176 "» CHIN A. 



fand, equally dangerous with the deferts of Arabia. The firfi: 

 of thefe communications is in Lat. 42° north, to the E. N. E. of 

 Peking \ the fecond to the eaft of the province of Shen-Ji; and 

 the third in Lr.t. 32' to the eaft of Hami, on the frontiers of 

 Thibet. By thcfe means a fafe accefs was given from the vaft 

 Tartarian regions, and through them, from the countries bor- 

 dering on the Cafpian fea, and more remotely from Europe itfelf; 

 they were the roads of the travellers and merchants of the 

 middle ages. 



HiERKiN'. Adjacent to the fouth-weftern parts were fome important 



Cashgur. cities well known to thofe adventurers, fuch as Hierkin, and CaJJj" 

 ^z/r, already mentioned in this work*, to which Ptolemy gWGS 

 the nanies of Comedie and Cajia Regio ; the lirft is fuppofed to 

 havebeen CaJhgar,\.h.Q capital of CaJia Regio; Hierkin, the Carcham 

 Qi Marco Polo, p. 34, is conjectured to have taken its name from its 

 fituation on the JRcbardes, a river which runs from the north- 

 eaft, and was remarkable as a ftation which merchants trading 

 with the Seres had in the very neighborhood. In the time of 

 our great traveller the inhabitants were Mahometans, intermixed 

 with a few Neflorians. 



HoTON. Hoton or Coton, a province to the fouth-eaft of Hierkin, bor- 



dering on the defert, is fuppofed to have belonged to the ancient 

 Cbatce. It is very populous ; the inhabitants are commercial, 



Peym. cultivate cotton, flax, hemp, and wheat, and make wine. Peym 



is another province produdtive of Chalcedonies and Jafpers. 

 The capital of the fame name is in Lat. 38. Thefe places, 

 and many others mentioned by Polo, are to be found in the 

 modern maps. 



* Outlines of the Globe, vol. i. p. 8. 



Lop, 



