[169] Probably an ancient title, which, in its present form, is not mentioned in any lexicons or vocabularies.
[170] Senghirdek is mentioned on the modern maps of Central Asia, between Sehri-Sebz and Sari-Asiya (Yellow Mill), as the name of a stream and of a place, but not as the name of a mountain. Sengghirdek means "a stone tent."
[171] This must be Mount Karatepe (Black Hill), (5181 feet).
[172] Borak Khan, a son of Mahmud Khan, who was defeated by Sheibani. He was a native of the steppes in the northeast of Transoxania, and, favored by the bad government of Burhan Khan, he and his horsemen, consisting of Kirghises and Kalmuks, invaded the land, and took possession of the capital, Samarkand. He died in the year 1555. The incidents connected with his reign, which our author mentions, are the more valuable to us as we find no mention of them anywhere else.
[173] He died in the year 1551.
[174] Called by abbreviation Burhan Khan, an uncle of Obeidullah. He reigned only a short time, and died in 1556.
[175] Aga of the Osmans was the title of a commander of the Janissaries which Sultan Suleiman had sent from Constantinople to Samarkand to support the authority of the Eastern Turks. Our author, therefore, came here unexpectedly in contact with his countrymen.
[176] Khodja Ahmed Jesewi, the patron saint of Turkestan, whose grave in Aulia Ata is to this day eagerly visited by pilgrims.
[177] When in Samarkand I could learn nothing about the cloak and the Naalin (wooden shoes) of the Prophet, but the copy of the Koran here referred to was extant in the Mausoleum of Timur. This latter, however, although a very old manuscript in Kufi letters, has not descended from Caliph Ali, nor yet from Caliph Osman; it has been brought to Turkestan by the descendants of Khodja Ahrar, and from Samarkand the Russians took it to St. Petersburg.
[178] Consequently they belonged at that time still to the Shaman faith, an interesting fact and easily explained when we consider that, at the time of Timur, both Kirghizes and Turkomans are described as heathen.