92 IITSTOJtY OF INI>IA. [BrjoK I.
AD. vm. Kpeciully (-onsultfiil. One of iIk^w; works, in which 50,000 labourers were enii)loye(l, wsis a winal, iMtended to connect the Soorsooty or Soorsa, a hiduII tributary of the Sutlej, with a small stream, called the Sulima or Khanjioor, and thereby obtain a perennial stream to flow through Sirhind and Murisur- poor. The canal, if ever completed, no longer exiHts ; but it deserves notice for the remarkable fact, that in the digging of it, aVjout five centuries ago, fossil remains of a gigantic size were discovered and attracted much attentioiL It Is not easy to say to what animals they belonged; but Ferishta, adopting the opinion which appears to have been formed at the time of the discovery, says they were the bones of elephants and men ; and adds, "the bones of the human fore arm measured three gaz (5 feet 2 inches); some of the bones were petrifiefl, and some retained the appearance of bone." Public Among the other works of Feroze are enumerated — 40 mosques, 30 colleges,
FerozV'^ 20 palaces, 100 hospitals, 100 caravansaries, 100 public baths, loO bridges, 50 dams across rivers, and 30 reservoirs or lakes for irrigation. He appears to have been sufficiently conscious of his good deeds ; and rather pharisaically causerl some of them to be inscribed on the mosque of Ferozabad, a city which he had built in the vicinity of Delhi, The following may be taken as a sample: — "It has been usual in former times to spill Mahometan blood on trivial occasions ; and, for small crimes, to mutilate and torture them, by cutting oft' the hands and feet, and noses and ears, by putting out eyes, by pulverizing the bones of the living criminal with mallets, by burning the body with fire, by crucifixion, and by nailing the hands and feet, by flaying alive, by the operation of hamstringing, and by cutting human beings to pieces. God, in his infinite goodness, having been pleased to confer on me the power, has also inspired me with the disposition to put an end to these practices." Reign of Glieias-u-diu, whom his grandftither Feroze had associated with him in the
Gheias u- government a year before he died, now became sole sovereign, but proved utterly unworthy of reigning, and within six months was assassinated A contest for the succession took place between Abubekr, a grandson, and Mahomed, a son of the late Feroze. The former had been placed on the throne by the as.sassins of Gheias- u- din; but in the coiu-se of eighteen months the latter displaced him, and assumed the title of Nasir-u-din Mahomed Toghlak. He died in 1394, after a reign of six years and seven months, entirely barren of great events, and fruitful only in intestine dissensions; and was succeeded by his son Hoomayoon, who assumed the name of Sikundur, and died suddenly, in the course of forty-five days. These constant changes threw everji^hing into disorder, and a kind of anarchy ensued ; each chief who thought himself strong enough making no scruple of throwing ofi" his allegiance, and declaring himself independent. In Delhi alone there were two parties, each with a separate king, the one occupying Delhi proper, and the other Ferozabad. A third party, occu- pying the citadel, professed neutrality, but this only meant that they were
