The Army of the Indian Moghuls: Its Organization and Administration c12.s1.3

c12.s1.3

From Bernier, 217, 218, 352, we learn that early in *‘Ālamgīr*’s reign there were in the field with the emperor seventy pieces of heavy artillery, mostly of brass. These and the camel guns did not always follow the emperor, when he diverged from the high road to hunt, or to keep near a river or other water. Heavy guns could not move along difficult passes or cross the bridges of boats thrown over rivers. Many of these seventy pieces were so ponderous that twenty yoke of oxen were necessary to draw them along: and when the road was steep or rugged, they required the aid of elephants, in addition to the oxen, to push the carriage wheels with their heads aud trunks.