winter. In places where the water falls from a height, they dig out hollow pits of about the size of a house, and laying them with stones in the form of the lower part of a cooking furnace, they heap on stones above the pits, leaving only one passage for the water to descend; and they pile the stones up in such a manner, that, except by this single passage, there is no other for any fish either to come or go. The water of the stream finds its way through these stones that have been heaped on, so that this contrivance answers the purpose of a fish pool. In winter, whenever fish are required, they open one of these pits, and take out forty or fifty fishes at a time. In some convenient place of the pit an opening is formed, and excepting at that outlet, all the sides of it are secured with rice straw, over which stones are piled up. At the opening they fasten a kind of wicker-work like a net, the two extremities of which are contracted and brought near each other. In the middle of this first wicker-net they fix another piece of wicker net-work, in such a way that the mouth of this last may correspond with that of the other, but its whole length be only about half of that of the one first mentioned. They make the mouth of this inner net-work very narrow. Whatever enters it must pass into the larger wicker-net, the lower part of which is so constructed that no fish can escape back. The lower part of the mouth of the inner wicker-net is so formed that, when fish have once entered the upper part, they must proceed one by one down to the lower part of its mouth. The sharpened sticks forming the lower part of the mouth are brought close together. Whatever passes this mouth comes into the larger wicker-net, the lower passage of which is strongly secured, so that the fish cannot escape; and should it turn and attempt to swim back, it cannot get up, in consequence of the sharpened prongs that form the lower mouth of the small inner wicker-net. Every time that they bring these nets, they fasten them in the water course of the fish-pool, and then take off the covering of the fish-pool, leaving all its sides secured by the rice-straw. Whatever they can lay hold of in the hollow pit they seize, while every fish that attempts to escape by the only issue left, necessarily comes into the wicker-net that has been mentioned, and is taken there. This mode of catching fish I never saw practised elsewhere. leave Kâ country Some days after the taking of Kâbul, Mokîm requested permission to proceed to Mokim Kandahâr; and, as had been settled by the capitulation, I dismissed him safe and allowed to sound, with all his baggage, effects, and followers, to join his father and elder brother. bul. After his departure I partitioned out the country of Kâbul among those Begs only Baber diwho had lately taken service with me. Ghazni and its dependencies I gave to Jehan- vides the gîr Mirza; the Tumân of Nangenhâr, Manderaur, the Dereh-Nûr, the Dereh-Kuner, among his Nûrgil, and Cheghânserâi, I gave to Nâsir Mirza. Those Begs and young officers who followers. had followed me in my expeditions and dangers, I rewarded; giving to one of them a village, to another an estate in land, but to none of them did I give the government of a district. Nor was this the sole occasion in which I acted in this manner; but uniformly, whenever the Most High God prospered my undertakings, I always regarded and provided for those Begs and soldiers who were strangers and guests, in the first place, and in a superior manner to the Baberians, and those who were of Andejân. In spite of this, it has been a great misfortune to me that I have always been charged U Levies a contribution with favouring none but my own Baberians and the Andejânians. There is a proverb, "What is it enemies will not say? What is it dreams will not display? (Persian.) The gates of a city you may shut; You cannot shut the mouth of an enemy. As many Ils and Uluses had come to me from Hissâr, Samarkand, and Kundez, it on Kabul. appeared advisable, as Kâbul was a confined country, and to be governed by the sword, not the pen,1 and incapable of supplying a contribution in money sufficient for all my people, that a levy of corn should be made and given to the wives, families, and followers of the Ils and Uluses, to enable them to proceed with us in our wars and expeditions. It was therefore determined to raise thirty thousand loads of grain,2 from Kâbul, Ghazni, and their dependencies. As I was at that time very imperfectly acquainted with the revenues and resources of Kâbul, the amount was excessive, and the country suffered extremely. Foray against the Masaudi Hazaras. Baber re solves on an January It was at this time that I invented a kind of writing called the Baberi hand. I had imposed a large contribution of horses and sheep on the Sultan Masaûdi Hazâras, and sent collectors to receive it. In a few days I heard from them that the Hazâras3 refused to pay, and were in a state of rebellion. Several times before, they had been guilty of depredations on the roads of Ghazni and Gerdêz. On these accounts I took the field for the purpose of falling on them by surprise; and having advanced by way of Meidân, we cleared the pass of Nirkh by night, and, by the time of morning prayers, fell upon the Hazâras in the territory of Chatû, and beat them to our heart's content. Returning thence by way of Sang-e-Surâkh, Jehangîr Mirza took leave to go to Ghazni, while I returned to Kâbul. When I reached Kâbul, Yâr Hussain, the son of Deria Khan, came from Behreh 6 to offer me his services. A few days afterwards, having mustered my army, and assembled the persons best acquainted with the situation of the country, I made particular inquiries regarding the state and condition of the different districts on every hand. Some advised that we should march against Desht;7 others preferred Bangash; while others proposed to advance against Hindustân. It was at last determined in council to make an irruption into Hindustân. In the month of Shâbân, when the sun was in Aquarius, I set out from Kâbul towards Hindustân; and proceeding by way of Badâm-Cheshmeh and Jigdâlîk,3 in six marches reached Adînapûr. I had never before seen the Germsîl (or countries of 1 Seifi, not qalmi. 