Travels in India (Tavernier) 152.2.5

152.2.5

When she saw that the whole was well pounded she placed her hand on the King’s back, who at once opened his mouth, and she put the betel in with her fingers as women do who give pap to their infants, because the King had no teeth; for he had eaten so much of these betel leaves, and smoked so much tobacco, that his teeth had fallen out. The palace of the King of Bantam has not had need of a very skilful architect. It is a square building surrounded by small lacquered pillars of different colours, 2 feet in height, against which one leans when seated. There are at the four corners four large pillars planted in the earth at 40 feet distance from each other, and the floor is covered by a mat woven of the bark of a kind of tree, as if it were a piece of cloth, and neither fleas nor bugs will approach it. The roof is of cocoanut fronds. Close by under another roof, sustained also by four large pillars, there were sixteen elephants, the most courageous of those which the King keeps (for he has a large number of them), which are destined for war and do not fear fireworks. For his guard he has about 2000 men, who were seated in squads under the shade of some trees. They are good soldiers both on sea and land, strict Muhammadans who do not fear death. His harem, where his women dwell, must be a small affair, for when he had seen what I had brought he summoned two old black women, to whom he gave some of the jewels in order that they should go to show them.