Gurkam Doghlet, arrived from Khorasân. Our lamentation and mourning now broke out afresh. Our grief for the separations we had suffered was unbounded. After completing the period of mourning, food and victuals were dressed and doled out to the poor and needy. Having directed readings of the Koran, and prayers to be offered up for the souls of the departed, and eased the sorrows of our hearts by these demonstrations of love, I returned to my political enterprizes which had been interrupted, and by the advice of Bâki Cheghâniâni, led my army against Kandahâr. We had marched as far as the auleng (or meadow) of Kush-Nadir, where we had halted, when I was seized with a fever. It came most unseasonably. Whatever efforts they made to keep me awake, my eyes constantly fell back into sleep. After four or five days, I got somewhat better.

At this period there was such an earthquake that many ramparts of fortresses, the summits of some hills, and many houses, both in the towns and villages, were violently shaken and levelled with the ground. Numbers of persons lost their lives by their houses and terraces falling on them. The whole houses of the village of Pemghân1 fell down, and seventy or eighty respectable householders were buried under the ruins. Between Pemghân and Bektob, a piece of ground, about a stone's throw in breadth, separated itself, and descended' for the length of a bow-shot; and springs burst out and formed a well in the place that it had occupied. From Isterghâch2 to the plain, being a distance of about six or seven farsangs,3 the whole space was so rent and fractured, that in some places the ground was elevated to the height of an elephant above its old level, and in other places as much depressed; and in many places it was so split that a person might have hid himself in the gaps. During the time of the earthquake, a great cloud of dust rose from the tops of the mountains. Nûr-alla, the lutanist, happened to be playing before me on the mandolin, and had also another instrument with him; he instantly caught up both the instruments in his hands, but had so little command of himself, that they knocked against each other. Jehangîr Mirza was at Tibah, in the upper veranda of a palace built by Ulugh Beg Mirza. The moment the earth began to quake, he threw himself down, and escaped without injury. One of his domestics was in the same story, when the terrace of this upper floor fell on him. God preserved him, and he did not sustain the slightest harm. Many rising-grounds were levelled. That same day there were thirty-three shocks; and for the space of a month, the earth shook two or three times every day and night. The Begs and soldiers had orders to repair the rents and breaches in the walls and fortifications of the fortress. By great diligence and exertions, in twenty days or a month, all the parts of the walls that had been damaged or thrown down were repaired and rebuilt.

My expedition against Kandahâr had been delayed by my sickness and the earthquake; but as soon as I had regained my health, and restored the defences of the fortress, I immediately resumed my former plan. When we halted below Shnîz,* we had notyet finally decided between marching against Kandahâr, and sending out de

Or Peghmân. It lies south, or south-west, from Kâbul.

2 Istergâch has been already mentioned as north from Kâbul.

3 Twenty-four or twenty-eight miles.

Shnîz is north of Shashgou, to the west of the road between that and Lora.

tachments to scour the hills and plains. I called Jehangir Mirza and the Begs to a council of war; when Jehangir Mirza and Bâki Cheghâniâni warmly supporting the proposition for proceeding against Kilât, it was settled that we should move and attack it. On reaching Tazi, I gained information that Shîr Ali Chehreh and Kuchek Bâki Diwâneh, with some others, had formed the plan of deserting. I instantly had them seized; and as Shîr Ali Chehreh had been notoriously guilty of various seditious and mutinous practices, both while in my service, and when in the service of others, and in various countries, he was delivered over to the executioner. Having deprived the others of their arms and horses, I let them go.

When we reached Kilât,' without having arrayed ourselves in armour, or erected Kilat taken by storm. any engines for an attack, we instantly made an assault. The conflict was severe. Kuchek Beg, the elder brother of Khwâjeh Kilân, was a most courageous and gallant man, and had many a time wielded his sword with great effect in my presence, as has already been mentioned in these Memoirs. He had clambered up a tower on the south-west of Kilât, and had nearly gained the top, when he was wounded in the eye with a spear; and he died of this wound two or three days after Kilât was taken. Kuchek Bâki Diwaneh, who had been seized while attempting to desert with Shîr Ali, here atoned for that act of treachery, being killed with a stone under the rampart, while attempting to enter. Two or three other persons of note were killed. The fight continued in this way till about the time of afternoon prayers; when, just as the assailants, who had fought bravely, and exerted all their vigour, were almost exhausted, the garrison demanded quarter, and surrendered. Zûlnûn Arghûn had bestowed Kilât on Mokîm, and two of Mokîm's partizans, Ferâkh Arghûn and Kara Bûlût, held it at this time on his part. They came out with their bows, quivers, and scymitars hanging round their necks, and I forgave them. It was not my wish to treat this family harshly; for had anything severe been practised among us at a time when such an enemy as the Uzbeks was close at hand, what would not have been said, both far and near, by those who either saw or heard of it? As this enterprize had been undertaken at the instance of Jehangîr Mirza and Bâki Beg, I gave up Kilât to the charge of the Mirza, but he would not accept of it; neither would Bâki Beg undertake to keep it, though he could offer no satisfactory excuse for declining; so that all our exertions and our success in the assault and taking of the place, were completely thrown

away.

