Derbend-ndmek or the History of Derbend. 541 
Hezär- Fenn: 25350 a5LL) D aloe ouh © u55 dites luel af pp «5 vel: ous 
(ab) tés, SEL a) ue, y US le (ol éles LISE dur ouielu y 453) 
Leds dos) Sbnsoluh aa él 9 usda eus 5 jee onbyele 
ass {ras bL) ag bb au SI io dane coul p3s? oles ol vas; ouiles «5 us 
ÉLss ab) Rue, us EL, CA 5 is fosse ab (2 aie 5) au UL 
ira LL (? #98 avs5l (réb,.) 1 Le cts Obl oui ss Hs je 
ls. — «In time. of war it ïs their rule to arrange their chariots (or carriages) around 
them, when they find the enemy at the distance of a day's journey; and to dig quickly a trench 
before (the fortification). The battle (in such a position) is exceedingly hard : Having placed the 
artillery at:the front of the army, they prepare their guns; they first discharge their artillery and 
then they fire, at once, six or seven hundred thousand guns. Their defeat may take place eïther 
at the time when they prepare their fortification, or at the time when they leave it. If the 
enemy, by a speedy attack, prevent them from arranging their carriages around them, then he 
may defeat them. In the same way, one of the princes of Kalmiïk, called Æ4sen- Gkabash®, at- 
tacked' the army of Zchin:khar the Chinese Emperor in 854 of the Hijret, defeated him. in 
this way and took him captive dd, ÿ:— As to the moving of these Arabahs or carriages, [ have no 
other source of information. In our MS: they are said to have been kept in motion until the 
Musulmans reéached the fortress, broke down the gates and entered it. — In the MS. of St. Pe- 
tersburg we-find. a particular account of the use of these carriages, though accompanied by use- 
Ë LÉ F5 
less repetition: a) ce TBTENE Luc as j] él] 352) as? oi y) al 0 Dhs 55 ) a) Le 
ab} ae Jol 5355 &l 0 Eu AI c91 Lol (és) ie à 486 (onu) ous sil 
Elo (29) 7 aaals EE on 52 p}l al) (abs) als «They arranged the carriages, and 
behind the carriages they arranged boards. The Musulmans stood behind these, and moving the 
carriages altacked the fortress. They had placed 12 thousand carriages, and by means of these 
carriages the Musulmans troops attacked the fortress &c.» — I should suppose that these ÆAra- 
bahs, with boards behind them, were intended, in the beginning, to defend the Musulmans from 
the shot of the enemy in the fortress, and afterwards to serve as engines to break the gates of 
the fortress and as scaling ladders to ascend the walls. 
Æ He is known in the history of the celestial Empire by the name of Vesien, or Asen, the Prince of 
the Ouirat- Tartars. 
dd It was Fng Tsong, or, otherwise, Fin-tzûn, of the dynasty of Ming i. e. twenty first dynasty. The 
name in our quotation may be a corruption of éb y as we have put it in parenthesis. The details of 
this most bloody war the reader may find in Mailla T.X. p. 208 — 211. among the events of the = 1450 
which corresponds to 854 of the Hijret. 
Mém. des sav. étrang. T. VL 69 
