AT this time, the greater part of Mangálái Suyah was under the administration of the Dughláts. But Andiján and Káshghar had fallen to the government of Samarkand; while Issigh Kul, from the numerous vicissitudes to which it had been exposed, was sinking into disruption; the rest of the country, however, was still in the hands of the Dughlát Amirs. Just at this period the brothers and cousins of Amir Sayyid Ali were [governing] in Aksu, Kus and Bái. Amir Sayyid Ali came to Aksu, and leaving his family there, proceeded to Káshghar. When the Amir arrived in Aksu, a great conflict arose between himself and his two brothers, Mumin Mirzá and Sayyid Mahmud Mirzá. The Amir came off victor, in the end, after having killed many of his relations. About this matter there are many conflicting traditions. It appears, at all events, that he first got the upper hand of his relatives and then set out for Káshghar. He had 7000 men in his following. When he arrived within the territory of Káshghar, Háji Muhammad Sháyistah repaired to a place called Uch Barkhán, which is about three farsákhs distant from Káshghar, to oppose him, with 30,000 cavalry and infantry. But at the first attack of the Amir, Háji Muhammad Sháyistah took flight. The Moghuls started, in hot haste, after the Chaghatái, who in order to gain greater freedom in their flight, threw aside their armour before the enemy were able to overtake them, and uttered cries of distress. For this reason the battle was called “Salái Begum,” that is to say, “Mir-i-man biandázam,” or “I throw down my Mir.” This was one of the most famous battles ever fought in that country, and formed an epoch in its history. The people of Káshghar enabled the fugitives to creep into the citadel, while the Amir laid waste and pillaged all without, and then departed with the spoil.
The following year, when the corn was ripe, the Amir returned, and no one dared to leave the city. Háji Muhammad Sháyistah fortified himself in the citadel, while the Amir ravaged the whole country round. He laid siege to, and captured, one of the neighbouring fortresses, called Aláku, and again retired.
Then Khwája Sharif went to Samarkand to implore the assistance of Mirzá Ulugh Beg. While he was there, the Mirzá one day asked him: “Are there any donkeys in Káshghar?” Khwája Sharif replied: “Since the Chaghatái have come, there are a great number of donkeys.” Khwája Sharif took Pir Muhammad Barlás with him to Káshghar, while Mirzá Ulugh Beg withdrew Háji Muhammad Sháyistah to Samarkand. When Pir Muhammad Barlás arrived in Káshghar, the people gave him the surname [lakab] of Bangi, but they derived no benefits from him,* and Khwája Sharif began to despair of the Chaghatái.
When the Amir advanced against Káshghar for the third year in succession, the people of that country addressed a complaint to Khwája Sharif, saying: “We have lost the crops of two successive years; if we lose this year's crop too, there will be a famine in our country.”
On the Amir's arrival in Káshghar, the people of that town, having bound Pir Muhammad Barlás, gave him up to the Amir.* The Amir thereupon divested Pir Muhammad Barlás of his mantle of life, and entered the town of Káshghar, where he administered justice to the people. He governed the country during twenty-four years; and under him the State was so prosperous and happy, that he is talked of to this day. During all this time, the Amir paid so much attention to agriculture and the breeding of cattle and sheep, that when he died, leaving three sons and two daughters, one of his sons, Muhammad Haidar Mirzá, my grandfather, received as his share 180,000 sheep.
I once heard from Khwája Fakhruddin, a merchant of noble birth and pleasant of speech, that the Amir occupied himself with hunting during three months every winter. No one but soldiers were allowed to take part in the royal hunt. But as many soldiers as the Amir was able to provide for, used to join in the party, and during those three months, each one was supplied with meat and flour, which was distributed to them at the different halting-places [manzil]. On some days as many as 5000 sheep were given out, together with a proportionate amount of flour and barley and hay. Some years, 3000 persons were in attendance on the Amir, and each one was given his provisions. The inhabitants of the different villages were always anxious for the Amir to come to stay in their village, and the hunting party, on its arrival, would make them participate in their own store of good things. Fakhruddin used to relate that on one occasion, when they had alighted in our village, which is Artuch,* the Amir's master of the hunt [Mir-shikár] having brought some flour, gave it to a poor woman to bake, promising her, as a wage for her work, one of the six loaves, which were to be made from the flour he had supplied her with; but when the woman brought the loaves, he refused to give her one of them, saying: “I supplied the flour and the wood and the salt; what have you deserved of me?” At that moment the Amir happened to be passing by on horseback. He stopped and asked the woman what her trouble was: the woman laid her complaint before the Amir, who then questioned the master of the hunt. As this latter acknowledged the truth of the poor woman's story, the Amir said to him: “Why did you not bake your own bread, instead of troubling this woman?” The Amir then sent to a blacksmith's-shop for some pincers, and caused all the wretched man's teeth to be drawn from his head. I have repeated this tale as a proof of the Amir's justice. There are still existing in Káshghar, many sacred edifices and charitable institutions, which were founded by the Amir. During the twenty-four years of his government, many important events occurred, which shall hereafter be related in detail.