The Bābur-nāma in English (Memoirs of Bābur)
those countries (Tramontana). Also its cry is sharper.
Of the birds that frequent water and the banks of rivers, one is the
_dīng_,[1804] an animal of great bulk, each wing measuring a _qūlāch_
(fathom). It has no plumage (_tūqī_) on head or neck; a thing like a bag
hangs from its neck; its back is black; its breast is white. It goes
sometimes to Kābul; one year people brought one they had caught. It
became very tame; if meat were thrown to it, it never failed to catch
it in its bill. Once it swallowed a six-nailed shoe, another time a
whole fowl, wings [Sidenote: Fol. 280b.] and feathers, all right down.
The _sāras_ (_Grus antigone_) is another. Turks in Hindūstān call it
_tīwa-tūrnā_ (camel-crane). It may be smaller than the _dīng_ but its
neck is rather longer. Its head is quite red.[1805] People keep this
bird at their houses; it becomes very tame.
The _mānek_[1806] is another. In stature it approaches the _sāras_, but
its bulk is less. It resembles the _lag-lag_ (_Ciconia alba_, the white
stork) but is much larger; its bill is larger and is black. Its head is
iridescent, its neck white, its wings partly-coloured; the tips and
border-feathers and under parts of the wings are white, their middle
black.
Another stork (_lag-lag_) has a white neck and all other parts black. It
goes to those countries (Tramontana). It is rather smaller than the
_lag-lag_ (_Ciconia alba_). A Hindūstānī calls it _yak-rang_ (one
colour?).
Another stork in colour and shape is exactly like the storks that go to
those countries. Its bill is blacker and its bulk much less than the
_lag-lag_'s (_Ciconia alba_).[1807]
Another bird resembles the grey heron (_aūqār_) and the _lag-lag_; but
its bill is longer than the heron's and its body smaller than the white
stork's (_lag-lag_).
Another is the large _buzak_[1808] (black ibis). In bulk it may equal
the buzzard (Turkī, _sār_). The back of its wings is white. It has a
loud cry.
The white _buzak_[1809] is another. Its head and bill are black.
[Sidenote: Fol. 281.] It is much larger than the one that goes to those
countries,[1810] but smaller than the Hindūstān _buzak_.[1811]
The _gharm-pāī_[1812] (spotted-billed duck) is another. It is larger
than the _sūna būrchīn_[1813] (mallard). The drake and duck are of one
colour. It is in Hashnagar at all seasons, sometimes it goes into the
Lamghānāt. Its flesh is very savoury.
The _shāh-murgh_ (_Sarcidiornis melanonotus_, comb duck or _nukta_) is
another. It may be a little smaller than a goose. It has a swelling on
its bill; its back is black; its flesh is excellent eating.
The _zummaj_ is another. It is about as large as the _būrgūt_ (_Aquila
chrysaetus_, the golden eagle).
The (T.) _ālā-qārgha_ of Hindūstān is another (_Corvus cornix_, the pied
crow). This is slenderer and smaller than the _ālā-qārgha_ of those
countries (Tramontana). Its neck is partly white.
Another Hindūstān bird resembles the crow (T. _qārcha_, _C. splendens_)
and the magpie (Ar. _`aqqa_). In the Lamghānāt people call it the
jungle-bird (P. _murgh-i-jangal_).[1814] Its head and breast are black;
its wings and tail reddish; its eye quite red. Having a feeble flight,
it does not come out of the jungle, whence its name.
The great bat (P. _shapara_)[1815] is another. People call it (Hindī)
_chumgādur_. It is about as large as the owl (T. _yāpālāq_, _Otus
brachyotus_), and has a head like a puppy's. When it is thinking of
lodging for the night on a tree, it takes hold of a branch, turns
head-downwards, and so remains. It has much singularity.
The magpie (Ar. _`aqqa_) is another. People call it (H.?) _matā_
(_Dendrocitta rufa_, the Indian tree-pie). It may be somewhat less than
the _`aqqa_ (_Pica rustica_), which moreover is pied black and white,
while the _matā_ is pied brown and black.[1816]
Another is a small bird, perhaps of the size of the (T.)
