Chap. II. 
great Succefs and Glory ; but the Violence of his Tem- 
per, joined to a high Opinion of his good Fortune, drew 
him into another War, which coft him both his Crown 
and his Life. 
He had always a ftrong Inclination to pafs for the great 
Difpenfer of Juftice amongft his Neighbours, and there- 
fore taking Offence at the Proceedings of Ufum Cajfan, 
a very potent Monarch of the Family of Zingh-Khan , 
who had deprived one of his Relations of his Dominions, 
he declared War againft him, notwithftanding all the 
Pains that Prince could take to terminate the Difference 
between them by a Negotiation. Ufum Cajfan , though 
much inferior in Power, was much better verfed in the 
Art of War ; and by ruining his Country, and keeping 
his Forces always encamped in Places that were inacceffible, 
he fo weakened the Forces of the Tartar, that, at laft, he 
found himfelf obliged to retreat, in order to fave the Re- 
mains of a numerous Army, worn out with perpetual Fa- 
tigue. But he was not able to condudt them, as he endea- 
voured, into his own Dominions, but was defeated and 
taken Prifoner by the Sons of Ufum Cajfan , who imme- 
diately conducted him to the Prefence of their Father, 
who received him at firft with great Humanity, but being 
provoked at the infolent Speeches of Abuchaid, who re- 
proached him with not daring to meet him in the Field, 
at laft ordered his Head to be ftruck off, and put out the 
Eyes of his three eldeft Sons, who were taken with him. 
Such was the Fate of this infolent and vain- glorious 
Monarch, equally unfortunate in the Beginning, and in the 
Ciofe of his Reign, but in neither more fo than he de- 
ferved. The Chronicles of the Mogul Empire, take No- 
tice, that he left a bad Example to his Succeffors in thefe 
two Points, firft, in putting to Death his Brother, and 
next in his Ingratitude to his molt faithful Servants ; Cir- 
cumftances very difhonourable for his Memory, and which 
fhew how unworthy he was of fo great an Empire, that in 
the Courfe of twenty-eight Years, which he fat upon the 
Throne, could leave nothing but the Shame of his Vices c 
to make him remembered by Pofterity. There have 
fome Doubts arifen about the Succeflion of this Prince, 
becaufe, in the great Seal of the Mogul, on which the 
Names of all the Emperors are engraved, there is one 
Mirza- Mohammed mentioned, whom fome therefore would 
have the Son of Miracha , and the Father of Abouchaid. 
The firft may be true, but not the latter, fince it is proba- 
ble, that this Mirza- Mohammed was his Brother, whom he 
put to death. 
5. Sheik-Omar , the fifth Son of Abouchaid, fucceded his 
Father in the Year of the Hegira 874, A. D. 1469, and 
was of a quite contrary Difpofition : He is recorded to 
have been a very pious Mohammedan , and to have made 
the Study of the Khoran the Bufinefs of his Life, which is 
the more extraordinary, fince his Great-grandfather Ti- 
mur had a Religion of his own, which was a Sort of Deifin. 
His Grandfather had very little Religion, and his Father 
none at at all, though he made fome Pretences to Moham- 
medifm. The Reign of Omar was a continued Peace ; he 
never fought to trouble his Neighbours, was contented 
with his own Dominions, where he ruled his Subjects with 
Juftice and' Moderation, and was neither difturbed by Plots 
at home, or Wars abroad. The only Thing remarkable 
in the Reign of this Monarch, is the Manner in which he 
amufed himfelf, for it muft appear fomewhat fingular, 
that a Prince, who ferioufly delighted in Peace, Ihould in- 
vent a new kind of War for his Diverfion. 
