Think, in this batter'd Caravanserai
Whose Doorways are alternate Night and Day,
How Sultán after Sultán with his Pomp
Abode his Hour or two, and went his way.

—Omar Khayyám.

THE story of the conquests of Chingiz Khan, and the partition of nearly the whole of Northern Asia among his descendants, has been so often told, that no useful purpose would be served by recounting it again in this Introduction. Only those phases need be briefly sketched, which form the basis of Mirza Haidar's history, or which help to elucidate the course of events imme­diately preceding it. Though the Tarikh-i-Rashidi embraces many wide regions and deals with many tribes and nations, its chief scenes are laid within the appanage of Chingiz's second son Chaghatai, and it is, before all things, a history of part of the Chaghatai branch of the Mongol dynasty. This is the branch, moreover, which hitherto has remained the most obscure of all those of the family of Chingiz Khan. The other divisions of the empire founded by the great conqueror, have all found abundant historians, not only in China and Mongolia, but among the Musulman writers of Western Asia and among Europeans. The great works of Deguignes, D'Ohsson, and Howorth, though designed to tell the story of all the Chingizi branches, have failed, as yet, to complete that of the house of Chaghatai. The two older authors frankly avow the want of materials, as their reason for leaving this section of their field almost untouched, while Sir H. Howorth, though he is under­stood to have completed his researches in it, has been prevented by other circumstances, from giving to the world his much desired volume on the Chaghatais.

Perhaps the nearest approaches to histories of the Chaghatais are to be found, (1) in an excellent paper entitled The Chagha-tai Mughals, by Mr. E. E. Oliver, in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society,* where the writer has summarised, in a consecu­tive manner, most of that which can be gathered on the subject, from European sources and from translations of Asiatic authors; and (2) in Erskine's History of India under Baber and Huma-yun . The learned translator of Baber's Memoirs had read widely among the Musulman authors, and compiled, in his last work, a more complete epitome of Chaghatai history, from original sources, than is to be found in any other European writings—unless possibly in those of Russian Orientalists, whose books, indeed, are sealed to most European readers. The source from which Mr. Erskine chiefly drew his informa­tion was the Tarikh-i-Rashidi, which he not only studied, but, as we have seen in the Preface, partially translated in a summarised form. The Tarikh-i-Rashidi, however, does not begin at the beginning of the Chaghatai history, but at an arbitrary point, dating nearly a hundred years after the allot­ment of his empire by Chingiz Khan, and at the period when the Khans of Moghulistan, having separated themselves from those of Mávará-un-Nahr, a distinct history of their branch became possible. In order, then, to furnish a foundation for Mirza Haidar's chronicle, it is necessary to fill in, however briefly, this gap of a hundred years, and, in doing so, to take a rapid glance at the two allotments which bordered on that of Chaghatai Khan—the one on the west and the other on the east—for the affairs of all three are, to some extent, interwoven at certain periods.

In assigning his dominions to his four sons, Chingiz Khan appears to have followed an ancient Mongol custom. The sons of a chief usually ruled, as their father's deputies, over certain nations or clans, and at his death each received, as an appanage, the section of the population which had been under his care. Thus the distribution was rather tribal than territorial, and the tribes, which were in most cases nomadic, sometimes shifted their abode, or were driven, by enemies, to migrate from one district to another. These movements, as a fact, do not seem to have occurred very frequently, nor to have altered the position of the main body of the people to any great extent. It will be more convenient, therefore, and far more intelligible, to state the distribution of Chingiz's dominions, as far as possible, in territorial terms.

Juji, or Tushi, the eldest son of Chingiz, died some months before his father, and therefore, never became supreme Khákán* in the regions he governed; but they descended intact to his own son and successor, Batu, as an appanage direct from Chingiz. The centre of this dominion may be taken to be the plains of Kipchak, but it comprised all the country lying north of the lower course of the Sir Daria (the Sihun or Jaxartes) and of the Aral and Caspian seas—“wherever the hoofs of Mongol horses had tramped”; it included also the valleys of the Volga and the Don, and some wide-spread regions on the north shore of the Black Sea; while towards the north it extended beyond the Upper Yaik (or Ural River) into Western Siberia. On its southern and south-eastern confines, this appanage of the Juji line marched with that of Chingiz's second son, Chaghatai, whose central kingdom, Mávará-un-Nahr, or Transoxiana, was situated chiefly between the rivers Sir and Amu (the Jihun or Oxus), but included, in its extension towards the north-east, the hill ranges and steppes lying beyond the right bank of the Sir, east of the Kipchák plains, and west of lakes Issigh-Kul and Ala-Nor. Towards the east, the Chaghatai domain took in the greater part of the region now known as Chinese (or Eastern) Turkistan, Farghána (or Khokand) and Badakhshán; while towards the south it embraced Kunduz, Balkh, and, at the outset, Khorasán—a country which, at that time, spread east­ward to beyond Herat and Ghazni, and southward to Mekrán. This was, perhaps, the most extensive appanage of all, and within its limits were to be found the greatest variety of races and tribes, and the greatest diversity of modes of life. It comprised, on the one hand, some of the richest agricultural districts, peopled by settled inhabitants, far advanced in Asiatic civilisation, and some of the most flourishing cities in Asia; while, on the other hand, some of the rudest hill tribes, or Hazáras as they were called then, had their homes in the southern highlands, and large tracts of barren steppe-land were occupied by almost equally primitive nomads, who drove their flocks from hill to valley and valley to hill, in search of pasture, according to season.

