Travels in India (Tavernier) 11.2

11.2

There is also made at Sironj a description of muslin which is so fine that when it is on the person you see all the skin as though it were uncovered. The merchants are not allowed to export it, and the Governor sends all of it for the Great Mogul’s seraglio, and for the principal courtiers. This it is of which the sultanas and the wives of the great nobles make themselves shifts and garments for the hot weather, and the King and the nobles enjoy seeing them wearing these fine shifts, and cause them to dance in them. From Burhanpur to Sironj there are 101 coss, which are greater than those between Surat and Burhanpur, for a cart takes an hour, and sometimes up to five quarters of an hour, to travel one of these coss. In these 100 leagues of country you march for whole days among fertile fields of wheat and rice, which strongly resemble our fields at Beausse, for one rarely meets with woods, and between Sironj and Agra the country is of much the same character. As the villages are very close to one another you travel in comfort, and make the day’s journey as you please.