It is not mentioned
under the form Ukek after this, but appears as Uwek and Uwesh in
Russian documents of the 16th century. Perhaps this was always the
Slavonic form, for it already is written Uguech (= Uwek) in Wadding's
14th century catalogue of convents. Anthony Jenkinson, in Hakluyt, gives
an observation of its latitude, as Oweke (51 deg. 40'), and Christopher
Burrough, in the same collection, gives a description of it as Oueak,
and the latitude as 51 deg. 30' (some 7' too much). In his time (1579) there
were the remains of a "very faire stone castle" and city, with old tombs
exhibiting sculptures and inscriptions. All these have long vanished.
Burrough was told by the Russians that the town "was swallowed into the
earth by the justice of God, for the wickednesse of the people that
inhabited the same." Lepechin in 1769 found nothing remaining but part of
an earthen rampart and some underground vaults of larger bricks, which the
people dug out for use. He speaks of coins and other relics as frequent,
and the like have been found more recently. Coins with Mongol-Arab
inscriptions, struck at Ukek by Tuktugai Khan in 1306, have been described
by Fraehn and Erdmann.
(Fraehn, Ueber die ehemalige Mong. Stadt Ukek, etc., Petersb. 1835;
Gold. Horde; Ibn Bat. II. 414; Abulfeda, in Buesching, V. 365; Ann.
Minorum, sub anno 1400; Petis de la Croix, II. 355, 383, 388;
Hakluyt, ed. 1809, I. 375 and 472; Lepechin, Tagebuch der Reise, etc.,
I. 235-237; Rockhill, Rubruck, 120-121, note 2.)
NOTE 5. - The great River Tigeri or Tigris is the Volga, as Pauthier
rightly shows. It receives the same name from the Monk Pascal of Vittoria
in 1338. (Cathay, p. 234.) Perhaps this arose out of some legend that
the Tigris was a reappearance of the same river. The ecclesiastical
historian, Nicephorus Callistus, appears to imply that the Tigris coming
from Paradise flows under the Caspian to emerge in Kurdistan. (See IX.
19.)
The "17 days" applies to one stretch of desert. The whole journey from
Ukek Bokhara would take some 60 days at least. Ibn Batuta is 58 days from
Sarai to Bokhara, and of the last section he says, "we entered the desert
which extends between Khwarizm and Bokhara, and which has an extent of 18
days' journey." (III. 19.)
CHAPTER III.
HOW THE TWO BROTHERS, AFTER CROSSING A DESERT, CAME TO THE CITY OF BOCARA,
AND FELL IN WITH CERTAIN ENVOYS THERE.
After they had passed the desert, they arrived at a very great and noble
city called BOCARA, the territory of which belonged to a king whose name
was Barac, and is also called Bocara.
