216 PURCHASE OF CAMELS FOR MILITARY PURPOSES. 



their owu artillery turned upon themselves, that they fled from the 

 field of hattle in disorder, and the rout became general.* 



From this account we see that the manoeuvres of the Affghans were 

 combined according to tlie effects that the zemboureks were to pro- 

 duce, and that the faults of the Persians contributed to the success of 

 the plan. The Affghans, it is said, dared not pursue the Persians lor 

 fear of an ambush ; but it is more probable that they busied them- 

 selves in plundering the wealth of the camp which the latter had just 

 abandoned, f From an inexplicable weakness, Mahmoud, after he 

 had won the victory, seemed frightened by his success. He withdrew 

 into his entrenchments, and the next day permitted the Persians to 

 return to the field and to carry off some of the cannon which had been 

 left there. The events of the siege offer nothing of importance, and 

 it would be repugnant to speak of the barbarities which were then 

 committed. 



The greater part of the Persian chiefs, as is the custom in such 

 armies, returned home with their followers as soon as the battle was 

 lost. 



CONDITION OF PERSIA— FORMATION OF A CORPS OF ZEMBOUREKS IN 

 THE PERSIAN ARMY— BATTLE BETWEEN THE AFFGHANS AND OTTO- 

 MANS—BATTLE BETWEEN THE AFFGHANS AND PERSIANS— THE PER- 

 SIAN ARMY FORCES THE SIRDAR PASS, (THE CASPIAN GATES.) — 

 EXPULSION OF THE AFFGHANS— CONaUEST OF THEIR COUNTRY- 

 BATTLES AND SIEGES IN WHICH THE ZEMBOUREKS WERE EMPLOYED- 



Jahmasb Mirza, son of the Shah Sultan Hussien, succeeded, after 

 running great risks in escaping from Ispahan, during the siege, with 

 300 horsemen. His object was to recruit, in the towns remaining 

 faithful to the shah, an army for the relief of the capital, and the 

 delivery of his unfortunate father. But his inexperience, and the 

 luxurious habits acquired in the jealous seclusion of the harem, ren- 

 dered him unfit for the accomplishment of so difficult a mission. 

 And he would not have succeeded in relieving his country from its 

 abasement but for a combination of favorable circumstances. First, 

 the error of the rebels in alienating the people by repeated mortifica- 

 tions ; and secondly, the meeting with a chief of his partizans, named 

 Jahmasb-Konli-Khan,! who became afterwards the greatest general 

 of his time. Since the death of Abbas the Great, the Persians had 

 sunk into apatliy and complete demoralization, of which the court set 

 the example. In this state of things the frontier provinces of Turco- 

 mania, constantly disquieted by barbarians and reduced by the neglect 

 of their nobles to defend their independence themselves, had alone 

 preserved sufficient energy to aid the efforts of their general. Geor- 



*See the memoirs of Kurzinski, page 205, and the History of Persia by Sir John 

 Malcolm. 



f According to the accounts of that time the Persian army lost on that day 6,000 

 men, the greater part being from the body guards. The cannoneers having been sur- 

 rounded; were sabred with their commander. A Parisian, named Philip Coulon, who had 

 passed from the service of Russia to that of Persia, and held an important office in its 

 artillery, perished also. The loss of the Affghan army did not exceed 2,000 men. 



X Who afterwards proclaimed himself king, took the name of Nadir-Shah, and was the 

 modern hero of Persia. 



