when the twelve M men saw that they had no assistance from their lord, they asked Tämerlin to be allowed to pass. He consented, and they left the city at night and returned to their lord. Then Tämerlin stormed the city and took it by assault. And now, soon after he had taken the city, came to him the Geit, that is as much as to say a bishop, and fell at his feet, and begged mercy for himself and his priests. Tämerlin ordered that he should go with his priests into the temple; so the priests took their wives, their children and many others, into the temple for protection, until there were thirty thousand young and old. Now Tämerlin gave orders that when the temple was full, the people inside should be shut up in it. This was done. Then wood was placed around the temple, and he ordered it to be ignited, and they all perished in the temple. Then he ordered that each one of his [soldiers] should bring to him the head of a man. This was done, and it took three days; then with these heads were constructed three towers, and the city was pillaged.(2) After this he went into another country called Scherch,(3) a country where no cattle are bred, and this country gave itself up. He ordered them to bring food for his people who were famished, although they had been before a city so rich in spices. Then he returned to his country, having left that country and occupied the cities. 15.—How Tämerlin conquered Babiloni. Now when he returned from the land of the king-sultan, he took ten hundred thousand men with him and marched upon Babiloni. When the king[1] heard this, he left a garrison in the city and went out of it. Tämerlin besieged it for a whole month, during which time he undermined the walls, took the city and burnt it. Then he had the earth ploughed and barley planted there, because he had sworn that he would destroy the city, so that nobody should know whether there had been houses or no. Then he went to a fortress; it stood in a river, and the king kept his treasure there.(1) He could not take this fortress, across the water, so he turned away the water, and found under the water three leaden chests full of gold and silver; each chest was two fathoms long, and one fathom broad. The king sank them here, so that if the fortress was taken, the gold would remain. The chests he removed, and he took the fortress and found fifteen men in it. They were hanged. They also found in the fortress four chests full of silver and gold, which he also took away, and then conquered three cities. Then summer began, so that on account of the heat he could not remain in the country. [1] Sultan Achmed, of the last Ilchans.—See Deguignes, Germ. Trans., iii, 313. _N._ 16.—How Tämerlin conquered Lesser India.(1)