The Rashīdī History 145.3

145.3

Kasim Khan now brought the Dasht-i-Kipchak under his absolute control, in a manner that no one, with the exception of Juji Khan, had ever done before. His army exceeded a thousand thousand. In the year 924 he died, whereupon contests ensued among the Kazak Sultans. He was succeeded in the Khanate by his son Mumash Khan, who, in one of the wars, died of shortness of breath, and was succeeded by Tahir Khan, son of Adik Sultan. Being a harsh man, he practised much cruelty, so that his people, who numbered about 400,000 persons, suddenly deserted him and dispersed, while he was left alone among the Kirghiz, and died, at last, in misery. Nearly 30,000 men being now collected together in Moghulistan, they appointed as their Khan, Balash Khan, brother of Tahir Khan. But the wheel of Fate has made such strange revolutions, that for the last four years, not a trace has been visible of these people. In the year '30, the Kazak numbered a thousand thousand; in the year '44, not a vestige of all this host remains on the face of the earth. They will be frequently mentioned [in this history] in connection with the Khan. Such is the story of the Kazak.