The Memoirs of Bābur 910.5.7

910.5.7

Panjhīr (Panj-sher) is another _tūmān_; it lies close to Kāfiristān, along the Panjhīr road, and is the thoroughfare of Kāfir highwaymen who also, being so near, take tax of it. They have gone through it, killing a mass of persons, and doing very evil deeds, since I came this last time and conquered Hindūstān (932 AH.-1526 AD.).[806] Another is the _tūmān_ of Ghūr-bund. In those countries they call a _kūtal_ (_koh_?) a _bund_;[807] they go towards Ghūr by this pass (_kūtal_); apparently it is for this reason that they have called (the _tūmān_?) Ghūr-bund. The Hazāra hold the heads of its valleys.[808] It has few villages and little revenue can be raised from it. There are said to be mines of silver and lapis lazuli in its mountains. Again, there are the villages on the skirts of the (Hindū-kush) mountains,[809] with Mīta-kacha and Parwān at their head, and Dūr-nāma[810] at their foot, 12 or 13 in all. They are fruit-bearing villages, and they grow cheering wines, those of Khwāja Khāwand Sa`īd being reputed the strongest roundabouts. The villages all lie on the foot-hills; some pay taxes but not all are taxable because they lie so far back in the mountains. Between the foot-hills and the Bārān-water are two detached stretches of level land, one known as _Kurrat-tāziyān_,[811] the other as _Dasht-i-shaikh_ (Shaikh's-plain). As the green grass of the millet[812] grows well there, they are the resort of Turks and [Sidenote: Fol. 136.] (Mughūl) clans (_aīmāq_).