The Bābur-nāma in English (Memoirs of Bābur)
into hostility to him. Its people are Aūghān-shāl; they grow corn but
have neither vineyards nor orchards. The tomb of Shaikh Muḥammad
_Muṣalmān_ is at a spring, high on the skirt of a mountain, known as
Barakistān, in the south of the _tūmān_.
Farmūl is another _tūmān_,[833] a humble place, growing not bad apples
which are carried into Hindūstān. Of Farmūl were the Shaikh-zādas,
descendants of Shaikh Muḥammad _Muṣalmān_, who were so much in favour
during the Afghān period in Hindūstān.
Bangash is another _tūmān_.[834] All round about it are Afghān
highwaymen, such as the Khūgīānī, Khirilchī, Tūrī and Landar. Lying
out-of-the-way, as it does, its people do not pay taxes willingly. There
has been no time to bring it to obedience; greater tasks have fallen to
me,—the conquests of Qandahār, Balkh, Badakhshān and Hindūstān! But, God
willing! when I get the chance, I most assuredly will take order with
those Bangash thieves.
One of the _bulūks_ of Kābul is Ālā-sāī,[835] 4 to 6 miles (2-3
_shar`ī_) east of Nijr-aū. The direct road into it from Nijr-aū leads,
at a place called Kūra, through the quite small pass which in that
locality separates the hot and cold climates. Through this pass the
birds migrate at the change of the seasons, and at those times many are
taken by the people of Pīchghān, one of the dependencies of Nijr-aū, in
the following manner:—From [Sidenote: Fol. 140.] distance to distance
near the mouth of the pass, they make hiding-places for the
bird-catchers. They fasten one corner of a net five or six yards away,
and weight the lower side to the ground with stones. Along the other
side of the net, for half its width, they fasten a stick some 3 to 4
yards long. The hidden bird-catcher holds this stick and by it, when the
birds approach, lifts up the net to its full height. The birds then go
into the net of themselves. Sometimes so many are taken by this
contrivance that there is not time to cut their throats.[836]
Though the Ālā-sāī pomegranates are not first-rate, they have local
reputation because none are better there-abouts; they are carried into
Hindūstān. Grapes also do not grow badly, and the wines of Ālā-sāī are
better and stronger than those of Nijr-aū.
Badr-aū (Tag-aū) is another _bulūk_; it runs with Ālā-sāī, grows no
fruit, and for cultivators has corn-growing Kāfirs.[837]
(_f. Tribesmen of Kābul._)
Just as Turks and (Mughūl) clans (_aīmāq_) dwell in the open country of
Khurāsān and Samarkand, so in Kābul do the Hazāra and Afghāns. Of the
Hazāra, the most widely-scattered are the Sulṯān-mas`ūdi Hazāra, of
Afghāns, the Mahmand.
(_g. Revenue of Kābul._)
The revenues of Kābul, whether from the cultivated lands or from tolls
(_tamghā_) or from dwellers in the open country, amount to 8 _laks_ of
_shāhrukhīs_.[838] [Sidenote: Fol. 140b.]
(_h. The mountain-tracts of Kābul._)
Where the mountains of Andar-āb, Khwāst,[839] and the Badakh-shānāt have
conifers (_archa_), many springs and gentle slopes, those of eastern
Kābul have grass (_aūt_), grass like a beautiful floor, on hill, slope
and dale. For the most part it is _būta-kāh_ grass (_aūt_), very
suitable for horses. In the Andijān country they talk of _būta-kāh_, but
why they do so was not known (to me?); in Kābul it was heard-say to be
because the grass comes up in tufts (_būta, būta_).[840] The alps of
these mountains are like those of Ḥiṣār, Khutlān, Farghāna, Samarkand
and Mughūlistān,—all these being alike in mountain and alp, though the
alps of Farghāna and Mughūlistān are beyond comparison with the rest.
