Tūzuk-i Jahāngīrī - The Memoirs of Jahangueir (Price)

[Observations on the Journey from Mandou to Agrah]

As a considerable period had elapsed since I had an opportunity of visiting the province of Gûjerat, I felt a desire now I was in the neighbourhood to view it in its present state, and I accordingly quitted Mandou, after making the necessary preparations, and proceeded in that direction. When my father had completed the subjugation of the province, he had particularly enjoined every member of his court to erect at different stations on the frontiers convenient buildings, with gardens attached, and every requisite whether for repose or recreation. Now when we approached the capital of the province, the first place at which I encamped happened to be the villa and gardens of Khaun Khanan, close to the suburbs of Ahmedabad. Kheyr-ul-Nessa Begum, the daughter of that nobleman, who was present among the inmates of my harram, now came to me, and stating her wish to entertain me in these gardens of her father, requested that I would remain upon the spot for a few days, while she expedited the necessary arrangements for my reception. With a request which had its source in such motives of kindness I could not refuse to comply, and I accordingly continued encamped in the neighbourhood. I must not omit to observe by the way, that it was during that season of the year in which, from the effects of the cold weather, most trees and shrubs usually shed their foliage, and are equally bare of leaf, and fruit, and blossom.

In the course of five days, by employing various artificers of Ahmedabad, to the number of four hundred individuals, in different branches of decoration, she had so effectually changed the appearance of the gardens, by making use of coloured paper and wax, that every tree and shrub seemed as abundantly furnished with leaf, and flower, and fruit, as if in the very freshness and bloom of spring and summer. These included the orange, lemon, peach, pomegranate, and apple; and among flowering shrubs, of every species of rose, and other garden flowers of every description. So perfect, indeed, was the deception produced, that when I first entered the garden it entirely escaped my recollection that it was no longer the spring of the year, nor the season for fruit, and I unwittingly began to pluck at the fruit and flowers, the artificers having copied the beauties of nature with such surprising truth and accuracy. You might have said, without contradiction, that it was the very fruit and flower you saw, in all its bloom and freshness. The different avenues throughout the garden were at the same time furnished with a variety of tents and canopies, of velvet of the deepest green; so that these, together with the verdure of the sod, contrasted with the variegated and lively tints of the rose and an infinity of other flowers, left altogether such an impression on my mind, as that in the very season of the rose I never contemplated in any place, garden, or otherwise, any thing that afforded equal delight to the senses.

From this scene of fascination and enchantment I was not permitted to withdraw myself for three days and as many nights; during which, independently of the delicious repasts on which we feasted, the females of my harram by whom I was accompanied, to the number of four hundred, were each of them presented with a tray of four pieces of cloth of gold of the manufacture of Khorassaun, and an ambertchei, or perfume-stand, of elaborate workmanship and considerable value; none of which presents could have been estimated separately at a less sum than three hundred tomauns.^* What the begum presented to myself on the occasion, in jewels, pieces of the richest fabric for my wardrobe, and horses of the highest value for temper and speed, could not have amounted to a less sum than four laks of rupees. In return, I presented her with a chaplet of pearl of the value of five laks of rupees, which had been purchased for my own use, and a bulse of rubies worth three laks more: I also added one thousand horse to the dignity already possessed by her father. In conclusion, what was thus exhibited in one short week, and in the very depth of winter, for my recreation, by the daughter of Khaun Khanan alone, could scarcely have been accomplished by the united genius and skill of any hundred individuals of the other sex, chuse them where you may.

When I at last entered the metropolis of Gûjerat on this occasion, I caused the buildings erected by my father for the greatest part, such at least as in my eyes appeared unworthy of his memory, to be demolished, and others of greater magnificence to be erected in their stead. I remained in the province for a period of five months, amusing myself in the sports of the field, and making excursions to view the different parts of the country. It is but justice to say, that its chief city, Ahmedabad, must be considered among the most renowned in Hindûstaun, when it is remembered, that during the time of the refractory Mirzas, who furnished so much employment to the armies of my father, an imperial nuggaurah, or noubet, sounded from five different quarters of the place, indicating the residence of as many independent sovereigns; and its magnitude may be further estimated by the fact, that it is surrounded by sixty-one suburbs, each separately as large as a moderate-sized town, and each governed by its own separate magistrate. There were moreover, at the time, in the different bazars of the city, not less than five thousand bankers’ or money-changers’ shops: from all which circumstances taken together, we might with a single glance of the eye, conclude as to the greatness and opulence of this very magnificent city.

In the midst of its numerous population it contains, however, an extraordinary proportion of thieves and vagabonds of every description, so inured to robberies and violence, as not to be deterred from their profligate habits of life by the severest measures that I could devise; not even though I have occasionally ordered two and three hundred a day to be cut off by various modes of execution. From these circumstances, so notorious has been the insecurity of the roads in Gûjerat, and so much have travellers of every class and description been exposed to inconvenience and danger, that a native of that seat of the muses, Shirauz, on one occasion, on his arrival at Agrah gave vent to his feelings in these four lines: “I have traversed, through the blessing of Him who to none is accountable, roads of which the soil is saturated with human blood. Well may he be said to have obtained a renewal of life, who had escaped a living man from the perils of Gûjerat.”^*

To conclude my observations on Gûjerat, I shall here add, that the province is altogether a month’s journey in compass, the frontiers covered with tracts of forest and woody hills, not to be traversed by man without the greatest difficulty, these being the haunts of wild beasts, and animals of many strange and uncommon varieties. At the period I was about to enter the province from Mandou, on the occasion recently referred to, I directed Nour-ud-dein Kûly Khaun to furnish himself with what sums of money he might require from the treasury, and through the forest tract on that side prepare a passage for the imperial armies; and that officer, with twenty thousand pioneers, succeeded in a short time, with their saws and hatchets, in cutting a road a bow-shot wide across the whole line of forest, through which we passed with perfect ease and safety.

From Ahmedabad to the sea-coast is a distance of three days’ journey; and as I had long wished to view the wonders of the deep, I now proceeded to Khambaït, or Cambay, at the head of the gulf of that name. Here I caused to be constructed on piles, to the distance of a league within the sea, a large stage or pier, which I secured against the impulse of the waves by anchors of a thousand and two thousand maunns’ weight. From this, for seven days and as many nights, embarking on board of the ghraubs, or prowed vessels employed on these coasts, I enjoyed in all its perfection the amusement of fishing.

Leaving Cambay and its sea-beaten shore, I directed my course next towards the city of Oujein, one of the most ancient in the whole territory of Hindûstaun. On the banks of a large lake of fresh water near the city, and which washes the foot of the castle walls, I caused on my arrival to be erected, for my accommodation, a pavilion of the largest size, and of the best architecture of the country; and here I remained, hunting and making excursions to various parts of the neighbourhood, for the space of forty days.

While I remained at Oujein on this occasion, an instance of atrocious and sanguinary turpitude occurred, of which the history of crime happily furnishes but few examples.

A certain Moghûl had resided for some time in the place, employed, as was supposed, in the pursuit of some commercial concern; and he was, it seems, in the habit of inviting such females as he observed to be addicted to liquor, to meet him in some of the gardens in the vicinity, where he told them they would find and experience from him such a reception as would surpass their most luxurious expectations.

