Storia do Mogor 202.3

202.3

It is also a fixed rule of the Moguls that the vaquianavis (waqi'ah-navis) and the cofianavis (khufiyah-navis), or the public and secret news-writers of the empire, must once a week enter what is passing in a vaquia (waqi'ah)—that is to say, a sort of gazette or Mercury, containing the events of most importance. These news-letters are commonly read in the king's presence by women of the mahal at about nine o'clock in the evening, so that by this means he knows what is going on in his kingdom. There are, in addition, spies, who are also obliged to send in reports weekly about other important business, chiefly what the princes are doing, and this duty they perform through written statements.