Such was not the agreement and promise between my friend and me,—
Separation has stung me and made me wretched at last;
What can be done against the freaks of Fortune,
Which tears by force friend from friend at last!
January 19.On Wednesday, the 17th of Muharrem, Sultan Alā ud dīn Sawādi arrived as an envoy on the part of Sultan Weis Sawādi,* and waited on me to offer his submission.
January 20.On Thursday, the 18th of Muharrem, I hunted on a hill that lies between Bajour and the Chandūl. The bison* and gawazen of this hill are black, except the tail, which is of a different colour. Below this, the bullocks and deer* of Hindustān are wholly dark-coloured. The same day we caught a sārik bird;* its body was black, as were its eyes. This day, too, Burkhut* took a deer. As there was a scarcity of grain in the army, we went to the valley of Kahrāj, where we seized a quantity of corn, and then proceeded towards Sawād, on an expedition against the Yūsefzai Afghans.
January 21.On Friday, we marched, and encamped between the Panjkora and the junction of the Chandūl and Bajour rivers.* Shah Mansūr Yūsefzai had brought some very pleasant but highly inebriating kamāl.* I cut a kamāl into three parts, and ate one part myself, giving another to Gadāi Taghāi, and the third to Abdullah Kitābdār. It affected me strangely, and with such a degree of intoxication, that, when the Begs met in council about evening prayers, I was unable to make my appearance; which is the more surprising, as now I may eat a whole kamāl of that kind, without being in the slightest degree affected, though, on that occasion, less than the half of one producedinebriety.*
Levies aMarching thence, we halted near the mouth of the valley of Kahrāj and of Peshgrām,* before Panjkora. While we stayed here, it snowed in these places.* It rarely does snow there, and the inhabitants were surprised at the circumstance. By the advice of Sultan Weis Sawādi, I demanded a contribution of four thousand kharwārs* of A. D. 1519. rice for the use of the army from the inhabitants of Kahrāj, and sent Sultan Weis himself for the purpose of collecting it. These rude mountaineers and peasants, on whom such a contribution had never before been imposed, were unable to discharge it, and were reduced to great distress.
PlundersOn Tuesday, the 23rd of Muharrem, I sent the army, under the command of Hindu Beg, in order to plunder in Panjkora. Panjkora lies a little above the middle of the slope of the hill. On account of the steepness of the ascent, it is necessary, for nearly a kos, to climb up, laying hold of the ground.* Before they reached Panjkora, the inhabitants had fled. They brought back some of their sheep, mares, bullocks, and grain.
January 26.Next morning, I dispatched the army, under Kūch Beg, January 27. on a plundering party; and on Thursday, the 25th of Muharrem, in order to secure a supply of grain, the army moved, and encamped in the midst of the valley of Kahrāj, in the district of Mandīsh.
This year several children were born to me younger than Humāiūn*; but none of them lived. Hindāl was not yet born. While we remained here, I received a letter from Māham, in which she said, ‘Whether the expected child be a son or daughter, I shall take my chance*; I will regard the January 28. child as mine, and educate it as my own.’ On the 26th, in this same camp, I gave up Hindāl to Māham,* and, writing an answer to her letter, sent it to Kabul by Yūsef Ali Rikābdār.* Hindāl was not yet born. At this same encampment, in the district of Mandīsh, in the heart of the valley, on a rising ground, I erected a large suffeh, or terrace of stone, of such extent, that it could contain my large set of tents with the smaller set* usually sent in advance. The stones of this work were wholly brought by my officers and the soliders.
Malik Shah Mansūr, the son of Malik Suleiman Shah, had come from the Yūsefzai Afghans with professions of submission and of attachment to my interests. In order to conciliate the Yūsefzais, I had asked his daughter in marriage. At this encampment we learned that the daughter* of Shah Mansūr was coming with the tribute of the Yūsefzais. We had a drinking party about evening prayers. I invited Sultan Alā ud dīn* to the party, made him sit down, and gave him one of my own dresses as a dress of honour.
January 30.On Sunday the 28th we marched from the valley of Kahrāj, and encamped. Taūskhan Yūsefzai, the younger brother of Shah Mansūr, brought his niece, who has been mentioned, to this encampment. As the people of Besūd* are connected with those of Bajour, I sent Yūsef Ali Bekāwel from this station to collect them, and remove them to Bajour. I sent orders to the troops that had been left in Kābul to join me without delay.
February 4.On Friday, the 3rd of the month of Safer, we encamped at the junction of the Bajour and Panjkōra rivers.
February 6.On Sunday the 5th, I went from this station to Bajour, and had a drinking party at Khwājeh Kalān’s house.
ExpeditionOn Tuesday the 7th, I sent for the Begs and the Dilazāk Afghans,** and held a council, in which it was agreed, that, as it was the close of the year, only a day or two of Aquarius remaining, and as all the grain had been carried off from the level country, should we enter Sawād now, the army would suffer greatly from want of provisions; that it was therefore better to proceed by way of Ambahir and Pani-Māli, and crossing the river of Sawād above Hashnaghar,* to advance our troops with all possible expedition opposite to the sanger (or hill-fort) of Māmūra, belonging to the Yūsefzais, and to make an incursion upon the Afghans inhabiting the open country and plain, who are composed of the Yūsefzais and Muhammedzais, to beat up their quarters, and plunder them*; and that, by coming next year earlier, while the grain was on the ground, we should find effectual means of reducing them. Having come to February 9. this determination, next morning, being Wednesday, I bestowed horses and dresses of honour on Sultan Weis and Sultan Alā ud dīn, and dismissed them with every assurance of protection and assistance; and then, continuing our march, we halted opposite to Bajour. I left the daughter of Shah Mansūr in the fort of Bajour, till the return of the
February