The prejudices of the more active and energetic inhabitant of the hill country are still more visible in the following passage:

"Hindustan is a country that has few pleasures to recommend it.* The people are not handsome. They have no idea of the charms of friendly society, of frankly mixing together, or of familiar intercourse. They have no genius, no comprehension of mind, no politeness of manner, no kindness or fellow-feeling, no ingenuity or mechanical invention in planning or executing their handicraft works, no skill or knowledge in design or architecture; they have no good horses, no good flesh, no grapes or musk-melons,† no good fruits, no ice or cold water, no good food or bread in their bazars, no baths or colleges, no candles, no torches, not a candlestick."

"The chief excellency of Hindustân is, that it is a large country, and has abundance of gold and silver. The climate during the rains is very pleasant. On some days it rains ten, fifteen, and even twenty times. During the rainy season, inundations come pouring down all at once, and form rivers, even in places where, at other times, there is no water. While the rains continue on the ground, the air is singularly delightful-insomuch, that nothing can surpass its soft and agreeable temperature. Its defect is, that the air is rather moist and damp. During the rainy season, you cannot shoot, even with the bow of our country, and it becomes quite useless. Nor is it the bow alone that becomes useless; the coats of mail, books, clothes, and furniture, all feel the bad effects of the moisture. Their houses, too, suffer from not being substantially built. There is pleasant enough weather in the winter and summer, as well as in the rainy season; but then the north wind always blows, and there is an excessive quantity of earth and dust flying about. When the rains are at hand, this wind blows five or six times with excessive violence, and such a quantity of dust

ried by their mothers), with a load of grain proportioned to their strength, issue from their beloved homes, and take the direction of a country (if such can be found) exempt from the miseries of war; sometimes of a strong fortress, but more generally of the most unfrequented hills and woods, where they prolong a miserable existence until the departure of the enemy; and if this should be protracted beyond the time for which they have provided food, a large portion necessarily dies of hunger.' See the note itself. The Historical Sketches should be read by every one who desires to have an accurate idea of the South of India. It is to be regretted that we do not possess the history of any other part of India, written with the same knowledge or research."

*Baber's opinions regarding India, are nearly the same with those of most Europeans of the upper class, even at the present day.

+ Grapes and musk-melons, particularly the latter, are now common all over India.

flies about that you cannot see one another. They call this an Andhi.* It gets warm during Taurus and Gemini, but not so warm as to become intolerable. The heat cannot be compared to the heats of Balkh and Kandahår. It is not above half so warm as in these places. Another convenience of Hindustân is, that the workmen of every profession and trade are innumerable and without end. For any work, or any employment, there is always a set ready, to whom the same employment and trade have descended from father to son for ages. In the Zefer-Nâmeh of Mûlla Sherîf-ed-dîn Ali Yezdi, it is mentioned as a surprising fact, that when Taimur Beg was building the Sangîn (or stone) mosque, there were stone-cutters of Azerbaejan, Fârs, Hindustân, and other countries, to the number of two hundred, working every day on the mosque. In Agra alone, and of stone-cutters belonging to that place only, I every day employed on my palaces six hundred and eighty persons; and in Agra, Sikri, Biâna, Dhulpûr, Guâliâr, and Koel, there were every day employed on my works one thousand four hundred and ninety-one stone-cutters. In the same way, men of every trade and occupation are numberless and without stint in Hindustân.

"The countries from Behreh to Behâr, which are now under my dominion, yield a revenue of fifty-two krors,† as will appear from the particular and detailed statement.‡ Of this amount, Pergannas to the value of eight or nine krors are in the possession of some Rais and Rajas, who from old times have been submissive, and have received these Pergannas for the purpose of confirming them in their obedience."