From all these the mountains of Nijr-aū, the Lamghānāt and Sawād differ
in having masses of cypresses,[841] holm-oak, olive and mastic
(_khanjak_); their grass also is different,—it is dense, it is tall, it
is good neither for horse nor sheep. Although these mountains are not so
high as those already described, indeed they look to be low,
none-the-less, they are strongholds; what to the eye is even slope,
really is hard rock on which it is impossible to ride. Many of the
beasts and birds of Hindūstān [Sidenote: Fol. 141.] are found amongst
them, such as the parrot, _mīna_, peacock and _lūja_ (_lūkha_), the ape,
_nīl-gāu_ and hog-deer (_kūta-pāī_);[842] some found there are not found
even in Hindūstān.
The mountains to the west of Kābul are also all of one sort, those of
the Zindān-valley, the Ṣūf-valley, Garzawān and Gharjistān
(Gharchastān).[843] Their meadows are mostly in the dales; they have not
the same sweep of grass on slope and top as some of those described
have; nor have they masses of trees; they have, however, grass suiting
horses. On their flat tops, where all the crops are grown, there is
ground where a horse can gallop. They have masses of _kīyik_.[844] Their
valley-bottoms are strongholds, mostly precipitous and inaccessible from
above. It is remarkable that, whereas other mountains have their
fastnesses in their high places, these have theirs below.
Of one sort again are the mountains of Ghūr, Karnūd (var. Kuzūd) and
Hazāra; their meadows are in their dales; their trees are few, not even
the _archa_ being there;[845] their grass is fit for horses and for the
masses of sheep they keep. They differ from those last described in
this, their strong places are not below.
The mountains (south-east of Kābul) of Khwāja Ismā`īl, Dasht, Dūgī
(Dūkī)[846] and Afghānistān are all alike; all low, scant of vegetation,
short of water, treeless, ugly and good-for-nothing. Their people take
after them, just as has been said, _Tīng būlmā-ghūncha_ [Sidenote: Fol
141b.] _tūsh būlmās_.[847] Likely enough the world has few mountains so
useless and disgusting.
(_h. Fire-wood of Kabul._)
The snow-fall being so heavy in Kābul, it is fortunate that excellent
fire-wood is had near by. Given one day to fetch it, wood can be had of
the _khanjak_ (mastic), _bīlūt_ (holm-oak), _bādāmcha_ (small-almond)
and _qarqand_.[848] Of these _khanjak_ wood is the best; it burns with
flame and nice smell, makes plenty of hot ashes and does well even if
sappy. Holm-oak is also first-rate fire-wood, blazing less than mastic
but, like it, making a hot fire with plenty of hot ashes, and nice
smell. It has the peculiarity in burning that when its leafy branches
are set alight, they fire up with amazing sound, blazing and crackling
from bottom to top. It is good fun to burn it. The wood of the
small-almond is the most plentiful and commonly-used, but it does not
make a lasting fire. The _qarqand_ is quite a low shrub, thorny, and
burning sappy or dry; it is the fuel of the Ghaznī people.
(_i. Fauna of Kābul._)
The cultivated lands of Kābul lie between mountains which are like great
dams[849] to the flat valley-bottoms in which most villages and peopled
places are. On these mountains _kīyik_ and _āhū_[850] are scarce.
Across them, between its summer and winter quarters, the dun sheep,[851]
the _arqārghalcha_, have their regular track,[852] to which braves go
out with dogs and birds[853] to take them. [Sidenote: Fol. 142.] Towards
Khūrd-kābul and the Sūrkh-rūd there is wild-ass, but there are no white
_kīyik_ at all; Ghaznī has both and in few other places are white
_kīyik_ found in such good condition.[854]
In the heats the fowling-grounds of Kābul are crowded. The birds take
their way along the Bārān-water. For why? It is because the river has
mountains along it, east and west, and a great Hindū-kush pass in a line
with it, by which the birds must cross since there is no other
near.[855] They cannot cross when the north wind blows, or if there is
even a little cloud on Hindū-kush; at such times they alight on the
level lands of the Bārān-water and are taken in great numbers by the
local people. Towards the end of winter, dense flocks of mallards
(_aūrdūq_) reach the banks of the Bārān in very good condition. Follow
these the cranes and herons,[856] great birds, in large flocks and
countless numbers.
