[102] This curious custom still survives in Merv. “One day,” writes O’Donovan, “the town-crier, accompanied by half a dozen other Turcomans, entered my hut, each to present me a new-born child. I could not catch the exact words; all I could understand was that one of the infants was O’Donovan Beg, another O’Donovan Khan, a third O’Donovan Bahadur. I forget what the others were. It turned out that the Tekkes’ newly born children are, as a rule, called after any distinguished strangers who may be on the oasis at the time of their births, or have resided there a short time previously, or after some event intimately connected with the tribe” (_The Story of Merv_, p. 329). [103] Cf. Aug. Müller, _Der Islam_, p. 411, who gives the date as A.H. 85. [104] An entertaining account of this cruel and witty governor will be found in d’Herbelot, under the article _Heggiage-ben-Josef-al-Thakefi_. [105] Merv has been styled by almost all European writers on the subject, “The Queen of the World.” Now the origin of this high-sounding title is the expression _Merv-i-Shāhijān_, a title used to distinguish this town from Merv er-Rūd. This word Shāhijān has been taken as a corruption of Shah-i-jahān, or “Queen of the World.” Yakūt says that Shāhijān means “Soul of the King.” The form as it now stands is probably “Arabicised” from an old Persian form _Shahgūn_, “what appertains to a king.” Cf. Rückert, _Gram. Poet. und Rhet. der Perser_ (Gotha, 1874), p. xix. The mistranslation, if such it be, has shared the fate of most mistranslations of the kind, and become universal among Europeans. [106] It must be remembered that Bokhārā is the name of a kingdom as well as of a town. [107] Between Balkh and Merv er-Rūd, three days’ journey from the latter. Istakhri, the geographer, speaks of it as the most important place in Tokhāristān. [108] _Dihakān_ = the man (_i.e._ the head man) of the _dih_, or village. [109] Vambéry seems to confuse the two accounts, for he says: “He had not yet arrived within the limits of ancient Bactria when the inhabitants of Balkh came out to meet him, and conducted him with honour into their city.” But Tabari speaks distinctly of an engagement, in connection with which he remembers an interesting detail. Among the captives taken at that time was the wife of a certain Barmek. She was taken into the harem of Kutayba’s brother `Abdullah, by whom she had a son, who was commonly regarded as the ancestor of the famous Barmecīdes of the court of Baghdād. The story was probably invented to give the family a less obscure lineage than that of humble immigrants from Balkh. Cf. Muir, _History of the Caliphate_, p. 358. [110] Cf. Tabari’s _Annales_, Series II. p. 1187, and Zotenberg’s _Chroniques de Tabari_, vol. iv. p. 157. [111] Neither version of Tabari gives any details of this siege, but Narshakhi’s account, of which we extract a portion, is most vivid. [112] Tabari says that he had gone five farsakhs, but mentions no place-name.