A. D. 1366.

CHAPTER XIX.

In the year 768, I entered, the thirty-second year of my age, and was busily employed in getting my army into proper order; when that was effected, I marched with all my troops from Karshy, with an intention of going to Samerkund, in order to increase my forces: at the end of the first days' march, Amyr Soleyman and Javerchy, who were the chief instigators of the quarrel between my brother-in-law and me, deserted and went over to Amyr Hussyn; but just at this time, the commander of the Yusury tribe having died, was succeeded by his brothers Aly Derveish, Alyas Khuajē, and Hajy Mahmud, who all came and joined me with the whole tribe of Yusury, and entered into my service. Also Amyr Jaku and Abās, whom I had sent with Behram Jelayr to Khujend, rejoined me with their divisions.

My army being thus considerably reinforced, I proceeded towards Samerkund; when I had nearly reached that place, the principal inhabitants of the city came out to meet me, and requested that I would appoint (Hakim) a governor over them; I in consequence did appoint Kera Hindūke Berlās, to be governor of Samerkund, and I returned towards my cantonments at Karshy; but when I had made two marches towards home, that Hindu like character quitted the government of Samerkund, and went over to Amyr Hussyn.

At this place, I received intelligence that (my wife) the illustrious Aljay Tūrkān Aghā, whom I had left very ill, had departed this life; on hearing this, I said," verily we belong to God, and to him shall we return."

When the news reached Amyr Hussyn, that his sister was dead, he was very much afflicted, and was sensible that the bond which had hitherto united us, was now broken, and our connection dissolved. He was nevertheless very violent against me, and made preparation for war; I also assembled my troops, and did not relax in my precautions. In the first place, I sent Amyr Syf Addyn with the troops of my victorious army, towards Chughtayan, where Amyr Hussyn was encamped, to gain intelligence. He soon sent me word that Amyr Hussyn was determined on war, but that he wished to carry it on by intrigue and artifice, and recommended me to be on my guard.

When Amyr Hussyn heard that I had left Kārshy, and had sent a detachment towards his camp, he despatched his son Abdallah with a letter, and a deceitful message. In the letter it was stated, " that his overtures proceeded from the heart, not from the tongue; that he had the most sincere friendship for me, and "that I might place the most implicit confidence on this promise."

66

When Abdallah reached my encampment, which was at Kehulkeh, he delivered his message, and presented the letter; I refused to read the letter, and paid no attention to the message; my reason for which, was this, that most of my chiefs were persons who had deserted from Amyr Hussyn, and had come over to me; they were, therefore, alarmed, lest if peace should take place between us, they might fall a sacrifice to our reconciliation, and as I suspected that this was the motive which induced Amyr Hussyn's overtures, I sent for the heads of the Yusury clan, and said to them, "Amyr Hussyn has knocked at the door of friendship, and I know that his object is to cause discord between you and me; but, between him and me, the only thing that now remains is the sword." On hearing this, the chiefs, who were hesitating how they should act, finding that I was determined to continue the war, became strong of heart: thus I reconciled all the Yusurians, and afterwards conferred favours on them.

When Amyr Hussyn found that I would not enter into any treaty with him, he refrained from hostilities, and I also returned towards Kārshy; he however soon after assembled his army, and having appointed Shyr Behram to the command of his advance, came towards Karshy, wishing by fraud and stratagem, to seize me. While I was encamped at Herar, he sent his treasurer Kezer to me with a Korān, on which he pretended to have taken his oath, that he had no animosity against me, and prayed that if he should be guilty of a breach of his oath, that the holy book would bring down destruction on him; but in order to confirm our friendship, he stated it was requisite that we should have a meeting, and therefore proposed that we should meet at the pass of Chuckchuck, and renew our amicable engagements, in such a manner, that hereafter no seditious scoundrel might be able to excite strife between us; notwithstanding these protestations, I discovered that he had sent detachments to both ends of the pass, with orders to conceal themselves, and that when I entered it, they should close up in front and rear, and seize me. I nevertheless listened to the proposal of his messenger, which was, "that I should leave my army where it was, and that Amyr Hussyn should also have his troops at Chuganian, and we should both advance with one hundred men each, to a delightful spot in the pass, abounding with water and verdure, where we might enjoy the society of each other, renew our vows of friendship, and divide the province of Maveralnaher between us in a fraternal manner." *

Having heard this deceitful message of Amyr Hussyn, I privately gave orders for part of my forces to march at night, and take post on the road, in front of the pass, and the other part to take a strong position in the rear of it. I then

* See Institutes, page 101.

proceeded with three hundred horse towards the appointed place, and Amyr Hussyn advanced with one thousand cavalry.

When I arrived at the place where Amyr Hussyn had concealed his first division, I halted, but the enemy immediately rushed upon me; at the same time, my troops, who were concealed, charged them, and a severe contest took place; at first my people were worsted, but I reinforced them, and we soon put the enemy to the route, killed many, and took a number of them prisoners.

During this time, Amyr Hussyn, who had remained on one side of the pass, waiting in expectation of seeing me brought bound to him, was surprised to see his defeated army running in all directions, he was, therefore, much disappointed and ashamed;* but being convinced the veil of his deceit was now rent, he suspected Shyr Behram, who had deserted me, and had been employed confidentially by him, of having given me intelligence; he therefore commanded him to be put to death, which circumstance realized my prediction, when Shyr Behram quitted my service, as formerly related. In consequence of this victory, I returned exulting towards Kārshy, and encamped in its vicinity.

CHAPTER XX.

