Travels in India (Tavernier) 39.4
Travels in India (Ball) 39.4
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39.4.1
It is especially remarkable of the female elephant that at certain seasons she collects all kinds of leaves and grass, with which she makes for herself a bed with a kind of bolster, elevated 4 or 5 feet from the ground, where, contrary to the nature of all other beasts, she lies to await the male, whom she calls by her cries. It is, moreover, peculiar to the elephants of Ceylon that it is only the first male produced by the female which has tusks. It is to be remarked also that the ivory which comes from the islands of Ceylon and Acheen has the peculiarity when it is worked that it never becomes yellow like that which comes from the Peninsula and the West (sic) Indies; this causes it to be more esteemed and dearer than the other.
39.4.2
When merchants are taking elephants anywhere to sell, it is amusing to see them pass. As there are generally both old and young, when the former have passed the children run after the little ones which follow behind, playing with them and giving them something to eat. Whilst these young elephants, which are then alone, are occupied in taking what is given, the children jump upon them, and it is then that the fun begins. For the young elephants which have remained to eat, since their mothers have been all the time marching, being then some distance off, double their pace, and by flourishing the trunk throw on the ground the children who are upon them, without all the time doing them any harm. This does not in the least repel this little crowd, which continues to follow them for some time, offering them food as before. Notwithstanding all the researches which I have made with much care, I have never been able to ascertain very exactly how long an elephant lives, and this is all the information one can obtain from those who tend these animals. They cannot say more than that such an elephant has been in the charge of their father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, and by estimating the time that these people may have lived, it is found that an elephant’s age sometimes amounts to 120 or 130 years. I observe that the majority of those who have written accounts of India say boldly that the Great Mogul keeps 3000 or 4000 elephants.
39.4.3
When at Jahānābād, where the King at present resides, I often inquired from the person who has charge of them, and who shows much friendship for the Franks, in order to know what the number of elephants was which he feeds for the service of the King, and he assured me that he had but 500, which are called elephants of the household, because they are only employed to carry the women and the tents with all the rest of the baggage, and for war only 80 or at most 90. The most courageous of these last has to be supported by the eldest son of the King, and is allotted, both for food and for all other necessary expenses, 500 rupees a month, which amount to 750 livres. There are some that have only 50, others but 40, others 30, others 20 rupees; but the elephants which have 100 or 200 or 300 or 400 rupees a month have under them their horsemen to support, who live on this pay, and also two, three, and up to six young elephants, who have to fan them during the great heat of the day. All these elephants do not remain in the town, as the majority go every morning to the country, where those who tend them take them into the jungles, where they eat branches of trees, sugar-canes, and millet, by which the poor peasants suffer much loss. This is profitable to those who tend these animals, because the more they eat in the country, the less food they consume in the town — the saving goes into the purse of these persons.
39.4.4
This same day, the 27th of August, we travelled 6 leagues farther, and slept at a large town called Ragiapeta. On the 28th, after having made 8 leagues, we came to Oudecour. On the 29th, after a march of nine hours, we arrived at Outemeda, where there is one of the grandest pagodas in the whole of India. It is all built of large cut stones, and it has three towers where there are many deformed figures cut in relief. It is surrounded by many small chambers for the dwelling of the priests of the pagoda, and 500 paces off there is a great tank, upon the borders of which there are many small pagodas of 8 or 10 feet square, and in each an idol in the form of a demon, with a Brahmin, who takes care that any stranger who is not of their faith does not come to wash or take water from the tank. If a stranger wishes for water they carry him some in earthen pots, and if by chance their pot touches the vessel of the stranger they break the pot. I am told, also, as I have elsewhere remarked, that if any one not being of their faith washes in the tank it becomes necessary for them to let out all the water which is then in it. As for charity, they are very liberal, for no one passes who is in want and who asks, to whom they do not give to eat and drink of whatever they may happen to have. You meet many women on these roads, some of whom always keep fire to light the tobacco of passers, and even to those who have not tobacco they give a pipe.
