198
KABUL
Leaving that camp we went, with one night's halt, to the Chalak-meadow, and there dismounted. After counsel taken it was decided to lay siege to Kabul, and we marched forward. With what men of the centre there were, I dismounted between Haidar Taqis1- garden and the tomb of Qul-i-bayazld, the Taster (bakawat);2 Jahanglr Mlrza, wiih the men of the right, dismounted in my great Four-gardens (Ckdr-bdgh), Nasir Mlrza, with the left, in the meadow of Qutluq-qadam's tomb. People of ours went repeatedly t< confer with Muqlm ; they sometimes brought excuses back, sometimes words making for agreement. His tactics were the sequel of his dispatch, directly after Sherak's defeat, of a courier to his father and elder brother (in Qandahar); he made delays because he was hoping in them.
One day our centre, right, and left were ordered to put on their mail and their horses' mail, to go close to the town, and to display their equipment so as to strike terror on those within. Jahanglr Mlrza and the right went straight forward by the Kucha-bagh ;3 I, with the centre, because there was water, went along the side of Qutluq-qadam's tomb to a mound facing the rising-ground;4 the van collected above Qutluqqadam's bridge, at that time, however, there was no bridge. When the braves, showing themselves off, galloped close up to the Curriers'-gate,5 a few who had come out through it fled in again without making any stand. A crowd of Kabulls who had come out to see the sight raised a great dust when they ran away from the high slope of the glacis of the citadel (i.e. Bala-hisar). A number of pits had been dug up the rise between the bridge and the gate, and hidden under sticks and rubbish ; SI. Qull Chundq and several others were thrown as they galloped over them. A few braves of the right exchanged sword-cuts with those who came out of the town, in amongst
1 The name may be from Turk! ttlq, a horse-shoe, but I.O. 215 f. 102 writes Persian naqib, the servant who announces arriving guests.
2 Here, as immediately below, when mentioning the Char-bagh and the tomb of Qiitluq-qadam, Babur uses "names acquired by the places at a subsequent date. 1° 910 ah. the Taster was alive; the Char-bagh was bought by Babur in 911 AH., and Qutluq-qadam fought at Kanwaha in 933 ah.
3 The Kucha-bagh is still a garden about 4 miles from Kabul on the north-west and divided from it by a low hill-pass. There is still a bridge on the way (Erskine).
4 Presumably that on which the Bala-hisar stood, the glacis of a few lines further.
5 Cf. f. 130.
