and for feeding the horses; and orders were given that whenever a
post-house for horses was built near a _khalseh_, or imperial demesne,
they should be furnished from thence with the stated allowances;
that if it were situated in a _pergunna_, the nobleman in charge
should attend to the supply. The same day Chikmâk Padshahi left Agra."

The promptness of Babar's administrative methods is a striking contrast
to the circumlocution of present-day departmentalism. There still
exist remains of many splendid _sarais_, or halting-places, built
along this road by different Mogul Emperors for their convenience,
from the time of Babar down to Aurangzîb. One of the finest is the
Nurmahal Sarai, near Jalandhar, built by Jahangir and named after
his favourite wife. Edward Terry, who accompanied Sir Thomas Roe,
James the First's ambassador at Jahangir's Court, describes "the long
walk of four hundred miles, shaded by great trees on both sides,"
and adds, "this is looked upon by the travellers who have found the
comfort of that cool shade as one of the rarest and most beneficial
works in the whole world."


II. Humayun.

Humayun, who succeeded Babar, had many of his father's amiable
qualities, but none of his genius as a leader of men. He utterly
failed in the attempt to consolidate the great empire which Babar had
left him, and in 1539, or nine and a half years after his accession,
he was completely defeated at Kanauj by Shere Khan Sur, an Afghan
nobleman, who had submitted to Babar, but revolted against his
son. Humayun found himself a fugitive with only a handful of men,
and was eventually driven not only out of Hindustan, but even from the