=120.  Khiva.= A khanate situated in the valley of the lower Oxus, bordering Bokhara on the southeast. =ferment the milk of mares.= An intoxicating drink, Koumiss, made of camel’s or mare’s milk, is in wide use among the steppe tribes.
[158]
=121.  Toorkmuns.= A branch of the Turkish race found chiefly in northern Persia and Afghanistan.

=122.  Tukas.= From the province of Azer-baijan.

=123.  Attruck.= A river of Khorassan, near the frontier of Khiva; it has a west course, and enters the Caspian Sea on the east side.

=128.  Ferghana.= A khanate of Turkestan, north of Bokhara, in the upper valley of the Sir Daria.

=129.  Jaxartes.= The ancient name of the Sir Daria River.  It takes its source in the Thian Shan Mountains, one of the Pamir Plateau ranges, and flows with a general direction north, emptying into the Aral Sea on the east side.

=131.  Kipchak.= A khanate some seventy miles below Khiva on the Oxus.

=132.  Kalmucks.= A nomadic branch of the Mongolian race, dwelling in western Siberia. =Kuzzaks.= Now commonly called Cossacks; a warlike people inhabiting the steppes of southern Russia and extensive portions of Asia.  Their origin is uncertain.

=133.  Kirghizzes.= A rude nomadic people of Mongolian-Tartar race found in northern Turkestan.

=138.  Khorassan.= (That is, the region of the sun.) A province of northeastern Persia, largely desert.  The origin of the name is
  prettily suggested by Moore in the opening poem of Lalla Rookh:—­

“In the delightful province of the sun
The first of Persian lands he shines upon,” etc.

=147. fix’d.= Stopped suddenly, halted.

=154-169.= Note the effect the challenge has on the two armies.

=156. corn.= Here used with its European sense of “grain.”  It is only in America that the word signifies Indian corn or “maize.”
[159]
=160.  Cabool.= Capital of northern Afghanistan, and an important commercial city.

=161.  Indian Caucasus.= A lofty mountain range north of Cabool, which forms the boundary between Turkestan and Afghanistan.

=173.  King.= See note, l. 85.

=177. lion’s heart.= Explain the line.  Why are the terms here used so forcible in the mouth of Gudurz?

=178-183.  Aloof he sits, etc.= One is reminded by Rustum’s deportment here, of Achilles sulking in his tent and nursing his wrath against Agamemnon.—­Iliad, Book I.

=199. sate.= Old form of “sat,” common in poetry.

=200. falcon.= A kind of hawk trained to catch game birds.

=217.  Iran.= The official name of Persia.

=221.  Go to!= Hebraic expression.  Frequently found in Shakespeare.

=223.  Kai Khosroo.= According to the Shah Nameh, the thirteenth Turanian king.  He reigned in the sixth century B.C., and has been identified with Cyrus the Great.