of those days, and of Baber's manner of de- | provision within the fort. I looked for aid and as. scribing it, we may pass at once to his account sistance from the princes my neighbours; but each of his being besieged in Samarkand, and the of them had his attention fixed on some other obparticulars of his flight after he was obliged doubtedly a brave and experienced monarch, yet ject. For example, Sultan Hussain Mirza was unneither did he give me assistance, nor even send an ambassador to encourage me.' to abandon it: During the continuance of the siege, the rounds of the rampart were regularly gone, once every night, sometimes by Kasim Beg, and sometimes by other Begs and captains. From the Firozeh gate to the Sheikh-Zadeh gate, we were able to go along the ramparts on horseback; everywhere else we were obliged to go on foot. Setting out in the beginning of the night, it was morning before we nad completed our rounds. One day Sheibâni Khan made an attack between the Iron gate and that of the Sheikh-Zadeh. As I was with the reverse, I immediately led them to the quarter that was attacked, without attending to the Washing-green gate or the Needlemakers' gate. That same day, from the top of the SheikhZadeh's gateway, I struck a palish white coloured horse an excellent shot with my cross-bow: it fell dead the moment my arrow touched it; but in the meanwhile they had made such a vigorous attack, near the Camel's Neck, that they effected a lodg. ment close under the rampart. Being hotly engaged in repelling the enemy where I was, I had entertained no apprehensions of danger on the other side, where they had prepared and brought with them twenty-five or twenty-six scaling-ladders, each of them so broad that two and three men could mount a-breast. He had placed in ambush, opposite to the city-wall, seven or eight hundred chosen men with these ladders, between the Ironsmiths' and Needlemakers' gates, while he himself moved to the other side, and made a false attack. Our attention was entirely drawn off to this attack; and the men in ambush no sooner saw the works opposite to them empty of defenders, by the watch having left them, than they rose from the place where they had lain in ambush, advanced with extreme speed, and applied their scaling-ladders all at once between the two gates that have been mentioned, exactly opposite to Muhammed Mazîd Terkhan's house. The Begs who were on guard had only two or three of their servants and attendants about them. Nevertheless Kuch Beg, Muhammed Kûli Kochin, Shah Sufi, and another brave cavalier, boldly assailed them, and displayed signal heroism. Some of the enemy had already mounted the wall, and several others were in the act of scaling it, when the four persons who have been mentioned arrived on the spot, fell upon them sword in hand, with the greatest bravery, and dealing out furious blows around them, drove the assailants back over the wall, and put them to flight. Kuch Beg distinguished himself above all the rest; and this was an exploit for ever to be cited to his honour. He twice during this siege performed excellent service by his valour. the city, and moves off privately in the night. He is obliged, in consequence, to evacuate The following account of his flight, we think, is extremely picturesque and interesting. "Having entangled ourselves among the great branches of the canals of the Soghd, during the darkness of the night, we lost our way, and after encountering many difficulties we passed Khwajeh Dîdàr about dawn. By the time of early morning prayers, we arrived at the hillock of Karbogh, and passing it on the north below the village of Kherdek, we made for Ilân-ûtî. On the road, I had a race with Kamber Ali and Kâsim Beg. My horse got the lead. As I turned round on my seat to see how far I had left them behind, my saddle-girth being slack, the saddle turned round, and I came to the ground right on my head. Although I immediately sprang up and mounted, yet I did not recover the full possession of my faculties till the evening, and the world, and all that occurred at the time, passed before my eyes and apprehension like a dream, or a phantasy, and disappeared. The time of afternoon prayers was past ere we reached Ilàn-ûtî, where we alighted, and having killed a horse, cut him up, and dressed slices of his flesh; we stayed a little time to rest our horses, then mounting again, before day-break we alighted at the village of Khalileh. From Khalileh we proceeded to Dizak. At that time Tâher Dûldai, the son of Hâfez Muhammed Beg Dûldai, was governor of Dizak. Here we found nice fat flesh, bread of fine flour well baked, sweet melons, and excellent grapes in great abundance; thus passing from the extreme of famine to plenty, and from an estate of danger and calamity to peace and ease. In my whole life, I never enjoyed myself so much, nor at any period of it felt so sensibly the pleasures of peace and plenty. Enjoyment after suffering, abundance after want, come with increased relish, and afford more exquisite delight. I have four or five times, in the course of my life, passed in a similar manner from distress to ease, and from a state of suffering to enjoyment: but