been heard of before, for even Alexander did not subdue the world with such speed; he required nearly ten years, and he killed no one.

He added (1): Their horses do not recognise barley; rather, they paw at the ground with their hooves and eat the roots of plants. They prostrate to the sun, hold nothing unlawful, and consume both animals and human beings (2). They know no form of marriage. They are a branch of the Turks, and their dwelling-places are the mountains of Tamghaj.

Khwarazm Shah sent out spies. When they returned, they told him that the Tatars were beyond counting, that they were the most steadfast of fighters and had never known defeat. Khwarazm Shah regretted having slain their merchants, and—though unwilling—divided his forces. He then met them in a battle the like of which had never been heard: it lasted three days, and unnumbered multitudes fell on both sides, among them twenty thousand Muslims. We have already described this engagement and noted that Genghis Khan was not present. The two armies then disengaged, and Khwarazm Shah withdrew, leaving twenty thousand cavalry in Bukhara and fifty thousand in Samarqand, saying, “Guard the land until I gather the troops and return.”

He encamped at Balkh. When the Tatars invested Bukhara, its garrison sallied out by night in a surge of zeal and abandoned the city. Badr al-Din ibn Qadi Khan went out to the Khan seeking safe-conduct, which they granted. They entered Bukhara on the 4th of Dhu’l-Hijjah 616 AH. At first they touched nothing but the sultan’s storehouses, and they asked the people to aid them in fighting those still within the citadel. The townsfolk therefore filled its moat with earth, timber, and even household fittings until it was level, whereupon the citadel was taken by the sword. Its defenders held their ground until they were annihilated. After that Genghis Khan betrayed the inhabitants: they perished, were scattered, and their offspring were carried off as captives, and Bukhara was left as though it had never existed. They then surrounded Samarqand at the opening of 617 AH.

It is said that about seventy thousand of its people marched out to fight; they routed the Tatars, then