The women thus invited usually arrayed themselves in their richest ornaments, and thus repaired to the place of appointment; where, as it afterwards appeared, it was the practice of the villain first to reduce them to a state of intoxication, and then to murder and strip them of their ornaments, with which he returned to his own residence. This he was permitted to continue for many a week, until he had by these nefarious means contrived to amass treasure to the amount of five-and-forty thousand tomauns.^*

At last one of the women thus invited, after arraying herself, as was his rule to stipulate, in her richest ornaments, proceeded to the place of assignation accompanied by a groom and female attendant, and, according to appointment, found the Moghûl expecting her arrival. After entertaining the unhappy woman until midnight, he then made her drunk with liquor; and having murdered both the groom and her attendant, returned, and putting a bow-string about her neck, finally strangled her; and having thus consummated his atrocious design, repaired with his blood-stained spoil to his own abode.

His villany, by some means or other, was at last detected, and the diabolical ruffian, together with the body of the woman he had murdered, and the ornaments of which he had stripped her, were brought before me. I ordered the kotewaul, or lieutenant of Kleir, to make search in the house of the murderer, conceiving that something more might be discovered of the property of his unhappy victims. As I suspected, they brought from thence two chests or boxes, which on being opened in my presence, proved to contain not less than seven hundred sets of female ornaments, all of gold, taken from the unfortunates whom he had thus immolated in the gratification of his detestable avarice. As soon as this circumstance was made public, the relatives of the deceased laid claim to and received the property; and I commanded that the perpetrator of this horrible villany should be immediately led to the great plain, where, as an awful example, he was torn piece-meal with red-hot pincers.

From Oujein, I now proceeded on my return towards Agrah, and in due course reached Futtahpour, where I remained for the space of four months, an alarming mortality then prevailing at Agrah. When, however, the mortality ceased, and the air began to be restored to its purity, I quitted Futtahpour, and took up my residence in the Dohrrah gardens, situated in the outskirts of the metropolis. These gardens had been formed by my father in the early part of his reign, and they contain within their precincts four separate pieces of water, each of them a quarter of a farsang, or about a thousand paces, in length and breadth, and each having on its bank a lofty and elegant pavilion. The gardens are, moreover, remarkable for a great many ancient cypress trees of extraordinary size; and it contains also fruit-bearing trees in the greatest number and variety.

Before I quitted these gardens for my final entry into Agrah, I considered it a sacred duty to visit the tomb of my father at Secundera, over which the buildings which I had long since ordered had been now completed, and, in truth, it exhibited to the view in all its parts an object of infinite gratification and delight. In the first place, it was surrounded by an enclosure or colonnade, which afforded standing for eight thousand elephants, and a proportion of horses, the whole being built on arches, and divided into chambers. The principal gate by which you enter is thirty cubits wide, by as many in height, with a tower erected on four lofty arches, terminating in a circular dome, the whole one hundred and twenty cubits high, divided into six stories, and decorated and inlaid with gold and lapis lazuli from roof to basement. This superb portico, as it may be called, has also on each of its four sides (angles probably) a minaret of hewn stone three stories or stages in height. From the entrance to the building in which reposes all that is earthly of my royal father, is a distance of nearly a quarter of a farsang, the approach being under a colonnade floored with red stone finely polished, five cubits wide. On each side of the colonnade is a garden planted with cypresses, wild pine, plane, and sûpaury trees (the betel-nut tree, or arek), in great number; and in the gardens on each side, and at the distance of a bow-shot from each other, are reservoirs of water, from each of which issues a fountain or jet d’eau, rising to the height of ten cubits; so that from the grand entrance to within a short distance of the shrine, we pass between twenty of these fountains. Above the tomb itself is erected a pavilion of seven stories, gradually lessening to the top, and the seventh terminating in a dome or cupola; which, together with the other buildings connected with it in every part of the enclosure, is all of polished marble throughout; and all completed, from first to last, at the expense of one hundred and eighty lacs of rupees.^* In addition to this I have provided that a supply of two hundred measures or services of food, and two hundred of confectionery, should be daily distributed to the poor from the sacred edifice, and that no strangers should ever be required to dress their own meals, though their number should amount to a thousand horse.

When I entered on this occasion the fabric which enclosed my father’s remains, such were my impressions, that I could have affirmed the departed monarch was still alive, and seated on his throne, and that I was come to offer my usual salutation of homage and filial duty. I prostrated myself, however, at the foot of the tomb, and bathed it with the tears of regret and sincerity. On leaving the venerated spot, and in propitiation of the pure spirit which reposed there, I distributed the sum of fifty thousand rupees among the resident poor. I then mounted my horse and proceeded into the castle of Agrah, to the saloon, or palace, which I had ordered to be there built for my own residence.

This pavilion, or rather saloon, rests upon the gate which opens on the river Jumnah, and is supported by twenty-five pillars, all covered with plates of gold, and all over inlaid with rubies, turquoises, and pearl. The roof on the outside is formed into the shape of a dome, and is also covered with squares of solid gold, the ceiling of the dome within being decorated with the most elaborate figures of the richest materials and most exquisite workmanship. The adjoining tower is a structure of four stories, all decorated in the same costly manner as I have just described, and is from top to bottom of an octagonal shape. Annexed to this latter structure is a small gallery overlooking the Jumnah, from whence, when so disposed, I have been accustomed to view the combats of elephants, neilahgaos, antelopes, and other wild animals. In another story in this building, more on a level with the river, I occasionally distribute to the ameirs of my court, in social communion, wine from my own goblet; and in this same gallery it is that those entitled to particular privileges are admitted to a seat in my presence.

There is, however, another saloon of general audience, to which all classes of the people, high and low, without exception, are admitted to my presence; but in this a recess is parted off by a lattice-work of gold; and at the front of the hall is formed an area, in which is erected a mohidjer (or balustrated stage perhaps) of the height of a man from the ground, also of gold, where the most distinguished members of my court, princes of the blood, and nobility from the rank of one thousand to that of five thousand, are appointed to take their stand on occasions of state and ceremony. The area is covered all over with carpets of thirty and forty cubits, and above is a triple canopy of velvet wrought with gold, as a protection against the rays of a meridian sun. The lattice-work and platform are both of solid gold, and so contrived as to be easily taken to pieces, for removal from place to place, always forming a part of the imperial equipage or equipment, ready to be set up whenever necessary. I shall only add, that the quantity of three thousand maunns of gold^* was expended in the fabrication of this article of the imperial appointments.

[The Arrival of Parveiz at Agrah and Khossrou's Release From Prison]

Having now taken up my abode at Agrah for a permanence, I despatched a message to Allahabad, requiring the presence of my son Sûltan Parveiz, whose head-quarters were at that station. Accordingly, when information reached me that he was arrived within a day’s journey of Agrah, I commanded the whole of the ameirs and dignitaries of the empire to quit the city, and proceed to meet him, in order to form his escort to my presence. The instructions of ceremony which I gave them on this occasion were as follows:—when they came within the distance of a bow-shot of the prince and his retinue, they were to dismount from their horses and to salute him on foot, and so continue until they had his permission to remount: but from this an exemption was made in favour of Ettamaud-ud-Doulah, who, after paying his respects on foot, was to remount without further ceremony. Thus not much less than twenty thousand of the most distinguished individuals of my court and army were sent to conduct the prince to my presence, with orders to lodge him on the evening of his arrival in the Gûlafshaun garden (the rose-shedding).

