t contingent. The first army sent by Ziyad into Khorasan
recaptured Merv, Herat and Balkh, conquered Tokharistan and advanced as
far as the Oxus. In 673 'Obaidallah, the son of Ziyad, crossed the
river, occupied Bokhara, and returned laden with booty taken from the
wandering Turkish tribes of Transoxiana. He brought 2000 Turkish archers
with him to Basra, the first Turkish slaves to enter the Moslem empire.
Sa'id, son of the caliph Othman, whom Moawiya made governor of Khorasan,
in 674 marched against Samarkand. Other generals penetrated as far as
the Indus and conquered Kabul, Sijistan, Makran and Kandahar.

Ziyad governed Irak with the greatest vigour, but as long as discontent
did not issue in action, he let men alone. At his death (672-673), order
was so generally restored that "nobody had any more to fear for life or
estate, and even the unprotected woman was safe in her house without
having her door bolted."

Moawiya was a typical Arab _sayyid_ (gentleman). He governed, not by
force, but by his superior intelligence, his self-control, his mildness
and magnanimity. The following anecdote may illustrate this. One of
Moawiya's estates bordered on that of Abdallah b. Zobair, who complained
in a somewhat truculent letter that Moawiya's slaves had been guilty of
trespassing. Moawiya, disregarding his son Yazid's advice that he should
exact condign punishment for Zobair's disrespect, replied in flattering
terms, regretting the trespass and resigning both slaves and estate to
Zobair. In reply Zobair protested his loyalty to Moawiya, who thereupon
pointed a moral for the instruction of Yazid.

Moawiya has been accused of having poisoned more than one of his
adversaries, among them Malik Ashtar, Abdarrahman the son of the great
captain Khalid b. Walid, and Hasan b. Ali. As for the latter, European
scholars have long been agreed that the imputation is groundless. As to
Abdarrahman the story is in the highest degree improbable. Madaini says
that Moawiya was prompted to it, because when he consulted the Syrians
about the choice of his son Yazid as his successor, they had proposed
Abdarrahman. The absurdity of this is obvious, for Abdarrahman died in
the year 666.[14] Others say[15] that Moawiya was afraid lest
Abdarrahman should become too popular. Now, Abdarrahman had not only
been a faithful ally of Moawiya in the wars with Ali, but after the
peace devoted all his energy to the Greek war. It is almost incredible
that Moawi