Eastward, again, of this “middle dominion,” as it was often termed, came that of Oktai (or Ogodai), the third son of Chingiz Khan. His allotment was the country of the original Mongols with that of the tribes immediately around it, while he was also heir to his father's capital, Karakorum, and to the supreme authority over the Mongol people. On its western confines his dominion bordered, at first, on that of Chaghatai, in the country since known as Jungar or Zungaria* —a region that, for want of more exact boundaries, may be roughly described as lying north of the Tian-Shan, from about Urumtsi on the east, to the river Chu on the west, and having for its middle line the upper course of the Ili river. This region became the subject of much contention among the descendants of Oktai and Chaghatai, in the latter half of the thirteenth century, and as the house of the former declined, the greater part of it, if not the whole, appears to have gradually merged into the territories of the Chaghatai Khans; while the clans that inhabited it, were dispersed among the tribes of Transoxiana and Kipchak, and their chiefs lived in obscurity under the Khans, or conquerors, for the time being.

Chaghatai himself appears to have been a just and energetic governor, though perhaps rough and uncouth, and addicted to the vice, common among the Mongols, of hard drinking. At any rate, he was animated by the soldier-like spirit of his father, and succeeded in keeping order among as heterogeneous a population, as a kingdom was ever composed of. In 1232, for instance, when sedition showed itself at Bokhara, he acted with promptitude, if with severity, and saved his country from a far-reaching calamity. He was, in all probability, an old-fashioned Mongol, for we read that he stood by the Yasák, or code of laws instituted by Chingiz Khan, and that he showed little favour to what was, at that time in his dominions, the comparatively new and rising religion of Islám. He must, however, have been fairly tolerant, for it is recorded that his minister for Trans-oxiana was a Musulman, called the Jumilat-ul-Mulk, and that mosques and colleges were founded during his reign. But if Chaghatai did not lean towards Islám, neither does it appear that he ever inclined towards Christianity, though that religion, as practised by the Nestorians, must have been familiar to him. It existed in his own dominions and in those of his brother Oktai, who seems to have been thoroughly tolerant, and to have encouraged at his capital, Karakorum, every form of worship, besides the enlistment in his service of men of all religions—a circumstance which had, as will be seen later, an important bearing on subsequent history.

Chaghatai's own capital was at Almáligh, in the valley of the Upper Ili, near the site of the present Kulja, and consequently in the extreme east of his dominion. His reason for fixing it in that remote position, instead of at Bokhara or Samarkand, was probably one of necessity. His Mongol tribesmen and followers —the mainstay of his power—were passionately fond of the life of the steppes: the only existence worthy of men and con­querors, was that passed in the felt tents of their ancestors, among the flocks and herds that they tended in time of peace, and led with them on their distant campaigns. The dwellers in houses and towns were, in their eyes, a degenerate and effeminate race;—the tillers of the soil, slaves who toiled like cattle, in order that their betters might pass their time in luxury. They would serve no Khan who did not pass a life worthy of free-born men and “gentlemen rovers”; and Cha-ghatai and his immediate successors probably saw, as his later descendants are described by Mirza Haidar to have seen, that the one way of retaining the allegiance of his own people, was to humour their desires in this respect, and live, with them, a nomad's life.

Chaghatai died in 1241, after a reign of about fourteen years, and within the same year the death of Oktai occurred at Kara-korum. Thus two out of four of the chief divisions of the Mongol empire were suddenly deprived of their sovereigns, with the result that nearly the whole of the successors of Chingiz were set disputing for the succession. “Among the most violent as regards party spirit and warlike temper,” writes Mr. Oliver in his summary of this period, “were some of the representatives of Chaghatai. For the time being, it ended in Turakina, Oktai's widow, being appointed regent; but there were set up lasting disputes among the rival claimants, and the seeds of much future mischief were sown. For long after, the disputes regarding the succession to the throne of the great Kaán became inextricably mixed up with the affairs, more especially of the eastern part, of Chaghatai's Khanate, and it is impossible to give an intelligible account of the latter without occasional references to the former.”*

Little is known of the way in which Chaghatai disposed of his kingdom at his death, and there appears to be no mention, anywhere, of his having followed the ancestral custom of his house in distributing it among his descendants. He is recorded to have left a numerous family, but to have been succeeded by a grandson, and a minor, named Kara Hulaku, while his widow, Ebuskun, assumed the regency. This statement, however, seems to apply to Turkistan, Transoxiana, and the adjacent regions: at all events not to Kashghar, Yarkand, Khotan, Aksu, and the southern slopes of the Tian Shan mountains—or, in other words, to the province south of the line of the Tian Shan, which is called, in our times, Eastern Turkistan. As regards this province, Mirza Haidar tells us that it was given by Chaghatai, presumably at his death, to the clan or house of Dughlát, whose members were reckoned to be of the purest Mongol descent, and one of the noblest divisions of that people. We shall hear more of this clan and the province they ruled, farther on; but the important point to notice here, with reference to subsequent events, is that the Dughláts were made hereditary chiefs, or Amirs, of the various districts of Eastern Turkistan, as far back as the time of Chaghatai, for it is chiefly on this incident that hinges the permanent division of the Chaghatai realm into two branches, at a later date.

