[THE writer of this valuable work was the son of Muhammad Husain Mirzá, who was the eldest son of Haidar Mirzá Doghlat, Amír of Káshghar. Muhammad Husain married the younger sister of the Emperor Bábar's mother. So our author, Haidar Mirzá, was first cousin of Bábar, and he seems to have inherited from his mother no small share of that ability and vigour which distinguished his more eminent relative. His father, Muhammad Husain, was put to death at Hirát in 914 (1508 A.D.), under the orders of Shaibání Khán. Haidar Mirzá himself was also doomed, but he was concealed and saved. In the following year Bábar sent for him to Kábul, and there received him with con­siderate and generous affection, of which the Mirzá speaks in the warmest terms of gratitude. “It was a sad day,” says he, “that deprived me of my father; but, through the unremitting kindness of the Emperor, I never felt the loss. * * During the whole time of my stay with him, he always conducted himself towards me with parental observance and affection.”

Haidar Mirzá was as bold and adventurous as Bábar himself, and played a notable part in widely distant places. He was actively engaged as a military leader in Badakhshán and Káshghar, and seems to have there given proofs of eminent military talents. Nor was he at all deficient in that literary ability which distinguished his cousin. He saw much, and he observed and recorded what passed under his own eyes, and what he learnt from diligent inquiry. “The Táríkh-i Rashídí,” says Mr. Erskine,* well deserves to be published in the original or translated. It is the production of a learned and accomplished man; and, in the two latter parts, of a contemporary, intimately acquainted with the men and events he describes.”

“The history of the Kháns of the Mughals, and of the Amírs of Káshghar, subsequent to Tímúr Tughlik Khán, forms the proper subject of the first two books. These details are the more valuable as the succession of the Mughal Kháns and of the Amírs of Káshghar from that period is not contained in any other work with which I am acquainted.” In the writer's own time, “Central Asia was in a transition state, which ended in the settlement of the Uzbeks in Transoxiana, of the Kirghiz confederacy in Mughalistán, and of the Chaghatáí Turks in India. The minute details which the author gives of his own sufferings, and of the sufferings of his nearest relations, during the period that followed the ascendancy of Shaibání Khán in Máwaráu-n nahr and Khurásán, of their escapes, adventures, successes, and discomfitures, let us more into the condition of the country and feelings of the inhabitants of these states and of Káshghar at that crisis, than perhaps any other monument extant. A portion of the last book relates to the history of Kashmír and Hindústán, and the whole work is interspersed with geographical accounts of countries, especially to the east of Máwaráu-n nahr, little known in Europe. The rise and fall of several tribes, or associations of tribes, in the desert, are recorded with much clearness and a perfect acquaintance with their ex­ternal and internal policy. It would form a most valuable accompaniment to the Commentaries of Bábar, which it illus­trates in every page. The two royal cousins are worthy of each other, and do honour to their age.”

Haidar Mirzá's notices of India are fragmentary, and are con­fined to what passed under his own observation; but they give a vivid picture of the disorder and incapacity which marked the early reign of Humáyún, and were the causes of his downfall. In the course of his adventurous life Haidar Mirzá had served in Kashmír, and while he was acting as governor of Lahore on behalf of Prince Kámrán, a number of malcontent nobles of that country endeavoured to obtain his aid in dethroning their unpopular ruler. He entered warmly into the project, but the troubles of Hindústán delayed its execution. After passing into the service of Humáyún, and witnessing the disastrous rout of Kanauj, described in one of the following Extracts, he endeavoured to induce Humáyún to secure a refuge and a vantage-ground in Kashmír. The Emperor was inclined to follow his advice, and sent some forces to enter upon the conquest of that country. But his plans were thwarted by his brother Kámrán, and he was compelled to fly beyond the Indus. Haidar Mirzá soon showed the practicability of the advice he had tendered. With a force of only 4000 men he marched against Kashmír, and evading the troops drawn up to oppose him, he made his way secretly by unfrequented routes to Srinagar the capital, and captured it without opposition in Rajab, 947 (November, 1540). The whole country fell into his possession, and he successfully resisted the attempts of the dethroned prince to recover his kingdom, although Sher Sháh aided the exile. Haidar Mirzá ruled the land which he had won with great wisdom and ability, and so recruited its resources that it was restored to prosperity and happiness. He reigned for eleven years, and was eventually killed in a night attack by a party of conspirators in 958 (1551 A.D.). To his honour be it recorded, he did not in his prosperity forget his unfortunate kinsman the Emperor Humáyún, but urged him to come to Kashmír, and to make that country a point d'appui for the recovery of his lost empire.

