[128.] Ferghana. A khanate of Turkestan, north of Bokhara, in the upper valley of the Sir Daria.
[129.] Jaxartes. The ancient name of the Sir Daria River. It takes its source in the Thian Shan Mountains, one of the Pamir Plateau ranges, and flows with a general direction north, emptying into the Aral Sea on the east side.
[131.] Kipchak. A khanate some seventy miles below Khiva on the Oxus.
[132.] Kalmucks. A nomadic branch of the Mongolian race, dwelling in western Siberia.
Kuzzaks. Now commonly called Cossacks; a warlike people inhabiting the steppes of southern Russia and extensive portions of Asia. Their origin is uncertain.
[133.] Kirghizzes. A rude nomadic people of Mongolian-Tartar race found in northern Turkestan.
[138. ]Khorassan. (That is, the region of the sun.) A province of northeastern Persia, largely desert. The origin of the name is prettily suggested by Moore in the opening poem of Lalla Rookh:—
"In the delightful province of the sun
The first of Persian lands he shines upon," etc.
[147.] fix'd. Stopped suddenly, halted.
154-169. Note the effect the challenge has on the two armies.
[156. ]corn. Here used with its European sense of "grain." It is only in America that the word signifies Indian corn or "maize."