On the ensuing day I gave directions, that between the castle of Agrah and the garden where the prince had taken up his residence for the night, and which is at the distance of half a farsang from the castle, there should be stationed at regular intervals twenty nuggarahs or bands of music, to sound the strains of triumph at his approach. At the same time the greater part of the inhabitants of the city, both male and female, in their gayest apparel, proceeded to meet the Shahzadah. Three thousand of my finest elephants, in their richest caparisons of pearl and gold, were drawn out on the road by which he was to approach. Lastly, I sent him a dress of honour from my own wardrobe, with the cincture set with diamonds from my own waist, of the value of four laks of rupees; the diamond jeigha, or aigrette, from my own turban, of the value of one lak, and a chaplet of pearl of the value of five laks of rupees. But this was not all: I intimated that every individual person of my court, of whatever degree, desirous of evincing his attachment to me, each according to his ability, should make a present of some value to the Shahzadah; and by an account subsequently laid before me, it appeared that he received on this occasion, in consequence of such intimation, in gold and jewels, horses and elephants, what amounted in the whole to the value of two hundred laks of rupees.^*

In the course of the day they conducted Parveiz across the Jumnah into the castle of Agrah, where he was led immediately into my presence. The moment he came in sight of me, and yet at some distance off, he laid his forehead to the floor, and thus seven times repeated his prostrations until he nearly approached my person. After the seventh he stood erect before me, with his hands crossed upon his bosom. It was now that I directed Saadek Mahommed Khaun and Khojah Abûl Hussun, one of my Bukhshies, to support him, one at each shoulder, up the throne, in order to kiss my feet; and this done, I desired him to take his seat at my right hand, my son Khoorum being on this occasion seated on my left. I then gave orders that the palace of Mohaubet Khaun should be cleared for his reception: that chief being absent at the time, employed in quelling some disturbances on the frontiers of Kabûl, and his family being by my directions removed to another place of residence.

On the day following Parveiz came to pay the ceremonial visit of homage, on which occasion the following enumeration will exhibit a tolerable view of the nature of the articles which composed his superb present to me. Eighty trained elephants of the highest value; two hundred horses of the best breed of Irâk, with their caparisons wrought in gold; one thousand camels of the dromedary sort, chosen for their speed; a number of the large white oxen of Gûjerat; four hundred trays of gold brocade, velvet, satin, and other pieces of manufacture of the rarest fabric; and twelve trays of jewels, consisting of diamonds, rubies, pearls, and turquoises; altogether, according to the schedule, being equivalent to the magnificent sum of four hundred laks of rupees.^* On my part, throwing round his neck a chaplet of pearl of the value of ten laks of rupees, I raised him at once from the order of ten thousand to that of thirty thousand horse.

About a month subsequent to his arrival at Agrah on this occasion, Parveiz surprised me one day, by appearing before me with a napkin fastened round his neck, and casting himself at my feet, breaking out into the bitterest expressions of sorrow. Something astonished, I demanded with paternal solicitude what it was that he would ask—what was the cause of this paroxysm of grief, and what it was that he had to complain of? He replied, that it was beyond his endurance longer to reflect, that himself and his three brothers should be passing their lives in hunting, and in every species of amusement, indulgence, and ease, while one brother, the eldest of all, was condemned now for the fifteenth year to drag on a wretched existence in the solitude of a prison: it was not the lot of humanity to be entirely blameless; but in all circumstances, clemency was the peculiar and most becoming attribute of kings. His humble prayer therefore was, that I would at length grant to this brother my full pardon, release him from his melancholy confinement, and restore him to an exalted place in my royal favour. I found it no easy matter to parry this very urgent supplication, and I therefore demanded if he was prepared to be responsible that the unhappy Khossrou would never again commit himself by the same disloyal and refractory conduct; in which case alone I might, perhaps, be persuaded to set him once more at large. Parveiz immediately committed to paper a few lines, in the nature of a surety bond, and I accordingly signified my assent to the release of Khossrou.

That this might be done with all due formality, I directed a grand entertainment to be prepared in the Dohrrah Bâgh, formerly mentioned; whither on a day appointed I repaired from my palace at Agrah, and from thence I despatched Assof Khaun and Khaun-e-Jahaun with instructions, after giving him some requisite admonition, to bring Khossrou out of his prison. In the mean time I sent him from my own wardrobe a complete dress, with girdle and jeighah set with diamonds, a horse with enriched caparison, and the elephant Kohpârah, for which my father had paid no less a sum than four laks of rupees, and which had hitherto always belonged to my imperial retinue, with a seat or houdah fitted to its back at the expense of nearly thirty laks of rupees,^* equal to ninety thousand tomauns of Irâk.

In order to complete what was requisite to support the splendour of his rank as a prince of the blood, I conveyed to him, moreover, two hundred and three horses of the best breed in the imperial stables, and I directed that the ameirs of every rank that might be disposed to pay him their respects, should not approach him without a suitable present; and all were commanded to attend him on foot, from the place of his confinement to the Dohrrah Bâgh, the distance of a quarter of a farsang, with the exception, as in the case of Sûltan Parveiz, of Ettemaud-ud-Doulah. Such was the display of magnificence and returning royal favour with which, after he had been discarded from my presence for a period of fifteen years,^† I admitted Khossrou to do homage to my person.

When he approached the audience-chamber, and appeared in sight at some distance from the throne, he burst into a flood of tears, and repeatedly prostrating himself on the floor, so continued to do until he came close up, when placing his head at my feet, he there remained, without attempting to raise it up, for a full hour, although frequently importuned by me to look up. “With what face,” he exclaimed, “can I raise mine eyes to my royal father’s countenance? For an offence so heinous as that of which I have been guilty, how can I presume to ask forgiveness?” After shedding a profusion of tears, however, he at last arose, and in some verses expressive of his deep distress, implored my clemency for the past, and my indulgence for the future. Having so far testified his bitter remorse, he again bowed himself to the earth, and then, in an attitude of the utmost humility, standing before me with his hands across his bosom, he repeated, that he could never sufficiently atone or abate his sense of shame for his conduct, though night and day were consumed in endless regret in my presence.