this was the first time that I had ever been delivered at once from the injuries of my enemy, and the pressure of hunger, and passed to the ease of security, and the pleasures of plenty. Having rested and enjoyed ourselves two or three days in Dizak, we proceeded on to Uratippa. "Dekhat is one of the hill-districts of Uratippa. It lies on the skirts of a very high mountain, imme. diately on passing which you come on the country It was now the season of the ripening of the of Masîkha. The inhabitants, though Sarts, have grain, and nobody had brought in any new corn. large flocks of sheep, and herds of mares, like the As the siege had drawn out to great length, the in- Turks. The sheep belonging to Dekhat may habitants were reduced to extreme distress, and amount to forty thousand. We took up our lodg things came to such a pas3, that the poor and meanerings in the peasants' houses. I lived at the house sort were forced to feed on dogs' and asses' flesh. Grain for the horses becoming scarce, they were obliged to be fed on the leaves of trees; and it was ascertained from experience, that the leaves of the mulberry and blackwood answered best. Many used the shavings and raspings of wood, which they soaked in water, and gave to their horses. For three or four months Sheibâni Khan did not approach the fortress, but blockaded it at some distance on all sides, changing his ground from time to time. The ancients have said, that in order to maintain a fortress, a head, two hands, and two feet are necessary. The head is a captain, the two hands are two friendly forces that must advance from opposite sides: the two feet are water and stores of of one of the head men of the place. He was an aged man, seventy or eighty years old. His mother was still alive, and had attained an extreme old age, being at this time a hundred and eleven years old. One of this lady's relations had accompanied the army of Taimur Beg, when it invaded Hindustân. The circumstances remained fresh in her memory, and she often told us stories on that sub. ject. In the district of Dekhat alone, there still were of this lady's children, grandchildren, great. grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren, tə the number of ninety-six persons; and including those deceased, the whole amounted to two hundred. One of her great-grandchildren was at this time a young man of twenty-five or twenty-six years of age, with a fine black beard. While I remained in Dekhat, I was accustomed to walk on | hundred men. Tambol was speaking with anothe foot all about the hills in the neighbourhood. I generally went out barefoot, and, from this habit of walking barefoot, I soon found that our feet became so hardened that we did not mind rock or stone in the least. In one of these walks, between afternoon and evening prayers, we met a man who was going with a cow in a narrow road. I asked him the way. He answered, Keep your eye fixed on the cow; and do not lose sight of her till you come to the issue of the road, when you will know your ground. Khwâjeh Asedûlla, who was with me, enjoyed the joke, observing, What would become of us wise men, were the cow to lose her way? "It was wonderfully cold, and the wind of Hâderwîsh had here lost none of its violence, and blew keen. So excessive was the cold, that in the course of two or three days we lost two or three persons from its severity. I required to bathe on account of my religious purifications; and went down for that purpose to a rivulet, which was frozen on the banks, but not in the middle, from the ra- | pidity of the current. I plunged myself into the water, and dived sixteen times. The extreme chilliness of the water quite penetrated me." "It was now spring, and intelligence was brought that Sheibani Khan was advancing against Uratippa. As Dekhat was in the low country, I passed by Abburden and Amâni, and came to the hill country of Masîkha. Abbûrden is a village which lies at the foot of Masîkha. Beneath Abburden is a spring, and close by the spring is a tomb. From this spring, towards the upland, the country belongs to Masikha, but downwards from the spring it depends on Yelghar. On a stone which is on the brink of this spring, on one of its sides, I caused the following verses to be inscribed :— I have heard that the exalted Jemshid Yet could we not carry it with us to the grave.' After this, he contrives partly to retrieve his affairs, by uniting himself with a warlike Khan of his family, and takes the field with a considerable force against Tambol. The following account of a night skirmish reminds us of the chivalrous doings of the heroes of Froissart: "Just before the dawn, while our men were still enjoying themselves in sleep, Kamber Ali Beg galloped up, exclaiming, The enemy are upon usrouse up! Having spoken these words, without halting a moment, he passed on. I had gone to sleep, as was my custom even in times of security, without taking off my jama, or frock, and instantly arose, girt on my sabre and quiver, and mounted my horse. My standard-bearer seized the standard, but without having time to tie on the horse-tail and colours; but, taking the banner-staff in his hand just as it was, leaped on horseback, and we proceeded towards the quarter from which the enemy were advancing. When I first mounted there were ten or fifteen men with me. By the time I had advanced a bowshot, we fell in with the enemy's Birmishers. At this moment there might be about ten men with me. Riding quick up to them, and giving a discharge of our arrows, we came upon the most advanced of them, attacked and drove them back, and continued to advance, pursuing them for the distance of another bowshot, when we fell in with the main body of the enemy. Sultan Ahmed Tambol was standing, with about a From the Boslan of Sadi.