LXV. 21 CHAP. furs, of linen of Antioch ", and of ingots of gold and filver 32. On the banks of the Don, or Tanais, he received an humble deputation from the confuls and merchants of Egypt ", Venice, Genoa, Catalonia, and Bifcay, who occupied the commerce and city of Tana, or Azoph, at the mouth of the river. They offered their gifts, admired his magnificence, and trufted his royal word. But the peaceful vifit of an emir, who explored the ftate of the magazines and harbour, was speedily followed by the deftructive presence of the Tartars. The city was reduced to afhes; the Moslems were pillaged and difmiffed; but all the Chriftians, who had not fled to their fhips, were condemned either to death or flavery 23. Revenge prompted him to burn the cities of Serai and Aftrachan, the monuments of rifing civilization; 19 The furs of Ruffia are more credible than the ingots. But the linen of Antioch has never been famous; and Antioch was in ruins. I fufpect that it was fome manufacture of Europe, which the Hanfe merchants had imported by the way of Novogorod. 20 M. Levéique (Hift. de Ruffie, tom. ii. p. 247. Vie de Timour, p. 64-67. before the French verfion of the Inftitutes) has corrected the error of Shercfeddin, and marked the true limit of Timour's conquefts. His arguments are fuperfluous, and a fimple appeal to the Ruffian annals is fufficient to prove that Mofcow, which fix years before had been taken by Toetamish, escaped the arms of a more formidable invader. 21 An Egyptian conful from Grand Cairo, is mentioned in Bar. baro's voyage to Tana in 1456, after the city had been rebuilt (Ramufio, tom. ii. fol. 92.). 22 The fack of Azoph is defcribed by Sherefeddin (1. iii. c. 55) and much more particularly by the author of an Italian chronicle (Andreas de Redufris de Quero, in Chron. Tarvifiano, in Muratori Script. Rerum Italicarum, tom, xix. p. 802-805.). He had converted with the Mianis, two Venetian brothers, one of whom had been fent a deputy to the camp of Timour, and the other had loft at Azoph three fons and 12,000 ducats. and LXV. and his vanity proclaimed, that he had penetrated CHAP. to the region of perpetual daylight a ftrange phenomenon, which authorifed his Mahometan doctors to difpenfe with the obligation of evening prayer 23. Hindo A. D. 1398, 1399 III. When Timour firft propofed to his princes III. Of and emirs the invafion of India or Hindoftan **, he was anfwered by a murmur of difcontent: "The rivers! and the mountains and deferts! and "the foldiers clad in armour! and the elephants, destroyers of men !" But the difpleasure of the emperor was more dreadful than all these terrors; and his fuperior reafon was convinced, that an enterprise of such tremendous afpect was fafe and easy in the execution. He was informed by his fspies* of the weakness and anarchy of Hindoftan: the Soubahs of the provinces had erected the standard of rebellion; and the perpetual infancy of fultan Mahmood was defpifed even in the haram of Delhi. The Mogul army moved in three great divifions: and Timour obferves with pleasure, that the ninetytwo fquadrons of a thousand horse most fortunately correfponded with the ninety-two names or epithets of the prophet Mahomet. Between the Jihoon and the Indus, they croffed one of the ridges of 23 Sherefeddin only fays (1. iii. c. 13.), that the rays of the setting, and thofe of the rifing fun, were scarcely feparated by any interval z a problem which may be solved in the latitude of Moscow (the 5614 degree), with the aid of the Aurora Borealis, and a long fummer 1wilight. But a day of forty days (Khondemir apud d'Herbelot, p. 88.) would rigorously confine us within the polar circle. 24 For the Indian war, see the Institutions (p. 129–139 ), the fourth book of Sherefeddin, and the hiftory of Ferishta, (in Dow, vol. ii. p.1-20.), which throws a general light on the affairs of Hindoftan. mountains, LXV. CHAP. mountains, which are ftyled by the Arabian geographers The ftony girdles of the earth. The highland robbers were fubdued or extirpated; but great numbers of men and horfes perished in the fnow, the emperor himself was let down a precipice on a portable scaffold, the ropes were one hundred and fifty cubits in length; and, before he could reach the bottom, this dangerous operation was five times repeated. Timour croffed the Indus at the ordinary paffage of Attok; and fucceffively traversed, in the foot-steps of Alexander, the Punjab, or five rivers", that fall into the master-ftream. From Attok to Delhi, the high road measures no more than fix hundred miles; but the two conquerors deviated to the fouth-eaft; and the motive of Timour was to join his grandfon, who had atchieved by his command the conqueft of Moultan. On the eastern bank of the Hyphafis, on the edge of the defert, the Macedonian hero halted and wept the Mogul entered the defert, reduced the fortress of Batnir, and stood in arms before the gates of Delhi, a great and flourishing city, which had fubfifted three centuries under the dominion of the Mahometan kings. The fiege, more especially of the castle, might have been a work of time; but he tempted, by the appearance of weakness, the fultan Mahmood and his vizir to defcend into the plain, with ten thoufand 23 The rivers of the Punjab, the five eastern branches of the Indus, have been laid down for the first time with truth and accuracy in Major Rennel's incomparable map of Hindoftan. In his Critical Memoir, he illuftrates with judgment and learning the marches of Alexander and Timour. cuiraffiers, LXV. cuiraffiers, forty thousand of his foot-guards, and CHAP His return 26 The two great rivers, the Ganges and Burrampooter, rife in Thibet, from the oppofite ridges of the fame hills, feparate from each other to the distance of 1200 miles, and, after a winding courfe of 2000 miles, again meet in one point near the gulf of Bengal. Yet fo capricious is Fame, that the Burrampooter is a late discovery, while his brother Ganges has been the theme of ancient and modern story. Coupele, the fcene of Timour's laft victorya 1 LXV. CHAP. return was along the skirts of the northern hills; nor could this rapid campaign of one year justify the ftrange forefight of his emirs, that their children in a warm climate would degenerate into a race of Hindoos. His war againft fultan Bajazet, A.D. 1400, It was on the banks of the Ganges that Timour was informed, by his fpeedy meffengers, of the difturbances which had arifen on the confines of Georgia and Anatolia, of the revolt of the Chrif Sept. 1. tians, and the ambitious defigns of the fultan Bajazet. His vigour of mind and body was not impaired by fixty-three years, and innumerable fatigues; and, after enjoying some tranquil months in the palace of Samarcand, he proclaimed a new expedition of feven years into the western countries of Afia ". To the foldiers who had ferved in the Indian war, he granted the choice of remaining at home, or following their prince; but the troops of all the provinces and kingdoms of Perfia were commanded to affemble at Ifpahan, and wait the arrival of the Imperial standard. It was first directed against the Chriftians of Georgia, who were strong only in their rocks, their castles, and the winter feafon; but thefe obftacles were overcome by the zeal and perseverance of Timour? the rebels fubmitted to the tribute or the Koran; and if both religions boafted of their martyrs, that name is more justly due to the Christian victory, must be fituate near Loldong, 1100 miles from Calcutta ; and, in 1774, a British camp! (Rennel's Memoir, p. 7. 59. 9o, 91.99.) 27 See the Inftitutions, p. 141. to the end of the 1st book, and Sherefeddin (1. v. c. 1—16.), to the entrance of Timour into Syria. prifoners, |