pressed on for fourteen miles further, then it became clear that Daud
had evaded them, and they returned.

The conquest of Patna had given Behar to Akbar. He stayed then at
Daryapur six days to constitute the {120} government of the province,
then nominating to the chief office the successful lieutenant who had
planned the campaign, he left him to follow it up whilst he should
return to Jaunpur. At that place he stayed thirty-three days, engaged
in perfecting arrangements for the better administration of the
country. With this view he brought Jaunpur, Benares, Chanar, and
other mahalls in the vicinity, directly under the royal exchequer,
and constituted the newly acquired territories south of the Karamnasa
a separate government.

Having done this, he proceeded to Cawnpur, on his way to Agra. At
Cawnpur he stayed four days, long enough to receive information that
his general in Bengal had occupied, successively, Monghyr, Bhagalpur,
Garhi, and Tanda on the opposite side of the Ganges to Gaur, the
ancient and famous Hindu capital of Bengal, and that he was preparing
to push on further. It may be added that he carried out this
resolution with vigour, and followed up Daud relentlessly, defeating
him at Bajhura, and finally compelling him to surrender at Cuttack.
With the surrender of this prince, the conquest of Bengal might be
regarded as achieved.

Very much elated with the good news received at Cawnpur, Akbar,
deeming the campaign in Bengal as virtually terminated, pushed on to
Delhi, devoted there a few days to hunting, and then made another
journey to Ajmere, hunting as he marched. At Narnul he received
visits from his governors of the Punjab and of Gujarat, and had the
satisfaction of learning {121} that everywhere his rule was taking
root in the hearts of the people. After the exchange of ideas with
these noblemen, he pushed on to Ajmere, made his pilgrimage to the
tomb of the saint, caused to be repressed the rising of a petty chief
in the jungles of Jodhpur, and then returned to his favourite
residence at Fatehpur-Sikri.

He had noticed, on his many journeys, that a very great part of the
territories he had traversed remained uncultivated. The evil was
neither to be attributed to the nature of the soil, which was rich,
nor to the laziness of the people. Sifting the matter to the bottom,
Akbar came to the conclusion that the fault rather lay with the
administration, which placed upon the land a tax which render