I now ordered a jar of wine, and a goblet inlaid with precious stones, to be brought in, and directing my four sons, Khossrou, Khoorum, Parveiz, and Sheheryaun to seat themselves together, called upon them to circulate the goblet one to the other, while I looked on aloof, to witness this new scene of harmony and reconciliation. My fifth and remaining son, Sûltan Bukht, was at this time absent in Bengal, employed in suppressing the turbulent and disaffected among the natives of that province. The four brothers passed the goblet round accordingly, and in the height of exhilaration began to embrace and kiss each other. However, in conclusion, throwing himself at my feet, Parveiz acknowledged the unspeakable gratification of the moment; but he said there was still one thing wanting to render their happiness complete. He and two of his brothers, he said, were in possession of the several dignities of forty, thirty, and twenty thousand horse, and if a corresponding dignity were bestowed upon their elder brother, every remnant of regret would be effectually removed. The fraternal intreaties of Parveiz finally prevailed, and I granted to Khossrou the patent of an ameir of twenty thousand. In this I could not but consider, that after me the imperial dignity must of right devolve upon Shahzadah Khossrou, it being a maxim in the Teymûrian family, that while the eldest born is living, the monarchy shall never pass to a junior. Under every consideration, I therefore gave him full pardon for his offences, and restored to him all his honours, allowing him the range of ten and twenty days’ journey round the metropolis, for his hunting parties and other excursions of amusement. Upon a wholesome male progeny, indeed, rest the sure permanence and stability of sovereign power; and an opposite treatment would have been as inconsistent with sound policy, as it would be unworthy of the authority which I hold.

About the period of which I have been speaking, the design of visiting Kashmeir and its blooming saffron meads took possession of my mind, and I issued orders for the construction of four hundred vessels such as are employed on the Ganges and Jumnah, it being my intention to proceed by water, at least to the foot of the mountains. In the course of two months these were completed, all with awnings and curtains of elegant materials and workmanship. A sum of ten laks of rupees was also advanced to Nour-ud-dein Kûly Beg, for the purpose of being applied to the clearing away the forest thickets, and to the erection of bridges across the rivers, where necessary, to facilitate the passage of the imperial armies.

[On Revolts and Turbulence Among the Peoples of Hindustan]

My residence at Agrah had now continued for several months without interruption, and I had proceeded thence the distance of a day’s journey along the river Jumnah upwards, on my way to Dehly, when intelligence was brought to me that the king of the Mugs,^* with an army of two hundred thousand men, all of them carrying fire-arms, had landed in Bengal from the seaward, and unexpectedly attacked Kaussem Khaun, who commanded in the province as the lieutenant general of my son Sûltan Bukht. The report, moreover, added that the enemy had in his fleet of ghraabs a formidable train of heavy artillery, and implements of combustion beyond all calculation; that this formidable armament had come upon Kaussem Khaun when he was totally unprepared; that his exertions to assemble a fleet and army had been anticipated by this king of the Mugs, by whom he had been surrounded on every side; and that having been severely wounded in four places, he had been defeated with great loss, and finally compelled to abandon his troops to their fate. He had however contrived to throw himself into one of the fortified towns of the province, which he was determined not to surrender to the enemy.

On receipt of this untoward piece of information I directed Mokurreb Khaun, Vezzeir Khaun, and Shujayet Khaun, each of them dignitaries of seven thousand, and each of them victor in a variety of sanguinary conflicts, with sixty thousand veteran Ouzbek horse, which I placed under their orders, three hundred pieces of artillery, and twenty thousand matchlockmen on foot, to proceed immediately to the relief of Kaussem Khaun. The three commanders had my instructions, should the force of the enemy on their arrival in Bengal appear beyond all proportion superior, to apprize me without delay of the fact; and that my son Parveiz should, if necessary, hasten to their support, with one hundred thousand cavalry placed at his disposal.

Before they reached Mauldah, however, the three commanders received intelligence, that having at last assembled the ameirs from every quarter of the province, a circuit of six months’ journey in extent, Kaussem Khaun with one hundred thousand horse and foot, all with fire-arms and inured to battle, had attacked the enemy, elated as they were with success, on four sides at once; and that having killed thirty thousand of these ferocious invaders, the rest had taken to flight, eagerly pursued by the conquerors. The latter followed the enemy into their own territories, where they made captive forty thousand boys and girls, the children of the fugitives; and these, together with the heads of the thirty thousand slain, were forwarded to my presence in the course of time. In acknowledgment of this eminent piece of service, I advanced the dignity of Kaussem Khaun by the addition of a thousand horse, conveying to him, at the same time a girdle, sword, and jeighah, set with precious stones, a charger with enriched caparison, and an elephant which had been purchased for my own imperial train at the price of not less than four laks of rupees.^* I sent him, moreover, a complete dress taken from my own private wardrobe.

The three detached khauns having proceeded so far to the support of Kaussem Khaun, they were now further directed to enter the country of the Mugs with their united force, and I entertained but little doubt that, with God’s grace and the influence of my victorious destiny, the power of the enemy would soon be exterminated root and branch. Moreover, it was understood that the territory of the Mugs was the resort of great numbers of the very finest elephants, of which as many as could be laid hold of, they were instructed to convey to my presence.

In one month after my departure from Agrah I entered Dehly; and here it was my lot to receive information from Kanouje, that certain of the misguided people in that neighbourhood had raised the standard of rebellion, expelled the officers of my government from several of the purgunnahs or townships in that quarter, and evinced in other respects the most turbulent, refractory, and hostile designs. One of the ablest and bravest men about my court was Abdullah Khaun, and him I now determined to employ, in order to reduce these insolent rebels to their duty. In passing his troops in review before me, it was however observed that he had no elephants suited to the services of a campaign, and I therefore presented him with five of the largest class. I added to these three horses of the breed of Irâk, together with two thousand camels of the fleetest kind, and a donation of ten laks of rupees, all of which to give him a competent equipment, and enable him with the greater confidence to proceed against the insurgents.

We are told by a maxim founded on experience, to beware, when in the season of action you send your generals to the jaws of danger, that you distribute to them liberally the marks of your bounty, in gold and horses, and the other appendages of grandeur, so that nothing may be wanting to encourage them to prosecute the services of the state with vigour and devotion. It happens too frequently that the agents of government shall waste the resources of the districts intrusted to their care in improvident extravagance and luxurious indulgence; and hence it comes to pass, that when the hour of trial arrives they are equally lost to themselves and to their duty. If then at the very crisis of danger I should be induced to withhold my bounty, the manifold evils that must befal the people, whom I may unfortunately have placed at their discretion, in every species of tyranny and misgovernment, would be beyond all endurance; and at the awful day of retribution what a dreadful responsibility would rest upon my shoulders! When therefore emergencies of danger arrive, there is but one alternative —you must disburse your treasure, though it require a houseful of gold.

The next time that Abdullah Khaun passed in review, he communicated the request that his brother might be permitted to join him; considering, as he alleged, should the enemy assail him with a force so superior as to risk some disastrous failure, that the support of so near a relative would be of the utmost consequence. His brother was a commander of the order three thousand, and a request so reasonable could not well be resisted; and the force which was placed at his disposal was thus completed to thirty thousand cavalry of the four-horse class, and ten thousand camel-mounted gunners.

