119

" thers."' To sum up all, as long as they conformed
themselves to the last will of the Khan, they were
powerM; but when they deviated from his counsel,
they sunk into distress and abjection. The stars
were favorable to them in every thing.1

It is related: Kik Khan, who was of the family of
Chaghaty Khan, was one day walking with noble-
men of his suit in the plain, travelling about in the
desert. At once, his looks fell upon bones; at the
same moment he became thoughtful, and then asked:
44 Do you know what this handful of bones says to
u me?" They replied: " The King knows best."
He resumed : " They demand justice from me as
" being oppressed," He demanded information
about the history of these bones from Amir Haza-
rah, who held this country under his dependence.
This governor inquired of Amir Sadah, who admi-
nistered this district under him; and after reiterated

1 Jangis Khan died in the year of the Hejira 626 (A. D. 1228), in his
sixty-sixth year. He left an empire which extended from the Indus to
the Black sea; from the banks of the Wolga to the remote plains of
China; and from the arid shores of the Persian gulf to the cold deserts of
Siberia. Having, in his early age, been driven by his subjects from his
home, he passed several years under the protection of a Christian prince,
Awerik Khan, or Ungh Ehan, known to Europeans under the name of
Prester John; and was therefore supposed by some to have adopted the,
Christian religion: thus much is true — he and his successors protected
the Christians and persecuted the Muhammedans, until Nikudar Oglan
professed the Muhammedan faith, in A. D. 1281, and drove the Christians
out of his empire.