913 AH.-MAY 13th 1507 to MAY 2nd 1508 AD.[1246]
(a. Raid on the Ghiljī Afghāns.)
We had ridden out of Kābul with the intention of over-running the Ghiljī;[1247] when we dismounted at Sar-i-dih news was brought that a mass of Mahmands (Afghāns) was lying in Masht and Sih-kāna one yīghāch (circa 5 m.) away from us.[1248] Our begs and braves agreed in saying, “The Mahmands must be over-run”, but I said, “Would it be right to turn aside and raid our own peasants instead of doing what we set out to do? It cannot be.”
Riding at night from Sar-i-dih, we crossed the plain of Kattawāz in the dark, a quite black night, one level stretch of land, no mountain or rising-ground in sight, no known road or track, not a man able to lead us! In the end I took the lead. I had been in those parts several times before; drawing inferences from those times, I took the Pole-star on my right shoulder-blade[1249] and, with some anxiety, moved on. God brought it right! We went straight to the Qīāq-tū and the Aūlābā-tū torrent, that is to say, straight for Khwāja Ismā‘īl Sirītī where the Ghiljīs were lying, the road to which crosses the torrent named. Dismounting near the torrent, we let ourselves and our horses sleep a little,Fol. 203b. took breath, and bestirred ourselves at shoot of dawn. The Sun was up before we got out of those low hills and valley-bottoms to the plain on which the Ghiljī lay with a good yīghāch[1250] of road between them and us; once out on the plain we could see their blackness, either their own or from the smoke of their fires.
Whether bitten by their own whim,[1251] or whether wanting to hurry, the whole army streamed off at the gallop (chāpqūn qūīdīlār); off galloped I after them and, by shooting an arrow now at a man, now at a horse, checked them after a kuroh or two (3 m.?). It is very difficult indeed to check 5 or 6000 braves galloping loose-rein! God brought it right! They were checked! When we had gone about one shar‘ī (2 m.) further, always with the Afghān blackness in sight, the raid[1252] was allowed. Masses of sheep fell to us, more than in any other raid.
After we had dismounted and made the spoils turn back,[1253] one body of Afghāns after another came down into the plain, provoking a fight. Some of the begs and of the household went against one body and killed every man; Nāṣir Mīrzā did the same with another, and a pillar of Afghān heads was set up. An arrow pierced the foot of that foot-soldier Dost the Kotwāl who has been mentioned already;[1254] when we reached Kābul, he died.
Marching from Khwāja Ismā‘īl, we dismounted once more at Aūlābā-tū. Some of the begs and of my own household were ordered to go forward and carefully separate off the Fifth (Khums) of the enemy’s spoils. By way of favour, we did not Fol. 204.take the Fifth from Qāsim Beg and some others.[1255] From what was written down,[1256] the Fifth came out at 16,000, that is to say, this 16,000 was the fifth of 80,000 sheep; no question however but that with those lost and those not asked for, a lak (100,000) of sheep had been taken.
(b. A hunting-circle.)
Next day when we had ridden from that camp, a hunting-circle was formed on the plain of Kattawāz where deer (kiyīk)[1257] and wild-ass are always plentiful and always fat. Masses went into the ring; masses were killed. During the hunt I galloped after a wild-ass, on getting near shot one arrow, shot another, but did not bring it down, it only running more slowly for the two wounds. Spurring forwards and getting into position[1258] quite close to it, I chopped at the nape of its neck behind the ears, and cut through the wind-pipe; it stopped, turned over and died. My sword cut well! The wild-ass was surprisingly fat. Its rib may have been a little under one yard in length. Sherīm T̤aghāī and other observers of kiyīk in Mughūlistān said with surprise, “Even in Mughūlistān we have seen few kiyīk so fat!” I shot another wild-ass; most of the wild-asses and deer brought down in that hunt were fat, but not one of them was so fat as the one I first killed.