Travels in India (Tavernier) 141.5

141.5

The King takes no tribute from his people, but all the mines of gold, silver, lead, steel, and iron belong to him, and in order not to oppress his subjects, he only employs the slaves whom he buys from his neighbours for working in the mines. Thus all the peasants of Assam are at their ease, and there is scarcely any one who has not a separate house in the middle of his land, a fountain surrounded by trees, and even the majority keep elephants for their wives. These idolaters, unlike those of India, who have but one wife, have four, and when a man marries one, in order that there may be no dispute among them, he says to her, “I take you to serve me in my household for this purpose,” and to another, “I destine you for another,” and thus each of these women knows what she has to do in the house. The men and women are of fine build, and of very good blood ; but the people dwelling on the southern frontier are somewhat olive coloured, and are not subject to goitre like those of the north. The latter are not of so fine a build, and the majority of their women have somewhat flat noses. These people of the southern part go about naked, having only a piece of calico with which they cover that which modesty requires them to conceal, with a cap like those English caps, around which they hang an abundance of pigs’ teeth. They have their ears pierced so that one might easily pass the thumb through the holes, some carry ornaments of gold in them and others of silver.