15 
He took pleasure in breaking horses, and in hunting, especially in 
cases like the destruction of tigers, or the capture of herds of wild 
elephants, which gave a scope to his enjoyment of adventure and 
exertion. He sometimes also underwent fatigue for the mere 
pleasure of the exercise, as when he rode from Ajmir to Agra, 
two hundred and twenty miles, in two successive days, and in 
many similar journeys on horseback, besides walks on foot of 
thirty or forty miles in a day. : 
His history is filled with instances of romantic courage, and he 
seems to have been stimulated by a sort of instinctive love of 
danger as often as by any rational motive. Yet he showed no 
fondness for war. He was always ready to take the field and 
remain there, while his presence was required ; but when the fate 
of the war was once decided, he returned to the general govern- 
ment of his empire, and left it to his lieutenants to carry on the 
remaining military operations. These were, in some cases, very 
long protracted; but his conquests, when concluded, were complete; 
and no part of India, except that near the capital, can be said to 
have been thoroughly subdued until his time. 
At his death, the population of his empire can hardly have been 
less than 150,000,000, and may have been more; and there is no 
instance in the world’s history of such a kindgom having been 
won, not only with so small an amount of human suffering, but 
with so positive relief from oppression ; and the more his acts, his 
policy, and his disposition, in all their generosity and humanity, 
are studied and understood, the stronger will be the conviction that 
Akber stands alone. 
HIS LAST MOMENTS. 
The last moments of Akber are only recorded by his successor, 
his son Selim, afterwards the emperor Jehanger. 
Owing to intrigues that were going on against him, Selim was 
justly alarmed for his personal safety, and forbore visiting the 
palace on pretence of illness. Akber was distressed by his son’s 
absence, of which he surmised the cause. He repeatedly expressed 
his anxiety to see him, and again pronounced him the lawful 
