Eastern writers make no mention of the assistance rendered to Faradj by Bajazet, upon the occasion of his struggle with his father’s vassal at the commencement of his reign; but their silence on this point is by no means conclusive as throwing doubt on the statement, twice repeated, of Schiltberger, who was himself serving in the force despatched by Bajazet to the support of the sultan, in whom he hoped to secure an ally against Timour, whose power menaced the safety of both. Had the two sultans been indeed of one accord, the conqueror might have received a check. According to Aboul-Mahazin (Weil, ii, 71), Timour is reported to have said, on hearing of the death of Barkok: “Bajazet is an excellent general, but his troops are not worth much; the Egyptians and Syrians, however, are good soldiers, but they are badly handled”. It is very certain that Bajazet, in his turn, soon afterwards (1400) appealed for assistance to the sultan of Egypt, who refused to grant it, because the former’s venture against Malatia was not forgotten (Weil, 81, note 42); but the necessity he was under of keeping his troops for protection at home, was the truer cause.—BRUUN. CHAPTER XII. (1.) “took the city by force, although there were in it five thousand horsemen sent by Weyasit.”—The walls of Sebaste, originally constructed by Aladin Kekobady, a Seljouk king, were of extraordinary strength, being twenty cubits in height, and ten cubits in thickness at the base, narrowing to six cubits at the top. The place was stubbornly defended, the besieged being well supplied with munitions of war; but the besiegers constructed towers of greater height than the town, and planted upon them machines for hurling huge stones, so that, at the expiration of 18 days (the text says 21 days), the besieged sued for quarter. Timour spared all the Mussulmans, but the Christians were sent into slavery. The 4000 horsemen (5000 horsemen in the text) being Armenians, were flung alive into pits and covered with earth (Petis de la Croix, _Histoire de Timur Bec_, liv. v, 268).—ED. (2.) “There were also nine thousand virgins taken into captivity by Tämerlin to his own country.”—The contemporary historians, Aboul-Mahazin and Arabshah (Weil, 81), describe in like manner the cruelties practised on the inhabitants of Sebaste in 1400, by Timour, whose admirer even, Shereef uddin, differs but slightly in the horrible details (Hammer, _Hist. de l’E. O._, ii, 59).—BRUUN. CHAPTER XIII.