94 LIVES OF THE MOGHUL EMPERORS. 
luntary retreat of the conqueror. Ambition and pru- 
dence recalled him to the south ; the desolate country 
was exhausted, and the Mogul soldiers were enriched 
with an immense spoil of precious furs, of linen of 
Antioch, and of ingots of gold and silver. On the 
banks of the Don, or Tanais, he received an humble 
deputation from the consuls and merchants of Egypt, 
Venice, Genoa, Catalonia, and Biscay, who occupied 
the commerce and city of Tana, or Azoph, at the 
mouth of the river. They offered their gifts, admired 
his magnificence, and trusted to his royal word. But 
the peaceful visits of an emir, who explored the state 
of the magazine and harbour, was speedily followed 
by the destructive presence of the Tartars. The city 
was reduced to ashes ; the moslems were pillaged and 
dismissed ; but all the Christians who had not fled to 
their ships were condemned either to death or slavery. 
Revenge prompted him to burn the cities of Serai and 
Astrachan, the monuments of rising civilisation ; and 
his vanity proclaimed, that he had penetrated to the 
region of perpetual daylight, — a strange phenomenon, 
which authorised the Mahometan doctors to dis- 
pense with the obligation of evening prayer.” * 
Decline and Fall, vol. xii. pp. 10 — 13. 
