Frederic John Goldsmid

“ Another portrait is included in a set of sketches by native artists, some of which, taken probably from life, show great care and cleverness. Timūr is here displayed as a stoutish, long-bodied man, below the middle-height, in age and feature not unlike the first portrait, but with thicker and more straggling hair, and distincter, though not more agreeable character in the facial expression, yet not a sign of power, genius, or any elements of grandeur or celebrity. ”

“ It need scarcely be added that an immense quantity of spoil was conveyed away. According to Clavijo, ninety captured elephants were employed merely to carry stones from certain quarries to enable the conqueror to erect a mosque at Samarkand. The war with the Turks and Egyptians which succeeded the return from India was rendered notable by the capture of Aleppo and Damascus, and especially by the defeat and imprisonment of Sultan Bayezid I. (see Turkey: History, and Egypt: History, Mahommedan period) . This was Timūr’s last campaign. ”

“ Another was projected against China, but the old warrior was attacked by fever and ague when encamped on the farther side of the Sihon (Syr-Daria) and died at Atrār (Otrar) on the 17th of February 1405. Markham, in his introduction to the narrative of Clavijo’s embassy, states that his body “was embalmed with musk and rose water, wrapped in linen, laid in an ebony coffin and sent to Samarkand, where it was buried.” Timūr had carried his victorious arms on one side from the Irtish and the Volga to the Persian Gulf and on the other from the Hellespont to the Ganges. ”