TIMUR BEG. 
81 
in safety, and entered the city. Having despatched a 
detachment in pursuit of the Sultan, who fled towards 
Syria, Timur took possession of this once renowned 
metropolis. The children of Sultan Ahmed, together 
with his wives, fell into the victor’s hands. 
At this time the Kurds were reduced to such com- 
plete subjection, that a single traveller might pass 
through their country unmolested, though, until sub- 
dued by the imperial forces, scarcely a caravan, how- 
ever strongly guarded, entered their territory without 
being plundered. The year after Timur had complet- 
ed the conquest of Kurdestan, he received intelligence 
of the death of Mirza Omer Sheikh, his second son. 
This prince, being on his way to Shiraz, stopped at 
a small fort, and, ascending an eminence to examine 
the place, was killed by an arrow in the fortieth 
year of his age. The troops by whom he was accom- 
panied signally revenged his death by demolishing 
the fortress and butchering the garrison. The body 
of the prince was conveyed to Shiraz, and thence to 
Kesh, where it was interred with regal honours ; and 
the government of Pars, or Persia Proper, given to 
Peer Mohammed, son of the deceased, though only six- 
teen years old. 
Timur, being determined to reduce Van, a place 
of importance in Turkish Armenia, the citadel of 
which he had before taken and destroyed because 
the governor refused to offer him allegiance, hasten- 
ed thither with his army, took the town, and, as 
usual, razed the walls. Messer, the governor, and 
his Turks, retired within the fortress, situated upon 
a steep and craggy mountain, all the passes to 
