obliged with the Sword to dispute my Life and the Crown with my Brothers Is not that the destiny almost of all the Sons of Indostan Have you ever taken any care to make me learn what 't is to besiege a Town or to set an Army in array For these things I am obliged to others not at all to you Go and retire to the Village whence you are come and let `no body know who you are or what `is become of you At that time there arose a kind of Tempest against Astrologers which did not displeaie me Most people of Asia are so infatuated by Judiciary Astrology that they believe there is nothing done here below but 't is written above for so they speak In all their undertakings therefore they consult Astrologers When two Armies are ready to give Battel they beware of falling on till the Astrologer hath taken and determined the moment he fancies propitious for the beginning of the Combat And so when the matter is about electing a Captain-General of an Army of dispatching an Ambassador of concluding a Marriage of beginning a Voyage and of doing any other thing as buying a Slave putting on new Apparel c. nothing of all that is done without the sentence of Mr. Star-Gazer which is an incredible vexation and a custom drawing after it such important consequences that I know not how it can subsist so long For the Astrologer must needs have knowledge of all that passeth and of all that is undertaken from the greatest Affairs to the least But behold it happen'd that the Prime Astrologer of the King was drown'd which occasioned a great noise at Court and was a great discredit to Astrology For he being the person that determined the moments of all enterprizes and actions for the King and the Omrahs every one wondred how a man so experienced and that for so long time had dispensed good adventures to others could not foresee his own misfortune There were not wanting those who pretended to be wiser than others and said that in Frangistan where Sciences did flourish the Grandees do suspect all such kind of people and that some hold them even no better than Mountebanks that 't is much doubted whether this Knowledge is grounded upon good and solid reasons and that it may very well be some fancy of Astrologers or rather an artifice to make themselves necessary to the Great ones and to make them in some measure to depend on them All these discourses very much displeased the Astrologers but nothing angred them so much as this Story become very famous viz. That the Great Chah-Abas King of Persia commanded to be digged and prepared a little place in his Seraglio to make a Garden that the young Trees were all ready and that the Gardner made account to plant them the next day Mean time the Astrologer taking upon him said that a good nick of time was to be observed for planting them to make them prosper Chah-Abas being content it should be so the Star-gazer took his Instruments turned over his Books made his Calculation and concluded that by reason of such and such a Conjunction and Aspect of the Planets it was necessary they should be set presently The Master-Gardner who minded nothing less than this Astrologer was not then at hand yet for all that they fell to work immediately making holes and planting the Trees Chah-Abas himself setting them that it might be said that they were Trees set with Chah-Abas's own hands The Gardner returning at night was sufficiently amazed when he saw the work done and finding that the right place and order designed by him was not taken that for example an Apricock-tree stood where an Apple-tree should stand and a Pear-tree where all Almond-tree being heartily angry with the Astrologer caused all the Trees to be plucked up again and laid them down with some Earth about them for next morning the time chosen by himself The news hereof came soon to the Ears of the Astrologer who presently told Chah-Abas of it He forthwith sent for the Gardner and with some indignation asked him What had made him so bold as to pull up those Young Trees he had planted with his own hand that the time had been so exactly taken for them that so good an one would never be had again and that so he had marred all The rude Gardner who had a Cup of Chiras-wine in his head look'd aside upon the Astrologer and grumbling and swearing said to him these words Billah Billah that must needs be an admirable point of time which thou hast taken for these Trees unhappy Astrologer They were planted this day Noon and this Evening they have been plucked up again When Chah-Abas heard this he fell a laughing turned his back upon the Astrologer and went away I shall here add two particulars though hapned in the time of Chah-Jehan because such things fall out often enough and do withal give occasion to observe that ancient and barbarous custom which makes the Kings of India Heirs of the goods of those that die in their service The first was of Neâ—knamkan one of the most ancient Omrahs of the Court and who for the space of 40 or 50 years wherein had alwayes been employ'd in confiderable Offices had heaped up great store of Gold and Silver This Lord seeing himself near his end and thinking upon this unreasonable custom which often renders the Wife of a great man upon his decease poor and miserable in an instant and necessitates her to present a Petition begging some small pension for her subsistence and for that of her Children who are constrained to list themselves for common Souldiers under some Omrah who I say considering this with himself secretly distributed all his Treasure to indigent Knights and poor Widows filled his Trunks with old pieces of Iron old shoes rags and bones and locked and sealed them telling every body that they were goods belonging to Chah-Jehan the King These Trunks after his Death were brought before Chah-Jehan when he was in the Assembly and by his command instantly opened in the presence of all the Omrahs that saw all this fine Stuff which so provoand discomposed Chah-Jehan that he rose in great fury and went away The other is only a piece of Gallantry A rich Banean or Heathen Merchant being a great Usurer as most of them are who had alwayes been in employment and in the pay of the King came to die Some years after his death his Son did extremely importune the Widow his Mother to let him have some Money She finding him to be a prodigal and debauched Youth gave him as little as she could This young Fool by the perswasion of others like himself made his Complaints to Chah-Jehan and was so silly as to discover to him all the goods his Father had left which amounted to two hundred thousand Crowns Chah-Jehan who soon got an itch for this treasure sent for the Widow and commanded her in the open Assembly
not to demand any Customs So great was once the power of Emir-Jemla his Father in this Kingdom which time hath not yet been able to root out The fourth is that the Hollanders scruple not to threaten him sometimes to lay an Embargo upon all the Merchants Ships of the Country that are in that Port and not to let them go out untill their demands be granted as also to put in protestations against him which I have seen actually done upon the account of an English Vessel which they had a mind to take by force in the Port of Maslipatan it self the Governour having hindred it by arming the whole Town against them and threatning to put fire to their Factory and to put them all to death A fifth is that the Portugueses as poor and miserable and decayed as they are in the Indies yet stick not to threaten that King also with War and that they will come and sack Maslipatan and all that Coast if he will not render them that place of St. Thomas which some years ago they chose to put into his hands rather than to be constrained to yield it up to the Dutch Yet for all this I have been informed in Golkonda by very intelligent persons that this King is a Prince of very great judgment and that whatever he so does and suffers is only in policy to the end to provoke no body and principally to remove all suspition from Aureng-Zebe and to give him to understand that he hath in a manner no share any more in the Kingdom But that in the mean time a Son of his that is kept hid grows up the Father watching for a fit time to declare him King and so to laugh at the agreement made with Aureng-Zebe Of this time will shew us more in the mean time let us consider somewhat of the Interests of Visapour The Kingdom of Visapour hath also not been wanting to support it self though the Mogol do almost continually make war against it not so much as if he of Visapour were able to bid head to the Mogolian Forces but because there is never any great effort used against him For it is not very frequent there no more than 't is elsewhere for Generals of Armies to desire the end of a War there being nothing so charming as to be in the head of an Army commanding like little Kings remote from the Court It is also grown to a Proverb that Decan is the Bread and Life of the Souldiers of Indostan Besides the Countrey of Visapour is on the side of the Mogol's Dominions of a very difficult access upon the account of the searcity of good Waters Forrage and Victuals and because Visapour the Capital City is very strong