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 his robust hosts found so much to their taste, that during the repast they could not snatch a single moment to waste on conversation. Their guest, with infinite good taste, imitated their example, made a hearty dinner; and then, when the horse-flesh, pilau, and all had been devoured, they found their tongue, and entertained him with panegyrics upon their own skill in archery, and the amazonian prowess and ferocity of their women. In illustration of the latter, they related an anecdote which, as highly characteristic, may be worth repeating. When Aurungzebe formerly led an army against the khan of Samarcand, a party of twenty or thirty Hindoo horsemen attacked a small village, which they plundered, and were engaged in binding a number of the inhabitants whom they intended to dispose of as slaves, when an old woman came up to them and said, "My children, be not so cruel. My daughter, who is not greatly addicted to mercy, will be here presently. Retire, if you are wise. Should she meet with you, you are undone." The soldiers, however, not only laughed at the old woman and her counsel, but seized and tied her also. They had not proceeded above half a league with their booty, when their aged prisoner, who never ceased turning her eyes towards the village, uttered a scream of joy, for by the cloud of dust which she beheld rising on the plain she knew her daughter was advancing to the rescue. On turning round, the soldiers beheld the amazon mounted on a fiery war-horse, with her bow and quiver by her side. She now raised her stentorian voice, and commanded them as they valued their lives to release their prisoners, and carry back whatever they had taken to the village, in which case she would spare them. But they regarded her menaces no more than they had those of her mother. When three or four of the party, however, had felt the point of her arrows in their heart, and were stretched