In the days of Sher Sháh and of Islám Sháh, the mukaddams used to protect the limits of their own villages, lest any thief or robber, or enemy of their enemies, might injure a traveller, and so be the means of their destruction and death. And he directed his governors and 'ámils to compel the people to treat merchants and travellers well in every way, and not to injure them at all; and if a merchant should die by the way, not to stretch out the hand of oppression and violence on his goods as if they were unowned; for Shaikh Nizámí (may God be merciful to him!) has said: “If a merchant die in your country, it is perfidy to lay hands on his property.” Throughout his whole kingdom Sher Sháh only levied customs on merchandize in two places, viz.: when it came from Bengal, customs were levied at Gharrí (Sikrí-galí); when it came from the direction of Khurásán, the customs were levied on the borders of the kingdom; and again, a second duty was levied at the place of sale. No one dared to levy other customs, either on the road or at the ferries, in town or village. Sher Sháh, moreover, forbad his officials to purchase anything in the bázárs except at the usual bázár rates and prices.

One of the regulations Sher Sháh made was this: That his victorious standards should cause no injury to the cultiva­tion of the people; and when he marched he personally examined into the state of the cultivation, and stationed horsemen round it to prevent people from trespassing on any one's field. I have heard from Khán-i'azam Muzaffar Khán, who said he often accom­panied Sher Sháh, that he used to look out right and left, and (which God forbid!) if he saw any man injuring a field, he would cut off his ears with his own hand, and hanging the corn (which he had plucked off) round his neck, would have him to be paraded through the camp.* And if from the narrowness of the road any cultivation was unavoidably destroyed, he would send amírs, with a surveyor, to measure the cultivation so destroyed, and give compensation in money to the cultivators. If unavoidably the tents of his soldiery were pitched near cultivation, the soldiers themselves watched it, lest any one else should injure it, and they should be blamed and be punished by Sher Sháh, who showed no favour or partiality in the dispensation of justice. If he entered an enemy's country, he did not enslave or plunder the peasantry of that country, nor destroy their cultivation. “For,” said he, “the cultivators are blameless, they submit to those in power; and if I oppress them they will abandon their villages, and the country will be ruined and deserted, and it will be a long time before it again becomes prosperous.” Sher Sháh very often invaded an enemy's country; but on account of his justice the people remained, and brought supplies to his army, and he became known by the fame of his generosity and benevolence; and he was all day long occupied in scattering gold like the sun, in shedding pearls like a cloud; and this was the reason that the Afgháns collected round him, and that the kingdom of Hindústán fell to him. And if any want befell his victorious army, he did not suffer one soldier or any poor helpless person to be in despair or utterly unprovided for, but gave them something for their subsistence. Every day he enlisted men, to give them a subsistence.

His kitchen was very extensive, for several thousand horse­men and private followers, who in the Afghán tongue are called “Fiáhí,” fed there; and there was a general order, that if any soldier or religious personage, or any cultivator, should be in need of food, he should feed at the king's kitchen, and should not be allowed to famish. And places for the dispensing of food to the poor and destitute, and to all necessitous persons, were established in the camp, that they might feed every one as above described. The daily cost of these meals, and of these places for the distribution of food, was 500 gold pieces (ashrafís).

It became known to him that the imáms and religious persons had, since the time of Sultán Ibráhím, by bribing the 'ámils, got into their possession more land than they were entitled to hold; he therefore resumed their holdings, and investi­gating the cases himself, gave to each his right, and did not entirely deprive any man of his possessions. He then gave them money for their road expenses, and dismissed them. Destitute people, who were unable to provide for their own subsistence, like the blind, the old, the weak in body, widows, and the sick, etc., to such he gave stipends from the treasury of the town in which they were resident, and giving them the expenses of their journey sent them away. And on account of the fraudulent practices of the religious personages (imáms), he made this arrangement: he did not give the farmáns directing the assignments to the religious personages themselves, but ordered the munshís to prepare the farmáns relating to one pargana, and to bring them to him. Sher Sháh then put them all into a letter and put his seal on it, and gave it to a trustworthy man of his own, and said to him, “Carry these farmáns to such and such a pargana.” When the farmáns came to the shikkdár, he first made over to the holy personages their stipends, and then gave the farmáns into their possession. Sher Sháh often said, “It is incumbent upon kings to give grants to imáms; for the prosperity and populousness of the cities of Hind are dependent on the imáms and holy men; and the teachers and travellers, and the necessitous, who cannot come to the king, they will praise him, being supported by those who have grants; and the con­venience of travellers and the poor is thereby secured, as well as the extension of learning, of skill, and religion; for whoever wishes that God Almighty should make him great, should cherish 'Ulamá and pious persons, that he may obtain honour in this world and felicity in the next.”

To every pious Afghán who came into his presence from Afghánistán, Sher Sháh used to give money to an amount exceeding his expectations, and he would say, “This is your share of the kingdom of Hind, which has fallen into my hands, this is assigned to you, come every year to receive it.” And to his own tribe and family of Súr, who dwelt in the land of Roh, he sent an annual stipend in money, in proportion to the numbers of his family and retainers; and during the period of his dominion no Afghán, whether in Hind or Roh, was in want, but all became men of substance. It was the custom of the Afgháns during the time of Sultáns Bahlol and Sikandar, and as long as the dominion of the Afgháns lasted, that if any Afghán received a sum of money, or a dress of honour, that sum of money or dress of honour was regularly apportioned to him, and he received it every year.

There were 5000 elephants in his elephant sheds, and the number of horses personally attached to him was never fixed, for his purchases and gifts of them were equally great; but 3400 horses were always kept ready in the saráís to bring intelligence every day from every quarter. 113,000 villages of Hind were included in the royal fisc.* He sent a shikkdár to each of his parganas, which were all prosperous and tranquil, and there was not one place which was con­tumacious or desolated; the whole country was settled and happy; corn was cheap, nor during his time was there any­where scarcity or famine. His army was beyond all reckoning, and every day increased. For the enforcement of the regulations which he had published for the protection of the people, Sher Sháh sent trusted spies with every force of his nobles, in order that, inquiring and secretly ascertaining all circumstances relating to the nobles, their soldiers, and the people, they might relate them to him; for the courtiers and ministers, for purposes of their own, do not report to the king the whole state of the kingdom, lest any disorder or deficiency which may have found its way into the courts of justice should be corrected.