C H I N A .
H i e r k in .
C a s h g u r .
H o t o n .
p £YM .
fand, equally dangerous with the deferts o f Arabia. The firit
o f thefe communications is in Lat. 42° north, to the E. N. E. o f
Peking; the fecond to the eaft o f the province of Shen-Ji; and
the third in Lat. 32° to the eaft o f Hami, on the frontiers o f
'Thibet. By thefe means a fafe accefs was given from the vaft
Tartarian regions, arid through them, from the countries bordering
on the Cafpian fea, and more remotely from Europe itfelf j
they were the roads o f the travellers and merchants o f the
middle ages.
A d j a c e n t to the fouth-weftern parts were fome important
cities well known to thofe adventurers, fuch as Hierkin, and Cajh-
gur, already mentioned in; this work. *, to which Ptolemy gives
the names o f Comedo, and Cafia Regio; the iirft is fuppofed to’,
havebeen Cajhgar,the capital o f Cafia Regio; Hierkin, theCarcbam
o f Marco Polo, p. 34, is conjectured to have taken its name from its
iituation on the ALchardes, a river which runs from the north-
eaft, and was remarkable as a ftation which merchants trading
with the Seres had in the very neighborhood. In the time o f
our great traveller the inhabitants were Mahometans, intermixed
with a few NeHorians.
Hoton or Coton, a province to the fouth-eaft o f Hierkin, bordering
on the defert, is fuppofed to have belonged to the ancient
Chata. It is very populous; the inhabitants are commercial,
cultivate cotton, flax, hemp, and wheat, and make wine. Peym
is another province productive o f Chalcedonies and Jafpers.
The capital o f the fame name is in Lat. 38. Thefe places,
and many others mentioned by Polo, are to be found in the
modern maps.
* Outlines of the Globe, vol. i. p. 8.
Lop,
N A T I O N S A D J A C E N T .
Lop, the city .viiited by Marco Polo, lies in Lat. 41% and is
feated on a lake, which gave name in his time to the great defert.
At Lop the travellers always ftop to provide therafelves with
mutes.or ftrong affes, and provifions for their toilfome journey
oyer .the barren, wafte, which takes a whole month. Marco Polo
feems to have croffed it in the molt difficult part, for the entire
trait confifted of unftable fands or rugged mountains, uninhabitable
by even birds or beafts, with fcarcely any water, and
that ufually bitter. A.t length he arrived at the city o f Sacbion,
the modem Shatcbeu., at the entrance into the kingdom o f Tan-
guth.
N ot far from thence is Camul, a city to be found in the old.
maps- Polo celebrates the great kindnefs o f the inhabitants, who
en the arrival o f any ftrangers, immediately furrender to them
their wives and houfes, and retire Tor the time to other habitations.
He adds, that Mangu Khan, ihocked at the indecent
cuftom, direfted them to build inns for the reception o f the travellers.
This, thefe contented Cornuti took in fuch ill part, that
they never refted till by prefents and remonftrances they prevaled
on the Khan to revoke the ediit.
F u r t h e r , in Lat. 44” 11', Long. 107° from Greenwich, flood
Karakarin, the Holin o f the Cbinefe, the capital o f the antient
Mongols, founded before the twelfth century, or the time o f
Jenghiz Kban. It was previous to his reign an inconfiderable
place, and the relidence o f Ung, Khan o f the Karaites, when
Jengbiz vrrefted it from him. The conqueror improved it
greatly, and his fon Oktay Kban rebuilt it with great fplendor
about the year 1225; ten years afterward he furrounded it with.
V ol. III. A;»- walls,
L o ? .
C a m u l .
K a r a k a r in ,