EXTENT OF THE SAnAOCJ T EMPIRE. 417 



men succeeded in conquering a large portion of that 

 territory. A colony of Mussulmans settled among 

 the mountains that extend between Moultan and 

 Peshawer, where they employed themselves in the 

 cultivation of the ground and the breedinji of cattle; 

 occasionally making war on the rajahs of the adjoin- 

 ing provinces. Though the Saracens had pushed 

 their victories to the banks of the Indus, more than 

 two centuries elapsed before a Mohammedan sove- 

 reign ruled in Lahore. 



An embassy from Soliman proceeded to the capi- 

 tal of Kheten, beyond the Jaxartes, the residence 

 of a Tartar prince (A. D. 715). Three successive 

 days they approached the throne ; the first, in plam 

 white linen mantles, with shppers on their feet, and 

 without uttering a word ; the second, in habits and 

 turbans of the richest silk, but still preserving the 

 same inexplicable silence ; the third, they made their 

 appearance in complete armour, with scimitars by 

 their sides, lances in their hands, their bows slung 

 on their shoulders, and mounted on stately chargers. 

 To the inquiries of the prince, who expressed his 

 surprise at this frequent change of dress, Hobairah, 

 the chief ambassador, rephed, " On the first day our 

 robes were those in which we visit our women and 

 children ; on the second, we appeared as we pre- 

 sent ourselves at the court of our kings or gov- 

 ernors ; on the third, we wore the garb and equip- 

 ment in wliich we always march against our ene- 

 mies." Alarmed at this language, and at the daily 

 accounts of their progress towards his frontiers, the 

 pnnce courted the friendship and alhance of these 

 fanatics, and dismissed the embassy with valuable 

 presents. 



When the Arabs first tried their valour at Muta 

 against a foreign enemy, they could scarcely have 

 anticipated that, before "the close of a centurj% their 

 empire should have exceeded in extent the greatest 

 monarchies of ancient times ; or that the successors 

 of their Prophet should have risen to be the most 



