382 'UARS OF THE CALIPHS. 



him to be privately assassinated. In the pilgrimage 

 to Mecca, he had appeared with a rivalry of splen- 

 dour that far outshone his sovereign. For the con- 

 veyance of his kitchen-equipage alone 200 camels 

 were necessary. Even on ordinary occasions his 

 munificence was extravagant. Twelve hundred 

 mules or camels were requisite for his household 

 baggage ; he employed 1000 cooks, and the daily 

 consumption of his table amounted to 3000 cakes, 

 1000 sheep, besides oxen, poultry, and other provi- 

 sions. The steed and the saddle which had carried 

 any of his wives were instantiy destroyed and burnt, 

 lest they should be afterward used by an individual 

 of the other sex. 



No warrior was more prodigal of life ; and such 

 was the stern ferocity of his temper, that he was 

 never seen to smile except on the day of battle, 

 and amid the horrors of blood and slaughter. He 

 could boast with pleasure, perhaps with truth, that 

 he had destroyed 600,000 of his enemies, exclusive 

 of those who perished on the field. His eventful 

 story, as we learn from Price, has been wrought 

 into a very interesting romance, entitled the Abu 

 Moslem Nameh, well known in the East, and in 

 which, amid a tissue of extravagant adventure, 

 many surprising facts have doubtless been inter- 

 woven. 



