Travels in India (Tavernier) 37.5

37.5

The English also were present at our small parties. And they entertained us two or three times as pleasantly as they could, having baladines, of whom there is no lack in this country, always present after the repast. On the 18th and 19th of June we bought a pallankeen, three horses, and six oxen, to carry us with our attendants and our baggage. We had settled to go straight to Golconda to the King, to sell him some of the pear-shaped pearls, of which the least weighed 34, and the largest 35 carats; and some other jewels, the majority of which were emeralds. But the Dutch having told us that we should make a useless journey, and that the King would buy nothing rare nor of high price which Mir Jumla, who commanded his army and was the Prime Minister of his Court, had not first seen, and as he was then at the siege of Gandikot, in the Province of Carnatic, we resolved to go in search of him, and the following is the route which we took in this journey.