Chapter XIX: Section II: Kābul666 (2)

Ghaznī is a very humble place; strange indeed it is that rulers in whose hands were Hindūstān and Khurāsānāt,[828] should have chosen it for their capital. In the Sulṯān's (Maḥmūd's) time there may have been three or four dams in the country; one he made, some three _yīghāch_ (18 m.?) up the Ghaznī-water to the north; it was about 40-50 _qārī_ (yards) high and some 300 long; through it the stored waters were let out as required.[829] It was destroyed by `Alāu'u'd-dīn _Jahān-soz Ghūrī_ when he conquered the country (550 AH.-1152 AD.), burned and ruined the tombs of several descendants of Sl. Maḥmūd, sacked and burned the town, in short, left undone no tittle of murder and rapine. Since [Sidenote: Fol. 139.] that time, the Sulṯān's dam has lain in ruins, but, through God's favour, there is hope that it may become of use again, by means of the money which was sent, in Khwāja Kalān's hand, in the year Hindūstān was conquered (932 AH.-1526 AD.).[830] The Sakhandam is another, 2 or 3 _yīghāch_ (12-18 m.), may-be, on the east of the town; it has long been in ruins, indeed is past repair. There is a dam in working order at Sar-i-dih (Village-head).

In books it is written that there is in Ghaznī a spring such that, if dirt and foul matter be thrown into it, a tempest gets up instantly, with a blizzard of rain and wind. It has been seen said also in one of the histories that Sabuk-tīgīn, when besieged by the Rāī (Jāī-pāl) of Hind, ordered dirt and foulness to be thrown into the spring, by this aroused, in an instant, a tempest with blizzard of rain and snow, and, by this device, drove off his foe.[831] Though we made many enquiries, no intimation of the spring's existence was given us.

In these countries Ghaznī and Khwārizm are noted for cold, in the same way that Sulṯānīā and Tabrīz are in the two `Irāqs and Aẕarbāījān.

Zurmut is another _tūmān_, some 12-13 _yīghāch_ south of Kābul and 7-8 south-east of Ghaznī.[832] Its _dārogha's_ head-quarters are [Sidenote: Fol. 139b.] in Gīrdīz; there most houses are three or four storeys high. It does not want for strength, and gave Nāṣir Mīrzā trouble when it went into hostility to him. Its people are Aūghān-shāl; they grow corn but have neither vineyards nor orchards. The tomb of Shaikh Muḥammad _Muṣalmān_ is at a spring, high on the skirt of a mountain, known as Barakistān, in the south of the _tūmān_.

Farmūl is another _tūmān_,[833] a humble place, growing not bad apples which are carried into Hindūstān. Of Farmūl were the Shaikh-zādas, descendants of Shaikh Muḥammad _Muṣalmān_, who were so much in favour during the Afghān period in Hindūstān.

Bangash is another _tūmān_.[834] All round about it are Afghān highwaymen, such as the Khūgīānī, Khirilchī, Tūrī and Landar. Lying out-of-the-way, as it does, its people do not pay taxes willingly. There has been no time to bring it to obedience; greater tasks have fallen to me,—the conquests of Qandahār, Balkh, Badakhshān and Hindūstān! But, God willing! when I get the chance, I most assuredly will take order with those Bangash thieves.

One of the _bulūks_ of Kābul is Ālā-sāī,[835] 4 to 6 miles (2-3 _shar`ī_) east of Nijr-aū. The direct road into it from Nijr-aū leads, at a place called Kūra, through the quite small pass which in that locality separates the hot and cold climates. Through this pass the birds migrate at the change of the seasons, and at those times many are taken by the people of Pīchghān, one of the dependencies of Nijr-aū, in the following manner:—From [Sidenote: Fol. 140.] distance to distance near the mouth of the pass, they make hiding-places for the bird-catchers. They fasten one corner of a net five or six yards away, and weight the lower side to the ground with stones. Along the other side of the net, for half its width, they fasten a stick some 3 to 4 yards long. The hidden bird-catcher holds this stick and by it, when the birds approach, lifts up the net to its full height. The birds then go into the net of themselves. Sometimes so many are taken by this contrivance that there is not time to cut their throats.[836]

Though the Ālā-sāī pomegranates are not first-rate, they have local reputation because none are better there-abouts; they are carried into Hindūstān. Grapes also do not grow badly, and the wines of Ālā-sāī are better and stronger than those of Nijr-aū.

Badr-aū (Tag-aū) is another _bulūk_; it runs with Ālā-sāī, grows no fruit, and for cultivators has corn-growing Kāfirs.[837]

(_f. Tribesmen of Kābul._)

Just as Turks and (Mughūl) clans (_aīmāq_) dwell in the open country of Khurāsān and Samarkand, so in Kābul do the Hazāra and Afghāns. Of the Hazāra, the most widely-scattered are the Sulṯān-mas`ūdi Hazāra, of Afghāns, the Mahmand.

(_g. Revenue of Kābul._)

The revenues of Kābul, whether from the cultivated lands or from tolls (_tamghā_) or from dwellers in the open country, amount to 8 _laks_ of _shāhrukhīs_.[838] [Sidenote: Fol. 140b.]

(_h. The mountain-tracts of Kābul._)

Where the mountains of Andar-āb, Khwāst,[839] and the Badakh-shānāt have conifers (_archa_), many springs and gentle slopes, those of eastern Kābul have grass (_aūt_), grass like a beautiful floor, on hill, slope and dale. For the most part it is _būta-kāh_ grass (_aūt_), very suitable for horses. In the Andijān country they talk of _būta-kāh_, but why they do so was not known (to me?); in Kābul it was heard-say to be because the grass comes up in tufts (_būta, būta_).[840] The alps of these mountains are like those of Ḥiṣār, Khutlān, Farghāna, Samarkand and Mughūlistān,—all these being alike in mountain and alp, though the alps of Farghāna and Mughūlistān are beyond comparison with the rest.

