We have mentioned that Hibrahim-qhan, Generalissimo to the King of Háider-abad, forced by his master’s attempt to arrest him, and to put him to death, or possibly prompted by a principle of ambition, had fled to Soltan Muázzem, who had introduced him to the Emperor. The latter now thought proper to remember him. The transuge General was raised to the rank of seven thousand horse, and decorated with the surname of Muhabbet-qhan*. Meanwhile, Ghazi-eddin-qhan was push­ing on the siege vigorously; and the trenches by gaining a little every day, were far advanced, when they were at once attacked by Mustepha-qhan, alias Abdol-rezac, the Larian, and by Sheh-nizam, the Decanian. The two Haider-abadian Generals fell upon the trenches, and committed much havoc. Kishver-sing, pushing hard at the head of his Radjp8ts, was wounded, and fell from his horse; and a number of his men throwing themselves in the enemy’s way to rescue him from their hands, were put to the sword. Some considerable officers of the Vigorous sally of the besiegers. enemies fell likewise; but although repeated efforts were made by the Imperialists to carry their bodies away, they were several times rescued by the Háider-abadians, who not only took them away themselves, but carried likewise the bodies of many notable personages of the Imperial army. This engagement proved very warm; nor was it without continual exertions and repeated efforts of that number of brave T8ranians and Iranians as well as Afghan and Radjp8ts, officers in the Emperor’s service, that the enemy was repulsed and obliged to return within the fortress. In this siege of Golconda such extraordinary actions were per­formed by the besieged, as look fabulous, and yet have really happened. But as fortune did not favorise them, they all proved of no avail. Nevertheless, they greatly affected the Emperor, who now thought proper to turn his views towards gaining over to his party the principal officers of the besieged. These were plied with in a variety of manners: some were promised The Emperor debauches almost all the Generals of the besieged. more extensive commands, and some were allured with brilliant dignities, extensive Djaghirs, and high offices of State. All, or almost all, yielded to these suggestions; and both to secure their persons and fortunes, and also to get out of the fortress, which they took to be an unauspicious abode, they all went over to the Emperor. Sheh-nizam himself, who had performed wonders in the last sally, deserted and came over. On his mak­ing his bow to the Emperor, he was honored with the surname of Mucareb-qhan, or the favourite Lord, decorated with the rank of six thousand horse, and the effectual command of five, and complimented with an appanage. Sheh-minhadj followed, with several other officers of note, and they were all as well as himself raised to high dignities, and complimented with offices and emoluments. The desertion was so great, that none remained with the besieged King but Abdollah-qhan, an Afghan, and Abdol-rezac, alias Mustepha-qhan, an Iranian of the city of Lar; and this latter remained faithful to the very last, for at last the Afghan himself deserted, and went away. In short, the only General that stuck to him to the very last day of the siege, who made such vigorous sorties, and contrived so many expedients to retard the capture of the place, (two articles which we shall mention briefly in the sequel), was this same Abdol-rezac the Larian. The efforts made by the besieged and their King, even after so many desertions, and the repeated defeats they gave the Imperialists—defeats that would have saved the fortress, had fortune been on their side—I have faithfully, although succinctly, copied from Naamet-qhan-aaly’s history, without adding or detracting any thing from his narrative; nor is any thing advanced here, but which is confirmed, or virtually understood, by Hashem-aaly-qhan, the other historian, although he seems evidently to write with the greatest precaution. The siege drew to a length, and nothing was heard from both sides but a continual roaring of musketry, rockets, and artillery. The besiegers, however, had a considerable advantage over the besieged. They had plenty of those destructive machines called bombs; and the firing was so continual, and the smoke so thick and constant, that people came at last not to distinguish the day from the night; and not a day passed but some of the most forward amongst the Imperial Generals either fell dead, or were grievously wounded. After a month and some days’ continual labour and slaughter, the trenches were brought close to the fossé, and the Emperor, informed of this, ordered his Taht-revan, or moving throne, to be carried close to the counterscarp, where he took the legal ablutions, pronounced the office of the dead upon himself, made his death-bed prayers, and having sewn a bag of canvass with his own hands, he saw it filled with earth and placed properly; he