Ebuskun's sway was a short one, for as early as 1247 Almáligh was attacked by Kuyuk, the son and successor of Oktai, and she was deprived of her power. For a time, disorder prevailed throughout the Khanate; but Kuyuk seems to have had suffi­cient power to set up one Yasu (or Isu) Mangu, who, being him­self a worthless debauchee, governed the country through the agency of a Musulman Wazir, called Khwája Bahá-ud-Din. Kuyuk died within three years of his accession, and was followed, as supreme Khakán, by Mangu, who, in 1252, restored Kara Hulaku and Ebuskun to their former dignities. Bahá-ud-Din and Yasu Mangu were now, in their turn, removed, the former being put to death at once. Kara Hulaku died within a few months of his restoration, and after his death we hear no more of Ebuskun. Hulaku's throne passed over to his own widow—one Orgánah Khatun—whose first act was to execute Yasu Mangu, under some compact, which appears to have been made for his riddance, between her predecessor and the Khakán Mangu.

Orgánah is described as possessing much beauty, wisdom, and influence, and as long as Mangu lived she was allowed to reign in peace. But he died in 1259, when a war of succession to the supreme Khakánate broke out between his brothers Irtukbuka and Kublai. In this strife, the Chaghatai princess appears to have taken no part, but she suffered nevertheless, for in 1261 she was driven from Almáligh by Algu (a great-grandson of Chingiz), who had been nominated by Irtukbuka to rule in her place, and to bring over the Chaghatai forces to assist him in his war with Kublai. Algu, however, betrayed his patron, who, abandoning Karakorum to his rival Kublai, marched against Almáligh, whence Algu had to fly for safety, first to Kashghar and Khotan, and finally to Samarkand. Irtukbuka spent the winter of 1263 in Almáligh, devastating the district and putting to death many of Algu's followers. By these excesses he weakened his own army and resources to so great a degree, that he had to submit to Kublai and make peace with Algu, stipulating to retain for himself a portion only, of the eastern part of the Chaghatai Khanate. These transactions brought about not only a reconciliation between Algu and Orgánah, but a marriage. Both, however, died within a few months, and Irtukbuka, having done homage to Kublai, by prostrating himself at the door of Kublai's tent, the latter remained supreme from Peking to Transoxiana, and acquired the title of Khakán. He was the “Great Kaán” of Marco Polo.

But a rival was beginning to show himself in the person of Kaidu, a grandson of Oktai. This prince was plotting, in western Kipchák, for the assistance of his uncle Batu, in asserting his claim to the province of Turkistan—the north­western division of the Chaghatai Khanate—and probably also for the region then becoming known as Moghulistan, which lay immediately to the eastward of Turkistan, and comprised the Zungar country, already alluded to. At the death of Algu, Kublai nominated Mubárak Shah, a son of Algu and Orgánah, to the Chaghatai succession, but immediately afterwards is said to have appointed, as his vice-regent, another great-grandson of Chaghatai, named Borák (or Barák), to support Mubárak Shah in resisting Kaidu. So far from assisting the young Khan, Borák drove him from the throne, made common cause with Kaidu, and for a time exercised joint sovereignty with the latter over Transoxiana. But jealousies were not long in showing themselves between the allies, and quarrels ensued which were only partially composed at a kuriltai, or conference of the chiefs of the tribes, held in Turkistan in 1269, when certain points were agreed on, the most important being “the implied recognition of Kaidu as the rightful Khakán of the Moghuls, which from this time was extended by the Chaghatai Khans both to him and his son Chapár.”*

Borák now proceeded to indemnify himself by invading Khorasán, but his campaigns resulted in nothing but defeat, and eventually he retired to Bokhara, where he died, or was perhaps poisoned, in 1270. “His reign,” says Mr. Oliver, “had extended only to some four years, but they were years of misery and destruction to some of the fairest lands and most prosperous cities on the Zaráfshán. His death delivered them from at least one cowardly tyrant and persecutor, though they still continued to suffer from the fratricidal wars that constantly raged between the rival chiefs of the lines of Oktai and Chag-hatai, and the unhappy citizens had even more reason than Venice of old for invoking ‘a plague on both their houses.’

