Travels in the Mogul Empire (Bernier) 19.6
Travels in the Mogul Empire (Constable) 19.6
- Language
- English
19.6.1
'The country, in certain parts,' he added, 'produces excellent fruit, particularly melons, but the winters are most severe, because of the deep snows.' The inhabitants heretofore were Gentiles, but the great majority have become Mahometan, as well as himself; of the sect of the Chias, which is that of all Persia. He spoke also of the attempt made by Chah-Jehan, seventeen or eighteen years ago, to conquer Great Tibet, a country frequently invaded by the Kings of Kachemire. The army, after a difficult march of sixteen days through the mountains, besieged and took a fortress, which threw the inhabitants into such consternation that the conquest of the kingdom would no doubt have been completed if the army had immediately crossed a certain celebrated and rapid river, and marched boldly to the capital city. The season, however, was advanced, and the governor of Kachemire, who commanded the troops, apprehending he might be overtaken by the snow, determined to retreat. He placed a garrison in the fortress just captured, intending to resume the invasion of the country early in the spring; but that garrison most strangely and unexpectedly evacuated the castle, either through fear of the enemy, or from want of provisions, and Great Tibet escaped the meditated attack that had been deferred to the next spring. That kingdom being threatened with war by Aureng-Zebe, the King despatched an ambassador when informed of the Mogol's arrival in Kachemire.
19.6.2
The embassy was accompanied by various presents, the productions of the country; such as crystal, musk, a piece of jade, and those valuable white tails taken from a species of cow peculiar to Great Tibet, which are attached by way of ornament to the ears of elephants. The jade stone presented upon this occasion was of an extraordinary size, and therefore very precious.
19.6.3
Jacheti is in great estimation in the court of the Mogol: its colour is greenish, with white veins, and it is so hard as to be wrought only with diamond powder. Cups and vases are made of this stone. I have some of most exquisite workmanship, inlaid with strings of gold, and enriched with precious stones. The ambassador's train consisted of three or four cavaliers, and ten or twelve tall men, dried-up looking and lean, with very scanty beards like the Chinese, and common red caps, such as our seamen wear. The remainder of the apparel was worthy of their head-gear. I rather think that four or five of these gentlemen wore swords, but the others followed the ambassador without staves or sticks. He entered into a negotiation with Aureng-Zebe, and promised on the part of his master that a mosque should be built in the capital, wherein prayers in the Mahometan form should be offered; that the coin should bear on one side the impress of Aureng-Zebe; and that the Mogol should receive an annual tribute. But no person doubts that this treaty will be totally disregarded as soon as Aureng-Zebe has quitted Kachemire, and that the King of Great Tibet will no more fulfil its stipulations than he did those of the treaty concluded between him and Chah-Jehan. There was in the suite of the ambassador a physician, said to be from the kingdom of Lassa, and of the Lamy or Lama tribe;
19.6.4
a tribe which is the depositary of the law in Lassa as that of the Brehmens is in the Indies, with this difference, that the Brehmens of the Indies have no Calife or Pontiff, which these people have, who is not only recognised as such in the kingdom of Lassa, but throughout all Tartary, and is honoured and reverenced as a divine personage. The physician had a book of receipts which I could not persuade him to sell; the writing at a distance looked something like ours. We induced him to write down the alphabet, but he did this with so much difficulty, and his writing was so wretchedly bad in comparison with that in his book, that we pronounced him an ignoramus. He was an ardent believer in metempsychosis, and entertained us with wonderful tales. Among others, he mentioned that when his Grand Lama was very old and on the point of death, he assembled the council, and declared to them that his soul was going to pass into the body of an infant recently born. The child was nourished with tender care; and when he had attained his sixth or seventh year, a large quantity of household furniture and wearing apparel was placed before him, mixed up with his own, and he had the sagacity to discern which part was his own property, and which was not; a decisive proof, the physician observed, how true is the doctrine of the transmigration of souls. At first I thought the man was speaking in irony, but I soon discovered that he was perfectly serious.
19.6.5
One day I went to see him at the ambassador's, taking a Kachemirian merchant acquainted with the language of Tibet with me as an interpreter, on the pretence that I desired to purchase certain stuffs which he had for sale, a species of felt about a foot wide; but the real object of the visit was to obtain information concerning those imperfectly known regions. But I learnt little or nothing new; he only said generally that Great Tibet would bear no comparison with his own country; that the latter was covered with snow more than five months in the year, and that it was frequently engaged in war with the Tartars; but which Tartars these were he could not say. At length I found that the time passed with this man was misspent, for he was incapable of answering any one of the numerous questions I intended to ask.