_sāndūlāch_.[1817] [Sidenote: Fol. 281b.] It is of a beautiful red with
a little black on its wings.
The _karcha_[1818] is another; it is after the fashion of a swallow (T.
_qārlūghāch_), but much larger and quite black.
The _kūīl_[1819] (_Eudynamys orientalis_, the koel) is another. It may
be as large as the crow (P. _zāg_) but is much slenderer. It has a kind
of song and is understood to be the bulbul of Hindūstān. Its honour with
Hindūstānīs is as great as is the bulbul's. It always stays in
closely-wooded gardens.
Another bird is after the fashion of the (Ar.) _shiqarrāk_ (_Cissa
chinensis_, the green-magpie). It clings to trees, is perhaps as large
as the green-magpie, and is parrot-green (_Gecinus striolatus_, the
little green-woodpecker?).
(_k. Fauna of Hindūstān:—Aquatic animals._)
One is the water-tiger (P. _shīr-ābī_, _Crocodilus palustris_).[1820]
This is in the standing-waters. It is like a lizard (T. _gīlās_).[1821]
People say it carries off men and even buffaloes.
The (P.) _siyāh-sār_ (black-head) is another. This also is like a
lizard. It is in all rivers of Hindūstān. One that was taken and brought
in was about 4-5 _qārī_ (_cir._ 13 feet) long and as thick perhaps as a
sheep. It is said to grow still larger. Its snout is over half a yard
long. It has rows of small teeth in its upper and lower jaws. It comes
out of the water and sinks into the mud (_bātā_).
The (Sans.) _g[h]aṛīāl_ (_Gavialus gangeticus_) is another.[1822] It is
said to grow large; many in the army saw it in the Sarū (Gogra) river.
It is said to take people; while we were on that river's banks (934-935
A.H.), it took one or two slave-women (_dādūk_), and it took three or
four camp-followers between Ghāzīpūr and Banāras. In that neighbourhood
I saw one but from a distance only and not quite clearly.
The water-hog (P. _khūk-ābī_, _Platanista gangetica_, the porpoise) is
another. This also is in all Hindūstān rivers. It comes up suddenly out
of the water; its head appears and disappears; it [Sidenote: Fol. 282.]
dives again and stays below, shewing its tail. Its snout is as long as
the _siyāh-sār's_ and it has the same rows of small teeth. Its head and
the rest of its body are fish-like. When at play in the water, it looks
like a water-carrier's bag (_mashak_). Water-hogs, playing in the Sarū,
leap right out of the water; like fish, they never leave it.
Again there is the _kalah_ (or _galah_)-fish [_bāligh_].[1823] Two bones
each about 3 inches (_aīlīk_) 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 Hindūstān fishes is very savoury; they have no odour
(_aīd_) or tiresomeness.[1824] 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 [Sidenote: Fol. 282b.]
noise or sound of feet.
The frogs of Hindūstān, though otherwise like those others (Tramontane),
run 6 or 7 yards on the face of the water.[1825]
(_l. Vegetable products of Hindūstān: Fruits._)
The mango (P. _anbah_) is one of the fruits peculiar to Hindūstān.
