when they began
to unrip the linings and the patches of those old clothes, and as the
seams were opened, poured out before them a prodigious quantity of
jewels. This had been their expedient for conveying their gains to
Europe, and the effect of the discovery upon the world may be
anticipated. Persons of all ranks and ages crowded to them, as the
report spread, and they were the wonder of their day.[11]

7.

Savage cruelty, brutal gluttony, and barbarous magnificence, are the
three principal ethical characteristics of a Tartar prince, as we may
gather from what has come down to us in history, whether concerning the
Scythians or the Huns. The first of these three qualities has also been
illustrated, from the references which I have been making to the history
of Zingis and Timour, so that I think we have heard enough of it,
without further instances from the report of these travellers, whether
ecclesiastical or lay. I will but mention one corroboration of a
barbarity, which at first hearing it is difficult to credit. When the
Spanish ambassador, then, was on his way to Timour, and had got as far
as the north of Persia, he there actually saw a specimen of that sort of
poll-tax, which I just now mentioned. It was a structure consisting of
four towers, composed of human skulls, a layer of mud and of skulls
being placed alternately; and he tells us that upwards of 60,000 men
were massacred to afford materials for this building. Indeed it seems a
demonstration of revenge familiar to the Tartar race. Selim, the Ottoman
Sultan, reared a similar pyramid on the banks of the Nile.[12]

To return to our Spanish traveller. He proceeded to his destination,
which was Samarcand, the royal city of Timour, in Sogdiana, the present
Bukharia, and was presented to the great conqueror. He describes the
gate of the palace as lofty, and richly ornamented with gold and azure;
in the inner court were six elephants, with wooden castles on their
backs, and streamers which performed gambols for the amusement of the
courtiers. He was led into a spacious room, where were some boys,
Timour's grandsons, and these carried the King of Spain's letters to the
Khan. He then was ushered into Timour's presence, who was seated, like
Attila's queen, on a sort of cushioned sofa, with a fountain playing
before him. He was at that time an old man, and his eyesight was
impaired.

At the entertainment which followed, the meat was introduced in leathern
bags, s