[101.] Kara Kul. A district some thirty miles southwest of Bokhara, noted for the excellence of its pasturage, and for its fleeces.
[107.] Haman. Next to Peran-Wisa in command of Tartar army. See Houman, in introductory note to poem.
113-114. Casbin. A fortified city in the province of Irak-Ajemi, Persia, situated on the main route from Persia to Europe, and at one time the capital of the Iranian empire. Just to the north of the city rise the
Elburz Mountains (l. 114), which separate the Persian Plateau from the depression containing the Caspian and Aral Seas.
[115.] frore. Frozen, from the Anglo-Saxon froren.
"... the parching air
Burns frore, and cold performs the effect of fire."
—MILTON. Paradise Lost, ll. 594-595, Book II.
[119.] Bokhara. Here the state of Bokhara, an extensive region of Central Asia, touching the Aral Sea to the north, the Oxus to the south, and Khiva to the west. It has an estimated area of 235,000 square miles, and contains nineteen cities of considerable size, of which the capital, Bokhara, is most important.
[120.] Khiva. A khanate situated in the valley of the lower Oxus, bordering Bokhara on the southeast. ferment the milk of mares. An intoxicating drink, Koumiss, made of camel's or [p.158] mare's milk, is in wide use among the steppe tribes.
[121.] Toorkmuns. A branch of the Turkish race found chiefly in northern Persia and Afghanistan.
[122.] Tukas. From the province of Azer-baijan.
[123.] Attruck. A river of Khorassan, near the frontier of Khiva; it has a west course, and enters the Caspian Sea on the east side.