also ordered cannon to be mounted on some new batteries. But the army, meanwhile, had suffered so much from want of grain and necessaries, that even men of property being emaciated, little could be expected from common soldiers. There is no describing the miseries they Famine in the Imperial camp, suffered. Vast numbers of them died of mere want. To all these distresses was joined, under the Imperial auspices, a mortality, that swept people by shoals. Numbers, unable to bear hunger and famine any longer, deserted, and went into the fortess; but some, being detected in favorising the besiegers, who had assisted them with victuals, were severely punished. Mat­ters growing worse every day, the Emperor, to encourage the soldiery, sent a controrder to his son, Azem-shah, whom he had dispatched for quieting the Provinces of Odjéin and Acbar-abad. He was commanded to return to camp. Another important per­sonage, Roh-ollah-qhan, a valiant General, and a wise counsellor of the Empire, who had been preposed to the Government of Bidja-p8r, was likewise commanded to repair to Court. But by this time the siege had lasted already three months, and it was at the end of so much time that Ghazi-eddin-qhan betook him­self to the following expedient: Pitching upon the darkest part of a moon-less night, he got ready a number of picked men at the foot of the wall, who in a moment got upon the top of it. But the besieged having been awakened by the barking of a dog, killed all those that had got up, and overthrew the rest down the wall. The moment they were mounting, and some had already An escalade miscarries. mounted, a Hadji-mehrab, (a man in favor with the Emperor, and who at that time was present as a spectator) ran back, and as soon as he discovered the Monarch from a very great distance, he commenced making bows of congratulation. The Emperor, who was then at his devotions on the carpet of prayer, chanced to pay as much attention to this report, and to those congratulations, as if they had been pronounced by the General himself; and losing his usual gravity and considerateness at once, he, without further inquiry, or taking any care to ascertain the report, made a sign for the Imperial music to strike up, ordered his Taht-revan to be got ready, called for a full dress, and was going to look at his new conquest; he even received the compliments of the whole Court. In a few moments intel­ligence came, that the engagement had proved contrary to expectation; that the besiegers had suffered a great loss; and that the General, forced to abandon his undertaking, had returned to camp extremely mortified at such a miscarriage. This affair threw a great ridicule upon Hadji-mehrab, and finally upon the Emperor himself. In the evening intelligence came, that the Haider-abadian King had honored the dog with a collar of gold, and a gown of brocade, and had ordered his name to be inscribed amongst his most faithful servants. But this was not the only miscarriage that befel the Imperial arms.

About the middle of Shaaban, the rainy season set in with such a violent storm of rain, as distressed the whole army, but did nowhere so much havoc as upon the men at the trenches, which it ruined intirely. The batteries, the scaffoldings, the cavaliers, raised by Ghazi-eddin-qhan’s ingenuity, were all over set, and levelled with the ground. In the very heighth of the storm and rain, the General, Abdol-rezac, made a sally at the head of the bravest of the garrison, and overthrew everything in his way. The massacre and confusion were so great, that Selim-qhan-qhashy, who was reputed one of the bravest men of the army, flung himself in a miry-hole in the ground, and remained concealed; and Saf-shiken-qhan, who had greatly distinguished himself throughout the siege, and was already weakened by two wounds, finding what havoc was going on, dropped down in the water and mud, and kept himself amongst the dead. Djem-shid-qhan, another officer of distinction, took to a corner, and in the darkness expected to escape, but he was discovered and taken prisoner. But Djelil, a slave-boy of the Emperor’s, who Curious saily of the besieged. had raised him to dignities under the surname of Serberah-qhan, was wounded and taken prisoner, with twelve officers of distinction. The Emperor hearing of such a disaster, ordered that seventy or eighty mountain-like elephants should be carried in the torrents occasioned by the storm, and served as so many bridges for the distressed to pass over, and especially for saving those of the trenches. The elephants were marched; but so far from being of any use, not one of them could stand the rapidity of the water, so far from approaching the trenches; and Haiat-qhan, the superintendent of the elephant-office, after having spent the whole day and part of a night in fruitless attempts, returned to camp. Meanwhile, the victorious, tired with both the slaughter and storm, returned to the fortress, and presented their