CALIPHS OF BAGDAD. 3.5 



the drops of rain," were never idle. The conquests 

 of the father were extended by his immediate suc- 

 cessors into Russia, Buls^aria, and Poland ; but it 

 was to Hoolnku that fortune reserved the achiev- 

 ment of destroying the capital of Islam and the last 

 of the Abbassidan caliphs. With 120,000 horse and 

 1000 families of Chinese artificers, skilled in the art of 

 tiirowinir naphtha and other inflammable substances, 

 he quitted the Mogul territory ; and, traversing 

 the plains of Irak, he appeared (October 1757) at 

 the head of this prodigious force before the walls of 

 Bagdnd. The caliph courted accommodation by 

 sending him valuable presents : and it was not till 

 all hopes of peace had departed, that he discovered 

 the treachery of his prime minister, by whose 

 advice he had dispersed his troops, and left the 

 capital defenceless. Forgetting their own weakness, 

 the citizens assumed a tone of defiance, and treated 

 with scorn the proposal to surrender. "Who is 

 Iloolaku, and what is liis power, that he should pre- 

 sume to make war on the house of Abbas? Their 

 empire is derived from God alone ; and, therefore, 

 no prince can meet with success that endeavours to 

 overturn it. Let him return to Hamadan, and we 

 will intercede with tlie Connnander of the Faithful 

 to forgive the enormous crime he has committed." 

 The Tartar smiled at this affectation of imperturba- 

 ble majesty, and being joined by all his detachments, 

 immediately laid seige to the metropolis. 



On each side of the city mounds and trendies 

 were drawn, with high towers, in which the assail- 

 ants planted their stone-engines, fire-engines, and 

 other warlike machines. For the space of nearly 

 two months the inhabitants, j^ough exposed to every 

 species of violence and injury, defended themselves 

 with considerable obstinacy. But the enemy having 

 made themselves masters of the walls, and every 

 thing bcung ready for storming the j)lace, Mostasem 

 resolved to commit hi.s person to the hazard of an 



