تحفة النظار في غرايب الامصار وعجايب الاسفار 10.4.3

10.4.3

When it is time for the midday meal the vessels draw together and are joined to one another, gangplanks are laid between them, and the musicians come to the amīr's ahwara and sing until he has finished eating; then they eat, and when the meal is over they return to their vessel and set off again in their order until nightfall. At night the camp is pitched on the bank of the river, the amīr goes to his tents, the banquet is spread, and most of the troops attend the meal. When they have prayed the last evening prayer, the night-watchmen keep watch through the night in shifts; when the men of a shift have completed their turn, a crier among them calls out in a loud voice: "O Khwand Malik, so many hours of the night have passed." Then the men of the next shift keep watch, and when they have finished their crier also calls out, announcing how many hours have passed. At dawn the trumpets and drums are sounded, the dawn prayer is performed and food is brought; when the meal is over they set off. If the amīr wishes to go by river he embarks in the order we have described; if he wishes to travel by land, the drums and trumpets are sounded, his chamberlains go ahead, followed by the footmen in front of him. Ahead of the chamberlains are six horsemen, three of them with drums slung round their necks and three with shawms; when they approach a village or some rising ground they sound those drums and shawms, and then the drums and trumpets of the troops are sounded. To the right and left of the chamberlains are the singers, who sing by turns. When it is time for the midday meal they halt.