdad and Delhi, and till the time of Shah Moorad, Samarcand had declined so much since its capture by Sheebanee Khan the founder of the present Usbec dynasty, that it had become the haunt of the lion and the wolf. But that prince

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