Remonstrantie 12.2.7

12.2.7

thence to Agra, 350 k.; Agra to Lahore, 300 k.; and from Lahore to Kashmir 300 k. The route by Ahmadabad is 50 kos nearer. Towards the North-West, the distance from Lahore, by Multan, to Kandahar is 600 k. On the East, it is 1000 k. from Agra to the sea coast through Purop, Bengal, and Orissa. In the West, Kabul is 300 k. from Lahore; and in the South West, the kingdom extends to Tatta, Sind and Bakkar. If all these countries were justly or rationally governed, they would not only yield an incalculable income, but would enable him [Jahangir] to conquer all the neighbouring kingdoms. But it is important to recognise also that he is to be regarded as King of the plains or the open roads only; for in many places you can travel only with a strong body of men, or on payment of heavy tolls to rebels. The whole country is enclosed and broken up by many mountains, and the people who live in, on, or beyond, the mountains know nothing of any king, or of Jahangir; they recognise only their Rajas, who are very numerous, and to whom the country is apportioned in many small fragments by old tradition. Jahangir, whose name implies that he grasps the whole world, must therefore be regarded as ruling no more than half the dominions which he claims, since there are nearly as many rebels as subjects. Taking the chief cities for example, at Surat the forces of Raja Piepel come pillaging up to, or inside, the city, murdering the people, and burning the villages;