“Borák's death left Kaidu sole master of the western portion of the Khanate. The dispossessed Mubárak Shah and other chiefs took the oath of allegiance to him, thus rendering him a still more dangerous rival of Kublai. In 1270 (668 H.), much to the indignation of the sons of Borák, he nominated Nikpai, a grandson of Chaghatai, chief of the tribe, but in less than two years Nikpai seems to have revolted, been killed, and succeeded by Tuka Timur, another scion of the house (circa 1271, or 670 H.), who, in less than two years more, was ousted by Davá, the son of Borák (circa 1273, or 672 H.). Davá had made up his quarrel with Kaidu, his claims having been constantly urged by the latter's son Chapár. His reign was the longest ever enjoyed by a descendant of Chaghatai, and the Khanate might have hoped for some peace from an alliance between the rival houses, but unfortunately a third firebrand appeared on the scene. Abáká, the Il-Khán of Persia, who had always acknowledged Kublai as the rightful Khakán in opposition to Kaidu, and who had never forgiven Borák's invasion of Khorasán, was only watching his opportunity, and his Wazir, Shams-ud-Din Juvaini,*

had only to draw his attention to a favourable omen, to start him for Bokhara, which he entered about 1274 (672 H.), plunder­ing, burning, and murdering right and left.”*

Davá reigned for some thirty-two years and was almost con­stantly at war. He possessed himself of Ghazni, and from that stronghold, as a base, made several expeditions into India, ravaging the Punjab and Sind, and sacking at different times between 1296 and 1301 Peshawar, Multan, Lahore, and Delhi. In the meantime, Kaidu had involved himself in wars of long duration with the Khakán Kublai, and as these took place shortly before the time of Marco Polo's travels through Central Asia and China, detailed accounts of some of them have been handed down to us in his narrative. These wars extended, from first to last, over a period of some thirty years, and were not even concluded in 1294, when Kublai died and was succeeded as Khakán by his grandson Uljaitu.* The credit indeed of finally overthrowing Kaidu is due rather to this prince, and moreover it was not Kaidu alone whom he subdued, but Davá also, for this last, on his return from a campaign in India in 1301, seems to have allied himself with Kaidu and to have assisted in the wars against the Khakán. Kaidu's death followed quickly on his final reverse, and must have occurred in 1302, about. His son Chapár, backed by the influence of Davá, obtained the recognition of his succession to the Khanate of the eastern division of the country, and both having sent envoys to Uljaitu bearing professions of submission, a period of peace should, it might appear, have been established. But this was not the case. Within a year of Kaidu's death, Davá and Chapár fell out, and the latter was defeated in a battle fought between Samarkand and Khojand. This engagement was followed by several others, victory falling sometimes to one side and some­times to the other, until at length the Khakán Uljaitu routed Chapár and obliged him to submit to Davá.

The death of Davá occurred in 1306, and he was succeeded by his son Kuyuk, who lived only two years, and was in his turn followed by a descendant of Chaghatai named Taliku. This prince is said to have adopted the Musulman religion, and in consequence to have been put to death by his own officers, who raised in his place, one Kabak, a son of Davá. Kabak was installed in 1309, and was at once attacked by Chapár, in alliance with several members of the house of Oktai. The allies were beaten in a number of fights, and eventually fled for refuge to the territory of the Khakán (now Kuluk,* a nephew of Uljaitu), while their dominions were appropriated by the house of Chaghatai, the clans who inhabited them becoming in part its subjects and in part those of the Kipcháks. “With Chapár,” says Mr. Oliver, “the house of Oktai disappears, though repre­sentatives came to the front for a brief period again in the persons of Ali and of Dánishmanjah, while Timur (Tamerlane), after displacing the family of Chaghatai, selected his puppet khans from the Oktai stock.”* Within a year of his installation, Kabak made way for an elder brother, who ascended the throne of the Chaghatai under the name of Isán Bugha, though his historical identity (in connection with this name at least) is somewhat uncertain. He provoked the Khakán into war, and was beaten almost at the outset of his rule; afterwards he invaded Khorasán with a like result, and was finally forced to fly from the country, before the combined forces of one of his brothers and of the seventh Il-Khán, or King of Persia. This occurred in 1321, when Kabak seems to have resumed the throne which he had abdicated twelve years previously.

It was about this time that a permanent division occurred in the realm of Chaghatai, the two parts being known by the general names of Mávará-un-Nahr (or Transoxiana) and Moghulistan (or Jatah), though there were other provinces attached to each section. The story of the Khans of the former branch, roughly sketched above need not be followed further, as the history of Mirza Haidar, which chiefly concerns us, belongs to the other or eastern division, and is told by him, a descendant of its princes, in full. It is only necessary to remark with regard to Mávará-un-Nahr, that from the time of this division forward, the fifty years that remained till the great Amir, Timur, made himself master of the land, confusion and discord prevailed. During those few years the names of fifteen Khans appear in the lists— some of them not even of the Chaghatai line—together with some periods of anarchy when no name occurs. The rise of Timur was the turning-point from decadence to power in Mávará-un-Nahr, but at the same time, the death-blow to the original line of Chaghatai. He reduced the country to order, and ruled with uncontrolled power, though he left to the Khans, whom he set up or pulled down at pleasure, certain dignities and privileges which were nothing more than nominal.

