‘The Oriental geography of Ebn Haukal, an Arabian traveller of the tenth century’ [‎253] (306/388)

i
% ot ^
"'"t hasW
re.
:eofoil efarsa|
^ e %) oathe
3as paceoftfe
^okliani,
Touaweis at i
angin the borders
^ SogM. Sogli
A one
id; it is situatei
t has a castle, d
% the jd
;
st; on the nortl,
and on the soil
( 253 )
marcand. The city is surrounded by a deep ditch, and a dyke,
by which water is conyeyed. The most flourishing and populous
quarter of Samarcand is that called the ^LL? y* Ser^i tauh.
where there is the fountain ofjjJjl Arziz : and the shops of the
bazar in this place are very numerous; for many legacies and
gifts have been appropriated to the buildings about this fountain,
which are in the charge of Guebres (or Fire-worshippers) who
watch winter and summer.
There is a mosque in the suburbs, near the kohendiz :
and in the river Arziz there are springs, and rivulets from it water
the gardens and orchards. The government palace is in the
kohendiz ; and the citadel is near the river of Soghd; and the
walls of these fortifications are about two farsang in extent.
There are many villas and orchards, and very few of the palaces
are without gardens: so that if a person should go to the kohen
diz, and from that look around, he would find that the villas and
palaces were covered, as it were, with trees; and even the streets
and shops, and banks of the streams, are all planted with trees.
Samarcand is the great pass into Maweralnahr; and the seat of
empire was at Samarcand until I ^ Ismael hen
Ahmed removed it to Bokhara.
and bazars of&-
T he walls of the fortifications have several gates; such as the
jO Deri Abed, the Deri Afsheineh, the