Travels in India (Tavernier) 41.2
Travels in India (Ball) 41.2
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- English
41.2.1
On the 28th, having made 5 leagues, we halted at a place called Dabir-pinta. On the 29th, after a march of 12 hours, we slept at Holcora. On the 30th we made 8 leagues, and passed the night at Peridera. On Monday, the 1st day of October, after having made 10 leagues, we slept at Atenara. It is one of the houses of pleasure built by the Queen, mother of the King who reigns at present. It has many rooms, opening on a grand square which is in front of the house, for the accommodation of travellers. It should be remarked that in all the countries which we have just passed through, both in the Kingdom of Carnatic and the Kingdoms of Golconda and of Bijapur, there are hardly any physicians except for the Kings and Princes. As for the commonality, when the rains have fallen and it is the season to collect plants, in the mornings you see mothers of families going out from the towns and villages to collect the simples which they know to be proper for the diseases which occur in a family. It is true that in good towns there are generally one or two men who have some knowledge of medicine, who seat themselves each morning in the market-place or at a corner of the street in order to administer remedies, either potions or plasters, to those who come to ask for them. They first feel the pulse, and when giving the medicine, for which they take only the value of two farthings, they mumble some words between their teeth.
41.2.2
On the 2d of October we had only 4 leagues to make to Golconda. We went to stop at the house of a young Dutch surgeon of the King, named Pitre de Lan, whom M. Cheteur, the Batavian Envoy, had left at Golconda — the King having asked for him from him very earnestly. This Prince always suffered from a pain in the head, and the physicians had ordered him to be bled under the tongue in four places; but he was unable to find any one willing to undertake it — for, regarding surgery, the people of the country understand nothing about it. Before De Lan entered the service of the King he was asked if he could bleed well, to which he replied that it was the least difficult part of surgery. It was with great reluctance that the Batavian Envoy consented to leave him. But he did not wish to disoblige the King, and De Lan received 800 pagodas as salary. Some days after the Envoy’s departure the King summoned this surgeon and told him that he wished him to bleed him on the following day in four places under the tongue, as his physicians had directed, but that he should take care not to draw more than eight ounces. De Lan returning to the Court on the following day, was conducted into a room by two or three eunuchs, and four old women came to conduct him to a bath where, having undressed and washed him well, especially his hands, they anointed him with drugs and aromatics ;
41.2.3
and in place of his own clothes, which were of European make, they gave him a garment made according to the fashion of the country. They then took him to the King, where they brought basins of gold which the physicians who were present weighed ; these were to receive the blood. He then bled the King under the tongue in four places, and he did it so skilfully that, on weighing the blood with the basins, he found that he had drawn eight ounces exactly. The King was so satisfied with this operation that he gave him 300 pagodas , which are equal to nearly 700 écus. The young Queen and the Queen-dowager having heard of it, desired that he would come to bleed them, but I believe it was more from the curiosity they had to see him than for any need they had to be bled, for he was a young and well-made man, and probably in their lives they had not seen a stranger close — for from a distance the thing is not impossible, since from the place where they stay they are able to see without being themselves seen. De Lan was then brought into a chamber, where the same women who had taken him to the bath before he had bled the King uncovered his arms, which they washed well, and especially his hands, after which they anointed him with scented oil, as they had done when he went to bleed the King. That being done, they drew a curtain, and the young Queen putting out an arm through a hole, the surgeon bled her, and he afterwards did the same for the Queen mother.
41.2.4
The first bestowed on him 50, and the other 30 pagodas with some pieces of gold brocade. Two days after our arrival we went to salute the son of the Nawab, and were told that we could not speak to him on that day. The following day we returned, and as the same thing was repeated, some one told us that we might amuse ourselves in that manner for a long time, and that he was a young noble who scarcely ever left the presence of the King, and that on leaving the palace he shut himself up in his harem with his women. The surgeon, De Lan, seeing that our business might become protracted, offered to speak of it to the first physician of the King, who was also in his confidence, who, having shown much friendship for the Batavian Envoy and for De Lan himself could easily find an opportunity for obliging us. In short, as soon as De Lan had spoken to him he sent for us, in order to inquire what service he could render us. After he had saluted us, he caressed us a thousand times, and, having invited us to be seated, ordered some fruits of the country to be brought. He then inquired whence we had come, and upon what subject we desired to speak to the King; and having told him that we had some choice pearls which we wished to show to his Majesty, he asked us to show them to him the following day — this we did.
41.2.5
After he had seen them, he told us to replace them in their little bags, desiring us to close them with our seal, because all things presented to the King should be sealed with the seal of the merchant, and when the King has seen it he places his, in order that there may be no fraud. Thus we left the whole sealed packet in his hands, and he promised to show it to the King, and render us a good account of the service which he had undertaken in order to oblige us.
41.2.6
The following morning, very early, we went to hunt with De Lan, and on returning, at eight or nine o’clock a.m., we went to the river’s bank to see how the elephants of the King and the great nobles are washed. The elephant enters the water up to the belly, and lying down on one side takes water from time to time in its trunk and throws it upon the uncovered portion of its body in order to wash it well. The keeper then takes a kind of pumicestone, and rubbing the skin cleans it of all the dirt which has accumulated, upon it. Some believe that when this animal lies on the ground it cannot get up by itself; this is quite contrary to what I have seen, for as soon as the keeper has rubbed it well on one side he orders it to turn on the other, which the elephant does promptly, and after it is well washed on both sides it leaves the river and remains for some time on the bank in order to dry itself. Then the keeper brings a pot full of red or yellow paint, and paints lines on its forehead, around the eyes, on the chest, and on the back, rubbing it then with cocoanut oil to strengthen the nerves, some keepers finally adding false tinsel on the forehead.
41.2.7
On the 15th [October] the chief physician sent for us at two o’clock p.m., and returned us our pearls, carefully sealed with the King’s seal, which his Majesty had ordered to be placed upon them after he had seen them. He asked us the price of each, this we told him, and, as he had a eunuch with him who noted all down, the latter, being astonished at seeing pearls of such a price, remarked that we took the people of the court of the King of Golconda for persons without judgment or knowledge, and that he saw daily other precious things which were brought to the King. I replied sharply to the eunuch that I could well believe that he knew the price of a female slave better than that of a jewel, and so saying we shut up our pearls, and taking leave of the physician, returned to our lodging. We had no sooner arrived there than we sent to hire two coaches, each of us having already a bridle horse, and, on the following day, in the morning, we left Golconda, and were not able to travel more than a league and a half that day, because the Portuguese, English, and Dutch gunners of the King escorted us, and we spent our time in enjoying ourselves.