Travels in the Mogul Empire (Bernier) 19.2.5

19.2.5

and it is from this country that nearly every individual, when first admitted to the court of the Great Mogol, selects wives or concubines, that his children may be whiter than the Indians and pass for genuine Mogols. Unquestionably there must be beautiful women among the higher classes, if we may judge by those of the lower orders seen in the streets and in the shops. When at Lahor I had recourse to a little artifice, often practised by the Mogols to obtain a sight of these hidden treasures; the women of that town being the finest brunettes in all the Indies, and justly renowned for their fine and slender shapes. I followed the steps of some elephants, particularly one richly harnessed, and was sure to be gratified with the sight I was in search of, because the ladies no sooner hear the tinkling of the silver bells suspended from both sides of the elephant than they all put their heads to the windows. This is a stratagem with which I often amused myself in Kachemire, until a more satisfactory method of seeing the fair sex was devised by an old pedagogue, well known in the town, with whom I read the Persian poets. I purchased a large quantity of sweetmeats, and accompanied him to more than fifteen houses, to which he had freedom of access. He pretended I was his kinsman lately arrived from Persia, rich and eager to marry.