[327] De Guignes, vol. iii. pt. i. p. 256.
[328] Mīrkhwānd relates (ed. Vüllers, p. 188) that when Sanjar fled with his army, and was hotly pursued by the Ghuz, a man who bore a striking resemblance to the Sultan was captured. Say what he might, the Ghuz would not be convinced that this was not Sanjar, and paid him all the respect due to royalty, until finally some one recognised him as the son of Sanjar’s cook, whereupon he was beheaded.
[329] Professor Shukovski, of St. Petersburg, published in 1894 an excellent and exhaustive monograph on the ruins and past history of Merv, under the title Razvilini starago Merva, “The Ruins of Old Merv.”
[330] Ed. Vüllers, p. 189.
[331] Mīrkhwānd has in this place evidently followed Hafiz Abru (the author of the Zubdat-ut-Tawārīkh), who says that the first day of plunder was devoted to articles of gold, brass, and silver; the second to bronzes, carpets, and vases; and the third to whatever of value was left, such as cotton-stuffs, glass, wooden doors, and the like. Cf. Professor Shukovski’s Ruins of Old Merv, pp. 29, 30.
[332] He is said to have been kept in a cage at night. Cf. De Guignes, iii. pt. i. 257. Mīrkhwānd has been followed in this relation, and we have seen what he considered to be the cause of the hostilities between the Ghuz and Sanjar. From Ibn el-Athīr (Tārīkh-i-Kāmil, xi. 118, as quoted by Professor Shukovski, Merv, p. 29) it would appear that the cause of the conflict was Sanjar’s refusal to give up Merv to the Ghuz, on the plea that he could not be expected to abandon his royal residence. De Guignes (iii. pt. i. p. 257) introduces this anecdote after the capture of Sanjar.
[333] Many say he died of an internal malady, A.H. 552 (1157). He was in his seventy-third year.
[334] The modern Chārjūy.
[335] Cf. De Guignes, iii. pt. ii. p. 258.
[336] Cf. De Guignes, loc. cit.