Some of Humāiūn’s servants had gone along with Bāba Dost and Halāhil to Nilāb, and to the Karlūki Hazāras,* who had been given to Humāiūn, and submitted to receive Dāroghas.* Sanger Karlūk, accompanied by Mirza Malvi Karlūk, and thirty or forty of the chiefs of the tribe, came to us, after sending on before them* a horse fully caparisoned, and tendering their obedience. The army of the Dilazāk March 19. Afghans having also arrived, we next morning marched thence and halted, after advancing two kos. I here ascended a rising ground to survey the camp, and directed the camels of the army to be numbered. They mounted to five hundred and seventy camels. I had formerly heard the sumbal plant* (spikenard) described; I now saw it at this station. On the skirts of this hill there are a few sumbal plants scattered here and there. They are more abundant in the skirts of the hills of Hindustān, where the plant is both more plentiful and larger in size. When I describe the animals and forests of Hindustān, it will be more particularly mentioned.
Bābur re- Marching hence at the time when the kettle-drum beats,*
we halted about luncheon*
time at the foot of the pass of
Sangdaki. About noon-day prayers we renewed our march,
and ascended the pass, crossed the river, and halted on an
March 21.
eminence; we again set out at midnight. In going to examine
the ford by which we had passed in our way to Behreh, we
found a raft, loaded with grain, that had stuck fast in the
mud and clay; the owners, with all their exertions, had
not been able to extricate it. We seized this corn, and
divided it among the men who were with us; the grain
came very seasonably. Towards evening*
we halted lower
down*
than the junction of the Sind and Kābul rivers,
and higher up than old Nilāb, between the two. We
brought six boats from Nilāb, and divided them among
the right and left wings and centre, who immediately
began to exert themselves in crossing the river. On the
March 21,
22, and 23.
Monday, being the day on which we arrived, and the night
following, and on Tuesday and the night following, till
March 24.
Wednesday, they continued passing; on Thursday, also,
a few passed.
Parbat, Hāti’s relation, who had been sent from the
neighbourhood of Anderābeh with the servant of Muhammed
Ali Jeng-Jeng, returned to us, while we were on the
banks of the river, bringing from Hāti a horse clad in
armour, by way of tributary offering. The inhabitants of
Nilāb brought an armed horse as a peshkesh, and tendered
Muhammed
Ali Jeng-
Jeng gets
the country
between
Behreh and
the Sind.
their submission. Muhammed Ali Jeng-Jeng having a
wish to remain in Behreh, and Behreh itself having been
given to Hindū Beg, I bestowed on him the tract of country
between Behreh and the Sind, with the Īls and Ulūses in the
district, such as the Karlūk Hazāras, and Hāti, and Ghiāsdāl,
and Kīb. Whoever submitted his neck was to be treated
with kindness; and as for such as were rebellious and
refractory,*
| (Tūrki verse)— | Whoever does not submit his head, must be subjected to punishment, and humbled by pillage. |
After making these grants to Muhammed Ali Jeng-Jeng, I gave him one of my own black velvet Kilmāk corslets, and the tūgh (or banner) of mountain-cow’s tail. I gave Hāti’s relation leave to depart; presented him* with a sword, and a dress of honour; and sent by him letters calculated to confirm Hāti in his duty.
March 24.On Thursday, at sun-rise, we moved from the banks of the river, and resumed our march. This day I ate a maajūn. While under its influence, I visited some beautiful gardens. In different beds, the ground was covered with purple and yellow arghwān* flowers. On one hand were beds of yellow flowers, in bloom; on the other hand, red flowers were in blossom. In many places they sprung up in the same bed, mingled together as if they had been flung and scattered abroad. I took my seat on a rising ground near the camp, to enjoy the view of all the flower-plots. On the six sides of this eminence they were formed as into regular A. D. 1519. beds. On one side were yellow flowers; on another the purple, laid out in triangular* beds. On two other sides there were fewer flowers; but, as far as the eye could reach, there were flower-gardens of a similar kind. In the neighbourhood of Peshāwer, during the spring, the flower-plots are exquisitely beautiful.