From all these the mountains of Nijr-aū, the Lamghānāt and Sawād differ in having masses of cypresses,[841] holm-oak, olive and mastic (_khanjak_); their grass also is different,—it is dense, it is tall, it is good neither for horse nor sheep. Although these mountains are not so high as those already described, indeed they look to be low, none-the-less, they are strongholds; what to the eye is even slope, really is hard rock on which it is impossible to ride. Many of the beasts and birds of Hindūstān [Sidenote: Fol. 141.] are found amongst them, such as the parrot, _mīna_, peacock and _lūja_ (_lūkha_), the ape, _nīl-gāu_ and hog-deer (_kūta-pāī_);[842] some found there are not found even in Hindūstān.

The mountains to the west of Kābul are also all of one sort, those of the Zindān-valley, the Ṣūf-valley, Garzawān and Gharjistān (Gharchastān).[843] Their meadows are mostly in the dales; they have not the same sweep of grass on slope and top as some of those described have; nor have they masses of trees; they have, however, grass suiting horses. On their flat tops, where all the crops are grown, there is ground where a horse can gallop. They have masses of _kīyik_.[844] Their valley-bottoms are strongholds, mostly precipitous and inaccessible from above. It is remarkable that, whereas other mountains have their fastnesses in their high places, these have theirs below.

Of one sort again are the mountains of Ghūr, Karnūd (var. Kuzūd) and Hazāra; their meadows are in their dales; their trees are few, not even the _archa_ being there;[845] their grass is fit for horses and for the masses of sheep they keep. They differ from those last described in this, their strong places are not below.

The mountains (south-east of Kābul) of Khwāja Ismā`īl, Dasht, Dūgī (Dūkī)[846] and Afghānistān are all alike; all low, scant of vegetation, short of water, treeless, ugly and good-for-nothing. Their people take after them, just as has been said, _Tīng būlmā-ghūncha_ [Sidenote: Fol 141b.] _tūsh būlmās_.[847] Likely enough the world has few mountains so useless and disgusting.

(_h. Fire-wood of Kabul._)

The snow-fall being so heavy in Kābul, it is fortunate that excellent fire-wood is had near by. Given one day to fetch it, wood can be had of the _khanjak_ (mastic), _bīlūt_ (holm-oak), _bādāmcha_ (small-almond) and _qarqand_.[848] Of these _khanjak_ wood is the best; it burns with flame and nice smell, makes plenty of hot ashes and does well even if sappy. Holm-oak is also first-rate fire-wood, blazing less than mastic but, like it, making a hot fire with plenty of hot ashes, and nice smell. It has the peculiarity in burning that when its leafy branches are set alight, they fire up with amazing sound, blazing and crackling from bottom to top. It is good fun to burn it. The wood of the small-almond is the most plentiful and commonly-used, but it does not make a lasting fire. The _qarqand_ is quite a low shrub, thorny, and burning sappy or dry; it is the fuel of the Ghaznī people.

(_i. Fauna of Kābul._)

The cultivated lands of Kābul lie between mountains which are like great dams[849] to the flat valley-bottoms in which most villages and peopled places are. On these mountains _kīyik_ and _āhū_[850] are scarce. Across them, between its summer and winter quarters, the dun sheep,[851] the _arqārghalcha_, have their regular track,[852] to which braves go out with dogs and birds[853] to take them. [Sidenote: Fol. 142.] Towards Khūrd-kābul and the Sūrkh-rūd there is wild-ass, but there are no white _kīyik_ at all; Ghaznī has both and in few other places are white _kīyik_ found in such good condition.[854]

In the heats the fowling-grounds of Kābul are crowded. The birds take their way along the Bārān-water. For why? It is because the river has mountains along it, east and west, and a great Hindū-kush pass in a line with it, by which the birds must cross since there is no other near.[855] They cannot cross when the north wind blows, or if there is even a little cloud on Hindū-kush; at such times they alight on the level lands of the Bārān-water and are taken in great numbers by the local people. Towards the end of winter, dense flocks of mallards (_aūrdūq_) reach the banks of the Bārān in very good condition. Follow these the cranes and herons,[856] great birds, in large flocks and countless numbers.

(_j. Bird-catching._)

Along the Bārān people take masses of cranes (_tūrna_) with the cord; masses of _aūqār_, _qarqara_ and _qūṯān_ also.[857] This method of bird-catching is unique. They twist a cord as long as the arrow's[858] flight, tie the arrow at one end and a _bīldūrga_[859] at the other, and wind it up, from the arrow-end, on a piece of wood, span-long and wrist-thick, right up to the _bīldūrga_. They [Sidenote: Fol. 142b.] then pull out the piece of wood, leaving just the hole it was in. The _bīldūrga_ being held fast in the hand, the arrow is shot off[860] towards the coming flock. If the cord twists round a neck or wing, it brings the bird down. On the Bārān everyone takes birds in this way; it is difficult; it must be done on rainy nights, because on such nights the birds do not alight, but fly continually and fly low till dawn, in fear of ravening beasts of prey. Through the night the flowing river is their road, its moving water showing through the dark; then it is, while they come and go, up and down the river, that the cord is shot. One night I shot it; it broke in drawing in; both bird and cord were brought in to me next day. By this device Bārān people catch the many herons from which they take the turban-aigrettes sent from Kābul for sale in Khurāsān.

Of bird-catchers there is also the band of slave-fowlers, two or three hundred households, whom some descendant of Tīmūr Beg made migrate from near Multān to the Bārān.[861] Bird-catching [Sidenote: Fol. 143.] is their trade; they dig tanks, set decoy-birds[862] on them, put a net over the middle, and in this way take all sorts of birds. Not fowlers only catch birds, but every dweller on the Bārān does it, whether by shooting the cord, setting the springe, or in various other ways.

(_k. Fishing._)

The fish of the Bārān migrate at the same seasons as birds. At those times many are netted, and many are taken on wattles (_chīgh_) fixed in the water. In autumn when the plant known as _wild-ass-tail_[863] has come to maturity, flowered and seeded, people take 10-20 loads (of seed?) and 20-30 of green branches (_gūk-shībāk_) to some head of water, break it up small and cast it in. Then going into the water, they can at once pick up drugged fish. At some convenient place lower down, in a hole below a fall, they will have fixed beforehand a wattle of finger-thick willow-withes, making it firm by piling stones on its sides. The water goes rushing and dashing through the wattle, but leaves on it any fish that may have come floating down. This way of catching fish is practised in Gul-bahār, Parwān and Istālīf.

