925 AH. JAN. 3rd TO DEC. 23rd 1519 AD. 373
{Jan. 20th) On Thursday the 18th of the month, we hunted the hill between Bajaur and Chandawal.1 There the btighumardl2 have become quite black, except for the tail which is of another colour; lower down, in Hindustan, they seem to become black all over.3 Today a sariq-qush 4 was taken ; that was black all over, its very eyes being black ! Today an eagle {bfwkut) s took a deer {kiyik).
Corn being somewhat scarce in the army, we went into the Kahraj-valley, and took some.
{Jan. 21st) On Friday (Muh. 19th) we marched for Sawad, with the intention of attacking the Yusuf-zal Afghans, and dismounted in between6 the water of Panj-kura and the united waters of Chandawal and Bajaur. Shah Mansur YusuJ-zai had brought a few well-flavoured and quite intoxicating confections {kama.lt); making one of them into three, I ate one portion, Gadal Taghai another, 'Abdu'1-lah the librarian another. It produced remarkable intoxication ; so much so that at the Evening Prayer when the begs gathered for counsel, I was not able to go out. A strange thing it was! If in these days7 I ate the whole of such a confection, I doubt if it would produce half as much intoxication.
(c. An impost laid on Kakrdj.)
{Jan. 22nd) Marching from that ground, (Muh. 20th), we dismounted over against Kahraj, at the mouth of the valleys of Kahraj and Peshgram.8 Snow fell ankle-deep while we were on that ground ; it would seem to be rare for snow to fall thereabouts, for people were much surprised. In agreement with
1 This will be the naze of the n.e. rampart of the Baba Qara valley.
3 f. 4 and note ; f. 276. Babur seems to use the na.ne for several varieties of deer.
3 There is here, perhaps, a. jesting allusion to the darkening of complexion amongst the inhabitants of countries from west to east, from Highlands to Indian plains.
4 In Dr. E. D. Ross' Polyglot list of birds the sangh(sarig)-qush is said to frequent fields of ripening grain ; this suggests to translate its name as Thief-bird.
5 Aquila ckrysaetus, the hunting eagle.
This araligh might be identified with the "Miankalai" of maps (since Soghd, lying between two arms of the Zar-afshan is known also as Mlankal), but Raverty explains the Bajaur Miankalai to mean Village of the holy men (mian).
7 After 933 ah. presumably, when final work on the B.N. was in progress. Mr. Erskine notes that Pesh-gram lies north of Mahyar (on the Chandawalwater), and that he has not found Kahraj (or Kohraj). Judging from Babur's next movements, the two valleys he names may be those in succession east of Chandawal.
