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(670-673) he took refuge at the Chinese court, where he received a high nominal command, and died soon after.' After his death, his son, called by the Chinese Ninissé or Ninieissé (Narses ?), took the oath of allegiance to the emperor. In 679 a Chinese general, with a body of troops, was ordered to escort this prince to his paternal dominions ; but the general seems to have descried serious obstacles to the completion of this duty ; for he turned back from the frontier near Taraz " because of the length of the way and the fatigue of the journey", as the Chinese annalist quaintly puts it. The prince betook himself to Tokharistan where he was hospitably received ; but, whatever efforts he may have made to recover his throne, he found them fruitless at last ; for, in 707 we find him again presenting himself at the Chinese court, where, like his father, he was consoled with a sounding military title, and did not long survive. But here we must look back a little.
62. In the days of Yangti 6f the Sui dynasty (605-617) China had begun to regain that influence over the states of Central Asia which it had enjoyed in the great days of the Han, preceding and following the Christian era, and under Taitsung of the Thang (627-650) that influence was fully re-established and the frontiers of the empire were again carried to the Bolor and even beyond it to the borders of Persia. In these remoter provinces the actual administration remained in the hands of the native princes who acknowledged themselves the vassals of the emperor. But from him they accepted investiture, Chinese seals of office, and decorations as lieges of the empire. Their states were divided after the Chinese manner into departments, districts, and cantons (fit, cheu, and Man), each of which received a Chinese name by which it was entered in the imperial registers ; whilst Chinese camps were scattered over the whole territory. The tributary states west of the Bolor formed sixteen fu and seventy-two cheu, over which were distributed a hundred and twenty-six Chinese military posts: The list of the sixteen districts of the first class has been published by Remusat, and, though doubts
I Firuz, as the name of a son of Yezdejird, the last Sassanid king, is mentioned by Masudi, Prairies (1' Or, ii, 24.1.
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