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 CiiAp. VI.] IIEIGN OF AKBER. 121

following' the order ot" time, but .some atlvaiitage.s in respeet of arriuiociiieiit will a.u. 1&42. be gained by continuing the thread of Mahometan narrative unbroken to ti»e conclusion of Akbers reign. The empire of the (Jreat Mogul, almost extin- guished during the misfortunes of Hoomayoon, will thus be seen not oidy re-established, but raised to a degree of splendour which it never attained before; and it will, ni consequence, be unnecessary, in tracing Eiu'opean progress, to be constantly turning aside in order to contemplate the internal changes which were at the same tune taking place.

CHAPTER YI.

Peifrn of Akber.

KBER might be called a child of the desert, having been born Akbei s at Amerkote, on the edge of it, on the 14th of October, 154-2, history. after his ])arents. with a few followers, had traversed it as homeless wanderers, under almost unparalleled privations. Be- fore he was a year old he became a captive m the hands of an uncle with wiiom his father was at war; and, while still a mere child, was bar- barously placed in the most exposed position on the ramparts of Cabool, which was besieged, in the malicious expectation that some ball from the cannon of the besieijers would de- prive him of life. His caj)tivity was afterward'^ repeatedly renewed ; bit, as if he had been reserved for something great, he ])assed vui- harmed in the midst of danger, and made many hair-breadth escajies. If anything had been want- insj to confirm the belief that a liigli destiny a-

waited him, it would have been found in the remarkaltle talents which he began, at an early age, to display. Such were the expectations which he had excited, and the confidence reposed in him, that he was sent into the Punjab in the com- mand of an army, and gained distinction on the field of battle. At this time he must have been a mere boy, for when his father died he was only in his Vol. I. 16

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