39.4.5
The others go there to cook rice with quicheri, which is a grain like our hemp-seed; others, too, cook beans, because the water in which they are cooked never causes pleurisy to those who are overheated. There are among these women some who have vowed to perform this charity for travellers during seven or eight years; others for more or less time according to their convenience, and they give each traveller bean water and rice water to drink, and two or three handsful of this cooked rice to eat. Other women are to be seen on the highroads and in the fields following horses, oxen, and cows; these have vowed to eat nothing but what they find undigested in these animals’ droppings. As neither barley nor oats are to be had in this country, the cattle are fed on certain large and hard peas, which are first crushed between two grindstones and then allowed to steep for half an hour, for they are very hard and consequently difficult of digestion. The horses are given some of these peas every evening, and in the morning they receive about two pounds of coarse black sugar, which is almost like wax, kneaded with an equal weight of flour and a pound of butter, of which mixture the grooms make pellets or small balls, which are forced down the horses’ throats, otherwise they would not eat them. Afterwards their mouths are washed, especially the teeth, which are covered with the paste, this gives them a dislike to this kind of food.
39.4.6
During the day the horses are given some grass which is torn up in the fields, roots and all, and is most carefully washed so that no earth remains. On the 30th [August] we made 8 leagues, and halted at Goulapali. On the 31st, after a march of nine hours, we stopped at Gogeron. On the first day of September we made only 6 leagues, and we came to a halt at Gandikot. It was only eight days since the Nawáb had taken this town after a three months’ siege, and he would not have taken it but for the aid of some Frenchmen who had quitted the Dutch service on account of the treatment which they had received. He also had as gunners many English and Dutch, with two or three Italians, who gave him great aid in the capture of the place. Gandikot is one of the fortified towns which are in the Kingdom of Carnatic. It is built on the summit of a high mountain, and the sole means of access to it is by a very difficult road, which is only 20 or 25 feet wide, and in certain parts only 7 or 8 ; the Nawáb was then commencing to improve it. On the right of the road, which is cut in the mountain, there is a fearful precipice, at the base of which runs a large river. When on the mountain you see a small plain about a quarter of a league wide and half a league long. It is sown with rice and millet, and is watered by many small springs. At the level of the plain to the south, where the town is built on a point, the limits are formed by precipices, with two rivers which bound the point at the base ;
39.4.7
so that, in order to enter the town, there is but one gate on the plain side, and it is fortified in this direction with three good walls of cut stone, with the ditches at their bases faced with the same stone. Consequently, during the siege, the inhabitants had only to guard a space of 400 or 500 paces wide. They had only two iron guns — one being a 12-pounder, the other 7 to 8; the first was placed on the gate, and the other on the point of a kind of bastion. Until the Nawáb found a means to mount guns above he lost many men from the frequent sorties made by the besieged. The Rájá who was in the town was considered to be one of the best and bravest commanders among the idolaters, and the Nawáb, seeing at length that the place could not be taken unless guns were carried up to the heights, ordered all the Franks who were in the service of the King as gunners to come to him, and promised to each four months’ wages more than their ordinary pay if they could find some means of conveying guns to the heights. In this they were successful. They mounted four guns, with which they bombarded the place, and they were so fortunate as to direct them against the gun which was on the gate, which they rendered useless. When they had battered down half the gate of the town the besieged capitulated; they evacuated the place under honourable conditions.
39.4.8
On the day upon which we arrived the whole army was encamped at the base of the mountain in a plain, where there is a very fine river, and the Nawáb was just ending the review of the cavalry, which were very smart. An English gunner, with his comrade, an Italian, seeing M. du Jardin and myself pass, and recognising us to be Franks, as it was late politely came to meet us, and invited us to spend the night with them. It was from them that we heard that there was a French gunner then in the town, named Claude Maillé of Bourges, and that he was engaged in casting some cannon which the Nawáb wished to leave in the place.