Travels in India (Tavernier) 24.1.6

24.1.6

This is what I have been able to observe concerning the good order and the police which is maintained in this town. In the first place, when a stranger presents himself at the gates, they search him carefully to see if he has any salt or tobacco, because these yield the principal revenue of the king. Moreover, it is sometimes necessary that the stranger should wait for one or two days before receiving permission to enter. A soldier first gives notice to the officer who commands the guard, and he sends to the Darogha to give him notice also. But as it often happens that the Darogha is engaged, or that he is taking exercise outside the town, and sometimes also as the soldier whom they have sent pretends not to have found him, in order to have an excuse for returning, and being much better paid for his trouble — the stranger is obliged to await the termination of all this mystery, and sometimes, as I have said, for one or two days.