The Memoirs of Bābur 912.3.6

912.3.6

he was greatly generous, had wit and charm, a variety of talk and story, and was a sweet-natured, good-humoured, ingenious, fun-loving person. His fault was that he practised vice and pederasty. He may have swerved from the Faith; may also have been a hypocrite in his dealings; some of what seemed double-dealing people attributed to his jokes, but, still, there must have been a something![1218] When Badī`u'z-zamān Mīrzā had let Shaibāq Khān take Herī and had gone to Shāh Beg (_Arghūn_), he had Sayyidīm `Alī thrown into the Harmand because of his double-dealing words spoken between the Mīrzā and Shāh Beg. Muḥibb-i-`alī's story will come into the narrative of events hereafter to be written. (_o. A perilous mountain-journey._) From the Langar of Mīr Ghiyās̤ we had ourselves guided past the border-villages of Gharjistān to Chach-charān.[1219] From the almshouse to Gharjistān was an unbroken sheet of snow; it was deeper further on; near Chach-charān itself it was above the horses' knees. Chach-charān depended on Ẕū'n-nūn _Arghūn_; his retainer Mīr Jān-aīrdī was in it now; from him we took, on payment, the whole of Ẕū'n-nūn Beg's store of provisions. A march or two further on, the snow was very deep, being above [Sidenote: Fol. 193.] the stirrup, indeed in many places the horses' feet did not touch the ground.