mentioned by Polo as Alaodin), was murdered at the instigation
of his son Ruknuddin Khurshah, who succeeded to the authority. A year
later (November, 1256) Ruknuddin surrendered to Hulaku. [Bretschneider
(_Med. Res._ II. p. 109) says that Alamut was taken by Hulaku, 20th
December, 1256.--H. C.] The fortresses given up, all well furnished with
provisions and artillery engines, were 100 in number. Two of them,
however, Lembeser and Girdkuh, refused to surrender. The former fell after
a year; the latter is stated to have held out for _twenty years_--
actually, as it would seem, about fourteen, or till December, 1270.
Ruknuddin was well treated by Hulaku, and despatched to the Court of the
Kaan. The accounts of his death differ, but that most commonly alleged,
according to Rashiduddin, is that Mangku Kaan was irritated at hearing of
his approach, asking why his post-horses should be fagged to no purpose,
and sent executioners to put Ruknuddin to death on the road. Alamut had
been surrendered without any substantial resistance. Some survivors of the
sect got hold of it again in 1275-1276, and held out for a time. The
dominion was extinguished, but the sect remained, though scattered indeed
and obscure. A very strange case that came before Sir Joseph Arnould in
the High Court at Bombay in 1866 threw much new light on the survival of
the Ismailis.

Some centuries ago a _Dai_ or Missionary of the Ismailis, named Sadruddin,
made converts from the Hindu trading classes in Upper Sind. Under the name
of _Khojas_ the sect multiplied considerably in Sind, Kach'h, and Guzerat,
whence they spread to Bombay and to Zanzibar. Their numbers in Western
India are now probably not less than 50,000 to 60,000. Their doctrine, or
at least the books which they revere, appear to embrace a strange jumble
of Hindu notions with Mahomedan practices and Shiah mysticism, but the
main characteristic endures of deep reverence, if not worship, of the
person of their hereditary Imam. To his presence, when he resided in
Persia, numbers of pilgrims used to betake themselves, and large
remittances of what we may call _Ismail's Pence_ were made to him. Abul
Hassan, the last Imam but one of admitted lineal descent from the later
Shaikhs of Alamut, and claiming (as they did) descent from the Imam Ismail
and his great ancestor 'Ali Abu Talib, had considerable estates at
Mehelati, between Kum and Hamadan, and at one time held the Government of
Kerman. His son and su