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906 AH. JULY 28th. 1500 to JULY 17th. 1501 AD. 129
j^uh. Mazid Tarkhan and the Samarkand begs under his command, together with their wives and families and people, but when we dismounted in the Chultii meadow of Chaghanian, they parted from us, went to Khusrau Shah and became his retainers.
Cut off from our own abiaing-town and country,1 not knowing where (else) to go or where to stay, we were obliged to traverse the very heart of Khusrau Shah's districts, spite of what measure of misery he had inflicted on the men of our dynasty!
One of our plans had been to go to my younger Khan dada, i.e. Alacha Khan, by way of Qara-tigin and the Alai,2 but this was not managed. Next we were for going up the valley of the Kam torrent and over the Sara-taq pass (ddban). When we were near Niindak, a servant of Khusrau Shah brought me one set of nine horses3 and one of nine pieces of cloth. When we dismounted at the mouth of the Kam valley, Sher'ali, the page, deserted to Khusrau Shah's brother, Wall and, next day, Quch Beg parted from us and went to Hisar.4
We entered the valley and made our way up it. On its steep and narrow roads and at its sharp and precipitous saddles6 many horses and camels were left. Before we reached the Sara-taq pass we had (in 25 m.) to make three or four night-halts. A pass! and what a pass! Never was such a steep and narrow pass seen; never were traversed such ravines and precipices. Those dangerous narrows and sudden falls, those perilous heights and knife-edge saddles, we got through with much difficulty and suffering, with countless hardships and miseries. Amongst the Fan mountains is a large lake (Iskandar); it is 2 miles in circumference, a beautiful lake and not devoid of marvels.8
Cut off by alien lands and weary travel. 3 The Pers. annotator of the Elph. Codex has changed Alai to wilayat, and daban (pass) to yan, side. For the difficult route see Schuyler, i, 275, Kostenko, i. 129 and Rickmers, JRGS. 1907, art. Fan Valley.
3 Amongst Turks and Mughuls, gifts were made by nines.
Hisar was his earlier home. 5 Many of these will have been climbed in order to get over places impassable *t the river's level. 8 Schuyler quotes a legend of the lake. He and Kostenko make it larger.
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