The Memoirs of Bābur 932.8
The Bābur-nāma in English (A. S. Beveridge) 932.8
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932.8.1
Many rivers rise in the Hindūstān hills, as, for instance, Chaṃbal, Banās, Bītwī, and Sūn (Son). There is no snow whatever on these mountains. Their waters also join the Gang-daryā. (_f. Of the Arāvallī._) Another Hindūstān range runs north and south. It begins in the Dihlī country at a small rocky hill on which is Fīrūz Shāh's residence, called Jahān-nāma,[1729] and, going on from there, appears near Dihlī in detached, very low, scattered here and there, rocky [Sidenote: Fol. 273b.] little hills.[1730] Beyond Mīwāt, it enters the Bīāna country. The hills of Sīkrī, Bārī and Dūlpūr are also part of this same including (tūtā) range. The hills of Gūālīār—they write it Gālīūr—although they do not connect with it, are off-sets of this range; so are the hills of Rantanbūr, Chitūr, Chandīrī, and Mandāū. They are cut off from it in some places by 7 to 8 _kurohs_ (14 to 16 m.). These hills are very low, rough, rocky and jungly. No snow whatever falls on them. They are the makers, in Hindūstān, of several rivers. (_g. Irrigation._)
932.8.2
The greater part of the Hindūstān country is situated on level land. Many though its towns and cultivated lands are, it nowhere has running waters.[1731] Rivers and, in some places, standing-waters are its "running-waters" (_āqār-sūlār_). Even where, as for some towns, it is practicable to convey water by digging channels (_ārīq_), this is not done. For not doing it there may be several reasons, one being that water is not at all a necessity in cultivating crops and orchards. Autumn crops grow by the downpour of the rains themselves; and strange it is that spring crops grow even when no rain falls. To young trees water is made to flow by means of buckets or a wheel. They are given water constantly during two or three years; after which they need no more. Some vegetables are watered constantly. In Lāhor, Dībālpūr and those parts, people water by means of a wheel. They make two circles of ropes long enough to suit the depth of the well, fix strips of wood between them, and on these fasten pitchers. The ropes with the wood and attached [Sidenote: Fol. 274.] pitchers are put over the well-wheel. At one end of the wheel-axle a second wheel is fixed, and close (_qāsh_) to it another on an upright axle. This last wheel the bullock turns; its teeth catch in the teeth of the second, and thus the wheel with the pitchers is turned. A trough is set where the water empties from the pitchers and from this the water is conveyed everywhere.
932.8.3
In Āgra, Chandwār, Bīāna and those parts, again, people water with a bucket; this is a laborious and filthy way. At the well-edge they set up a fork of wood, having a roller adjusted between the forks, tie a rope to a large bucket, put the rope over the roller, and tie its other end to the bullock. One person must drive the bullock, another empty the bucket. Every time the bullock turns after having drawn the bucket out of the well, that rope lies on the bullock-track, in pollution of urine and dung, before it descends again into the well. To some crops needing water, men and women carry it by repeated efforts in pitchers.[1732] (_h. Other particulars about Hindūstān._) The towns and country of Hindūstān are greatly wanting in charm. Its towns and lands are all of one sort; there are no walls to the orchards (_bāghāt_), and most places are on the dead level plain. Under the monsoon-rains the banks of some of its rivers and torrents are worn into deep channels, difficult and [Sidenote: Fol. 274b.] troublesome to pass through anywhere. In many parts of the plains thorny jungle grows, behind the good defence of which the people of the _pargana_ become stubbornly rebellious and pay no taxes. Except for the rivers and here and there standing-waters, there is little "running-water". So much so is this that towns and countries subsist on the water of wells or on such as collects in tanks during the rains.