We have seen already, how near the empire of Chaghatai came to being divided during the wars of Kaidu. This Prince was, as far as can be gleaned, one of the ablest of the Oktai line, and an active and determined soldier. During his struggles for supremacy, he held a large tract of country carved chiefly out of the Chaghatai appanage, though taken partly from that of Oktai. It is not clear what were the limits of the territory he held thus temporarily, and indeed it is probable that no actual limits were ever acknowledged. In all likelihood his power extended chiefly over certain tribes who were nomads, or dwellers in tents, and thus in the habit of moving their abodes when expedient; such movements, too, may have been more frequent than usual about Kaidu's period, for the tribesmen must have been constantly entangled in the prevailing wars, and subject therefore, to the changes of fortune of those with or against whom they had to serve. His dominion, consequently, would have been more tribal than territorial in its extent. At any rate it would seem that during Kaidu's last days—the period when he was allied with Borák—his power reached from the Tálás River and Lake Bálkásh on the west, to Kara-Khoja (between Turfán and Hami) on the east, and that it thus included nearly the whole length of the Tian Shan mountains, together with the Zungar country on the north, and Kashghar, Yarkand, Aksu, etc., on the south of them. Although this wide tract never fell permanently to him or his race, his temporary hold over it seems to have assisted in marking it out as a self-contained eastern division of the Chaghatai realm, and the greater portion of it—all that lay to the north of the Tian Shan—acquired, about this time, the name of Moghulistan, or vulgarly “Jatah.” It was, above all parts of that realm, the land of the purely nomad Moghul (or Mongol) tribes, as distinguished from the settled populations of Turkistan, Farghána, and Má-vará-un-Nahr on the one hand, and the mountaineers of Hisar, Karatigin, Badakhshán, etc., on the other. It was the land to or from which the tent-dwelling population could migrate, and carry with them their only wealth—their flocks and herds— when safety or other interests demanded a move; and it became, moreover, as Mirza Haidar's history will show, a sort of refuge for the defeated and discontented among those tribes and the neighbouring nations, and the country that the true Moghul loved to call his own.

Thus, at the beginning of the fourteenth century, when the Khans of Chaghatai were rapidly declining in power, and could scarcely maintain themselves in their central kingdom of Mávará-un-Nahr, this eastern division, or Moghulistan, appears scarcely to have felt their sway. The hereditary Dughlát Amirs who, as we have seen, had been set up by Chaghatai, governed in detail, with more or less power, in the different cities and dis­tricts of the region south of the Tian Shan (or Eastern Turkistan), and left scarcely a trace behind them in any history but that of one of their own clan—Mirza Haidar. They acted in the name of the Chaghatai Khan of the time, and though nominally hereditary, they seem in practice to have held office very much at the pleasure of the tribesmen whose affairs they administered; while the popularity of each one probably depended more on the degree of independence he was able to secure for the small section that regarded him as its chief, than on his hereditary rights. Still in the early days, the power of some of them must have been considerable, and it seems to have risen in degree, as that of the Chaghatai Khans declined. They fought among themselves as a matter of course, and the people suffered, no doubt, from the consequent disorder. It would be quite natural therefore that Isán Bugha, a Moghul by descent, when forced to retire from Mávará-un-Nahr, should turn his steps towards Moghulistan, and its companion province south of the moun­tains.

Just at this point the histories of the period are discordant. As remarked above, the identity of Isán Bugha is to some extent uncertain. He is known to have been a son of Davá Khan, and is believed to have had some brothers. Abul Gházi Khan, the historian King of Khwárizm of the seventeenth century, speaks of him as “Il Khwája, surnamed Isán Bugha.” On the other hand, Khwándamir makes Isán Bugha continue to reign over the western branch of the Chaghatai until his death, and alludes to one Imil Khwája (apparently another son of Davá) as having established himself in Moghulistan.* It is possible that Imil, or Il, may denote one and the same person;*

but however this may be, if the usually accurate Abul Gházi be followed, we learn that: “As there remained no longer in Kashghar, Yarkand, Alah-Tágh or Uighuristan, any prince de­scended from Chaghatai Khan, whose authority was acknow­ledged, the Moghul Amirs held a council, at which it was decided to summon Isán Bugha from Bokhara; and they proclaimed him Khan of Kashghar, Yarkand, Alah-Tágh, and of Moghulistan.”* This would make it appear that Isán Bugha was still reigning in Mávará-un-Nahr when summoned by the Dughlát Amirs; but the point is doubtful, for we have just been told that he had fled to Moghulistan. In any case, the dates of the two events agree, for the disappearance of Isán Bugha from Mávará-un-Nahr is recorded by one author to have taken place in 721 H. (1321 A.D.), and this is just the year when he is said, by the other, to have been summoned to Kashghar and made Khan of Moghulistan, with (it may be assumed) its dependencies.

Thus, although the chronology and even some of the events of the times are uncertain, the final division of the Chaghatai Khanate appears to have taken place in or about the year 1321, and it resulted in two separate lines of Khans being established which were never afterwards united. The western branch was, a little later, superseded by Timur, whose descendants, through Baber, gave the ruling house to India, which has gone, for three centuries, by the name of “Moghul”; though, as we shall see from Mirza Haidar's narrative, it was, in its early days, known—and perhaps more correctly—as the “Chaghatai.” The history of the eastern branch—that of the true “Moghuls” of Central Asia—we may now leave to be told, in detail, by our author; but as this line was several times broken, or sub­divided, and as the subject is a complicated one, it may aid the reader to give (immediately below), in the form of an epitomised statement, a general view of the succession of the Moghul Khans from the time of Isán Bugha onwards. It is extracted almost entirely from Erskine's History of India,* and was com­piled by him from the Tarikh-i-Rashidi; but it contains some emendations from the Chinese history of the Ming dynasty, as translated by Dr. Bretschneider, for the period immediately succeeding the reign of Khizir Khwája, and a few other altera­tions besides.