-Leyden. person in the front of the line, and in the act of saying, Smite them! Smite them!' but his mez were sideling in a hesitating way, as if saying, Shall we flee? Let us flee!' but yet standing still. At this instant there were left with me only three persons: one of these was Dost Nasir, another Mirza Kuli Gokultâsh, and Kerîmdad Khodàidad, the Turkoman, the third. One arrow, which was then on the notch, I discharged on the helmit of Tambol, and again applied my hand to my quiver, and brought out a green-tipped barbed arrow, which my uncle, the Khan, had given me. Unwilling to throw it away, I returned it to the quiver, and thus lost as much time as would have allowed of shooting two arrows. I then placed another arrow on the string, and advanced, while the other three lagged a little behind me. Two persons came right on to meet me; one of them was Tambol, who preceded the other. There was a highway between us. He mounting on one side of it as I mounted on the other, we encountered on it in such a manner, that my right hand was towards my enemy, and Tambol's right hand towards me. Except the mail for his horse, Tambol had all his armour and accoutrements complete. I had only my sabre and bow and arrows. I drew up to my ear, and sent right for him the arrow which I had in my hand. At that very moment, an arrow of the kind called Sheibah struck me on the right thigh, and pierced through and through. I had a steel cap on my head. Tambol, rushing on, smote me such a blow on it with his sword as to stun me; though not a thread of the cap was penetrated, yet my head was severely wounded. I had neglected to clean my sword, so that it was rusty, and I lost time in drawing it. I was alone and single in the midst of a multitude of enemies. It was no season for standing still; so I turned my bridle round, receiving another sabre stroke on the arrows in my quiver. I had gone back seven or eight paces, when three foot soldiers came up and joined us. Tambol now attacked Dost Nasir sword in hand. They followed us about a bowshot. Arigh-Jakanshah is a large and deep stream, which is not fordable everywhere; but God directed us right, sa that we came exactly upon one of the fords of the river. Immediately on crossing the river, the horse of Dost Nasir fell from weakness. We halted to remount him, and passing among the hillocks that are between Khirabuk and Feraghîneh, and going from one hillock to another, we proceeded by byeroads towards Ush." We shall conclude our warlike extracts with the following graphic and lively account of the author's attack on Akhsi, and his subsequent repulse: "Sheikh Bayezîd had just been released, and was entering the gate, when I met him. I immediately drew to the head the arrow which was on my notch, and discharged it full at him. It only grazed his neck, but it was a fine shot. The moment he had entered the gate, he turned short to the right, and fled by a narrow street in great perturbation. I pursued him. Mirza Kuli Gokultash struck down one foot-soldier with his mace, and had passed another, when the fellow aimed an arrow at Ibrahim Beg, who startled him by exclaim. ing, Hai! Hai! and went forward; after which the man, being about as far off as the porch of a house is from the hall, let fly at me an arrow, which struck me under the arm. I had on a Kalmuk mail; twe plates of it were pierced and broken from the blow. After shooting the arrow, he fled, and I discharged an arrow after him. At that very moment a footsoldier happened to be flying along the rampart, and my arrow pinned his cap to the wall, where it remained shot through and through, and dangling from the parapet. He took off his turban, which he twisted round his arm, and ran away. A man on horseback passed close by me, fleeing up the Darrow lane by which Sheikh Bayezîd had escaped. | bers of bee-hives, but honey is brought only fron I struck him such a blow on the temples with the the hill-country on the west. The rawâsh* of Kâ. point of my sword, that he bent over as if ready to bul is of excellent quality; its quinces and damask fall from his horse; but supporting himself on the plums are excellent, as well as its bâdrengs. There vall of the lane, he did not lose his seat, but es. is a species of grape which they call the water-grape, caped with the utmost hazard. Having dispersed that is very delicious; its wines are strong and inall the horse and foot that were at the gate, we took toxicating. That produced on the skirt of the possession of it. There was now no reasonable mountain of Khwâjeh Khan-Saaîd is celebrated for