It was not long before Abdullah Khaun found himself in presence of the rebels; who with apparent resolution, and a force little less than one hundred thousand horse and foot, of every description, prepared to give him battle. The advanced parties commenced the action by a discharge of rockets and matchlocks; while Abdullah Khaun, having detached his brother to make an attack from an unexpected quarter, with his own division charged the enemy in full career directly in front. Twenty thousand of the rebels fell in this charge; and the remainder taking flight in dismay, crowded into one of their forts (probably that of Kanouje), from the walls and towers of which they opened a fire of artillery and musketry upon their pursuers. Without regarding the briskness of the fire thus kept up by the enemy, Abdullah Khaun with equal gallantry and presence of mind determined to storm the place; and the cavalry emulating the courage of their general, each horseman alternately springing forward, with invincible resolution, to take the place of his comrade as he fell, the principal gateway was at last carried; and ten thousand more of the rebels falling in the defence, their commander fell alive into the hands of the assailants.

The cap, or tiara, of the chief, containing jewels to the value of twenty laks of rupees, and ten thousand of the heads of the rebels, fixed on spears, with all the commanders who were taken alive, were conveyed to my presence, Abdullah Khaun remaining in full possession of the subjugated districts. To deter others from the commission of similar acts of rebellion towards their sovereign, and of ungrateful perfidy towards their benefactor, I directed the bodies of the slain who fell in the defence of Kanouje, to the number of ten thousand, to be suspended from trees with their heads downwards, on the different high roads in the vicinity. And here I am compelled to observe, with whatever regret, that notwithstanding the frequent and sanguinary executions which have been dealt among the people of Hindûstaun, the number of the turbulent and disaffected never seems to diminish; for what with the examples made during the reign of my father, and subsequently of my own, there is scarcely a province in the empire in which, either in battle or by the sword of the executioner, five and six hundred thousand human beings have not, at various periods, fallen victims to this fatal disposition to discontent and turbulence. Ever and anon, in one quarter or another, will some accursed miscreant spring up to unfurl the standard of rebellion; so that in Hindûstaun never has there existed a period of complete repose.

At the period of which I am speaking, I appointed Lushker Khaun to the government of Agrah, and the superintendence of its castles, together with that part of my harram left in the metropolis. His son-in-law, Baba Meiret, a brave old man, who had eminently signalized his courage on many occasions, but particularly on the frontiers of Kabul, where he received ten separate wounds, although not before he had contrived to strike off forty of the enemy’s heads, was now selected by me to discharge the duties of kotewaul (or prefect of police) of the city of Agrah.

[Occurrences and Observations on the Journey from Dehly to Kashmeir]

In quitting the metropolis on the present occasion, on board of my flotilla on the Jumnah, I was accompanied by four hundred of the inmates of my harram. Occasionally we came to a spot which furnished game and sport of different kinds, and here I usually disembarked to amuse myself in hunting or shooting; the army which was to accompany us into Kashmeir proceeding all the while on a parallel line, at the distance of three farsangs from the banks of the river.

In our voyage up the Jumnah, when we reached Muttra, which is a celebrated sanctuary of the Hindûs, it was reported to me that there lived in the neighbourhood, where he had resided for twenty years, a noted derweish, or recluse, on whose head, it was stated, there fell every Friday evening throughout the year, from the skies, a shower of gold of coined ashrefies of two methkals each, to the number of five hundred ashrefies. As this was a miracle to which I could not immediately give credit, I determined to ascertain the truth, and for that purpose proceeded to visit the derweish. When I approached the hermitage or cell where he had taken up his abode, I found about four hundred of his disciples clothed in skins, and seated in ranks round the entrance. One of them had previously announced my approach. When I entered the abode of the recluse, which appears to have been a sort of cavern, he did not attempt to move, neither did he offer me the usual salutation, nor the slightest mark of respect in any way whatever. Having, however, made my salaam to him, and otherwise testified my humble respect, I endeavoured by all the mildness I could assume to bring him into conversation. At last he condescended to open his mouth, and his first words were these: “I serve that king who sustains, rambling about the earth, many such kings as thou art.” To this observation I replied by a request that he would favour me with something that might remind me of the admonitions of the wise and good. “Strive for the repose of God’s creatures committed to thy care,” said he, “and do thy pleasure, for the virtue of this will be a cover to thy sins. Be not offensive. In the agents whom thou mayest employ in the different provinces of the empire, be it thy study to reject such as are tyrannical and rapacious. Whilst thou hast power, cherish and respect the grey beard and the derweish.” He then recited six lines of poetry of which the following may be the substance: “Scoff not at the aged man weighed down by the hand of affliction; kindle not the flame which consumes the broken-hearted. Be not at one time a trifler, at another grave. Art thou full? give not words of wind. Be not evil-minded lest thy words be evil; be not slanderous if thou wouldst avoid a name of reproach.” When he had concluded his recital he said, “let thy treatment of thine eldest son be something better than he has recently experienced, for he is destined to be thy successor.”^*

In about an hour afterwards the evening closed in upon us, and one of the derweishes in attendance gave the call to prayer. Some tapers were lighted up, and the venerable recluse proceeded to the performance of his devotions, bending his body at intervals eight times to the earth. Immediately afterwards five of the ministering derweishes entered, and stood in an erect posture before their principal. The latter raised his hands towards heaven, and he had scarcely commenced this act of adoration, when all at once a shower of gold from the sky, in laminæ^† of about one methkal in weight, fell upon his head, which when collected together amounted in the whole to the value of seven hundred ashrefies. This he divided into two equal parts; one of which he presented to me, with the desire that for a blessing upon my treasury it might be distributed among my officers of revenue; the other he shared among the derweishes present at our conference. Having attentively witnessed all that passed, I did not omit to apprize the recluse, that I should endow his cloister with the assignment of a village producing an annual revenue of fifty thousand rupees, for the subsistence of the devout men who attended upon him. “Apply this money,” said he, “to the support of those whose reliance is upon human charity; I need it not, for the things of this life are no longer objects either of care or anxiety to me.”^‡

Without enlarging further on the subject, I took leave of the recluse; but when I had proceeded a short distance from the cave (or perhaps grotto) in which he resided, the thought occurred to me that I ought to have kissed his hand on departure: and at the very instant the idea was crossing my mind, one of the attendant derweishes came from his principal, with his salutation of peace, to say that he was aware of my thoughts; that he had accepted of the will for the deed, and that it would be inauspicious to return upon my steps after proceeding so far. He had only one further request to make, that for his sake I would extend my particular protection to a certain derweish of his acquaintance, whose abode was at Dehly. Upon this proof of the faculty which he possessed of diving into the minds of man, my faith in his piety was increased an hundred-fold. I turned round on the spot towards the cell of the recluse, and prostrate on the earth, besought the influence of his sacred character, to strengthen my energies for future exertion.

