Page:History of India Vol 5.djvu/270

 224 THE MEMOIRS OF THE EMPEROR BABAB, 925 A. H. (Feb. 15, 1519 A. D.), we did it with the inten- tion of attacking Bahrah, the country on the Jihlam, or Hydaspes, near the town of that name, but chiefly on the right bank of the river, before we returned to Kabul. We were always full of the idea of invading Hindustan, but this had been prevented by various cir- cumstances. For the three or four months that the army had been detained in Bajaur, it had got no plun- der of value. As Bahrah is on the borders of Hin- dustan and was near at hand, I thought that, if I were now to push on without baggage, the soldiers might light upon some booty. Moving on with this idea, and plundering the Afghans in our progress, I was advised by several of my principal adherents, when I reached Makam, that if we were to enter Hindustan, we should do it on a proper footing and with an adequate force. Though the advice was perfectly judicious, we made the inroad in spite of all these objections. Early next morning we marched toward the passage over the Sind. I despatched Mir Mohammad Jala-ban in advance, with his brothers and some troops to escort them, for the purpose of examining the banks of the river, both above and below. After sending the army forward toward the river, I myself set off for Sawati, which they likewise call Kark-khanah, to hunt the rhinoceros. We started many rhinoceroses, but as the country abounded in brushwood, we could not get at them. Next morning, being Thursday, the seventeenth of Safar (Feb. 18), we crossed the ford with our horses,