The Memoirs of Bābur 899.1.2

899.1.2

Of those on the south, one is Andijān. It has a central position and is the capital of the Farghāna country. It produces much grain, fruits in abundance, excellent grapes and melons. In the melon season, it is not customary to sell them out at the beds.[47] Better than the Andijān _nāshpātī_,[48] there is none. After Samarkand and Kesh, the fort[49] of Andijān is the largest in Mawārā'u'n-nahr (Transoxiana). It has three gates. Its citadel (_ark_) is on its south side. Into it water goes by nine channels; out of it, it is strange that none comes at even a single place.[50] Round the outer edge of the ditch[51] runs a gravelled highway; the width of this highway divides the fort from the suburbs surrounding it. Andijān has good hunting and fowling; 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]