'The Transactions of the Bombay Geographical Society. From December 1854 to March 1856. (New Issue.) Edited by the Secretary. Volume XII.' [‎56] (167/258)

56
COMMANDER F. JONES’S
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Halaku at a subsequent date. His victory sealed the fate of Baghdad and the
Khalifate in A. H. 656, and A1 Mostasem, the last of the long dynasty of the
Abbassides—he whose vanity led him to conceal himself from the gaze of his
subjects by a veil—was dragged through the city, sewn up in a felt, at the heels
of the enemy’s horse. It became subsequently the prey of various parties,
until Timour-lenk made his famous descents upon it in 795 and 808 A. H., on
both which occasions he took it but restored it, after the massacre of vast
numbers, to Sultan Ahmed, who was, however, chased from it again by Miram
Shah the son of Timour-lenk. Then the factions or tribes denominated Ak-
Koyunlee and Kara Koyunder or “ white and black sheep” held it successive
ly until 914 A. H., when the city was seized by Shah Ismail Sufi, the Persian
king, but so renowned a spot could not be left without contention, and we
accordingly find both Persians and Turks struggling for it with various suc
cesses in many bloody wars of the day. The Turkish Sultan Suliman I. at
length acquired possession in 941 A. H., 1854 A. D., from the Persians ; but
it was recovered by them in the reign of Shah Abbas the Great, and remained
a dependancy of that Kingdom until Murad IV. besieged it in person and
made himself master of it in A. D. 1638. The Turks have held Baghdad
since that time, though Nadir Shah attempted to capture it in the first part of
the last, as did Mahomed Ali Mirza, Prince of Kermanshah, in the beginning
of the present century. No wonder, then, if we see only the skeleton of its
former self—especially when we consider that inward corruption has materially
aided in the destruction of the carcase, and notwithstanding its whitening bones,
ere are yet vigilant hawks abroad.
In the pages of Niebhur, Buckingham, and Trayer, the curious will find am
ple descriptions of its condition both political and social in the past and present
centuries. I shall, therefore, confine myself to the facts of its bearing now but
a thread-bare resemblance to the impoverished pictures they have drawn ;
for a general but a certain deterioration since their day is apparent in the city
as well as in the provinces of Irak, of which it is the capital. By some singular
tatuity it has received and still holds the title of Dar-as-Sellam, equivalent
to our " abode of peace,” others entitle it Medineht-al-Khalafa, the city of
the Khalifs, in addition to its name of Baghdad.
Many vague tales which I will not transcribe are related by oriental writers
in the Paiikhi Baghdad and other works of the day, on the origin of this name j
but we learn that that part of the city w r est of the Tigris was known also as
Kerkh, a name merely implying “ a pleasant habitation,” and that Rasafeh*
was an extensive suburb of the city extending to Kilwatha, identical with the
modern Gerareh. In its flourishing period under the Khalifs the suburbs and
* Tllis was first Peopled by Mehdi, the son and successor of Al Mansur.