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OPPOSED BY THE LOCAL POWERS. 11 CHAP. I. the three sovereigns of the Deccan in a confederacy for his support, and had influence to make them reject or evade the commands of the emperor. He was entrusted General. with a body of troops, and seizing the passes of the moun- tains, opposed the entrance of the Mogul army into Gol- conda. The emperor, impatient of delay, removed his general, and commanded the vuzeer to take upon himself the charge of destroying Lodee and chastising the inso- lence of the princes of the Deccan. The princes were already tired of the war and alarmed by its dangers. The reputation and power of the vuzeer augmented their apprehensions. Lodee was deserted by all on the day of battle, except by a few chiefs, his friends, who adhered to him with their retinues. With these he posted himself on an advantageous ground, and long arrested victory against the whole might of the imperial arms. A party of those who were sent in all directions to secure the country at last came upon him in a place from which there was no retreat, and he fell defending himself to the last extremity. Shah Jehan exhibited the most indecent joy when assured of his destruction - the measure of his terrors when this brave man was alive. After the con- quest of Lodee, the war in the Deccan was little else than a series of ravages. The princes were able to make little resistance. A dreadful famine, from several years of ex- cessive drought which prevailed throughout India and a great part of Asia, added its horrid evils to the calamities which overwhelmed the inhabitants of the Deccan. The princes sued for peace and the emperor agreed to with- draw his army, which he now found it difficult to subsist, on condition of retaining, as a security for good behaviour, the forts which had fallen into his hands. Turning now to the more explicit narrative of ELPHIN-