Chap. III.] FEROZE TOGHLAK. 91
liunt not beasts but men, and began to massacre the inhabitants. He com])leted ..n. vm.
the barbarity by carrying back some tliousands of the heads of tlie slain to Deliii, and hanging them over the city walls.
These atrocities were more than human nature could endure, and rebellion, various on a greater or less scale, broke out in every quarter — in Bengal, on the Malabar tiLs. coast, and even in the new capital, Dowletabad. These two last rebellions seem to have somewhat cooled the king's partiality for the Deccan ; and free permission was given to those whom he had forced to migrate, to return to Delhi. Thousands made the attempt ; but a general famine w.is then raging, and while many perished by the way, many more reached their beloved Delhi, only to die in it. The most formidable insurrection of all broke out in the south. It was the result of a confederacy formed for the express ])urpose of extirpating the Mahometans from the Deccan. Tiie principal leaders were Krishn Naig, son of Luddur Dew, who live<l near Wurungole, and Belal Dew, Rajah of the Carnatic. So extensive and so successful was the confederacy, that, in a short time, Dowletabad was the only place within the Deccan which the Mahometans could call their own. Ultimately, however, a considerable portion of the lost territory was recovered, and the whole Deccan was divided, as before, into four Mahometan provinces. Though scarcely a month now passed without a revolt, and everything seemed ripe for a general revolution, Mahomed Toghlak kept his throne, and at last descended to the grave by a death which was not violent, and yet cannot well be called natural. He had ordered a large number of boats to be collected at Tatta, and proceeded thither across the Indus, to chastise the Soomara Prince of Scinde, who had given protection to MuUik Toghan, when heading a formidable revolt of Mogul mercenaries in Gujerat. When within sixty miles of Tatta, he wjis seized with fever, attributed by his l)hysicians to a surfeit of fish. The symptoms were favom'able, but his restless spirit would not allow him to remain to complete his recovery, and a fatal relapse ensued. His death took place in 1351, after a reign of twenty-seven years.
After a short struggle, in which a re])uted son of the late king, a mere child, nui-i. of was put forward and immediately set aside, his cousin Feroze, known by the title of Feroze Toghlak, mounted the tin-one. Considering the troubled state of the country, two of the most remarkable facts of his reign are, its length of thirty-eight years, and its termination, by a peacefid death, at the age ot ninety. The empire of Delhi, however, was evidcTitly in a rapid state of decline. The Deccan could hardly be said to be incorporated with it; and Bengal was so completely dissevered, that in 1356 Feroze consented to receive an ambassador from its king, Avith proposals of peace; and thus virtualh', if not formally, acknowledged it <is an independent kingdom. Both Bengal and the Deccjin, however, still continued to i)ay a small tribute. Though Feroze does not figiu-e as a warrior, he obtained a high name for wise legislation, and a large number of public works, in which, while magnificence was not forgotten, utilitv was