Hindūstānīs pronounce the _b_ in its name as though no vowel followed it
(_i.e._ Sans. _anb_);[1826] this being awkward to utter, some people
call the fruit [P.] _naghzak_[1827] as Khwāja Khusrau does:—
_Naghzak-i mā_ [var. _khẉash_] _naghz-kun-i būstān,
Naghztarīn mewa_ [var. _na`mat_]_-i-Hindūstān_.[1828]
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 (_qātīq_), are good also
preserved in syrup.[1829] Taking it altogether, the mango is the best
fruit of Hindūstān. Some so praise it as to give it preference over all
fruits except the musk-melon (T. _qāwūn_), but such praise outmatches
it. It resembles the _kārdī_ peach.[1830] It ripens in the rains. It is
eaten in two ways: one is to squeeze it to a pulp, make a hole in it,
and suck out the juice,—the other, to peel and eat it like the _kārdī_
peach. Its tree grows very large[1831] and has a leaf somewhat
resembling the peach-tree's. The trunk is ill-looking and ill-shaped,
but in Bengāl and Gujrāt is heard of as growing handsome (_khūb_).[1832]
The plantain (Sans. _kelā_, _Musa sapientum_) is another.[1833] An
[Sidenote: Fol. 283.] `Arab calls it _mauz_.[1834] Its tree is not very
tall, indeed is not to be called a tree, since it is something between a
grass and a tree. Its leaf is a little like that of the
_amān-qarā_[1835] but grows about 2 yards (_qārī_) long and nearly
one broad. Out of the middle of its leaves rises, heart-like, a bud
which resembles a sheep's heart. As each leaf (petal) of this bud
expands, there grows at its base a row of 6 or 7 flowers which become
the plantains. These flowers become visible with the lengthening of the
heart-like shoot and the opening of the petals of the bud. The tree is
understood to flower once only.[1836] The fruit has two pleasant
qualities, one that it peels easily, the other that it has neither stone
nor fibre.[1837] It is rather longer and thinner than the egg-plant (P.
_bādanjān_; _Solanum melongena_). It is not very sweet; the Bengāl
plantain (_i.e._ _chīnī-champa_) is, however, said to be very sweet.
The plantain is a very good-looking tree, its broad, broad, leaves of
beautiful green having an excellent appearance.
The _anblī_ (H. _imlī_, _Tamarindus indica_, the tamarind) is another.
By this name (_anblī_) people call the _khurmā-i-hind_ (Indian
date-tree).[1838] It has finely-cut leaves (leaflets), precisely like
those of the (T.) _būīā_, except that they are not so finely-cut.[1839]
It is a very good-looking tree, giving dense shade. It grows wild in
masses too.
The (Beng.) _mahuwā_ (_Bassia latifolia_) is another.[1840] People call
it also (P.) _gul-chikān_ (or _chigān_, distilling-flower). This also is
a very large tree. Most of the wood in the houses of Hindūstānīs
[Sidenote: Fol. 283b.] is from it. Spirit (_`araq_) is distilled from
its flowers,[1841] not only so, but they are dried and eaten like
raisins, and from them thus dried, spirit is also extracted. The dried
flowers taste just like _kishmish_;[1842] they have an ill-flavour. The
flowers are not bad in their natural state[1843]; they are eatable. The
_mahuwā_ grows wild also. Its fruit is tasteless, has rather a large
seed with a thin husk, and from this seed, again,[1844] oil is
extracted.
The mimusops (Sans. _khirnī_, _Mimusops kauki_) is another. Its tree,
though not very large, is not small. The fruit is yellow and thinner
than the red jujube (T. _chīkdā_, _Elæagnus angustifolia_). It has just
the grape's flavour, but a rather bad after-taste; it is not bad,
however, and is eatable. The husk of its stone is thin.
The (Sans.) _jāman_ (_Eugenia jambolana_)[1845] is another. Its leaf,
except for being thicker and greener, is quite like the willow's (T.
_tāl_). The tree does not want for beauty. Its fruit is like a black
grape, is sourish, and not very good.
The (H.) _kamrak_ (Beng. _kamrunga_, _Averrhoa carambola_) is another.
Its fruit is five-sided, about as large as the _`ain-ālū_[1846] and some
3 inches long. It ripens to yellow; gathered unripe, it is very bitter;
gathered ripe, its bitterness has become sub-acid, not bad, not wanting
in pleasantness.[1847]
The jack-fruit (H. _kadhil_, B. _kanthal_, _Artocarpus integrifolia_) is
another.[1848] This is a fruit of singular form and flavour; it looks
[Sidenote: Fol. 284.] like a sheep's stomach stuffed and made into a
haggis (_gīpa_);[1849] and it is sickeningly-sweet. Inside it are