,
whose commander probably esteemed the services of these hardy warriors
as of more consequence to the peace of his own dominions and the
fulfilment of his future views of ambition than all the wealth he had
brought from India.

The arms of Nadir were next directed against the kingdom of Khaurizm,
which is situated to the westward of Bokhara, and stretches along both
banks of the Oxus to the shores of the Caspian Sea. The Prince of this
country, whose name was Ilburz, neither merited nor received such human
treatment as Abul Fyze Khan. He had committed frequent depredations upon
the Persian territories; and, conceiving that the strength of his
fortresses would secure him from vengeance, he resolved on resistance.
The King of Bokhara had sent a mission to advise him to submit to the
arms of Nadir: he not only treated this friendly counsel with disdain,
but, in violation of laws which the most savage nations respect, he slew
those through whom it was conveyed. This conduct greatly irritated the
monarch of Persia, who, after he had defeated his army and made him
prisoner, doomed him and twenty of his chief officers to death. The
possessions of Ilburz were bestowed upon Taher Khan, a cousin of the
sovereign of Bokhara, and consequently a direct descendant of the
celebrated Genghis.

When the winter of this year was far advanced, Nadir marched to Khelat,
to which place he continued from his most early years to be much
attached. He had directed that its fortifications should be improved,
that a palace should be built, and that aqueducts should be constructed
to improve the fertility of its fields. He had also ordered that all his
treasures should be carried thither; and a peaceful retirement to this
cherished spot, after the toils and dangers of war were at an end, was
one of the most innocent of those dreams which amused the fancy of this
indefatigable conqueror.

After a short residence at Khelat Nadir proceeded to Mushed, which he
made the capital of his empire; and during three months that he remained
in this city his time was passed in constant festivities. Five monarchs
had been subdued in five years. The empire of Persia had not only been
rescued from a foreign yoke, but its limits had been extended as far as
the Oxus to the north and the Indus to the east; and the hero by whom
all this had been accomplished promised his exulting subjects that the
Turks should soon be driven from the banks of the Tigris and the
Eup