NOTE J.

Geographical Index.

[The following descriptive list of countries and places, more or less frequently referred to in the preceding pages, will probably be found useful, and may obviate the necessity of reference and enquiry. Some of the names are well known, and are marked on the maps; but others are only to be found in the works of the old geographers.

Bardasír.—A large town of Kirmán, on the road leading to Khurásán, lying north-east of the town of Kirmán. It is also called Kawáshír.

Bust.—A city of the district of Garmsír, in Sijistán. It is situ­ated on the west of the river Helmand, and is noted for its great heat.

Dáwar.—Known in old times as the “Biládu-d dáwar,” and by the modern inhabitants as Zamín-dáwar. A large province, con­tiguous to Rukhkhaj, Bust, and Ghor, and the opening of the latter to Sijistán. Elphinstone says: “On the right bank of the river (Helmand) lies the rich country of Zamín-dáwar, which has the Parapomisar mountains on the north, and some hills connected with that range are found within its limits. This fine country extends for forty or fifty miles to the west of the Helmand.”—See Elphin-stone's Caubul. 4to., p. 122; Reinaud, Mém. sur l'Inde, 173.

Fáriyáb.—See Tálikán.

Garmsír.—The hot country, so called from the heat of the climate. A narrow tract of country in Sijistán, along the lower course of the Helmand.—See Thornton, Gurmsehl.

Ghor.—Also called Ghoristán. The mountainous country between Hirát and Ghazní. According to Istakhrí and Ibn Haukal it was a rugged mountainous country, bounded by the districts of Hirát, Farrah, Dáwar, Rabát, Kurwán, and Gharjistán back to Hírát, which were all Muhammadan countries. Ghor itself was a country of infidels, containing only a few Musulmáns, and the inhabitants spoke a language different from that of Khurásán.—See Elphin-stone's Caubul, Vol. i., p. 244.

Ghurjistán.—The correct orthography of this name according to Yákút and others is Gharjistán or Gharshistán. Yákút says it is bounded on the west by Hirát, east by Ghor, north by Merv, and south by Ghazní. The ruler of the country was called Shar, and from this title the land was also called Gharju-s Shar. The Merv-rúd waters the country, and its chief towns are Bashín and Súrmín, but the Shar generally dwells at a town in the hills called Bílkan.*

Gílán.—(In Arabic, Jílán.) A country between the Caspian and Black Seas, in great part the same as Tabaristán.

Gilgit.—A small unexplored country on the southern declivity of the Hindu Kush, between Chitral on the west, and Baltistán (Little Tibet) on the east.—Burnes, Bokhara II., 209.

Gurdez.—A country between Ghazní and India.

Júzján.—Also called Júzjánán. Júzján is the Arabic form of the native name Gúzgán. It must not be confounded with the country of Jurján or Gurgán, on the eastern shores of the Caspian. Yákút says the names Júzján or Júzjánán both designate a large district of the province of Balkh, between that city and Merv. The chief town was Yahúdiya, and Ibn Haukal mentions Shabúrkán, Andkhod, and Ambár among its principal places, adding that Ambár was the largest town.

Kazwín.—In Persian, Kasbín or Kashwín. A celebrated town of Persia, a little to the west of Teherán.

Khwárizm.—Chorasmia. The country on the east of the Caspian Sea, the capital of which was Gurgánj,* The Arabs converted the name of the country into Jurján, and that of the capital to Jur-jániyá. The Mongol form of the name was Orgánj. Noshtigín, a Turkí slave of Maliksháh Saljúk, was made governor of this pro­vince, and contrived to secure his independence. His son, Kutbu-d dín, extended his dominions, and acquired the title of Khwárizm Sháh, a name which had been borne by the rulers of the country before the Muhammadan rule. The empire of the Khwárizm Sháhs rose upon the ruins of the Saljúk dynasty, and their territories ex­tended from Ázarbáíján and the Caspian Sea to the Indus, and from the Persian Gulf to above the Síhún or Jaxartes. A succession of nine princes reigned for 138 years from 491 to 628 Hijra (1097 to 1230 A.D.): but in 618 H. the last of them, Jalálu-d dín Mankburní was driven by Changíz Khán beyond the Indus, and he was killed in Mesopotamia ten years afterwards, stripped of all his dominions.