It is about this period that Mirza Haidar's chronicle is at its weakest; and it is also a period where some of the best of the Musulman authors fail us. The Rauzat us Safá of Mir Khwánd and the Zafar-Náma of Sharaf-ud-Din, both differ from the Tarikh-i-Rashidi, and the Ming history is at variance with all three. Thus between Khizir Khwája and Vais Khan, the Rauzat us Safá and the Zafar-Náma show two reigning Khans of Moghulistan, and the Tarikh-i-Rashidi also gives accounts of two only, though the names in the last-mentioned work are not the same as in the other two histories.* But the Tarikh-i-Rashidi , in another place, relates that six Khans, including Khizir Khwája and Vais, were raised to the throne by the Dughlát Amir, Khudáidád, thus placing four between them. These Khans are—

Shama-i-Jahán,
Nakhsh-i-Jahán,
Muhammad,
Shir Muhammad,

and the author states them in this order; so that the three which correspond with the names of those given in the Chinese histories, do not fall in the same succession. Again none of the Musulman authors supply the date of succession for any of the intermediate Khans whom they mention. The Chinese annals show three Khans for the period between Khizir Khwája and Vais, and furnish the year of succession for each of them, besides giving dates of other contemporary occurrences, which indicate that a particular Khan was reigning at a particular time. The annals chiefly refer to tributary missions and appeals for assistance addressed to the Chinese Emperor, but it is precisely such occurrences as these that the Chinese chroniclers record with care and exactness. Their dynastic histories are believed to be not always trustworthy, but they are, at any rate, com­pilations, more or less methodical, from State documents and are not based merely on tradition, as are most of the Musulman histories. As mere records of events and dates, therefore, the Chinese accounts are likely to be the best guides; and I should be inclined to substitute their data, regarding this period, for those of Mirza Haidar. I have, however, shown both in amend­ing Mr. Erskine's epitome, as will be seen (at p. 46). A full extract from Dr. Bretschneider's translation of the Chinese history is also appended immediately below.

The three lists just spoken of, stand as follows:—

Of the two dates furnished by the Tarikh-i-Rashidi, the one indicating the year of Khizir Khwája's death is certainly in­correct, for there is evidence to show, in addition to the con­currence of the authorities named above, that this Khan did not reign up to the year 1420. The portion of the Matla' Asaadin, of Abdur Razzák, translated by Quatremère,* though it contains no list of these Khans, makes mention of ambas­sadors having been sent to Shah Rukh, of Mávará-un-Nahr, in 819 H. (1416), by Nakhsh-i-Jahán, who is described as a son of Shama-i-Jahán of Moghulistan; thereby implying, it would seem, that Nakhsh-i-Jahán was reigning in that year in Moghul-istan. This date accords with the Chinese indication for the accession of Nakhsh-i-Jahán—or the year when he would most probably have despatched envoys to his neighbours. The same work* mentions also that in 823 H. (1420) Shah Rukh's ambassadors, then on their way to China, learned that disorder prevailed in Moghulistan in consequence of Vais Khan, who was then reigning, having attacked Shir Muhammad Oghlán. This statement stands by itself; but it has some resemblance to that of Mirza Haidar, who relates that between Vais Khan and “Shir Muhammad Khan there arose great disputes.” It also appears, from the Matla' Asaadin, that in 1425 Shir Muhammad held powers of some kind in Moghulistan, though he may not have been the reigning Khan. It is stated, at any rate, that in that year Mirza Ulugh Beg, who was ruling in Mávará-un-Nahr, undertook an expedition into Moghulistan and defeated Shir Muhammad. Yet, according to the Chinese, Vais Khan was then reigning, he having slain Nakhsh-i-Jahán in 1418. On the subject of Shir Muhammad, therefore, the Matla' Asaadin and the Tarikh-i-Rashidi would seem to be at one, in so far that they both name him as living at a period immediately previous to the accession of Vais, though neither states precisely that he was a reigning Khan of the dynasty.

As I have placed in juxtaposition above, the lists of reigning Khans, according to the various authorities, it may be useful also to show how they vary in their statements regarding the sons of Khizir Khwája, some of whom reigned, though some did not.

Thus the Rauzat us Safá has—

(1.) Shama-i-Jahán,
(2.) Shir Ali,
(3.) Shah Jahán Oghlán.

The Zafar-Náma gives:—

(1.) Shama-i-Jahán,
(2.) Muhammad Oghlán,
(3.) Shir Ali,
(4.) Shah Jahán,

while the Tarikh-i-Rashidi mentions:—

(1.) Muhammad Khan,
(2.) Shama-i-Jahán,
(3.) Nakhsh-i-Jahán,

The passage taken from Dr. Bretschneider's version of the Ming history runs thus:* —

“After Yung-lo acceded to the throne he sent an envoy with a letter and presents to the King of Bie-shi-ba-li.* But at that time Hei-di-rh-ho-djo had died,* and had been succeeded by his son Sha-mi-cha-gan. The latter sent in the next year an embassy to the emperor, offering as tribute a block of rude jade and fine horses. The envoy was well treated and rewarded. At that time it had happened that An-ko Tie-mu-rh, Prince of Hami, had been poisoned by Gui-li-chi, Khan of the Mongols, and Sha-mi-cha-gan made war on the latter. The emperor was thankful, and sent an envoy with presents to him, exhorting the King to be on good terms with To-to, the Prince of Hami.

