were brought into the temple by a bird. Kuteibe sent such things to the Khalif Hudjadj as a present, who, in a letter of thanks, expressed both his admiration for the objects, and the high spirit of the sender. From hence he went to Vardun, (now Vardanzi) which he spoiled, with all the other villages belonging to it. These successful advances of the Arabian army terrified the small princes of that neighbourhood, and they united, and attacked, with joint forces, the invaders. As the Arab historian affirms, Kuteibe was greatly distressed. He was also destitute of arms; and they say that a lance was bought for 5 dirrhems, a helmet for 50, the cuirass for 900. Happily, the ruler of Samarkand, by cunning and deceit, had withdrawn from the alliance to go over to the Arabs; and the Turkish leader having obtained information that fresh auxiliary troops had arrived in Kesh and Nakhsheb, retreated to Vardun; and Kuteibe remained undisturbed in the possession of the conquered province in Transoxiana. [37] Report says, that Said ben Osman and Khatun, who was a celebrated beauty, loved each other; and even in later years the popular ballads were extant which sung of this adventure. TUGSHADE AND MOKANNA, THE VEILED PROPHET OF KHORASSAN. Tugshade, who, after the death of his mother, was chosen King of Bokhara, had to thank Kuteibe, alone, for his throne, since he supported him against his powerful neighbour, the Governor of Vardun, who invaded Bokhara repeatedly, but was always driven back by Kuteibe. This feeling of gratitude may have been the principal cause that Tugshade went over to Islam, and distinguished himself by his remarkable ardour in favour of the new opinions. He reigned thirty-two years, not so much as an independent prince, but as the vassal of Kuteibe, who found in him a mighty aid in propagating by force the doctrine of Mohammed, which the inhabitants of Bokhara were much disposed to reject. As the Arabian adventurers made conversion to Islam the chief condition in submitting, the Bokhariots, at each capture of their capital, acknowledged, in appearances, Islam, but after the departure of their conquerors returned to their beloved national religion, the Parsi. Kuteibe wished to check this. He ordered, therefore, that the half of the houses of the whole town should be given up to the Arabs. The proselytes were placed, by these means, in the immediate neighbourhood of men who continually watched them, and urged them to the new doctrine. In the year 94 Heg., he permitted a large Mosque to be built, in which all were to assemble for prayer on Fridays, and in which the Koran should be read, in an emphatic manner, in the Persian language. This mosque existed even in the time of our author's writing, who besides adds that upon the doors figures of animals were cut, (which, as is known in every place of Islam, to say nothing of a mosque, is treated as a gross offence): the reason of this, they say, was, that these animals were taken from an