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and his family, and sent them to Karakoram. On the fall of that city, his sons went T.R. and settled at Lob and Katak, large cities between Turfan and Khutan. Here they left large families. The last representative of these was Shekh Jamaluddin. He resided in Katak, and fled from it when the place was buried by a hurricane of sand, which fell from the sky as does rain.
The wind sometimes blows away this sand, and exposes to view domes and minarets, which again become buried by fresh drifts of sand. At times houses, too, are thus exposed, and wandering shepherds relate that their furniture is discovered intact, and the occupants are seen standing as bleached skeletons, or lying prostrate as desiccated bodies just in the attitudes in which they were overwhelmed; and all uninjured by decay.
The Shekh foresaw the impending calamity, and warned the citizens of it a week beforehand, and taking leave of his congregation at the Friday prayers, quitted the city and escaped the approaching destruction. He came to Aksn by way of Ay Kol two years after the arrival there of Toghlnc Tymnr, and met the young Chief on a hunting excursion in the vicinity as he approached the city. He was seized, and taken before Toghlnc for infringing the rule to fall in with the jirga=" hunting circle" on meeting it, and in excuse pleaded ignorance as a stranger coming from Katak. Toghlnc was at the time feeding one of his hounds on boar's flesh, and turning scornfully towards the Musalmân thus addressed him—" Ho ! Tâjik ! Art thou the better or this dog ? " The Shekh promptly replied—" Since I have the faith I am the better. Without it the dog is better than me." This bold answer made an impression on Toghlnc, and on his return home he sent for the Tâjik, and enquired of him what the faith was that made him better than a dog. The Shekh explained the imcin=" Faith," and set before him the tenets of Islam. Toghhic was struck by the merits of the doctrine, and promised to accept the " Faith" on becoming King, as he now feared the hostility of his people.
The Shekh soon after died, and committed the charge of converting the Moghol Prince to his son, Arshaduddfn. Following this Toghhic went to Mogholistan to receive the allegiance of the Kirghiz, Jattah, &c., and was there proclaimed King. Arshaduddfn, in obedience to his father's bebest, set out for the royal camp, and at daylight after arrival there chaunted the Muhammadan call to prayer near the King's tent. He was seized and taken before the Khan for making such an untimely noise and disturbing his slumber. Toghhic asked him who he was, and what he meant. " I am," replied the Musalmân priest with characteristic fervour and independence, " the son of him to whom you gave your word to accept Islam on becoming King, and, by his dying injunction, I have come for its fulfilment. Toghlnc, true to his promise, welcomed him cordially, treated him with marked deference, and accepting Islam at his hands, summoned his nobles one by one and invited them to follow his example.
Amir Tolak, the brother of Bolaji, who at that time held the rank of Doghlât, and had three years before, when Governor of Kashghar, secretly become a Musalmân, was now the first to make a public profession of the Faith ; and others following the example, they went from tent to tent and speedily converted most of the Chiefs. The Jaras nobles, however, refused to follow suit, unless their champion, one Sanghoy Boca, was first thrown in wrestling with the Tâjik. The new converts opposed the demand on the grounds of the manifest inequality of the combatants; but the Shekh, interposing, accepted the challenge, saying that his trust was in God for the victory. The Jarâs champion scornfully, in the pride of his strength, seized the puny Tâjik to throw him, but the priest of Islam solemnly planted the palm of bis hands on his adversary's breast, and repeated an appropriate text from the Kuran touching the repulsion and overthrow of the unbeliever, and the pagan champion fell senseless to the ground. On his recovery he acknowledged his discomfiture as a divine warning and without hesitation accepted the Faith; and one hundred and sixty
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