"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎١‎١‎٨‎٥] (١٧٨٢/١٣٤٠)

M
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"japs
1186
than 200 Sabians, carrying arquebuses and other weapons like the rest,
but unwarlike in their appearance. On the 28r(i authentic intelligence
reached Basrah that the Persians had hastily abandoned their camp and
marched away towards their own country, leaving their supplies and even
their cooked provisions behind, and the cause of the movement was conjec
tured to be an order of recall, for no loss had as yet been inflicted on
them by the troops of the Pasha of Basrah. On the 31st of March the
two Portuguese ships despatched on the 16th returned to Basrah, having
failed in their principal object. Three Persian Taradahs, however, had
been captured, all the Muhammadans on board of which, including
children, the Portuguese according to their barbarous custom put to death,
except one rich man whom they kept alive in hope of a large ransom!
On the 7th of April, the Persians being now at a safe distance, the
P<isha re-entered Basrah in triumph with all his troops.
After these events matters remained in statu quo for a number of Affairs from
years. The Turks, it would appear, occasionally endeavoured, but without to 1638 '
avaH, to dislodge the Persians from Baghdad ; two of their assaults
were repulsed with success towards the end of the period by Safi Quli
Khan, an Armenian by race, who then governed Baghdad in the name of
the Shah. In 1625 the influence of the Persians extended so far down the
Euphrates as ^Arjah, a place on the left bank occupying approximately the
position of the modern Nasiriyah ; and the chief of 'Arjah, one Hasan
Agha, a refugee Kurd who had established a strong influence over the
surrounding Arabs, was believed to be at heart devoted to the Persian
interest, though openly he still professed obedience to the Porte.
In 1638 the Turkish Sultan, Murad IV, who in 1635 had
wrested Erivan from the Persians, marched in person with a law
force to recover Baghdad; his host set forth from Scutari on
the 8th of May ; and on the 15th of November, after 110 days of actual
marching interspersed with halts, it arrived before Baghdad. The city
was found garrisoned by about 30,000 men, of whom 1,200 were trained
musketeers. By the 22nd December 1638 the defences of Baghdad
along a front of 800 yards had been so completely levelled with the
ground that, in the words of an Ottoman Writer, <f a blind man might
have galloped over them with loose bridle without his horse stumbling/'
The attempts made by the Turks to storm the breach on that and the
following day were repulsed, but on the 2'ith of December it
was carried with the loss of Taiyar Muhammad Pasha, the Sultan 's
Grand Vazir, who was shot dead in leading the attack. Quarter
was at first granted to the garrison; but later, whether treacherouslv
84
Recovery o £
Baghdad by
the Turks,
1638.
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