Kâbul.

Proceeding southward from Kilât, we plundered the Afghans of Sawa-Sang, Ala- Baber tetâgh, and that neighbourhood, and then returned to Kâbul. The night that I arrived turns to in Kâbul, I proceeded to the fortress, leaving my tents and horses at the Chârbâgh. That same night a Khezelchi thief came and stole from the Chârbâgh a bay horse of mine, caparisoned as it was, and one of my own sabres.

From the time that Bâki Cheghâniâni had joined me on the banks of the Amu, no Baki Chegperson about me had been in higher estimation or authority than himself. Whatever haniani was done or said, was said or done by his ascendancy; although I had never expe- ́tented.

hâniâni discon

1 Kilât, east of Kandahâr, in the vale of Ternek, and now called Kilât-e-Ghilji.

Ala-tagh is the Hulla Tagh of Mr Elphinstone's map, south-east of Kilât. Sawa-Sang may be Torkani (black stone).

Y

Has leave to retire.

rienced from him that duty which was to have been expected, or that propriety of conduct which is indispensably necessary. Indeed, on the contrary, he had done many unjustifiable acts, and shown me many marks of disrespect. He was mean, sordid, malicious, narrow-minded, envious, and cross-tempered. He carried his meanness to such a length, that when he broke up from Termez, and came and joined me with his family and property, though his own flock of sheep amounted to thirty or forty thousand, and though every march numbers of them passed before our face, while my servants and retainers were tortured with hunger, he did not give us a single sheep; at last, when we reached Kehmerd, he then gave them fifty sheep! Although he had himself acknowledged me as his King, he used to have the nagarets beaten before his tent. He liked nobody, and could see no one prosper. The revenue of Kâbul arises from a Temgha (or stamp-tax). This Temgha I bestowed on him; and made him at the same time Darogha of Kâbul and Penjhîr; gave him the property-tax levied from the Hazâras, and conferred on him the office of Captain of my Guards, with absolute power in my household. Though distinguished by such marks of favour, he was never either thankful or contented; but, on the contrary, cherished the most wicked and dangerous projects of treason, as has been mentioned. I never, however, upbraided him with them, nor mentioned them to him. He constantly affected great chariness, and asked leave to go away. I gave in to his dissimulation, and in a tone of apology, refused him the permission he solicited.

1

Every day or two he returned again, and used again to begin asking his discharge. His dissimulation, and eternal requests for liberty to depart, at length exceeded all bounds; so that, wearied to death with his conduct and teazing, I lost patience, and gave him his discharge. Disappointed and alarmed at this, he was now in the utmost perplexity; but to no purpose. He sent to remind me that I had made an agreement with him, that I would not call him to account till he had been guilty of nine offences towards me. I sent him by Mûlla Bâba a list of eleven grievances, the justice of which he was forced to acknowledge one after another. He submitted, and having obtained leave, proceeded towards Hindustân with his family and effects. A few of his own retainers accompanied him as far as Kheiber, and then returned back. Having joined the caravan of Bâki Gagiâni, he passed by Nilâb. At this time Yâr-Hussain Deria Khan was in Kecheh-Kot. This man had converted into a Sanad the Firmân which he had received from me on leaving Kohat; and having enlisted in his service a number of followers, who were partly Afghans of the tribes of Dilazâk and Yusefzai, and partly men of the Jat and Gûjer tribes, his sole occupation now was ravaging the country, and robbing on the high-ways. Having got notice of Bâki's approach, he occupied the road, and took prisoner Bâki himself, and every person that was along with him. His death. He put Bâki to death, and took his lady. Though I gave Bâki his discharge, and did him no harm, yet he was caught in his own evil, and taken in his own toils.

1 All animals, goods, clothes, &c. brought into the country, are stamped or marked, and a tax collected.

2 The Jats compose the greater part of the agricultural population over the west of India, down to the mouth of the Indus.

Do thou resign to Fate him who injures thee;

For Fate is a servant that will not leave thee unavenged.

tacks the

Hazaras.

This winter we remained encamped in the Chârbâgh, during one or two of the first Baber atfalls of snow. Down to the time of my arrival in Kâbul, the Turkomân Hazâras had Turkomân been guilty of numerous insults and depredations; I therefore determined to make an excursion against them, and having gone into the city, and taken up my residence in the palace of Ulugh Beg Mirza, called Bostân-Serâ, I set out from thence in the month' of Shâbân, with the intention of making a foray on the Turkomân Hazâras. A detachment was pushed on, which made a sudden attack on a small party of Hazâras at Jangelik, in the mouth of the valley of Khesh, and dispersed them. A few Hazâras had lain in ambush in a cave near the valley of Khesh. Sheikh Dervish Gokultâsh had been in many an action along with me, held the office of Korbegi,2 and was distinguished for the strength with which he drew the bow, as well as the sureness of his aim. He had gone up close to the mouth of this den, without suspecting anything, when a Hazâra from within shot him with an arrow under the nipple, and he died the same day. The great body of the Turkomân Hazâras had erected their winter habitations in the valley of Khesh; we now pushed forward to fall upon them.

