The country of Uratippa, which is also called Ustrūsh, Ustrūshta, Setrūshta, Isterūshān, and Ushrūshna, is the hilly tract which lies west of Khojend, whence it is separated by the river Aksū. It has that river and the Asfera mountains, including part of Karatigīn, on the east; on the south-east, in the days of Bābur, it seems to have stretched over to the Kara-tāgh mountains, which divided it from Hissār, while Yār-ailāk completed its boundary in that quarter. On the south, the Ak-tāgh and Uratippa mountains divided it from Samarkand and Bokhāra; on the north, the Sirr, and probably the districts of Ilāk, separate it from Tāshkend; and on the west it has the desert of Ghaz (by Abulfida, called Ghazna), or the Kara Kilpāks, towards the sea of Aral. It is full of broken hill and dale, and anciently was studded with small and nearly independent castles, each of which had its separate district. The slope of country is towards the desert of Aral. It is now subject to Bokhāra. Uratippa and Ramīn, or Zamīn, are its chief towns. It has been celebrated from early ages for the quantity of sal ammoniac which it produces in some natural caverns in the hills. It has no considerable river, but several smaller streams, most of which probably disappear in the sandy desert. In all our maps, the Kizil (or Red River) is made to rise in the hill country of Uratippa, and to proceed downward to join the Amu, below the cultivated country of Khwārizm. Yet Ibn Haukal tells us that in all Setrushta (or Uratippa) there is not one river considerable enough to admit of the plying of boats; and the river, after leaving Uratippa, would have to run for several days’ journey through a desert sand. It rather seems that no such separate river exists; but that the Kizil is only a branch that proceeds from, and returns to, the Amu. Hazārasp, which certainly stands on the Amu, is said to lie on the north side of the Kizil. This must be just where the Kizil runs off from the great river. Kāt, or Kāth, the old capital of Khwārizm, which was six farsangs, or twenty-four miles, from Hazārasp down the Amu, and certainly stood on that river, is, however, said to lie on the north side of the Kizil. The different branches of the Amu, in passing through Khwārizm, or Urgenj, have different names, like the various branches of the Ganges in Bengal. This, with some other causes, has spread a good deal of confusion over the geography of the former country. In the instance in question, a great river being found, and its connexion with the Amu not being known, it was natural to search for its sources in the hills to the east.