chance of success; for they had two or three thou- its potency, though I describe it only from what I sand well-armed men in the citadel, while I had have heard: only a hundred, or two hundred at most, in the outer stone fort: and, besides, Jehangir Mirza, about as long before as milk takes to boil, had been beaten and driven out, and half of my men were with him." Soon after this there is an unlucky hiatus k all the manuscripts of the Memoirs, so that it is to this day unknown by what means the heroic prince escaped from his treacherous associates, only that we find him, the year after, warring prosperously against a new set of enemies. Of his military exploits and adventures, however, we think we have now given a sufficient specimen. In these we have said he resembles the paladins of Europe, in her days of chivalric enterprise. But we doubt greatly whether any of her knightly adventurers could have given so exact an account of the qualities and productions of the countries they visited as the Asiatic Sovereign has here put on record. Of Kabul, for example, after describing its boundaries, rivers, and mountains, he says "The drinker knows the flavour of the wine; how should the sober know it?" "Kâbul is not fertile in grain; a return of four or five to one is reckoned favourable. The melons too are not good, but those raised from seed brought from Khorasan are tolerable. The climate is extremely delightful, and in this respect there is no such place in the known world. In the nights of summer you cannot sleep without a postîn (or lamb. the winter, yet the cold is never excessively intense. skin cloak.) Though the snow falls very deep in Samarkand and Tabriz are celebrated for their fing climate, but the winter cold there is extreme be. yond measure.' Opposite to the fort of Adînahpûr, to the south, on a rising ground, I formed a charbagh (or great (1508). It is called Baghe Vata (the Garden of Figarden), in the year nine hundred and fourteen delity). It overlooks the river, which flows between the fort and the palace. In the year in which I defeated Behâr Khan and conquered Lahore and Dibâlpûr, I brought plantains and planted them had also planted the sugar-cane in it, which throve here. They grew and thrived. The year before I remarkably well. I sent some of them to Badakhshân and Bokhâra. It is on an elevated site, enjoys running water, and the climate in the winter season is temperate. In the garden there is a small hillock, from which a stream of water, sufficient to drive a mill, incessantly flows into the garden below. The four-fold field-plot of this garden is situated on this eminence. is a reservoir of water ten gez square, which is On the south-west part of this garden wholly planted round with orange trees; there are likewise pomegranates. All around the piece of water the ground is quite covered with clover. This spot is the very eye of the beauty of the garden. At the time when the orange becomes yellow, the prospect is delightful. Indeed the garden is charmingly laid out. To the south of this garden lies the Koh-e-Sefid (the White Mountain) of Nangenhår, which separates Bengash from Nangenhâr. There is no road by which one can pass it on horseback. Nine streams descend from this mountain. The snow on its summit never diminishes, whence probably comes the name of Koh-e-Sefîds (the White Mountain). No snow ever falls in the dales at its foot." "This country lies between Hindustan and Khorasan. It is an excellent and profitable market for commodities. Were the merchants to carry their goods as far as Khitâ or Rûm, they would scarcely get the same profit on them. Every year, seven, eight, or ten thousand horses arrive in Kâbul. From Hindustan, every year, fifteen or twenty thousand pieces of cloth are brought by caravans. The commodities of Hindustan are slaves, white cloths, sugar-candy, refined and common sugar, drugs, and spices. There are many merchants that are not satisfied with getting thirty or forty for ten.t The productions of Khorasan, Rûm, Irâk, and Chînt, may all be found in Kâbul, which is the very emporium of Hindustan. Its warm and cold districts are close by each other. From Kâbul you may in a single day go to a place where snow never falls, and in the space of two astronomical hours, you may reach a spot where snow lies always, except now and then when the summer happens to be peculiarly hot. In the districts dependant on Kabul, there is great abundance of the fruits both "The wine of Dereh-Nûr is famous all over of hot and cold climates, and they are found in its Lamghanât. It is of two kinds, which they term immediate vicinity. The fruits of the cold dis- arch-tashi (the stone-saw), and suhan-tashi (the tricts in Kâbul are grapes, pomegranates, apricots, stone-file). The stone-saw is of a yellowish colour; peaches, pears, apples, quinces, jujubes, dainsons, the stone-file, of a fine red. The stone-saw, howalmonds, and walnuts; all of which are found in ever, is the better wine of the two, though neither great abundance. I caused the sour-cherry-tree of them equals their reputation. Higher up, at the to be brought here and planted; it produced ex-head of the glens, in this