your subjects by beneficence, otherwise you will fall from your power and prosperity."

When my father had finished his discourse, I promised faithfully to follow his counsel, and to comply with his advice.

When I attained the age of seventeen, my father being indifferent about worldly affairs, and in delicate health, I took upon me the charge of his private affairs, and made the following arrangements; I formed every hundred sheep into a separate flock, and appointed a shepherd to each flock, whose profits were to be one fourth of the milk, the butter, and the wool; I did the same with the goats, separating the wethers from the females; I likewise denominated every twenty horses a stable, separating the horses from the mares; also the camels in the same manner.

Of the various omens which predicted my future greatness, one which most tended to raise my hopes was this; one day I went to pay my respects to the famous Saint Amyr Kelāl, and when I entered the assembly, I seated myself at the very lowest end of the room, (literally where the shoes are taken off); the Saint looked at me and said," although this boy is in appearance so little and young, he is in fact, a great personage;" he then made room for me near himself, and after looking at and conversing with me for some time, he fell into a slumber; after he awoke, one of his servants presented to him a tray of bread and sweetmeats, he stretched out his hand, and having taken seven cakes and sweetmeats, gave them to me, saying, " eat a mouthful of each of these, in consequence of which, the seven regions of the world shall become subject to you;"* I was astonished at these words, and the people of the assembly looked first at each other, and then on me, but through awe of the Saint, no one ventured to speak ; I therefore folded up the cakes, and carried them to my father, who said to me, "Kelal is a great personage, a descendant of the Prophet, a seeer of visions, and a worker of miracles, whatever he has told you of his visions, will certainly come to pass; take care of these cakes, and do not give of them to any body, but regard them as the greatest blessing from the blessings of that holy personage." Some time after this event, my father went with me to pay his respects to the Saint, who said to him, O Prince;

(Here follows a line in the Jagtay Turky.)

at this time there was a basket of nuts before him, he ordered my father to count them; after he had done so, he informed him that there were three hundred and seventy nuts, the Saint said, " each of these three hundred nuts signifies a year,

* Many of these Santons were considered as deranged, but their predictions were not the less credited.

the remainder are the number of Timur's posterity, which shall reign for three hundred years;" he then presented the basket to my father, which I took, and placed the nuts with the cakes; when I mentioned these circumstances to my mother, she took my head between her hands and blessed me: the cakes and the nuts remained in my possession for many years, during all which time my prosperity encreased.

Some time after the affair of the nuts, my mother went also to pay her respects to the Saint, and was most graciously received, at length he said to her,

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(Here follows a verse in the Jagtay Turky.)

"Seventy of Timur's sons, grandsons, and descendants, shall reign for the "term of three hundred years, provided that they make no change of (the "Muhammedan) religion, but give currency to the faith of Islam; neither shall they vex nor injure the descendants of the Prophet, but do every thing in their power to give him satisfaction for the blessing he conferred on mankind; "bounty shall be heaped upon bounty, and prosperity added to prosperity, as long as they continue to shew kindness to the relatives and descendants of his "Holiness."

When my mother reported to me the conversation of the Saint, although then only seventeen years of age, I made a solemn vow to the all merciful God, that I would never neglect the descendants of the Prophet, but do every thing in my power for their honour.

CHAPTER II.

When I had entered my eighteenth year, I became vain of my abilities, and thought no person superior to myself, or any thing too difficult for my undertaking; I was at this time very fond of riding and hunting, one day having pursued a deer, while at full gallop, I came suddenly to the brink of a ditch, more than five guz (ten or fifteen feet) in breadth, and four guz in depth, I attempted to turn my horse, but he was obstinate; I therefore tried to make him jump over the ditch, he reached the opposite bank with his fore feet, but not being able to clear it, fell, while he was struggling, I had slipped my feet out of the stirrups, sprang from the saddle, and reached the bank, the horse tumbled into the ditch, and was disabled; my companions soon after came up, and congratulated me on my good fortune and happy escape; I said, “ it was God who had preserved me, who is also the bestower of fortune;" my friends not being able to jump the ditch, I went round to them, and having mounted a led horse, proceeded homewards. When we had gone some distance, it became

E

dark, and began to rain, in consequence of which, we lost the road, and as the night was extremely cold, we thought we should have perished (in the desert).

About this time we saw some black (felt) tents or huts, upon which my companions said, "these are hillocks of sand and dust," so we gave ourselves up for lost; I therefore threw the reins on my horses neck, and took hold of the mane, the horse raised his head and began to neigh, and stretched his neck. When we arrived near the tents, we saw a light shining through one of the doors, which gave us courage; I therefore alighted from my horse, and entered the tent, the inhabitants of which supposing I was a thief, hallooed out and prepared to attack me; but when I told them all the circumstances, they were ashamed, and having cleared out a room which was constructed under ground, lighted a fire for us, on which my companions entered, and we took possession of the room; the good people shortly brought us some Temakh Keruny soup, of which I eat a great quantity, and was quite refreshed; they also brought us some blankets, upon which we lay down, but they were so full of fleas, that I could not sleep a wink all night. After I had mounted the Imperial throne, I recollected all the circumstances of my hunting excursion, of the cold and frost of the night, and of our society in the cellar, in consequence of which I sent for the family, (and made them Terkhan), i. e. amply rewarded them.

