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30 name of Tamerlane, a descendant of the renowned Mogul Chief, Zingis Kan, who, having subdued all the neighbouring Tartar tribes, extended his conquests far and wide, leaving to his successors a larger extent of dominion than Rome possessed at the period of her highest grandeur. Timour, who was emphatically called "The Firebrand of the Universe," crossed the Indus and advanced towards Delhi, his course being everywhere marked by the most horrible excesses; and of this we need no more glaring proof than his having once put to death one hundred thousand prisoners, in cold blood, to free himself from their incumbrance.

Timour having taken, sacked, and burnt Delhi, returned to the capital of his Tartar dominions with a booty so vast that the historian Ferishta refrains from mentioning the reputed amount, inasmuch as it exceeded all belief. After he quitted Delhi, his authority there virtually ceased; new kingdoms sprung into independent existence, and in a brief period a very small district round the city of Delhi was all that remained of its former sovereignty.

In the year 1526, however, the dynasty of Timour the Mogul was restored and established in India by the celebrated Baber, one of the bravest and most drunken monarchs that ever wielded a sceptre. After some abortive attempts he succeeded in seating himself on the throne of Delhi, and extended his conquests as far as Bahar, when death put an end to his progress. He was