Of the districts to the north of Seihūn, one is Akhsi, which in histories is called Akhsīkat.* Hence Asīr-ed-din, the poet, is termed Asīr-ed-din Akhsīkati.* There is no town in Ferghāna after Andejān, which is more considerable than this. It lies to the west of Andejān, at the distance of nine farsangs. Omer-Sheikh Mirza made it his capital. The river Seihūn flows under the walls of its castle. The castle is situated on a high precipice, and the steep ravines around serve instead of a moat. When Omer-Sheikh Mirza made it his capital, he, in one or two instances, scarped the ravines outside of the fort. In all Ferghāna there is no fortified town so strong as this. The suburbs are rather more than a shiraa kos from the fort. The proverb, ‘Where is the town, and where are the trees?’* applies in a particular manner to Akhsi. The melons here are excellent; there is one species which is termed Mīr Taimūri, no such melons are known to exist in the world. The melons of Bokhāra are also celebrated; but, at the time when I took Samarkand, I had melons brought from Akhsi and Bokhāra, and cut open at an entertainment, when those of Akhsi were judged beyond comparison the best. There is good hunting and hawking. From the river of Akhsi to the town there is a desert, in which the white deer are very numerous. Towards Andejān is a waste, abounding with the stag, the fowl of the desert, and the hare, all of which are extremely fat.
7. Kāsān.Another district is Kāsān,* which lies to the north of Akhsi, and is of small extent. As the river of Andejān comes from Ush, so the river of Akhsi comes from Kāsān. The air of Kāsān is extremely good, and its gardens are beautiful. In consequence of its gardens being all sheltered* along the banks of the stream, they call it the mantle of five lambskins.* There is a standing quarrel between the inhabitants of Kāsān and those of Ush concerning the beauty and climate of their respective districts.
All around the country of Ferghāna, among the mountains, there are excellent yailāk* (or summer stations). The tabulghū* wood is found here among the mountains, and in no other country. The tabulghū, which has a red bark, is a wood of which they make walking-staves, whip-handles, and bird-cages. They also cut it into the forked tops of arrows.* It is an excellent wood, and is carried to a great distance, as a rarity in much request. In many books it is related that the Yabruj-us-sannam* grows on these hills; but now it is quite unknown. There is, however, a species of grass which is produced on the mountains of Bete-kend,* and which the people of the country term aikoti, that is said to have the virtue of the mehergīah, and is what passes under the name of mehergīah. In these hills, also, there are mines of turquoise and of iron.
The revenues of Ferghāna may suffice, without oppressing the country, to maintain three or four thousand troops.
Reign of As Omer-Sheikh Mirza was a prince of high ambition and
magnificent pretensions, he was always bent on some scheme
of conquest. He several times led an army against Samarkand,
was repeatedly defeated, and as often returned back
disappointed and desponding. He oftener than once called
in to his assistance his father-in-law, Yunis Khan, who was
descended from Chaghatāi Khan, the second son of Chinghiz
Khan, and who was at that time the Khan of the tribe of
Moghuls in the dominions of Chaghatāi Khan.*
He was also
my maternal grandfather. Every time that he was called in,
Omer-Sheikh gave him some province; but as things did
not succeed to the Mirza’s wish, Yunis Khan was unable
to keep his footing in the country, and was therefore
repeatedly compelled, sometimes from the misconduct of
Omer-Sheikh Mirza, sometimes from the hostility of other
Moghul tribes, to return back to Moghulistān.*
The last
time, however, that he brought his force, Omer-Sheikh
Mirza gave Yunis Khan the country of Tāshkend, which
was then in the possession of the Mirza. Tāshkend is sometimes
denominated Shāsh, and sometimes Chāch, from
[A.D. 1485.]
whence comes the phrase, a bow of Chāch.*
From that time
[A.D. 1502-
3.]
to the year 908, the countries of Tāshkend and Shahrokhīa
remained subject to the Chaghatāi Khans. At this time
the Khanship of the (Ulūs or) tribe of Moghuls was held by
my maternal uncle, Sultan Mahmūd Khan, the eldest son
of Yunis Khan. He and Sultan Ahmed Mirza, the King of
Samarkand, who was my father Omer-Sheikh Mirza’s elder
brother, having taken offence at Omer-Sheikh Mirza’s
conduct, entered into a negotiation, the result of which was,
that Sultan Ahmed Mirza having given Sultan Mahmūd
[A.D. 1494.]
