42 CALIPHS OF BAGDAD. 



his grandson Hoolaku. The former subdued the 

 whole of Tartary ; and before his death his vast terri- 

 tories reached from the Indus to the Volga, and from 

 the shores of the Persian Gulf to the snowy wastes 

 of Siberia. The carnage he committed was terri- 

 ble ; for his armies, which exceeded 600,000 men, 

 or, in the language of Oriental hyperbole, " outnum- 

 bered the drops of rain/' were never idle. The con- 

 quests of the father were extended by his immedi- 

 ate successors into Russia, Bulgaria, and Poland ; 

 but it was to Hoolaku that fortune reserved the 

 achievement of destroying the capital of Islam and 

 the last of the Abbassidan caliphs. With 120,000 

 horse, and 1000 families of Chinese artificers, skil- 

 led in the art of throwing naphtha and other in- 

 flammable substances, he quitted the Mogul terri- 

 tory ; and, traversing the plains of Irak, he ap- 

 peared (October 1257) at the head of this pro- 

 digious force before the walls of Bagdad. The ca- 

 liph courted accommodation by sending him valu- 

 able 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 dis- 

 persed his troops, and left the capital defenceless. 

 Forgetting their own weakness, the citizens assumed 

 a tone of defiance, and treated with scorn the pro- 

 posal to surrender. " Who is Hoolaku, and what 

 is his power, that he should presume 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 the Commander of the Faithful to forgive the 

 enormous crime he has committed/' The Tartar 