mountain, there are some cellent fruit, and continues thriving. The fruits it possesses peculiar to a warm climate are the orange, citron, the amluk, and sugar-cane, which are brought from the Lamghanât. I caused the sugarcane to be brought, and planted it here. They bring the Jelghûzek T from Nijrow. They have num apes to be met with. Apes are found lower down The rawâsh is described as a root something like beet-root, but much larger-white and red in colour, with large leaves, that rise little from the ground. It has a pleasant mixture of sweet and acid. It may be the rhubarb, râweid. The bâdreng is a large green fruit, in shape somewhat like a citron. The name is also applied to a large sort of cucumber. The fort of Adînahpûr is to the south of the Kâbul river. The Koh-e-Sefîd is a remarkable position in the geography of Afghanistân. It is seen from Peshawer. The prejudices of the more active and energetic inhabitant of the hill country are still more visible in the following passage:- towards Hindustân, but none higher up than this | standing water is to be met with. All these cities hill. The inhabitants used formerly to keep hogs.* and countries derive their water from wells or tanks, but in my time they have renounced the practice." in which it is collected during the rainy season. In Hindustan, the populousness and decay, or tota His account of the productions of his pater-destruction of villages, nay of cities, is almost inaal kingdom of Ferghana is still more minute stantaneous. Large cities that have been inhabited --telling us even the number of apple-trees for a series of years, (if, on an alarm, the inhabitants in a particular district, and making mention take to flight,) in a single day, or a day and a half, of an excellent way of drying apricots, with are so completely abandoned, that you can scarcely almonds put in instead of the stones; and of discover a trace or mark of population."* a wood with a fine red bark, of admirable use for making whip-handles and birds' cages! The most remarkable piece of statistics, however, with which he has furnished us, is in account of Hindustan, which he first entered as a conqueror in 1525. It here occupies twenty-five closely-printed quarto pages; and contains, not only an exact account of its boundaries, population, resources, revenues, and divisions, but a full enumeration of all its useful fruits, trees, birds, beasts, and fishes; with such a minute description of their seyeral habitudes and peculiarities, as would make no contemptible figure in a modern work of natural history-carefully distinguishing the facts which rest on his own observation from those which he gives only on the testimony of others, and making many suggestions as to the means of improving, or transferring them from one region to another. From the detailed botanical and zoological descriptions, we can afford of course to make no extracts. What follows is more general: "Hindustan is a country that has few pleasures to recommend it. The people are not handsome. They have no idea of the charms of friendly society, They have no genius, no comprehension of mind, of frankly mixing together, or of familiar intercourse. no politeness of manner, no kindness or fellowfeeling, no ingenuity or mechanical invention in planning or executing their handicraft works, no skill or knowledge in design or architect are; they have no good horses, no good flesh, no grapes or musk-melonst, no good fruits, no ice or cold water, no good food or bread in their bazars, no baths or colleges, no candles, no torches, not a candlestick." The chief excellency of Hindustan is, that it is a large country, and has abundance of gold and silver. The climate during the rains is very pleasant. On some days it rains ten, fifteen, and even twenty pouring down all at once, and form rivers, even in times. During the rainy season, inundations come places where, at other times, there is no water. While the rains continue on the ground, the air is singularly delightful-insomuch, that nothing can surpass its soft and agreeable temperature. Its defect is, that the air is rather moist and damp. "Hindustan is situated in the first, second, and During the rainy season, you cannot shoot, even third climates. No part of it is in the fourth. It is with the bow of our country, and it becomes quite a remarkably fine country. It is quite a different useless. Nor is it the bow alone that becomes world, compared with our countries. Its hills and useless; the coats of mail, books, clothes, and furrivers, its forests and plains, its animals and plants, niture, all feel the bad effects of the moisture. its inhabitants and their languages, its winds and Their houses, too, suffer from not being substanrains, are all of a different nature. Although the tially built. There is pleasant enough weather in Germsîls (or hot districts), in the territory of Kabul, the winter and summer, as well as in the rainy bear, in many respects, some resemblance to Hin-season; but then the north wind always blows, and dustân, while in other particulars they differ, yet you have no sooner passed the river Sind than the country, the trees, the stones, the wandering tribes, the