March, 1873.] EMBASSY TO CHINA. 75 AN EMBA8SY TO KHATA OR CHINA A.D. 1419. From the Appendix to the Rouzat-al-Ssafa of Muhammad Khaoend Shah or Mirkhond. Translated from the Persian Bt EDWARD REHATSEK, M.C.E. In the year 820 (A. D. 1419), the pious defunct well-known king Mirz4 Sb4h Rokh° sent an embassy to K h a t k under the leadership and direction of S h 4 d y K h 4 j a h, who was accom¬ panied by the royal prince Mirz4B4ysanqar, S u 114 n Ahmad, and K h 4 j a h G h a y 41h-u 1- din, the painter, who was a clever artist; he ordered the first-mentioned Khajah that notes in writing should be taken, from the day of their start¬ ing from the capital of Her4t till the day of their return, concerning everything they might expe¬ rience ; such as the adventures they should meet* the state of the roads, the laws of the countries, positions of towns, the state of buildings, the man¬ ners of kings, and other things of this kind, with¬ out adding or omitting anything. Kh4jah Ghayath-ul-din obeyed the above orders, and, having consigned everything he saw to his itinerary, presented it on his return : the following account of the strange and wonderful events the envoys met with, and all they saw, has been extract¬ ed from his diary ; but the responsibility rests with the travellers. They started from the capital Her4t on the 16th of Dhulq&dah (Dec. 3rd) on their journey to Khatd, and arrived on the 9th Dhulhejjah (Dec. 27th) in B a 1 k h, where they remained, on account of the great falling [of snow?] and the severe cold, till the beginning of Muharram of 823, and arrived on the 22nd of that month (Feb. 7th) in Samarqand. MirzA Olugh Beg had already before this despatched his own ambas¬ sadors, SultAn ShAhand Muhammad Bakh- s h i, with a company of KhatA people. The envoys from Khordsan remained in the town of Samar¬ qand till the ambassador of MirzA Syurghat- mesh arrived from ErAq, the ambassador of the Amir S h 4 h Malak came from ArdvAn, and the ambassador from the ShAh of BadakhshAn, TAj- u 1-din, joined them. Then they left the town of Samarqand in company of the Khat4 envoys on the 10th Ssaf ar (25th Feb.), and having passed through TAshkant and Byr4m, they entered among the A'yl of the Mughuls, and when they arrived, the news came that A'wys Kh4n had attacked Shir Muhammad Oghllan, and that on that account disturbances had arisen among the A' 1 6 s, but that afterwards peace had been restored. Amir Khod4d4d, who enjoys great authority in that country, met the ambassadors and treated them well; and on the 18th of Jom4dy the first (May 31st), they arrived in a place called S&luyA subject to the jurisdiction of Muhammad Beg, where they remained for some time, so that some who were servants of the Sh4h of Badakhsh4n, and had lagged behind, were enabled to rejoin them. They started from that place on the 22nd (June 4th), and crossing the river L a n g a r, met the next day the governor of A'168, Muhammad Beg Sult4nGurk4n, who was the son-in-law of Sh4h Jeh4n, and whose daughter had been married by Mirz4 Muham¬ mad Jogy ; and on the 28th of the same month (10th June) they entered the Jalg4h of YaldAz and the A'yl of Shir Behr4m, and in that desert they found solid ice of the thickness of two fingers, although the sun was in the sign of Cancer. On the 8th of Jom4dy the second (20th June), they heard that the sons of Muhammad Beg W4hy, who were the ambassadors of A'wys Kh4n, had been plundered ; this circumstance put the [other] am¬ bassadors on their guard, so that they continued their journey, crossing rivers and climbing over mountains, in spite of the rain, which continually poured from the clouds, and the abundant dews ; and they arrived at the end of the month (11th July) in the city of T t u r f 4 n. They found that in that country most of the inhabitants were polytheists, and had large idol-houses, in the halls whereof they kept a tall idol. On the 2nd of the month Rajab (13th July), they departed from that place, and arrived on the 5th (16th July) in QarA-KhAjah ; on the 10th of the month (21st July), Khat4y writers came, who wrote down the names of the ambassadors and the number of their men. On the 19th (30th July) they made a halt in the district of At4-S8ofy, where one of the high princes of Tarmad had constructed [for himself] a corner [of refuge], and had cast the anchor of perma¬ nency ; they, however, beat the drum of departure from it, and arrived on the 21st (1st August) in the town of Q4yl, where Amir Fakhar-ul-din had built a high, very costly, and ornamented mosque, but near it the polytheists had constructed a large and a small temple with wonderful pictures, and on the gate of the idol-house they had drawn two Dyws in the act of fighting with each other ; the governor of Q4yl was an extremely handsome and affable young man, whose name was Haykal TaymAr B4bery. After leaving Q4y 1, they travelled 25 stages, and obtained water every alternate day ; and on the 12th (August 22nd) they met in that boundless desert
- Son of the celebrated conqueror Tamerlane,
