Muntakhab al-tawarikh 43.1.3

43.1.3

And in the year 738 A.H. (1337 A.D.) he despatched a force of eighty thousand cavalry under eminent commanders to capture the mountain of Himachal, which stands between the country of Chin and Hindustan, and which they also call Qarachal, with orders to leave garrisons in each successive place so that the line of communications for transport and supplies might remain open and the road of return might be easy. After the entry of this army into this country, by reason of the peculiar features of that mountain, on which heavy clouds form and rain pours in torrents at the sound of men’s voices and their shouts and the neighing of horses, in consequence also of the narrowness of the paths and the scarcity of fodder, the patrols were not able to stand to their posts, and the hill tribes getting the upper hand drove back the army, and falling upon the rear of the force killed many of them with poisoned arrows and stone showers, and sending the most of them to the eternal world enabled them to attain martyrdom, taking the rest prisoners. For a long time they wandered helplessly among the mountains, and those who escaped after countless hardships the Sultan visited with condign punishment. And after this calamity so great an army never gathered round the Sultan and all that money expended in their pay was thrown away.