He went away, but the disappointed malice, and the hopeless future, had wrought a change in the strong man that he was powerless to overcome; he returned to his caravan which had been restored to him by the intercession of Meher and Mūshteri, but in a few days his lifeless body was found upon the plains, and his servants claimed that he had died by his own hand. ----- Footnote 261: About A.D. 1200. Footnote 262: Born A.D. 1141, and died A.D. 1203. Footnote 263: Kais was the proper name of the lover, but he received the cognomen of Majnun on account of his madness. Footnote 264: Except the desert scene, the poetical extracts in this chapter are from Atkinson’s translation. Footnote 265: Zemzem is the sacred well enclosed by the temple at Mecca, and even a stone dipped in its waters is thought to possess marvelous virtues. Footnote 266: Born at Balkha, A.D. 1297. Footnote 267: A.D. 1176. Footnote 268: Some authorities say that he died at the age of one hundred years, while others claim that he lived to be one hundred and sixteen. Footnote 269: Journal Asiatique, Jan., 1843. Footnote 270: From Davies’ version. Footnote 271: From Gladwin’s Translation. Footnote 272: A.D. 1388. Footnote 273: It is claimed that he used ninety thousand human heads in erecting pyramids to illustrate his horrible triumph. Footnote 274: Timur was also of Mongol origin, and a descendant of Genghis Khan. Footnote 275: Khizer was the prophet who, according to Oriental tradition, discovered and drank of the Fountain of Life, and it was he who bore the nectar to the waiting poet. Footnote 276: Most of the Asiatic poets are Sufis, and claim to prefer the meditations of mysticism to the pleasures of the world. Their fundamental tenets are that nothing exists, absolutely, except God, and that the human soul is an emanation from his essence, and will finally be restored to him. Footnote 277: Sidrah—Tree of Paradise. Footnote 278: Bichnel’s Trans. Footnote 279: Finished about A.D. 1575. Footnote 280: A.D. 1611. Footnote 281: A.D. 1430. Footnote 282: Haji Luft Ali. Footnote 283: A.D. 1556-1605. Footnote 284: A.D. 1585-1628. Footnote 285: Herodotus IX. Footnote 286: Ousley, Biog. Pers. Poets, p. 202. Footnote 287: A very popular style of decoration in Persia is the kainah-karree; while the plaster is yet soft, the surface is inlaid with minute mirrors of every conceivable shape. The amount of work and skill necessary to inlay a room in this style is almost incalculable, and although the materials are comparatively cheap, the immense amount of labor required make the work very expensive. The effect, however, is one of bewildering splendor as if the light were flashed from the polished facets of millions of gems.—_Benjamin, Persia and Persians, p. 279._