Burnes, Alexander: Travels into Bokhara: containing the narrative of a voyage on the Indus from the sea to Lahore, ... and an account of a journey from India to Cabool, Tartary and Persia ; performed by order of the supreme government of India, in the years 1831, 32, and 33 (Band 2) (London, 1835)

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Alexander's marches.

CHAP. XI,

small hamlet. Another passage in Curtius, and of
a striking nature, also deserves mention, since I
have met with one of similar import in a Persian
manuscript, descriptive of Bokhara, which I pro-
cured in the country. , When Alexander had
marched into the district of Bazaria, which is sup-
posed to be the modern Bokhara, or to lie in
that direction, the following sentence occurs: —
" Of the barbarous splendour prevailing in these
" parts, there is no stronger mark than the ex-
" tensive forests, in which are shut up untamed
" beasts of the grandest kind. A spacious wood,
" in which numerous unfailing springs give cheer-
" fulness to the scenery, is selected, encompassed
" with a wall, and interspersed with towers for the
" reception of the hunters. In one park, it was
" said, that the game had remained undisturbed
" during four generations. Alexander, entering it
" with his whole army, commanded that the beasts
" throughout it should be roused from their lairs."
—'■ b. 8. c. i. This is the excursion in which Alex-
ander encountered the lion : but the king of the
forest does not now inhabit Transoxiana. The Per-
sian paragraph, to which I have alluded, runs
thus: —

" This is the account of Shumsabad, which was
" here built by King Shumsoodeen. He purchased
" a tract of country half a fursung in extent, and
" laid it out in gardens, orchards, and houses of sur-
" passing splendour ; and he dug canals and aque-
" ducts, and expended a great sum of money; and
" he called the place Shumsabad. In addition to