manners and customs of the people, are all entirely those of Hindustan. The northern range of hills has been mentioned. Immediately on crossing the river Sind, we come upon several countries in this range of mountains, connected with Kashmir, such as Pekheli and Shemeng. Most of nem, though now independent of Kashmir, were formerly included in its territories. After leaving Kashmir, these hills contain innumerable tribes and erates, Pergannahs and countries, and extend all the way to Bengal and the shores of the Great Ocean. About these hills are other tribes of men." "The country and towns of Hindustan are extremely ugly. All its towns and lands have an uniform look: its gardens have no walls; the greater part of it is a level plain. The banks of its rivers and streams, in consequence of the rushing of the torrents that descend during the rainy season, are worn deep into the channel, which makes it generally difficult and troublesome to cross them. In many places the plain is covered by a thorny rush-wood, to such a degree that the people of the Pergannahs, relying on these forests. take shelter in them, and, trusting to their inaccessible situation, often continue in a state of revolt, refusing to pay their taxes. In Hindustan, if you except the rivers, there is little running water. Now and then some This practice Baber viewed with disgust, the hog being an inpure animal in the Muhammedan law. The Ils and Uluses." In Persia there are few rivers, but numbers of there is an excessive quantity of earth and dust flying about. When the rains are at hand, this wind blows five or six times with excessive violence, and artifical canals or water-runs for irrigation, and for the supply of water to towns and villages. The same is the case in the valley of Soghd, and the richer parts of Maweralnaher. This is the wulsa or walsa, so well described by Colonel Wilks in his Historical Sketches, vol. i. p. 309, note: On the approach of an hostile army, the unfortunate inhabitants of India bury under ground their most cumbrous effects, and each individual, man, woman, and child above six years of age, (the infant children being carried by their mothers,) with a load of grain proportioned to their strength, issue from their beloved homes, and take the direction of a country (if such can be found) exempt from the miseries of war; sometimes of a strong fortress, but more generally of the most unfrequented hills and woods, where they prolong miserable existence until the departure of the ene. my; and if this should be protracted beyond the time for which they have provided food, a large portion necessarily dies of hunger. See the note itself. The Historical Sketches should be read by every one who desires to have an accurate idea of the South of India. It is to be regretted that we do not possess the history of any other part of India, written with the same knowledge or research.' + Baber's opinions regarding India ere nearly the same with those of most Europeans of the upper class, even at the present day. Grapes and musk-melons, parucularly the lat ter, are now common all over India. such a quar tity of dust flies about that you cannot | hill country to the east of Andejân, and the snow see one another. They call this an Andhi. It gets warm during Taurus and Gemini, but not so warm as to become intolerable. The heat cannot be compared to the heats of Balkh and Kandahar. It is not above half so warm as in these places. Another convenience of Hindustân is, that the workmen of every profession and trade are innumerable and without end. For any work, or any employment, there is always a set ready, to whom the same employment and trade have descended from father to son for ages. In the Zefer-Nameh of Milla Sherif-ed-dîn Ali Yezdi, it is mentioned as a surprising fact, that when Taimur Beg was building the Sangîn (or stone) mosque, there were stone-cutters of Azerbaejan, Fârs, Hindustan, and other countries, to the number of two hundred, working every day on the mosque. In Agra alone, and of stone-cutters belonging to that place only, I every day employed on my palaces six hundred and eighty persons; and in Agra, Sikri, Biâna, Dhulpûr, Gualiar, and Koel, there were every day employed on my works one thousand four hundred and ninetyone stone-cutters. In the same way, men of every trade and occupation are numberless and without stint in Hindustan. "The countries from Behreh to Behâr, which are now under my dominion, yield a revenue of fifty-two krors,† as will appear from the particular and detailed statement. Of this amount, Pergannahs to the value of eight or nine krors are in the possession of some Rais and Rajas, who from old times have been submissive, and have received these Pergannahs for the purpose of confirming them in their obedience." These Memoirs contain many hundred characters and portraits of individuals; and it would not be fair not to give our readers one or two specimens of the royal author's minute style of execution on such subjects. We may begin with that of Omer-Sheikh Mirza, his grandfather, and immediate predecessor in the throne of Ferghana : "Omer-Sheikh Mirza was of low stature, had a short bushy beard, brownish hair, and was very corpulent. He used to wear his tunic extremely tight; insomuch, that as he was wont to contract his belly while he tied the strings, when he let himself out again the strings often burst. He was not curious in either his food or dress. He tied his turban in the fashion called Destûr-pêch (or plaited turban). At that time, all turbans were worn in the char-pêch (or four-plait) style. He wore his without folds, and allowed the end to hang down. During the heats, when out of the Divân, he generally wore the Moghul cap. He read elegantly: his general reading was the Khamsahs, the Mesnevis, and books of his tory; and he was in particular fond of reading the Shahnameh.