Bābur had a close connexion with both races of Tartars. He traced up his descent on the father’s side in a direct line to the great Taimūr Beg, whence he always speaks of himself as being a Tūrk; while by the mother’s side he was sprung from Chingiz Khan, being the grandson of Yunis Khan, a celebrated prince of the Moghuls. All Bābur’s affections, however, were with the Tūrks, and he often speaks of the Moghuls with a mingled sentiment of hatred and contempt.

In spite of the various changes that have occurred in the course of six hundred years, the limits of the Tūrki language are still not very different from what they were in the days of the imperial Chingiz. These limits have already been roughly traced. The object of this Introduction does not require that we should enter farther into any details concerning these countries, the cradle of the Tartarian ancestors of Bābur. Our attention is more immediately called to that division of it generally called Great Bucharia, but which may with more propriety be denominated Uzbek Tūrkestān, which not only contains his hereditary kingdom, but is the scene of his early exploits. It will, in the first place, however, be necessary to give some idea of the high coun­try of Pamīr and Little Tibet, whence the rivers flow that give their immediate form to all the surrounding countries.

It has been already remarked that the Himalaya Moun­tains, those of Tibet, Kashmīr, Hindū-kūsh, and Paro­pamisus, form a broad and lofty barrier, separating the countries of northern from those of southern Asia. The mountains, as they advance west, acquire a very great height; and measurements made at various places, towards Nepāl and Hindū-kūsh, by assigning to these ranges a height of upwards of 20,000 feet, would make them rank with the highest in the world.* Nearly parallel to this great chain, on the north, runs a considerable range, which has been called the Muz-tāgh, or Ice-Mountains. It extends on the east, at least from the northward of the Tibet range, near Leh or Ladāk, and has a north-westerly direction, skirting Eastern or Chinese Tūrkestān on the south, till it meets the Belūr,* or Belūt-tāgh Mountains, in the latitude of about 40° 45’, and longitude 71°; whence it seems to proceed on westward, as far as Khojend and Uratippa, under the name of the Asfera* mountains, and then divides into three or four principal branches, as will afterwards be mentioned. Connecting these two great ranges of Kashmīr or Hindū-kūsh, and of Muz-tāgh, a third range proceeds northward from that part of the Hindū-kūsh which lies near Kaferistān, in longitude 72°, and meets the Muz-tāgh, as already mentioned. This range is called by geographers the Belūr, or Belūt-tāgh. It seems to revive again to the north of the Muz-tāgh, running, under the name of the Ala,* or Alāk-tāgh, and according to others of the Ming Bulāk, or Arjun Hills, first to the north as far as north latitude 42°, and next to the westward towards Tāshkend, when it terminates in the desert of Aral, about the 65th or 66th degree of east longitude.

The extensive country which lies between the three grand ranges of mountains, the Kashmirian, Muz-tāgh, and Belūt-tāgh, does not properly belong to Tūrkestān, though some parts of it at the present day are traversed by Tūrki tribes. It seems rather, with the country immediately east of the Ala, or Alāk-tāgh, to have belonged to one of the mountain races which inhabit the grand range of Hindū-kūsh, in an independent state to this day. Bābur mentions a curious fact, which seems to throw some light on the ancient history and geography of that country. He tells us that the hill-country along the upper course of the Sind (or Indus) was formerly inhabited by a race of men called Kas; and he conjectures that, from a corruption of the name, the country of Kashmīr was so called, as being the country of the Kas.* The conjecture is certainly happy, and the fact on which it is founded important; for its leads us farther, and permits us to believe that the Kasia Regio and the Kasii Montes of Ptolemy, beyond Mount Imaus, were inhabited by this same race of Kas, whose dominion, at some period, probably extended from Kāshghar to Kashmīr, in both of which countries they have left their name. The country at this day called Kāshkār, and included within the triangular range just described, probably derived its appellation from the same origin, being only a corruption of Kāshghar, within the territory of which it was long included, the name having survived the dominion.

The mountains by which this country is buttressed on every side are very lofty, and bear snow on their summits the greater part of the year. It has been conjectured that, if we except some parts of the Greater Tibet, it is the highest table-land in Asia. In confirmation of which, it has been observed that, from this high land, which, for want of a general denomination, may be called Upper Kāshghar, the rivers take their course in opposite directions, and to different seas: the Sind or Indus, and the Kāshkār or Cheghānserāi river, flow through the mountains to the south, and after uniting near Attok, proceed to the Indian Ocean; while the Amu, which originates from the snows and springs of Pushtekhar, in the same high table-land, pours down the western mountains of Belūt-tāgh and, after keeping for some time along the Hindū-kūsh range, pursues its course towards the Sea of Aral. No river is known to cross the Muz-tāgh; but the rivers which originate on its northern face proceed down to the desert and the lake of Lop-nor. Of these which flow north, some originate not very far from the Indus, which flows from the eastward by Ladāk, between the two ranges, in the earlier part of its course.

This elevated country of Upper Kāshghar, though plain when compared with the huge and broken hills which rise and inclose it on all sides, is, however, crossed in various directions by numerous hills and valleys. As the slope of the country is from the north and east, the Muz-tāgh, though certainly of less height than the other ranges, probably rises from a more elevated base. Of this high and thinly-peopled country, the south-west part is called Chitrāl, the north-west portion Pamīr, or the Plain, whence the whole country is often denominated. The country of the Dards lies in the south-east, and the rest of it is occupied by Little Tibet, which on the east stretches away into Great Tibet.

The country of Uzbek Tūrkestān may be considered as a large basin, hollowed out by the waters descending from the Paropamisan and Hindū-kūsh hills on the south, and those of Belūt-tāgh and Alā-tāgh on the east and north, but formed into two divisions by the Asfera mountains; on the south of which lies the vale of the Amu or Oxus, and on the north the vale of the Sirr or Jaxartes. Both of these great rivers, after receiving all the tributary streams that pour into them from the valleys and smaller branches of hills which they meet with in their course, force their way with difficulty through extensive sandy plains to the Sea of Aral. Uzbek Tūrkestān on the south, after the termination of the Paropamisan hills, may be considered as divided from Persian Khorāsān by a line beginning north of Herāt, in latitude 35°, and running north-west along the south verge of the Desert, so as to terminate on the Caspian, about latitude 39°. The Caspian forms its western boundary; and a line, from the Caspian to the Sea of Aral, and thence again to the Alā-tāgh, or Ming Bulāk mountains, which run north of the Sirr, or Jaxartes, as far as Tāshkend, completes its northern frontier.

That part of Uzbek Tūrkestān which lies south of the Asfera mountains may be divided into the countries south of the Amu, or Oxus, and those to the north of that river.

The divisions to the south of the Amu, including also those that extend to both its banks, or which are contained between its branches, are four: 1. Badakhshān; 2. Balkh; 3. Khwārizm; and, 4. The Deserts of the Turkomāns.

The divisions to the north of the Amu are five: 1. Khut­lān; 2. Karatigīn; 3. Hissār, or Cheghāniān; 4. Késh, or Shaher e sebz, including Karshi and Khozār; and, 5. The Vale of Soghd, in which are the celebrated cities of Samarkand and Bokhara.

The countries lying along the Vale of the Sirr, or Jaxartes, may be considered as being six in number: 1. Ferghāna, now called Kokān and Nemengān; 2. Tāshkend; 3. Ura­tippa, or Ushrushna; 4. Ghaz, or the Aral desert; to which may perhaps be added, 5. Ilāk, extending between Uratippa and Tāshkend; and, lastly, the district of Tūrke­stān Proper.