REFUGE FOR THE VANQUISHED SOVEREIGNS. II. cavalcade of the Emperor consisted of a thousand noble Tartars, upon CHAP. the finest Persian steeds, in splendid armour, with richly embroidered saddles, and bridles of silver. The state elephants were caparisoned in purple and gold; and the train was not less than a hundred thousand men. 83 The Moguls invade Hindostan with twenty thousand horse, but are A.D. 1283. repulsed from Lahore. Another invasion is frustrated. A.D. 1286. The King of Persia, in subordination to his cousin, Kublai, the A.D. 1291. Emperor of Tartary, invaded Hindostan with ten tomans (one hundred thousand) of Moguls. Ferose II. moved forward to oppose him. Both armies encamped for five days on the sides of a stream on the frontiers of Biram, and their advanced posts skirmished. On the sixth morning, they fought upon a plain. The Moguls were defeated, many chiefs killed, and a thousand men taken prisoners, besides two omrahs, and several officers of rank. The Emperor was afraid to pursue his victory, and offered them peace, on condition of evacuating his dominions. They gladly accepted the terms, and presents were exchanged. When they were retreating, Allagu, a grandson of Genghis, joined Ferose with three thousand men. They all became mussulmans, and their chief was honoured with one of Ferose's daughters in marriage. Advices came to Delhi, that Dova, King of Maver-ul-nere, had sent A.D. 1296. an army of a hundred thousand Moguls to conquer Punjab, Moultan, and the provinces near the mouth of the Indus. Alla I. sent his brother Elich with a great force to expel them. The Moguls were defeated with the loss of twelve thousand men, and many great officers. Numbers of prisoners of all ranks were taken; and some days afterwards put to the sword, not sparing the women and children, who had been taken in the Mogul camp. 84 CHAP. A.D. 1298. 2700 ELEPHANTS.-INGRATITUDE OF ALLA I. Cuttulich, the son of Dova, king of Maver-ul-nere, with two hundred thousand Mongols, proceeded towards Delhi without opposition. The whole country had crowded into that city. Alla I. marched out, at the Budaoon gate, with three hundred thousand horse, two thousand seven hundred elephants, and foot without number. With the choicest elephants a tremendous line was formed in front of Alla's army. Ziffer commanded the right wing, and, by his impetuous and judicious conduct, the Moguls were defeated. He was at one time surrounded; the enemy admired his extraordinary bravery, and called out to him to submit: he refused, and was cut to pieces with his friends who were around him. The Moguls retreated. Alla esteemed the death of Ziffer a second victory, and expressed his satisfaction thereat: so great was his jealousy and so base his ingratitude. Many other invasions were repelled, till Tamerlane vanquished Mahmoud, in 1398; when most of the provinces declared themselves independent. In 1525, the Mogul, Baber, mounted the throne at Delhi; and thus ended the line of Patan, Afghan, or Ghiznian sovereigns +. A.D. 1369. There were nine Grand Khans, or Emperors, of the Mongol dynasty, on the throne of China. Shun-ti, the last, reigned thirty-five years. He was effeminate and indolent: his love of pleasure made him wholly neglect the affairs of state. He sent for the Lamas from Tartary; who introduced their idolatry: and, to indulge his vicious inclinations, + See Dow's Hindostan, Vol. I. p. 179, &c. EXPULSION OF THE MONGOLS FROM CHINA. II. placed a company of young female dancers in the palace, who entirely CHAP. enervated the little courage that remained in him. By this conduct a rebellion was excited, and headed by a Chinese named Chu, who had been a servant in a monastery of Bonzas. He gained many advantages over the Mongols. Shun-ti abandoned Pekin, on the 27th of August, 1369, with his family and his army: he was pursued and driven towards the north. In two years, the last of the Ywen dynasty in China died of grief for the loss of his empire*. * Du Halde, Vol. II. p. 217. De Guines. No particulars of the battles, or of the retreats, have been met with. 85 CHAP. CHAPTER III. Of the Employment of Elephants from the earliest times in China Persia- -Assam; from which Countries they may have been introduced into Siberia. ALL these countries were subject to the Grand Khans, in the thir teenth and fourteenth centuries. CHINA. ABOUT eleven hundred years before the Christian era, the metropolis of the Emperor Vu Vang, was Singan, the capital of Shensi, the western Chinese province, and contiguous to the territories of Assam*. Both the country and the metropolis were called Chin. A king of this territory, which was gradually extended to the east and west, (and therefore comprised Assam, a region where elephants are exceedingly abundant; so much so, that most persons keep one to carry their wives, and one is buried in the tombs of the chiefs), makes a figure in the Shahnamah, among the allies of Afrasiab, mounted on a white elephant†. This is, possibly, the first mention, in history, of elephants being used in warfare in the neighbourhood of Siberia; it may be the same history as the following: * Meer Jumla, in the reign of Aurungzeb, invaded Assam, to lat. 35°. Dow, Vol. III. p. 357. + Du Halde, Vol. I. p. 158. Sir W. Jones, VII. Disc. Vol. I. p. 101. OGUZ KHAN. CHINESE WALL. "The joy of Afrasiab at these successes knew no bounds; he resolved on an attack of the main body of the Persians, which was commanded by Kai Khoosroo* and Roostum; who, on their part, adopted every means they could to repair their misfortune. Toos was released from his confinement; and sent, at the head of a fresh army, to meet Peeran-Wisa, with whom he had an action which lasted seven days; but, terminating unfavourably, he was forced to retreat to the mountains of Hamavi, where his force was surrounded and in great danger, until relieved by Roostum; who, after a number of single combats, in all of which he was successful, obtained a great victory and made prisoner the Emperor of China, one of Afrasiab's chief allies. This monarch is represented as riding on a white elephant. The Chinese army dispersed, and Roostum immediately marched in person after Afrasiab, who fled to his capital; the conquest of which was only retarded for a short time by the arrival of Pouladwund, the chief of Khoten, who fought with great valour, and discomfited several of the most renowned of the Persians; but was at last overthrown by Roostum. Afrasiab, destitute of all resource and support, fled from his territories; which were divided by Roostum among the leaders of the Persian army. Before Alexander the Great, Transoxiana was inhabited by a nation known by the generic names of Getæ and Massagetæ. Afrasiab was probably monarch of these tribes ‡.” CHAP. 87 *"Caikhosrau is, without fear of contradiction, the Cyrus of Xenophon, and the hero of the oldest political and moral romance." Sir W. Jones, Vol. I. p. 75. It is impossible to reconcile dates and events. Different histories agree in the facts. Sir William Jones, Vol. V. p. 591, supposes that Afrasiab may have been a common name for the kings of Asiatic Tartary. † Cyrus replied-" My paternal kingdom reaches northward to those parts which are not habitable, through cold." Xen. Exp. of Cyr. p. 32. Sir John Malcolm's History of Persia, Vol I. pp. 46 and 124. There having |