_ 106 _ the people are called Azara or Zagatai(A), Sunnis by religion. The settlements are small, but numerous and fertile. In the same direction one comes to a great city called Ghasni which was ruled by a great king called Sultan Muhammad Kasnevi of the lineage of Tamerlaine the Great. It was almost a day’s joumey in circumference, but now it is in ruins and has few inhabitants. It is ruled by the Moghuls, who broadly rule all the provinces beyond. Three days’ journey to the east-south-east is the great city of Kabul, the capital and court of the Moghuls. It is surrounded by four very strong walls of stone and lime. It has very plentiful provisions, livestock and rose-trees. A great river flows through the middle. Great caravans come here from the kingdoms of Samarkand, Hará(B), Turkestan and Cascar, all inhabited by Tartar citizens and allies of the great Moghuls, to go on into India, for there is no other way. They pass through Lahore, Delhi and Agra, places in the Kingdom of Sind, which borders on Cambay. They pass overland to the Kingdom of the Khan and to Bengal from Cascar. Forty days’ journey to the east there (A) All these peoples are nowadays called Zagatal, and Samarkand is their capital. They include the former Arriani, Margiani, Aracosi and Bastriani. (B) Tamerlaine [Timur Lenk] came from here. It signifies Timur the lame, because lenk means “lame” in Farsi.
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