(_j. Bird-catching._)
Along the Bārān people take masses of cranes (_tūrna_) with the cord;
masses of _aūqār_, _qarqara_ and _qūṯān_ also.[857] This method of
bird-catching is unique. They twist a cord as long as the arrow's[858]
flight, tie the arrow at one end and a _bīldūrga_[859] at the other, and
wind it up, from the arrow-end, on a piece of wood, span-long and
wrist-thick, right up to the _bīldūrga_. They [Sidenote: Fol. 142b.]
then pull out the piece of wood, leaving just the hole it was in. The
_bīldūrga_ being held fast in the hand, the arrow is shot off[860]
towards the coming flock. If the cord twists round a neck or wing, it
brings the bird down. On the Bārān everyone takes birds in this way; it
is difficult; it must be done on rainy nights, because on such nights
the birds do not alight, but fly continually and fly low till dawn, in
fear of ravening beasts of prey. Through the night the flowing river is
their road, its moving water showing through the dark; then it is, while
they come and go, up and down the river, that the cord is shot. One
night I shot it; it broke in drawing in; both bird and cord were brought
in to me next day. By this device Bārān people catch the many herons
from which they take the turban-aigrettes sent from Kābul for sale in
Khurāsān.
Of bird-catchers there is also the band of slave-fowlers, two or three
hundred households, whom some descendant of Tīmūr Beg made migrate from
near Multān to the Bārān.[861] Bird-catching [Sidenote: Fol. 143.] is
their trade; they dig tanks, set decoy-birds[862] on them, put a net
over the middle, and in this way take all sorts of birds. Not fowlers
only catch birds, but every dweller on the Bārān does it, whether by
shooting the cord, setting the springe, or in various other ways.
(_k. Fishing._)
The fish of the Bārān migrate at the same seasons as birds. At those
times many are netted, and many are taken on wattles (_chīgh_) fixed in
the water. In autumn when the plant known as _wild-ass-tail_[863] has
come to maturity, flowered and seeded, people take 10-20 loads (of
seed?) and 20-30 of green branches (_gūk-shībāk_) to some head of water,
break it up small and cast it in. Then going into the water, they can at
once pick up drugged fish. At some convenient place lower down, in a
hole below a fall, they will have fixed beforehand a wattle of
finger-thick willow-withes, making it firm by piling stones on its
sides. The water goes rushing and dashing through the wattle, but leaves
on it any fish that may have come floating down. This way of catching
fish is practised in Gul-bahār, Parwān and Istālīf.
[Sidenote: Fol. 143b.] Fish are had in winter in the Lamghānāt by this
curious device:—People dig a pit to the depth of a house, in the bed of
a stream, below a fall, line it with stones like a cooking-place, and
build up stones round it above, leaving one opening only, under water.
Except by this one opening, the fish have no inlet or outlet, but the
water finds its way through the stones. This makes a sort of fish-pond
from which, when wanted in winter, fish can be taken, 30-40 together.
Except at the opening, left where convenient, the sides of the fish-pond
are made fast with rice-straw, kept in place by stones. A piece of
wicker-work is pulled into the said opening by its edges, gathered
together, and into this a second piece, (a tube,) is inserted, fitting
it at the mouth but reaching half-way into it only.[864] The fish go
through the smaller piece into the larger one, out from which they
cannot get. The second narrows towards its inner mouth, its pointed ends
being drawn so close that the fish, once entered, cannot [Sidenote: Fol.
144.] turn, but must go on, one by one, into the larger piece. Out of
that they cannot return because of the pointed ends of the inner, narrow