These memoirs contain many hundred characters and portraits of individuals; and it would not be fair not to give our readers one or two specimens of the royal author's minute style of execution on such subjects. We may begin with that of Omer-Sheikh Mirza, his grandfather, and immediate predecessor in the throne of Ferghâna :

"Omer-Sheikh Mirza was of low stature, had a short bushy beard, brownish hair, and was very corpulent. He used to wear his tunic extremelytight; insomuch, that as he was wont to contract his belly while he tied the strings, when he let himself out again the strings often burst. He was not curious in either his food or dress. He tied his turban in the fashion called Destár-pêch (or plaited turban.) At that time, all turbans were worn in the char-pêch (or four-plait) style. He wore his without folds, and allowed the end to hang down. During the heats, when out of the Divân, he generally wore the Moghul сар.

This is still the Hindustâni term for a storm, or tempest. + About a million and a half sterling, or rather £1,300,000. This statement unfortunately has not been preserved. About £225,000 sterling.

"He read elegantly: his general reading was the Khamsahs,* the Mesnevis, and books of history; and he was in particular fond of reading the Shahnâmeh.‡ Though he had a turn for poetry, he did not cultivate it. He was so strictly just, that when the caravan from Khita|| had once reached the hill country to the east of Andejân, and the snow fell so deep as to bury it; so that of the whole, only two persons escaped: he no sooner received information of the occurrence, than he dispatched overseers to collect and take charge of all the property and effects of the people of the caravan; and, wherever the heirs were not at hand, though himself in great want, his resources being exhausted, he placed the property under sequestration, and preserved it untouched; till, in the course of one or two years, the heirs, coming from Khorasân and Samarkand, in consequence of the intimation which they received, he delivered back the goods safe and uninjured into their hands.§ His generosity was large, and so was his whole soul; he was of an excellent temper, affable, eloquent and sweet in his conversation, yet brave withal, and manly. On two occasions he advanced in front of the troops, and exhibited distinguished prowess; once, at the gates of Akhsi, and once at the gates of Shahrokhîa. He was a middling shot with the bow; he had uncommon force in his fists, and never hit a man whom he did not knock down. From his excessive ambition for conquest, he often exchanged peace for war, and friendship for hostility. In the earlier part of his life he was greatly addicted to drinking bûzeh and talarq. Latterly, once or twice in the week, he indulged in a drinking party. He was a pleasant companion, and in the course of conversation used often to cite, with great felicity, appropriate verses from the poets. In his latter days he was much addicted to the use of Maajûn,** while under

* Several Persian poets wrote Khamsahs, or poems, on five different given subjects. The most celebrated is Nezâmi.

+ The most celebrated of these Mesnevis is the mystical poem of Moulavi Jilûleddin Muhammed. The Sufis consider it as equal to

the Koran.

‡ The Shahnameh, or Book of Kings, is the famous poem of the great Persian poet Ferdausi, and contains the romantic history of an

cient Persia.

|| North China, but often applied to the whole country from China to Terfân, and now even west to the Ala-tagh Mountains.

§ This anecdote is erroneously related of Baber himself by Ferishta and others.-See Dow's Hist. of Hindostan, vol. ii. p. 218.

Bûzeh is a sort of intoxicating liquor somewhat resembling beer, made from millet. Talar I do not know, but understand it to be a preparation from the poppy. There is, however, nothing about bûzeh or talar in the Persian, which only specifies sherab, wine or strong drink.

** Any medical mixture is called a maajun; but in common speech, the term is chiefly applied to intoxicating comfits, and especially those prepared with bang.

the influence of which, he was subject to a feverish irritability. was a humane man. He played a great deal at backgammon, and sometimes at games of chance with the dice."

The following is the memorial of Hussain Mirza, king of Khorasan, who died in 1506:

"He had straight narrow eyes, his body was robust and firm; from the waist downwards he was of a slenderer make. Although he was advanced in years, and had a white beard, he dressed in gaycoloured red and green woollen clothes. He usually wore a cap of black lamb's skin, or a kilpak. Now and then, on festival days, he put on a small turban tied in three folds, broad and showy, and having placed a plume nodding over it, went in this style to prayers.

