Travels in the Mogul Empire (Bernier) 4.1.1

4.1.1

LETTER TO MONSEIGNEUR COLBERT Concerning the Extent of Hindoustan, the Currency towards, and final absorption of gold and silver in that country; its Resources, Armies, the administration of Justice, and the principal Cause of the Decline of the States of Asia. Lord, In Asia, the great are never approached empty-handed. When I had the honour to kiss the garment of the great Mogol Aureng-Zebe (Ornament of the Throne), I presented him with eight roupies, as a mark of respect; and I offered a knife-case, a fork and a pen-knife mounted in amber to the illustrious Fazel-Kan (The Accomplished Knight), a Minister charged with the weightiest concerns of the empire, on whose decision depended the amount of my salary as physician. Though I presume not, My Lord, to introduce new customs into France, yet I cannot be expected, so soon after my return from Hindoustan, to lose all remembrance of the practice just mentioned, and hope I shall be pardoned for hesitating to appear in the presence of a King who inspires me with very different feelings than did Aureng-Zebe; or before you, My Lord, who deserve my respect much more than Fazel-kan, without some small offering, which may derive value from its novelty, if not from the hand that bestows it. The late revolution in Hindoustan, so full of extraordinary events, may be deemed worthy the attention of our great Monarch;