is rights. Not long after this the turn of events in
Kashgar made people seek for some person with recognized claims to be
their ruler, and none in this respect surpassed Toghluc Timour. He, on
succeeding to the throne, openly owned his conversion to Islam, and in a
few years he was gradually imitated by all the leading chiefs of
Turkestan. From this time downwards to the present day, the religion of
the majority in this state has been Mahomedanism, except perhaps during
the Chinese rule, when the number of Chinese merchants, officials, and
soldiers, put the minority of the followers of Buddha on a par with
those of the rival religion. Toghluc died in 1362.

It was about this time that the second great conqueror of Asia appeared
upon the scene. Timour was born in 1333 in the Shahrisebz suburb of
Kish. He was the son of Turghay, governor of that district and chief of
the Birlas tribe, and on the death of his father he himself became
governor of Kish also. During his earlier years he was hospitably
received at the Court of Kazan Ameer, and that ruler, in addition to
giving him several high and distinguished appointments, married him to
his beautiful granddaughter Olja Turkan Khaton. Timour did not continue
long in favour at Court. His restless spirit impelled him to fields of
greater activity than any the Ameer could, or indeed felt disposed to,
place at his disposal. He openly mutinied against the central authority
in his government of Kish, and on being overthrown by the troops of the
state, he sought safety with his wife among the Turcomans of the Khivan
desert. Among these uncertain nomads he felt scarcely secure, and
collecting round him a small band of desperadoes, he entered upon a more
ambitious enterprise by undertaking a marauding expedition into the
Persian province of Seistan. This was attended with considerable
success, but he himself was wounded in the foot by an arrow. From the
effects of this wound he never completely recovered, and was known
henceforth as Timour Lang, Timour the Lame, whence the well-known name
of Tamerlane. The _eclat_ obtained by this marauding expedition stood
him in good stead, for shortly afterwards he was able to raise a
sufficient force to invade Tashkent. He occupied the whole of what is
now Russian Khokand including Ferghana, and he placed a fresh occupant
on the throne, Kabil Shah, in 1363. In the following years he contended
for supremacy with another chief named Husen, and in 1