"On first mounting the throne, he took it into his head that he would cause the names of the twelve Imams to be recited in the Khutbeh. Many used their endeavours to prevent him. Finally, however, he directed and arranged everything according to the orthodox Sunni faith. From a disorder in his joints, he was unable to perform his prayers, nor could he observe the stated fasts. He was a lively, pleasant man. His temper was rather hasty, and his language took after his temper. In many instances he displayed a profound reverence for the faith; on one occasion, one of his sons having slain a man, he delivered him up to the avengers of blood to be carried before the judgment-seat of the Kazi. For about six or seven years after he first ascended the throne, he was very guarded in abstaining from such things as were forbidden by the law; afterwards he became addicted to drinking wine. During nearly forty years that he was King of Khorasan, not a day passed in which he did not drink after mid-day prayers; but he never drank wine in the morning. His sons, the whole of the soldiery, and the town's-people, followed his example in this respect, and seemed to vie with each other in debauchery and lasciviousness. He was a brave and valiant man. He often engaged sword in hand in fight, nay, frequently distinguished his prowess hand to hand several times in the course of the same fight. No person of the race of Taimur Beg ever equalled Sultan Hussain Mirza in the use of the scymitar. He had a turn for poetry, and composed a Diwan. He wrote in the Tûrki. His poetical name was Hussaini. Many of his verses are far from being bad, but the whole of the Mirza's Diwân is in the same measure. Although a prince of dignity, both as to years and extent of territory, he was as fond as a child of keeping butting rams, and of amusing himself with flying pigeons and cock-fighting."

We can afford only one other portrait---that of Sultan Abusaid, in 1499.

"He was tall, of a ruddy complexion, and corpulent. He had a beard on the fore-part of the chin, but none on the lower part of the cheek. He was a man of extremely pleasant manners. He wore his turban, according to the fashion of the time, in what was termed Chármák (the four-plaited), with the tie or hem brought forward over the eyebrows.

VOL. XLVI. NO. 91.

E

"He was strictly attached to the Hanifah sect, and was a true and orthodox believer. He unfailingly observed the five stated daily prayers, and did not neglect them even when engaged in drinking parties. He was attached to Khwâjeh Abîd-ûlla, who was his religious instructor and guide. He was polite and ceremonious at all times, but particularly in his intercourse with the Khwâjeh; insomuch that they say, that, while in company with him, however long they sat, he never changed the position of his knees, by shifting the one over the other, except in one instance, when, contrary to his usual practice, he rested the one knee on the other. After the Mirza rose, the Khwâjeh desired them to examine what there was particular in the place in which the Mirza had been seated, when they found a bone lying there.

"He had never read any, and, though brought up in the city, was illiterate and unrefined. He was a plain honest Tûrk, but not favoured by genius. He was, however, a just man; and as he always consulted the reverend Khwâjeh in affairs of importance, he generally acted in conformity to the law. He was true to his promises, and faithful to his compacts or treaties, from which he never swerved. He was brave; and though he never happened to be engaged hand to hand in close combat, yet they say that in several actions he showed proofs of courage. He excelled in archery. He was a good marksman. With his arrows and forked arrows he generally hit the mark; and in riding from one side of the exercise ground to the other, he used to hit the brazen basin several times. Latterly, when he became very corpulent, he took to bringing down pheasants and quails with the goshawks, and seldom failed. He was fond of hawking, and was particularly skilled in flying the hawk, an amusement which he frequently practised. If you except Ulugh Beg Mirza, there was no other king who equalled him in field sports. He was singularly observant of decorum, insomuch that it is said that, even in private, before his own people and nearest relations, he never uncovered his feet. Whenever he took to drinking wine, he would drink without intermission for twenty or thirty days at a stretch, and then he would not taste wine for the next twenty or thirty days. In his social parties he would sometimes sit day and night, and drink profusely; on the days when he did not drink, he ate pungent substances. He was naturally of a penurious disposition, was a simple man, of few words, and entirely guided by his Begs."

One of the most striking passages in the work is the royal author's account of the magnificence of the court and city of Herat, when he visited it in 1506; and especially his imposing catalogue of the illustrious authors, artists, and men of genius, by whom it was then adorned.

"The age of Sultan Hussain Mirza was certainly a wonderful age, and Khorasan, particularly the city of Heri, abounded with eminent men of unrivalled acquirements, each of whom made it his aim and ambition to carry to the highest perfection the art to which he de