Page:History of India Vol 3.djvu/115

 BALBAN BECOMES EMPEROR 85 immunity was not attained by smooth words. Balban pounced upon a disturbed district like a hawk, burnt and slew without mercy, till " the blood of the rioters ran in streams, heaps of slain were seen near every village and jungle, and the stench of the dead spread even to the Ganges." Wood- cutters were sent to cut roads through the jungles, and did more to bring order among the wild tribes than even the massacre of their fighting men. In spite of the suffering involved, such work as this was of lasting benefit to the kingdom. So was Balban 's firm treatment of the Turkish landholders, who were as- suming hereditary rights, and threatened to furnish forth a barons' war. Though these men were of his own kindred, and members, or sons of members, of the famous " Forty " slaves, Balban had no mercy for them; he was with difficulty induced to miti- gate the wholesale expropriation that he once contem- plated, but it is clear that he did much to deprive the Turkish khans of their former power. He is said even to have poisoned his own cousin Sher Khan, because he held almost royal authority in his arduous position; A BHISTI, OR WATER - CARRIER.