Being now thoroughly convinced of Amyr Hussyn's implacable enmity, I earnestly set about refitting and strengthening my army; to effect this, I sent for each of my chiefs separately, and made them promise and swear fidelity to me; I said to them, "whoever remains with me, I will treat as a brother, whatever I now possess, I will divide with you, and whatever I may in future obtain, shall be also divided; whoever is averse to my service, let him leave me this very day, I shall refer his retribution to the Omnipotent." They individually declared their attachment to me, wrote their names in the muster roll, took an oath, and signed the following written promise; "we call God to witness, that if we shall be guilty of a breach of our promise, or desert the Amyr Timur, we hope we may be overwhelmed with the Divine anger." Being now at ease with respect to my army, I deemed it most advisable to march to Mākhān, and bring over to my party, the tribe of Sunjury, who resided in that neighbourhood, then to proceed against Amyr Hussyn, and wait for whatever might be concealed behind the curtain of futurity.

At this time, I received information that Amyr Hussyn had collected a large * This account is different from Petis de la Croix's History.

army, and that he had despatched Amyr Musa and Melk Behader, with twelve thousand horse against Karshy, and to oppose me. When this news arrived, my officers began to despond, I therefore summoned the chiefs, and again demanded their promise. After some hesitation, they replied, "if you will give us some strong place to secure our families and provisions, then we will devote our lives to your service:" I therefore sent edicts to the chiefs of the tribe of Sunjury, who were under great obligations to me, and stated the case; they proved themselves grateful for my favours, sent me one thousand men, and promised to take the families of the whole tribe of Berlas, with their effects, into their fortresses.

My officers being now at ease with regard to their families and stores, agreed to march with me, but I did not place much confidence in them, which they having heard, came to me with the Koran (on which they had sworn) in their hands, and their swords suspended round their necks, and said, "here are the Korāns, and here are our swords, if we have broken our oaths, kill us." The first of these was Amyr Jakū, the others were Ayk Timur, Sarbugā Jelayr, the Amyrs Daoud, Muvyd, Syf Addeen, &c. &c. When I saw them in this state, I wept, and they wept; they then vowed they would devote their lives to my service, and I praised and lauded them; and with a tranquil mind, I mounted my horse, with the full intention of fighting Amyr Hussyn, but I thought it proper first to go to the tribe of Sunjury, and leave all the heavy baggage with them; I therefore quitted Kārshy, and proceeded towards Makhan.*

Amyr Musā and Amyr Hindūkē, the generals of Amyr Hussyn, having heard of my departure from Kārshy, were rejoiced, advanced against that fortress, and finding it without any garrison, took easy possession of it; they then wrote to their master that they had defeated me, compelled me to flee to Khurasan, and that they had taken the fort of Kārshy: when their boasting was communicated to me, the sinews of my honour were irritated, and I resolved to return to Kārshy, and seize them. I therefore caused it to be reported that I was gone on to Khurasan, and having sent the families of all my people to the protection of the Sunjury tribe, I selected a few of my best soldiers, and having marched to Isack's well in the desert, halted there several days, to give time for all my followers to join; then turning to the south, I advanced on the road to Makhān, and having arrived at the Amu or Jihūn, and encamped on its bank, and crossed over during the night. When the intelligence of my having crossed the Jihun, was brought to Amyr Musā and his colleagues, they were delighted, and began to enjoy their tranquillity. I halted two days on the south bank of the river, till all my people had crossed; I then sent off a letter to the Prince of Herat, and

* Latitude 37,30, Longitude 85, East.

another to Muhammed Khan Ghorbany. I also sent intelligent persons into Khurasan, to ascertain the disposition of the people towards me.

As I had no reliance on the people of Khurasan, I quitted the banks of the river, and marched into the (Jul) desert, and encamped near a well of brackish water, and I remained for two months in the desert; but as it abounded with wild animals, we caught a number of them, which served us for food. At the end of this time, the dromedaries that I had sent to the Prince of Herat and Muhammed Khan Ghorbany, returned, and brought me letters replete with professions of friendship; each of them sent me presents, also a number of arms, consisting of bows, swords, and quivers, of these I kept one bow and one sword, the remainder I gave to the officers and soldiers.

At this time, I received information that a caravan from Khurasan, carrying goods to Kārshy, was approaching,* I therefore marched towards them on the Herat road; when the people of the caravan saw my army, they were afraid; some of them however advanced to meet me, and presented me their offerings, whilst seated on my horse; I asked them a number of questions respecting the news of Herat, and what were the reports about me in Khurasan, they replied, "we heard that your highness was coming into Khurasan, at the invitation of the Prince of Herat, and that you had crossed the Amu; the people would not believe the report, but we are now convinced of its truth by our own eyes." I replied," as the tyranny of Amyr Hussyn has been excessive, and he has even led an army against me; I have been under the necessity of abandoning my country, and proceeding towards Khurasan."

The people of the caravan blessed me, and requested I would give them a guard to protect them against my followers, and to escort them through the dangerous places. I then made two more marches on the road to Khurasan; when the caravan arrived at Kārshy, Amyr Musā, the governor of the fortress, sent for the leaders of the caravan, and asked them about me, they replied, "we saw the Amyr Timur in the desert, with his whole army; he was going on to Herat, at the invitation of the Prince of that country, and he was making long marches in order to arrive there quickly." When the governor heard this intelligence, he immediately came out of the fort with seven thousand horse, pitched his tents in the plain of Bimragh, and commenced feasting and carousing; before leaving the fort, Amyr Musā appointed his son Muhammed Beg to the command of it, and strengthened the fortifications. He also sent off an express to Amyr Hussyn with the good news; previous to this time, the Amyr had sent a reinforcement to Kārshy, of five thousand horse, but the commander of these troops being also off his guard, halted at the village of Ghashūn.

* See Institutes, page 95.