Andijān has good hunting and āburnāfowling; its pheasants grow [Sidenote: Fol. 2b.] so surprisingly fat that rumour has it four people could not finish one they were eating with its stew.[52]
Andijānīs are all Turks, not a man in town or bāzār but knows Turkī. The speech of the people is correct for the pen; hence the writings of Mīr `Alī-shīr _Nawā'ī_,[53] though he was bred and grew up in Hīrī (Harāt), are one with their dialect. Good looks are common amongst them. The famous musician, Khwāja Yūsuf, was an Andijānī.[54] The climate is malarious; in autumn people generally get fever.[55]
Again, there is Aūsh (Ūsh), to the south-east, inclining to east, of Andijān and distant from it four _yīghāch_ by road.[56] It has a fine climate, an abundance of running waters[57] and a most beautiful spring season. Many traditions have their rise in its excellencies.[58] To the south-east of the walled town (_qūrghān_) lies a symmetrical mountain, known as the Barā Koh;[59] on the top of this, Sl. Maḥmūd Khān built a retreat (_ḥajra_) and lower down, on its shoulder, I, in 902AH. (1496AD.) built another, having a porch. Though his lies the higher, mine is the better placed, the whole of the town and the suburbs being at its foot.
The Andijān torrent[60] goes to Andijān after having traversed [Sidenote: Fol. 3.] the suburbs of Aūsh. Orchards (_bāghāt_)[61] lie along both its banks; all the Aūsh gardens (_bāghlār_) overlook it; their violets are very fine; they have running waters and in spring are most beautiful with the blossoming of many tulips and roses.
On the skirt of the Barā-koh is a mosque called the Jauza Masjid (Twin Mosque).[62] Between this mosque and the town, a great main canal flows from the direction of the hill. Below the outer court of the mosque lies a shady and delightful clover-meadow where every passing traveller takes a rest. It is the joke of the ragamuffins of Aūsh to let out water from the canal[63] on anyone happening to fall asleep in the meadow. A very beautiful stone, waved red and white[64] was found in the Barā Koh in `Umar Shaikh Mīrzā's latter days; of it are made knife handles, and clasps for belts and many other things. For climate and for pleasantness, no township in all Farghāna equals Aūsh.