D. 1011. From his seventh expedition in 1017, his army of
one hundred and forty thousand fighting men returned 'laden with
Hindoo captives, who became so cheap, that a Hindoo slave was valued
at less than two rupees'. Mahmud made several expeditions to the west
immediately after his return from India, in the same manner as Timur
did after him, and he may in the same manner have scattered his
Indian captives. They adopted the habits of their new friends, which
are indeed those of all the vagrant tribes of India, and they have
continued to preserve them to the present day. I have compared their
vocabularies with those of India, and find so many of the words the
same that I think a native of India would, even in the present day,
be able without much difficulty to make himself understood by a gang
of gipsies in any part of Europe.[56]
A good Christian may not be able exactly to understand the nature of
the merit which Tamerlane expected to acquire from sending so many
unoffending Chinese to the abyss of hell. According to the Muhammadan
creed, God has vowed 'to fill hell chock full of men and genii'.
Pages:
1110
1111
1112
1113
1114
1115
1116
1117
1118
1119
1120
1121
1122
1123
1124
1125
1126
1127
1128
1129
1130
1131
1132
1133
1134