932 AH. OCT. 18th 1525 to OCT. 8th 1526 AD. 503
each about 3 inches {allik) long, come out in a line with its ears ; these it shakes when taken, producing an extraordinary noise, whence, seemingly, people have called it kalah [or galah\.
The flesh of Hindustan fishes is very savoury ; they have no odour {aid) or tiresomeness.1 They are surprisingly active. On one occasion when people coming, had flung a net across a stream, leaving its two edges half a yard above the water, most fish passed by leaping a yard above it. In many rivers are little fish which fling themselves a yard or more out of the water if there be harsh noise or sound of feet.
The frogs of Hindustan, though otherwise like those other (Tramontane), run 6 or 7 yards on the face of the water.2 t
(/. Vegetable products of Hindustan : Fruits.)
The mango (P. anbaJi) is one of the fruits peculiar to Hindustan. Hindustanis pronounce the b in its name as though no vowel followed it {i.e. Sans, anb); 3 this being awkward to utter, some people call the fruit [P.] naghzak°< as Khwaja Khusrau does : -
Naghzak-i ma [var. khwash] naghz-ktm-i bustan, Naghztarin mewa [var. na'war]-i-Hindustan.^
Mangoes when good, are very good, but, many as are eaten, few are first-rate. They are usually plucked unripe and ripened in the house. Unripe, they make excellent condiments (qatiq), are good also preserved in syrup.6 Taking it altogether, the mango is the best fruit of Hindustan. Some so praise it as to give it preference over all fruits except the musk-melon (T. qawiiii), but
* T. qiymittghi, presumably referring to spines or difficult bones ; T. qin, however, means a scabbard [Shaw].
2 One of the common frogs is a small one which, when alarmed, jumps along the surface of the water (G. of I. i, 273).
3 Anb and anbak (pronounced ami and ambah) are now less commonly used names than am. It is an interesting comment on Babur's words that Abu'1-fazl spells anb, letter by letter, and says that the ,b is quiescent (Ayin 28 ; for the origin of the word mango, vide Yule's H.J. s.ti.).
4 A corresponding diminutive would be fairling.
_5 The variants, entered in parenthesis, are found in the Bib. Ind. ed. of the
Ayln-i-akbari p. 75 and in a (bazar) copy of the Qitranu's-sa'dain in my husband's
possession. As Amir Khusrau was a poet of Hindustan, either khwash (khwesh) [our
own] or ma [our] would suit his meaning. The couplet is, literally :
Our fairling, [i.e. mango] beaut3'-maker of the garden,
Fairest fruit of Hindustan.
6 Daulat Khan Yusuf-khailLudi in 929 ah. sent Babur a gift of mangoes preserved in honey (in loco p. 440).
