PREFACE
xxxv
lost record, which demand complement on the testimony of Haidar's extracts, and firmly on Babur's orderly and persistent bias of mind and on the prideful character of much of the lost record. Moreover occasions of risk to Babur's papers are known.
Of these occasions the first was the destruction of his camp near Hisar in 1512 (918; p. 357) but no information about his papers survives ; they may not have been in his tent but in the fort. The second was a case of recorded damage to " book and sections " (p. 679) occurring in 1529 (935). From signs of work done to the Farghana section in Hindustan, the damage may be understood made good at the later date. To the third exposure to damage, namely, the attrition of hard travel and unsettled life during Humayun's 14 years of exile from rule in Hindustan (1441-1555) it is reasonable to attribute even the whole loss of text. For, assuming as may well be done that Babur left (1530) a complete autobiography, its volume would be safe so long as Humayun was in power but after the Timurid exodus (1441) his library would be exposed to the risks detailed in the admirable chronicles of Gul-badan, Jauhar and Bayazid (q.v.). He is known to have annotated his father's book in 1555 (p. 466 n. 1) just before marching from Kabul to attempt the re-conquest of Hindustan. His Codex would return to Dihli which he entered in July 1555, and there would be safe from risk of further mutilation. Its condition in 1555 is likely to have remained what it was found when 'Abdu'r-rahim translated it into Persian by Akbar's orders (1589) for Abu'l-fazl's use in the Akbar-nama. That Persian translation with its descendant the Memoirs of Baber, and the purelyTurki Haidarabad Codex with its descendant the Babur-nama in English, contain identical contents and, so doing, carry the date of the mutilation of Babur's Turki text back through its years of safety, 1589 to 1555, to the period of Humayun's exile and its dangers for camel-borne or deserted libraries.
" Two misinterpretations of lacunas.
Not unnaturally the frequent interruptions of narrative caused °y lacuna have been misinterpreted occasionally, and sometimes
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