on in light marching order to the river's Side. The stream was deep and rapid, and the boats could contain only a few men at a time. The king had given the order that his army should pass the Araxes. The soldiers who should brave the current's force ran a great risk of being drowned; but a watery grave was less terrible in their eyes than to have to face the wrath of their ruthless monarch: they did not hesitate a moment, and a sufficient number gained the further bank to enable Aga Mahomed to take possession of the fortress of Sheeshah. Here his earthly career was destined to end. For a slight offence he condemned two of his domestic servants to death, but as it was the night of Friday,[1] he consented that they should be spared until next morning. One of these was his personal attendant, and we are told that this man was permitted to perform his usual duties while he was under sentence of death. At midnight this servant, whose name was Sadek,[2] entered the monarch's tent, accompanied by the other servant who was to have suffered with him next morning, as well as by another man, and the three put an end to the life of the king.
We are told by the Persian historian[3] that Aga Mahomed's last words were uttered in reproach to his murderers for having killed him under such circumstances that not a soldier of his army could escape from the enemy. The murderers then seized the crown jewels, and handed them over to Sadek Khan Shekaki, one of the generals of the army, who afforded the assassins protection.
Aga Mahomed, at the time of his death, was fifty-