principal prisoners to their master. This Prince entertained them during four days together; after which he dismissed them all with the utmost civility and regard, giving a dress of honour to each of them, and complimenting Serberah-qhan and Ghairet-phan in particular, with each a horse besides. Before their departure, he desired Serberah-qhan to go round the fortress, and to take a view of the magazines of provisions, Ama zing quantities of all neces­saries in Golconda. powder, ball, and every necessary to sustain a siege. The other, after a full survey, was amazed at the immensity of the provision; and on being dismissed, he was entrusted with a supplication and a message to the Emperor, both of the same purport. Ab8l-hassen made them swear by their master’s head and life, that they would deliver them faithfully. But when the two officers arrived in camp, they met with a very cold reception from the Emperor, who seemed to look upon them with an evil eye. Gháiret-qhan, who had the rank of a thousand horse, and the command of two hundred, was put at the head of a body of five hundred, and without being spoken to by a single word, he was sent to serve in Bengal, that is, sent in exile. Serberah-qhan was used more harshly. The Emperor observed that there was nothing strange in a slave-boy’s running away from an engage­ment, and in his being taken prisoner; and he then deprived him of his grade, but left that wretched (for such was his expression) the command of four hundred horse he had. As to the letter he brought, it was treated with the utmost disdain and superciliousness. He would not so much as look at it; but sent it to be perused by the General Ghazi-eddin-qhan, with orders to make him a report of any thing in it that might deserve notice. Serberah-qhan, having seized that moment to represent that he had a message to deliver, was ordered to bring it at ten o’clock at night, at the head of His Majesty’s bed. The Emperor being then in bed, both reports were brought forth, an found to be of one and the same import. The letter was as follows, and it deserves to be recorded:—“After all these hostilities, I still look upon myself to be one of your Majesty’s humble servants. If I have been guilty, whether knowingly Noble and curious letter of the Haider-abadian King to the Emperor. or otherwise, I have been abundantly punished; and now I hope from the benignity of the Imperial temper, that the time of forgiveness is come at last. Nor is my hope without grounds; for on the supposition that the fortress is taken, and your ever victorious Majesty should of course return to your Imperial city, there is no doubt but that this country, ravaged and ruined by a seven years’ war, and become the habitation of bats and owls, would be recommended to the care of some one of your Imperial Court. What harm is there in my being left to be that some one? There is no doubt but such a one will ask for himself, for his troops, and for the expenses of Government, more than the country is likely to produce hereafter; he will ask a large sum likewise fo- emergencies; and that overplus must be disbursed from the Imperial treasury. What he shall ask, besides, for putting a country circumstanced as this is in a state of cultivation, cannot be an inconsiderable object, as such a sum and such an expenditure must be repeated for seven or eight years together, before the country can recover an air of population and cultivation. Now such a preposed as your humble servant, would save all those unavoidable expenses to your Majesty’s treasury; and nevertheless, he would continue to send to your Imperial threshold, (that resort of the respects and homages of all mankind) the same tribute as I used to pay to your treasury in my days of dominion and prosperity. Besides that, should my humble requests be granted, and your victo­rious standards be prevailed upon to return towards Hindostan, I promise that at every cosse which they shall measure, on their return within the ruined dominions of this afflicted man, I will pay into the Imperial treasury one lac of rupees; and I will pay another such lac, as a nuzzur to your footsteps for every assault that shall have been given since your arrival here. Nor is it fear that can prompt me to such confessions; it is with a view to put an end to all that effusion of Musulman blood which has overflowed this country, and to enable the faithful* of the victorious army to revisit their forsaken homes, and to embrace and rejoin their forlorn families. Over and above all that, should my humble request not prove for­tunate enough to obtain the Imperial favor, and should it be the Imperial pleasure that the victorious army should lose some more time before these walls, I propose, in alleviation of the miseries of the suffering Imperial soldiers, to distribute five or six hundred thousand maunds* of grain which Djelil, the slave-boy of your household, has seen in the magazines of this place.”