and situate in a dry and steril Countrey there being almost no good Water but in the Town And lastly because there are many Fortresses in that Countrey seated on Hills hard to climb Yet notwithstanding all this that State is much shaken if considering that the Mogol hath taken Paranda the Key as 't were of that Kingdom as also that fair and strong Town Bider and some other very important places But principally because the last King of Visapour died without Heirs Males and he that now calls himself King is a Youth whom the Queen Sister of the King of Golkonda hath raised and taken for her Son a favour for which he hath made an ill return having shew'd no esteem for this Queen after her return from Mecca under the pretext of some ill demeanour in her on a Dutch Vessel that carried her to Moka Lastly because that in the disorders of that Kingdom the Heathen Rebel Seva-Gi above discoursed of found means to seize on many strong Holds mostly seated on steep Mountains where he now acteth the King laughing at the Visapour and the Mogol and ravaging the Countrey every where from Suratte even to the gates of Goa This notwithstanding if he wrongs Visapour one way he helps to support it another forasmuch as he is resolutely bent against the Mogol preparing alwayes some Ambush and cutting so much work for his Army that there is no discourse no apprehension but of Seva-Gi insomuch that he hath come and sacked Suratte and pillaged the Isle of Burdes which belongs to the Portuguese and is near the Gates of Goa The seventh particular which I learn'd at Golkonda when I was come away from Dehli is the death of Chah-Jehan and that Aureng-Zebe had been exceedingly affected therewith having discover'd all the marks of grief that a Son can express for the loss of his Father That at the very hour of receiving that news he went towards Agra that Begum-Saheb caused the Mosquee and a certain place where he was at first to stop before he entred the Fortress to be hung with richly embroider'd Tapisseries That at his entring into the Seraglio she presented him with a great Golden Bason wherein were all her Jewels and all those of Chah-Jehan and in short that she knew to receive him with so much Magnificence and to entertain him with that dexterity and craft that she obtained his pardon gain'd his favour and grew very confident with him To conclude I doubt not but most of those who shall have read my History will judge the wayes taken by Aureng-Zebe for getting the Empire very violent and horrid I pretend not at all to plead for him but desire only that before he be altogether condemned reflexion be made on that unhappy custom of this State which leaving the succession of the Crown undecided for want of good Laws setling it as amongst us upon the eldest Son exposeth it to the Con quest of the strongest and the most fortunate subjecting at the same time all the Princes born in the Royal Family by the condition of their Birth to the cruel necessity either to overcome or to reign by destroying all the rest for the assurance of their power and life or to perish themselves for the security of that of others For I am apt to believe that upon this consideration the Reader wil not find Aureng-Zebe's conduct so strange as at first it appear'd However I am perswaded that those who shall a little weigh this whole History will not take Aureng-Zebe for a Barbarian but for a great and rare Genius a Great States-man and a Great King A Letter to the Lord COLBERT of the Extent of Indostan the Circulation of Gold and Silver coming at length to be swallowed up there as in an Abyss the Riches Forces Justice and the principal Cause of the decay of the States of Asia My Lord SInce it is the custom of Asia never to approach Great Persons with empty hands when I had the honour to kiss the Vest of the Great Mogol Aureng-Zebe I presented him with eight Roupies as an expression of respect and the illustrious Fazel-kan the prime Minister of State and he that was to establish my Pension as Physitian with a Case of Knives garnished with Amber
service together with a Model for the sutable Education of a Great Prince prescribed by Aureng-Zebe on this occasion 9. In what credit Judiciary Astrology is over all Asia 10. How the Kings of India make themselves Heirs of all the Estate of those that dye in their service 11. Of the Reciprocal Appearance of Kindnesses between Aureng-Zebe and his Imprison'd Father and Sister 12 What pass'd between Aureng-Zebe and Emir-Jemla who had laid the first Ground-work to Aureng-Zebe's Greatness 13. What in these Revolutions was transacted about the Bay of Bengale and the Heathen Kingdom of Rakan 14. How Aureng-Zebe carried himself towards his two Eldest Sons Sultan Mahmoud and Sultan Mahum And how for a Trial of the Obedience and Courage of the latter he commanded him to kill a certain Lion that did great mischief in the Countrey together with the success thereof 15. Divers Particulars shewing the Interest between Indostan and Persia supposed by this Author to be unknown or at least not well known hitherto 16. How generously Aureng-Zebe recompensed those that had faithfully served him in these Revolutions 17. Some Account of that small Kingdom of Kachimere or Cassimere represented as the Paradice of the Indies concerning which the Author affirms that he hath a particular History of it in the Persian Tongue 18. A considerable Relation of Suratte's being strangely surpriz'd and plunder'd by a stout Rebel of Visapour and how the English and Dutch saved themselves and their Treasure in this bold Enterprize 19. A particular Account both of the former and present State of the whole Peninsule of Indostan the occasion of its Division into divers Sovereignties and the several Arts used to maintain themselves one against another particularly of the present Government and State of the Kingdoms of Golkonda and Visapour and their Interests in reference to the Great Mogol 20. Of the Extent of Indostan and the Trade which the English Portugueses and Hollanders have in that Empire as also of the vast quantities of Gold and Silver circulated through the World and conveyed into Indostan and there swallowed up as in an Abyss 21. Of the many Nations which in that vast Extent of Countrey cannot be well kept in subjection by the Great Mogol 22. Of the Great Mogol's Religion which is Mahumetan of the Turkish not Persian Sect. 23. Of his Militia both in the Field and about his Person and how the same is provided for employed punctually paid and carefully distributed in several places 24. Of the Omrahs that is the Great Lords of Indostan their several Qualities Offices Attendants 25. The Artillery of the Mogol great and small very considerable 26. Of his Stables of Horses Elephants Camels Mules c. 27. Of his Seraglio 28. Of his vast Revenues and Expences 29. What Prince may be said to be truly Rich. 30. An important State-Question Debated viz. Whether it be more expedient for the Prince and People that the Prince be the sole Proprietor of all the Lands of the Countrey over which he Reigns yea or no THE HISTORY OF The Late Revolution OF THE DOMINIONS OF THE GREAT MOGOL THE desire of seeing the World having made me Travel into Palestina and Egypt would not let me stop there it put me upon a resolution to see the Red Sea from one end to the other I went from Grand Cairo after I had staid there above a year and in two and thirty hours going the Caravan pace I arrived at Suez where I embarked in a Galley which in seventeen days carry'd me always in sight of land to the Port of Gidda which is half a days journey from Mecca There I was constrained contrary to my hopes and the promise which the Beig of the Red Sea had made me to go a shore on that pretended Holy Land of Mahomet where a Christian that is not a Slave dares not set his foot I staid there four and thirty days and then I embarked in a small Vessel which in fifteen days carried me along the Coast of Arabia the Happy to Moka near the Streight of Babel-mandel I resolved to pass thence to the Isle of Masowa and Arkiko to get as far as Gouder the Capital Town of the Country of Alebech or the Kingdom of Aethiopia but I received certain information that since the Portugueses had been killed there by the intrigue of the Queen Mother or expelled together with the Jesuit Patriarch whom they had brought thither from Goa the Roman Catholicks were not safe there a poor Capuchin having lost his head at Suaken for having attempted to enter into that Kingdom That indeed by going under the name of a Greek or an Armenian I did not run so great hazard and that even the King himself when he should know that I could do him service would give me Land to Till by Slaves which I might buy if I had money but that undoubtedly they would forthwith oblige me to Marry as they had lately done a certain Frier who had passed there under the name of a Greek Physitian and that they would never suffer me to come away again These considerations among others induced me to change my resolution I went aboard of an Indian Vessel I passed those Streights and in two and twenty days I arrived at Surratte in Indostan the Empire of the Great Mogol in the Year 1655. There