of the wealth which he
could no longer hope to preserve. The following day he reviewed the
state of his military force; one hundred thousand foot, fifty-five
thousand horse, and thirteen hundred elephants of battle. [10] He again
wept the instability of human greatness; and his grief was imbittered by
the hostile progress of the Turkmans, whom he had introduced into the
heart of his Persian kingdom.

[Footnote 8: D'Herbelot, Bibliotheque Orientale, p. 527. Yet these
letters apothegms, &c., are rarely the language of the heart, or the
motives of public action.]

[Footnote 811: Compare Price, vol. ii. p. 295.--M]

[Footnote 9: For instance, a ruby of four hundred and fifty miskals,
(Dow, vol. i. p. 53,) or six pounds three ounces: the largest in the
treasury of Delhi weighed seventeen miskals, (Voyages de Tavernier,
partie ii. p. 280.) It is true, that in the East all colored stones are
calied rubies, (p. 355,) and that Tavernier saw three larger and more
precious among the jewels de notre grand roi, le plus puissant et plus
magnifique de tous les rois de la terre, (p. 376.)]

[Footnote 10: Dow, vol. i. p. 65. The sovereign of Kinoge is said to
have possessed 2500 elephants, (Abulfed. Geograph. tab. xv. p. 274.)
From these Indian stories, the reader may correct a note in my first
volume, (p. 245;) or from that note he may correct these stories.]

In the modern depopulation of Asia, the regular operation of government
and agriculture is confined to the neighborhood of cities; and the
distant country is abandoned to the pastoral tribes of Arabs, Curds, and
Turkmans. [11] Of the last-mentioned people, two considerable branches
extend on either side of the Caspian Sea: the western colony can muster
forty thousand soldiers; the eastern, less obvious to the traveller,
but more strong and populous, has increased to the number of one hundred
thousand families. In the midst of civilized nations, they preserve the
manners of the Scythian desert, remove their encampments with a change
of seasons, and feed their cattle among the ruins of palaces and
temples. Their flocks and herds are their only riches; their tents,
either black or white, according to the color of the banner, are covered
with felt, and of a circular form; their winter apparel is a sheep-skin;
a robe of cloth or cotton their summer garment: the features of the
men are harsh and ferocious; the countenance of their women is soft
and pleasing. Their wandering life m