Kum.—A town of 'Irák-'ajamí, between Teherán and Ispahán.

Máwaráu-n Nahr.—“(The country) which is beyond the river (Oxus);” Transoxiana, including Bokhárá and Samarkand.

Re or Raiy.—An ancient city, the ruins of which are situated a little to the south of Teherán. All Oriental writers agree upon its antiquity, and it is called “the mother of cities.” It was once a very large place, the capital of the Jabbál (the hills), and very rich and flourishing; but it was destroyed, and the inhabitants were put to the sword by the Tatars at the beginning of the seventh century of the Hijra.

Rukhaj.—Or more properly Rukhkhaj, from which, preceded by the article al (ar Rukhaj) comes the Arachosia of the ancient geo­graphers. One of the dependencies of Sijistán, the chief town of which, bearing the same name, was situated on the Hindmand or Helmand.

Sabúrkán, Shabúrkán.—A city of Júzján, west of Balkh. The Shibbergán and Shubergán of the Maps.

Sakáwand.—In the territory of Kábul, which belonged to Kumlu. It is mentioned by Istakhrí and Ibn Haukal as one of the depen­dencies of Bámíán, along with Kábul, Ghazní, and Parwán. Idrísí gives it as being seven days' journey from Kábúl, and the same distance from Khouïab, for which I would read Haríab, <arabic>, as I believe it to be the Iryáb or Irjáb of Sharífu-d dín and the Haryúb of the present day,—which is at the head of the Kuram valley, to the south-east of Kábul. Sakáwand would therefore be at or near Jalálábád;—and this position agrees with Idrísí's account of the warm climate of Sakáwand and Hariáb, at which places the palm tree did not grow, and snow did not fall. The Buddhist establish­ments mentioned by Fa Hian and Huen Thsang were no doubt still flourishing in the time of Kumlu.—Gen. Cunningham.

Sarakhs.—An ancient city of Khurásán, situated about mid-way or six days' journey, between Merv and Naishápúr,

Sijistán.—Same as Sistán. A province south of Hirát.

Takínábád.—A large city of Garmsír.—See Tabakát-i Násirí, supra, p. 293.

Tálikán.—A city of Tukháristán between Balkh and Merv, three days' journey from the latter. There is another town of the same name east of Kunduz. The Tálikán of Tukháristán is the one most frequently mentioned, and it is generally coupled with Fáriyáb, a city of Júzján west of the Oxus, three days' journey from Tálikán, three from Shabúrkán, and six from Balkh.—See Elphinstone's Caubul, ii., 221, 240.

Tukháristán, Tukhíristán.—A province of Balkh, lying east of the city of that name, and west of the Jíhún. The chief town was Tálikán.

Tús.—An ancient city of Khurásán, two marches N.E. from Naishápúr, and a little to the north of the modern town of Meshhed. It consisted of two towns, Tabarán and Núkán, and was a place of considerable importance. The city was devastated by the Uzbeks in 996 H. (1588 A.D.), and its place has been taken by Meshhed.

Zábul, Zábulistán, Záwulistán.—A large province south of Balkh and Kábul, including Sístán, and having Ghazní for its capital. Rustam Zábulí, the hero of the Sháh-náma, is said to have been a native of this country.

Zaranj.—The chief town of Sijistán, from which the lake formed by the Helmand and the Farra is often called the Lake of Zaranj (the Zarrah of the Maps),

Zúr.—Name of a mountain in Dáwar, and of a celebrated idol which was there worshipped. According to Elphinstone, it is in the middle of the Lake Zaranj or Zarrah, which the natives call the Sea of Zúr. Conolly however says it is not in the lake, but in the vicinity of it.—See Elphinstone's Caubul, Book iv. chap. iv.; Reinaud, Mém. sur l'Inde, p. 174.]

END OF VOL. II.