three hundred yards in front of it, which towers were made to contain two or three pieces of cannon. But notwithstanding all the endeavours which Aga Mahomed made to people his new capital; notwithstanding the aid which he held out to the merchants and artisans who came to settle in it; the population which it contained towards the end of his reign did not exceed fifteen thousand souls, including the household and troops of the king, who amounted to three thousand.
Aga Mahomed Khan was the eldest of the nine sons of Mahomed Hassan Khan, Kajar, who lost his life, as we have seen, by the hand of the chief of the rival branch of the Kajars. It has been stated that some time after his death his family came to Kasveen, a city which lies ninety miles to the west of Tehran. At first only two of the sons were brought to Sheeraz; but it appears that other members of the family afterwards followed them to that place, where, though they were detained as prisoners at large, they were treated with the greatest kindness by the chief of the Zend. The second brother, Hussein, was afterwards entrusted with the government of Damghan. He rebelled, and on being defeated by the brother of Kereem, who was sent to put down his revolt, he fled to the Turkomans, and was put to death. He left two sons, the elder of whom, Fetteh Ali Khan, afterwards became king of Persia. This Hussein Khan was the only full brother of Aga Mahomed. Notwithstanding his revolt, the Zend chief conferred upon a younger member of the family the government of Astrabad; but he continued to detain Aga Mahomed and two of his other brothers as hostages at Sheeraz.
Aga Mahomed had in his early years fallen into the