[Sidenote: Fol. 143b.] Fish are had in winter in the Lamghānāt by this curious device:—People dig a pit to the depth of a house, in the bed of a stream, below a fall, line it with stones like a cooking-place, and build up stones round it above, leaving one opening only, under water. Except by this one opening, the fish have no inlet or outlet, but the water finds its way through the stones. This makes a sort of fish-pond from which, when wanted in winter, fish can be taken, 30-40 together. Except at the opening, left where convenient, the sides of the fish-pond are made fast with rice-straw, kept in place by stones. A piece of wicker-work is pulled into the said opening by its edges, gathered together, and into this a second piece, (a tube,) is inserted, fitting it at the mouth but reaching half-way into it only.[864] The fish go through the smaller piece into the larger one, out from which they cannot get. The second narrows towards its inner mouth, its pointed ends being drawn so close that the fish, once entered, cannot [Sidenote: Fol. 144.] turn, but must go on, one by one, into the larger piece. Out of that they cannot return because of the pointed ends of the inner, narrow mouth. The wicker-work fixed and the rice-straw making the pond fast, whatever fish are inside can be taken out;[865] any also which, trying to escape may have gone into the wicker-work, are taken in it, because they have no way out. This method of catching fish we have seen nowhere else.[866]

HISTORICAL NARRATIVE RESUMED.[867]

(_a. Departure of Muqīm and allotment of lands._)

A few days after the taking of Kābul, Muqīm asked leave to set off for Qandahār. As he had come out of the town on terms and conditions, he was allowed to go to his father (Ẕu'n-nūn) and his elder brother (Shāh Beg), with all his various people, his goods and his valuables, safe and sound.

Directly he had gone, the Kābul-country was shared out to the Mīrzās and the guest-begs.[868] To Jahāngīr Mīrzā was given Ghaznī with its dependencies and appurtenancies; to Nāṣir Mīrzā, the Nīngnahār _tūmān_, Mandrāwar, Nūr-valley, Kūnār, Nūr-gal (Rock-village?) and Chīghān-sarāī. To some of the begs who had been with us in the guerilla-times and had come to Kābul with us, were given villages, fief-fashion.[869] _Wilāyat_ [Sidenote: Fol. 144b.] itself was not given at all.[870] It was not only then that I looked with more favour on guest-begs and stranger-begs than I did on old servants and Andijānīs; this I have always done whenever the Most High God has shown me His favour; yet it is remarkable that, spite of this, people have blamed me constantly as though I had favoured none but old servants and Andijānīs. There is a proverb, (Turkī) "What will a foe not say? what enters not into dream?" and (Persian) "A town-gate can be shut, a foe's mouth never."

(_b. A levy in grain._)

Many clans and hordes had come from Samarkand, Ḥiṣār and Qūndūz into the Kābul-country. Kābul is a small country; it is also of the sword, not of the pen;[871] to take in money from it for all these tribesmen was impossible. It therefore seemed advisable to take in grain, provision for the families of these clans so that their men could ride on forays with the army. Accordingly it was decided to levy 30,000 ass-loads[872] of grain on Kābul, Ghaznī and their dependencies; we knew nothing at that time about the harvests and incomings; the impost was excessive, and under it the country suffered very grievously.

In those days I devised the Bāburī script.[873]

(_c. Foray on the Hazāra._)

A large tribute in horses and sheep had been laid on the Sulṯān Mas`ūdī Hazāras;[874] word came a few days after collectors [Sidenote: Fol. 145.] had gone to receive it, that the Hazāras were refractory and would not give their goods. As these same tribesmen had before that come down on the Ghaznī and Gīrdīz roads, we got to horse, meaning to take them by surprise. Riding by the Maidān-road, we crossed the Nirkh-pass[875] by night and at the Morning-prayer fell upon them near Jāl-tū (var. Chā-tū). The incursion was not what was wished.[876] We came back by the Tunnel-rock (Sang-i-sūrākh); Jahāngīr Mīrzā (there?) took leave for Ghaznī. On our reaching Kābul, Yār-i-ḥusain, son of Daryā Khān, coming in from Bhīra, waited on me.[877]

(_d. Bābur's first start for Hindūstān._)

When, a few days later, the army had been mustered, persons acquainted with the country were summoned and questioned about its every side and quarter. Some advised a march to the Plain (Dasht);[878] some approved of Bangash; some wished to go into Hindūstān. The discussion found settlement in a move on Hindūstān.

It was in the month of Sha`bān (910 AH.-Jan. 1505 AD.), the Sun being in Aquarius, that we rode out of Kābul for Hindūstān. We took the road by Bādām-chashma and Jagdālīk and reached Adīnapūr in six marches. Till that time I had never seen a hot country or the Hindūstān border-land. In Nīngnahār[879] another world came to view,—other grasses, other trees, other animals, other birds, and other manners and customs of clan and horde. We were amazed, and truly there was ground for amaze. [Sidenote: Fol. 145b.]

Nāṣir Mīrzā, who had gone earlier to his district, waited on me in Adīnapūr. We made some delay in Adīnapūr in order to let the men from behind join us, also a contingent from the clans which had come with us into Kābul and were wintering in the Lamghānāt.[880] All having joined us, we marched to below Jūī-shāhī and dismounted at Qūsh-guṃbaz.[881] There Nāṣir Mīrzā asked for leave to stay behind, saying he would follow in a few days after making some sort of provision for his dependants and followers. Marching on from Qūsh-guṃbaz, when we dismounted at Hot-spring (Garm-chashma), a head-man of the Gāgīānī was brought in, a _Fajjī_[882] presumably with his caravan. We took him with us to point out the roads. Crossing Khaibar in a march or two, we dismounted at Jām.[883]

Tales had been told us about Gūr-khattrī;[884] it was said to be a holy place of the Jogīs and Hindūs who come from long distances to shave their heads and beards there. I rode out at once from Jām to visit Bīgrām,[885] saw its great tree,[886] and all the country round, but, much as we enquired about Gūr-khattrī, our guide, one Malik Bū-sa`īd _Kamarī_,[887] would say nothing [Sidenote: Fol. 146.] about it. When we were almost back in camp, however, he told Khwāja Muḥammad-amīn that it was in Bīgrām and that he had said nothing about it because of its confined cells and narrow passages. The Khwāja, having there and then abused him, repeated to us what he had said, but we could not go back because the road was long and the day far spent.

