Birth of the Prince Muhammed Akber, may God perpetuate his kingdom, in the fortress of Amerkote—and the events that followed. A. H. 949—A. D. 1542.

The next day, while the King was encamped at the large pond, a messenger arrived from Amerkote with the joyful intelligence of the birth of a son and heir. This auspicious event happened on the night of the full moon of the month Shâbân 949; in consequence of which his Majesty was pleased to name the child, The Full Moon of Religion (Budr addyn) Muhammed Akber. On this joyful occasion he prostrated himself, and returned thanks to the Almighty Disposer of all events.*

When this joyful news was made known, all the chiefs came and offered their congratulations. The King then ordered the author of this Memoir (Jouher) to bring him the articles he had given in trust to him; on which I went and brought two hundred Shãhrukhys (silver coin), a silver bracelet, and a pod of musk; the two former he ordered me to give back to the owners from whom they had been taken, as formerly mentioned; he then called for a China plate, and having broken the pod of musk, distributed it among all the principal per­sons, saying, “this is all the present I can afford to make you on the birth of my son, whose fame will I trust be one day expanded all over the world, as the perfume of the musk now fills this apartment.” After this ceremony the drums were beaten, and the trumpets proclaimed the auspicious event to the world.

As soon as the evening prayers were finished we marched from the pond, attended by a number of the Amerkote Ranâ’s troops, and one hundred Moghuls, commanded by Shykh Aly Beg. After five marches we arrived in the vicinity of Jûn;* here we found Jany Beg, the former possessor of Amerkote and a celebrated Cossac, drawn up with a formidable body of his cavalry to oppose us. The Jât troops of the Ranâ and the Moghuls immediately charged the Cossacs, put them to flight and killed a number of them; amongst the prisoners taken was a Moghul deserter, who had been severely wounded in the face. On being brought before the King, Myrzâ Kûly said in the Tûrky language, “this is the follow that abused your Majesty on such an occasion;” the King said, “well, he has received his reward, let him go:” but he ordered all the other prisoners to be killed.

After this affray we moved on, and took posses­sion of Jûn, where the royal tent was pitched in a large garden. At this place a number of Zemindars came and offered their services to the King, who first employed them to dig a deep ditch all round the garden, so as to form it into a respectable fort; from this place a messenger was despatched to Amerkote to bring the young Prince and his mother. On the 20th of the month of Ramzân the Prince arrived, and had the honour of being first embraced by his Majesty on the 35th day of his age.*

I am now obliged to revert to some circumstances which occurred in the last year, in order to preserve my narrative. During the period that the King laid siege to Sehwãn it was observed that a soldier in the fort made so good a use of his musquet, that he never failed to hit some of our people; on which his Majesty said, “I hope I shall one day get hold of that fellow;” he also said, “I wish I could catch the person who took the sword from under my head, and drew it half way out of the scabbard.” By chance it now happened that these two men were both in Jûn when we took it, and having met in an arrack shop were boasting of their feats of bravery: their conversation having been overheard, they were seized and brought before the King, who, after inquiry, ordered the musqueteer to be put to death, but forgave the thief, and made him a handsome present.

During our stay at Jûn the King issued orders that all the Chiefs of that country should wait on him; in consequence of which, the Rajãs of Sudha, of Symech, of Cutch, and Jam, who was formerly the Chief of Bhiker, had the honour of paying their respects, and not less than fifteen or sixteen thousand horsemen were collected.

About this time Shâh Hussyn having marched from Tatta, arrived within eight miles of Jûn, and took post on the bank of the river (Indus). It was one evening during the fast of Ramzân, just as his Majesty had taken his first mouthful of water, that intelligence was brought him of the desertion of Tersh Beg, and of his having joined his enemy Hussyn. This news greatly affected the King, and he said, “may a speedy death overtake him!” and it really so happened that the arrow of Fate did suddenly strike him; for when he arrived with Sháh Hussyn, the latter made him a present of a slave, who having soon after committed some fault, Tersh Beg cut his nose; in revenge for which, three days afterwards, the slave assassinated him: upon hearing this, the people all declared that “the King was a worker of miracles;” and no wonder, as it is written in the Korân, that “the Kings are the Vicegerents of God,” and is a proof of the legitimacy of our monarch, the Emperor Humâyûn.