At the End of his Garden, he had a high Terras, at 
each Extremity of which was built a Pidgeon-houfe j 
thither the Emperor daily reforted, and as he fed his 
Pidgeons with his own Hand, they flocked about him 
as foon as he appeared. He had taught thefe Creatures to 
live in a perpetual State of Enmity 1 fo that as foon as the 
Emperor lifted up a white Sattin Standard, the Pidgeons 
of one Hdufe attacked thofe of the other* and they with 
great Refolution defended themfelves, and often tallied owf 
and drove away the Invaders. It one Day happened that 
the Emperor, deeply engaged in this Sport, fiourifhing his 
Standard in the Air, and having his Eyes fixed on his 
Pidgeons, fell againft the wooden Baluftrade of his Terras* 
which, being rotten, gave way,fo that by his Fall he broke 
his Skull, of which unlucky Accident he died in two 
Days after, having reigned happily for himfelf and for 
his Neighbours twenty-four Years, , 
6 . He was fucceeded in the Throne by his Son Babar* 
in the Year of the Hegira 899, A AD . 1493- This Prince 
had fcarce taken Poffeflion of the Government before he 
found himfelf engaged in a War, for which he was every 
way indifferently provided. The Prince of the Ufheck 
Tartars at that Time was Schaibac-Khan, who remember- 
ing that his Father had been deprived of Samarkand by 
Abouchaid, the Grandfather of Omar, he determined 
to lay hold of the Opportunity that offered of recovering 
his Dominions, knowing that the Moguls were much fof- 
tened by their Inactivity, during fo long a Peace. Pie 
made a right Judgment in this Matter •, for, on his Ap« 
proach, Babar found it impoffible to make head againft 
him, and therefore retired from Place to Place, till at laft 
he took Shelter in Cabulijian d , the Governor of which 
remained faithful to him, and foon affembled an Army 
capable of recovering what he had loft to the UJbecks. 
Babar , had hitherto appeared of as peaceable a Dif- 
pofition as his Father j but now, whether flung with Re- 
fentment, or roufed by Defpair, he (hewed as great Cou- 
rage as any of his Anceftors, and feemed impatient to in- 
vade that Country, which he had fo lately abandoned^ 
The Governor of Cabulijian however was of quite a dif- 
ferent Sentiment, and having fhewn his Mafter that it was 
infinitely more eafy to make himfelf abfolutely Lord of In- 
doji an than to recover the Countries he had loft, he brought- 
Babar over to his Opinion. In order however to proceed 
with the greater Security and Succefs, the Emperor pro- 
pofed making a Journey through India , under the Difguife 
of Giogis, or Indian Pilgrims, that they might the better 
judge of the Strength and Condition of thofe whom they 
meant to conquer. 
They executed this Refolution almoft as foon as they 
had formed it ; and having travelled undifeovered from 
one Extremity of India to the other, they found it in- 
habited by four Nations. The firft were the native In- 
dians, who ftill kept up the Form of the ancient Confti- 
tution, though the Spirit of it was in a manner loft.- 
Their Kings fhutting themfelves up in their Seraglios, 
thought of nothing but their Pleafures, and left the great 
Affairs of Government to their Minifters, who were often 
as indolent as themfelves, and left them in their Turn to 
their Domefticks. The Bramins had exchanged the ele- 
vated Philofophy of their Anceftors for a Life of Super- 
ftition, which amufed the Vulgar with a falfe Religion, 
and feemed to juftify the Men of Senfe, in having little 
or none at all. Their Soldiers kept their Horfes, took 
their Pay, and appeared at their ftated Times in Review % 
but as for Service they knew it not in Practice, and the 
very Idea of it gave them Difquiet. The common Peo- 
ple were funk in Luxury and Sloth, miftaking the Power 
of doing Evil for Liberty, and placing all Happinefs in 
the Purfuit of their vicious Appetites, without Danger of 
Reftraint, or Fear of Reproach. 
The fecond Sort of People were the Bat tans, a Race of 
Mohammedans , who from the oppofite Coaft of Arabia 
had paffed over thither, and having firft fettled on the 
South- fide of the River, ereefted there a Town, which ftill 
bears the Name of Mujilipatan ; from whence extending 
themfelves ftill farther and farther, they at laft became Ma- 
ilers of the Kingdom of Dehly , of which they were pof- 
feffed when Tamerlane made his Irruption into the Indies , 
of M A R C O P O L Oi 
, ^ ^ l^ich of a ^. ot ^ ers Hs moll ftained the Glory of the Mogul Race, is Ingratitude ; the firft Imputation of which was derived from 
tue Conduct ot this Abouchaid. When he was obliged to fly, in order to fave his Life, after the Lofs of his Crown, two only of his Courtiers remained 
ait.i u , ana hared with him all his Misfortunes. . After lie was rellored, thefe two worthy Men expedted fome Share in his Favour, but Abuchaid told 
•5 m P am J ' f was y i0re obliged to them than it was in his Power to repay, and therefore he hated to fee them ; neither was he contented to ba- 
% Proverb through the Eaft^ 6 — ^ NamCS t0 be ftruck 0ut of the RoIi of his Servants. Hence the Ingratitude of Abouchaid is, to this very Day, 
v * s a frontier -Province between P erfia and the Indies, and has belonged fometitnes to one, and fometimes to the other of thefe Empires, and 
' ■ Sh £ 61 ‘° great Confluence to the laft, that it is a common Saying, he who is not Mafter of Cabulijian, is not Mafter of the Indies. 
# • The 
