Travels in the Mogul Empire (Bernier) 5.3.5

5.3.5

You may judge from what I have said, whether a lover of good cheer ought to quit Paris for the sake of visiting Dehli. Unquestionably the great are in the enjoyment of everything; but it is by dint of the numbers in their service, by dint of the korrah, and by dint of money. In Dehli there is no middle state. A man must either be of the highest rank or live miserably. My pay is considerable, nor am I sparing of money; yet does it often happen that I have not wherewithal to satisfy the cravings of hunger, the bazars being so ill supplied, and frequently containing nothing but the refuse of the grandees. Wine, that essential part of every entertainment, can be obtained in none of the shops at Dehli, although it might be made from the native grape, were not the use of that liquor prohibited equally by the Gentile and Mahometan law. I drank some at Amed-abad and Golkonda, in Dutch and English houses, which was not ill-tasted. If wine be sometimes found in the Mogol empire, it is either Chiras or Canary. The former is sent by land from Persia to Bander-Abasy, where it is embarked for Sourate, from which port it reaches Dehli in forty-six days. The Canary wine is brought by the Dutch to Sourate; but both these wines are so dear that, as we say at home, the taste is destroyed by the cost. A bottle containing about three Paris pints cannot be purchased under six or seven crowns. The liquor peculiar to this country is Arac, a spirit drawn by distillation from unrefined sugar;