226 THE EMPEROR HUMAYUN insurrection. Thus even in his inherited dominions about an eighth of all India Humayun was not secure from rivals and revolts. Nor was he safe from the hostility of his own family. Babar had particularly commended his other sons to Humayun 's kindness, and never was forbearance more cruelly tried. There was not one of his three brothers who did not intrigue against him. Kamran, the next in age, had already been ruler of Kabul under his father, and had not only retained his western province but had annexed the Panjab, always professing his allegiance to Humayun, whose preoccupations, no less than his brotherly kindness, induced him to tolerate the usur- pation. It was short-sighted policy, however, for with Kamran practically independent on the northwest frontier, the main recruiting-ground of the Moghul army was cut off. Hitherto the fighting strength of the Mos- lems in India had been nourished and restored by the hill tribes of Afghanistan and the men of the Oxus. Now that source was closed, and Humayun was forced to depend upon the army already in India, which was constantly depleted by loss in battle or by natural causes, without any means of reinforcement, and was suffering the inevitable degeneration that overtakes a hardy race when exposed to the luxuries of wealth and the influence of an enervating climate. Kamran, a surly, ill-conditioned traitor, unworthy to be the son of Babar, was the most formidable of the brothers. Askari and Hindal, ever weak and shifty, were dangerous only as tools for ambitious men. Their