19.6.6
The following which I now relate is such a well-established fact that no one here doubts it, namely that it is not twenty years since caravans went annually from Kachemire to Katay. They used to traverse the mountains of Great Tibet, enter Tartary, and reach Katay in about three months. It is an extremely difficult road, and there are impetuous torrents that can be crossed only by means of cords extended from rock to rock. The caravans returned with musk, China-wood [bois de Chine], rhubarb and mamiron, a small root in great repute for the cure of bad eyes; and in returning through Great Tibet they further loaded themselves with the produce of that country, such as musk, crystal, jade, and especially with a quantity of very fine wool of two kinds, the first from the sheep of that country, and the latter which is known by the name of twiz, and resembles, as already observed, the beaver, and should rather be called hair than wool. But since Chah-Jehan's irruption into Great Tibet, the King has not only interdicted the passage of caravans, but forbidden any person from Kachemire to enter his dominions. This is the reason why the caravans now take their departure from Patna on the Ganges so as to avoid his territories: they leave Great Tibet on the left and proceed directly to the kingdom of slaves, Lassa.
19.6.7
In regard to the kingdom known here by the name of Kacheguer, which is in my opinion the same as our maps call Kascar, I shall relate all the information I have collected from merchants, natives of that country, who when they heard that Aureng-Zebe intended to visit Kachemire, brought into this kingdom for sale a great number of young slaves, girls and boys. They say that Kacheguer lies to the east of Kachemire inclining somewhat to the northward; that the shortest route from one kingdom to the other is through Great Tibet, but, that passage being now shut, they were under the necessity of taking the road of Little Tibet. The first town they passed in returning was Gourtche, the last town dependent upon Kachemire, and four days' journey from the city of Kachemire: from Gourtche, they were eight days in reaching Eskerdou, the capital of Little Tibet; and in two days more they came to a small town called Cheker, also within the territory of Little Tibet, and situated on a river celebrated for its medicinal waters. In fifteen days they came to a large forest, on the confines of Little Tibet, and in fifteen days more they arrived at Kacheguer, a small town which was formerly the royal residence, though now the King of Kacheguer resides at Jourkend, a little more to the north, and ten days' journey from Kacheguer. These merchants added that the distance from the town of Kacheguer to Katay is not more than a two months' voyage;
19.6.8
that caravans go thither every year, which return laden with the articles I have enumerated, and proceed to Persia by way of Usbek; as there are others that go from Katay to Patna, in Hindoustan. They also informed me that the way from Kacheguer to Katay is through a small town, eight days' journey from Coten, and that Coten is the last town on that side in the kingdom of Kacheguer. The road from Kachemire to Kacheguer, they said, is extremely bad, and among other difficult paths, there is the place where, in every season, you must go a quarter of a league over ice. This is all the information I could collect concerning these regions; it is certainly confused and scanty, but after all will be found tolerably complete considering the ignorance of these people, seldom able to give reasons for anything, and that I had also to deal with interpreters who experienced the utmost difficulty both in clearly stating my interrogatories, and in explaining satisfactorily the answers. Here I intended to close this letter, or rather this book, and take my leave of you until our return to Dehli; but my inclination for writing is still strong, and I enjoy some leisure. I shall endeavour, therefore, to answer the five questions which you put to me in your last letter, on behalf of the industrious and inquisitive Monsieur Thevenot, who makes greater and more important discoveries in his study than others who circumnavigate the globe.
19.6.9
His first inquiry is, whether it be true that Jews have for a long period resided in the kingdom of Kachemire; whether they be in possession of the Holy Scriptures, and, if so, whether there be any discrepancy between their Old Testament and our own. The second request is, that I should communicate whatever observations I may have made concerning the Mou-son, or Season of the periodical rains in the Indies. The third, that I make him acquainted with my remarks and opinions upon the singular regularity of the winds and currents in the seas of the Indies. The fourth, whether the kingdom of Bengale be as fertile, rich, and beautiful as is commonly reported. The fifth, that I give a decisive opinion on the old controversies as to the causes of the Nile's increase.