Storia do Mogor 354.10
Storia do Mogor (Irvine) 354.10
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354.10.1
Dã,ud Khãn believed that they were sending him the tame dog also, but having waited many days in vain, he came to the conclusion, which was correct, that his owner, out of the affection he bore to him, refused to part with him. Accordingly, he sent a principal official of his court, escorted by some cavalry, carrying a letter, accompanied by a set of robes, and a horse, his orders being to bring back with him the third dog at any cost. When the letter was received, Captain Ignatio delivered the dog to the official, and wrote a letter in reply, giving the Nawãb to understand that he only sent the dog as a favour. During the journey this dog was placed in a palanquin, attended by various servants, some of whom were entrusted with the duty of feeding him, others [175] of bathing him daily owing to the great heat; others, again, brushed the flies away. He was produced before Dã,ud Khãn, who was highly pleased. At once he began to caress him, kissing him, and styling him, 'Brother' and 'Faithful Friend.' Forthwith an order was given for the preparation of a handsome silver chain, by which the dog was tied to the leg of the Nawab's bed, and his food was given from the Nawab's own table.
354.10.2
This Dã,ud Khãn is very much interested in the chase, and has great delight in different kinds of animals. In his train he always keeps tigers, leopards, hawks, falcons, etc. Of ducks alive he has one thousand, besides many other birds. For the maintenance of all these animals he expends every year two hundred and fifty thousand rupees. Whenever he hears of any parrots, cockatoos, or similar rare animals, he sends at once to purchase them without any regard to price.
354.10.3
There lived in Madras a Dutch Jew called Abendana, who owned a rare kind of ape. Dã,úd Khãn heard of this animal, and by the intervention of the governor obtained possession of it. The new owner made it over to one of the men in his household, but a few days after he had received charge it was found one morning lying dead. Unable to control his feelings at what was to him such heart-rending news, Dã,ud Khãn was so overcome by anger that he caused the servant who was in charge to be bound and put to death [176] by driving a stake into his anus until it came out at his neck. Not being yet appeased, he ordered the ears to be cut off of the man who had to attend to the lights in the room occupied by the ape. The first man was punished for not reporting the illness of the ape, and not finding any medicine to treat it with, or taking any other steps to save its life. The second man's punishment of having his ears removed was for not hearing the groans made by the animal, caused by the pain of its complaint, or, if he did hear them, for not making a report to his master. In addition, he ordered the house where the ape died to be destroyed by fire; it stood in front of his audience-hall.
354.10.4
On learning that Captain Ignatio was to leave shortly for Manila, Dã,ud Khãn wrote him a letter full of ceremonious language, by way of testifying to the obligation that he professed to be under, and the gratitude he felt for the gift of a dog which he esteemed as much as a son — indeed, much more than a son, for you will have seen (IV. 149) that he declined to preserve the life of his own sons. Therefore he prayed the captain to allow five men to proceed with him for the purchase of different rare animals with the money sent to him. To open a correspondence and obtain [177] his object, Dã,úd Khãn wrote a letter to the Governor of Manila, paying him many compliments, and enclosed thirty-one lengths of gold and as many of silver cloth. At this time four mace-bearers (gurz-bardãrs) arrived at the audience-hall of Dã,úd Khãn with orders from the king. He was commanded to march at once with an army to the fortress of Pelconda (Penukonda), and make an attempt to recover it from the hands of the Mahrattahs. Upon July 1, 1706, in execution of the royal commands, he commenced his march. We shall see what happens to this enterprise, and I will without fail report the result.
354.10.5
Meanwhile, until something new comes to pass, let us divert ourselves. In the year 1706 there arrived at Madras two ambassadors from the King of Pegu, on their way to the court of the Mogul. They were, to tell the truth, two men of strange appearance, both youths, of complexion not entirely black ; their eyes were rather small, as also their nostrils. Their dress was a piece of cloth folded several times round the waist, and hanging down to the middle of the leg. They went barefooted, and had a fine shirt which covered [178] the breast and came half-way down the arm. The chief of the two men wore on his head a cap of scarlet cotton-cloth. The other man covered his head with a cap resembling a long funnel. On their waists they bore a mark in the flesh, which lasted for the whole of their life, and it was a sign of their nobility, in the fashion of us Christians who have been to Jerusalem and bear on the arm the mark of that place. These people passed most of their time in smoking tobacco through a long cane.
354.10.6
When their servants, whom they had brought with them from their country, served them with tobacco, or water, or food, they entered their masters' presence with the whole body inclined, the hands held close to the ground; and, retaining this position, they withdrew backwards without ever turning round. I mention all this because I have seen this ceremonial more than once, and, out of curiosity, I went several times to visit them. They were lodged in a small house, for the hire of which they paid one pataca (= two rupees) a month. They were seated on a large mat, and the house was very dirty and full of smoke, their cooking being carried on where they received visitors. I was not much delighted by my visit to them, and did not stay very long, since the smell of putrefying meat disturbed me. When Dā,ūd Khān heard of their arrival he sent for them, and they started for the court in the month of June (1706). It is quite certain that, upon their arrival at court, they will be considered by everyone a strange novelty, and everyone will talk about them. When I went to visit them they asserted that they had no intention, even at court, of abandoning their costume, in spite of advice to the contrary.
354.10.7
The chief of these ambassadors is called Giadum (Kya Dun), and the other Neconaoc (Nakkan Nga Ok), both good names. Along with them there was an official called Chiampiu (Kyan Bu), who bore the present, consisting of two big rubies, two thick sapphires, and a large lump of amber. They also carried a letter, the contents of which I do not know, in a round bottle about the length of a finger, closed with Spanish wax, and placed in a bag of azure-blue colour. Their interpreter is a Mahomedan, born in the kingdom of Pegu, called Quedargull (? Khidr Quli). The Nawãb (Dã,ud Khãn) provided them with necessary supplies, as they are without money. When the King of Pegu sent off these ambassadors he ordered six soldiers of his tribe to accompany them, giving to each a sword, and promising that the voyage should not cost them anything, going or coming. To my thinking, this order was out of place. Now that I have spoken of these ambassadors, I will recount what happened to the ambassador of the Persian king, Shãh 'Abbas the Little, at the court of the Grand Turk.
354.10.8
Shãh 'Abbas was a man of fine appearance, prudent, and of the most excellent judgment, as is ordinarily the case with Persians. He sent an ambassador to the Grand Turk to secure some benefits. After this ambassador had been for some time at the court, the grand wazlr, during a visit, wishing to mock at him, said : ' Which is the better, to wear on your head a white turban, the sign of modesty and gravity, or, instead, one of cloth of gold, as is usual among the ladies of this court ?' The ambassador, aware they were trying to laugh at him, said on the instant that things were not as the wazlr said. He had seen many ladies of the court who, when they visited him, covered their lower parts with exquisitely fine white cloth, just as with their turbans the nobles of the court covered their heads. At such a ready and unexpected answer the wazir knew not what more to say.