A. H. 899.
Alliance
against
him.
Khan one of his daughters in marriage, they this year
concluded an alliance, when the latter marched an army
from the north of the river of Khojend, and the former
another from the south of it, against that prince’s dominions.
At this very crisis a singular incident occurred. It has
already been mentioned that the fort of Akhsi is situated
on a steep precipice, on the very edge of which some of its
June 9,
1494.
buildings are raised. On Monday, the 4th of the month of
Ramzān, of the year that has been mentioned, Omer-Sheikh
His death.
Mirza was precipitated from the top of the steep, with his
pigeons, and pigeon-house,*
and took his flight to the other
world.
He was then in the thirty-ninth year of his age. He was A.D. 1456. born at Samarkand in the year 860. He was the fourth son of Sultan Abūsaīd Mirza, being younger than Sultan Ahmed Mirza, Sultan Muhammed Mirza, and Sultan Mahmūd Mirza. Sultan Abūsaīd Mirza was the son of Sultan Muhammed Mirza, the son of Mirza Mirānshah, who was the third son of Taimūr Beg, being younger than Omer-Sheikh Mirza and Jehāngīr Mirza, and elder than Shahrokh Mirza. Sultan Abūsaīd Mirza had at first given Kābul to the Mirza, and sent him off for that country, attended by Baba Kābuli as his Beg-atkeh (or Protector and Regent). He, however, recalled him to Samarkand, when he had reached the Dera-Gez,* in order that he might be present at the festival of the circumcision of the Mirzas.* After the festival, as Taimūr Beg had given Omer-Sheikh Mirza the elder the country of Ferghāna, Abūsaīd was induced, by the coincidence of names, to bestow on his son Omer-Sheikh the country of Andejān,* appointed Khuda-berdi Taimūrtāsh his guardian and regent, and sent him off to his government.
His person.Omer-Sheikh Mirza was of low stature, had a short bushy beard, brownish hair, and was very corpulent. He used to wear his tunic extremely tight; insomuch, that as he was wont to contract his belly while he tied the strings, when he let himself out again the strings often burst. He was not curious in either his food or dress. He tied his turban in the fashion called destār-pēch (or plaited turban*). At that time all turbans were worn in the chār-pēch (or four-plait) style. He wore his without folds, and allowed the end to hang down. During the heats, when out of the Divān,* he generally wore the Moghul cap.
His opi-As for his opinions and habits, he was of the sect of Hanīfah,* and strict in his belief. He never neglected the five regular and stated prayers,* and during his whole life he rigidly performed the kaza* (or retributory prayers and fasts). He devoted much of his time to reading the Korān. He was extremely attached to Khwājeh Obeidullāh, whose disciple he was, and whose society he greatly affected. The reverend Khwājeh, on his part, used to call him his son. He read elegantly: his general reading was the khamsahs,* the mesnevis,* and books of history, and he was in particular fond of reading the Shahnāmeh.* Though he had a turn for poetry, he did not cultivate it. He was so strictly just, that when the caravan from Khita* had once reached the hill-country to the east of Andejān, and the snow fell so deep as to bury it, so that of the whole only two persons escaped; he no sooner received information of the occurrence, than he dispatched overseers to collect and take charge of all the property and effects of the people of the caravan; and, wherever the heirs were not at hand, though himself in great want, his resources being exhausted, he placed the property under sequestration, and preserved it untouched; till, in the course of one or two years, the heirs, coming from Khorasān and Samarkand, in consequence of the intimation which they received, he delivered back the goods safe and uninjured into their hands.* His generosity was large, and so was his whole soul; he was of an excellent temper, affable, eloquent and sweet in his conversation, yet brave withal, and manly. On two occasions he advanced in front of the troops, and exhibited distinguished prowess; once, at the gates of Akhsi, and once at the gates of Shahrokhīa. He was a middling shot with the bow; he had uncommon force in his fists, and never hit a man whom he did not knock down. From his excessive ambition for conquest, he often exchanged peace for war, and friendship for hostility. In the earlier part of his life he was greatly addicted to drinking būzeh and talar.* Latterly, once or twice in the week, he indulged in a drinking party. He was a pleasant companion, and in the course of conversation used often to cite, with great felicity, appropriate verses from the poets. In his latter days he was much addicted to the use of maajun,* while under the influence of which, he was subject to a feverish irritability. He was a humane man. He played a great deal at backgammon, and sometimes at games* of chance with the dice.
His wars.