Page:HMElliotHistVol1.djvu/160

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126

HISTORIANS OF SIND.

captives. He then sent his officers to Mannad Mandal, Dahnaj, and Barús [Broach]. Junaid used to say, “It is better to die with bravado than with resignation.” He sent a force against Uzain[1] and he also sent Habíd, son of Marra, with an army against the country of Málíba.[2] They made incursions against Uzain, and they attacked Baharímad[3] and burnt its suburbs. Junaid conquered al Bailamán and Jurz,[4] and he received at his abode, in addition to what his visitors presented to him, forty millions, and he himself carried off a similar sum.
The successor of Junaid was Tamím, son of Zaid al ’Utbi. He was feeble and imbecile, and died near Debal in a water called the “Buffalo-water.” This water was so called because buffalos took refuge there from the bears which infested the banks of the Mihrán. Tamím was one of the most generous of Arabs, he found in the treasury of Sind eighteen million Tátaríya dirhams, which he soon spent.In the days of Tamím, the Musulmáns retired from several parts of India and left some of their positions, nor have they up to the present time advanced so far as in days gone by.
Hakím, son of ’Awána al Kalbí, succeeded Tamím. The people of India had returned to idolatry excepting those of Kassa, and the Musulmáns had no place of security in which they could take refuge, so he built a town on the other side of the lake facing India, and called it Al Mahfúza, “the secure,” and this he made a place of refuge and security for them, and their chief town. He asked the elders of the tribe of Kalb, who were of Syrian descent, what name he should give the town. Some said Dimashk [Damascus], others, Hims [Emessa], and others Tadmúr [Palmyra]. Hakím said (to the latter), “May God destroy[5] you, O fool.” He gave it the name of Al Mahfúza, and dwelt there.
’Amrú, son of Muhammad son of Kásim was with Hakím, and the latter advised with him, trusted him with many important matters, and sent him out of Al Mahfúza on a warlike expedition. He was victorious in his commission, and was made an amír. He founded

  1. [Ujjain.]
  2. [Málwa or Malabar.]
  3. [ .]
  4. [Gnzerat. See Note A in Appendix.]
  5. [There is a pun here on the root of the word Tadmúr.]