During this year, I was very ill for four months, and they could not find out any cure for my disorder, I therefore gave up all hopes of life; for a week I could eat nothing, but on the seventh day, they gave me a pomegranate; soon after I became quite languid and insensible, and while in the swoon, I fancied that they had bound me on a wheel, and were bearing me towards heaven, and afterwards descending to the earth; I did not recover from the fit, till they had burned me between the fore finger and the thumb, when I felt the heat of the iron, I opened my eyes, and saw the servants and my father and mother standing around me crying aloud, I also joined in lamentation; soon after this I became hungry, and the physicians having asked me what I would like, and they would bring it, I called for Yekhny, and some of the Temakh broth; I eat a whole plate full of the latter, and during the night fell into a deep perspiration, and from that time recovered.

Another of the auspicious omens predicting my sovereignty, was this; one day during this year, I was seated in my father's monastery, and was reading the 67th Chapter of the Koran;* when a gray-haired Syed entered the monastery, and having looked attentively at me, demanded my name, (having told him) he compared it with the chapter I was reading, and said, "God Almighty has given the sovereignty of the earth to this boy and his posterity;" I looked upon this *See Appendix VI.

circumstance as a mere dream, but when it reached the ears of my father, he encouraged my hopes, and shewed my Horoscope to one of the Astrologers of Turkestan, who said, " he will be superior in his own dominions, in dignity, and authority, to any of his predecessors, and he will add other countries to his own dominions, and will be an ornament to religion:" he then said to me, your descendants and posterity shall rise to the very highest dignity:" when I had heard these words, I gave him a handsome present.

At this period, I passed much of my time in reading the Korān, and playing at chess; I was also much employed in charitable actions, and soliciting the blessings of the hermits and dervishes.

I was also fond of horsemanship, and I employed a celebrated riding master to teach me the art, and also to instruct me in the science of manoeuvering an army; I frequently assembled my companions, and having taken upon myself the title of Commander, made them all obedient to me; and whenever we rode out, I used to divide them into two armies, and taught them how to advance, and how to retreat in the field of battle.

CHAPTER III.

About this period, I asked my father to tell me the history of our family from the time of Yafet Aghlan, which he did, nearly in the following manner:

"It is written in the Turkish history, that we are descended from Yafet Aghlan, commonly called (Abu al Atrāk) Father of the Turks, son of (the Patriarch,) Japhet, he was the first monarch of the Turks: when his fifth son Aljeh Khān ascended the throne, the all gracious God bestowed on him twin sons, one of which was called Tatar, the other Moghul; when they were grown up, Aljeh Khān divided the kingdom of Turkestan between them during his life-time; after they were seated on their respective thrones, they became proud of their authority, and forsook the religion of their ancestors, placing their feet in the paths of infidelity: Tatar had eight sons, from whom are descended eight (Oulous) tribes. Moghul had nine sons, from whom are descended nine clans these two parties frequently disagreed, and fought many battles in the plains of Türkestān.

Till at length, after the establishment of the Islām faith, Tumenāh Khān was seated on the throne of dominion of the region of Turkestan; he had two sons by one birth, one of which he named Kajuly, the other Kubel Khan; when Kajuly had arrived at the age of manhood, he dreamt one night, that he saw

two stars rise from the breast of Kubel Khan, and shortly after set; again he thought he saw a star, equal in splendour to the sun, which illuminated the whole world; when he awoke, he related his dream to his father, who expounded it in this manner; 'from the posterity of your brother, a boy shall be born in the third generation, who shall be the conqueror of the world:' Tumenāh Khān then gave orders for a grand feast, to which he invited all the nobles and principal persons; during the feast the brothers, having embraced each other, entered into an agreement, which was drawn up in the Turkish language, and engraved on a plate of steel, and which was deposited in the treasury; the subject of the agreement was this, that the posterity of the two brothers should never quarrel with each other; that the dignity of Khan should for ever remain in the descendants of Kubel Khān, and that of (Sepah Salar) Commander in Chief, and prime minister in the family of Kajuly.'*

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In A. H. 549, Mungu Behadur, son of Kubel Khan, had a boy, born with his two hands full of blood, to whom he gave the name of Timujy; when this personage arrived at the age of forty-nine, after much toil and danger, he was seated on the throne of Turkestan.

On the day that he took the title of Khan, a dervish entered the assembly, and proclaimed, "the Lord hath said to me, I have given the surface of the earth to Timujy,' and I confer on you the title of Jengyz Khān, that is to say, King of Kings." But Jengyz abandoned the duty of a conqueror, by slaughtering the people, and by plundering the dominions of God, and put to death many thousands of the Muselmāns.

On the morning of the day that he died, he bestowed the sovereignty of Maveralnaher on his eldest son Jagtay Khan; he appointed Kerachār Nuyān, son of Ayzdumjyn Berlās, son of Kajuly Behadur, who is my fourth and your fifth ancestor, to be generalissimo and prime minister; and caused the agreement entered into by Kajuly and Kubel Khān, to be brought from the treasury, and given to them; Jagtay having perused it, delivered it to Kerachār Nuyān, and conferred on him the title of Gurgan or Kurkān (Great Prince).

When God had bestowed on Kerachār Nuyān a son, he called him Anchel Nuyan; Kerachār was not at first one of the true believers, but followed the religion of the (Majusy) Materialists, who say that God is in every thing, and in every person; he was however anxious to acquire a proper knowledge of God, and therefore sought the acquaintance of all holy men, at length he asked the opinion of one of those learned personages, who was descended from Muhammed, * See Institutes, page 25.

+ This name is spelled in Persian both Jagtay and Chagtay, a large portion of Turkestan is called after him.