The Nāṣirī Generations 257.1.7

257.1.7

It was not customary in those days among the tribes of Turkish descent to put captives at once to death, and so Tamur-chi had a do-shakhah [a sort of portable pillory, described as a block of wood with two horns, hence the term. It may, in those days, have been formed out of two pieces of crooked wood, but what was used in after-years, and continues to be used still, consists of two flat boards with a hollow for the neck, a drawing of which may be seen in Astley’s and other Collections] fastened round his neck, and thus was he detained in captivity. The Fanakati, Abu-Suliman-i-Da’ud, who finished his History, and dedicated it to the ninth of the Mughal sovereigns of Iran [what would he have said had he been styled a “Mongol”?], 287 years before the “saga-loving” writer who has been much quoted lately, Ssanang Setzen, was born, gives the following particulars of Tamur-chi’s escape, which several other historians also relate. Finding an opportunity, Tamur-chi made his escape from the Tanjiuts, taking his do-shakhah along with him, and concealed himself in a lake in the neighbourhood of their camp, in such wise, that, of his person, nothing save his nose could be seen. A party of Tanjiuts was sent in search of him, and among them there chanced to be a Suldus [also written Sulduz], named Surghan or Surghan Shirah, the tents of whose family happened to be pitched near that part, when, suddenly, his eye fell upon the fugitive’s nose.