Deliver over him who injures you to Fate;
For Fate is a servant that will avenge your quarrel.
Ahmed Kāsim Kohbur, and the party who were sent in pursuit of Khan Mirza, overtook him among the hillocks of Kurgh-e-yalāk. He was unable to flee, and had neither strength nor courage enough to fight. They took him prisoner, and brought him before me. I was sitting in the old Diwānkhāneh* (or Hall of Audience), in a portico on its north-east side, when he was brought in. I said, ‘Come and embrace me.’ From the agitation in which he was, he fell twice before he could come up and make his obeisance. After we had saluted I seated him at my side, and spoke encouragingly to him. They brought in sherbet. I myself drank of it first, in order to reassure him, and then handed it to him. As I was still uncertain of the fidelity of a considerable part of the soldiers, the country people, the Moghuls, and Chaghatāi, who were yet unsettled, I sent Khan Mirza into custody at large in the house of his sisters,* with orders to him not to leave it*; but, as the commotions and sedition of the Īls and Ulūses* still continued, and as the Khan’s stay in Kābul did not seem advisable, I allowed him, in the course of a few days, to proceed to Khorasān.
BāburAfter he had taken leave, I-set out on a circuit through Bārān, Chāstūbeh, and the low grounds* of Gulbehār.* In the spring, the country about* Bārān, the plain of Chāstūbeh, and the low country of Gulbehār, is excessively pleasant. Its verdure is much superior to that of any place in Kābul. It abounds with tulips of various species. I once desired the different kinds to be counted, and they brought me in thirty-four sorts. I wrote some verses in praise of the district:
| (Tūrki)— | Its verdure and flowers render Kābul, in spring, a heaven; |
| But above all, the spring of Bārān, and of Gulbehār, is enchanting. |
In this same tour I finished the ghazel which begins thus:
| (Tūrki)— | My heart is like a rose-bud, spotted with blood; |
| Were there a hundred thousand springs, the rose-bud of my heart can never blow.* |
In truth, few places can be compared to these in the spring, either for beauty of prospect, or for the amusement of hawking,* as has been more particularly noticed in the summary account I have given of Kābul and Ghazni.
Nāsir Mir-This same year, the Amirs of Badakhshān, such as Muhammed Korchi, Mubārek Shah, Zobeir, and Jehāngīr, being offended with the conduct and proceedings of Nāsir Mirza,* and some of his favourites, rose in insurrection, united, and formed an army. After collecting their horse and foot in the plain which lies on the river Kokcheh,* towards Yaftel and Rāgh, they advanced by way of the broken hillock grounds* near Khamchān.* Nāsir Mirza, and those who were about him, being inexperienced young men, of no consideration or foresight, marched towards the hillocks to give the insurgents battle, and engaged them. The ground is a mixture of hill and plain. The enemy had a numerous infantry. Though several times charged by cavalry they stood fast, and in their turn attacked so spiritedly, that the Mirza’s horse were unable to keep their ground, and fled. The Badakhshānians having routed Nāsir Mirza, pillaged and plundered all who were connected with or dependent on him. Nāsir Mirza, with his routed and plundered adherents, fled by way of Ishkamish and Narīn* to Kila-kāi, and, going up the Surkh-āb, proceeded on to Ābdareh; whence, descending by the hill-pass of Shibertū, he reached Kābul with seventy or eighty plundered and worn-out servants and followers, naked and hungry. It was a striking dispensation of Providence. Two or three years before, Nāsir Mirza had instigated all the Īls and Ulūses to rise up and march off with him in rebellion from Kābul, had proceeded to Badakhshān, put the forts in a state of defence, guarded the valleys, and indulged in the most ambitious views; now he returned, ashamed and distressed at his former doings, and afflicted and distracted at his former defection. I did not show him the least symptom of displeasure, but asked him a number of questions, conversed with him, and showed him marks of regard, in order to dissipate his uneasiness and embarrassment.