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36
sequently the spiritual leader of all the orthodox Muslims. Ashraff must acknowledge him as such or he would bow to the force of arms".
Before the conference had terminated, the call for prayers was heard, and the venerable deputies of Ashraff joined the Turks in their devotions. After this the deputies returned to their camp. As was expected the mission had the desired effect on the Turkish army. A large body of the Kurds, accompanied by some Turkish soldiers, coming out of the line, declared that they were not prepared to fight against the dictates of their conscience and the explicit laws of their religion. Ahmad Pasha saw that he had no remedy to prevent discontent from spreading in his army except by hastening an action. To this he was further encouraged by his great superiority in numbers; his army consisted of 60,000 men, equipped with 70 pieces of heavy guns, while the Afghans had not more than half of this force and their artillery consisted of 40 Zamburaks (shivels mounted on camels). Ahmad was confident of his victory in every respect although so far he had not a chance to test the mettle of his opponents. In the engagement that followed,
Roughly two thirds of characters agree with a modern printed edition of the same text. Much of the disagreement is editorial, not misreading. Treat the transcription as a finding aid and read the page image before quoting. How this was measured.