[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Dark Ages](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages) › [Travellers (1500–1858)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel) › [Les six voyages de Jean-Baptiste Tavernier](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier) › [Travels in India (Ball)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball) › 21.3 # Travels in India (Tavernier) 21.3 Travels in India (Ball) 21.3 - **Language:** English ### [21.3.1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.21.3.1) On the 9th \[January\], at 2 p.m., we encountered a river called Ciiativor(?) which comes from the north, and our halt was at Dampour (?), 16 coss. The 10th we slept on the margin of the river in a place far removed from houses, and made this day 15 coss. On the 11th, having arrived towards evening at the spot where the Ganges divides into three branches, one of which goes to Dacca, we slept at the entrance of this channel, at a large village called Jatrapour (?), 20 coss. Those who have no baggage can proceed by land from Jatrapour to Dacca, and they shorten their journey very much, because the river winds about considerably. On the 12th, at noon, we passed before a large town called Bagamara(?), and slept at Kasiata(?), another large town, 11 coss. On the 13th, at noon, we met a river at 2 coss from Dacca called Laquia, which comes from the north-east. Opposite the point where the two rivers join, there is a fortress with several guns on each side. Half a coss lower down you see another river called Pagalu, over which there is a fine brick bridge, which Mīr Jumla ordered to be built. This river comes from the north-east, and half a coss below you find another called Cadamtali(?), which comes from the north, and which you also cross by a brick bridge; on both sides of the river you see several towers, where there are as it were enshrined many heads of men who have robbed on the high roads. We arrived at Dacca towards evening, and accomplished this day 9 coss. ### [21.3.2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.21.3.2) Dacca is a large town, which is only of extent as regards length, each person being anxious to have his house close to the Ganges. This length exceeds 2 coss; and from the last brick bridge, which I have mentioned above, up to Dacca, there is a succession of houses, separated one from the other, and inhabited for the most part by the carpenters who build galleys and other vessels. These houses are, properly speaking, only miserable huts made of bamboo, and mud which is spread over them. Those of Dacca are scarcely better built, and that which is the residence of the Governor is an enclosure of high walls, in the middle of which is a poor house merely built of wood. He ordinarily resides under tents, which he pitches in a large court in this enclosure. The Dutch, finding that their goods were not sufficiently safe in the common houses of Dacca, have built a very fine house, and the English have also got one which is fairly good. The church of the Rev. Augustin Fathers is all of brick, and the workmanship of it is rather beautiful. On the occasion of my last visit to Dacca, the Nawáb Shaistá Khán, who was then Governor of Bengal, was at war with the King of Arakan, whose navy generally consists of 200 galleys together with several other small boats. These galleys traverse the Gulf of Bengal and enter the Ganges, the tide ascending even beyond Dacca. ### [21.3.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.21.3.3) Shaistá Khán, uncle of the King Aurangzeb, who reigns at present, and the cleverest man in all his kingdom, found means for bribing many of the officers of the navy of the King of Arakan, and of a sudden forty galleys, which were commanded by Portuguese, joined him. In order to secure these new allies firmly in his service, he gave large pay to each of the Portuguese officers and to the soldiers in proportion, but the natives only received double the ordinary pay. It is a most surprising thing to see with what speed these galleys are propelled by oars. There are some so long that they have up to fifty oars on each side, but there are not more than two men to each oar. You see some which are much decorated, where the gold and azure have not been spared. The Dutch have some of them in their service in which they carry their merchandise, and they also sometimes require to hire some from others, thus affording a means of livelihood to many people. The day following my arrival in Dacca, which was the 14th of January, I went to salute the Nawáb, and presented him with a mantle of gold brocade, with a grand golden lace of “point d’Espagne” round it, and a fine scarf of gold and silver of the same “point,” and a jewel consisting of a very beautiful emerald. During the evening, after I had returned to the Dutch with whom I lodged, the Nawáb sent me pomegranates, China oranges, two Persian melons, and three kinds of apples. ### [21.3.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.21.3.4) On the 15th \[January\] I showed him my goods, and presented to the Prince, his son, a watch having a case of enamelled gold, a pair of pistols inlaid with silver, and a telescope. All this which I gave, both to the father and to the young lord of about ten years of age, cost me more than 5000 livres. On the 16th I agreed with him as to the price of my goods, and afterwards I went to his Vizir to receive my bill of exchange payable at Kásimbázár. Not that he was unwilling to pay me at Dacca, but the Dutch, who were more experienced than I, warned me that there was risk in carrying silver to Kásimbázár, where one cannot go except by reascending the Ganges, because the land route is very bad and full of jungle and swamps. The danger consists in this, that the small vessels which one employs are very subject to be upset by the least wind, and when the sailors discover that one carries money, it is not difficult for them to make the boat upset, and to recover the silver afterwards, at the bottom of the river, for the purpose of appropriating it. ### [21.3.5](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.21.3.5) On the 20th I took leave of the Nawáb, who invited me to return to see him, and gave me a passport in which he described me as a gentleman of his household; this he had already previously done during the time that he was Governor of Ahmadabad, when I went to the army to meet him in the Province of Deccan, which the Raja Sivaji had entered, as I shall relate elsewhere. In virtue of these passports I was able to go and come throughout all the territories of the Great Mogul as one of his household, and I shall explain their tenor in Book II. On the 21st \[January\] the Dutch gave a great banquet out of regard for me, to which they invited the English and some Portuguese, with an Augustin friar of the same nation. On the 22d I went to visit the English, who had for Chief or President Mr. Prat (? Pratt), and after that the Reverend Portuguese Father, and some other Franks. Between the 23d and the 29th I made some purchases for 11,000 rupees, and all being embarked I went to bid farewell. On the 29th, in the evening, I parted from Dacca, and all the Dutch accompanied me for two leagues with their small armed boats, and the Spanish wine was not spared on this occasion. Having remained on the river from the 29th of January to the 11th of February, I left my servants and goods in the boat at Hadjrapur, where I hired a boat which carried me to a large village called Mirdapour.(?) ### [21.3.6](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.21.3.6) On the 12th \[February\] I hired a horse to carry myself, and not finding another for my baggage, I was obliged to employ two women, who took charge of it. I arrived the same evening at Kasimbazar, where I was well received by M. Arnoul Van Wachttendonk, Director of all the settlements of the Dutch in Bengal, who invited me to lodge with him. On the 13th I passed the day agreeably with the Dutch gentlemen, who wished to enjoy themselves in honour of my arrival. On the 14th \[February\] M. Wachttendonk returned to Hugli, where the principal settlement is, and on the same day one of my servants, who had preceded me, came to give me notice that the people whom I had left in the boat with my goods had been in great danger on account of the strong wind, which had lasted two days, and which became stronger during the night. On the 15th \[February\] the Dutch gave me a pallankeen to go to Murshidābād. It is a great town, 3 coss from Kāsimbāzār, where the Receiver-general of Shāistā Khān resided, to whom I presented my bill of exchange. After having read it he told me that it was good, and that he would have paid me if he had not on the previous evening received an order from the Nawāb not to pay me in case he had not already done so. He did not tell me the reason which caused Shāistā Khān to act in this manner, and I returned to my lodging not a little surprised at this proceeding. --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.21.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.21.3) · Pramāṇa