]

[Footnote 19: _Ibid._ 376, 317.]

[Footnote 20: J.T. Wheeler, IV, I, 173; M. Elphinstone, 526; G.B.
Malleson, 170.]

Throughout his entire life Akbar was a tirelessly industrious,
restlessly active man. By means of ceaseless activity he struggled
successfully against his natural tendency to melancholy and in this
way kept his mind wholesome, which is most deserving of admiration in
an Oriental monarch who was brought in contact day by day with
immoderate flattery and idolatrous veneration. Well did Akbar know
that no Oriental nation can be governed without a display of dazzling
splendor; but in the midst of the fabulous luxury with which Akbar's
court was fitted out and his camp on the march, in the possession of
an incomparably rich harem which accompanied the Emperor on his
expeditions and journeys in large palatial tents, Akbar always showed
a remarkable moderation. It is true that he abolished the prohibition
of wine which Islam had inaugurated and had a court cellar in his
palace, but he himself drank only a little wine and only ate once a
day and then did not fully satisfy his hunger at this one meal which
he ate alone and not at any definite time.[21] Though he was not
strictly a vegetarian yet he lived mainly on rice, milk, fruits and
sweets, and meat was repulsive to him. He is said to have eaten meat
hardly more than four times a year.[22]

[Footnote 21: Noer, II, 355-]

[Footnote 22: J.T. Wheeler, IV, I, 169, following the old English
geographer Samuel Purchas.]

Akbar was very fond of flowers and perfumes and especially enjoyed
blooded doves whose care he well understood. About twenty thousand of
these peaceful birds are said to have made their home on the
battlements of his palace. His historian[23] relates: "His Majesty
deigned to improve them in a marvelous manner by crossing the races
which had not been done formerly."

[Footnote 23: Abul Fazl in Noer, I, 511.]

Akbar was passionately fond of hunting and pursued the noble sport in
its different forms, especially the tiger hunt and the trapping of
wild elephants,[24] but he also hunted with trained falcons and
leopards, owning no less than nine hundred hunting leopards. He was
not fond of battue; he enjoyed the excitement and exertion of the
actual hunt as a means for exercise and recreation, for training the
eye and quickening the blood. Akbar took pleasure also in games.
Besides chess, cards and other games, fights between an