I found that he who then Reigned there was call'd Chah-Jehan that is to say King of the World who according to the History of that Countrey was Son of Jehan-Guyre which signifieth Conquerour of the World Grandchild of Ekbar which is Great and that thus ascending by Hohmayons or the Fortunate Father of Ekbar and his other Predecessors he was the Tenth of those that were descended from that Timur-Lengue which signifieth the Lame Prince commonly and corruptly call'd Tamerlan so renowned for his Conquests who Married his near Kinswoman the only Daughter of the Prince of the Nations of Great Tartary call'd Mogols who have left and communicated their Name to the strangers that now Govern Indostan the Countrey of the Indians though those that are employ'd in publick Charges and Offices and even those that are listed in the Militia be not all of the Race of the Mogols but strangers and Nations gather'd out of all Countries most of them Persians some Arabians and some Turks For to be esteem'd a Mogol 't is enough to be a stranger white of Face and a Mahumetan in distinction as well to the Indians who are brown and Pagans as to the Christians of Europe who are call'd Franguis I found also at my arrival that this King of the World Chah-Jehan of above seventy years of Age had four Sons and two Daughters that some years since he had made these four Sons vice-Vice-Kings or Governours of four of his most considerable Provinces or Kingdoms that it was almost a year that he was fallen into a great sickness whence it was believed he would never recover Which had occasioned a great division among
there to be sold and to buy for the money a quantity of Indian Stuffs and so to return without paying likewise any Impost at all But as to the Ethiopian Embassy that deserves to be otherwise taken notice of the King of Ethiopia having received the news of the Revolution of the Indies had a design to spread his Name in those parts and there to make known his Grandeur and Magnificence by a splendid Embassy or as malice will have it or rather as the very truth is to reap some advantage by a present as well as the rest Behold therefore this great Embassy He chose for his Ambassadors two persons that one would think were the most considerable in his Court and the most capable to make such a design prosper And who were they the one was a Mahumetan Merchant whom I had seen some years ago at Moka when I passed there coming out of Egypt over the Red-Sea where he was to sell some Slaves for that Prince and to buy of the money raised thence some Indian Commodities And this is the fine Trade of that Great Christian King of Africa The other was a Christian Merchant of Armenia born and married in Aleppo known in Ethiopia by the name of Murat I had seen him also at Moka where he had accomodated me with the half of his Chamber and assisted me with very good advice whereof I have spoken in the beginning of this History as a thing taking me off from passing into Ethiopia according to my first design He also came every year to that place in that Kings Name for the same end that the Mahumetan did and brought the Present which the King made every year to the Gentlemen of the English and Dutch Company of the East-Indies and carried away theirs Now the King of Ethiopia sutably to his design and the desire he had of making his Ambassadors appear with great splendour put himself to great expences for this Embassie He gave them thirty two young Slaves of both Sexes to sell them at Moka and thence to make a sum of Money to bear their Charges A wonderful largess Slaves are commonly sold there for twenty five or thirty Crowns a piece one with another A considerable sum Besides he gave them for a Present to the Great Mogol five and twenty choice Slaves among which there were nine or ten very young proper to make Eunuchs of A very worthy Present for a King and he a Christian to a Mahumetan Prince It seems the Christianity of the Ethiopians is very different from ours He added to that Present twelve Horses esteem'd as much as those of Arabia and a kind of little Mule of which I saw the Skin which was a very great Rarity there being no Tyger so handsomely speckled nor Silken Stuff of India so finely so variously and so orderly streaked as that was Moreover there were for a part of the Present two Elephants Teeth so prodigious that they assured it was all that a very able-bodied man could do to lift up one of them from the ground Lastly an Horn of an Oxe full of Civett and so big that the aperture of it being measur'd by me when it came to Dehli it had a Diameter of half a Foot and somewhat better All things being thus prepared the Ambassadors depart from Gondez the Capital of Ethiopia situated in the Province of Dambea and came through a very troublesome Countrey to Beiloul which is a dispeopled Sea-Port over against Moka nigh to Babel-mandel not daring to come for reasons elswhere to be alledged the ordinary way of the Caravans which is made with ease in forty dayes to Arkiko and thence to pass to the Isle of Masoua During their stay at Beiloul and expecting a Bark of Moka to waft over the Red Sea there died some of their Slaves because the Vessel tarried and they found not in that place those refreshments that were necessary for them When they came to Moka they soon sold their Merchandise to raise a stock of Money according to order But they had this ill luck that that year the Slaves were very cheap because the Market was glutted by many other Merchants yet they raised a sum to pursue their Voyage They embark'd upon an Indian Vessel to pass to Suratte Their passage was pretty good they were not above five and twenty daies at Sea but whether it was that they had made no good provision for want of stock or what else the cause might be many of their Slaves and Horses as also the Mule whereof they saved the Skin died They were no sooner arrived at Suratte but a certain Rebel of Visapour called Seva-Gi came and ranscked and burned the Town and in it their house so that they could save nothing but their Letters some Slaves that were sick or which Seva-Gi could not light on their Ethiopian Habits which he cared not for and the Mules Skin and the Oxes Horn which was already emptied of the Civett They did very much exaggerate their misfortune but those malicious Indians that had seen them arrive in such a wretched condition without provisions without habits without money or Bills of Exchange said that they were very happy and should reckon the Plunder of Suratte for a piece of their best Fortune forasmuch as Seva-Gi had saved them the labour of bringing their miserable Present to Dehli and had furnisht them with a very specious pretence for their beggarly condition and for the sale they had made of their Civet and of some of their Slaves and for demanding of the Governour of Suratte provisions for their subsistance as also some Money and Chariots to continue their voyage to Dehli Monsieur Adrican chief of the Dutch Factory my friend had given to the Armenian Murat a Letter of recommendation to me which he deliver'd himself at Dehli not remembring that I had been his Host at Moka It was a very pleasant meeting when we came to know one another after the space of five or six years I embraced him affectionately and promised him that I would serve him in whatever I could but that though I had acquaintance at the Court it was impossible for me to do them any considerable good office there For since they had not brought with them any valuable Present but only the Mules Skin and the empty Oxes Horn and that they were seen going upon the streets without any Paleky or Horses save that of our Father Missionary and mine which they had almost killed cloathed like Beggars and followed with seven or eight Slaves bare-headed and bare-foot having nothing but an ugly Sharse tyed between their Legs with a ragged Cloth over their left Shoulder passing under their left Arm like a Summer-Cloak since I said they were in such a posture whatever I could say for them was insignificant they were taken for Beggars and no body took other notice of them Yet notwithstanding I said so much of the Grandeur of their King to my Agah Danechmendkan
