In 483 Badr made a new assessment and return of taxation for Egypt and Syria. Under his rule the annual revenue had risen from 2,000,000 dinars to 3,100,000, and peace and prosperity reigned in all the land of Egypt, though war prevailed in Syria, the mark of the first waves of Saljuq invasion. Before closing the narrative of the reign of Mustansir we must take note of a visit to Egypt paid by a Persian missionary in 471, closely connected with the visit of Nasir-i-Khusraw some years before, and important in its bearing upon events which followed soon after Mustansir’s death. This Persian missionary, Hasan-i-Sabbah by name, was born in Qum whither his father had removed from Kufa. Like his father he was a Shiʿite of the “Twelver” sect, but came under the influence of Nasir-i-Khusraw who was an active propagandist, although at the time Ismaʿilian doctrines were not making much progress in Asia. After considerable hesitation he became a proselyte of the Ismaʿilians and took the oath of allegiance to the Fatimid Khalif. In 464 he came under the notice of the overseer of the mission work in the district (_bahr_, literally, “sea”), of Isfahan, and was advised by him to make a pilgrimage to Egypt. After spending two years as assistant to the overseer of Isfahan he set out in 467 and reached Cairo in 471 where he was well received by the Chief _Daʿi_ and other leading persons, but was not allowed to have an interview with the Khalif. At the time, it appears, the court was divided into two factions over the question of the succession, the one party holding to the Khalif’s elder son Nizar, the other to a younger son named Mustali. In one place Nasir-i-Khusraw says that the Khalif told him that his elder son Nizar was to be his heir, and the succession of the older son would be in accordance with the doctrines of the sect as already proved by their adherence to Ismaʿil, the son of Jaʿfar as-Sadiq. But Badr and the chief officials were on the side of the younger son Mustali, and it was probably the knowledge that the Persian visitor was opposed to them on this question which stood in the way of a personal interview with Mustansir. After eighteen months in Egypt Hasan-i-Sabbah was forced to leave because, according to his own statement, he had provoked the suspicion of Badr. So in 472 he embarked at Alexandria. His ship was wrecked on the coast of Syria, and after much wandering he at length made his way overland to Isfahan where he arrived in 473. At once he commenced propaganda amongst the Ismaʿilians in favour of Nizar as the chosen heir to the Imamate. In this work he was successful, and in 483 he obtained possession of the castle of Alamut (“the eagle’s teaching”) which he made the headquarters of his branch of the Ismaʿilian sect. As supporters of the claims of Nizar the members of this branch were known as “Nizarites,” but later the name of “Assassins” became their commoner designation. This term represents the Arabic _Hashishi_, that is to say,