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Rh The rare and valuable articles from that country which were brought with the embassy as presents, excited his cupidity, and induced him to undertake an expedition against that distant empire. He began by subduing Khorasan, and from thence he passed by Balk, through the beautiful regions of Sogd, to its capital, which he destroyed, and which, when rebuilt, was from this circumstance called Samarcand or Shamarchand, i. e. Shamar destroyed it. He afterwards proceeded through Turkistan, to the frontier of Hindûstan, and through Thibet, where