38 CALIPHS OF BAGDAD 



city alone the number of the slain amounted to 

 800,000 persons, exclusive of the multitudes that 

 were butchered in the adjoining villages. If this 

 estimate be correct, we may believe that the waters 

 of the Tigris were reddened, and its usual dimen- 

 sions swelled, with the tributary streams of human 

 gore. This memorable revolution terminated the 

 dynasty of the Abbassides, after it had subsisted for 

 a period of 523 lunar years. The regal authority 

 of this celebrated race, and the greater part of their 

 remaining dominions, now devolved on the Mogul 

 princes of the blood of Zingis. Since that event 

 Bagdad has witnessed various other sieges and 

 revolutions. It was burnt and plundered by the 

 ferocious Timur(A. D. 1401), who erected a pyramid 

 of human heads on its ruins. In 1637, it incurred 

 the vengeance of Amurath IV., the Turkish sultan : 

 300,000 troops encamped under its walls, and by 

 the incessant play of 200 pieces of artillery, its 

 towers and ramparts were levelled with tlie ground. 

 The vaults and cellars were filled with the dead bodies 

 of those who had fled to these recesses for security. 

 The sobs and cries of 15,000 women and children 

 were drowned by the shouts of the enemy exulting 

 over the fallen Queen of the East ; and the trembling 

 remnant is said to have owed their preservation to 

 the music of Shah Kali, whose touching strains are 

 alleged to have melted Amurath to tears of compas- 

 sion. Since that period the once illustrious city of 

 the Abbassides lias been degraded to the seat of a 

 Turkish pashalic. In the present century it can 

 number 200,000 inhabitants. The rich merchants 

 and the beautiful princesses of the A rabian Tales 

 have all disappeared ; but it retains the tomb of the 

 charming Zobeide, and can b^ast of its numerous 

 gardens and its well stocked bazars. The citizens 

 live in greater security than is usually enjoyed in 

 the East ; and a European might fancy that the 

 shade of old Haroun al Raschid still preserves the 



