[209] Ishik Agasi, "chief porter," a sort of master of ceremonies.
[210] Literally, "representative"; at the court of the Shah it is also the title of the overseer over the culinary department.
[211] Tumen means "ducat" in Persian, but as the word is here used in the dative it would appear that something has been omitted.
[212] The Circassians were at that time not yet Mohammedans, for they were converted later on by Ferrukh Pasha.
It appears from this passage that the Pilgrims' route from Central Asia to Mecca led in those days past Astrakhan, i.e., by Kharezm and the lower Volga, and from there across the Caucasus via Constantinople to Arabia, about the same as in modern times, when pilgrims travel by the Trans-Caspian line, via Batum Baku and Constantinople to Mecca.
[213] Lakh, about $500,000, a sum only used in India.
[214] Our author refers here to the Feudal system still in use in Central Asia at the time that I was there, and he rightly criticizes the limited power of the rulers, which is the necessary result of it. In Persia the relation between the Khans and the Shah was based upon this principle till quite within modern times. The Sultans of Turkey, when at the zenith of their power, were absolute sovereigns of their land. But at the commencement of the decline the same relationship was established there, as we see from the conduct of the Derebeys.
[215] Demtiz means "some one possessing strong, i.e., active or powerful dem or nefes (breath)."
[216] Huma, name of a mythical bird, a kind of Phoenix, which, as the legend says, lives in the air and never touches the earth, and is held to be a good omen. Thus, for instance, any one who has been overshadowed by this bird is destined to be a ruler. Hence the word Humayun, i.e., "Imperial," an epithet applied to royal persons.
[217] Tokuz Olum, signifying "nine fords" (if Olum be taken for the Turkoman word of the same meaning), is not known as the name of a great river, because, besides the Tigris, there are no large rivers in the neighborhood of Bagdad.