(_e. Move against Kohāt._)

Whether to cross the water of Sind, or where else to go, was discussed in that camp.[888] Bāqī _Chaghānīānī_ represented that it seemed we might go, without crossing the river and with one night's halt, to a place called Kohāt where were many rich tribesmen; moreover he brought Kābulīs forward who represented the matter just as he had done. We had never heard of the place, but, as he, my man in great authority, saw it good to go to Kohāt and had brought forward support of his recommendation,—this being so! we broke up our plan of crossing the Sind-water into Hindūstān, marched from Jām, forded the Bāra-water, and dismounted not far from the pass (_dābān_) through the Muḥammad-mountain (_fajj_). At the time the Gāgīānī Afghāns were located in Parashawār but, in dread of our army, had drawn off to the skirt-hills. One of their headmen, coming into this camp, did me obeisance; we took him, as well as the Fajjī, with us, so that, between them, they might [Sidenote: Fol. 146b.] point out the roads. We left that camp at midnight, crossed Muḥammad-fajj at day-rise[889] and by breakfast-time descended on Kohāt. Much cattle and buffalo fell to our men; many Afghāns were taken but I had them all collected and set them free. In the Kohāt houses corn was found without limit. Our foragers raided as far as the Sind-river (_daryā_), rejoining us after one night's halt. As what Bāqī _Chaghānīānī_ had led us to expect did not come to hand, he grew rather ashamed of his scheme.

When our foragers were back and after two nights in Kohāt, we took counsel together as to what would be our next good move, and we decided to over-run the Afghāns of Bangash and the Bannū neighbourhood, then to go back to Kābul, either through Naghr (Bāghzān?), or by the Farmūl-road (Tochī-valley?).

In Kohāt, Daryā Khān's son, Yār-i-ḥusain, who had waited on me in Kābul made petition, saying, "If royal orders were given me for the Dilazāk,[890] the Yūsuf-zāī, and the Gāgīānī, these would not go far from my orders if I called up the Pādshāh's swords on the other side of the water of Sind."[891] The farmān he petitioned for being given, he was allowed to go from Kohāt.

(_f. March to Thāl._)

Marching out of Kohāt, we took the Hangū-road for Bangash. [Sidenote: Fol. 147.] Between Kohāt and Hangū that road runs through a valley shut in on either hand by the mountains. When we entered this valley, the Afghāns of Kohāt and thereabouts who were gathered on both hill-skirts, raised their war-cry with great clamour. Our then guide, Malik Bū-sa`īd _Kamarī_ was well-acquainted with the Afghān locations; he represented that further on there was a detached hill on our right, where, if the Afghāns came down to it from the hill-skirt, we might surround and take them. God brought it right! The Afghāns, on reaching the place, did come down. We ordered one party of braves to seize the neck of land between that hill and the mountains, others to move along its sides, so that under attack made from all sides at once, the Afghāns might be made to reach their doom. Against the allround assault, they could not even fight; a hundred or two were taken, some were brought in alive but of most, the heads only were brought. We had been told that when Afghāns are powerless to resist, they go before their foe with grass between their teeth, this being as much as to say, "I am your cow."[892] Here [Sidenote: Fol. 147b.] we saw this custom; Afghāns unable to make resistance, came before us with grass between their teeth. Those our men had brought in as prisoners were ordered to be beheaded and a pillar of their heads was set up in our camp.[893]

Next day we marched forward and dismounted at Hangū, where local Afghāns had made a _sangur_ on a hill. I first heard the word _sangur_ after coming to Kābul where people describe fortifying themselves on a hill as making a _sangur_. Our men went straight up, broke into it and cut off a hundred or two of insolent Afghān heads. There also a pillar of heads was set up.

From Hangū we marched, with one night's halt, to Tīl (Thāl),[894] below Bangash; there also our men went out and raided the Afghāns near-by; some of them however turned back rather lightly from a _sangur_.[895]

(_g. Across country into Bannū._)

On leaving Tīl (Thāl) we went, without a road, right down a steep descent, on through out-of-the-way narrows, halted one night, and next day came down into Bannū,[896] man, horse and camel all worn out with fatigue and with most of the booty in cattle left on the way. The frequented road must have been a few miles to our right; the one we came by did not seem a riding-road at all; it was understood to be called the Gosfandliyār [Sidenote: Fol. 148.] (Sheep-road),—_liyār_ being Afghānī for a road,—because sometimes shepherds and herdsmen take their flocks and herds by it through those narrows. Most of our men regarded our being brought down by that left-hand road as an ill-design of Malik Bū-sa`īd _Kamarī_.[897]

(_h. Bannū and the `Īsa-khail country._)

The Bannū lands lie, a dead level, immediately outside the Bangash and Naghr hills, these being to their north. The Bangash torrent (the Kūrām) comes down into Bannū and fertilizes its lands. South(-east) of them are Chaupāra and the water of Sind; to their east is Dīn-kot; (south-)west is the Plain (Dasht), known also as Bāzār and Tāq.[898] The Bannū lands are cultivated by the Kurānī, Kīwī, Sūr, `Īsa-khail and Nīā-zāī of the Afghān tribesmen.

After dismounting in Bannū, we heard that the tribesmen in the Plain (Dasht) were for resisting and were entrenching themselves on a hill to the north. A force headed by Jahāngīr Mīrzā, went against what seemed to be the Kīwī _sangur_, took it at once, made general slaughter, cut off and brought in many heads. Much white cloth fell into (their) hands. In Bannū also a pillar of heads was set up. After the _sangur_ had been taken, the Kīwī head-man, Shādī Khān, came to my presence, with grass between his teeth, and did me obeisance. I pardoned all the prisoners.

