Travels in the Mogul Empire (Bernier) 2.1.2

2.1.2

It seemed, indeed, that less risk would be incurred if I adopted the disguise of a Greek or an Armenian; and that when the King knew I could be of service to him, he would probably make me a grant of land, which might be cultivated by slaves, if I possessed the means of purchasing them; but that I should, at the same time, be compelled to marry immediately, as a monk, who had assumed the character of a Greek physician, had already been obliged to do; and that I could never hope to obtain permission to quit the country. These considerations, among others which may be mentioned in the sequel, induced me to abandon my intention of visiting Gonder. I embarked, therefore, in an Indian vessel, passed the straits of Bab-el-mandel, and in two-and-twenty days arrived at Sourate, in Hindoustan, the empire of the Great Mogol. I found that the reigning prince was named Chah-Jehan, or King of the World. According to the annals of the country, he was the son of Jehan-Guire, or Conqueror of the World, and grandson of Ekbar, or the Great: so that in tracing his genealogy upwards to Houmayon, or the Fortunate, the father of Ekbar, and to Houmayons predecessors, Chah-Jehan was proved to be the tenth, in regular descent, from Timur-Lengue, the Lame Lord or Prince, whom we commonly, but corruptly, call Tamerlane. This Tamerlan, so celebrated for his conquests, married a kinswoman, the only daughter of the prince who then reigned over the people of Great Tartary called Mogols;