** Though he had a turn for poetry, he did not cultivate it. He was so strictly just, that when the caravan from Khitatt had once reached the This is still the Hindustâni term for a storm, or tempest. About a million and a half sterling, or rather 1,300.0007. This statement unfortunately has not been preserved. About 225,0001. sterling. B Several Persian poets wrote Khamsahs, or poems, on five different given subjects. The most celebrated is Nezami. The most celebrated of these Mesnevis is the mystical poem of Moulavi Jiluleddin Muhammed. The Sufis consider it as equal to the Koran. ** The Shahnameh, or Book of Kings, is the famous poem of the great Persian poet Ferdausi, and contains the romantic history of ancient Persia. + North China; but often applied to the whole fell so deep as to bury it, so that of the whole only two persons escaped, he no sooner received in formation of the occurrence, than he despatched overseers to collect and take charge of all the property and effects of the people of the caravan; and, wherever the heirs were not at hand, though himself in great want, his resources being exhausted, he placed the property under sequestration, and preserved it untouched; till, in the course of one or two years, the heirs, coming from Khorasan and Samarkand, in consequence of the intimation which they received, he delivered back the goods safe and uninjured into their hands. His generosity was large, and so was his whole soul; he was of an excellent temper, affable, eloquent, and sweet in his conversation, yet brave withal, and manly. On two occasions he advanced in front of the troops, and exhibited distinguished prowess; once, at the gates of Akhsi, and once at the gates of Shahrokhîa. He was a middling shot with the bow; he had uncommon force in his fists and never hit a man whom he did not knock down. From his excessive ambition for conquest, he often exchanged peace for war, and friendship for hostility. In the earlier part of his life he was greatly addicted to drinking bûzeh and talar. Latterly, once or twice in the week, he indulged in a drinking party. He was a pleasant companion, and in the course of conversation used often to cite, with great felicity, appropriate verses from the poets. In his latter days he was much addicted to the use of Maajûn,‡ while under the influence of which he was subject to a feverish irritability. He was a humane man. He played a great deal at backgammon, and sometimes at games of chance with the dice. The following is the memorial of Hussain Mirza, king of Khorasan, who died in 1506: "He had straight narrow eyes. his body was robust and firm; from the waist downwards he was of a slenderer make. Although he was advanced in years, and had a white beard, he dressed in gay-coloured red and green woollen clothes. He usually wore a cap of black lamb's skin, or a kilpak. Now and then, on festival days, he put on a small turban tied in three folds, broad and showy, and having placed a plume nodding over it, went in this style to prayers. On first mounting the throne, he took it into his head that he would cause the names of the twelve Imams to be recited in the Khutbeh. Many used their endeavours to prevent him. Finally, however, he directed and arranged every thing according to the orthodox Sunni faith. From a disorder in his joints, he was unable to perform his prayers, nor could he observe the stated fasts. He was a lively, pleasant man. His temper was rather hasty, and his language took after his temper. In many instances he displayed a profound reverence for the faith; on one occasion, one of his sons having slain a man, he delivered him up to the avengers of blood to be carried before the judgment-seat of the Kazi. For about six or seven years after he first ascended the throne, he was very guarded in abstaining from such things as were forbidden by country from China to Terfân, and now even west to the Ala-tagh Mountains. *This anecdote is erroneously related of Baber himself by Ferishta and others.-See Dow's Hist. of Hindostan, vol. ii. p. 218. + Buzch is a sort of intoxicating liquor somewhat resembling beer, made from millet. Talar I do not know, but understand it to be a preparation from the poppy. There is, however, nothing about bûzeh or talar in the Persian, which only specifies sherab, wine or strong drink. Any medical mixture is called a maajûn; but in common speech the term is chiefly applied to in toxicating comfits, and especially those prepared with bang. |