After we had over-run Kohāt, it had been decided that Bangash and Bannū should be over-run, and return to Kābul [Sidenote: Fol. 148b.] made through Naghr or through Farmūl. But when Bannū had been over-run, persons knowing the country represented that the Plain was close by, with its good roads and many people; so it was settled to over-run the Plain and to return to Kābul afterwards by way of Farmūl.[899]

Marching next day, we dismounted at an `Īsa-khail village on that same water (the Kūrām) but, as the villagers had gone into the Chaupāra hills on hearing of us, we left it and dismounted on the skirt of Chaupāra. Our foragers went from there into the hills, destroyed the `Īsa-khail _sangur_ and came back with sheep, herds and cloth. That night the `Īsa-khail made an attack on us but, as good watch was kept all through these operations, they could do nothing. So cautious were we that at night our right and left, centre and van were just in the way they had dismounted, each according to its place in battle, each prepared for its own post, with men on foot all round the camp, at an arrow's distance from the tents. Every night the army was posted in this way and every night three or four of my household [Sidenote: Fol. 149.] made the rounds with torches, each in his turn. I for my part made the round once each night. Those not at their posts had their noses slit and were led round through the army. Jahāngīr Mīrzā was the right wing, with Bāqī _Chaghānīānī_, Sherīm T̤aghāī, Sayyid Ḥusain Akbar, and other begs. Mīrzā Khān was the left wing, with `Abdu'r-razzāq Mīrzā, Qāsīm Beg and other begs. In the centre there were no great begs, all were household-begs. Sayyid Qāsim Lord-of-the-gate, was the van, with Bābā Aūghūlī, Allāh-bīrdī (var. Allāh-qulī Purān), and some other begs. The army was in six divisions, each of which had its day and night on guard.

Marching from that hill-skirt, our faces set west, we dismounted on a waterless plain (_qūl_) between Bannū and the Plain. The soldiers got water here for themselves, their herds and so on, by digging down, from one to one-and-a-half yards, into the dry water-course, when water came. Not here only did this happen for all the rivers of Hindūstān have the peculiarity that water is safe to be found by digging down from one to one-and-a-half yards in their beds. It is a wonderful provision of God that where, except for the great rivers, there are no running-waters,[900] water should be so placed within reach in dry water-courses.

We left that dry channel next morning. Some of our men, riding light, reached villages of the Plain in the afternoon, raided a few, and brought back flocks, cloth and horses bred for trade.[901] Pack-animals and camels and also the braves we had outdistanced, kept coming into camp all through that night till dawn and on till that morrow's noon. During our stay there, the foragers [Sidenote: Fol. 149b.] brought in from villages in the Plain, masses of sheep and cattle, and, from Afghān traders met on the roads, white cloths, aromatic roots, sugars, _tīpūchāqs_, and horses bred for trade. Hindī (var. Mindī) _Mughūl_ unhorsed Khwāja Khiẓr _Lūhānī_, a well-known and respected Afghān merchant, cutting off and bringing in his head. Once when Sherīm T̤aghāī went in the rear of the foragers, an Afghān faced him on the road and struck off his index-finger.

(_i. Return made for Kābul._)

Two roads were heard of as leading from where we were to Ghaznī; one was the Tunnel-rock (Sang-i-sūrākh) road, passing Birk (Barak) and going on to Farmūl; the other was one along the Gūmāl, which also comes out at Farmūl but without touching Birk (Barak).[902] As during our stay in the Plain rain had fallen incessantly, the Gūmāl was so swollen that it would have been difficult to cross at the ford we came to; moreover persons well-acquainted with the roads, represented that going by the Gūmāl road, this torrent must be crossed several times, that this was always difficult when the waters were so high and that there was always uncertainty on the Gūmāl road. Nothing was settled then as to which of these two roads to take; I expected it to be settled next day when, after the drum of departure had sounded, [Sidenote: Fol. 150.] we talked it over as we went.[903] It was the `Īd-i-fitr (March 7th 1505 AD.); while I was engaged in the ablutions due for the breaking of the fast, Jahāngīr Mīrzā and the begs discussed the question of the roads. Some-one said that if we were to turn the bill[904] of the Mehtar Sulaimān range, this lying between the Plain and the Hill-country (_desht u dūkī_),[905] we should get a level road though it might make the difference of a few marches. For this they decided and moved off; before my ablutions were finished the whole army had taken the road and most of it was across the Gūmāl. Not a man of us had ever seen the road; no-one knew whether it was long or short; we started off just on a rumoured word!

The Prayer of the `Id was made on the bank of the Gūmāl. That year New-year's Day[906] fell close to the `Id-i-fitr, there being only a few days between; on their approximation I composed the following (Turkī) ode:—

Glad is the Bairām-moon for him who sees both the face of the Moon and
the Moon-face of his friend;
Sad is the Bairām-moon for me, far away from thy face and from
thee.[907]

O Bābur! dream of your luck when your Feast is the meeting,
your New-year the face;
For better than that could not be with a hundred New-years
and Bairāms.

After crossing the Gūmāl torrent, we took our way along the skirt of the hills, our faces set south. A mile or two further on, [Sidenote: Fol. 150b.] some death-devoted Afghāns shewed themselves on the lower edge of the hill-slope. Loose rein, off we went for them; most of them fled but some made foolish stand on rocky-piles[908] of the foot-hills. One took post on a single rock seeming to have a precipice on the further side of it, so that he had not even a way of escape. Sl. Qulī _Chūnāq_ (One-eared), all in his mail as he was, got up, slashed at, and took him. This was one of Sl. Qulī's deeds done under my own eyes, which led to his favour and promotion.[909] At another pile of rock, when Qūtlūq-qadam exchanged blows with an Afghān, they grappled and came down together, a straight fall of 10 to 12 yards; in the end Qūtlūq-qadam cut off and brought in his man's head. Kūpūk Beg got hand-on-collar with an Afghān at another hill; both rolled down to the bottom; that head also was brought in. All Afghāns taken prisoner were set free.