One circumstance more and I shall dismiss this subject altogether. When I returned to the imperial encampment, after quitting the abode of the recluse, it was communicated to me that the son of Khaun-e-Douraun had dared to turn into ridicule my conduct on this occasion. “How childish,” said he, “in the emperor, to be magic-blinded by his visit to this canting derweish!” I must here observe, that if I had not received the proof to which I have referred of his power of penetrating into the secrets of the mind, the miracle of the golden shower would have found but little credit with me; but the disrespectful language in which this person presumed to express himself could not be entirely overlooked: I therefore commanded that one side of his head and face should be flayed of the skin, and in that state he was led round the encampment, proclamation being made at the same time that such was the punishment which awaited those who dared to apply disrespectful language to him, who was at once their sovereign and benefactor. My severity on this occasion seemed to be further warranted by the fact, that this same son of Khaun-e-Douraun, on a previous visit to the derweish, had demeaned himself very contemptuously; and the derweish resenting such conduct, ventured to tell him that he should not go so far as to take his head, his youth and rashness being beneath his notice, “but,” said he, “I will have thee scalped.” And thus was the saying of the derweish pointedly fulfilled. In truth, persons of this description have at all times a claim to our respect; for although devout and pious men possess no claim to be considered as divinities, yet are they not very far apart from the Deity.

At Muttra my son Parveiz separated from the imperial army, and proceeded by my orders to his government of Allahabad. At first, as in the case of others, he had been invested with the order of two thousand, but I had finally advanced him to the commandery of twenty thousand horse: and here I think it no more than strict justice to record, that whether present or absent, never on any occasion have I experienced from him the slightest cause of offence; and I cannot therefore but express my earnest hope, that in all his pursuits he may experience the full attainment of all his wishes. One very trifling exception I may be allowed to introduce. Soon after his departure on this occasion, he conveyed a complaint to me, that having arrived at the distance of two marches from the camp of Abdullah Khaun above-mentioned, that commander had neglected to pay him that visit of respect, to which as my son he considered himself entitled. I informed him, however, in reply, that in omitting to throw himself in the way for the mere purpose of flattering his vanity, Abdullah Khaun had acted in strict conformity with his allegiance as a dutiful subject: for had he done otherwise, most assuredly he would have been sent to atone for his officiousness and folly by an imprisonment of thirty good years in the castle of Gualiar. Neither can I omit to observe that, however Shahzadah Parveiz may have been offended, there was nothing in the mere gratification of a childish vanity to justify the smallest delay in the march of Abdullah Khaun, whose conduct was governed by the strictest propriety.

While I remained in the precincts of Dehly, at the period to which I shall now return, they described to me a species of feathered game, with tails of a particular description, and the flesh of which was of a flavour in the highest degree delicious. But what more particularly attracted my curiosity was, that they spoke a language known to none but to the natives of Kashmeir, who, by using a sort of note or call, took from them the power of flight; and who were thus able to catch them by thousands at a time. On a plain in the neighbourhood, frequented by thousands of these birds in a flock, by way of experiment, I employed about a thousand of the Kashmeirians accustomed to the business, to give me a proof of their skill, and I attended in person to view the sport. As had been represented to me, about twenty of the Kashmeirians collected together, and produced a sort of murmuring sound, which attracting the attention of these birds, they were drawn by degrees within such a distance of the men, that they were taken in entire flocks. My pity was greatly moved by the reflection that these harmless birds should have fallen victims to this sort of treachery; that they should have been betrayed into the hands of the destroyer by their irresistible love of harmonious sounds, and that I should be found capable of consigning them to slaughter from a mere idle and vicious curiosity; the next day, therefore, I caused the whole, to the number of twenty thousand birds which had been taken on the occasion, to be set at liberty. My object was obtained in witnessing the fact, but to have seen them slaughtered would have bespoken a want of compassion foreign to my nature.

On my arrival at Sehrind, I visited the gardens of Khojah Weissy, constructed some time before by my directions. This person, distinguished not less for his skill in architecture than for his taste in laying out gardens and ornamental grounds, had indeed, in the present instance, exercised his judgment with such complete success, as to afford me the utmost delight. In particular I must describe, that on entering the garden I found myself immediately in a covered avenue, planted on each side with scarlet roses, and beyond them arose groves of cypress, fir, plane, and evergreens, variously disposed; but, what is scarcely credible, all this had been completed in the short space of forty days. Passing through these, we entered what was in reality the garden, which now exhibited a variegated parterre, ornamented with flowers of the utmost brilliancy of colours, and of the choicest kind. In the midst of this open parterre was a noble basin or reservoir of water, and in the centre of this piece of water was an elegant and lofty pavilion, of eight sides, capable of accommodating two hundred persons with convenient sitting-room, and surrounded by a beautiful colonnade. It was, moreover, two stories high, and painted all over within with every description of figure delightful to the eye. The reservoir was faced all round with hewn stone, and nearly two thousand water-fowl sported on its bosom. The infinite variety of flowers and flowering shrubs which bloomed on the parterre was not less delightful to the sight than bewitching to the smell: and as some acknowledgment of the gratification which I had experienced, I raised the same Khojah Weissy, on the spot, from the order of seven hundred to that of one thousand horse.

The day after my visit to these gardens, a circumstance occurred which I cannot pass without notice. It was stated to me that the collector of Sehrind had in his hands a petition which he was anxious to present to me, and I directed that he might be immediately sent for. The petition expressed that this collector did not entertain the design of interfering in any way with the property of the Moslems; on the contrary, his object was confined to the fixing of a fair and equitable assessment upon the wealth of the opulent Hindûs. For this purpose, if I could be prevailed upon to issue an ordinance in conformity with his views, he would engage to make good to the imperial treasury the zekkaut of the empire, such as it was in the time of my father Akbar, to the amount of three maunns of gold a day; and, moreover, that he would pay in advance the assessment of three whole years, amounting to not less than thirteeen hundred maunns of gold.^* When I had heard with attention what he had further to say on the subject, I desired him to go and bring me the money, in order that I might bestow upon him the employment for which he seemed disposed to make such enormous sacrifice. The collector, who was known to be among the most opulent of the inhabitants of Sehrind, quitted my presence accordingly; and shortly afterwards re-appeared, bringing with him the whole of the gold, loaded on five hundred camels, each load in wrappers of the finest scarlet of Irâk. I ordered ten of the loads to be indiscriminately distributed among those who were present, and the remainder to be lodged in the treasury; after which I desired him to withdraw for the present, and to appear before me again on the ensuing morning, when the patent of his appointment would be delivered to him.

The next morning, before the sun was well up, the collector, arrayed in his gayest apparel, with a chaplet of pearl about his neck of the value of a lak of rupees, and his bosom full of hope and expectation, came to do homage for his appointment. I requested to know whether the whole of the gold which he had placed at my disposal, as the purchase of his office, was exclusively his own property, or whether it belonged in part to other Hindûs, who would have a share in the profits of his employment. He explained to me in answer, that while in the agonies of death, his father had disclosed to him that in a certain secret place under ground he had concealed in large jars a mass of treasure, which in the hour of distress he might employ to relieve himself. “Sire,” said he, “than what I have paid into your highness’s treasury for my appointment, there is still left in the subterranean more than double the quantity, and there was therefore not the smallest necessity for bringing discredit on my name by borrowing.” I could scarcely believe what I heard, and I bluntly told him that I thought he had advanced a falsehood; but if what he said was really true, he could have no objection to point out the spot where this treasure was concealed to Saadek Mahommed Khaun, one of my bukhshies. Without a moment’s hesitation he conducted Saadek Mahommed to the place where this enormous treasure lay in deposit; and having so done, both returned to my presence. I considered that I was warranted in retaining for my own use what he had voluntarily placed at my disposal; but it would have been an act of unjust violence if I had taken possession of that which remained in the excavation beneath his house, to the manifest injury of his children.

