Page:Christianity in China, Tartary, and Thibet Volume I.djvu/137

125 FEROCITT OF THE MONGOLS. 125 mi tied by the Tartars, believed that these conquerors had the heads of dogs, and that they fed upon human flesh* The dread inspired by the ferocious soldiers of Tchinguiz-Khan was only too much justified by the hor- rible excesses of which they were really guilty towards the vanquished. The towns taken by assault were treated with incredible ferocity, especially when the Mongols had experienced a long resistance. Nischabour, the capital of Khorassan, under the monarchy of the Chos- roes, having been taken, the Mongols massacred every living thing they found in the town, to the very dogs and cats. The carnage lasted four days; and Touloiii, the son of Tchinguiz-Khan, having heard that in the sack of Merou many of the inhabitants had saved their lives by lying down amongst the dead, ordered that the heads should be cut off from all the victims of his fury. Immense pyramids were constructed, in which were separately piled up the heads of men, of women, and of children, and in fifteen days, every vestige of the city was destroyed, and barley was sown upon its site.f When towns surrendered at discretion, they were treated with somewhat less barbarity. Arab historians relate, that during the siege of Bokhara, a deputation, composed of Imaums and notables of the city, came out to meet Tchinguiz-Khan, and offer him homage and submission. The Mongol entered the town, and passing before the grand Mosque, rode in on horseback, asking whether that was the palace of the Sultan. vol. iii. p. 1028. f " Tarikli-Djihankuscliai," vol. i.
 * Pachimeres, vol. i. p. 87. Stritter's " Memoriae Populorum,"