Transoxiana was the limit of their dominions towards the north, in this
part of the world.
Of many of the districts which the Arabians, conquered, in this part of
Asia, they have furnished us with such accurate and full information, that
modern discoveries have been able to add or correct very little. That they
were acquainted with Thibet and China, has already appeared, from the
account given of their commerce. Thibet they represent as divided into
three parts, Thibet upper, central, and lower. At the beginning of the
eighth century, Arabian ambassadors were sent to China: they passed through
Cashgar. After this period, journies to China by the route of Samarcand
were frequent. Besides Canfu, described by the Mahomedan travellers of
Renaudot, other cities in China were visited by the Arabian merchants, most
of which were in the interior; but the Arabian geographers seem to have
been puzzled by the Chinese names. We learn, however, that the provinces of
the north were distinguished from those of the south; the former were
called Cathay and Tehar Cathar, or Cathay, which produces tea: its capital
was Cambalu: the provinces in the south were called Tchin or Sin. The
appellation of Cathay was that under which alone China was long known to
the Europeans. Under the name of Sin, given to the southern districts, the
Arabian geographers frequently comprehended all the country to the Ganges.
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