Page:History of India Vol 5.djvu/366

 312 THE MEMOIRS OF JAHANGIR to the rank of 2500. This fort, which is very strong, was constructed under the direction and superintend- ence of Khwaja Shams-ad-din Khwafi by order of my father. In those days the Nilab was very full, inso- much that the bridge consisted of eighteen boats, over which people passed with great ease and security. The chief amir was so weak and sick that I left him at Attok, and as the country around Kabul was not able to support so large a camp as accompanied me, I or- dered the paymasters to allow no one to cross the river except my own friends and household, the main camp being ordered to wait at Attok till my return. On Wednesday, the nineteenth, I embarked with the prince and a few attendants on a raft, and passing over the Nilab in safety, I landed on the bank of the Kama (Kabul), the river which flows under Jalalabad. These rafts are composed of bamboos and grass placed on inflated skins, and in rivers where there are many stones they are safer than boats. I gave twelve thou- sand rupees to Mir Sharif Amali and the officers who were left on duty at Lahore to be distributed to the poor; and orders were given to Abd-ar-Razak Ma'muri and Bihari Das, paymaster of the guardsmen, to make arrangements for supplying every necessity to the de- tachment left behind with Zafar Khan. On the second day following, I reached my camp near Sarai Bara. On the opposite side of the river Kama there is a fort built by Zain Khan Koka when he was appointed to exterminate the Yusufzai Afghans. It is called Naushahra, and nearly fifty thousand ru-