“In 1406 Sha-mi-cha-gan sent tribute, and the emperor accordingly despatched Liu Tie-mu-rh, a high officer, with presents to Bie-shi-ba-li. In the year 1407 Sha-mi-cha-gan presented three times tribute. His envoys had been ordered to solicit the assistance of Chinese troops for reconquering Sa-ma-rh-han, which country, as they stated, had formerly belonged to Bie-shi-ba-li. The emperor sent his eunuchs, Pa Tai and Li Ta, together with Liu Tie-mu-rh, to Bie-shi-ba-li to inquire cautiously into the matter. The envoys presented silk stuffs to the King, and were well received. They returned home in the next year, and brought the intelligence that Sha-mi-cha­gan was deceased, and his younger brother, Ma-ha-ma, had succeeded him. The emperor then sent the same envoys once more to Bie-shi-ba-li, to offer a sacrifice in memory of the late King and bestow presents on Ma-ha-ma. When, in 1410, imperial envoys on their way to Sa-ma-rh-han passed through Bie-shi-ba-li, they were well treated by Ma-ha-ma, who in the next year despatched an embassy to the Chinese court, offering fine horses and a wen pao (leopard).

“When this embassy returned, they were accompanied by An, who carried gold embroidered silk stuffs for the King. At that time an envoy of the Wa-la (Oirats) complained that Ma-ha-ma was arming for making war on the Wa-la. The emperor sent to warn him. In 1413 Ma-ha-ma sent one of his generals with tribute to China. He reached Kan Su. Orders had been given to the civil and military authorities to receive him honourably.

“In the next year (1414) people returning from the Si-yu brought the intelligence that Ma-ha-ma's brother and another had both died in a short interval. The emperor sent again An to Bie-shi-ba-li, with a letter of condolence. When Ma-ha-ma died he left no son. His nephew, Na-hei-shi-dji-han, succeeded him, and in the spring of 1416 despatched an envoy to inform the emperor of his uncle's death. The emperor sent the eunuch Li Ta to offer a sacrifice in memory of the late King and confer the title of wang (King) on his successor. In 1417 Na-hei-shi-dji-han sent an embassy to inform the emperor that he was about to marry a princess from Sa-ma-rh-han,* and solicited in exchange for horses, a bride's trousseau. Then 500 pieces of variegated and 500 of plain white silk stuff were bestowed on the King of Bie-shi-ba-li as wedding presents.

“In 1418 an envoy, by name Su-ko, arrived from Bie-shi-ba­li, reporting that his sovereign (Na-hei-shi-dji-han) had been slain by his cousin, Wai-sz, who then had declared himself King. At the same time Wai-sz with his people had transferred their abode to the west, changing the former name of the empire (Bie-shi-ba-li) into I-li-ba-li. The emperor said that it was not his custom to meddle with the internal affairs of foreign countries. He bestowed upon Su-ko the rank of tu tu ts'ien shi, and at the same time sent the eunuch Yang Chung with a mission to Wai-sz, conferring on the King, as presents, an arrow, a sword, a suit of armour, and silk stuffs. The chieftain Hu-dai-da* and more than seventy other people of I-li-ba-li all received presents. Subsequently Wai-sz sent frequently tribute to the Chinese court,* as did also his mother, So-lu-tan Ha-tun (Sultan Khatun).

“In 1428 Wai-sz died, and was succeeded by his son, Ye-sien bu-hua,* who also sent repeatedly tribute to China. Tribute was also offered by Bu-sai-in, the son-in-law of the late King.

“Ye-sien bu-hua died in 1445, and was succeeded by Ye-mi-li-hu-djo .* The latter sent camels as tribute, and also a block of rude jade weighing 3800 kin, but not of the best quality. The Chinese government returned for every two kin of jade one piece of white silk.

“In 1457 a Chinese envoy was sent to I-li-ba-li with presents for the King, and in 1456 again.* It was then settled that I-li-ba-li was to send tribute every three or five years, and the number of the people in the suite of the envoy should not surpass ten men. Subsequently embassies from that country were seldom seen at the Chinese court.”

Isán Bugha Khán seems to have been called into Moghulistan about A.H. 721 (1321), and to have reigned till 730 (1330).

An Interregnum.

Tughluk Timur Khán, son of Isán Bugha, born about 730, began to reign 748 (1347), died 764 (1363).

Usurpation of Amir Kámar-ud-Din. It was against him that the expeditions of Timur into Moghulistan were directed —A.H. 768-94 (1367-1392).

On the death of Vais there was a division among the Moghuls, some adhering to Yunus Khán, the eldest son of Vais, others to Isán Bugha II., the younger son.

