The Nāṣirī Generations 251.3

251.3

He had gone to his uncle, Ma-Chin — some say, to his uncle’s son — to demand in marriage a daughter of a kinsman of the sept of Dural-gin, who had become exceedingly numerous, and who were also kinsmen of Ma-Chin. During Kaidu’s absence some of the Jala-irs, overcome by the Khita-is, came and took up their quarters among the Ulus or tribe of Matulun and her sons, and, in a dispute arising between them, the Jala-irs slew her and her eight sons. Kaidu sought his uncle’s assistance to avenge them, and a message was sent to the heads of the Jala-irs demanding satisfaction for this outrage. This had such an effect upon the chief men of the tribe, who were absent with their people fighting against the Khita-is, that they slew seventy Jala-irs concerned in the slaughter of Matulun and her sons, and sent their wives and families, with many apologies, to Kaidu to do with them as he might think fit. Kaidu kept them as slaves; and, from one generation to another, for a long period, they continued the slaves of his family.