Page image — the source of record
Machine transcription
39
those of his own tribe who were left in Persia and whose number was fast dwindling. No doubt he possessed great personal courage and was active and vigilant too, but it so appeared that every thing was going against him. He repented his past rash actions which had deprived him of the services of some of his trusted friends.
The Saffavid Prince, Tahmasap, who after the fall of the capital, had escaped to Mazindaran fixed his headquarters at Farahabad. It was here that he was joined by Nadir Kuli, a soldier of fortune, who had been successful in wresting the district of Nishapur from the Abdali Afghans. Encouraged by these successes, Nadir now made up his mind to join hands with Tahmasap with the intention of expelling the Ghilzais from Persia. He entered into an agreement with the Prince whereby the latter undertook to grant Nadir in fief the provinces of Khurasan, Kirman and Mazindaran after the Afghans were driven out of Persia. The new force encouraged the Prince to take the offensive. Their first objective was Meshad, then in the hands of the Abdalis. Both marched that way and took Meshad without much difficulty. Ashraff was greatly alarmed on hearing this dis-
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.