368 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. large number of muskets, which were to be given to him, together with two places on the frontier of Khorassan, on the condition that he should afford assistance towards putting down the insurrection at Meshed. After some fighting, the joint forces of Herat and of Prince Hamza found that they were able to make but little progress, and negotiations were therefore set on foot with a view to the cessation of hostilities. Jafer Kuli Khan of Boojnoord, who till now had been detained in custody by the ruler of Herat, was sent to the Salar on the part of the leaders opposed to him. But that chief was the worst envoy that could have been selected, for he was now burning to avenge, on the person and troops of Yar Mahomed Khan, the long imprisonment to which he had so inhospitably been sub- jected, and having joined his friend the Salar, he refused to return to the hostile camp. The attention of the Affghan chief was now directed to the movements of a cavalry force which was sent to devastate the border of the territory of Herat. The prince -governor of Khorassan was then obliged to evacuate the citadel of Meshed, and to retire towards the Affghan frontier. The Ameer-i-Nizam had in the meantime sent a body of about six thousand infantry from Tehran to the assistance of the governor of Khorassan. Prince Sultan Murad, who was in command of this force, laid siege to the town of Sebzewar, which place was defended by the youthful son of the Salar; but Sebzewar held out, and the siege was soon raised. Prince Sultan Murad, care- less of leaving a fortified place behind him, then went on towards Kuchan, plundering by the way several villages, in which he found an ample supply of provisions for his troops. Some chiefs of consideration joined his standard,
