Page:History of India Vol 5.djvu/54

 28 ARAB CONQUEST OF SIND the few that were excepted from the terms of the amnesty which was proclaimed at that time. He sub- sequently became a convert, and toward the year 111 A. H. (729 A. D.) one of his descendants came to the valley of the Indus to seek his fortune. Some time after, his family, taking advantage of the anarchy which prevailed in the country, made themselves masters of the lower Indus, and established themselves at Man- sura, a principality which extended from the sea to Alor, where that of Multan commenced. It was said to contain three hundred thousand villages, which is, of course, an exaggeration, but the whole country was well cultivated and covered with trees and fields. Nev- ertheless, the inhabitants were continually obliged to protect themselves against the aggressions of the Meds and other savage tribes of the desert. A few years after Mas'udi, the valley of the Indus was visited by the Arab geographer and traveller Is- takhri, and by Ibn Haukal, who has included nearly the whole of Istakhri's relation in his own and has entered into some further details. With respect to the condition of the country at the time of his visit, Ibn Haukal, who wrote his work after the year 366 A. H. (976 A. D.), when he was for a second time in India, observes that Multan was not so large as Mansura and was defended by a citadel, and that the territory was fertile, although it was inferior to that of Mansura, and not cultivated with the same care. The amir lived outside the town and never entered it, except for the purpose of going to the mosque on Fridays, mounted on an elephant.