186 
CUTTING OFF HEADS. 
twelve guns, which indeed proved the most efficient part of the army. 
Before he crossed the Araxes, the Prince had heard that 800 Russians, 
with two guns, were posted at the village of Sultanboot, not very dis¬ 
tant from Shisheh, and he determined to attack them. The Russians, 
who were accustomed to these sort of im'prom'ptus from the Persians, 
and who had never heard more of their artillery than of a few lame 
guns which were usually dragged in the rear of their army, felt such 
confidence in their small number that they neglected to send to Shisheh 
for succours, where there was a garrison with a commandant. The 
attack, under the command of Colonel d’Arcy, took place in the morn¬ 
ing. The Russians, in negligent confidence, were surprised to see a 
well-directed fire of grape open upon them, which in a short time 
killed 300 of their men ; and finding that they had a more skilful 
enemy to cope with than before, they shut themselves up within the 
walls of the village ; where, after a little negociation, they capitulated. 
One of the articles of capitulation was, that their heads were not to be 
cut off; an act which in Persian and Turkish warfare is a common 
custom. During this fight ten tomauns were given for every head of the 
enemy that was brought to the Prince; and it has been known to occur, 
after the combat was over, that prisoners have been put to death in cold 
blood, in order that the heads, which are immediately despatched to 
the King, and deposited in heaps at the Palace gate*, might make a 
more considerable show. Two of the English serjeants were killed on 
this occasion, and after the battle was over, one of their bodies was 
found without its head, which was discovered amongst a heap of Rus¬ 
sian heads. It had doubtless been severed by a Persian, who passing it off 
for a Russian head, had received the price fixed for such a commodity. 
The Prince on this occasion behaved like a generous enemy; for 
when the commanding officer of the Russians, who had been severely 
* Such barbarities make us shudder in England, but they only tend to show how little 
the manners of Asia have changed since the remotest times. In the history of Jehu, we 
read, And there came a messenger unto him saying, T/ie?/ have brought the heads of the 
King's sons; and he said^ Lay ye them in tvco heaps at the entci'ing in of the gate until the 
morning. 2 Kings, x, S. 
