[130] He was opposed to Nīzek’s design. We are also told that, in order that a certain appearance of respect might be kept up, his chains were of gold. Cf. Tabari, _Annales_, Series II. p. 1206. [131] Tabari, _Annales_, Series II. p. 1218. [132] On the river Jīhūn, one of the three principal towns of Khwārazm, of which Medīnat-el-Fīl, or the Town of the Elephant, was the largest. [133] Tabari relates that one day several Soghdians mounted the rampart and called out: “Oh ye Arabs, why do ye exert yourselves thus vainly? Know that we have found written in a book that our town shall not be taken except by one whose name is “Camel-Saddle,” whereupon Kutayba called out--“God is great! for verily that is my name.” (In Arabic, Kutayba means literally “camel-saddle.”) [134] He is said to have obtained no less than 20,000 native levies, men from Kesh, Nakhshab, and Khwārazm. Cf. Tabari, _Annales_, Series II. p. 1256. [135] In the year 95 Hajjāj died at the age of fifty-four. [136] Welīd had been most anxious to make his own son heir-apparent in the place of his brother, and in his designs had been supported by Hajjāj and Kutayba. Hence the bad blood that existed between the conqueror and the new Caliph. Vambéry adds the following details without reference (not to be found either in Tabari or Narshakhi): “Having conquered Farghāna, he went through the Terek Pass into Eastern Turkestān. Here he encountered the princes of the Uïgurs, who in default of union among themselves were easily conquered. We are told that the Arabs extended their incursions into the province of Kansu.... Turfan, on the very first appearance of the Arabs, embraced Islam.” (_Bokhara_, pp. 31, 32). [137] Gibbon recognised the greatness of Kutayba as a conqueror, while lamenting the scanty notices to be found of him in European works; cf. _Decline and Fall_, chap. li. d’Herbelot, in his _Bibliothèque Orientale_, dismisses our hero, under the heading _Catbah_, in a very summary manner. “Ce fut un des plus villains Arabes de son siècle, Valid, sixième Khalife de la race des Ommiades, le fit général de ses armées en Perse, l’an de l’Hégire 88. Il conquît tout le grand pays de Khorazan, et obligea en ces quartiers-là à brûler leurs idoles et à bâtir de Mosquées. Après cette conquête, il passa dans la Transoxiana et prit de force les fameuses villes de Samarcande et de Bokhara, et défit Mazurk roi de Turkestan, qui s’était approché pour les sécourir. Ce grand capitaine finit ses conquêtes l’an 93 (_sic_) de l’Hégire.” [138] Tabari, _Annales_, Series II. pp. 1283–96. [139] An important town on the Perso-Turkish frontier, north-east of Baghdād. [140] This saying is not to be found in the Arabic Tabari, but in the Persian version. See Zotenberg, vol. iv. p. 204. [141] See Zotenberg’s translation of the Persian Tabari, vol. iv. p. 221. [142] After remaining, as Tabari tells us, four months in Khorāsān to settle the administration of the province.