The MS. used is a small 4to. belonging to the Nawab of Jhajjhar, containing 729 pages, of fourteen lines each. There is a transcript of this MS. among Sir H. Elliot's MSS. It seems to differ occasionally from the MS. used by Mr. Erskine, as may be seen by comparing the following Extracts with those given by Mr. Erskine.]

[When all the brothers were assembled, they conferred together upon the state of affairs. The discussion was protracted, but no profitable decision was arrived at; in fact, nothing was proposed that was worthy of the occasion, for as it is said, “When Fortune's adverse, minds are perverse.” Kámrán Mirzá was very anxious to return, but Humayun disregarded all his repre­sentations. Seven months were wasted in weary indecision, until the opportunity was lost, and Sher Khán was on the Ganges ready for war. In the midst of this confusion Kámrán Mirzá became very ill. The climate of Hindústán had brought on some serious disorders.* When he had thus suffered for two or three months, he lost the use of his hands and feet. As no medicine or treatment relieved him, he became the more desirous of depart­ing to Lahore. At length his maladies so increased, that he made up his mind to return thither. This departure of Kámrán Mirzá was the turning-point in the rise of Sher Khán and the downfall of the Chaghatáí power. The Emperor greatly urged him to leave some of his officers and forces as auxiliaries, but Kámrán Mirzá, on the contrary, did all he could to induce all the men of Ágra to go away with him, and strenuously rejected the proposal to leave his own army behind. Mír Khwája Kalán, who was his prime minister, also exerted himself to the same purpose. Kámrán Mirzá sent him on in advance, and then followed in person.

While this was passing, Sher Khán advanced to the banks of the Ganges, and passed his army over. Kutb Khán, his son, marched towards Etáwa and Kálpí. These territories were the ikta's of Husain Sultán, who was one of the Uzbek Sultáns, and Yádgár Násir Mirzá, son of Násir Mirzá, the brother of the Emperor Bábar. Part of Kálpí belonged to Kámrán Mirzá, and he had sent to that district Iskandar Sultán as his represen­tative. These three persons marched against Kutb Khán, who was slain in the battle, and they gained a complete victory. The Emperor now marched from Ágra towards the Ganges against Sher Khán. [The writer goes on to explain at length his reasons for leaving Kámrán, and joining the Emperor.] Although Mirzá Kámrán would not consent to my parting from him, I remained behind without his consent. Kámrán Mirzá himself, shamefully leaving only Iskandar Sultán with about 1000 men as auxiliaries, went off to Lahore, taking with him all the men of Ágra he could carry with him; thus giving strength to the enemy and preparing defeat for his friends. The Imperial army reached the banks of the Ganges in the best way that it could. There it encamped and lay for about a month, the Emperor being on one side of the river, and Sher Khán on the other, facing each other. The armies may have amounted to more than 200,000 men. Muhammad Sultán Mirzá, of the house of Tímúr, and grandson by a daughter of Sultán Husain (of Khurásán), had come to India to wait upon the Emperor Bábar, and had been received with every mark of kindness and kingly favour. After Bábar's death he had several times revolted against Humáyún; but being unsuccessful, he had sought forgive­ness, and had been pardoned. Now having colluded with Sher Khán, he deserted. A new way was thus opened. Everybody began to desert, and the most surprising part of it was, that many of those who deserted did not go over to Sher Khán, and so could expect no favour from him. A heated feeling ran through the army, and the cry was, “Let us go and rest in our own homes.” A number also of Kámrán's auxiliary forces deserted and fled to Lahore.

Among the equipments which were in the train of the Emperor were 700 carriages (gardún), each dawn by four pairs of bullocks, and carrying a swivel (zarb-zan), which discharged a ball (kalola), of 500 miskáls weight. I myself several times saw that from the top of an eminence they unfailingly (be-khatá) struck horse­men who slightly and unsuspectingly exposed themselves. And there were twenty-one carriages, each drawn by eight pairs of bullocks. Stone balls were of no use in these, but the shots were of molten brass, and weighed 5000 miskáls, and the cost of each was 200 miskáls of silver. They would strike anything that was visible at the distance of a parasang.