Storia do Mogor 266.1
Storia do Mogor (Irvine) 266.1
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266.1.1
husband, called Nicolao Borges, a young man of twenty, married to a daughter of Francisco de Souza. This Suzana Borges, without her husband's knowledge, paid money every month to a diviner or sorcerer to obtain information on any subject she wanted, and give her such advice as was necessary. Ordinarily all women in Agrah and Dihli more or less make use of the same art, and are of much the same sort. The mother of the young man wanted to know how many years her son's wife would live, so she asked the sorcerer. He replied that if some treatment were not speedily applied, she had not long to live. The mother asked him what was the course to be taken, when he pledged his word that he would so act that the daughter would survive for many years. But the condition was that the necessary expenses were provided for the rites that must be performed. To meet these she sent an ornament of gold, weighing fifty Venetians, to be melted. She also gave a band of silver, her gold rings, a bow and a small arrow of silver [257], a gold chain, various kinds of silk and white cotton cloth, with fifty rupees for expenses. All this was given as a present to the sorcerer, who carried off the whole to his house.
266.1.2
After three days he returned, and placed in the hands of Suzana Borges a well-dressed doll, which he ordered her to place in a room upon a bed. Four times every day she must enter the room slowly and inquire from the said doll in a low voice what it would like to eat, how it felt, how it had slept, and whether it wanted anything. His orders were that she should put these questions for ten days. Meanwhile at his own house he would make the necessary sacrifices. At the end of ten days the sorcerer appeared and instructed her afresh. She was to ask the doll if anyone owed it money, or if it had buried jewels anywhere, or if anyone had promised it a reward. Let it tell the truth; for it could see the efforts they were making for its health, so that it might be cured. She was to continue thus for five days, doing these acts each day four times. His further orders were that the wife of Nicolao Borges should not sleep upon her bed, that she must diet herself, not washing her body or putting on fresh clothes.
266.1.3
Suzana Borges did as she was told, obeying the sorcerer in every particular. He came back after five days, and told her to send for her acquaintances and friends. Of these twelve assembled, the chief among them being Isabel Bocara and Isabel Correa, Catherina Correa and Maria Toscana. He ordered all these and the bride to enter the room, and, standing round the couch, to make lamentation over the doll, as if weeping over some dead body. After an hour the doll was to be wrapped in a shroud and put into a little coffin. They were to follow it in a body, carrying it as far as a certain garden, where it must be buried. They were then to renew their lamentation and undo their hair. All this accomplished, they consoled each other and exchanged condolences, and, having carried out the sorcerer's directions, they returned home. There, according to his instructions, they all bathed and put on their richest clothes and finest jewels. The bride did the same, decking herself as if it were her wedding-day. At this point a banquet was made ready, which lasted all night, with music, dancing, and feasting. Everybody congratulated the bride on the long life she was to have, while at the street-door they sacrificed four goats and eight cocks. In this way were the orders of the sorcerer carried out. He received what they had to give him; he was dismissed with additional presents and profuse thanks. He was mocking at them all.
266.1.4
The inquisitive reader will ask how the master of the house could give consent to such goings on. I say that this sort of men who take wandering negro women as wives, or keep them in their houses, are persons of small capacity and little judgment. They let these women do as they like, and if one of them attempts to reform his household, he stands a good chance of losing his life; and usually they bind these men to them with such witcheries that they are in their hands tender as a ewe-lamb.
266.1.5
Such a case happened to a man I knew, called Thomas Gudellett, an Englishman. On arriving in the Mogul country he took into his house a public woman of evil life called Leanora Nunes Pereira de Mello, a native of India. Three days afterwards, being accustomed to full liberty, she took up with a Mohamedan servant without any disguise. At that time Gudellett returned home, and beheld this perverted inclination [258] and uncontrolled lust. Driven out of himself with passion, he rushed to find some staff or weapon. Just then the woman shut the door, and, opening the window, cried loudly to the neighbours for help. The 'Farangi' who lived in her house was drunk and wanted to murder her, and had cursed Muhammad. The servant who was in her society went to the other window, and also shouted to the same effect. The man's own servants came and attacked their master with sticks and stones. The neighbours and passers-by aided in binding him, giving him a thorough beating. He was taken before the magistrate on the charge of having cursed Muhammad. There he received many affronts and was punished. When word was brought to me, I had great labour in getting him released, expending money from my own purse. Thomas Gudellett said to me that had he listened to my advice, such calamities would not have overtaken him. God, who is our Lord, punished the woman. She did not have long enjoyment of the boy, for within a year they killed him.
266.1.6
I will recount a few more similar cases. In Dihli there was an English renegade named Joao Witt (? John White), who had married a Mahomedan woman. She was addicted to vicious practices. As the Englishman suspected his wife, he decided to reform matters in the house. When she saw this, she disappeared, taking with her the best of their belongings. The young man at this result was very sorrowful and anxious; he made every effort to discover her retreat. In the end he came to know that she was in the house of some people whom she declared to be her relations. On obtaining this information he sent a message, not daring to go himself for fear of a beating. He told her that she might return without any hesitation. She did not respond to the young man's overtures, but sent him many menaces and much abuse. The man persevered with all possible diligence, in the hope of winning her over. In the end the wife made the concession that she would return home, the condition imposed being that he should come to see her where she was, and, falling at her feet in the presence of everybody, beg her pardon. He was to state as his excuse that his suspicions arose from his having been drunk, and that long ago he had withdrawn them.
266.1.7
He agreed to all these conditions, and, going to the house where his wife was living, fell at her feet. The woman spurned him and overwhelmed him with abuse, while those present did nothing but try to add fuel to the wrath of the aggrieved wife. In this way the husband was led to agree to another condition — that he would deliver a signed paper, attested by witnesses, to the effect that she should be absolute mistress in the house; that he must yield her obedience, and must seek her advice, doing nothing without her consent. The money he received as pay must be made over untouched to her, and other similar articles. All this he executed, and these preliminaries ended, the infatuated youth ordered a carriage to be brought to carry her home. Once more she flew into a rage and tossed the paper at him, saying that it did not satisfy her, and that only when he did as she demanded would she accompany him. What she required was that the fool should give a feast to her relations, and that when she left their house he should precede her carriage on horseback. Round it were to be carried a number of trays of flowers and fruit, attended by dancers, pipes, kettle-drums, and trumpets, until they reached their own house. As I was passing along the street I saw the renegade [259] in high delight, his chest covered half-way down with flowers.
266.1.8
He was also elevated by a glass or two he had drunk, and he was chewing betel. Altogether he looked like a bridegroom conveying home a newly-married wife. I pulled up, and sent to inquire who it was that he had married now, and they brought back an answer to the effect of what I have above related.