Tucktumush Khan, who forgetting my kindness to him, and my raising him to be King of the Desht Kipchak, had watched his opportunity, and attacked me with an army as numerous as the drops of rain; I therefore wrote to him, "Whoever returns evil for good, must be a bastard, and will certainly receive his reward; when you fled from Aurūs Khān, did I not give you an asylum, I released you and made you King of the Desht: as you have not been sensible of my kindness, but have taken this opportunity to attack me, be assured you shall suffer for your bad intentions."

About this period I dreamed, that the sun arose in the east, and having ascended over my head, became suddenly eclipsed, it then retrograded and sunk in the east: the interpretation of this dream was, that Tucktumush Khan was typified by the sun, that he should advance against me, that he should be defeated, and compelled to retreat by the same road he came; thus it was that Tucktumush Khan came against me with a numerous army, but my troops attacked him with the fierceness of lions, and destroyed them, by which means the tribe of Jujy were plundered and put to shameful flight, and I returned successful and victorious.*

When I was about to invade Arabian Irāc, I dreamed that I had entered a valley, in which I saw a number of lions, that they came close to me, and in fact surrounded me: afterwards when I entered that country, I found that the inhabitants of it, although Arabs by descent, had very much the features of lions; they however brought me valuable presents, and I subdued the kingdom of Irāc Arab.

When I was about to invade Hindūstan, and my chiefs, by their backwardness, rendered me doubtful whether I should proceed; I dreamt that I was in a large garden, and saw a number of people who were pruning the trees, and sowing seeds; that the garden was full of trees, both great and small, on the tops of which the birds had built their nests; I thought that I had a sling in my hand, and that I destroyed the nests with stones from the sling, and drove away all the birds: this dream was realised when I took that country, by my expelling all the Sultans, and taking possession of the kingdom.

Again, when I invaded Syria, the armies of Egypt and Constantinople both joined the Syrians, on which occasion my nobles came to me, and said in a desponding manner, "to contend with three nations, and to defeat three armies, requires a greater force than we have;" I was then engaged in prayer, and soon after having fallen asleep, I dreamt that I ascended a mountain, and that when I arrived at the top, I was overwhelmed in black and white clouds, and caught in a whirlwind of dust, this was succeeded by a heavy shower of rain, which soon laid the dust; the learned of my court expounded the dream in this manner; viz. "The mountain is the kingdom of Syria, the black and white clouds are the armies of Egypt and Syria, the rain is the army of your Majesty, which will shortly annihilate your enemies, and settle all these disturbances." I placed much faith in my dream, persevered in my intentions, and shortly defeated the armies of Syria and of Egypt, and was successful and victorious. Again when the Kyser Bayazid (Bajazet) advanced against me with four hundred thousand warriors, and the shouts of the Rūmians were excessive, I addressed myself to the Prophet and his descendants, and employed myself in prayer that night; I dreamt that I was travelling through a wilderness, and that I saw a number of people on all sides, at this time I observed a great light, which seemed attached to the horizon of the heavens; I went towards the light, but was interrupted by three mounds of earth, which fell before me, and from which there arose a great smoke; I also saw five persons, who having taken the hands of each other, proceeded before me; from seeing these persons, I felt a degree of awe and dread, and I heard some one say, this is the Prophet who is going with his friends to heaven; upon which I hastened, and having overtaken them, made my obeisance to Muhammed, " upon whom and upon his descendants be the grace of God." The prophet made a sign to one of his four companions who had a club in his hand, to give it me; when I took it in my hand, it became very long; when I awoke from my sleep, I found myself exalted and exhilirated by this dream, and became strong of heart, as if I had been strengthened and aided by the white standard of Aly; and it was in consequence of this dream that I was enabled to take from the Kyser the kingdom of Rūm.

After this, when I called to mind the toils and labours I had undergone, in subduing so many countries of the world by the arm of courage, I considered whether it was likely that my good fortune and sovereignty should endure, and was anxious to discover which of my sons or descendants, the Almighty would place upon my throne, in order to preserve my fame and glory: shortly after this I saw in a dream the Prophet of God, who told me " that seventy-two persons of my descendants should be rulers of the earth."

Still I was anxious on this subject, till I saw in a dream, that I was sitting under a shady tree, having innumerable branches and leaves, the top of which reached to the heavens; from the leaves and branches of this tree, there fell, like a heavy shower of rain, various kinds of fruit, immediately all sorts of reptiles, birds, cattle, and other animals, surrounded the tree, and voraciously began eating the fruit; afterwards they violently attacked each other with their claws

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and beaks; when I had tasted the different kinds of fruit, I found some of them sweet, some sour, some bitter, some insipid, at this time I heard a voice proclaim, "this is the tree which you yourself have planted;" when I awoke, the interpreters expounded the dream thus, "you are the tree, the leaves and branches are your posterity, who shall be the supporters of your state and sovereignty, and will benefit mankind by their benevolence."

CHAPTER VII.

