crystal. Thus the high mountains of Belur Tag, and perhaps Hindoo Koh, are the peculiar seats of the Ballay ruby; a circumstance which identifies the Balaschia of Polo; while his Belur is the whole Alpine tract of the mountains so called.

Chardin adds that sulphur and nitre are found in the mountain of Damavend, which he places on the south of Hyrcania or Mazendran. Sometimes whole deserts are covered with sulphur, and others with salt, which near Cashan is remarkably pure. Rock salt is found near Ispahan; and in the dry climate of Kerman, if our author be credited, it is even employed in building. Free-stone, marble, and slate, are chiefly from Hamadan. Near Tauriz is found what he calls a marble, transparent, like rock crystal, through tables of an inch in thickness, of a white colour mingled with pale green, probably a kind of jad: in the same region is also found lapis lazuli, but not so fine as that of Tatary. Towards the Tigris there are pools of bitumen, or rock tar, while naphtha abounds near Baku. In Erivan and Ears are mines of talc ; and of a pure white marl used like soap. What is called mummia is found in Corasan, and in the deserts of Kerman, deriving its name from the Persian word moum, signifying wax, gum, ointment. It was supposed to proceed from the human body, but according to Chardin, is a singular gum which distils from rocks; and the mines of this precious mastic, as he calls it, are carefully sealed for the royal use. It is probably a kind of asphaltum; but seems a variety which has escaped modern mineralogists.

Mineral Waters. Mineral waters of various descriptions abound in this mountainous country; but they arc generally alike neglected by the physicians and the people.

Natural Curiosities. Among the chief natural curiosities must be named the fountains of naphtha, or pure rock oil, in the Neighbourhood of Baku, on the western coast of the Caspian, particularly in the adjoining promontory of Absheron. The adjoining land is dry and rocky, and there are several small ancient temples, in one of which, near the altar, a large hollow cane is fixed in the ground, and from the end issues a blue flame, seemingly more pure and gentle, than that produced by ardent spiritsf. From a horizontal gap in an adjoining rock, about six feet long by three broad, there also issues a similar flame.

"The earth round this place for above two miles, has this surprising property, that, by taking up two or three inches of the surface and applying a live coal, the part which is so uncovered immediately takes fire, almost before the coal touches the earth; the flame makes the ground hot but docs not consume it, nor affect what is near it with any degree of heat. Any quantity of this earth carried to another place does not produce this effect. Not long since eight horses were consumed by this fire, being under a roof where the surface of the ground was turned up, and by some accident took flame.

"If a cane or tube, even of paper, be set about two inches in the ground, confined and close with the earth below, and the top of it touched with a live coal, and blown upon, immediately a flame issues.

Otter, i. 208.

f Hanway, i. 263.

without hurting either the cane or paper, provided the edges be covered with clay, and this method they use for light in their houses, which have dnly the earth for the floor: three or four of these lighted cane* will boil water in a pot, and thus they dress their victuals. The flame may be extinguished in the same manner as that of spirits of wine. The ground is dry and stony, and the more stony any particular part is, the stronger and clearer is the flame: itsmclls sulphurous like naphtha, but not very offensive.

"Lime is burnt to great perfection by means of this phenomenon; the flame communicating itself to any distance where the earth is uncocovered to receive it. The stones must be laid on one another, and in three days the lime is completed. Near this place brimstone is dug, and naphtha springs are found.

"The chief place for the black or dark grey naphtha is the small island Wetoy, now uninhabited, except at such times as they take naphtha from thence. The Persians load it in bulk in their wretched vessels, so that sometimes the sea is covered with it for leagues together. When the weather is thick and hazy the springs boil up the higher; and the naphtha often takes fire on the surface of the earth, and runs in a flame into the sea in great quantities, to a distance almost incredible. In clear weather the springs do not boil up above two or three feet: in boiling over, this oily substance makes so strong a consistency as by degrees almost to close the mouth of the spring; sometimes it is quite closed, and forms hillocks that look as black as pitch; but the spring which is resisted in one place breaks out in another. Some of the springs which have not been long opened form a mouth of eight or ten feet diameter. "The people carry the naphtha by troughs into pits or reservoirs, drawing it off from one to another, leaving in the first reservoir the water, or the heavier part with which it is mixed when it issues from the spring. It is unpleasant to the smell, and used mostly amongst the poorer sort of the Persians, and other neighbouring people, as we use oil in lamps, or to boil their victuals, but it communicates a disagreeable taste. They find it burn best with a small mixture of ashes: as they find it in great abundance, every family is well supplied. They keep it at a small distance from their houses, in earthen vessels under ground, to prevent any accident by fire, of which it is extremely susceptible.

There is also a white naphtha on the peninsula of Apcheron, of a much thinner consistency; but this is found only in small quantities. The Russians drink it both as a cordial and a medicine, but it does not intoxicate: if taken internally it is said to be good for the stone, as also for disorders of the breast, and in venereal cases and sore heads; to both the last the Persians are very subject. Externally applied it is of great use in scorbutic pains, gouts, cramps, &c. but it must be put to the part affected only; it penetrates instantaneously into the blood, and is apt for a short time to create great pain. It has also the property of spirits of wine to take out givasy spots in silks or woolens; but the remedy is worse than the disease, for it leaves an abominable odour. They say it is carried into India as a great rarity, and being prepared as a japan, is the most beautiful and lasting of any that has been yet found. Not far from hence are also springs of hot water, which boil up in the same manner as the naphtha, and very thick, being impreg

nated with a blue clay; but it soon clarifies. Bathing in this warm water is found to strengthen and procure a good appetite, especially if a small quantity is also drunk*."