In these circumstances, I ordered a camel to be brought to my presence, and sending for Nour-ud-dein Kûly, I told him that the dress of the Hindû, with the valuable chaplet of pearl which encircled his neck, was all his own. But he was to conduct the unhappy man to the outside of the town, where he was to cause his bowels to be cut open, after which he was to be fastened to the side of the camel, and so carried round the camp, while a proclamation was made to the following purpose: “Such is the punishment to which that man is doomed, who when his sovereign, from a paternal regard to the welfare of his people for a period of fourteen years past, has remitted the impost of the zekkaut, dared to insinuate the advantage of renewing such a tax, and thus bringing upon the benefactor of his people afresh the odium of being their oppressor. Let this be an example to deter the evil counsellor from communicating the slightest hint to give the thoughts of the sovereign a direction so replete with evil to the subject and dishonour to himself.^*

It must indeed be considered fortunate, that in this age few men can be found so sordid in principle and expectation, as from the prospect of advantage to themselves, to implicate the sovereign under such a load of guilt and responsibility, from whom alone, on the awful day of reckoning, the account will be required. And what, in gold or jewels, or property of any description, have I lost, that I should venture to reimburse myself in the earnings of the abstinent and industrious merchant—earnings accumulated through a thousand risks, and by so many distant and toilsome journies? An act of such crying injustice could the everlasting God suffer to pass unpunished? “Leaving the issue to God,” says the maxim, “be thou the shepherd of his people.” There are two faculties of which the Macedonian himself was scarcely master:—“Discard the absurdities of human vanity; this is the ark of knowledge.—Study the knowledge of thy kind; not the patchwork mantle of the devotee.—In a life so transient, suffer not thine exertions to sleep.—Let thy time be so devoted, as to insure the approbation of thy Maker.—Humanity is the essential science, united with valour and beneficence.—If thou hast not these, thou art no more than a statue in the shape of a man.—Thou hast not put in practice the hundredth part of the dictates of science.—If in the study of philosophy thou hast neglected the duties of thy kind, thou art nothing better than a barren branch.—With much labour and exertion only can a man arrive at distinction.—How canst thou obtain the palm of virtue, if thou art the slave of sensuality.—If thou art desirous of the elixir of eternal happiness, know thine own merit; this is the true red sulphur—the powder of transmutation.”

When I had passed a week in every species of enjoyment in these gardens, I sent for Khojah Weissy, and with one of my own dresses presented him with thirty thousand rupees in money. I then quitted Sehrind, and proceeded on my way towards Kashmeir, the saffron meads of which I so ardently longed to visit. Having arrived within three days’ journey of the city of Lahour, my son Khoorum communicated a request, that he might be allowed an absence of ten days, for the purpose of visiting that noble city, a period of two years having elapsed since he last saw the place, and he was desirous of embracing the opportunity to view the progress of the new gardens, buildings, and other improvements which I had ordered for its embellishment. He engaged at the same time to rejoin me on the march before I should have entered the mountain passes.

As I could have no objection to grant such a request, and I was desirous that his visit should be conducted with sufficient splendor, the prince was directed to take with him two hundred camels loaded with enriched caparisons, girdles, kreisses, swords, and head-pieces, minns,^* and amberstands, and a variety of other articles, all enriched with pearl and precious stones; all of which, on his arrival within a certain distance of the city, he was to deliver to the kotewaul, or civil governor of the place, together with as much as loaded a thousand camels more in cloth of gold of Khorassaun, velvets from Gûjerat and Kashaun, and piece-goods of the most delicate fabric, all taken immediately from my own equipment stores. The inhabitants of Lahour were directed to afford every assistance towards rendering the reception of the prince on this occasion as magnificent as possible, by decorating the streets and bazars with gold woven carpets, figured draperies or tapestry, both European and Chinese, and canopies also of cloth of gold, both within and without the city, to the distance of nearly four kôsse. All this the kotewaul was to keep in readiness for the space of four or five days.

From Allumgunje, which is at the entrance of Lahour, and where Sûltan Khoorum was to mount his elephant, he was to be preceded by three thousand elephants of his own train, all arrayed in trappings of gold and velvet empowdered with pearl, the gold alone on each elephant being of the weight of five maunns of Hindûstaun; next were fifteen hundred horses of the breed of Arabia, Irâk, and Badakhshaun, all in similar rich and sumptuous caparisons, and each led by a separate groom. Behind the prince were to follow forty elephants bearing the nuggaurah khaunah, or band of kettle-drums, and immediately before him were to be eighty horns and fifty trumpets, rending the air with the din of martial music; the whole being closed by a column of twenty thousand horse, clad in quilted mail, with silken tassels at the end of their lances, and all their horses with ornamental breast-pieces, housings of panther and tyger skins, and tails of the sea-cow suspended to their necks; and in this splendid array was to be the procession through the streets and market-places of the city. The whole of the way by which the dûltaor passed accordingly, for the distance of four kôsse, from bags of money deposited in the howdah of the elephant on which he rode, he continued to scatter, every now and then, on each side of him, handsful of gold and silver ashrefies and rupees among the people, to the amount of ten laks of rupees in silver, equivalent to thirty thousand tomauns of Irâk, and of two laks of ashrefies of five methkels, equal to one hundred thousand tomauns in gold.^*

In this splendid array it was that Shahzadah Khoorum proceeded to the banks of the Rauvy, where a superb display of tents had been set up for his reception; and there he remained for the space of three days, distributing to the minstrels, the sons of song and music, and others who repaired to visit him, and to all according to merit, the most liberal marks of his bounty. On the fourth day he quitted Lahour, in order to return to my presence.

From Lahour to Hussun Abdal, where I lay encamped to await his return, is a distance of five ordinary days’ journey.^† This, by stationing relays of fresh horses, he performed in one day and a night, thus presenting himself to me within the ten days’ absence which he had obtained for his excursion. On this occasion, when he had performed his kornesh (or salutation of homage) before me, his present consisted of jewels to the value of twenty laks of rupees, with three hundred horses of Arabia and Irâk, one thousand despatch camels, and five of the noblest class of elephants, each of the value of three laks of rupees. In return, I raised him from the order of forty thousand, of which he was already in possession, to that of forty-five thousand. I remained at Hussun Abdal for a week, during which, at an entertainment, I presented Shahzadah Khoorum with a chaplet of pearl, which had cost in the purchase the sum of eight and forty laks of rupees.^‡

When I gave orders for the march from Hussun Abdal a heavy fall of rain occurred, which continued without intermission for three days and three nights; at the termination of which the rain ceasing, we proceeded to Kalanour, where, however, the river was so greatly swelled by the rain, that the passage of the imperial troops was found impracticable. The next day I gave orders that all classes on their arrival should remain stationary until the flood in the river should abate, when they might proceed to cross without hazard. Nevertheless, all who were in possession of the largest sized elephants ventured to pass their people and baggage to the opposite; side; and others, who possessed horses of sufficient strength and activity, cast themselves into the stream without reflection.