Marry as they had done a few years since to a certain European who named himself a Greek Physician That an ancient man of about fourscore years of age did one day present to the King fourscore Sons all of age and able to bear Arms and that the King asked him Whether he had no more but them To whom having answer'd No but only some Daughters the King sent him away with this reproach Begone thou Calf and be ashamed for having no more Children at that age as if Women were wanting in my Dominions That the King himself had at least fourscore Sons and Daughters running about pell-mell in the Seraglio for whom he had caused to be made a number of round vernished sticks made like a little maze those Children being fond of having that in their hand like a Scepter distinguishing them from those that were Children of Slaves or from others living in that place Aureng-Zebe sent also twice for these Ambassadors for the same reason that my Agah did and especially to enquire after the state of Mahumetanisns in that Country He had also the curiosity of Viewing the skin of the Mule which remained I know not how in the Fortress amongst the Officers which was to me a great mortification because they had designed it for me for the good services I had done them I made account to have one day presented it to some very curious person in Europe I urged often that together with the Mules skin they should carry the great Horn to Aureng-Zebe to shew it him but they fear'd least he should make a question which would have perplexed them viz. how it came to pass that they had saved the Horn from the plunder of Suratte and lost the Civet Whilst these Ambassadors of Ethiopia were at Dehli it came to pass that Aureng-Zebe called together his Privy Councel and the most learn'd persons of his Court to chuse a new Master for his third Son Sultan Eckbar whom he design'd for his Successor In this Councel he shew'd the passion he hath to have this young Prince well Educated and to make him a great Man Aureng-Zebe is not ignorant of what importance it is and how much 't is to be wished that as much as Kings surmount others in greatness they may also exceed them in Virtue and Knowledge He also well knows that one of the principal sources of the Misery of the mis-Goverment of the un-Peopling and the decay of the Empires of Asia proceeds from thence that the children of the Kings thereof are brought up only by Women and Eunuchs which often are no other than wrecthed Slaves of Russia Circassia Mingrelia Gurgistan and Ethiopia mean and servile ignorant and insolent souls These Prince become Kings when they are of age without being instructed and without knowing what 't is to be a King amazed when they begin to come abroad out of the Seraglio as persons coming out of another World or let out of some subterraneous Cave where they had lived all their life time wondring at every thing they meet like so many Innocents believing all and fearing all like Children or nothing at all as if they were stupid And all this according to their Nature and sutable to the first Images imprinted upon them commonly high and proud and seemingly grave but of that kind of pride and gravity which is so flat and distasteful and so unbecoming them that one may plainly see 't is noehing but brutality or barbarousness and the effect of some ill-studied and ill-digested Documents or else they fall into some childish civilities yet more unsavoury or into such cruelties as are blind and brutal or into that mean and gross vice of drunkenness or into an excessive and altogether unreasonable Luxury either ruining their bodies and understandings with their Concubines or altogether abandoning themselves to the pleasures of Hunting like some carniverous Animals preferring a pack of Dogs before the life of so many poor people whom they force to follow them in the pursuit of their Game and suffer to perish of hunger heat cold and misery In a word they alwayes run into some extreme or other being altogether irrational and extravagant according as they are carried by their natural temper or by the first impressions that are given them thus remaining almost all in a strange ignorance of what concerns the state of the Kingdom the reins of the Government being abandoned to some Visir who entertains them in their ignorance and in their passions which are the two strongest supports he can have to rule alwayes according to his own mind with most assurance and the least contradiction and given over also to those Slaves their Mothers and to their Eunuchs who often know nothing but to continue plots of cruelty whereby they strangle and banish one another and sometimes the Visirs and even the Grand Signors themselves so that no man whatsoever that hath any Estate can be in safety of his life But to return after all these Ambassadors which we have spoken of there came at last news that the Ambassador of Persia was upon the frontiers The Persian Omrah's that are at the service of the Mogol spred a rumor that he came for affairs of great importance though intelligent persons much doubted of a Commission of that nature considering that the time of great conjunctures was passed and that those Omrahs and the other Persians did what they did rather to make a show than for any thing else Mean time on the day of the Entry this Ambassador was received with all possible respect The Bazars through which he passed were all new-painted and the Cavalry attending on the way for above the length of a whole League Many Omrah's accompanied him with Musick Tymbals and Trumpets and when he entred into the Fortress or the Palace of the King the Guns went off Aureng-Zebe received him with much civility and was content he should make his Address to him after the Persian mode receiving also without any scruple immediately from his hands the Letters of his King which out of respect he lifted up even to his head and afterwards read them with a grave and serious countenance Which done he caused an embroider'd Vest to be brought together with a rich Turbant and Girdle commanding it to be put on him in his presence A little after it was intimated to him that he might order his Present to be brought in which consisted of five and twenty as handsome Horses as ever I saw led and cover'd with embroider'd trappings and of twenty very stately and lusty Camels as big as Elephants Moreover of a good number of Boxes said to be full of most excellent Rose-water and of a certain distilled water very precious and esteemed highly cordial besides there were displayed five or six very rich and very large Tapisseries and some embroider'd pieces exceeding Noble wrought in small flowers so fine and delicate that I know not whether in all Europe any such can be
order that when he should enter into a pretty long and narrow Stree that is near the Fortress to come to the Hall of the Assembly they should let loose upon him an ill-conditioned and fierce Elephant and certainly if the Ambassador had not nimbly lept out of his Paleky and together with his dextrous attendants shot some Arrows into the Trump of the Elephant which forced him to turn back he had been utterly spoiled It was at this time upon the departure of the Persian Ambassador that Aureng-Zebe received with that admirable wisdome his Tutor Mallah-Sale the History of which is rare and considerable This old man who long since had retired himself towards Caboul and setled himself on some Lands which Chah-Jehan had given him had no sooner heard of the great fortune of Aureng-Zebe his Discipline who had overcome Dara and all his other Brothers and was now King of Indostan but he came in hast to the Court swelled with hopes of being presently advanced to no less than the dignity of an Omrah He maketh his Court and endeavours to engage all his friends and Rauchenara-Begum the Kings Sister employs her self for him But yet there pass three whole Months that Aureng-Zebe does not so much as seem to look upon him till at length wearied to have him always at his Elbow and before his Face he sent for him to a plaee apart where there was no body but Hakim-lul-Mouluk Danech-mend-kan and three or four of those Omr ahs that pretend to Science and then spoke to him to this effect as I was informed by my Agah What is it you would have of me Doctor Can you reasonably desire I should make you one of the chief Omrahs of my Court Let me tell you if you had instructed me as you should have done nothing would be more just For I am of this perswasion that a Child well educated and instructed is as much at least obliged to his Master as to his Father But where are those good Documents you have given me In the first place you have taught me that all that Frangistan so it seems they call Europe was nothing but I know not what little Island of which the greatest King was he of Portugal and next to him he of Holland and after him he of England and as to the other Kings as those of France and Andalusia you have represented them to me as our petty Raja's telling me that the Kings of Indostan were far above them all together and that they were the true and only Houmajons the Ekbars the Jehan-Guyres the Chah-Jehans the Fortunate ones the Great ones the Conquerors and Kings of the World and that Persia and Usbec Kach-guer Tatar and Catay Pegu China and Matchina did tremble at the name of the Kings of Indostan Admirable Geography You should rather have taught me exactly to distinguish all those different States of the World and well to understand their strength their way of fighting their Customs Religions Governments Interests and by the perusal of solid History to observe their Rise Progress Decay and whence how and by what accidents and errors those great Changes and Revolutions of Empires and Kingdoms have happened I have scarce learnt of you the name of my Grandsires the famous Founders of this Empire so far were you from having taught me the History of their Life and what course they took to make such great Conquests You had a mind to teach me the Arabian Tongue to read and to write I am much obliged to you forsooth for baving made me lose so much time upon a Language that requires ten or twelve years to attaein