Externally, however, the monster appeared to be the _beau idéal_ of imperial splendour. A harem of sixty women, selected for their resplendent beauty; palaces of barbaric grandeur; horses covered with trappings set with pearls, rubies, emeralds, and diamonds of prodigious size; and an army of two hundred thousand men, to maintain which his country had been ruined, and India despoiled, according to the most moderate computation, of one hundred and seventy millions sterling. Such was his condition. Not long after his arrival Hanway obtained a decree of the shah “that the particulars of his loss should be delivered to Behbud Khan, the shah’s general, now at Astrabad, who was to return such parts of the goods as could be recovered, and make up the deficiency out of the sequestered estates of the rebels.” Having obtained this decree, with which, as it took him back to Astrabad, he was not altogether satisfied, Hanway quitted the camp of Nadir on the 27th of March. The spring in those southern regions being already advanced, the bright pure blue of the sky, “the falls of water from the rocks, the stupendous mountains, far higher than any he had seen in Europe, rising gradually one above another, some with their summits covered with snow, and others concealing their heads in the clouds, formed a delightful scene. The vines were full of foliage, the orange groves perfumed the air with their fragrance, and the gardens were in full blossom.” The beauty of the landscape, however, was almost entirely the work of nature; for the husbandman, not knowing who might reap the fruits of his industry, had ceased to cultivate the earth, or cultivated it with a sparing and unwilling hand. The curse of despotism, the bane of genius and energy, submission to which is the severest evil humanity can suffer, was deeply felt throughout the land, where, however, symptoms of a most salutary and just revenge, the sacred duty of the oppressed, were beginning to manifest themselves in a very striking manner.