Thus it was that the son of Mirza Rûstum, a little boy scarcely out of his childhood, mistaking the ford, cast himself, with ten of his attendants on horseback, into the river, where the water was two spears length deep, and the current so impetuous as to overthrow the strongest elephants. In the middle of the stream the boy was thrown from his horse, and carried away by the torrent; and although every exertion was made by his attendants to rescue him from his watery grave, all was in vain, the poor child perished irrecoverably. The young Mirza had not the slightest knowledge of swimming; but even though he had possessed the greatest skill in the exercise, the force of the stream was such that it would have been unavailing. The ten men who endeavoured to save him also perished.

When the melancholy circumstance was made known to me, I can scarcely describe how deeply I became affected by it. The whole of that night I neither ate, nor drank, nor slept; for my regard for the poor child surpassed all ordinary measure of kindness. Most commonly, when I mounted my elephant, he was my companion, and, seated before me with the keeper’s hook in his hand, usually guided the animal in his course. He was, indeed, endowed in every respect with a capacity far beyond his years. A period of six months only had elapsed, since I had married him to a daughter of Ettemaud-ud-Doulah,^* with a marriage portion, amounting, in different articles, to the value of twenty laks of five methkaly ashrefies.^† He seemed, in every respect, the reverse of his father, brother, and other relatives; and I had recently adopted him as a child of my own. In the severest terms I could express, I reproached his improvident father, for having suffered the child to enter the river on horseback; for which there did not appear the slightest apology, since he had an equipment of fifty or a hundred elephants in his own train. But there seemed to exist some fatal necessity that demanded a victim to be sacrificed of such surpassing purity and excellence. Doubtless this poor child might be justly said to be a second Joseph. Never have I mourned so deeply for the death of any one, as for that of the son of Mirza Rûstum. The following lines may furnish some faint idea of what I endured on the occasion:

“Deprived of the roses of thy countenance, how deep, alas, the anguish of my soul!—Thy cruel loss has planted a thousand thorns in my bosom! Whilst thou wert present, the cheerful earth was like a garden of tulips; but the wounds of separation have transferred to my heart the blood-drop tints of that flower. For ever hidden from mine eyes is the dimple of that cheek: those eyes, the lustre of which has been so sadly dimmed with tears. How has the happiness which I enjoyed in thy society been changed to sorrow and sleepless anguish! Torn as thou hast been from my presence, whom have I left to share in my thoughts! Alas! none but the silent tear which lodges in my bosom. Directed by the hand of Destiny, the death-shaft has transfixed thee; but the wound inflicted by the same hath not left me unharmed. What rose in the garden was so blooming as thyself? Alas, that the death-blow should have so early scattered its leaves!—Far more dearly cherished than Joseph by his father; alas, that thou shouldest have thus early become the prey of the all-devouring monster! For the beauty that beamed on thy brows, an hundred and an hundred times, alas!—for thy kind and gentle manners, a thousand times, alas! The spring is come—in the garden buds the rose: to me, alas! the spring has only brought the plant of sorrow—the tree of mourning. The image of thy perfections is for ever stamped within my breast; the lustre of thy beauty will never be lost to mine eyes. Thy life was only budding from the germ; alas! that it should have been so prematurely blighted by the hand of death!—Alas, for thy love, thou star of the meridian of affection!—Alas, for thy blooming youth, thou cypress with the cheek of the rose!—Alas, that the narcissus in thine eye should have been so early quenched in death; that thy glowing cheek should have been so unseasonably lost in the clouds of everlasting night!”^*

Without enlarging further on a subject to me so painful, I sent nearly a thousand of the best swimmers into the river, in the hope of recovering the lifeless body of the young Mirza, in order to give it the last mournful proofs of my affection; but all search proved in vain. What became of his poor remains was never discovered. But this is not all that I have to record of this fatal river. Impatient of restraint, the unreflecting multitude plunged in heedless throngs into the stream, and perished to the number of fifty thousand persons, not having the common sense to wait until the waters should have subsided. The cold on the banks of the river was, moreover, so severe, that it was reported to me the next morning that nearly ten thousand elephants, camels, and horses, had perished during the night, belonging to the imperial stables alone, independently of what belonged to the army in general. Blessed be God, for the greatest heats of the dry season! for never, in the very hottest temperature, was there an instance of such extensive destruction at one time. The oldest and most experienced men present united in declaring, that in all they had seen at different times, and in every variety of season, it did not occur to them ever to have witnessed such severity of cold as that which this year had proved so destructive, on hill and plain, to so many animals of every description.

At the foot of the mountains of Kashmeir the snow fell without intermission for seven days and seven nights, and fuel of any description was not to be procured. The army was accompanied by fakeirs, or religious mendicants, in extraordinary numbers, and as they must have perished if not preserved by some immediate intervention, I ordered a lak of camels belonging to the imperial equipment to be employed forthwith in conveying such fuel as could be procured at a distance, to camp, and these fakeirs to be supplied from the very first convoy, otherwise their destruction would have been inevitable. I further directed that each mendicant should be furnished on the occasion with a vest stuffed with cotton, and a sheep-skin cloak.

As soon as the snowy weather had abated, I gave permission to such of the dignitaries and private stipendiaries as were so inclined, to return to Lahour; for it suited but little with my views to expose my people on any occasion to unrequired hardship. Then with such of my store department and artificers, and three hundred of those who usually attended my person, and who indeed were never separated from me, I continued my journey toward Kashmeir, the cold abating in a considerable degree as soon as we had passed the mountain frontier. There, among its saffron plains, I proceeded to amuse myself in hunting and shooting, and in excursions to different parts of this delightful valley, for the period of a month, at the expiration of which I adopted the resolution of returning to Lahour, which I was desirous of revisiting on my way to the metropolis. Seven years had now elapsed since I last left that city; and I had then given orders to throw down the principal towers, and to rebuild them of red hewn stone, in great part sculptured with the figures of different animals. I had moreover directed a four-walled garden to be completed on the banks of the Rauvy, in the neighbourhood of the town.

When I had, however, proceeded a day’s journey from Kashmeir, intelligence arrived from Kabûl, stating that the turbulent and factious natives of that province had again thrown off restraint, and were beginning to infest the road, and to commit every species of enormity against their fellow subjects. Upon this I directed Mohaubet Khaun, a mûnsebdaur (or dignitary) of my court of the order of five thousand, to proceed immediately to that quarter, with twenty thousand horse of various descriptions, ten thousand camel-mounted matchlockmen, and two hundred elephants of the fiercest class. The origin of this mischief was Allahdaud Khaun, formerly mentioned, a personage of the first distinction among the Afghan tribes, who had withdrawn from my court without the slightest cause, and had now made his appearance in the neighbourhood of Kabûl. My instructions to Mohaubet Khaun, therefore, were, in the event of his being able to lay hold of this person, to send him at all hazard alive to court, in order that he might receive in my very presence the chastisement due to his ingratitude, and thus furnish to the world an example that none would be permitted with impunity to abscond from my presence on every vague and frivolous pretence.

Thus abruptly terminates the Imperial auto-biographer’s Memoirs.