2 A Kherwâr is generally one hundred man of Tabrîz.-Leyden. Abul-Fazl says, that it is equal to 40 Kaadahari, or 10 Hindustâni mans.—Vol. II. p. 158. It is about 700 pounds averdupois. 3 It is not clear where the Sultan Masaûdi Hazâras lay; but it must have been west or south-west of Kâbul, among the hills. 4 Gerdêz lies upwards of 65 miles S.E. from Kâbul. 5 Nirkh lies west of Kâbul. Sang-Surâkh is a common name. 6 Or Bhîreh, on the Behat or Hydaspes. 8 This is the straight road to Peshâwer and Attok, from Kâbul. 7 Damân. warm temperature), nor the country of Hindustân. Immediately on reaching them, I beheld a new world. The grass was different, the trees different, the wild animals of a different sort, the birds of a different plumage, the manners and customs of the Ils and Uluses (the wandering tribes) of a different kind. I was struck with astonishment, and indeed there was room for wonder. Nâsir Mirza, who, a little before, had come to his government, now waited upon me at Adînapûr. As the Aîmâks of that neighbourhood, with their followers, had moved down with all their families into Lamghanât, for the purpose of wintering there, I halted a day or two in that vicinity, till I was joined by them and the troops that were behind; and then taking them along with me, I went on to Kûsh-Gûmbez,2 lower down than Jûi-Shâhi. Nâsir Mirza having made some provision for his dependants and followers from the country under his government, staid behind by permission at Kûsh-Gûmbez, promising to follow in two or three days. 5 8 4 Kheiber. Marching from Kûsh-Gûmbez, when we halted at Germ-cheshmeh, they brought me one Pekhi, a head man of the Gagiânis, who had been used to accompany the caravans. I carried on Pekhi along with me, in order to have the benefit of his information concerning the road and the country. In one or two marches I passed Khei- Passes ber, and encamped at Jâm. I had heard of the fame of Gûrh-Katri, which is one of the holy places of the Jogis of the Hindûs, who come from great distances to cut off their hair and shave their beards at this Gûrh-Katri. As soon as I reached Jâm, I immediately rode out to visit Bekrâm. I saw its stupendous tree, and surveyed the country. Our guide was Malek Bu-saîd Kamari. Although we asked particularly for Gûrh-Katri, he did not show us where it was; but just as we had returned, and were close upon the camp, he said to Khwâjeh Muhammed Amîn that Gûrh-Katri was close upon Bekrâm, but that he did not mention it, for fear of being obliged to go among its narrow caverns and dangerous recesses. The Khwâjeh exclaiming against him as a perfidious rogue, immediately repeated what he had said; but as the day was nearly spent, and the way long, I could not go back to visit it. At this station I held a consultation about passing the river Sind, and which way I Marches should direct my course. Bâki Cheghâniâni advised that, instead of crossing the Sind, Kohat, against we should proceed against a place called Kohat, which lay at the distance of two marches; that the inhabitants were very numerous and very wealthy; and he produced some Kâbul men, who confirmed what he had stated. I had never even heard 1 Mr Forster, in travelling the same road, in an opposite direction, was sensible of a similar change. "About three miles to the eastward of Gundamouck, crossed a small fordable river, running to the southward. The air, hitherto hot, had assumed at this place a sudden coldness; not effected by any change of weather, but, agreeably to the observation of travellers, peculiar to the climate of this part of the country. The shortness of our stay would not permit an inquiry into the cause of this quick tran sition; nor could any of my associates, though used to the road, give a reasonable account of it."FORSTER'S Travels, Vol. II. p. 68, second edition. The cause is no doubt to be found in the sudden rise of the ground, and the position of the neighbouring mountains. 5 Probably so called from the town of Muhammed Pekh, afterwards mentioned. 6 Now Jâmrud, printed Timrood in Forster by an error of the press. 7 Gûrh-Katri is now the site of the grand Caravanserai at Peshâwer. 8 Bekrâm is now called Peshâwer. See the Ayeen Akbari, vol. I. p. 165. 4 Hot-spring. -- and plunders it. Marches by the name of the place; but as my principal man, and the one who possessed most influence and authority in the army, had urged our marching against Kohat, and had even called in evidence to fortify his opinion, I gave up my plan of crossing the river and invading Hindustân; and therefore, marching off from Jâm, and crossing the Bareh,1 advanced up to Muhammed Pekh and Abâni, and encamped not far from them. At this time the Gagiâni Afghans were in Peshâwer, and, from dread of my army, they had all drawn off to the skirts of the mountains. At this encampment, Khosrou Gagiâni, one of the chief men of the Gagiânis, came and paid me his respects. I took him to accompany Pekhi, in order to have the benefit of their advice regarding the roads and the country. Marching from this station about midnight, and passing Muhammed Pekh at sunrise, we fell upon and plundered Kohat about luncheon-time,3 