Indeed, the _amiable_ and _profound_ historian is
of opinion, after the most mature deliberation, that 'God himself
must have arranged all this in favour of so great and good a prince;
and knowing that his end was nigh, inspired him with the idea of
undertaking this enterprise, that he might have the merit of having
completed it; otherwise, how should he have thought of leading out
his army in the dead of winter to cross countries covered with ice
and snow?'
The heir to the throne, the Prince Pir Muhammad, was absent when
Timur died; but his wives, who had accompanied him, were all anxious
to share in the merit of the holy undertaking; and in a council of
the chiefs held after his death, the opinions of these amiable
princesses prevailed that the two hundred millions of Chinese ought
still to be sent to 'the abyss of hell', since it had been the
earnest wish of their deceased husband, and must undoubtedly have
been the will of God, to send them thither without delay. Fortunately
quarrels soon arose among his sons and grandsons about the
succession, and the army recrossed the Jaxartes, still over the ice,
in the beginning of April, and China was saved from this scourge.
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