no HISTORY OF INDIA. [Book I.
A.D. 1308. (lead. 'I'lu; Jiinount of pluixler v';us Ixjyond wilculation. Tamerlane remained at Delhi fifteen days, and then comm(;need hi.s return home, carrying with him, as part of hi.s own share of the spoil, 120 elejihants, twelve rljinoceroses, and a great Tinnil)er of curious animals h(;Ionging to a menagerie which Feroze Toglilak had formed. He is also said to have heen so much struck with admi- ration at the mo.sque which that monarch had built, and on the walls of which he had inscribed the history of his reign, that he took back the architects and masons to Samarcand to build one on a similar plaiL
captuic of He first halted at Paniput, and sent a detachment to besiege Meerut. The
gan'ison, confiding in its strength, ridiculed the very idea of capture, and insult- ingly reminded the officer of the defeat which another Mogul general had sus- tained before it. The officer, without attempting anything, returned to Tamer- lane, who forthwith ap2)eared in person, and commenced running mines with such rapidity that his ultimate success was certain. The process, however, seemed too slow to his Moguls, who, haAnng filled up the ditch, applied their scaling-ladders and grappling-irons to the walls, carried the place by assault, and put every soul within it to the sword. The mines employed by Tamerlane in this and many other sieges, were not intended to be filled with gunpowder, as in modern warfare, but merely to sap the foundations of the wall.s, which, while the process was being earned on, were supported by wooden frames. When the process was finished, the wooden fi-ames were set on fire, and the walls, thus left without support, necessarily tiimbled. In this iiLstance the Mogul conqueror, to wreak his vengeance more effectually, completed Ids mines after the place had been taken without them, and thus entirely destroyed its defences.
Tamerlane's jj^ Continuing lus marcli, Tamerlane skirted the mountains of Sewahk, cros.sed
return. ^
the Ganges, and laid waste the whole country with fire and sword along its banks up to the point where it bursts from its rocky gorges. He afterwards repassed the river, and ultimately reached Samarcand by way of CabooL Before he left, a Gukkur chief, taking advantage of his absence, got possession of Lahore, and refused to acknowledge liis authority. He therefore sent a de- tachment against that city, which fell in a few days. "NMiile he halted at Jamoo, Khizr Khan, who had submitted to him and become a favourite, was appointed by him viceroy of Mooltan, Lahore, and Depalpoor. Dismember- For two montlis after Tamerlane's departure, Delhi was a prey to anarchy, i)!u!i kuig^ and was at the same time ravaged by pestilence and famine. After a series of •^"^ sanguinary struggles, Mulloo Yekbal Khan, the old Mahometan ^'izier, gained
the ascendency, and something like regular govermnent was re-established. This return to order induced many of the inhabitants who had fled to retm'n ; and the city, which had recently been a smoking ruin, began to recover. In addition to a small district around the city, Mulloo Yekbal obtained possession of the Doab, or the tract lying between the Jumna and Ganges. Tliis was now
