Travels in the Mogul Empire (Bernier) 9.2.7

9.2.7

What is said of the strange confusion that prevails in the camp, and of the alarm thereby occasioned to a newcomer, is also much exaggerated. A slight acquaintance with the method observed in the quartering of the troops will enable you to go, without much difficulty, from place to place as your business may require; the King's quarters, the tents and standards peculiar to every Omrah, and the ensigns and 'periwigs' of the royal bazars, which are all seen from a great distance, serving, after a little experience, for unerring guides. Sometimes, indeed, notwithstanding all these precautions, there will be uncertainty and disorder, particularly on the arrival of the army at the place of encampment in the morning, when every one is actively employed in finding and establishing his own quarters. The dust that arises often obscures the marks I have mentioned, and it becomes impossible to distinguish the King's quarter, the different bazars, or the tents of the several Omrahs. Your progress is besides liable to be impeded by the tents then pitching, and by the cords extended by inferior Omrahs, who have no peiche-kanes, and by Mansabdars to mark their respective boundaries, and to prevent not only the public path from passing through, but the fixing of any strange tent near their own, where their wives, if accompanying them, reside. A horde of their lusty varlets, with cudgels in their hands, will not suffer these cords to be removed or lowered ;