932.8.4
In Hindūstān hamlets and villages, towns indeed, are depopulated and set up in a moment! If the people of a large town, one inhabited for years even, flee from it, they do it in such a way that not a sign or trace of them remains in a day or a day and a half.[1733] On the other hand, if they fix their eyes on a place in which to settle, they need not dig water-courses or construct dams because their crops are all rain-grown,[1734] and as the population of Hindūstān is unlimited, it swarms in. They make a tank or dig a well; they need not build houses or set up walls—_khas_-grass (_Andropogon muricatum_) abounds, wood is unlimited, huts are made, and straightway there is a village or a town! (_i. Fauna of Hindūstān:—Mammals._) The elephant, which Hindūstānīs call _hāt(h)ī_, is one of the wild animals peculiar to Hindūstān. It inhabits the (western?) borders of the Kālpī country, and becomes more numerous in its wild state the further east one goes (in Kālpī?). From this tract it is that captured elephants are brought; in Karrah and [Sidenote: Fol. 275.] Mānikpūr elephant-catching is the work of 30 or 40 villages.[1735] People answer (_jawāb bīrūrlār_) for them direct to the exchequer.[1736] The elephant is an immense animal and very sagacious. If people speak to it, it understands; if they command anything from it, it does it. Its value is according to its size; it is sold by measure (_qārīlāb_); the larger it is, the higher its price.
932.8.5
People rumour that it is heard of in some islands as 10 _qārī_[1737] high, but in this tract it[1738] is not seen above 4 or 5. It eats and drinks entirely with its trunk; if it lose the trunk, it cannot live. It has two great teeth (tusks) in its upper jaw, one on each side of its trunk; by setting these against walls and trees, it brings them down; with these it fights and does whatever hard tasks fall to it. People call these ivory (_`āj_, var. _ghāj_); they are highly valued by Hindūstānīs. The elephant has no hair.[1739] It is much relied on by Hindūstānīs, accompanying every troop of their armies. It has some useful qualities:—it crosses great rivers with ease, carrying a mass of baggage, and three or four have gone dragging without trouble the cart of the mortar (_qazān_) it takes four or five hundred men to haul.[1740] But its stomach is large; one elephant eats the corn (_būghūz_) of two strings (_qiṯār_) of camels.[1741] The rhinoceros is another. This also is a large animal, equal [Sidenote: Fol. 275b.] in bulk to perhaps three buffaloes. The opinion current in those countries (Tramontana) that it can lift an elephant on its horn, seems mistaken. It has a single horn on its nose, more than nine inches (_qārīsh_) long; one of two _qārīsh_ is not seen.[1742] Out of one large horn were made a drinking-vessel[1743] and a dice-box, leaving over [the thickness of] 3 or 4 hands.[1744] The rhinoceros' hide is very thick;
932.8.6
an arrow shot from a stiff bow, drawn with full strength right up to the arm-pit, if it pierce at all, might penetrate 4 inches (_aīlīk_, hands). From the sides (_qāsh_) of its fore and hind legs,[1745] folds hang which from a distance look like housings thrown over it. It resembles the horse more than it does any other animal.[1746] As the horse has a small stomach (appetite?), so has the rhinoceros; as in the horse a piece of bone (pastern?) grows in place of small bones (T. _āshūq_, Fr. _osselets_ (Zenker), knuckles), so one grows in the rhinoceros; as in the horse's hand (_aīlīk_, Pers. _dast_) there is _kūmūk_ (or _gūmūk_, a _tibia_, or marrow), so there is in the rhinoceros.[1747] It is more ferocious than the elephant and cannot be made obedient and submissive. There are masses of it in the Parashāwar and Hashnagar jungles, so too between the Sind-river and the jungles of the Bhīra country. Masses there are also on the banks of [Sidenote: Fol. 276.] the Sārū-river in Hindūstān. Some were killed in the Parashāwar and Hashnagar jungles in our moves on Hindūstān. It strikes powerfully with its horn; men and horses enough have been horned in those hunts.[1748] In one of them the horse of a _chuhra_ (brave) named Maqṣūd was tossed a spear's-length, for which reason the man was nick-named the rhino's aim (_maqṣūd-i-karg_).
932.8.7
The wild-buffalo[1749] is another. It is much larger than the (domestic) buffalo and its horns do not turn back in the same way.[1750] It is a mightily destructive and ferocious animal. The _nīla-gāū_ (blue-bull)[1751] is another. It may stand as high as a horse but is somewhat lighter in build. The male is bluish-gray, hence, seemingly, people call it nīla-gāū. It has two rather small horns. On its throat is a tuft of hair, nine inches long; (in this) it resembles the yak.[1752] Its hoof is cleft (_aīrī_) like the hoof of cattle. The doe is of the colour of the _būghū-marāl_[1753]; she, for her part, has no horns and is plumper than the male.