Travels in India (Tavernier) 147.8

147.8

The King of Macassar having been made a Muhammadan, the Prince, his brother, was so annoyed that he was unable to restrain himself from giving signs of it by the committal of a deed which resulted in his disgrace. As he knew that the Muhammadans had a horror of pork, which is one of the common articles of food of the idolaters of Macassar, as soon as the mosque which the King built was finished, he entered it one night, and having ten or twelve pigs slaughtered in his presence, he had the blood sprinkled in all directions, and both the walls and the niche where the Mulla places himself to offer up prayers were soiled with it. The King, by the laws of the religion which he had embraced, was obliged to demolish the mosque and to build a new one ; and the Prince, his brother, withdrawing with some other idolatrous nobles, has never again appeared at Court since that time. This is all that I have been able to collect of the most singular facts regarding the Kingdoms of the East included in the territories of the Great Mogul and the Empire of China, of which I also have good memoirs ; but as I know that several persons have written fully regarding them, I think the reader would prefer that I should give him the result of my voyages, and that I should only amuse him with things which I have seen with my own eyes.