BOOK V. permit him to comply with either request. As, howA. D. 1541. ever, a serious scarcity already prevailed in Humayun's camp, Sultan Mahmud was induced to send to him, out of the provisions laid up in store in the fort, five hundred loads of grain, besides other victuals. IIe sends envoys to Shah Hu sein, who procrastinates, The answer of Sultan Mahmúd, from which he obstinately refused to depart, compelled Humayun to refer directly to Shah Husein himself. Without delay he deputed* Mír Táher Sadr and Mír Samander, two of his confidential servants, to the Mírza, who was then at Tatta, desiring them, by every practicable means, to gain him to his purpose. He bade them represent that the Emperor's coming to Bheker had not been optional; that his object now was, not to interfere with Shah Husein in the government of Sind, but to proceed on to the conquest of Gujrát; and he called and he called upon the Mírza to come and consult with him in person, on the best means of invading that country. The Mírza received the envoys with every mark of honour, and even offered his Majesty the revenues of all the country† from Kalikanda to Betura for the support of his household: but, on the grand subject of their mission, he deferred, from time to time, giving them a definitive answer, though he kept their hopes alive by the most artful representations. After a delay of some months‡, Humáyun, whose patience was exhausted, sent them instructions either to return at once, or to let him know distinctly what prospect they had of success. The envoys wrote in return, begging to be allowed to remain some little time longer, as they entertained fair hopes of bringing their negociation to * Jouher, c. 8., calls the envoys Keber Beg Baríki, and Mír Táher Pír-záda. †This seems to be the territory lying north-west of the Ran. It is doubtful if it really belonged to the Mírza. They seem to have been detained upwards of six months; Tar. Niz. f. 189. The Tarikh-eBedáuni says five or six months, f. 179. SECT. I. a favourable issue. But a farther time having elapsed, CHAP. L. during which no communication whatever was received from them, and the Emperor's difficulties increasing daily, he despatched orders, commanding the envoys, in case Shah Husein refused to accompany them to the presence, to return without him. and at tempts to máyun On receiving these orders, Mír Samander, one of the envoys, prepared to return to Rohri. The Mirza, induce Huseeing that he was unable to create any farther delay, to quit and that the Emperor's army had not been broken up Sind. by famine and disease, as he probably anticipated, now attempted to remove Humáyun from his territories in a different manner. Along with Mír Samander he sent, as his ambassador, Sheikh Mírak, a man descended of the holy Sheikh Puran, whose family was highly revered by all the Arghúns. This ambassador, who carried various presents to his Majesty, was desired to represent to him that the produce of Bheker was at all times but scanty, and, far from being adequate to support his Majesty and his troops, was hardly enough to maintain the inhabitants of the country; that, on the contrary, should he march his army to Cháchkán*, he would find a rich country, fertile and highly cultivated, which could furnish supplies of every kind, to recruit and refresh the army after its late marches and fatigue; that, if the imperial army moved to occupy that province, Shah Husein would himself be at hand to assist their operations; that Cháchkán, from its situation, was admirably suited as a place d'armes for an invasion of Gujrát, a kingdom which Humáyun could reduce with ease, and, aided by its wealth, gradually recover the whole of Hindustán. These plans of conquest seen to have captivated the imagination of Humayún, who, at first, gave his assent Cháchkán lies east of Tatta and west of the Ran, on the eastern branch of the Indus. See James Burnes's Narrative of a Visit to BOOK V. A. D. 1541. to the ambassador's proposals. But his ministers viewed the matter in a different light. The country of Cháchkán, which lies to the east of Sind, was inhabited by some brave tribes, whom Shah Husein had been unable to subdue; and must be conquered by the Emperor from its present occupants. It had, indeed, rich fields and villages, and was watered by branches of the Indus, but it possessed no fortress, in which, when the army moved forward against Gujrát, the families and heavy baggage of the army could be deposited, so as to be in safety from the attacks of Shír Shah, of Shah Husein Mírza himself, or even of the neighbouring tribes. They considered the whole proposal as only an artifice of the crafty Mírza, to remove the Emperor from his territory. If Shah Husein was really as desirous as he pretended to be to serve the Emperor, why, they said, did he not give him admission into some one of his own