Storia do Mogor 238.4.1

238.4.1

If any of these soldiers are in any degree well served, it is because they are accompanied by a wife and some negro women, with whom the servants have intrigues, and through this attraction follow him. They are otherwise reluctant to accompany a master on a campaign, because they undergo hunger on the road, and are interfered with by the enemy. Many a time food is worth three to four, or even eight to ten rupees a cera (ser), which is a current weight, and is of twenty-eight ounces. In the campaigns against Bijapur, Gulkandah, and Shiva Ji, one ser weight sold at eighteen rupees, but this did not last many days. Meanwhile the soldiers are obliged to give the servant his food, and during the actual time of the king's campaign against Shiva Ji one bullock's load of grass was worth ten rupees; and during all the wars of Aurangzeb there were high prices and plague.