Page image — the source of record
Machine transcription
118
his command, mostly recruited from the tribesmen, who were lacking cohesion and discipline. The two armies came face to face midway between Kabul and Jalalabad on the banks of the Surkhrud. A severe contest took place. At first Shuja was victorious, but his followers, seeing the enemy in full flight, gave up the chase and fell upon the treasures, which Shuja had brought with him from Peshawar. Fateh Khan, availing himself of this golden opportunity, turned back and led a general assault, which decided the day in his favour. Shuja's forces were utterly routed, and he himself escaped with hardly fifty horsemen to the skirts of the Speen Ghar. For some time he could not find an asylum and was wandering from place to place. At last Amir Khan, an Afridi Chief of the Khyber Pass, came to his help and allowed him to rest in his hill-fortress for a while. Meanwhile, Kamran, Mahmud's eldest son, took possession of Peshawar and the neighbouring country. After installing Abdul Wahid Khan as Governor of the province, Kamran returned to Kabul. It was time for Shuja to come out of his hiding place. Collecting a force of 5,000 tribesmen, he led an attack on Peshawar. He was again defeated and
Roughly two thirds of characters agree with a modern printed edition of the same text. Much of the disagreement is editorial, not misreading. Treat the transcription as a finding aid and read the page image before quoting. How this was measured.