مسالك الابصار في ممالك الامصار 2.125

2.125

قال: ومن جملة عناية هذا السلطان جعل بين قاعدتي ملكه وهما: دهلى وقبة الإسلام في هذه الأماكن (المخطوط ص 34) المعدة لإبلاغ الأخبار طبول، فحيثما كان في مدينة وفتح باب الأخرى أو غلق يدق الطبل، فإذا سمعه مجاوره دق، فيعلم خبر فتح المدينة التي هو غاب عنها، وغلقه في وقت الحاضر كل يوم بنوبة.

Thus a letter from a very distant place is conveyed in a very short time with greater celerity than if it had been transmitted by post, or by camel express. At each of these post-stations there are mosques, where prayers are said, and where travellers can find shelter, reservoirs full of good water, and markets where all things necessary for the food of man and beast can be purchased, so that there is very little necessity for carrying water, or food, or tents. All through the country which separates the two capitals of the empire, Dehli and Deogír, the Sultan has had drums placed at every post-station. When any event occurs in a city, or when the gate of one is opened or closed, the drum is instantly beaten. The next nearest drum is then beaten, and in this manner the Sultan is daily and exactly informed at what time the gates of the most distant cities are opened or closed. * * * * I will now speak about the money, and afterwards about the price of provisions, seeing that these are regulated and calculated upon the value of money. Shaikh Mubárak informed me that the red lac consists of 100,000 tankas (of gold), and the white lac of 100,000 tankas (of silver). The gold tanka, called the red tanka, is equal to three miskáls and the silver tanka comprises eight dirhams hashtkání. The dirham hashtkání has the same weight as the silver dirham, current in Egypt and Syria. The value of both is the same, with scarcely the slightest difference.