DID SULTAN BABER KNOW THE KARA-KORUM MOUNTAINS? 145
northern range of hills, which he regards as being in connection with the Hindukush. And he knows that this boundary wall separates Hindustan from Tibet, and gives rise to all the great rivers of Panjab, though he is not aware of the exceptional origin of the Satlej. For he says of them, inclusive of the Satlej : »The sources of all these rivers are in the Sewalik mountains)).
His own descent, and the wonderful adventures of his life explain Sultan Baber's knowledge of these regions. Though he does not mention the Kara-korum, he may easily have known this mountain system, as he used to inquire of the natives about the unknown parts of the regions north of India, and as the Kara-korums were in connection with those mountain regions through which he marched to India.
The quoted passages of Sultan Baber's Memoirs ought perhaps to have been inserted chronologically at their right places. I have, however, preferred to give them in connection with the preface of the editors of the English translation and with
0 their map, which allows us to make a direct comparison between the knowledge of the great Baber and that of his commentators hundreds of years after his death.
19. VII.
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