G a f f a .
B o c h a r a .
by Kouli Kh'à'il by ftorm, who put great part o f the garrifoh to
the l'word, arid made himfelf mailer o f a vaft treafure in arms, am.
munition* arid jewels. Kouli Khan Ihewed here a ftrorig fpecimen
o f oriental juftice, by ripping up the bellies o f eighty Kuzzlebajh,
or foldiers, for only being prefent when fome o f their comrades,
forced one o f the country Women.
T h e Geno'efe, thofe Once ehterprizing people, made "them-
fëlvës mailers o f Cafj'o, a noted city and port on the i'.ux'in'c fea,
in the famous peniufula o f Krim-Tartary. This they feized in
1261, and made the emporium of the commodities o f'India and
P'erjia, which were brought down the Oxus, and the other
routes mentioned in the preceding page. They colonized C.affd
with their own countrymen, and gained prodigious wealth
during the time they were in poíllííi011. It was wfefted from
them in 1475, by Mahomet the gréât, and with it foon expired
the mighty power o f that city o f merchants. Genoa, for centuries
the rival o f Venice, equally potent, and equally brave,
Waged long and fierce wars with each other, incited moré by
avarice, than the ambition o f glory.
Bochara, riot far to the fouth o f Samarcand, was "another
great emporium, "and communicated the eaftern articles to all
the neighbouririg parts of Tartary. It traded with Iridia, China,
and PerJIi}, and partook o f thofe of Mufcovy, by the caravans
Which went from that empire to Cathay. This city feems "to
have been o f more modern date : it is not mentioned, as far as
I recoiled!, before thé days o f the Nubian Geographer, who
wrote fo'me time prior to the year 1151, but it appeals to have
been in the next century a moll flourilhing place.
4 . Anthonie
Anthonie Jenkinfon (Purchas, iii. 241.) gives a very curious
account of the Hate -of B&chara and its commerce, as it Wd6 in
the year 1558. This has been Uninterruptedly continue^ from
the earlieft time to the prefent, for the northern parts o f Ajia
have their wants and luxuries to fin pply - even from India and
China. The difcovery o f the pallage by the Cape-of Good Hope,
gave a great check to this inland commerce. No more commodities
were conveyed that way to the' greateft part o f Europe,
yet ftill the trade is very confiderable to the places I mentioned,
and even to the Ruffian empire. Catherine has, as yet, no lliare
in Hindocfian, no Indian fleets ; * her fplendid courts, and all the
luxuries of her vaft cities are fupplied either from AJira-
iun , or from fhfe other Cafpian parts ; Ajirakah is the great
Ruffian llaple o f the Indian commerce. Gurjef and Kijlar are the
"fame. Perfia has its Herbend, Niezabad, Baku, and others. The
'Tartars have their bay o f Balcban and Mangufblàk, through
which, Bvcharu ftill pours its Indian articles- of commerce. It
i's foreign to the plan o f out-line to -enter ‘into niinuticé. I
mull therefore refer to the fecond Volume of my friend the
Reverend Wm. Coxe's valuable Travels. The 4th Chapter will
fatisfy the molt ardent curiofity.
In refpedt to the antient Ruffian commerce with thefe diftant R u s s i a n C o m -
-parts, -I finali conclude the fubjedt with obfcrving, that atterrile MERC£-
various commodities Of India had arrived through ¡She .channel
of the Oxus into the Cafpian Tea, they were ihipped -for the
Volga, the Rba of the antients. That river was To little known
to the antients, that they havenot left us the name o f a fingle
place in its whole courfe. T h e merchants afcended that great
river. After navigating-it-a very confiderable way'they-entered.
the.