Marching south through the Plain, and closely skirting Mehtar Sulaimān, we came, with three nights' halt, to a small township, called Bīlah, on the Sind-water and dependent on Multān.[910] The villagers crossed the water, mostly taking to their boats, but some flung themselves in to cross. Some were seen standing on an island in front of Bīlah. Most of our men, man and horse in [Sidenote: Fol. 151.] mail, plunged in and crossed to the island; some were carried down, one being Qul-i-arūk (thin slave), one of my servants, another the head tent-pitcher, another Jahāngīr Mīrzā's servant, Qāītmās _Turkmān_.[911] Cloth and things of the baggage (_partaldīk nīma_) fell to our men. The villagers all crossed by boat to the further side of the river; once there, some of them, trusting to the broad water, began to make play with their swords. Qul-i-bāyazīd, the taster, one of our men who had crossed to the island, stripped himself and his horse and, right in front of them, plunged by himself into the river. The water on that side of the island may have been twice or thrice as wide as on ours. He swum his horse straight for them till, an arrow's-flight away, he came to a shallow where his weight must have been up-borne, the water being as high as the saddle-flap. There he stayed for as long as milk takes to boil; no-one supported him from behind; he had not a chance of support. He made a dash at them; they shot a few arrows at him but, this not checking him, they took to flight. To swim such a river as the Sind, alone, bare on a bare-backed horse, no-one behind him, and to chase off a foe and occupy his ground, was a mightily bold deed! He having driven the enemy off, other soldiers went over who [Sidenote: Fol. 151b.] returned with cloth and droves of various sorts. Qul-i-bāyazīd had already his place in my favour and kindness on account of his good service, and of courage several times shewn; from the cook's office I had raised him to the royal taster's; this time, as will be told, I took up a position full of bounty, favour and promotion,—in truth he was worthy of honour and advancement.

Two other marches were made down the Sind-water. Our men, by perpetually gallopping off on raids, had knocked up their horses; usually what they took, cattle mostly, was not worth the gallop; sometimes indeed in the Plain there had been sheep, sometimes one sort of cloth or other, but, the Plain left behind, nothing was had but cattle. A mere servant would bring in 3 or 400 head during our marches along the Sind-water, but every march many more would be left on the road than they brought in.

(_j. The westward march._)

Having made three more marches[912] close along the Sind, we left it when we came opposite Pīr Kānū's tomb.[913] Going to the tomb, we there dismounted. Some of our soldiers having injured [Sidenote: Fol. 152.] several of those in attendance on it, I had them cut to pieces. It is a tomb on the skirt of one of the Mehtar Sulaimān mountains and held in much honour in Hindūstān.

Marching on from Pīr Kānū, we dismounted in the (Pawat) pass; next again in the bed of a torrent in Dūkī.[914] After we left this camp there were brought in as many as 20 to 30 followers of a retainer of Shāh Beg, Fāẓil _Kūkūldāsh_, the dārogha of Sīwī. They had been sent to reconnoitre us but, as at that time, we were not on bad terms with Shāh Beg, we let them go, with horse and arms. After one night's halt, we reached Chūtīālī, a village of Dūkī.

Although our men had constantly gallopped off to raid, both before we reached the Sind-water and all along its bank, they had not left horses behind, because there had been plenty of green food and corn. When, however, we left the river and set our faces for Pīr Kānū, not even green food was to be had; a little land under green crop might be found every two or three marches, but of horse-corn, none. So, beyond the camps mentioned, there began the leaving of horses behind. After passing Chūtīālī, my own felt-tent[915] had to be left from want of baggage-beasts. One night at that time, it rained so much, that water stood knee-deep in my tent (_chādār_); I watched the night out till dawn, uncomfortably sitting on a pile of blankets.

(_k. Bāqī Chaghānīānī's treachery._)

A few marches further on came Jahāngīr Mīrzā, saying, "I [Sidenote: Fol. 152b.] have a private word for you." When we were in private, he said, "Bāqī _Chaghānīānī_ came and said to me, 'You make the Pādshāh cross the water of Sind with 7, 8, 10 persons, then make yourself Pādshāh.'" Said I, "What others are heard of as consulting with him?" Said he, "It was but a moment ago Bāqī Beg spoke to me; I know no more." Said I, "Find out who the others are; likely enough Sayyid Ḥusain Akbar and Sl. `Alī the page are in it, as well as Khusrau Shāh's begs and braves." Here the Mīrzā really behaved very well and like a blood-relation; what he now did was the counterpart of what I had done in Kāhmard,[916] in this same ill-fated mannikin's other scheme of treachery.[917]

On dismounting after the next march, I made Jahāngīr Mīrzā lead a body of well-mounted men to raid the Aūghāns (Afghāns) of that neighbourhood.

Many men's horses were now left behind in each camping-ground, the day coming when as many as 2 or 300 were left. Braves of the first rank went on foot; Sayyid Maḥmūd _Aūghlāqchī_, one of the best of the household-braves, left his horses behind and walked. In this state as to horses we went all the rest of the way to Ghaznī.

Three or four marches further on, Jahāngīr Mīrzā plundered [Sidenote: Fol. 153.] some Afghāns and brought in a few sheep.

(_l. The Āb-i-istāda._)

When, with a few more marches, we reached the Standing-water (_Āb-i-istāda_) a wonderfully large sheet of water presented itself to view; the level lands on its further side could not be seen at all; its water seemed to join the sky; the higher land and the mountains of that further side looked to hang between Heaven and Earth, as in a mirage. The waters there gathered are said to be those of the spring-rain floods of the Kattawāz-plain, the Zurmut-valley, and the Qarā-bāgh meadow of the Ghaznī-torrent,—floods of the spring-rains, and the over-plus[918] of the summer-rise of streams.

When within two miles of the Āb-i-istāda, we saw a wonderful thing,—something as red as the rose of the dawn kept shewing and vanishing between the sky and the water. It kept coming and going. When we got quite close we learned that what seemed the cause were flocks of geese,[919] not 10,000, not 20,000 in a flock, but geese innumerable which, when the mass of birds flapped their wings in flight, sometimes shewed red feathers, sometimes not. Not only was this bird there in countless numbers, but birds of every sort. Eggs lay in masses on the shore. When two Afghāns, come there to collect eggs, saw us, [Sidenote: Fol. 153b.] they went into the water half a _kuroh_ (a mile). Some of our men following, brought them back. As far as they went the water was of one depth, up to a horse's belly; it seemed not to lie in a hollow, the country being flat.

