The following appear to be Polo's Eight Kingdoms:--

I. KAZVIN; then a flourishing city, though I know not why he calls it a kingdom. Persian 'Irak, or the northern portion thereof, seems intended. Previous to Hulaku's invasion Kazvin seems to have been in the hands of the Ismailites or Assassins.

II. KURDISTAN. I do not understand the difficulties of Marsden, followed by Lazari and Pauthier, which lead them to put forth that Kurdistan is not Kurdistan but something else. The boundaries of Kurdistan according to Hamd Allah were Arabian 'Irak, Khuzistan, Persian 'Irak, Azerbaijan and Diarbekr. (Dict. de la P. 480.) [Cf. Curzon, Persia pass.--H. C.] Persian Kurdistan, in modern as in mediaeval times, extends south beyond Kermanshah to the immediate border of Polo's next kingdom, viz.:

III. LUR or Luristan. [On Luristan, see Curzon, Persia, II. pp. 273-303, with the pedigree of the Ruling Family of the Feili Lurs (Pusht-i-Kuh), p. 278.--H. C.] This was divided into two principalities, Great Lur and Little Lur, distinctions still existing. The former was ruled by a Dynasty called the Fasluyah Atabegs, which endured from about 1155 to 1424, [when it was destroyed by the Timurids; it was a Kurd Dynasty, founded by Emad ed-din Abu Thaher (1160-1228), and the last prince of which was Ghiyas ed-din (1424). In 1258 the general Kitubuka (Hulagu's Exp. to Persia, Bretschneider, Med. Res. I. p. 121) is reported to have reduced the country of Lur or Luristan and its Atabeg Teghele.--H. C.]. Their territory lay in the mountainous district immediately west of Ispahan, and extended to the River of Dizful, which parted it from Little Lur. The stronghold of the Atabegs was the extraordinary hill fort of Mungasht, and they had a residence also at Aidhej or Mal-Amir in the mountains south of Shushan, where Ibn Batuta visited the reigning Prince in 1327. Sir H. Rawlinson has described Mungasht, and Mr. Layard and Baron de Bode have visited other parts, but the country is still very imperfectly known. Little Luristan lay west of the R. Dizful, extending nearly to the Plain of Babylonia. Its Dynasty, called Kurshid, [was founded in 1184 by the Kurd Shodja ed-din Khurshid, and existed till Shah-Werdy lost his throne in 1593.--H. C.].

The Lurs are akin to the Kurds, and speak a Kurd dialect, as do all those Ilyats, or nomads of Persia, who are not of Turkish race. They were noted in the Middle Ages for their agility and their dexterity in thieving. The tribes of Little Lur "do not affect the slightest veneration for Mahomed or the Koran; their only general object of worship is their great Saint Baba Buzurg," and particular disciples regard with reverence little short of adoration holy men looked on as living representatives of the Divinity. (Ilchan. I. 70 seqq.; Rawlinson in J. R. G. S. IX.; Layard in Do. XVI. 75, 94; Ld. Strangford in J. R. A. S. XX. 64; N. et E. XIII. i. 330, I. B. II. 31; D'Ohsson, IV. 171-172.)

IV. SHULISTAN, best represented by Ramusio's Suolstan, whilst the old French texts have Cielstan (i.e. Shelstan); the name applied to the country of the Shuls, or Shauls, a people who long occupied a part of Luristan, but were expelled by the Lurs in the 12th century, and settled in the country between Shiraz and Khuzistan (now that of the Mamaseni, whom Colonel Pelly's information identifies with the Shuls), their central points being Naobanjan and the fortress called Kala' Safed or "White Castle." Ibn Batuta, going from Shiraz to Kazerun, encamped the first day in the country of the Shuls, "a Persian desert tribe which includes some pious persons." (Q. R. p. 385; N. et E. XIII. i. 332-333; Ilch. I. 71; J. R. G. S. XIII. Map; I. B. II. 88.) ["Adjoining the Kuhgelus on the East are the tents of the Mamasenni (qy. Mohammed Huseini) Lurs, occupying the country still known as Shulistan, and extending as far east and south-east as Fars and the Plain of Kazerun. This tribe prides itself on its origin, claiming to have come from Seistan, and to be directly descended from Rustam, whose name is still borne by one of the Mamasenni clans." (Curzon, Persia, II. p. 318.)--H. C.]

V. ISPAHAN? The name is in Ramusio Spaan, showing at least that he or some one before him had made this identification. The unusual combination ff, i.e. sf, in manuscript would be so like the frequent one ft, i.e. st, that the change from Isfan to Istan would be easy. But why Istanit?