The valley of Khesh is a particular kind of glen. For about half a kos from its mouth there is a strait, which makes it necessary for the road to pass along the face of the hill. Below this road is a precipice of fifty or sixty gez3 perpendicular descent. Higher up than this road runs a pathway, by which one horseman only can pass at a time. Having passed this strait, we proceeded forward the same day till between noonday and afternoon prayers, when, not having come upon the enemy, we halted. A fat Shûterlûk belonging to the Hazâras was found, brought in, and killed. We ate part of its flesh roasted, part of it sun-dried. I never eat such fine-flavoured camel's flesh; many could not distinguish it from mutton.

Marching thence next morning, we began to approach the place where the Hazâras had taken up their winter quarters. It was about the end of the first watch, when a man came from the advance with information, that, in a narrow defile, the Hazâras had fortified and strengthened a ford with branches of trees, and had stopped the advance of our troops, who were now engaged with them. On hearing this, we instantly quickened our pace, and when we had advanced a little way, reached the place where the Hazâras had made their stand, and were in hot action. That winter the snow lay very deep, which rendered it dangerous to leave the common road. The banks of the stream, about the ford, were all covered with ice; and it was impossible to pass the river at any place off the road, on account of the ice and snow. The Hazâras had cut down a number of branches of trees, with which they had fortified the opposite landing-place. They ranged themselves both on horseback and foot, as well in the chan

1 Shâbân commenced on the 28th December 1505.

? Was armour-bearer, or perhaps provost-marshal.

3 Upwards of a hundred feet.

♦ The Shûterlûk is a species of camel which has very little hair, and is used for carrying burdens.

nel as along the banks of the river, and maintained the fight by discharges of arrows. Muhammed Ali Mobasher Beg, one of the new Amirs, whom I had distinguished by particular marks of favour, and who was a very brave and able man, and a deserving young officer, had neglected to put on his coat of mail; as he advanced rather near to the place where the road was blocked up by the branches, he was struck by an arrow in the kidneys, and expired on the spot. We had come up hurriedly, and many of us had not taken time to put on our armour. One or two arrows passed whizzing by, and missed us. Ahmed Yûsef Beg, in evident alarm, said every time, "You should not have come here unarmed—you must go back. I have observed two or three arrows graze close by your head."—I replied, "Be you bold: as good arrows have many a time passed my head." At this very moment, on our right, Kasim Beg, with his band, discovered a place where the stream could be crossed, and having gained a footing on the opposite side, no sooner pushed on his horse to the charge, than the Hazâras, unable to keep their ground, took to flight. The party that had got in among them, followed them in close pursuit, dismounting and cutting numbers of them down. In reward for his bravery on this occasion, I bestowed Bangash on Kâsim Beg as a provision. Khatim Korbegi also signalized himself on this expedition, on which ac.count I gave him the office of Korbegi, which had been held by Sheikh Dervîsh Gokultâsh. To Kepek Kuli Baba, for his good conduct, I gave Muhammed Ali Mobaseer Beg's office. Sultan Kuli Chinâk went in pursuit of them, but it was impossible to leave the road on account of the quantity and depth of the snow. I myself accompanied the pursuers; we fell in with the sheep and herds of horses of the Hazâras, near their winter habitations. I collected, for my own share, to the number of four or five hundred sheep, and twenty or twenty-five horses. Sultan Kuli, and two or three other persons who were at hand, were joint sharers. I myself went twice on a plundering party. This was one of the times. The other was also against these very Turkomân Hazâras, when, on my return from Khorâsân, I led a foray against them, and brought off numbers of their horses and sheep. The wives and little children of the Hazâras escaped on foot to the snow-covered hillocks, and there remained. We were rather remiss in following them. The day, too, was far spent; we therefore went and halted at the huts of the Hazâras.

This winter the snow lay very deep. At this place, off the road, it reached up to the horses' cruppers; the picket' appointed for the night-watch round the camp, were obliged to remain on horseback till day-break, in consequence of the depth of the

snow.

Next morning we began to move back, and passed the night in the winter huts of the Hazâras, within the valley of Khesh. Marching thence we halted at Jenglik. Yarek Taghâi and some others having lagged a little behind, I directed them to proceed and take the Hazâras who had shot Sheikh Dervish. These wretches, infatuated by the blood on their heads, still remained in the cave. Our people, on coming up, filled the cave with smokę, took seventy or eighty Hazâras, and passed a greater number under the edge of the sword.

1 Cheghdawel.