The justly celebrated Kampfer had visited these remarkable springs in the end of the seventeenth centuryf; and Gmelin, in the eighteenth century, 1773, has added little to the account of Hanway, except that the soil in a coarse marl, mixed with sand, and effervescing with acids. There are many other wells in an adjoining peninsula; and the revenue arising from this uncommon product of the khan of Baku was computed at forty thousand rubiest.

Isles. The few Persian isles in the southern gulf, among which the most remarkable are Ormuz, once famous, now abandoned, Kishma, and towards the other extremity Karek, from which the Dutch were expelled in 1765, do not merit a particular description in a work of this nature; and far less those in the Caspian sea, the chief of which are on the coast of the Uzbeks.

* Hanway, i. 263, &c.

Set his Amoen. Ezet.

Dec. des Kusses, ii. 213

INDEPENDENT TATARY.

CHAPTER I.

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS.

NAME. CHIEF

DIVISIONS. PROGRESSIVE GEOGRAPHY.—CONNECTION WITH LITTLE BUCHARIA, AND REVIEW OF THE ANCIENT AND MODERN GEOGRAPHY OF THAT COUNTRY.

THE description already given in this volume of Asiatic Russia and the Chinese empire, comprises the far greater part of what geographers denominated Tartary, by a vague term applied to a country exceeding all Europe in extent, and possessed by various and distinct nations and races of men.

By repeated victories over the Eluts and Kalmuks of Mongolia, or, to use the German term, Mongoley, the Chinese dominion has been extended to the mountains of Belur, thus including little Bucharia: while in the east Mandshuria remained subject to its sovereigns, who had become emperors of China. But so absurd is the common appellation of Chinese Tatary, that not one tribe of Tatars can be strictly said to be subject to the Chinese sceptre; for the ruling people of Little Bucharia were the Kalmuks, a Mongolian race.

Name. Yet the title here given of Independent Tatary becomes unexceptionable, when confined to the bounds of the present description, for the Uzbeks and Kirguses are of undoubted Tatar origin; and their country must still be regarded as independent of the great neighbouring powers, China, Russia, and Persia.

The extensive region now under view is highly celebrated, and extremely interesting on many accounts. The probable sent of the most ancient Persian kingdom, the possession of the Greek monarchs of Bactriana, after many revolutions it was distinguished by the wide empire of Zingis and Timur, Samarcand being the favourite residence and capital of the latter conqueror. This distinguished portion of Asia has also given birth to many eminent men of letters, whose fame is diffused as wide as oriental literature. The most ancient Persian philosopher, Zoroaster, is said to have been a native of Bactriana; and, not to mention numerous intervening names, the work of Abulgazi, the sovereign of Kharizm, or the history of the Tatars, displays no mean industry and information.

EXTENT. The extent of Independent Tatary may be measured from the Caspian sea to the mountains of Belur, a space of not less than 870 British miles. From the mountains of Gaur in the south, to the Russian boundaries on the north of the desert of Issim, may be near 1500 British miles; but of this length a great part is desert.

Divisions. The chief divisions are the wide stepps or barren plains in the north, held by three hordes of Kirguses, the Great, the Middle, and Lesser; with some small Tataric tribes near the sea of Aral. This portion was anciently called Western Tirkistan: the capital being Taraz, on a stream which flows into the Sirr, or Sihon, not far above Otrar, and which was also sometimes denominated Turkistan, from the name of the country. Before pro ceeding further, it must be observed in general, that the names in the best and most recent maps, are often derived from Persian and native geographers, so that a modern traveller might perhaps find it difficult to trace them.

To the south of the mountains of Argun, the land begins to fertilize, along the course of the Sirr, Sirt, or Sihon, the Iaxartes of the ancients, also called the river of Shush, from the chief territory; and on the banks of its tributary streams, which devolve from the Argun on the north, and the Ak Tau, or white mountain on the south, while the river itself springs from the mountains of Belur.

Ilak, &c. Ilak and Shash, the most northern provinces on the Sihon, are followed by Fergana, and a district called Ozrushna, round a town of the same name. Divided from these provinces by deserts and mountains, the kingdom of Charizm, formerly so powerful as to oppose the great Zingis, has gradually yielded to the encroaching desert, and now presents poor remains of Urghenz, its capital, the residence of Abulgazi; and Khiva, a small town, but the residence of a Khan.

Sogn. To the south of the range of the Ak Tau, appears the fertile region of Sogd, the ancient Sogdiana, with its capital Samarcand; which, with Vash and Kotlan, seems to have constituted the Mawerulnar of oriental geography, implying the country beyond the river Gihon or Oxus. On the south the proviuces of Balk, Kilan, Tokarestan, and Gaur, terminate the bounds of Independent Tatary, here separated by deserts on the west from the Persian province of Corasan. In general Kharizm on the west is not considered as a part of Great Bucharia, but this last appellation must be regarded as embracing the whole extent, from the mountains of Argun and sources of the river Ilak, to the confines of Hindostan.

Progressive Geography. In ancient periods Western Turkistan, and the north of the Caspian, were the seats of the Massagetæ ; to the south of whom were the Scythians on this side of the Imaus, or Belur Tag.

Scytrians. The Scythians beyond the Imaus are described by Ptolemy as restricted to a confined strip of territory on the eastern side of the Imaus, and divided by an imaginary line from the Seres, who were undoubtedly the people of Little Bucharia. But as ancient knowledge here terminated, it is probable that the Scythians beyond