36 CALIPHS OF BAGDAD. 



interview with the Tartar chief. Accompanied by 

 his two sons, together with a numerous group of 

 relatives and the most distinguished members of his 

 court, he quitted Bagdad by the Gate of Peace, and 

 approached the pavihon of Hoolaku. The caliph 

 and a few of his attendants were admitted without 

 difficulty, but the remainder were excluded ; and 

 many of them were doomed, the very same day, to 

 the fatal distinction of becoming the first victims of 

 the conqueror's unsparing ferocity. In this melan- 

 choly retinue were about 700 women belonging to 

 the caliph and his sons, with 300 eunuchs. The 

 traitorous vizier was set at liberty ; but his master 

 was detained in captivity. The two sons were con- 

 demned to death; but the eldest had already found 

 a more honourable grave in defending one of the 

 gates of his father's capital. 



On Friday, the ninth of Saphar (Feb. 14, A. D. 

 1258), Hoolaku made his entry into Bagdad, where 

 he treated his generals and principal officers to a 

 sumptuous entertainment. To this display of bar- 

 barous festivity and triumph the last of the Abbas- 

 sides was now summoned, and required, as the host 

 of his conqueror, to produce something that should 

 be worthy the acceptance of such an exalted guest. 

 Conceiving that nothing more was intended than 

 expressed, the unhappy monarch gav« direction that 

 a present of 2000 costly and magnificent robes, 2000 

 dinars of gold (925/.), together with a variety of gold 

 and silver plate, vases, and other articles, enriched 

 with jewels of the greatest price and beauty, should 

 be selected from his treasury and wardrobe, and laid 

 in the usual style, in trays, before Hoolaku. Sur- 

 veying them with an eye of contempt, the proud 

 Mogul distributed every article among his attend- 

 ants. " The whole of thy visible propert}'." ad- 

 dressing Mostasem, " as well 3s that of the inhabit- 

 ants of Bacrdad, is already at the disposal of my 

 followers. Of that it was needless to make an 