VI. SHIRAZ [(Shir = milk, or Shir = lion)--H. C.] representing the province of Fars or Persia Proper, of which it has been for ages the chief city. [It was founded after the Arab conquest in 694 A.D., by Mohammed, son of Yusuf Kekfi. (Curzon, Persia, II. pp. 93-110.)--H. C.] The last Dynasty that had reigned in Fars was that of the Salghur Atabegs, founded about the middle of the 12th century. Under Abubakr (1226-1260) this kingdom attained considerable power, embracing Fars, Kerman, the islands of the Gulf and its Arabian shores; and Shiraz then flourished in arts and literature; Abubakr was the patron of Saadi. From about 1262, though a Salghurian princess, married to a son of Hulaku, had the nominal title of Atabeg, the province of Fars was under Mongol administration. (Ilch. passim.)

VII. SHAWANKARA or Shabankara. The G. T. has Soucara, but the Crusca gives the true reading Soncara. It is the country of the Shawankars, a people coupled with the Shuls and Lurs in mediaeval Persian history, and like them of Kurd affinities. Their princes, of a family Fasluyah, are spoken of as influential before the Mahomedan conquest, but the name of the people comes prominently forward only during the Mongol era of Persian history. [Shabankara was taken in 1056 from the Buyid Dynasty, who ruled from the 10th century over a great part of Persia, by Fazl ibn Hassan (Fazluieh-Hasunieh). Under the last sovereign, Ardeshir, Shabankara was taken in 1355 by the Modhafferians, who reigned in Irak, Fars, and Kerman, one of the Dynasties established at the expense of the Mongol Ilkhans after the death of Abu Said (1335), and were themselves subjugated by Timur in 1392.--H. C.] Their country lay to the south of the great salt lake east of Shiraz, and included Niriz and Darabjird, Fassa, Forg, and Tarum. Their capital was I/g or I/j, called also Irej, about 20 miles north-west of Darab, with a great mountain fortress; it was taken by Hulaku in 1259. The son of the prince was continued in nominal authority, with Mongol administrators. In consequence of a rebellion in 1311 the Dynasty seems to have been extinguished. A descendant attempted to revive their authority about the middle of the same century. The latest historical mention of the name that I have found is in Abdurrazzak's History of Shah Rukh, under the year H. 807 (1404). (See Jour. As. 3d. s. vol. ii. 355.) But a note by Colonel Pelly informs me that the name Shabankara is still applied (1) to the district round the towns of Runiz and Gauristan near Bandar Abbas; (2) to a village near Maiman, in the old country of the tribe; (3) to a tribe and district of Dashtistan, 38 farsakhs west of Shiraz.

With reference to the form in the text, _Soncara, I may notice that in two passages of the Masalak-ul-Absar, translated by Quatremere, the name occurs as Shankarah. (Q. R. pp. 380, 440 seqq.; N. et E. XIII.; Ilch. I. 71 and passim; Ouseley's Travels, II. 158 seqq.)

VIII. TUN-O-KAIN, the eastern Kuhistan or Hill country of Persia, of which Tun and Kain are chief cities. The practice of indicating a locality by combining two names in this way is common in the East. Elsewhere in this book we find Ariora-Keshemur and Kes-macoran (Kij-Makran). Upper Sind is often called in India by the Sepoys Rori-Bakkar, from two adjoining places on the Indus; whilst in former days, Lower Sind was often called Diul-Sind. Karra-Manikpur, Uch-Multan, Kunduz-Baghlan are other examples.

The exact expression Tun-o-Kain for the province here in question is used by Baber, and evidently also by some of Hammer's authorities. (Baber, pp. 201, 204; see Ilch. II. 190; I. 95, 104, and Hist. de l'Ordre des Assassins, p. 245.)

[We learn from (Sir) C. Macgregor's (1875) Journey through Khorasan (I. p. 127) that the same territory including Ghain or Kain is now called by the analogous name of Tabas-o-Tun. Tun and Kain (Ghain) are both described in their modern state, by Macgregor. (Ibid. pp. 147 and 161.)--H. C.]

Note that the identification of Suolstan is due to Quatremere (see N. et E. XIII. i. circa p. 332); that of Soncara to Defremery (J. As. ser. IV. tom. xi. p. 441); and that of Tunocain to Malte-Brun. (N. Ann. des V. xviii. p. 261.) I may add that the Lurs, the Shuls, and the Shabankaras are the subjects of three successive sections in the Masalak-al-Absar of Shihabuddin Dimishki, a work which reflects much of Polo's geography. (See N. et E. XIII. i. 330-333; Curzon, Persia, II. pp. 248 and 251.)