and found a great many bullocks and buffaloes. We also made a great many Afghans prisoners; but the whole of these I sought out and released. In their houses immense quantities of grain were found. Our plundering parties pushed on as far as the river Sind, on the banks of which they staid all night, and next day came and rejoined me. The army, however, found none of the riches which Bâki Cheghâniâni had led us to expect; and Bâki was greatly ashamed of his expedition. Having tarried two days and two nights in Kohat, and called in our plundering detachments, we held a council to consider whither we should now bend our course; and it was determined that we should ravage the lands of the Afghans in Bânu and Bangash, and then return back by way of Naghz1 and Fermul. Yâr Hussain, the son `of the Deria Khan, who had come and joined me in Kâbul, and tendered his allegiance, requested that instructions might be issued to the Dilâzâks, the Yûsuf-Zais, and Gagiânis, to act under his orders, pledging himself that he would carry my power beyond the Sind. I granted him the authority which he required, and he took leave of me at Kohat. Taking our departure from Kohat, we marched up towards Bangash, by the route of Hangu. Between Kohat and Hangu there lies a valley, with a high mountain on each side, through which the road passes. When in the course of our march we had reached this glen, the Afghans of Kohat and that quarter having collected, occupied the hills that overhang the glen on both sides, raised the war-shout, and made à loud clamour. Malek Bu-saîd Kamari, who was well acquainted with the whole of Afghanistân, was our guide. He told us that, a little farther on, there was a small hill on the right of the road, and that, if the Afghans should pass from their mountain to that hill, which was detached, we might then surround them on all sides, and get hold of them. Almighty God accomplished our wishes. The Afghans having descended upon us, came and occupied that detached hill. I instantly dispatched a party of my men to take possession of the neckof ground between the mountain and the hill. I ordered 1 The river of Peshâwer. 2 The valley of Kohat lies south-east from Jâm. It is about twelve miles in diameter. 4 Or Naghr. 5 The road from Kohat to Bangash is west by south. the rest of the army to attack the hill on both sides, and, moving regularly forward, to punish them for their temerity. The moment my troops advanced upon them, the Afghans found that they could not stand their ground, and in an instant a hundred or a hundred and fifty of them were brought down; of these some were brought in alive, but only the heads of the greater part of them. The Afghans, when they are reduced to extremities in war, come into the presence of their enemy with grass between their teeth; being as much as to say, "I am your ox." This custom1 I first observed on the present occasion; for the Afghans, when they could not maintain the contest, approached us with grass in their teeth. Orders were given for beheading such of them as had been brought in alive, and a minaret was erected of their heads at our next halting-place. On the morrow, I marched on and encamped at Hangu. The Afghans of that quarter had fortified a hill, or made it a sanger. I first heard the word sanger3 on coming to Kâbul. They call a detached piece of a hill strongly fortified a sanger. The troops, immediately on coming up to the sanger, stormed and took it, and cut off a hundred or two hundred heads of the refractory Afghans, which they brought down along with them. Here also we erected a minaret of heads. Marching from Hangu, the second stage brought us to a place called Til, at the bottom of the upper Bangash. The soldiers set out to plunder the Afghans of the neighbourhood. Some of them, who had made an attack on a sanger, returned with out success. Marching from thence, and proceeding in a direction in which there was no road, Reaches we halted one night, and on the day after reached a very precipitous declivity, where Bânu. we were obliged to dismount, and descended by a long and steep defile, after which we encamped in Bânu. The soldiers, as well as the camels and horses, suffered extremely in the steep descent and the narrow defile; and the greater part of the bullocks, which we had brought away as plunder in the course of this expedition, dropped down by the way. The common road was only a kos or two to our right; and the road by which we were conducted was not a horse-road. As the herds and shepherds sometimes drove their flocks of sheep and mares down this descent and by the defile, it was for that reason termed Gosfend-liâr, or the Sheep-road, liâr signifying a road in the Afghan language. Our chief guide was Malek Bu-saîd Kamari; and the soldiers in general attributed the taking of this left-hand road to some design in him. 5 Immediately on descending from the hills of Bangash and Naghz, Bânu appeared in sight. It has the appearance of a flat and level champaign. On the north are the hills of Bangash and Naghz. The Bangash river runs through the Bânu territory, and by means of it chiefly is the country cultivated. On the south are Choupâreh and the river Sind; on the east is Dînkôt, and on the west is Desht, which is also called Bâ 1 It is as old as the time of the heroes of the Shahnâmeh, or at least of Ferdansi. 2 This barbarous custom has always prevailed among the Tartar conquerors of Asia. 3 Sanger is now in constant use in Kâbul and Persia for an entrenchment or field-work. 4 These last marches must have been southerly. 5 It has still the same signification in the Pushtu. The Salt-range of Mr Elphinstone's map. 7 The Koorrum of Mr Elphinstone's map. |