238 Translations from the Tarikh i FiruzsMM. [No. 3, 
to cause forts to be erected for tlie safety of the cultivators, and 
such as labour in the field. Also did he strive to restore waste 
places, and to reclaim such lands as were exhausted and worn out. 
So that in this matter he excelled all who had gone before him, 
and had he sat but for a few years upon the throne, and been 
spared from the stroke of death, he would beyond doubt have 
caused to be inhabited many thousands of deserted houses, so that 
the thorny desert should have become a fruitful grove, and the 
waste a flowering garden. Also would he have dug for miles upon 
miles and leagues upon leagues, canals like to the rivers Ganges 
and Jamna; creating running streams, and conferring benefit and 
comfort, and much prosperity upon the labourer and tiller of the 
soil; so that there would have been no end to the increase of corn, 
and the overflowing of abundance. Also will men speak to all 
time of the Castle of Tugliluqabad, as a proof of his magnificence 
in building. Yet again, if we look to a king to ensure the safety 
of travellers, and to protect the high roads of the kingdom, and 
to punish such as rob upon the high road, so great was the fear of 
the sword of Tughluq Shah in the hearts of all robbers and plun¬ 
derers, that in his time, the robbers became the protectors of the 
public roads, and the plunderers and the violent, breaking their 
swords, converted them into ploughshares, and sold their bows : 
and the crooked became straight, and they betook themselves to 
the labour of the field, nor was the name of robbery heard ; and 
the fear of the robber was wiped away from the minds of men. 
Within his kingdom the thief did not dare to take a grain from 
the store of any man ; and not within his kingdom only, but in 
Ghazni also, from the fear of the sword of Tughluq Shah, the vio¬ 
lent ceased from violence, neither did they any more gather together 
to prey upon the track of the merchants and caravans. If again we 
look to a king for observance of the precepts of the Faith, and strict 
adherence to its ordinances, and for purity of spirit, which is the 
chief of all the ordinances of Islam, Sultan Ghiasuddin Tughluq 
Shah excelled above godless kings, inasmuch as he was pure and 
upright, and gifted with integrity and probity. Also was he care¬ 
ful to observe all the hours of prayer, nor would be retire to his 
harem until ho had repeated the prayer before sleep, nor did he ever 