We dismounted at the torrent coming down to the Āb-i-istāda from the plain of Kattawāz. The several other times we have passed it, we have found a dry channel with no water whatever,[920] but this time, there was so much water, from the spring-rains, that no ford could be found. The water was not very broad but very deep. Horses and camels were made to swim it; some of the baggage was hauled over with ropes. Having got across, we went on through Old Nānī and Sar-i-dih to Ghaznī where for a few days Jahāngīr Mīrzā was our host, setting food before us and offering his tribute.

(_m. Return to Kābul._)

That year most waters came down in flood. No ford was found through the water of Dih-i-yaq`ūb.[921] For this reason we went straight on to Kamarī, through the Sajāwand-pass. At Kamarī I had a boat fashioned in a pool, brought and set on the Dih-i-yaq`ūb-water in front of Kamarī. In this all our people were put over.

We reached Kābul in the month of Ẕū'l-ḥijja (May 1505 AD.).[922] A few days earlier Sayyid Yūsuf _Aūghlāqchī_ had gone to God's [Sidenote: Fol. 154.] mercy through the pains of colic.

(_n. Misconduct of Nāṣīr Mīrzā._)

It has been mentioned that at Qūsh-guṃbaz, Nāṣir Mīrzā asked leave to stay behind, saying that he would follow in a few days after taking something from his district for his retainers and followers.[923] But having left us, he sent a force against the people of Nūr-valley, they having done something a little refractory. The difficulty of moving in that valley owing to the strong position of its fort and the rice-cultivation of its lands, has already been described.[924] The Mīrzā's commander, Faẓlī, in ground so impracticable and in that one-road tract, instead of safe-guarding his men, scattered them to forage. Out came the valesmen, drove the foragers off, made it impossible to the rest to keep their ground, killed some, captured a mass of others and of horses,—precisely what would happen to any army chancing to be under such a person as Faẓlī! Whether because of this affair, or whether from want of heart, the Mīrzā did not follow us at all; he stayed behind.

Moreover Ayūb's sons, Yūsuf and Bahlūl (Begchīk), more seditious, silly and arrogant persons than whom there may not exist,—to whom I had given, to Yūsuf Alangār, to Bahlūl `Alī-shang, they like Nāṣir Mīrzā, were to have taken something from [Sidenote: Fol. 154b.] their districts and to have come on with him, but, he not coming, neither did they. All that winter they were the companions of his cups and social pleasures. They also over-ran the Tarkalānī Afghāns in it.[925] With the on-coming heats, the Mīrzā made march off the families of the clans, outside-tribes and hordes who had wintered in Nīngnahār and the Lamghānāt, driving them like sheep before him, with all their goods, as far as the Bārān-water.[926]

(_o. Affairs of Badakhshān._)

While Nāṣir Mīrzā was in camp on the Bārān-water, he heard that the Badakhshīs were united against the Aūzbegs and had killed some of them.

Here are the particulars:—When Shaibāq Khān had given Qūndūz to Qaṃbar Bī and gone himself to Khwārizm[927]; Qaṃbar Bī, in order to conciliate the Badakhshīs, sent them a son of Muḥammad-i-makhdūmī, Maḥmūd by name, but Mubārak Shāh,—whose ancestors are heard of as begs of the Badakhshān Shāhs,—having uplifted his own head, and cut off Maḥmūd's and those of some Aūzbegs, made himself fast in the fort once known as Shāf-tiwār but re-named by him Qila`-i-ẕafar. Moreover, in Rustāq Muḥammad _qūrchī_, an armourer of Khusrau Shāh, then occupying Khamalangān, slew Shaibāq Khān's _ṣadr_ and some Aūzbegs and made that place fast. Zubair of Rāgh, again, [Sidenote: Fol. 155.] whose forefathers also will have been begs of the Badakhshān Shāhs, uprose in Rāgh.[928] Jahāngīr _Turkmān_, again, a servant of Khusrau Shāh's Walī, collected some of the fugitive soldiers and tribesmen Walī had left behind, and with them withdrew into a fastness.[929]

Nāṣir Mīrzā, hearing these various items of news and spurred on by the instigation of a few silly, short-sighted persons to covet Badakhshān, marched along the Shibr-tū and Āb-dara road, driving like sheep before him the families of the men who had come into Kābul from the other side of the Amū.[930]

(_p. Affairs of Khusrau Shāh._)

At the time Khusrau Shāh and Aḥmad-i-qāsim were in flight from Ājar for Khurāsān,[931] they meeting in with Badī`u'z-zamān Mīrzā and Ẕū'n-nūn Beg, all went on together to the presence of Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā in Herī. All had long been foes of his; all had behaved unmannerly to him; what brands had they not set on his heart! Yet all now went to him in their distress, and all went through me. For it is not likely they would have seen him if I had not made Khusrau Shāh helpless by parting him from his following, and if I had not taken Kābul from Ẕū'n'nūn's son, Muqīm. Badī`u'z-zamān Mīrzā himself was as dough in the [Sidenote: Fol. 155b.] hands of the rest; beyond their word he could not go. Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā took up a gracious attitude towards one and all, mentioned no-one's misdeeds, even made them gifts.

Shortly after their arrival Khusrau Shāh asked for leave to go to his own country, saying, "If I go, I shall get it all into my hands." As he had reached Herī without equipment and without resources, they finessed a little about his leave. He became importunate. Muḥammad Barandūq retorted roundly on him with, "When you had 30,000 men behind you and the whole country in your hands, what did you effect against the Aūzbeg? What will you do now with your 500 men and the Aūzbegs in possession?" He added a little good advice in a few sensible words, but all was in vain because the fated hour of Khusrau Shāh's death was near. Leave was at last given because of his importunity; Khusrau Shāh with his 3 or 400 followers, went straight into the borders of Dahānah. There as Nāṣir Mīrzā had just gone across, these two met.