to its perfection as if the Son of a King should think it to be an honour to him to be a Grammarian or some Doctor of the Law and to learn other Languages than those of his Neighbors when he cannot well be without them he to whom Time is so precious for so many weighty tbings which he ought by times to learn As if there were any spirit that did not with some reluctancy and even with a kind of debasement employ it self in so sad and dry an exercise so longsom and tedious as is that of learning Words Thus did Aureng-Zebe resent the pedantick Instructions of his Tutor to which 't is affirmed in that Court that after some entertainment which he had with others he further added the following reproof Know you not that Childhood well govern'd being a state which is ordinarily accompanied with an happy memory is capable of thousands of good Preceps and Instructions which remain deeply impressed the whole remainder of a mans life and keep the mind alwayes raised for great actions The Law Prayers and Sciences may they not as well be learned in our Mother-Tongue as in Arabick You told my Father Chah-Jehan that you would teach me Philosophy 'T is true I remember very well that you have entertain'd me for many years with airy Questions of things that afford no satisfaction at all to the mind and are of no use in humane society empty Notions and meer Phancies that have only this in them that they are very hard to understand and very easie to forget which are only capable to tire and spoil a good understanding and to breed an Opinion that is insupportable I still remember that after you had thus amused me I know not how long with your fine Philosophy all I retained of it was a multitude of barbarous and dark words proper to bewilder perplex and tire out the best wits and only invented the better to cover the vanity and ignorance of men like your self that would make us believe that they know all and that under those obscure and ambiguous words are hid great mysteries which they alone are capable to understand If you had season'd me with that Philosophy which formeth the mind to ratiocination and insensibly accustoms it to be satisfied with nothing but solid reasons if you had given me those excellent precepts and doctrines which raise the Soul above the assaults of Fortune and reduce her to an unshakeable and always equal temper and permit her not to be lifted up by prosperity nor debased by adversity if you had taken care to give me the knowledge of what we are and what are the first principles of things and had assisted me in forming in my mind a fit Idea of the greatness of the Universe and of the admirable order and motion of the parts thereof if I say you had instilled into me this kind of Philosophy I should think my self incomparably more obliged to you than Alexander was to his Aristotle and believe it my duty to recompence you otherwise than he did him Should not you instead of your flattery have taught me somewhat of that point so important to a King which is what the reciprocal duties are of a Soveraign to his Subjects and those of Subjects to their Soveraign And ought not you to have consider'd that one day I should be
but as they deserve leaving them whole moneths without pay and not looking upon them otherwise than Traitors and infamous men unfit to be trusted after they have so vilely deserted him whose Salt they had eaten so many years After this manner did Chah-hest-kan put an end to this Rabble which as I said have ruined and dispoiled all the lower Bengale Time will shew whether he will be as happy in the remainder of his Enterprize against the King of Rakan The fourth particular is concerning the two Sons of Aureng-Zebe viz. Sultan Mahmoud and Sultan Mazum He still keeps the first of them in Goualeor but if one may believe the common report without making him take the Poust which is the ordinary Drink of those that are put into that place As to the other though he hath alwayes been a pattern of reservedness and moderation yet one knows not whether he was not too forward in making a party when his Father was so extreamly sick or whether Aureng-Zebe have not upon other occasions perceived something that might give him cause of jealousie or whether he had not a mind to make an authentick proof of both his Obedience and Courage However it be one day he commanded him in an unconcerned manner in a full Assembly of the Omrahs to go and kill a Lyon that was come down the Mountains and had made great havock and waste in the Countrey and this he did without giving order to furnish him with those strong and large Nets which they are wont to employ in this dangerous kind of hunting in a real mood telling the great Hunting-Master who presently called for those Nets that when he was Prince he did not look for such Formalities It was the good fortune of Sultan Mazum that he prosper'd in this attempt not losing any more than two or three men and some horses that were wounded although on the other hand the matter went not off so pleasantly the wounded Lyon having leapt up to the head of the Sultan's Elephant Since that time Aureng-Zebe hath not been backward to express much affection to him he hath given him even the Government of Decan though with so little power and treasure that there is no great cause to apprehend any thing upon that account The fifth thing toucheth Mohabet-kan the Governour of Kaboul whom Aureng-Zebe took from his Government and generously pardoned not willing as he said to lose so brave a Captain and that had stuck so close to his Benefactor Chah-Jehan He made him even Governour of Guzuratte in the place of â—essemseignue whom he sent to make War in Decan It may very well be that some considerable Presents he made to Rauchenara-Begum and a good number of excellent Persian Horse and Camels wherewith he presented Aureng-Zebe together with fifteen or sixteen thousand Rupies of Gold did contribute to make his peace On this occasion of mentioning the Government of Kaboul which borders upon the Kingdom of Kandahar which is now in the hands of the Persians I shall here briefly add some particulars that serve to this History and will still more discover that Country and declare the Interests between Indostan and Persia which no body that I know of hath explained hitherto Kandahar that strong and important place which is the Capital and the swaying City of this Noble and Rich Kingdom of the same Name hath in these latter Ages been the subject of grievous Wars between the Mogols and Persians each of them pretending a right thereto Ekbar that great King of the Indies took it by force from the Persians and kept it during his life And Chah-Abbas that famous King of Persia retook it from Jean-Guyre the Son of Ekbar Afterwards it return'd to Chah-Jehan Son of John Guyre not by the Sword but by the means of the Governour Aly-Merdan-kan who surrendred it to him and went over to live at his Court apprehending the Artifices of his Enemies who had brought him into disfavour with the King of Persia that sent for him to make him give an accompt and to deliver up his Government The same City was besieged and retaken afterwards by the Son of Chah-Abbas and since that besieged twice again yet without being taken by Chah-Jehan The first time it was saved from being taken by the ill understanding and jealousie between the Persian Omrahs that are Pensioners of the Great Mogol and the most powerful of his Court as also by the respect they bear to their Natural King For they all behaved themselves very effeminately in the Siege and would not follow the Raja Roup who had already planted his Standards upon the Wall on the side of the Mountain The second time it was saved by the jealousie of Aureng-Zebe who would not fall into the breach of the Wall that our Franguis the English Portugueses Germans and French had made by their Canon though it was a large one being unwilling to have it said that in the time of Dara who was in a manner the first mover of that Enterprise and was then in the City of Caboul with his Father Chah-Jehan the Fortress of Kandahar was taken Chah-Jehan some years before the late trouble was also ready to besiege it the third time had not Emir-Jemla diverted him from it advising him to turn his Forces towards Decan as hath been said with whom Aly-Merdan-kan himself concurred who was so earnest in his disswading him from it as to say to him these words which I shall punctually relate as having something extravagant in them Your Majesty will never take Kandahar unless you had such a Traytor there as my self except you were resolved never to bring a Persian into it and to make the Bazars or Markets wholly free that is to lay no Impost on those that furnish the Army with provision At length Aureng-Zebe like the others had prepared himself in these latter years to besiege it also whether it was that he was offended at the tart Letters written to him by the King of Persia or by reason of the affronts and ill treatment which he had offered to Tarbiet-kan his Ambassador that hearing of the King of Persia's death he turned back saying which yet is not very credible that he would not meddle with a Child a new King although Chah-Soliman who hath succeeded his Father is in my opinion about 25 years of age The sixth particular we purposed to speak of concerns those that have faithfully served Aureng-Z be Those he hath almost all raised to great places For first as we have already related he made Chah-hest-kan his Uncle Governour and General of the Army of Decan and afterwards Governour of Bengale Next he made Mir-kan Governour of Kaboul Then Kalilullah-kan of Lahor and Mirhaba of Elubas and Lasker-kan of Patna The Son of that Allah-Verdi-kan of Sultan Sujah he appointed Governour of Scimdy and Fazel-kan who had considerably served him both by his counsels and dexterity he made Kane-saman that is Great Steward of the House Royal
