218 PUECHASE OF CAMELS FOE MILITEAY PUEPOSES. 



lying before this place, he was obliged to dismount his cannon from 

 their carriages, and to load them upon dromedaries. Tahmasb-Kouli- 

 Khan himself mounted upon one of these animals, and giving the 

 example of an indefatigable courage, seemedlike the sun upon the throne 

 of the firmament." During the same expedition, at the siege of the 

 fort of Senan, the general was in a battery, when a heavy gun burst 

 and endangered his life. This incident, with the difficulties he had 

 experienced in transporting heavy artillery, caused him to appreciate 

 the advantages he would find in the organization of a dromedary 

 artillery, which could accompany him every where without hindrance. 

 Laying aside all prejudice, he eagerly turned to account the important 

 capture of a number of zemboureks which he had just made at Kafir 

 Kale. He also availed himself of the military music, which, too, was 

 mounted on camels. Profiting thus by the invention and the arms 

 of the enemy, he formed immediately a corps, which Mirza Mehdi 

 calls toubkbene-tchilon, (portable artillery,)* which always after- 

 wards accompanied his person in his rapid marches, whilst the heavy 

 siege artillery, drawn by buffalo, or by prisoners retained for this 

 painful labor, t arrived upon the field by circuitous routes, and often 

 after the battle had been decided, its principal service being to fire a 

 few rounds at towns about to surrender after a long siege. If Ta- 

 masb-Kouli-Khan had possessed education with the genius nature had 

 given him, he would probably haveimproved the zemboureks, instead 

 of handing them down to us exactly as he had taken them from the 

 Affghans. But this extraordinary man, whom the Persians are pleased 

 to compare to the great Napoleon, had only strong natural intellect 

 for his guide ; he did not even know how to read, and learned to sign 

 his name only after he became king. 



Whilst this was passing at Khorassan, and the royal army becom- 

 ing organized, a Turkish army of 60,000 men* and 70 cannon marched 

 from Hamadan, in 1726, (1138,) upon Ispahan, under the orders of 

 Ahmed-Pasha Seraskier. Achrafi" (successor of Mahmoud, the usurper 

 of the Persian throne) marched to meet it with 30,000 Aflfghan 

 troops, and 40 zemboureks mounted on dromedaries, the only artillery 

 he could raise. (It is asserted that Achraff", surrounded by his prin- 

 cipal ministers, and elevated, according to the custom of the kings of 

 India, upon a throne borne by an elephant, amused himself during 

 the battle in playing upon the flute.) Nevertheless, the Ottomans 

 were beaten, and lost 12,000 men. The rout would have been com- 

 plete if Achraff had not stopped his soldiers in their eager pursuit of 

 an enemy with whom he preferred peace rather than war.f The 

 Turkish general, after this defeat, was obliged to fall back on Ker- 

 manchah, abandoning his artillery and baggage to the conquerors. 



* This author rarely uses the word zembourek. 



j- ' ' The zemindars (noblemen who farm cantons, and sometimes even provinces of the 

 government) shut themselves up in their fortresses, and instead of tribute, promised us 

 cannon balls. But the army investing them, they soon surrendered at discretion. Not 

 only were their lives spared, but even their property, on condition that they would 

 transport the artillery to Khoda-Abad." — (Travels of Abdul Kerim ; account of the march of 

 Anadir Shah's army between Atlek and Kandahar m 1739.) 



« M. Gardand says 120,000 men. 



-j-Hanway, vol. II, p. 250. 



