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the prohibition,
which
enacted, that whosoever should oppose any one of these statutes, should be put out of
office. Now, one of the statutes was this, that the descendants of Jengiz, the governors of
the several districts, the wives of the nobles, and the general officers of the army, should
assemble upon a certain day in the year which they call
El Tawa,
i. e.
the feast; and, that
should the Emperor have altered any one of these statutes, the nobles should stand up and
say, Thou hast done so and so upon such and such a day, and hast made an alteration in
the statutes of El Yasak
(i. e.
that which is not to be changed), and, therefore, thy
deposition is a necessary consequence. They are then to take him by the hand, and
remove him from the throne, and to place in it another of the descendants of Jengiz;
Khan. And, should any one of the nobles have committed any crime, he is to be duly
adjudged on this occasion.
Now, Tarmashirin had entirely abolished the observance of this day, which gave very
great offence. Some time, therefore, after we had left the country, the Tartars, together
with their nobles, assembled and deposed him, appointing for a successor one of his
relations : and to such an extent was the matter pressed, that Tarmashirin took to flight
and was put to death.
I then proceeded to Samarkand, which is a very large and beautiful city. Without it is the
tomb of Kotham, son of Abbas, who was martyred on the day the city was taken. After
this I arrived at the city of Nasaf, to which the patronymic of Abu Jaafar Omar El Nasafi
is referred. I then went on to the city of
Tirmidh, to which is referred the patronymic of
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Abu Isa Mohammed El Tirmidhi, author of the Jamia El Kebir. This is a large and
beautiful city, abounding with trees and water. We then passed over the Gihon into
Khorasan; and, after a journey of a day and half over a sandy desert in which there was
no house, we arrived at the city of
Balkh, which now lies in ruins. It has not been rebuilt
since its destruction by the cursed Jengiz Khan. The situation of its buildings is not very
discernible, although its extent may be traced. It is now in ruins, and without society.
Its mosque was one of the largest and handsomest in the world. Its pillars were
incomparable : three of which were destroyed by Jengiz Khan, because it had been told
him, that the wealth of the mosque lay concealed under them, provided as a fund for its
repairs. When, however, he had destroyed them, nothing of the kind was to be found
;
the
rest, therefore, he left as they were.
The story about this treasure arose from the following circumstance. It is said, that one of
the Caliphs of the house of Abbas was very much enraged at the inhabitants of Balkh, on
account of some accident which had happened, and, on this account, sent a person to
collect a heavy fine from them. Upon this occasion, the women and children of the city
betook themselves to the wife of their then governor, who, out of her own money, built
this mosque; and to her they made a grievous complaint. She accordingly sent to the
officer, who had been commissioned to collect the fine, a robe very richly embroidered
and adorned with jewels, much greater in value than the amount of the fine imposed.
This, she requested might be sent to the Caliph as a present from herself, to be accepted
instead of the fine. The officer accordingly took the robe, and sent it to the Caliph; who,
when he saw it, was surprised at her liberality, and said: This woman must not be allowed
to exceed myself in generosity. He then sent back the robe, and remitted the fine. When
the robe was returned to her, she asked, whether a look of the Caliph had fallen upon it;
and being told that it had, she replied: No robe shall ever come upon me, upon which the
look of any man, except my own husband, has fallen. She then ordered it to be cut up and
sold ; and with the price of it she built the mosque, with the cell and structure in the front
of it. Still, from the price of the robe there remained a third, which she commanded to be
buried under one of its pillars, in order to meet any future expenses which might be
necessary for its repairs. Upon Jengiz Khan's hearing this story, he ordered these pillars
to be destroyed ; but, as already remarked, he found nothing.
In the front of the city is, as it is reported, the tomb of
Akasha Ibn Mohsin El Sahabi;
who, according to what is related in the Athar (a book so called), entered paradise
without rendering up an account (of his deeds).
After this I travelled from Balkh for seven days, on the mountains of Kuhistan, which
consist of villages closely built. In these there are many cells of religious, and others who
have retired from the world. I next came to the city of Herat, which is the largest
inhabited city in Khorasan. Of the large cities of this district there are four : two of these
are now inhabited, namely, Herat and Nisabur; and two in ruins, namely Balkh and
Meraw. The inhabitants of Herat are religious, sincere, and chaste, and are of the sect of
Hanifa. The King of Herat was at this time the Sultan, the great Hosain son of the Sultan
Giath Oddin El Gauri, a man of tried valor. From Herat I went to Jam, which is a
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moderate sized city, abounding with water and plantations. From this place I went to
Tus, one of the largest cities of Khorasan. In this the Imam Abu Hamed El Ghazali was
born, and in it we still find his tomb. From this place I went to the Meshhed of El Riza,
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