About this time, Shâh Hussyn sent from Tatta a messenger to the Ranâ of Amerkote, then with the Emperor; and in order to induce the Ranâ to desert to his party, sent him an honorary dress, a rich dagger, and several other presents. The Ranâ immediately brought these presents, and shewed them all to the King, who desired him to put them on a dog, and send them back to his master. This was actually done; and caused Shâh Hussyn to be much ashamed of himself.

Some time after this event an unfortunate quarrel took place between one of the Moghul chiefs, named Khauajê Ghâzy, and the Ranà, who in consequence of the dispute left the camp with all his followers, saying, “that any attempt to assist the Moghuls was a loss of labour and time.” As soon as the Ranâ had abandoned us, all the Zemin­dars also returned to their own homes, and left us to our fate. The following day Munaim Beg also deserted, and informed Shàh Hussyn that the Emperor was now left alone, and was encamped on an open plain, where he might be easily seized or defeated. Luckily this conversation was reported to his Majesty, who instantly ordered all his people to set to, and dig a ditch round the encampment; he even in person took a stick in his hand and pointed out to each party where they were to commence working; and so much diligence was used, that in three days the ditch was completed; so that when Shâh Hussyn arrived and found the camp well fortified, he accused Munaim Beg of having deceived him; in short some skirmishing took place between the adverse parties, and Mahmûd Gird Bãz, one of our chiefs, was killed.

During this time intelligence was brought that Byram Beg (Khân),* who had fled from the battle of Canouge, was come from Gujerât to join his Majesty. On hearing this joyful news the King ordered all the chiefs to go out and meet him: he was shortly introduced, and had the honour of being presented to his Majesty, who was much rejoiced by the arrival of so celebrated a character.

The following night the Bastard, Shâh Hussyn, came to the edge of our ramparts and blew his trumpets: on hearing them Byram Beg and several other chiefs sallied forth, but his Majesty recalled Byram, and ordered Rûshen Beg and others to pursue the fugitives: they did so; and when arrived near the enemy’s camp a duel took place between Rushen Beg and Baber Kuly, one of our opponents: Rushen unhorsed his adversary; but a foot soldier cut the thigh of his horse in such a manner, that although he brought his master back to the camp, he immediately died. This is said to be a peculiar quality or virtue of the Tupchãk horses.

After the affair his Majesty ordered Shykh Aly Beg to proceed to Chekaw, and from thence send grain to the camp, which he accordingly performed; but Sháh Hussyn having heard of this, sent a superior party to cut off our supplies; in conse­quence of which the King ordered off Tehur Sultán to reinforce our detachment: this measure however gave offence to Shykh Aly, who complained of the supercession, which caused a quarrel between these two officers.

His Majesty being now wearied of the confine­ment to his entrenchments, said, “that the next time Sháh Hussyn approached the camp, he would go out in person and chastise him;” and orders were given to have his arms and horses in readiness; we were therefore in expectation that a battle would take place the ensuing day, although it was in the holy month of Ramzán; but during the night a man came from the bank of the river, and said, “that some person on the opposite side was calling for a boat.” The King commanded that they should inquire his name, and what he wanted with a boat; he replied, “that he was Tehur Sul­tán;” on hearing this his Majesty said, “God grant that all may be well!” in short a boat was sent over, and he was brought into the presence, where he reported that the convoy had been attacked, that Shykh Aly was killed, and that he had with difficulty made his escape.

As the King had determined to go out next morning to battle, he was much affected by this news, and did not sleep during the whole night.

In the mean time Sháh Hussyn, having received reinforcements, was also resolved upon battle; but during that night a chief, named Muhammed Bynuaz, deserted to him, and communicated the cutting off of our detachment, and of the King’s intention of engaging him the next day. He added that as his Majesty was now desperate, he advised him (Sháh Hussyn) to conciliate matters.

In consequence of this advice Sháh Hussyn, some days afterwards, sent the chief, Baber Kûly, with a few trifling presents to the King, accompanied by an apology for his past conduct, and an assurance that shame alone prevented him from pay­ing his respects in person. His Majesty in a condescending manner asked the ambassador to tell him the circumstances of the duel between him and Rûshen Beg. He repeated that Rûshen Beg had dismounted him with his lance, but did not injure him any farther, and that some other person had wounded his competitor’s horse; his Majesty then sent for Rushen Beg, and made them embrace each other. After this his Majesty dismissed the ambassador, with an assurance that he would imme­diately quit the country of Sinde.