Travels in India (Tavernier) 8.1

8.1

Before setting out for Agra, it is appropriate to speak of the carriages and of the manner of travelling in India, which, in my opinion, is not less convenient than all that they have been able to invent in order that one may be carried in comfort either in France or in Italy. Different from (the custom in) Persia, one does not employ in India in caravans or journeys either asses, mules, or horses, all being carried there on oxen or by waggon, as the country is sufficiently level. If any merchant takes a horse from Persia he only does it for show, and to have him led by hand, or in order to sell him advantageously to some noble. They give an ox a load weighing 300 or 350 livres, and it is an astonishing sight to behold caravans numbering 10,000 or 12,000 oxen together, for the transport of rice, corn, and salt — in the places where they exchange these commodities — carrying rice to where corn only grows, and corn to where rice only grows, and salt to the places where there is none. They use camels also for caravans, but rarely, and they are specially reserved to carry the baggage of the nobles. When the season presses, and they wish to have the goods quickly at Surat, in order to ship them, they load them on oxen, and not on carts. As all the territories of the Great Mogul are well cultivated, the fields are enclosed by good ditches, and each has its tank or reservoir for irrigation.