Now the Badakhshī chiefs had invited only the Mīrzā; they had not invited Khusrau Shāh. Try as the Mīrzā did to persuade Khusrau Shāh to go into the hill-country,[932] the latter, quite understanding the whole time, would not consent to go, his own idea being that if he marched under the Mīrzā, he would get the [Sidenote: Fol. 156.] country into his own hands. In the end, unable to agree, each of them, near Ishkīmīsh, arrayed his following, put on mail, drew out to fight, and—departed. Nāṣir Mīrzā went on for Badakhshān; Khusrau Shāh after collecting a disorderly rabble, good and bad of some 1,000 persons, went, with the intention of laying siege to Qūndūz, to Khwāja Chār-tāq, one or two _yīghāch_ outside it.

(_q. Death of Khusrau Shāh._)

At the time Shaibāq Khān, after overcoming Sulṯān Aḥmad _Taṃbal_ and Andijān, made a move on Ḥiṣār, his Honour Khusrau Shāh[933] flung away his country (Qūndūz and Ḥiṣār) without a blow struck, and saved himself. Thereupon Shaibāq Khān went to Ḥiṣār in which were Sherīm the page and a few good braves. _They_ did not surrender Ḥiṣār, though their honourable beg had flung _his_ country away and gone off; they made Ḥiṣār fast. The siege of Ḥiṣār Shaibāq Khān entrusted to Ḥamza Sl. and Mahdī Sulṯān,[934] went to Qūndūz, gave Qūndūz to his younger brother, Maḥmūd Sulṯān and betook himself without delay to Khwārizm against Chīn Ṣūfī. But as, before he reached Samarkand on his way to Khwārizm, he heard of the death in Qūndūz of his brother, Maḥmūd Sulṯān, he gave that place to Qaṃbar Bī of Marv.[935]

Qaṃbar Bī was in Qūndūz when Khusrau Shāh went against it; he at once sent off galloppers to summon Ḥamza Sl. and the [Sidenote: Fol. 156b.] others Shaibāq Khān had left behind. Ḥamza Sl. came himself as far as the _sarāī_ on the Amū bank where he put his sons and begs in command of a force which went direct against Khusrau Shāh. There was neither fight nor flight for that fat, little man; Ḥamza Sulṯān's men unhorsed him, killed his sister's son, Aḥmad-i-qāsim, Sherīm the page and several good braves. Him they took into Qūndūz, there struck his head off and from there sent it to Shaibāq Khān in Khwārizm.[936]

(_r. Conduct in Kābul of Khusrau Shāh's retainers._)

Just as Khusrau Shāh had said they would do, his former retainers and followers, no sooner than he marched against Qūndūz, changed in their demeanour to me,[937] most of them marching off to near Khwāja-i-riwāj.[938] The greater number of the men in my service had been in his. The Mughūls behaved well, taking up a position of adherence to me.[939] On all this the news of Khusrau Shāh's death fell like water on fire; it put his men out.

911 AH.—JUNE 4TH 1505 TO MAY 24TH 1506 AD.[940]

(_a. Death of Qūtlūq-nigār Khānīm._)

In the month of Muḥarram my mother had fever. Blood was let without effect and a Khurāsānī doctor, known as Sayyid T̤abīb, in accordance with the Khurāsān practice, gave her water-melon, but her time to die must have come, for on the [Sidenote: Fol. 157.] Saturday after six days of illness, she went to God's mercy.

On Sunday I and Qāsim Kūkūldāsh conveyed her to the New-year's Garden on the mountain-skirt[941] where Aūlūgh Beg Mīrzā had built a house, and there, with the permission of his heirs,[942] we committed her to the earth. While we were mourning for her, people let me know about (the death of) my younger Khān _dādā_ Alacha Khān, and my grandmother Aīsān-daulat Begīm.[943] Close upon Khānīm's Fortieth[944] arrived from Khurāsān Shāh Begīm the mother of the Khāns, together with my maternal-aunt Mihr-nigār Khānīm, formerly of Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā's _ḥaram_, and Muḥammad Ḥusain _Kūrkān Dūghlāt_.[945] Lament broke out afresh; the bitterness of these partings was extreme. When the mourning-rites had been observed, food and victuals set out for the poor and destitute, the Qorān recited, and prayers offered for the departed souls, we steadied ourselves and all took heart again.

(_b. A futile start for Qandahār._)

When set free from these momentous duties, we got an army to horse for Qandahār under the strong insistance of Bāqī _Chaghānīānī_. At the start I went to Qūsh-nādir (var. nāwar) where on dismounting I got fever. It was a strange sort of illness for whenever with much trouble I had been awakened, my eyes closed again in sleep. In four or five days I got quite well.

(_c. An earthquake._)

At that time there was a great earthquake[946] such that most of the ramparts of forts and the walls of gardens fell down; houses were levelled to the ground in towns and villages and many persons lay dead beneath them. Every house fell in Paghmān-village, [Sidenote: Fol. 157b.] and 70 to 80 strong heads-of-houses lay dead under their walls. Between Pagh-mān and Beg-tūt[947] a piece of ground, a good stone-throw[948] wide may-be, slid down as far as an arrow's-flight; where it had slid springs appeared. On the road between Istarghach and Maidān the ground was so broken up for 6 to 8 _yīghāch_ (36-48 m.) that in some places it rose as high as an elephant, in others sank as deep; here and there people were sucked in. When the Earth quaked, dust rose from the tops of the mountains. Nūru'l-lāh the _ṯambourchī_[949] had been playing before me; he had two instruments with him and at the moment of the quake had both in his hands; so out of his own control was he that the two knocked against each other. Jahāngīr Mīrzā was in the porch of an upper-room at a house built by Aūlūgh Beg Mīrzā in Tīpa; when the Earth quaked, he let himself down and was not hurt, but the roof fell on some-one with him in that upper-room, presumably one of his own circle; that this person was not hurt in the least must have been solely through God's mercy. In Tīpa most of the houses were levelled to the ground. The Earth quaked 33 times on the first day, and for a month afterwards used to quake two or three times in the 24 hours. The begs and soldiers having been ordered to repair the breaches made in the towers and ramparts [Sidenote: Fol. 158.] of the fort (Kābul), everything was made good again in 20 days or a month by their industry and energy.

(_d. Campaign against Qalāt-i-ghilzāī._)