188 TIMUE'S ACCOUNT OF HIS INVASION buildings of the city, in the midst of which the fort was built, and to level it to the ground. Crossing the river in haste and pursuing the enemy, I reached the skirts of the mountain on whose top the infidels had fortified themselves in defiles and other strong places. I immediately ordered my valiant and experienced troops to ascend, whereupon they raised the war-cry of " God is most great " and rushed to the attack. Before all the rest Shaikh Arslan Aztuman Kabak Khan, who is a lion in the day of battle, mounted the hill on the left hand and commenced the fight. Lead- ing his men against the infidels, he put them to flight, and following up the enemy, he entered the fastnesses of the rock and slew vast numbers of the unbelievers. Tawachi Ali Sultan also made a valiant assault upon the foe, and with his own regiment charged and routed the infidel enemy, killing them in multitudes. Amir Shah Malik likewise displayed great valour, slaughter- ing hosts of the infidels and driving them completely out of the mountain. Mubashir Bahadur, and Mankali Khwaja, and Sunjak Bahadur, and other valiant nobles used their swords equally well. They all proved their zeal for Islam on the unbelieving foe, and having over- powered the infidels, they put many of them to death and took possession of their fastnesses. Only a few of the enemy succeeded in sheltering themselves in their caverns, wounded and worn out with fatigue. Of my troops only fourteen lost their lives, and that was in effecting the passage of the mountain. Some of the infidels held out in their defiles for three
