soldiers to the tops of their highest mountains; parties of light troops
hunted them from the cliffs and glens in which they were concealed, and
in the space of one month the tribe was completely subdued. Their chief
was taken prisoner and put to death; but the policy of Nadir treated
those of his followers who escaped the first fury of his troops with
lenity and favor; he assigned them better but more accessible lands than
what they before possessed; he also took a number of them into his army;
and this corps, by its extraordinary bravery at the siege of Kandahar,
confirmed the wisdom of his generous conduct.

Nadir marched with an army of eighty thousand men through Khorasan and
Sistan to Kandahar. He met with no resistance of any consequence before
he reached that city; but he found its defences were too formidable to
give him hopes of its early surrender. His first resolution was to
subdue it by blockade; and he not only made permanent cantonments for
his army in its vicinity, but ordered the lines of a new city to be
traced out, which he called Nadirabad, or the "Abode of Nadir." He also
built towers all around Kandahar, and so connected them with small
batteries that it became impossible for the besieged to maintain any
intercourse with the surrounding country. Observing, however, that the
Afghans were not intimidated by the indications which his conduct gave
of his determined resolution to conquer them, and that they had still
abundance of provisions, he was compelled, after a year had been wasted
in the blockade, to commence a more active course of operations.

The city of Kandahar stood on the face of a hill, and was defended by a
wall and by a number of small towers. The Persians made themselves
masters of some of the most commanding eminences, to which they
conveyed, with incredible labor, both cannon and mortars. Aided by the
fire of these, they successively assailed the different towers. At some
they were repulsed with great loss; at others they succeeded; but the
bravery of the corps of Bukhteearees, who have been before mentioned,
was successful in carrying a principal tower, which enabled them to
enter the citadel, and placed the whole town at their mercy. The
Governor, however, with the principal part of the garrison, still held
out in a detached fort; but seeing that resistance was vain, he offered
to capitulate, and Nadir readily gave him a promise of forgiveness and
protection. It appears at this pe