6)
that "according to the Tarikh Djihan Kushai (_d'Ohsson_, i. 433), the
city of Belasagun had been founded by Buku Khan, sovereign of the
Uigurs, in a well-watered plain of Turkestan with rich pastures. The
Arabian geographers first mention Belasagun, in the ninth or tenth
century, as a city beyond the Sihun or Yaxartes, depending on
_Isfidjab_ (Sairam, according to Lerch), and situated east of Taras.
They state that the people of Turkestan considered Belasagun to
represent 'the navel of the earth,' on account of its being situated
in the middle between east and west, and likewise between north and
south." (_Sprenger's Poststr. d. Or., Mavarannahar_). Dr.
Bretschneider adds (p. 227): "It is not improbable that ancient
Belasagun was situated at the same place where, according to the T'ang
history, the Khan of one branch of the Western T'u Kue (Turks) had his
residence in the seventh century. It is stated in the T'ang shu that
_Ibi Shabolo Shehu Khan_, who reigned in the first half of the seventh
century, placed his ordo on the northern border of the river _Sui ye_.
This river, and a city of the same name, are frequently mentioned in
the T'ang annals of the seventh and eighth centuries, in connection
with the warlike expeditions of the Chinese in Central Asia. _Sui ye_
was situated on the way from the river _Ili_ to the city of Ta-lo-sz'
(Talas). In 679 the Chinese had built on the Sui ye River a fortress;
but in 748 they were constrained to destroy it." (Comp. _Visdelou_ in
_Suppl. Bibl. Orient._ pp. 110-114; _Gaubil's Hist. de la Dyn. des
Thang_, in _Mem. conc. Chin._ xv. p. 403 seqq.).--H. C.]

[2] Sic: _Per aliquot annos_, but an evident error.

[3] _J. As._ ser. V. tom. xi. 449.

[4] The Great Plain on the Lower Araxes and Cyrus. The word Moghan =
_Magi_: and Abulfeda quotes this as the etymology of the name.
(_Reinaud's Abulf._ I. 300.)--Y. [_Cordier, Odoric_, 36.]

[5] Here is the passage, which is worth giving for more reasons than one:

"That portion of ancient Babylon which is still occupied is (as we
have heard from persons of character from beyond sea) styled BALDACH,
whilst the part that lies, according to the prophecy, deserted and
pathless extends some ten miles to the Tower of Babel The inhabited
portion called Baldach is very large and populous; and though it
should belong t