T V a»e.
G reat B o-
CHARI A.
Nephthalites.
Beckawitz, towards Khiva, were aH «cut off-by.thgjHzbpk^* f t I j p
been laid that upon thaSiOcxafioQ. th^fe TatafS;oh^ged s%e isojirfcfpC
Khefel, which formerly fell -into theXa^iapji?: but as thisjiver-is: on-
the E, of the G-ihon, it #| clear that it could not pafe that river to join
the Ca sp ian an d we have already. Jeen that the G^ihoniin the'-tenth.
century,,flowed jintoy||gj Aral. It Isn o t .improbable; that,. lijpijpr^the
defcrts encroached on Kharizm, one,or, two rivers may have run^p^the
Cafpian from,the ea£$. or perhaps thefe fahfes may arife'from qpe-,6r
tw o |H i# .iirp ich ra ^ 4|ie..-Amu having joined that /fa., As thejarger
rivers chiefly bpleng to Gjsat JBucharia* they are referyed,for the-de-
feription of, that country.
I The hiftory of Kharizm-hasbeen ably ijluftratedhy its king^dr khan,
Abulgazi, in his general hiftqry of, the Tatars .written about i66c^ij^He
was born in 1605, and eleded khai* *643," after a lVng in
Perfia. He died in if tf j, r,eWed- an excellent prince, «pad a man
endowed with the.rareft qualities. -
- 1 Bjf faritHe mofflftaportaht part of Independent Tatarydff-cbraprifed
un'det “th e ' ntmfe'J of <5ir;ea t ‘ ■BucHARiAjV^^eHerally.» fuppdfed to
hz fe Bokhara, the firft which the.Perikn
"niefcliantsJ ehtefriiqn wfiting-tljefeountry. It is part of the Taurahjof
thd a d e i^ Peiffeans,'andSvas chiefly*knownt:6 tfhe Greeks and Rhidans
by the names of Sogdiana and Baftriana-; :the former-being the Mawrer-
alnahar, or country beyond the river, of oriental geographywhile
Badriana correfponds with Balk, and thus belohgs to Iran, .not,to Tou-
Tati. From the fecorid fob of Zingis it- received the■ name.of Zagathai.
By the Byzantine hittorians the people are called Ephthalites, or corruptly
Nephthalites, a name derived from the Oxus' or Amu,, by the
• Hanway, Colonel,Bruce,, and Bel1, all vary in their account of the circa m (lances ; and evince
how idle it would be to. alter wraps on the reports of any firigle traveller.
9. Aftley, iv. 477 : but that work, an amazing labour for one mat),"is riot free-from -ipiljakcs.
See Ebn Haukal, p. 240 - 244, for a curious account of Kharizm ltv||J|IchtH'century, from
which it appears that ftreams or branches ran from the Gihon near Hazarafp, which probably
«nfled in the fnppbfed mouths of that fiver in the Cafpian. He fays the fea -of Klhanzm is
400 miles in circuit) and -befides the Gabon receives the Qhaje-, that is the rivef of, Shaflv, or tlic
Sihon f p. 2%.
Perhaps ft'yfed Abt@lah^®Estheriyer'ofgold'.,'-.Thpf^By^ntine writers,
wliOih-Sed & imitate claffieaPlanguage,’ichlf the -EphthaJitesiWhite H u n s)
as rWjith< them*. 'fikthe eaftdin Barbarians were Scythians g or - Huns-;
whence, theb\a<^dh&ts (Require canftant- elueidatioaufrnto- fhe Chinefe:
and,other-oriental--rnemoriMs,,ahdrpirticularly fromftheiexaft'- account
of the'irations iif northern Afra^ wh-ii&f hda- b e en ^k in r by Falks) and
other J&fht
Great' Bueharia extends more than ynSb- B, ’miles inJdngfii front Nt
to Sr, by a media4!* |MseMth)' if Fergatfa be included, of’a b o u t t h t f d
rather exceeding Gf-eht Brildin in fixe, but '-much inferior-'to the^ebuiftfy
called Little Bueharia. Tfi-eh’ northern- Boundary kftphSajhsr'-to’ blithe
molihfai’h's dftArguri ; - BJt Ifienieff feeffrs'tO 'rgftritt'itho tfee-raveriSyr
©rSihon, a-feedefi-ag Bow even ;vrithhthatiriverr(5nl'?6be*®i*E , wh^-re if
fcrfeeis: ■wkh'Khagrizm."’ Onfhe.'wtftertte fide ■ & defast,'• .the&iten Amu)
and’bther defk'rfs, divisa Bueharia* from Khari^fth; aiftd Ghl'afah: while
©n the S. knd’E. the mountains*'of Gaur, or Paropamiffl-s) -- the Hindoo
Koh? and thei^liairt of Belur, are perpetual bafriers.^
* The original- population 'of this' coun'try Was .'Scythian, like th.at of
Perfia ^ and tije’ ha^VCT arfe frill deh^miffatediby the fame Tataric term of
Tadjiks, which£the barbarous'viftor-s afligneStb the^I^rfians.. The hiftory
©f this celebrated country might be traedd from-the'earlielf peridd-s, as-.the
feat-and fource of the moft ahefesnfi-PeMan monarchy, the kingibedng
engaged in'repeated wars with thbfe'of'fEourah,(OT the Scythians, on
fhis fide and beyond-.the Imaus, whofe.queen Thmnyr-is; is* fajdito^havs
flain Cyrus- in- b&ttle.'ff' But this region-became better kno.w,B,i after-the
progrefs of Alexander as *far as Cojend on the Sirr,. inferred with great
probability to», be the Alexandria'ultima, and the 'fifrtheft- limit of his
Gourfe-towayds- the north.. The hift -ry Sf4*he-(Ji®tk monarchy in Bac-
ti iana, and of the-Grecian colonies in Hindoftan, may,be tracer! in the
learned work of Bayer. After the Mah'tfipetarmooaqueft_of Perfia in,
* The nhttherri part of th5s!iham is alfd'. named'Terek; and Wahl reftrifts the name of Belur
)Ip.;the, middle, while heiCaBjhhefhutKewpart which»riiii®'the Kph) Alak,.■ jQr;©iylasrani,
or Siah Hiimend. Pdlas, E)e.c: Rjiffrip.. sy g^ cal.s this the.4 | ^ i h ^ f ^ S ^ f ' ' $ndin., ,’i ,'
1“ The. Malfagene were a . different people,' in the plains on the- north of the C^fpiatu
th&
Great Bu-
Extcnt atnj’
Bdundariess
Hmorjfc