Storia do Mogor 354.10.6

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.