Travels in India (Tavernier) 39.5
Travels in India (Ball) 39.5
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39.5.1
On the following day, being the 2d of the month, we ascended to the town and stopped at the house of Maillé, whom I had known at Batavia, where he was in the service of the Dutch, serving them as gardener to the General. He received us with much joy, and having at first notified the Nawáb of our arrival, he ordered them to provide us lodging and necessary food immediately, not only for ourselves, but also for our horses and oxen, during the stay that we were going to make at Gandikot.
39.5.2
On the 3d [September] we went to see the Nawáb, who had caused his tents to be pitched on the summit of the mountains, in the quarter bordering the road cut in the rock. He received us well, asking us if we were comfortably housed, and if we had been given the food which he had ordered for ourselves and horses. Subsequently he inquired the cause which had brought us thither, and we replied that we had brought some goods sufficiently choice for the King, but that we had not wished to go to his majesty before showing them to him — well knowing that the King bought nothing of high price without his advice, and that, in any case, we considered such deference to be due to him. The Nawáb assured us that our compliment had not displeased him, and after he had caused betle to be presented to us we took our leave and returned to the town. We found all the gunners awaiting us, and we all assembled at Maille’s house for supper, where the Nawab sent us two bottles of wine — one Spanish, the other of Shiraz — which is rare in this country. As for brandy, they have no lack of it, for they make it of rice and also of sugar, of which there is an abundance in all these parts of India.
39.5.3
On the 4th we again visited the Nawab, and showed him the jewels which we hoped to sell to the King. They consisted of some pear-shaped pearls of a weight, beauty, and size which were unusual — the least exceeding 24 carats. After having examined them well, and shown them to a number of nobles who were with him, he asked us the price; which having heard, he returned them to us, and at the same time said he would consider it. He made us dine with him, and after the repast we withdrew to the town, where we remained till the 10th without seeing the Nawab.
39.5.4
On the morning of the 10th [September] he sent to summon us, and as soon as we were seated in his tent, close to him, the attendants brought him five small bags full of diamonds, and each bag contained about as many as one could hold in the hand. They were all lasques, but of very dark water and very small, and for the most part were only 1 carat or half a carat in weight, but otherwise very clear. There were very few which amounted to 2 carats. The Nawab, when showing us these stones, asked if such goods were saleable in our country. We replied that one might sell them provided the water was white, because in Europe we do not esteem diamonds if they are not clear and white, and that we made no account of other kinds of water. When he first began to contemplate the conquest of this Kingdom for the King of Golconda, he was told that it had diamond mines, and he sent 12,000 men to work them, who in the space of a year only found those which he had in the five bags. The Nawab, seeing that they only found stones of very brown water, tending much more to black than white, rightly considered that it was loss of trouble, and forbidding further mining, sent all these poor people back to tillage. After the Nawab had closed up his diamonds again, and we had dined with him, he mounted his horse, accompanied by many nobles, to go hunting, and desired to take us with him; but we begged him to excuse us, and we left without his speaking to us of our pearls.
39.5.5
On the 11th [September] all the Frank gunners went to the Nawab's tent, crying out that they had not been paid the four months' wages which had been promised, and that if they were not paid they would go to take service elsewhere, upon which the Nawab put them off till the following day. On the 12th, the gunners not having omitted to repair to the tent of the Nawab, he ordered them to be paid for three months, and promised them at the close of the current month to pay the fourth. They had no sooner received this money than they treated one another, and the baladines carried off more than half of it. On the 13th the Nawab went to the town to see the foundry which Maille had erected by his orders. Maille, as I have said, was from Bourges, and enlisted at Amsterdam for India. Having reached Batavia, the General, perceiving that he was skilful and very intelligent, kept him in his personal service to make some grottoes and fountains in his garden. But Maille, being neither satisfied with this employment nor with the rough treatment of the General, found means to place himself in the suite of M. Cheteur, who was sent from Batavia to the Nawab, then engaged in the siege of Gandikot.
39.5.6
This Envoy having accomplished his business with the Nawab, and Maille knowing that he would be leaving on the following day, took possession of the case and box of ointments belonging to the Ambassador’s surgeon, and concealed himself till such time as the Envoy departed, without being able to find Maille, in spite of all the search he could make, which had obliged him to delay his departure for some days. As soon as Maille heard that the Envoy was gone, he was appointed to the service of the Nawab as surgeon; and some time after, having informed him that he was a good gunner and founder, he entered his service in that capacity. The Nawab having taken Gandikot, and desiring to have some cannon inside the fort, where it was very difficult to carry them, proposed to Maille to cast twenty pieces—ten of 48 pounds, and ten others of 24 pounds; this Maille undertook to do. He was supplied with copper for this purpose from all quarters, and the Nawab collected a quantity of idols which had been removed from the pagodas which his army had visited. There is in Gandikot a pagoda which is considered to be one of the principal in India, where there are many idols, some being of gold and others of silver. Among these idols there were six of copper, three of which were seated on their heels, and the three others were about 10 feet high.
