inclined against Humayun's succession, that rumour she would set herself to falsify by reconciliation.1
When the Mlrza's intention to leave Qila'-i-zafar became known there, the chiefs represented that they should not be able to withstand the Auzbeg on their frontier without him (his troops implied).2 With this he agreed, said that still he must go, and that he would send a Mlrza in his place as soon as possible. He then rode, in one day, to Kabul, an item of rapid travel preserved by Abu'1-fazl.
Humayun's departure caused such anxiety in Qila'-i-zafar that some (if not all) of the Badakhshl chiefs hurried off an invitation to Said Khan Chaghatai, the then ruler in Kashghar in whose service Haidar Mlrza was, to come at once and occupy the fort. They said that Faqlr-i-'all who had been left in charge, was not strong enough to cope with the Auzbeg, begged Sa'id to come, and strengthened their petition by reminding him of his hereditary right to Badakhshan, derived from Shah Beglm Badakhshi. Their urgency convincing the Khan that risk threatened the country, he started from Kashghar in Muharram 936 AH. (Sept.-Oct. 1529 AD.). On reaching Sarlgh-chupan which by the annexation of Aba-bakr Mlrza Dughldt was now his own most western territory 3 but which formerly was one of the upper districts of Badakhshan, he waited while Haidar went on towards Qila'-i-zafar only to learn on his road, that Hind-al {mt. 10) had been sent from Kabul by Humayun and had entered the fort 12 days before.
The Kashgharis were thus placed in the difficulty that the fort was occupied by Babur's representative, and that the snows would prevent their return home across the mountains till winter was past. Winter-quarters were needed and asked for by Haidar, certain districts being specified in which to await the re-opening of the Pamir routes. He failed in his request, " They did not trust us," he writes, "indeed suspected us of deceit." His own account of Sa'Id's earlier invasion of Badakhshan (925 AH. '519 AD.) during Khan Mirza's rule, serves to explain Badakhshl
' Humayun's last recorded act in Hindustan was that of 933 ah. (f. 329*) when he took unauthorized possession of treasure in Dihli. Tdrlkh-i-rashldi trs. p. 387. 3 T.-i.R. trs. p. 353 et seq. and Mr. Ney Elias' notes.