the score whereof the Mogol hath much to do with the Kings of Golkonda and of Visapour and divers little Soveraigns which is not to be understood unless it be known what considerable things have passed in those parts and the condition of the Princes that govern them All this great Peninsule of Indostan cutting it from the Bay of Cambaja unto that of Bengale near Jaganrate and passing thence to Cape Comori was searce two hundred years since entirely some mountanous parts excepted under the Dominion of one only Prince who consequently was a very great and very potent Monarch But now it is divided among many different Soveraigns that are also of different Religions The cause of this division was that the King Ramras the last of those that have possessed this mighty State entirely did imprudently raise three Slaves Gurgis he had about him too high so as to make them all three Governors of places The first of the greatest part of those Countries which at present are possessed by the Mogol in Decan about Daulet-Abad from Bider Paranda Suratte unto Narbadar The second of all the other Lands now comprehended under the Kingdom of Visapour And the third of all that is contained under the Kingdom of Golkonda These three Slaves grew very rich and found themselves supported by a good number of the Mogols that were in the service of Ramras because they were all three Mahumetans of the Sect Chyas like the Persians And at length they all revolted together with one accord killed King Ramras and returned to their Government each taking upon him the Title of Chah or King The Issue of Ramras not finding themselves strong enough for them were content to keep themselves in a Corner viz. in that Countrey which is commonly called Karnatek in our Maps Bisnaguer where they are still Raja's to this very day All the rest of the State was also at the same time divided into all those Rajas Naiques and petty Kings such as we see there These three Slaves and their posterity have alwayes defended themselves very well in their Kingdoms whilst they kept a good mutual correspondence and assisted one another in their grievous wars against the Mogols But when they once came to think every one to defend their Lands apart they soon found the effects of their division For the Mogol so well knew to take his time upon that occasion which is now about thirty five or forty years since that he possessed himself within a little time of all the Countrey of Nejam-Chah or King Nejam the fifth or sixth of the family of the first Slave and at last took him prisoner in Daulet-Abud the Capital where he died After that time the Kings of Golkonda have maintained themselves well enough not as if they could compare with the power of the Mogol but because the Mogol hath alwayes been employed against the two others from whom he was to take Amber Paranda Bider and some other places before he could conveniently march towards Golkonda And because they have always been so politick being very opulent as to furnish under hand the King of Visapour with Money and thereby to help him to maintain a War against the Mogol Besides that they ever have a considerable Army on foot which is alwayes ready and never fails to take the Field and to approach to the Frontiers at the time when there is news that that of the Mogol marches against Visapour to let the Mogol see not only that they are alwayes ready to defend themselves but also that they could easily assist the King of Visapour in case he should be reduced to any extremity Next which is very considerable they know also how to convey Money under hand to the Chieftains of the Mogolian Army who thereupon advise the Court that it is more to purpose to attack Visapour as being nearer to Daulet-Abad Further they send every year very considerable Presents to the Great Mogol by way of Tribute which consist partly in some rare manufactures of the Countrey partly in Elephants which they send for from Pegu Siam and Ceilan partly in fair ready money Lastly the Mogol considers that Kingdom as his own not only because he looks upon the King thereof as his Tributary but chiefly since that agrement heretofore spoken of which the present King made with Aureng-Zebe when he besieged Golkonda and there being also no place able to resist even from Daulet-Abad unto Golkonda he judgeth that when he shall think fit to push for it he may take in the whole Kingdom in one Campagne which in my opinion he would certainly have done if he did not apprehend lest sending his Forces towards Golkonda the King of Visapour should enter into Decan as no doubt he would do knowing it to be very important to his conservation that that Kingdom may alwayes subsist as now it is From all which something may be understood of the Interests and Government of the King of Golkonda with the Mogol and what way he taketh to support himself against him Yet notwithstanding all this I find this state much shaken in regard that the King that now is since that unhappy affair of Aureng-Zebe and Emir-Jemla seems to have lost heart and as 't were abandoned the reins of the Kingdom not daring any more to go forth of this Fortress of Golkonda nor so much as appear in publick to give Audience to his People and to render Justice according to the custom of the Country Which discomposeth things very much and occasions the Grandees to tyrannize over the meaner sort of People and to lose even their respect to the King often slighting his Commands and considering him no more than a Woman and the People weary of the injustice and ill treatment breathing after nothing but Aureng-Zebe 'T is easie to judge of the streights this poor King is in by four or five particulars I am about to relate The first that An. 1667. when I was at Golkonda King Aureng-Zebe having sent an Ambassador Extraordinary to declare War to that King unless he would furnish him with 10000 Horse against Visapour he did extraordinary honour and give excessive presents to that Ambassador as well for him in particular as for Aureng-Zebe and made an agreement with him to send him not 10000 Horse but as much Money as is necessary to maintain so many which was all that Aureng-Zebe looked for The second is that Aureng-Zebe's Ambassador in Ordinary that is constantly at Golkonda commands threatens striketh gives Pass-ports and saith and doth whatsoever he will no man daring with the least word to cross him The third is that Mahmet-Emir-kan the Son of Emir-Jemla though he be no more than a simple Omrah of Aureng-Zebe is yet so much respected through that whole Kingdom and especially in Maslipatan that the Taptata his Commissioner is as 't were Master thereof buying and selling bringing in and sending abroad his Merchants Ships no body daring to contradict him in any thing
Pearls sweet Essences c. consumed there All these Charges being put together and compared with the Revenues the Mogol may be thought to have it will be easie to judge whether he be indeed so very rich as he is made to be As for me I very well know that it cannot be denied that he hath very great Revenues I believe he hath more alone than the Grand Seignior and the King of Persia both together But then to believe all those extravagant Stories made of the vastness of his Revenues is a thing I could never do And if I should believe the best part of them yet should I not believe him in effect and truly so rich as the World rings of him unless a man would say that a Treasurer who receiveth great sums of Money from one hand at the same time when he is obliged to disburse them to another were therefore truly rich For my part I should count that King rich indeed who without oppressing and impoverishing his People too much should have a Revenue sufficient to keep a Great and Gallant Court after the manner of that of ours or otherwise and a Militia sufficient both to guard his Kingdom and to make an important War for divers years against his Neighbours as also to shew liberality to build some Royal Edifices and to make those other Expences which Kings are wont to make according to their particular Inclinations and who besides all this should be able to put up in his Treasury for a Reserve Sums big enough to undertake and maintain a good War for some years Now I am apt enough to believe that the Great Mogol enjoyeth very near these Advantages but I cannot perswade my self that he hath them in that excess as is thought and pretended Those vast and unevitable Expences that I have taken notice of will certainly