performed by the king; if, in the day of battle, a soldier’s horse fell, they bestowed on him a better and finer one. It has already been said that most of the cavalry horses were supplied by the king, and the military were at no expense save that of forage. If a soldier fell in battle, they appointed the son with great distinction to his father’s post, and also conferred many favors on his surviving family; they also greatly exerted themselves in teaching them the duties of their class, and in guarding their domestic honor inviolate: as, in reality, the king is the father, and the kingdom the common mother. In like manner, when a soldier was wounded, he received the greatest attentions. Similar notice was taken of workers in gold and of merchants who had failed and become impoverished, their children being adopted by the government: so that, within the circuit of their dominions, there was not found a single destitute person. The Sardár of each city took cognizance of every stranger who entered it: in the same way, all friendless travellers were received into the royal hospital, where physicians gave themselves up to the curing of the sick: in these there were also Shudahbands to take care that none of those employed should be backward in their respective offices. The blind, the paralytic, the feeble, and destitute were admitted into the royal hospital, where they passed their time free from anxiety. Now the royal _Bîmárastán_, or hospital was a place in which they gave a daily allowance to the feeble and indigent: thus there were no religious mendicants or beggars in their dominions; whoever wished, embraced a Durvesh’s life and practised religious austerities in a monastery, a place adapted for every description of pious mortifications: a slothful person, or one of ill repute, was not permitted to become a Durvesh, lest he might do it for the purpose of indulging in food and sleep: to such a character they enjoined the religious exercises suitable to a Durvesh, which, if he performed with zeal, it was all well; but, otherwise, he was obliged to follow his inclinations in some other place. The king had also confidential courtiers, well skilled in the histories of the righteous men of olden time, which they recited to his majesty. There was also an abundance of astrologers and physicians, so that, both in the capital and in the provinces, one of each, agreeably to the royal order, should attend on every governor; and their number was such in every city, that men might consult them on the favorable and unfavorable moments for every undertaking.