late Sultán, in the hope that God, in his great clemency, would show mercy to my late friend and patron, and make those persons feel reconciled to him. Another instance of Divine guidance was this. Villages, lands, and ancient patrimonies of every kind had been wrested from the hands of their owners in former reigns, and had been brought under the Exchequer. I directed that every one who had a claim to property should bring it forward in the law-court, and, upon establishing his title, the village, the land, or whatever other property it was should be restored to him. By God's grace I was impelled to this good action, and men obtained their just rights. I encouraged my infidel subjects to embrace the religion of the prophet, and I proclaimed that every one who repeated the creed and became a Musulmán should be exempt from the jizya, or poll-tax. Information of this came to the ears of the people at large, and great numbers of Hindus presented themselves, and were admitted to the honour of Islám. Thus they came forward day by day from every quarter, and, adopting the faith, were exonerated from the jizya, and were favoured with presents and honours. Through God's mercy the lands and property of his servants have been safe and secure, protected and guarded during my reign; and I have not allowed the smallest particle of any man's property to be wrested from him. Men often spoke to me officiously, saying that such and such a merchant had made so many lacs, and that such and such a revenue collector had so many lacs. By reproofs and punishments I made these informers hold their tongues, so that the people might be safe from their malignity, and through this kindness men became my friends and supporters. "Labour to earn for generous deeds a name, Nor seek for riches to extend thy fame. Better one grateful prayer than wealth untold." Under God's favour my heart was occupied with an earnest desire to succour the poor and needy (fukrá wa masákín) and to comfort their hearts. Wherever I heard of a fakir or religious recluse, I went to visit him and ministered to his necessities, so that I might attain the blessing promised to those who befriend the poor. Whenever a person had completed the natural term of life and had become full of years, after providing for his support, I advised and admonished him to direct his thoughts to making preparation for the life to come, and to repent of all things which he had done contrary to the Law and religion in his youth; to wean his affections from this world, and to fix them on the next. I desired to act upon the sentiment of these lines "The practice of the great should be To succour honest men ; And when a good man dies, to see His children find a friend." When any government servant filling an important and responsible position was carried off under the decrees of God to the happy future life, I gave his place and employment to his son, so that he might occupy the same position and rank as his father and suffer no injury. "Kings should make their rule of life To love the great and wise; And when death ends this mortal strife, To dry their loved ones' eyes." The greatest and best of honours that I obtained through God's mercy was, that by my obedience and piety, and friendliness and submission to the Khalifa, the representative of the holy Prophet, my authority was confirmed; for it is by his sanction that the power of kings is assured, and no king is secure until he has submitted himself to the khalifa, and has received a confirmation from the sacred throne. A diploma was sent to me fully confirming my authority as deputy of the khiláfat, and the leader of the faithful was graciously pleased to honour me with the title of “Saiyidu-s Salátin." He also bestowed upon me robes, a banner, a sword, a ring, and a foot-print as badges of honour and distinction. My object in writing this book has been to express my gratitude to the All-bountiful God for the many and various blessings He has bestowed upon me. Secondly, that men who desire to be good and prosperous may read this and learn what is the proper course. There is this concise maxim, by observing which, a man may obtain God's guidance: Men will be judged according to their works, and rewarded for the good that they have done. [This is an autobiographical memoir of the Emperor Tímúr, written in the Chaghatáí Turkí language, translated into Persian by Abú Tálib Husainí, and dedicated to the Emperor Sháh Jahan, who began to reign in A.D. 1628. In the brief preface to his translation, Abú Tálib states that he found the original Turkí work in the library of Ja'far, Hákim of Yaman,1 and that it consisted of a history of Tímúr, from the seventh to the seventy-fourth year of his age. The reticence of Abú Tálib as to the authenticity of the original work, and the strangeness of the place for the discovery of a MS. in a Turki language, have given rise to the suspicion that there was no such work, and that Abú Tálib made the statement to give greater authority to a production of his own. Major Davy, who first brought the work to notice, argued against this supposition, grounding his opinion on the internal evidence of the work itself, and on the improbability of an author resorting to "an artifice which could tend only to diminish his fame and his profit." The probability is that Abú Tálib knew nothing more of the work than what he learned from its own pages, and that when he had turned these into Persian he had nothing to add. Tímúr's descendants seem to have had a partiality for writing A person of this name was Pasha of Yaman in 1610.-Astley's Voyages referred to by Stewart in the Preface to his translation. their own memoirs, as in the instances of Bábar and Jahángír; and others, who did not profess to be their own biographers, provided for a record of their lives and actions being written. This family predilection is of itself something in favour of the authenticity of the work. The fact of its being a genuine work, produced under the supervision of Tímúr himself, can however be proved upon more certain evidence. Only thirty years after Tímúr's death, Sharafu-d dín Yazdí wrote his celebrated Zafar-náma, or Book of Victory, to commemorate the exploits of Tímúr, and in his preface he details the sources from which his work was drawn, and the auspices under which it was written. To establish the veracity and authority of his history, he first describes, in the following words, the way in which a record of the events of Tímúr's reign was kept at the Court of that Emperor. "The third recommendation (of this my work, named Zafarnáma) is its truthfulness-the exactness and verity of the accounts and descriptions of the various events of Tímúr's life, both at home and abroad. Men of the highest character for learning, knowledge, and goodness, Aighúr officers and Persian secretaries, were in attendance at the Court of Timúr, and a staff of them under the orders of the Emperor wrote down an account of everything that occurred. The movements, actions and sayings of Tímúr, the various incidents and affairs of State, of religion, and the ministers, were all recorded and written down with the greatest care. The most stringent commands were given that every event should be recorded exactly as it occurred, without any modification either in excess or diminution. This rule was to be particularly observed in matters of personal bearing and courage, without fear or favour of any one, and most especially in respect of the valour and prowess of the Emperor himself. The learned and eloquent writers having recorded the facts, their compositions were polished and finished off in verse and prose. From time to time these writings were brought into the royal presence and were read to |