victory, he assembled his troops to return thanks
to God. There are some sad accounts to be settled at the judgment day.
In marching from Aleppo to Damascus, Tamerlane visited ostentatiously
the pretended tomb of Noah, that upon the shrine of that patriarch, so
profoundly venerated by the Mohammedans, he might display his
devotion.

Damascus was pillaged of all its treasures, which had been
accumulating for ages, and was then laid in ashes. The two armies,
headed by their respective chieftains, met in Galacia, near Ancyra. It
was the 16th of June, 1402. The storm of war raged for a few hours,
and the army of Bajazet was cut to pieces by superior numbers, and he
himself was taken captive. Tamerlane treated his prisoner with the
most condescending kindness, seated him by his side upon the imperial
couch, and endeavored to solace him by philosophical disquisitions
upon the mutability of all human affairs. The annals of the day do
not sustain the rumor that Bajazet was confined in an iron cage.

The empire of Tamerlane now extended from the Caspian and the
Mediterranean to the Nile and the Ganges. He established his capital
at Samarcand, some six hundred miles east of the Caspian Sea. To this
central capital he returned after each of his expeditions, devoting
immense treasures to the erection of mosques, the construction of
gardens, the excavation of canals and the erection of cities. And now,
in the pride and plenitude of his power, he commenced his march upon
Russia.

His army, four hundred thousand strong, defiled from the gates of
Samarcand, and marching to the north, between the Aral and the Caspian
Seas, traversed vast plains, where thousands of wild cattle had long
enjoyed undisturbed pasturage. These cattle afforded them abundant
food. The chase, in which they engaged on a magnificent scale, offered
a very brilliant spectacle. Thousands of horsemen spread out in an
immense circle, making the tent of the emperor the central point. With
trumpet blasts, the clash of arms and clouds of javelins and arrows,
the cattle and wild beasts of every kind were driven in upon the
imperial tent, where Tamerlane and his lords amused themselves with
their destruction. The soldiers gathered around the food thus
abundantly supplied, innumerable fires were built, and feasting and
mirth closed the day. Vast herds of cattle were driven along for the
ordinary supply of the troops, affording all the nourishment which
those rude barbari