The Rashīdī History 112.3.3

112.3.3

[The Khan] having resolved upon this strange and perilous adventure, gave the slave his liberty, and set out on his own design. He spent the night in what he considered a suitable spot, and on the morrow again started on his road. But first of all he surveyed the country, in accordance with the Moghul practice of circumspection and caution. For it is their custom, in the morning, to examine carefully the road by which they have just come, and also to reconnoitre that by which they intend to travel the same day ; the travellers having ascended a piece of rising ground, and having carefully inspected both the roads, then give some fodder to their horses, which have been tethered all night. The purpose of this vigilance which they practise is, that if anybody should happen to be following them, and should have come on during the night, he would be seen, and could be guarded against. When the horses have grazed long enough, and no one is visible in either direction, the road is again taken at midday, and the journey continued till midnight, so that no one may discover the traveller or his nightly resting-place. Such is the cautious practice of the Moghuls.