's hand and left
His bed, and the warm rugs whereon he lay,
And o'er his chilly limbs his woollen coat
He pass'd, and tied his sandals on his feet,
And threw a white cloak round him, and he took 95
In his right hand a ruler's staff, no sword,
And on his head he plac'd his sheep-skin cap,
Black, glossy, curl'd the fleece of Kara-Kill;[10]
And rais'd the curtain of his tent, and call'd
His herald to his side, and went abroad. 100

The sun, by this, had risen, and clear'd the fog
From the broad Oxus and the glittering sands:
And from their tents the Tartar horsemen fil'd,
Into the open plain; so Haman bade;
Haman, who next to Peran-Wisa rul'd 105
The host, and still was in his lusty prime.
From their black tents, long files of horse, they stream'd:
As when, some grey November morn, the files,
In marching order spread, of long-neck'd cranes,
Stream over Casbin,[11] and the southern slopes 110
Of Elburz,[12] from the Aralian estuaries,[13]
Or some frore[14] Caspian reed-bed, southward bound
For the warm Persian sea-board: so they stream'd.
The Tartars of the Oxus, the King's guard,
First with black sheep-skin caps and with long spears; 115
Large men, large steeds, who from Bokhara[15] come
And Khiva, and ferment the milk of mares.[16]
Next the more temperate Toorkmuns of the south,[17]
The Tukas, and the lances of Salore,
And those from Attruck[18] and the Caspian sands; 120
Light men, and on light steeds, who only drink
The acrid milk of camels, and their wells.
And then a swarm of wandering horse, who came
From far, and a more doubtful service[19] own'd;
The Tartars of Ferghana, from the banks 125
Of the Jaxartes, men with scanty beards
And close-set skull-caps; and those wilder hordes
Who roam o'er Kipchak and the northern waste,
Kalmuks and unkemp'd Kuzzaks,[20] tribes who stray
Nearest the Pole, and wandering Kirghizzes, 130
Who come on shaggy ponies from Pamere.
These all fil'd out from camp into the plain,
And on the other side the Persians form'd:
First a light cloud of horse, Tartars they seem'd,
The Ilyats of Khorassan:[21] and behind, 135
The royal troops of Persia, horse and foot,
Marshall'd battalions bright in burnish'd steel.
But Peran-Wisa with his herald came