国立情報学研究所 - ディジタル・シルクロード・プロジェクト
『東洋文庫所蔵』貴重書デジタルアーカイブ

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R.K. numerous disputés, and much inconvenience, orders were issued for placing them under severe restrictions ; and the operation of these regulations soon led to their discontinuance.

Towards the dose of the Youan dynasty, about the middle of the fourteenth

century, the country was disturbed by anarchy, and the trade route remained closed till the restoration of order in the beginning of the following century, when trade again flowed in the old channels. It was the re-opening of the commercial intercourse which had been closed for half a century, and the insecurity attending the journey by caravan at first, that led to the device of the trading embassies abovementioned.

I have introduced the preceding notes on the history of Khutan, as furnished

by Chinese records, because they serve in some measure to dispel the general obscurity that veils the course of events in this region during the long period of its rule under the Chinese Governors, and, subsequently, under the petty independent Princes who had thrown off their subjection to that Empire ; and because they help to elucidate and confirm the later history of the region, which only begins to clear up ‘on the arrival of the Arabs in the fertile and populous valley of the Oxus, when the chain of events becomes more connected with the succeeding establishment of their rule and religion there.

The astonishing successes of these wild sons of the desert in their conquering career through Persia were hardly more wonderful than the rapid domination of their arms, and its concurrent supremacy of creed in the very heart of Asia. So early as the 53rd year of the Hijra=673 A.D., the Khalif M'uawya sent forward his General, 'Abdulla Ziyad, to the conquest of Khurasan, which at that period included Bukhara, notwithstanding its position beyond the Oxus, the recognized ancient limit of the province.

N.   The city of Bukhara, which in ancient times was known by the names of
Namajkat, and Barmaskat, and Cuhnduz, was at this period in the hands of a Turk Prince called Baydon, and entitled Bukhar-Khidat. He died about the time of the appearance of the Arabs on the borders of Khurasan, and was succeeded in the Government by his widow, the Queen Khaton, who reigned fifteen years during the infancy of her son Tughsh,da. She was celebrated alike for her beauty, wealth, and talents, and, as history records, for her amours. Her rule was popular, her Court magnificent, and her wealth prodigious. She is described as daily riding out from her palace to her Court in the Registan, forenoon and afternoon, attended by a gorgeous retinue of slave-girls and eunuchs, for the transaction of public business, the dispatch of justice, and the distribution of rewards and punishments. In the interval between the two sessions she retired to her palace, whence long files of servants presently issued with trays of food and delicacies for the refection of her courtiers. The royal guard at the Court comprised a choice. band of two hundred noble youths, all richly clad and fully armed, who came in rotation daily from the townships around, so that it fell to the lot of each to attend the Court on this duty four times in the year.

It was during the reign of this Queen that the Arabs first crossed the Jyhon or Oxus. The rapid approach of 'Abdulla Ziyad with his terrible warriors filled the people with apprehension and alarm. Queen Khaton sent off messengers in hot haste for aid from Turkistan, north and east, and meanwhile sought to keep off the invader by rich gifts and sweet words. Her summoned allies arrived opportunely, and at once fell upon the enemy, who was already in the suburbs of the capital spreading fire and sword amongst the unwarlike and terrified farmers. The Arabs , were now vastly outnumbered_ by the hosts of their assailants, but the impetuous fury of their warriors counterbalanced the paucity of numbers, and the Turk army in this their first encounter with the soldiers of the west received an unexpected check, and defeat.

'Abdulla captured Bekand and Rametan, and then set siege to Bukhara,. The Queen, who had escaped from the battle field with the loss of a richly bejewelled boot, valued at 10,000 diram, fortified herself in the citadel, whilst her allies from

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