incline you to my opinion without any other consideration but you will doubtless be altogether of my mind when I shall have represented to you these two things which I am very well informed of The one is that the Great Mogol now reigning about the end of this last Revolution though the Kingdom was every where in peace except in Bengale where Sultan-Sujah yet held out was much perplexed where to find means for the subsistence of his Armies though they were not so well paid as at other times and the War lasted no longer than five years or thereabout and though also he had laid hold of a good part of the Treasury of his Father Chah-Jehan The other is That all this Treasure of Chah-jehan who was very frugal and had Reigned above forty Years without considerable Wars never mounted to six Kourours of Roupies A Roupy is about twenty nine pence An hundred thousand of them make a Lecque and an hundred Lecques make one Kourour 'T is true I do not comprehend in this great Treasure that great abundance of Gold-smiths work so variously wrought in Gold and Silver nor that vast store of precious Stones and Pearls of a very high value I doubt whether there be any King in the World that hath more The Throne alone cover'd with them is valued at least three Kourours if I remember aright But then it is to be consider'd also that they are the spoils of those ancient Princes the Patans and Rajas gathered and piled up from Immemorial times and still increasing from one King to another by the Presents which the Omrahs are obliged yearly at certain Festival-days to make him and which are esteemed to be the Jewels of the Crown which it would be criminal to touch and upon which a King of Mogol in case of necessity would find it very hard to procure the least Sum. But before I conclude I shall take notice whence it may proceed that though this Empire of Mogol be thus an Abyss of Gold and Silver as hath been said yet notwithstanding there appears no more of it among the People than elsewhere yea rather that the People is there less Monied than in other places The first reason is that much of it is consumed in melting over and over all those Nose and Ear-rings Chains Finger-rings Bracelets of Hands and Feet which the Women wear but chiefly in that incredible quantity of Manufactures wherein so much is spent which is lost as in all those Embroideries Silk-stuffs enterwoven with Gold and Silver Cloath Scarf Turbants c. of the same For generally all that Militia loveth to be guided from the Omrahs to the meanest Souldiers with their Wives and Children though they should starve at home The second That all the Lands of the Kingdom being the Kings propriety they are given either as Benefices which they call Jah-ghirs or as in Turky Timars to men of the Militia for their Pay or Pension as the word Jah-ghir imports Or else they are given to the Governours for their Pension and the entertainment of their Troops on condition that of the surplus of those Land-revenues they give yearly a certain sum to the King as Farmers Or lastly the King reserveth them for himself as a particular Domaine of his House which never or very seldom are given as Jah-ghirs and upon which he keeps Farmers who also must give him a yearly sum which is to say that the Timariots Governours and Farmers have an absolute Authority over the Country-men and even a very great one over the Trades-men and Merchants of the Towns Boroughs and Villages depending from them so that in those parts there are neither great Lords nor Parliaments nor Presidial Courts as amongst us to keep these People in awe nor Kadis or Judges powerful enough to hinder and repress their violence Nor in a word any person to whom a Country-man Trades-man or Merchant can make his complaints to in cases of extortion and tyranny often practised upon them by the Souldiery and Governours who every where do impunely abuse the Authority Royal which they have in hand unless it be perhaps a little in those places that are near to Capital Cities as Dehly and Agra and in great Towns and considerable Sea-ports of the Provinces whence they know that the complaints can be more easily conveyed to the Court. Whence it is that all and every one stand in continual fear of these People especially of the Governours more than any Slave doth of his Master that ordinarily they affect to appear poor and Money-less very mean in their Apparel Lodging Houshold-stuff and yet more in Meat and Drink that often they apprehend even to meddle with Trade lest they should be thought Rich and so fall into the danger of being ruined So that at last they find no other remedy to secure their Wealth than to hide and dig their Money deep under Ground thus getting out of the ordinary commerce of Men and so Dying neither the King nor the State having any benefit by it Which is a thing not only happens among the Peasants and Artizans but which is far more considerable
to be so rich And if they would where are those Benefices Preferments and Dignities that require knowledge and abilities and that may animate young men to study Thence it is likewise that Traffick languishes in all that Country in comparison of ours For how many are there that care to take pains to run up and down to write much and to run danger for another for a Governour that shall extort if he be not in league with some considerable sword-man whose slave he in a manner is and that makes his own conditions with him It is not there that the Kings find for their service Princes Lords Gentlemen sons of rich and good Families Officers Citizens Merchants and even Trades-men well-born well-educated and well-instructed men of courage that have a true affection and respect for their King that often live a great while at the Court and in the Army at their own expences entertaining themselves with good hopes and content with the favourable aspect of the Prince and who upon occasion fight manfully covetous to uphold the honour of their Ancestors and Families Those Kings I say never see about them but men of nothing Slaves Ignorants Brutes and such Courtizans as are raised from the dust to dignities and that for want of good education and instruction almost always retain somewhat of their off-spring of the temper of beggars enriched proud unsufferable heartless insensible of honour dis-ingenuous and void of affection and regard for the honour of their King Countrey Here it is where those Kings must ruine all to find means to defray all those prodigious Charges which they cannot avoid for entertaining their great Court which hath no other source to subsist but their Coffers and Treasure and for maintaining constantly the vast number of Souldiers necessary for them to keep the People in subjection to prevent their running away to make them work and to get what is exacted from them they being so many Desperado's for being perpetually under hatches and for labouring only for others Thence it is also that in an important War that may happen which may be almost at all times they must almost of necessity sell the Government for ready Money and immense Sums whence chiefly that ruine and desolation comes to pass which we see For the Governour which is the Buyer must not he be re-imbursed of all those great Sums of Money which he hath taken up perhaps the third or fourth part at high interest Must not a Governour also whether he have bought the Government or not find means as well as a Timariot and a Farmer to make every year great Presents to a Visir an Eunuch a Lady of the Seraglio and to those other persons that support him at Court Must he not pay to the King his usual Tributes and withal enrich himself that wretched Slave half famish'd and deeply indebted when he first appeared without Goods Lands and revenues of his House such as they all are Do not they ruin all and lay all waste I mean those that in the Provinces are like so many small Tyrants with a boundless and unmeasured Authority there being no body there as hath been already said that can restrain them or to whom a Subject can have refuge to save himself from their tyranny and to obtain justice 'T is true that in the Empire of the Mogol the Vakea-nevis that is those Persons whom he sends into the Provinces to write to him whatever passeth there do a little keep the Officers in awe provided they do not collude together as it almost always happens to devour all as also that the Governments are not there so often sold nor so openly as in Turky I say not so openly for those great Presents they are from time to time obliged to make are almost equivalent to Sales and that the Governors ordinarily remain longer in their Governments which maketh them not so hungry so beggarly and so deep in debt as those new Comers and that consequently they do not always tyrannize over the people with so much cruelty even apprehending lest they should run away to the Raja's which yet falls out very often 'T is also true that in Persia the Governments are not so frequently nor so publickly sold as in Turky the Sons of the Governors also succeding often enough to their Fathers which is also the cause that the people there is often not so ill treated as in Turky and occasions withal