strongholds? Mír Samander, who had studied the Mírza's character in his court, confirmed this view, by declaring that, in his opinion, Shah Husein had really no intention to join the Emperor. Humayun Humayún having, at length, concurred in this opinion, lays siege to the siege of Bheker was resolved upon, and immediately Bheker. Scarcity in begun. When Shah Husein was told that the Emperor had laid siege to Bheker, which, as well as Sehwán, he had placed in the best posture of defence, he is said to have remarked, that he felt quite at ease on that subject; for that Humayun would not give up the delicious garden in which he dwelt, to go to watch the operations of the siege in the camp over against Bheker; and that his amirs never would take the place; a prediction which was fully verified.* From the time that the imperial camp reached Rohri, Upper Sind. multitudes from different quarters seem to have flocked * Akbernáma, f. 49.; Tab. Akb. ff. 151, 152.; Tar. Niz. ff. 188, 89.; Jouher, 2-9.; Tarikh-e-Sind, ff. 154, 155. SECT. I. to join it. The contest in Hindustán had not been CHAP. L merely between two individuals, Humáyun and Shír Shah; it was between two different races, the Túrks and Afgháns. When the Emperor and his family were expelled, there was no longer any safety in that country for his countrymen and adherents. Some accounts make the number of persons of every age and sex, who now joined the camp, amount to two hundred thousand, which has an air of exaggeration.* The influx of a very great multitude, however, into a country not extensively fertile or well cultivated, and the measures resorted to by Shah Husein for destroying the grain, or preventing its transport to the army, joined to a bad season, soon aggravated the scarcity, which had prevailed from the first, into a famine, so that, all around Bheker, numbers began to perish of hunger. The Emperor opened his treasury to supply the wants of his followers, but every thing speedily rose to an exorbitant price. Humayun had wasted much valuable time, in hopes of procuring a favourable answer from Shah Husein. His brother Hindal Mírza had repeatedly asked his permission to attack and occupy the rich province of Sehwán, but was not allowed, that no interruption might be offered to the success of the negociation, which the Emperor had so much at heart. That obstacle being now removed, Hindal was at length authorized to reduce the district, and informed that the Emperor himself would soon visit his camp. Shah Husein, pursuing the same policy as he had done in regard to Bheker, had fortified the town of Sehwán, and now ordered the whole surrounding country to be laid waste. Humáyun, alarmed by some intimations that Humayun had reached him, of Hindal's having a design to desert of Hindal. from him, and march to Kandahár, quitted for a short * Tar. Sind, f. 156. † A single loaf is said to have cost a mithkal. at the camp A. D. 1541. BOOK V. time the gardens of Báberlú, in which he had now spent five or six months, and leaving his army to continue the blockade of Bheker, proceeded by Dárbila, where he visited the camp of his cousin, Yádgár Násir Mírza, and stayed two days. Three days afterwards he reached Páter, which lies about twenty miles west of the Indus, and was met by his brother Hindal. His marriage to Akber's mother. Early in A. H. 948, in the summer of A. D. 1541. This visit to Páter is chiefly remarkable for Humáyun's marriage at that place to the mother of the illustrious Akber. During the festivities that attended the Emperor's arrival, Hindal's mother, Dildár Begum, gave a grand entertainment, to which all the ladies of the court were invited; and among them was Hamída, then only fourteen, the daughter of Sheikh Ali Akber Jámi, Hindal's preceptor. Humáyun, captivated with her appearance, inquired if she was yet betrothed; and being told that she had been promised, but that the ceremony of betrothment had not yet taken place; "Then," said the Emperor, "I will marry her." Hindal, much offended, observed to his brother, that he had supposed that his Majesty's visit to Páter had been to do him honour, and not to look out for a young bride; but that, if the Emperor persisted in doing any thing so unbecoming, he must quit his Majesty's service. Dildár Begum, who overheard this altercation, interposed, reproved her son, and attempted to settle the dispute. But, as Hindal refused to apologise for the unseemly language he had used, Humayun left the house in high displeasure, and went on board of a boat. Dildár, however, followed the Emperor, prevailed upon him to return back, made up the quarrel between the brothers, and next day gave a nuptial banquet, when the young lady* was married, and delivered to the Emperor, with Hamída was of the family of Zhindeh-fíl Ahmed Jám,a celebrated saint; Kholáset-ul-Towáríkh, f. 261. Her style after her marriage was |