Tiger hunt.Early in the morning we marched from our ground. Where the road separates from the river we heard a tiger howling, and it soon issued out.* The moment the horses heard the tiger’s cry they became unmanageable, and ran off with their riders, plunging down the steeps and precipices. The tiger retreated again into the jungle. I directed a buffalo to be brought, and put in the wood, for the purpose of luring him out. He soon issued out again howling: arrows poured down on him from every side; I, too, shot my arrow. When Khalwa Piādeh struck him with a spear, he twisted, and broke the point of the spear with his teeth, and tossed it away. The tiger had received many wounds, and had crept into a patch of brushwood, when Bāba Yasāwel, drawing his sword, approached, and struck him on the head, at the moment he was on the spring. After this, Ali Sīstāni struck him on the loins, when he plunged into the river, where they killed him. After they had dragged the animal out of the water, I ordered him to be skinned.
March 25. Next morning, we continued our march, and halted at
Bekrām. We visited the Gurh-Katri. There are nowhere
else in the whole world such narrow and dark hermits’ cells
Visits
Gurh-
Katri.
as at this place.*
After entering the door-way, and descending
one or two stairs, you must lie down, and proceed
crawling along, stretched at full length. You cannot enter
without a light. The quantities of hair, both of the head
and beard, that are lying scattered round about and in the
vicinity of this cave,*
are immense. On all the sides of this
Gurh-Katri there are numerous cells, like those of a college
or monastery.*
The number of apartments is very great.*
The first year that I came to Kābul, when I plundered and
laid waste Kohāt, Bannu, and the Dasht, I passed through
Bekrām and Barkalān,*
and was vexed at not having seen
the subterraneous excavations*;
but there was no reason
for so much regret.
This same day I lost my best hawk. Sheikhim, the chief huntsman, had the charge of it. It took herons and storks excellently. It had flown away* twice or thrice before. It pounced so unfailingly on its quarry, as to make even one with so little skill* as myself the most successful of fowlers.
On each of the six chief Dilazāk Afghans who accompanied Malik Tarkhān and Malik Mūsa, I bestowed a hundred mishkāls of silver, one vest, three bullocks, and one buffalo, out of the spoil of Hindustān. On the others, also, I bestowed money, cloth, bullocks, and buffaloes, according to the circumstances of each.
March 26.When we had reached our ground at Ali Masjid, one Maarūf, a Yākūb-khail Dilazāk, brought ten sheep, two loads* of rice, and eight large cheeses, as tribute.
March 27. From Ali Masjid we halted at Yadeh Bīr. From Yadeh
Bīr we reached Jūī-Shāhi, at noon-day prayers, and halted.
March 28.
This same day, Dost Beg was seized with a burning fever.
March 29.
Early in the morning we marched from Jūī-Shāhi, and
passed the mid-day*
at the Bāgh-e-wafā.*
At noon-day
prayers we left the Bāgh-e-wafā, and passed the Siāh-āb of
Gandamak. Evening prayers were over, when, after having
given*
our horses breath in a cultivated field, we mounted
again in a gari*
or two, and, passing the Surkhāb, halted at
March 30.
Karek, where we slept. Before dawn we again mounted,
and, at the separation of the Karatū road, I and five or six
others went to view a garden which I had made in Karatū.
I sent Khalīfeh, Shah Hassan Beg, and other persons,
straight on to Kūrūk-Sāi,*
where they were to wait for me.
On reaching Karatū, one Kizīl, a tawāchi*
of Shah Beg
Arghūn’s, brought me information that Shah Beg had taken
and plundered Kāhan*
and retired. I issued orders that
nobody should carry forward intelligence of my approach.
Bābur
reaches
Kābul.
I reached Kābul at noon-day prayers; no one knew of my
approach till I reached the bridge of Kutlūk-kadam. After
that, there was no time to put Humāiūn and Kāmrān on
horseback. They brought them forth in the arms of the
nearest servants,*
between the gate of the fort and that of
the citadel, to offer me their duty. About afternoon prayers,
Kāsim Beg, with the Kazi of the city, and such of my court
as had remained in Kābul,*
waited on me.