Note 59 — The Thirteenth New Year’s Feast

On Thursday, the 24th, I went to see the Bāg͟h-i-Fatḥ,59 and spent two days there in enjoyment and pleasure. At the end of the day on Saturday I returned to the palace. As Āṣaf K. had represented that his ḥawīlī (house) garden was exceedingly green and pleasant, and all sorts of flowers and scented plants had bloomed there, at his request I went to it on Mubārak-s͟hamba (Thursday), the 31st. In truth, it was a very nice villa, and I was much pleased. His offering of jewels and jewelled things, and cloth, of the value of Rs. 35,000, was accepted. Muz̤affar K. was favoured with a dress of honour and an elephant, and, as before, was entrusted with the charge of the government of Thatta (Sind). My brother S͟hāh ʿAbbās sent a letter with some trifling presents by ʿAbdu-l-Karīm of Gīlān, who had come with merchandise from Īrān. On this day I presented him with a dress of honour and an elephant, and gave him leave to return, and sent an answer to the Shah’s letter with a memorandum. K͟hān ʿĀlam was also honoured with a gracious farman and a special dress of honour. Friday was the 1st of the month of S͟hahrīwar. From Sunday, the 3rd, till the eve of Thursday (the 7th) rain fell. It is strange that on other days the pair of sāras sate on the eggs five or six times in turn, but during this twenty-four hours, when there was constant rain and the air was somewhat cold, the male, in order to keep the eggs warm, sate from early in the morning until midday, and from that time until the next morning the female sat without an interval, for fear that in rising and sitting again the cold air should affect them, and the eggs become wet and be spoilt. Briefly, men are led by the guidance of Reason, and animals according to the Divine wisdom implanted in them by Nature. Stranger still is it that at first they keep their eggs together underneath the breast, and after fourteen or fifteen days have passed they leave a little space between them, for fear the heat should become too great from their contact with each other. Many become addled in consequence of (too great) heat.