At the same time, Baissur received orders to suspend the ravaging of the province of Rudbar. After the arrival of these orders, Rokneddin caused some of the battlements of Alamut to be knocked down, and Baissur withdrew his troops from Rudbar. By order of Rokneddin, Sadreddin Sungi, one of the most respectable of the order, went, accompanied by an envoy of Hulaku’s, to the latter’s camp, to announce submissively to him, that the prince of the Assassins had already begun to demolish his castles, and that he was proceeding in the work of destruction; that he, however, dreading the presence of Hulaku, requested the term of a year, after the lapse of which, he would appear at his court. Hulaku sent back Sadreddin, the Ismailite envoy, accompanied by one of his basikakis, or officers, and wrote to the grand-master:—“If Rokneddin’s submission be sincere, let him come to the imperial camp, and cede to Basikaki, the deliverer of this letter, the defence of his country.” Rokneddin, misled by his evil genius, and the ill advice of Nassireddin, delayed his obedience to this command. He sent the vizier, Shemseddin Keilaki, and his cousin, Seifeddin Sultan Melik Ben Kia Manssur, again, with ambassadors, to Hulaku, to cloak his refusal to appear in person, under bad excuses. He commanded, at the same time, his governors and commanders of Kuhistan and Kirdkuh, to hasten to the Mongol camp, and to proffer their homage. As soon as Hulaku reached Demawend, which lies immediately on the mountains of the Assassins, he despatched the vizier, Shemseddin Keilaki, to Kirdkuh, to bring the commander of that fortress into the camp, in pursuance of Rokneddin’s command; one of the envoys, who had accompanied the vizier and Rokneddin’s cousin to the camp, was sent, on the same mission, to Kuhistan, and the latter proceeded, with Hulaku’s ambassador, to the castle of Maimundis, where Rokneddin had established his residence, in order to inform him that “the ruler of the world had now advanced as far as Demawend; there was now no longer any time for delay; but if he wished to wait a few days, he might, in the meanwhile, send his son.” These ambassadors arrived at Maimundis the beginning of Ramadan, and gave the intelligence that Hulaku’s victorious standards were floating on the frontiers, and communicated his commands. At this news, Rokneddin and his people fell into stupid astonishment and helpless terror. He answered the ambassador that he was ready to send his son, but then, urged by the persuasion of his wives and short-sighted advisers, he delivered to the envoy the child of a slave, who, being of the same age as his son, was substituted for him, and requested that Hulaku would allow his brother, Shehinshah, who was still at his court, to return. Hulaku, who was already on the confines of Rudbar, easily unmasked the imposture, and, without betraying his discovery, sent back the child, two days after, with the information