Another time when I had reflected on the past, I repented and was ashamed of many of my doings and sayings, and soon after dreamt that I was sitting in a desert, overgrown with thorns and thistles, and that I was surrounded by dogs, hogs, demons, men and women with frightful and horrid countenances; I was so terrified by their appearance that I awoke, and was so much impressed by this dream, that I wrote the circumstance to my Peer,* and received from him the following answer, "that which you saw in a dream was the representation of

your vices and evil actions, such as tyranny, passion, lust, injuring the crea"tures of God, avarice, covetousness, envy, and pride, which are all of the worst "quality; therefore change your habits, and you will receive the reward of good " actions and virtuous morals." In consequence of this advice, from that time I refrained from injuring mankind, and from all enmity and strife.

Another time I dreamt that I entered a garden filled with flowers and odoriferous herbs, in it were also many fruit trees, and running streams, it was inhabited by beautiful young persons and charming songsters, also by handsome boys and girls, all of whom came and paid their respects to me; I was much delighted with them, and so pleased with my dream, that I again wrote all the particulars to my Peer, who wrote me in answer, "return thanks to God, for "the Almighty has shewn you the representation of your good actions and vir"tuous deeds, and know that the Prophet (on whom be peace) hath said ' every " man at his birth has two devils in attendance;' I also had them, but by the

grace of God, I have subdued them; it is therefore incumbent on every man "to imitate the conduct of the Holy Prophet, and endeavour to subdue his " animal and brutal passions, and invest himself with good qualities and praise" worthy morals, by which he may attain eternal felicity. Farewell."

At the time that I determined on a holy war against the unbelievers of China (Khāta), and having made my preparations, and marched from Samerkund, I became doubtful whether my life would last the accomplishment of this design, and whether I should proceed on this sacred expedition, or relinquish it; I dreamt that I had climbed a high tree, and that I was sitting on one of its numerous branches, when the branch broke, and I fell to the ground; I also thought that I was carrying a pitcher of wine on my head, and was going along the road, suddenly the pitcher fell from my head and was broken, and the wine spilt; I then thought that my Father Teragay took me by the hand, and led me into a meadow, and having left me there, went away; the interpreters expounded this dream in a manner that was not satisfactory, I, therefore, resigned myself to the decrees of Providence.

Also about this time, I dreamt that I was in a frightful desert, and that I was quite alone, but that after travelling some distance, I came to a green plain, in the midst of which was a garden; I entered the garden and found it delightful, it contained fountains and rivulets of pure water, and trees inhabited by sweet singing birds; in the middle of the garden I saw a lofty palace, and a stately looking man was seated on a throne in the hall of the palace, and on his right and left hands stood numerous attendants, and they had in their hands, papers and pens, and several volumes were lying before them; I asked what is this man writing, I was answered, in these volumes the destiny and period of life of all mankind is written; I wished to inquire how long I had to live, and what was to be my destiny, but I awoke from my dream.

At the time I invaded the province of Fars, the people of Shiraz took part with Shah Munsūr, and having joined him, put my Governor (Hakim) to death, I therefore gave orders for a general massacre of the inhabitants of Shiraz, on which, the very religious Syed Abul Ishak waited on me, and requested that I would cancel the cruel order, I however would not listen to the request of the Syed; that very night I dreamt that I saw the Prophet, (upon whom be the grace of God), who frowned on me and said, " one of my posterity came to your court and interceded for a number of culprits, why did you not attend to his petition, that I might have interceded for you at the court of the Almighty;" when I awoke, I perceived my error, and immediately mounting my horse, I rode to the residence of the Syed, and begged his pardon; I also put an immediate stop to the slaughter, and ordered that Shiraz should in future be annexed to the royal exchequer, and an annual allowance made to several of the inhabitants ; and I also bestowed on Khuajē Mahmūd, the district of Mehrjān, and conferred a title on him; I then made a vow that I would never again reject the petition of a Syed, that I would never be deficient in respect to them, but that I would always do honour to the descendants of Muhammed, and the companions of his

Holiness; that being convinced of the obligation of aiding and befriending them, I would more and more extend my favour towards them.

I communicated all these circumstances to my Peer, who immediately wrote on the margin of my letter, " may God grant all thy desires, and may this lesson

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prove auspicious to the posterity of the Prophet, through the intercession of "Muhammed and the Divine grace; in obedience to the orders of God, and " for his sake, you must befriend this class; do you not see that by honouring " and respecting them, you draw down blessings on your own posterity, and as "long as the conduct of the latter shall be proper, they may hope for aid in " this world and the next; let your kindness to them increase and increase; sal"vation to him who follows the true guidance."

But of all the presages of my future greatness, that which gave me the most pleasure, and confidence in the Divine aid, was a circumstance that my Father Teragay told me, he said, "sometime previous to your birth, I dreamt that a person of a luminous countenance, resembling, in figure and dress, an Arabian, presented me with a naked scymitar, with which when I began to fence, there issued from it numerous sparks which illuminated the whole earth, after which there spouted from my hand a jet d'eau, which threw the water into the air, and which fell in large drops on the ground; the interpreters being consulted, thus expounded my dream; of your sons, one will be a world-subduing sword, who will purify the earth from the defilement (of idolatry), and spread the true religion over the face of the globe, and will generally benefit mankind, and his descendants and posterity shall be numerous."

This omen rejoiced me extremely; I was convinced that Sovereignty was written in the page of my destiny, but resolved to be contented with whatever of good or evil might occur to me, and to be satisfied with the decrees of Providence.