30 MAHMUD OF GHAZNI in the latter years of his reign Mahmud had extended his rule over the greater part of Persia, as far as the mountains of Kurdistan a land of Moslems and infi- nitely preferable in Turkish eyes in every way, save wealth, to sultry Hindustan, though not perhaps to the OM> AFGHAN ARMOtTB. terraced villages among the green valleys and familiar crags of the Afghan hills. Mahmud had overrun Northern India from the Indus to the Ganges, but his home was still Ghazni among the mountains. Here he stored his immense treasure, and here he presided over a stately and cultivated court. Like many a great soldier, he loved the society of edu- cated men; and this restless adventurer, after sweep- ing like a pestilence for hundreds of miles across India,
