=115. frore.= Frozen, from the Anglo-Saxon _froren_.
"... the parching air Burns frore, and cold performs the effect of fire."
--MILTON. _Paradise Lost_, ll. 594-595, Book II.
=119. Bokhara.= Here the state of Bokhara, an extensive region of Central Asia, touching the Aral Sea to the north, the Oxus to the south, and Khiva to the west. It has an estimated area of 235,000 square miles, and contains nineteen cities of considerable size, of which the capital, Bokhara, is most important.
=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.
=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.