THE extensive region, formerly called Scythia, and now generally denominated Tartary, has been inhabited from a very early period by Nomade nations, who wandered with their flocks and herds from one part of the continent to another, frequently migrating from the shores of the Eastern Ocean, to the midst of Europe, where they were known by the appellation of Goths or Getes, Vandals, Huns, Turks, Tartars, &c.* These nations were subdivided into various tribes and hordes, consisting of from five thousand to seventy thousand families, who took their names from some celebrated chieftain, and were subject to their respective leaders under the title of Khāns (Kings); but when a number of these nations were united under one leader, he assumed the title of Khākān, (Emperor).*
In the tenth century, a person named Tumenāh Khān, whose descent has been traced by the Oriental historians from Noah, commanded a horde of Moghuls then dwelling to the north-west of China, this person had twin sons, Kubel Khān and Kajuly Behader, whom he prevailed on to sign an agreement, that the dignity of Khān should continue in the posterity of the former, and that of Sepah Salar, Commander-in-Chief, in the descendants of the latter.
From the first of these sons was descended, in the fourth degree, Zingis, called by the Persians, Jengyz Khān, born A. D. 1154, and from the second in the eighth degree, the hero of the following Memoirs, who was born in the district of Kesh, province of Maveralnaher, A. D. 1336.
Jengyz or Zingis died in A. D. 1227, having divided his vast dominions between his four sons, called Jūjy or Tūchy, Jagtay, Auktay, and Tūly; to the first of these was assigned the extensive kingdom of Kipchāk or Great Tartary; to the second, Tūrkestān and Maveralnaher, (Transoxiana); to the third, Mughulistān and Northern China; to the fourth, Persia, and that part of India, west of the river Indus. Their descendants reigned over these countries till the time of Timūr, who subdued them all; but as neither Jengyz or Timūr assumed the title of Khākān, (Emperor) there probably existed a more ancient and honourable family than either of them.* An ancestor of Timūr, named Kerachār Nuyān, was married to a daughter of Jagtay Khān, second son of Zingis, by which means the two families became doubly connected; in consequence of which, Timūr bore the title of Gūrgān, son-in-law of the Khān; it also signifies a great Prince. The continuation of the family history will be given by himself.
P. S. I fear that the number of proper names which occur in this work will tire my readers, but such is the style of Oriental history; the reason assigned for it is, that it may serve as a record of the actions of each chief, and should the author omit any persons, he might be called to account by the heirs. Mirza Abu Talib, who wrote his Travels through Europe, in 1803, apologized to his countrymen for the number of barbarous names he was obliged to relate to them, so that the complaint is mutual.