and determined to hasten his triumph by the aid of diplomacy. Calling to him a trusted councillor named Sulaymān, he ordered him to make his way to Nīzek’s camp and endeavour to secure his surrender. Quarter was not to be promised unless it was insisted on, and the messenger was informed that his own fate was at stake. Sulaymān, with the certainty of the gallows before him as the result of failure to bring the rebel to terms, obtaining a covering party to guard his retreat, and taking with him several days’ provisions, started for the enemy’s camp. He was admitted to a parley with Nīzek, whom he exhorted to submit to overwhelming force. The prince stipulated for mercy, but was assured that no formal guarantee was necessary. On the understanding that his life would be spared, he surrendered and accompanied Sulaymān to Kutayba’s camp. He was at once placed in a tent under strict guard, while his own camp was occupied by the Arab forces. Kutayba then asked instructions from his chief Hajjāj at Basra as to what should be done with the prisoner, and in forty days a reply arrived that he must be put to death. The order was not obeyed without considerable hesitation. For three days Kutayba shut himself up in his tent and held converse with no one. On the fourth he took council with his officers, and all agreed that the breach of faith implied was a just and necessary measure. And so Nīzek, with 700 of his followers, was put to death, and their heads were sent to Hajjāj. The prince of Tokhāristān was released from his golden chains and despatched with a retinue to Damascus. The perfidy which Kutayba had practised towards Nīzek was too outrageous even for the Arabs, but it was followed by another action scarcely less scandalous. When Kutayba returned to Merv, the king of Jūzajān, who had made common cause with Nīzek, sent messengers offering his submission on condition that his life should be spared. The terms were agreed to, but Kutayba insisted that the king should present himself in person, and also give hostages. Kutayba, on his side, sent him an Arab hostage named Habīb. The king of Jūzajān intrusted several members of his own family to Kutayba’s care, and betook himself to Merv, where he concluded a peace with Kutayba. But on his return to his native country he died at Tālikān, and the inhabitants, in the belief, real or pretended, that he had been poisoned, slew Habīb. On hearing of this Kutayba put all the hostages to death. In the year A.H. 91 (709) Kutayba marched against Shūmān, Kesh, and Nakhshab, and after capturing the three towns he sent his brother Rahmān to attack the Tarkhūn of Soghd. The latter, however, offered to pay tribute, and gave hostages. After accepting this proposal `Abd er-Rahmān joined Kutayba in Bokhārā, and the two brothers returned to Merv. Meanwhile the people of Soghd rose against their chief, and set up another named Ghūzek in his stead. The deposed Tarkhūn put an end to his own life.