Yunus Khan, who was expelled 832 (1429), returned 860 (1456), and regained the western part of Moghulistan. Hostilities were main­tained between the eastern and western Moghuls till the death of his grand-nephew, Kabak Sultan, when he reigned without a rival.

In the latter part of his life, the remoter tribes of the steppes, dis­pleased with his fondness for towns, separated from him, and acknowledged his second son, Sultan Ahmad, or Alácha Khán, as their Khán—so that the kingdom was again divided into two during his lifetime. He died 892 H. (1487).

Sultan Mahmud Khan, Yunus' eldest son, succeeded his father in Tashkand and as chief of the western tribes. He was defeated by Shaibáni Khán in 908 (1502-3), lost Tash-kand and Sairám, and was finally put to death by Shaibáni in 914 H. (1508-9).

Isán Bugha II., raised to the throne in 832 H. (1429), and through life supported by the eastern Moghuls, died 866 (1462),* was succeeded by his son

Dust Muhammad Khán, who ruled in the eastern districts (Uighuristán, etc.), died 873 (1468-9).

Kabak Sultan Oghlán, his son, ruled for a time about Turfán, or Uighuristán, where he was murdered.

Sultan Ahmad Khán, second son of Yunus, governed the eastern Moghuls in Aksu and Uighuristán. He was generally known as Alácha Khán—“the slaughtering Khán.” He was bent on making himself absolute ruler of the steppes, destroyed the chiefs, and curtailed the power of many of the tribes. Defeated by Shaibáni Khán in 908 (1502-3), he died of grief in 909 (1503-4).

The death of Sultan Ahmad was followed by many civil wars and much anarchy in Moghulistan. His elder brother, Sultan Mahmud, invaded his dominions from the west. Sultan Ahmad's numerous sons contended with one another. Several sections of the people, and among others the Kirghiz, separated from the main body. The anarchy and civil wars lasted some years. The country was overrun by Abá Bakr (a Dughlát) of Kashghar, by the Kalmáks and the Kazáks. The whole of the tribes of Moghulistan never again united under one head. Two Khanates and the confederation of the Kirghiz-Kazáks seem to have arisen out of the ruins of the Khanate of the Moghuls. Sultan Mansur, the eldest son of Sultan Ahmad, established himself in Aksu, Turfán, etc., and a new Khanate arose in Kashghar and the western provinces.

Sultan Said Khan, third son of Sultan Ahmad, in Rajab 920 (Sept. 1514), or eleven years after his father's death, seized Kashghar, and expelled Abá Bakr Mirza. He died 16 Zilhajah 939 (9 July, 1533); and was succeeded by his son, Abdur Rashid Khan, who died 973 (1565-6); and was succeeded by his son, Abdul Karim.

Mansur Khan, Sultan Ahmad's eldest son, was acknowledged and ruled in Turfán and the eastern provinces—i.e., Uighuristán. He died in 950 (1543-4), having reigned two years along with his father, and forty more by himself; he was succeeded by his son, Sháh Khán.

Meanwhile in the steppes of Moghulistan, the Kirghiz established themselves under Khans of their own, and in process of time, formed a kind of federative union with the Kazák Uzbegs, which has, in some degree, lasted to the present day, and has been called “the three hordes of Kirghiz.”

Amir Tulik, Ulusbegi (or chief of the tribe) of the Moghul Khans, contemporary with Isán Bugha I., succeeded by

Amir Bulaji, his brother; raised Tughluk Timur to the throne; succeeded by his son,

Amir Khudáidád, who is said to have reigned about ninety years in Kashghar. He succeeded his father, probably soon after the year 748 H. (1347). In his time Amir Kamar-ud-Din, his uncle, usurped the Khanship of the Moghuls, and for a time also (it would appear) that of the greater part of Alti Shahr. The chronology of Amir Khudáidád's life is very uncertain. He was succeeded by

Amir Sayyid Ali, grandson of Khudáidád (by his son Amir Sayyid Ahmad). Sayyid Ali reigned about twenty-four years—838 to 861 H. (1435 to 1457)—and was succeeded by his sons,

Sániz Mirza, in Yarkand, who ex­pelled his brother from Kashghar, and reigned seven years. He died 868 H. (1463-4).

Muhammad Haidar Mirza in Kash-ghar, whence he was expelled by his brother.

Muhammad Haidar Mirza, on his brother's death, succeeded. He is said to have reigned twenty-four years in all, or eight years with imperfect authority and sixteen years with full authority. In 885 H. (1480) he was expelled by his nephew and stepson, Abá Bakr.

Abá Bakr Mirza, son of Sániz, reigned in all forty-eight years. The years of his reign are probably reckoned from the date of his taking possession of Yarkand, about 873 H. (1468-9). He was finally defeated and expelled by Sultan Said Khan, the third son of Sultan Ahmad Khan (Alácha Khan), who changed the dynasty. See Khans of Moghulistan, above. Abá Bakr was murdered 920 H.

It may perhaps help to make matters clear as regards the dates, if I append here, a list of the western branch of the line of Chaghatai Khans (those of Mávará-un-Nahr or Trans-oxiana), extracted from Mr. Stanley Lane Poole's Muhammadan Dynasties (p. 242).

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