The Distance Between Balk, On One Of The
Branches Of The Sihon Or Oxus, And Shash On The Jihon Or Sirr, Is At
Least 350 Miles In A Straight Line; Which He Appears To Have Travelled
In Five Days, But Which Would More Probably Occupy Fifteen.
- E.
[7] This river is probably the Sirr or Sihon; and the mountains of
Karatan and Arjun pervade the district, the two chains being separated
by the river. - E.
[8] Vochan, Vocham or Vakhan, on the river Vash. - Forst.
[9] This observation was made on the mountains of Savoy and
Switzerland, not many years ago, by M. de Luc, and published as a new
discovery. The phenomena must be owing to the diminished pressure of
the atmosphere at this great elevation, by which water boils at a much
lower temperature than is requisite for effective cookery: A digester
would effectually remove this evil, by enabling the water to become
sufficiently hot, without being dissipated. - E.
[10] Beloro, Belor, or Belur, according to Forster. This immense
extent of forty days journey through deserts, seems to include the
deserts of Sultus, Cobi, and Shamo, and to reach to the frontiers of
Kathay, or Northern China. - E.
[11] Cascar, Chascar, Cassar, Kaschgar, or Hasicar, according to
Forster. Cashgar is at the western end of the great desert, instead of
the eastern, as expressed in the text; indeed this route is most
confusedly, and almost unintelligibly laid down, probably from
corrupted transcription. The series ought to have been, the high table
land of Pamer, the province of Cashgar, and lastly, the desert of
Pelow or Belur. But care must be taken to distinguish this from the
chain of Belur-tag, which runs north and south, between Great and
Little Bucharia. - E.
SECTION VI.
Of the city of Samarcand, the town of Lop, the Great Desert in its
Neighbourhood, and other remarkable Passages.
Samarcand[1] is a great and famous city, in a fertile plain, and surrounded
by fine gardens. It is subject to the nephew of the great khan, and is
inhabited by a mixed population of Christians and Mahometans, among whom
there is little agreement; and in one of their disputes, the following
miracle is said to have happened, about an hundred years ago. Zagathai, the
brother of the great khan, then governed this country, and was persuaded to
become a Christian; and the Christians, through his favour, built a church
in honour of St John the Baptist, which was constructed with such skill,
that the whole roof seemed to depend for support upon one central pillar,
which was founded upon a large stone, which, by the permission of Zagathai,
had been taken from a building belonging to the Mahometans. After the death
of Zagathai, he was succeeded by a son who was not of the Christian faith,
and from him the Mahometans obtained an order, by which the Christians were
compelled to restore that stone; and though they offered a sum of money as
a compensation, the Mahometans absolutely insisted to have the stone
itself, hoping, by that means, to reduce the Christian church to ruins:
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