that there is more politeness and that even some there are that addict themselves to study But all that is really but a slight matter those three States of Turky Persia and Indostan forasmuch as they have all three taken away the Meum and Tuum as to Land and Propriety of possessions which is the foundation of whatever is good and regular in the world cannot but very near resemble one another they have the same defect they must at last sooner or later needs fall into the same inconveniencies which are the necessary consequences of it viz Tyranny Ruine and Desolation Far be it therefore that our Monarchs of Europe should thus be proprietors of all the Lands which their Subjects possess Their Kingdoms would be very far from being so well cultivated and peopled so well built so rich so polite and flourishing as we see them Our Kings are otherwise rich and powerful and we must avow that we are much better and more royally served There would be Kings of Desarts and Solitudes of Beggars and Barbarians such as those are whom I have been representing who because they will have all at last lose all and who because they will make themselves too rich at length find themselves without riches or at least very far from that which they covet after out of their blind ambition and passion of being more absolute than the Laws of God and Nature do permit For where would be those Princes those Prelates those Nobles those rich Citizens and great Merchants and those famous Artizans those Towns of Paris Lyons Thoulouse Rouën London and so many others Where would be that infinite number of Burroughs and Villages all those fair Countrey-houses and Fields and Hillocks tilled and maintained with so much industry care and labour And where would consequently be all those vast Revenues drawn thence which at last enrich the Subjects and the Sovereign both We should find the great Cities and the great Burroughs rendred inhabitable because of the ill Air and to fall to ruine without any bodies taking care of repairing them the hillocks abandoned and the fields overspred with the bushes or filled with Pestilential Marishes as hath been already intimated A word to our dear and experienc'd Travellers They would not find those fair conveniencies of travelling they would be obliged to carry all things with them like the Bohemians and all those good Inns for example that are found between Paris and Lyons would be like ten or twelve wretched Caravans-serrahs that is great Barns raised and paved
And Danechmend-kan Governour of Dehli with this particular grace and priviledge that since he is perpetually employed in studies and forreign affairs he so dispenseth with him for not coming twice a day after the ancient custom to wait on the King in the Assembly as not to retrench any thing of his pension for his absence as he doth to the other Omrahs if they fail He hath given to Dianet-kan the Government of Kachmire aliàs Cassimere that little and in a manner inaccessible Kingdom which Ekbar seized on by craft that Earthly Paradise of the Indies which hath its Histories written in its peculiar Language whereof I have an abridgement in the Persian Tongue made by the command of Jehan Guyre containing a large Catalogue of many very ancient Kings that often were so powerful that they subdued the Indies as far as China 'T is true that Aureng-Zebe dismissed Nejabat-kan who did very well in the two Battels of Samonguer and Kadjoue but then 't is not fit at all that a Subject should ever reproach his King as he did with the services done him As to those infamous men Gion-kan and Nazer 't is known that the former hath been recompenced as he deserved but the other no man knows what is become of him What concerns Jessomseigne and Jesseigne there is something as to them that is intricate which I shall endeavour to unfold There is a certain Heathen revolted from the King of Visapour who knew how to possess himself of many important Fortresses and of some Sea-ports of that King His name is Seva-Gi that is Lord Seva He is a stout man vigilant bold and undertaking in the highest degree who gave Chah-hest-kan more work and trouble in Decan than the King of Visapour with all his forces and all his Raja's joyned with him for their common defence Insomuch that having designed to take away Chah-hest-kan and his Treasures out of the midst of his Army and of the Town Aurenge-Abad he carried on his design so far that he had effected it if he had not been discovered a little too soon for one night accompanied with a number of resolute Fellows he hath about him he was got into the very apartment of Chah-hest-kan where his Son who was forward in the defence was killed and himself grievously wounded Seva-Gi in the mean time getting away as well as he came Who for all this was so far from being daunted that he undertook another very bold and very dangerous enterprise which succeeded much better He took two or three Thousand chosen men of his Army with whom he took the Field without noise spreading a report by the way that it was a Raja going to the Court. When he was near Suratte that Famous and Rich Port of the Indies instead of Marching further as he made the Great Provost of that Country whom he met believe he fell into that Town where he staid about three Dayes cutting off the Arms and Legs of the Inhabitants to make them confess where were the treasures searching digging and loading away or burning what he could not carry with him Which done he returned none opposing his return loaden with millions of Gold Silver Pearls Silken Stuffs Fine Linnen and other rich Merchandise Jessomseigne was suspected to have had since intelligence with this seva-Gi which was the cause that Aureng Zebe called him away from Decan but he instead of going to Dehli went to his own Territory I forgot to mention that in the plunder of Suratte that Ring-leader Seva-Gi like a Saint had so much respect to the House of the Reverend Father Ambrose a Missionary Capucian that he gave order it should not be plundered because said he I know that the Fathers Franguis are good men He had also regard to the House of the Deceased De Lale because he understood that he had been Great Almoner He also consider'd the Houses of the English and Dutch not from Devotino as he did the former but because they were in a good posture of defence especially the English who having had time to send for assistance from some of their ships that lay near the Town behaved themselves gallantly and saved besides their own several other houses near them But a certain Jew of Constantinople who had brought Rubies of a very great value to sell them to Aureng-Zebe carried away the Bell from all by saving himself from the hands of Seva-Gi for rather than to confess that he had any Jewels he was brought thrice upon his knees and the knife held up to cut his throat But it became none save a Jew hardned in avarice to escape in such a manner Touching Jesseigne King Aureng-Zebe made him content to go General of the Army in Decan sending Sultan-Mazum with him without any power He presently and vigorously besieged the principal Fortress of Seva-Gi and knowing more than all the rest in matter of Negotiation and Treaty he so ordered the business that Seva-Gi surrendred rendred before it came to extremity and then he drew him to Aureng-Zebe's party against Visapour King Aureng-Zebe declaring him a Raja taking him under his protection and giving the pension of a very considerable Omrah to his Son Some time after Aureng-Zebe designing to make War against Persia wrote to Seva-Gi such obliging Letters touching his Generosity Ability and Conduct that he made him resolve upon the faith of Jesseigne to come to him to Dehli There a kinswoman of Aureng-Zebe the Wife of Chah-hest-kan who was then at Court by the influence she had upon the spirit of Aureng-Zebe perswaded him to arrest him that had murdered her Son wounded her Husband and sacked Suratte So that one evening Seva-Gi saw his Pavilions beset with three or four Omrahs but he made shift to get away in the night This escape made a great noise at Court every one accusing the Eldest Son of the Raja Jesseigne to have assisted him in it Jesseigne who presently had news that Aureng-Zebe was very angry with him and his Son and was advised no more to go to the Court was day and night upon his guard apprehending lest Aureng-Zebe should take this for a pretence to fall upon his Lands and possess himself of them Whereupon he also soon left Decan to secure his Estate but when he was at Brampour he died Yet notwithstanding Aureng-Zebe was so far from expressing any coldness or resentment to the Son of Jesseigne that he sent to condole with him for the Death of his Father and continued to him his Pension which confirms what many say that it was by the consent of Aureng-Zebe himself that Seva-Gi escaped forasmuch as he could retain him no longer at Court because all the Women there had too great a spleen against him and looked upon him as a man that had embroiled his hands in the blood of his Kinsmen But to return to Decan we are to consider that that is a Kingdom which these forty years hath constantly been the Theater of War and upon