39.5.7
After Maille had made all preparations to melt these metals and the idols which had been brought from different places, he accomplished the melting of all except the six large idols of the famous pagoda of Gandikot. It was impossible for him to melt them, no matter how much the Nawab expended; and he even threatened the priests of the pagoda, whom he accused of having bewitched the idols. In short, Maille never accomplished making a single cannon, one being split, another incomplete; and so he relinquished all the work he had undertaken, and sometime afterwards quitted the service of the Nawab.
39.5.8
On the 14th we went to the tent of the Nawab to take leave of him, and to hear what he had to say regarding the goods which we had shown him. But we were told that he was engaged examining a number of criminals, who had been brought to him for immediate punishment. It is the custom in this country not to keep a man in prison; but immediately the accused is taken he is examined and sentence is pronounced on him, which is then executed without any delay. If the person whom they have seized is found to be innocent he is released at once ; and whatever the nature of the case may be, it is promptly concluded. Moreover, we were told that it would be difficult for us to see the Nawab on that day, because he intended to descend to the plain to review the greater part of his army. We did not omit, however, to meet him at the door of his tent in the evening, where, having dismounted, and M. du Jardin and I having saluted him, he invited us to come to see him early on the following day. On the 15th, at seven o’clock in the morning, we went to the Nawab, and immediately we were announced he asked us to enter his tent, where he was seated with two of his secretaries by him.
39.5.9
According to the custom of the country — where one goes with naked feet in slippers, without stockings, because wherever you enter you walk on a carpet, and sit in this country as in Turkey, and as our tailors do here, — the Nawab had the intervals between his toes full of letters, and he also had many between the fingers of the left hand. He drew them sometimes from his feet, sometimes from his hand, and sent his replies through his two secretaries, writing some also himself. After the secretaries had finished the letters, he made them read them ; and he then took them and himself affixed his seal, giving some to footmen, others to horsemen. For it should be remarked that in India all the letters which the Kings, Generals of Armies, and the Governors of Provinces send by footmen go much faster than by horsemen. The reason is that at every two leagues there are small huts, where two or three men employed for running live, and immediately when the carrier of a letter has arrived at one of these huts he throws it to the others at the entrance, and one of them takes it up and at once sets off to run. It is considered unlucky to give a letter into the hand of the messenger; it is therefore thrown at his feet, and he must lift it up.
39.5.10
It is still to be remarked that throughout India the greater part of the roads are like avenues of trees, and those which have not trees planted, have at every 500 paces small pieces of stone which the inhabitants of the nearest villages are bound to whiten from time to time, so that the letter carriers can distinguish the road on dark and rainy nights. While we were with the Nawáb he was informed that four prisoners, who were then at the door of the tent, had arrived. He remained more than half an hour without replying, writing continually and making his secretaries write, but at length he suddenly ordered the criminals to be brought in; and after having questioned them, and made them confess with their own mouths the crime of which they were accused, he remained nearly an hour without saying anything, continuing to write and to make his secretaries write. Then there entered into his tent many officers of the army who came to pay their respects with great humility, and to whose salute he replied only by an inclination of the head.
39.5.11
Among these four prisoners who were brought into his presence there was one who had entered a house and had slain a mother and her three infants. He was condemned forthwith to have his feet and hands cut off, and to be thrown into a field near the high road to end his days. Another had stolen on the high road, and the Nawab ordered him to have his stomach slit open and to be flung in a drain. I could not ascertain what the others had done, but both their heads were cut off. While all this passed the dinner was served, for the Nawab generally eats at ten o’clock, and he made us dine with him. The sufra being removed, we took leave of the majority of the nobles who had also eaten with the Nawab; and when only two or three persons remained with him, we inquired through his interpreter if he had any commands for us, and whether he thought that our goods should be shown to the King. He replied that we might go to Golconda, where he would communicate with his son, to whom he would write on our behalf, and that his letter would arrive before us. He ordered sixteen horsemen to conduct us, and provide for us on the road whatever we required, up to a river 13 leagues from Gandikot, where no one is allowed to cross without having the Nawab's passport, so that the soldiers may not be able to desert.