مسالك الابصار في ممالك الامصار 2.146-150

2.146

قال [3] : بلغني أن ممن تقدم لهذا السلطان فتح فتوحا، فأخذ منه من الذهب وسق ثلاثة عشر ألف بقرة، قلت: والمشهور عن أهل هذه البلاد جمع الأموال وتحصيلها حتى أن بعضهم إذا سئل كم معك؟ فيقول: ما أعرف إلا أن ثاني ولد

He said: I have heard that one of those who preceded this Sultan made a conquest and took from it gold to the load of thirteen thousand oxen. I say: It is well known of the people of these lands that they amass and acquire wealth, so that when one of them is asked, 'How much do you have?', he says, 'I know only that I am the second son

Our shaikh, the marvel of the age, Shamsu-d din Isfahani, gave me the following details. Kutbu-d din Shirazi maintained that alchemy was a positive science. One day I argued with him, and endeavoured to prove the falsity of the art. He replied, "You know very well the quantity of gold that is annually consumed in the fabrication of various articles and objects of many kinds. The mines are far from producing a quantity equal to that which is thus withdrawn. As regards India, I have calculated that for the last three thousand years that country has not exported gold into other countries, and whatever has entered it has never come out again. Merchants of all countries never cease to carry pure gold into India, and to bring back in exchange commodities of herbs and gums. If gold were not produced in an artificial way, it would altogether have disappeared." Our shaikh, Shahabu-d din, observed upon this that what this author asserted of gold going into India, and never coming out again, was perfectly true; but the conclusion which he drew from this fact, as to alchemy being a real science, was false and illusory. He adds the following statement: "I have heard say that one of the predecessors of the Sultan, after making great conquests, carried off from the countries he had subdued as much gold as required 13,000 oxen to carry."

I must add, that the inhabitants of India have the character of liking to make money and hoard it. If one of them is asked how much property he has, he replies, "I don't know, but I am the second or third of my family who has laboured to increase the treasure which an ancestor deposited in a certain cavern, or in certain holes, and I do not know how much it amounts to." The Indians are accustomed to dig pits for the reception of their hoards. Some form an excavation in their houses like a cistern, which they close with care, leaving only the opening necessary for introducing the gold pieces. Thus they accumulate their riches. They will not take worked gold, either broken or in ingots, but in their fear of fraud refuse all but coined money. The following information I derived from the Shaikh Burhanu-d dín Abu Bakr bin Khallál Muhammad Bazzí, the Súfi. The Sultan [Muhammad Tughlik] sent an army against a country bordering upon Deogír, at the extremity of that province. It is inhabited by infidels, and all its princes bear the title of rá [rái]. The reigning prince, finding himself pressed by the troops of the Sultan, made this communication: "Tell your master that if he will leave us at peace, I am ready to send him all the riches he can desire; all he has to do is to send me sufficient beasts to carry the sum he requires." The general sent this proposition to his master, and was ordered to cease hostilities, and to give the rái a safe conduct.

2.147

يجمع على مال جده أو ثالث ولد في هذا النقب أو في هذا الجب، وما نعلم كم هو، وهم يتخذون أجبابا لجمع الأموال ، ومنهم حق ينقب في بيته، ويتخذ به بركة ويسدها، ولا يدع إلا مقدار ما يسقط منه الدنانير ليجمع فيها الذهب، وهم لا يأخذون الذهب المصوغ ولا المكسور ولا السبائك خوفا من الغبن ، ولا يأخذون إلا الدنانير المسكوكة.

adding to my grandfather's wealth,' or 'the third son, in this hole or in this pit, and we do not know how much it is.' They make pits for amassing wealth; some of them dig a hole in his house, make a cistern of it and seal it, leaving only an opening large enough for dinars to drop through, so as to collect gold in it. They do not accept wrought gold, nor broken gold, nor ingots, for fear of being cheated; they accept only minted dinars.

2.148

وفي بعض جزائرهم من ينصب على سطح داره علما، كلما تكامل لأحدهم جرة ذهب، حتى يكون لبعضهم عشرة أعلام وأكثر.

In some of their islands there are those who set up a flag on the roof of their house each time one of them completes a jar of gold, so that some of them have ten flags or more.

2.149

وحدثني الشيخ برهان الدين أبو بكر بن الخلال محمد البزي الصوفي قال:

Shaykh Burhān al-Dīn Abū Bakr b. al-Khallāl Muḥammad al-Bazzī the Sufi told me:

2.150

بعث هذا السلطان عسكر إلى بلاد مجاورة للدواكير في نهاية حدودها، وأهلها كفار، يدعى كل ملك منهم الرا [1] ، فلما نازله جيوش السلطان بعث يقول لهم، قولوا للسلطان أن يكف عنا، ومهما أراد من الملك يبعث له ما أراد من الدواب لأحمله له ، فبعث أمير الجيش يعرفه بما قال، فأعاد جوابه بأنه يكف عنهم القتال، ويؤمنه للحضرة معه، فلما حضر إلى السلطان أكرمه إكراما كثيرا، وقال له: ما سمعت مثل ما قلت، فكم عندك من المال حتى قلت إنا نبعث لك مهما أردنا من الدواب لتحملها؟ فقال: تقدمني سبع رآات [2] في هذه المملكة،

This Sultan sent an army to lands adjoining Dawākīr at the far end of its borders, whose people are infidels, each of their kings being called the Rā. When the Sultan's armies besieged him, he sent word to them: 'Tell the Sultan to leave us alone, and whatever wealth he wants, let him send me whatever beasts of burden he wishes and I will load it for him.' The commander of the army sent to inform [the Sultan] of what he had said, and he replied that he would cease fighting them and grant him safe-conduct to come to court with him. When he came before the Sultan, he honoured him greatly and said to him: 'I have never heard the like of what you said. How much wealth do you have, that you said we should send you whatever beasts we wished for you to load?' He said: 'Seven Rās preceded me in this kingdom,

When the rái appeared before the Sultan, the latter heaped honours upon him, and said: "I have never heard the like of what you have proposed. What is the amount, then, of those treasures that you undertake to load with gold as many beasts of burden as we like to send?" The rái replied: "Seven princes have preceded me in the government of my kingdom. Each of them amassed a treasure amounting to seventy bains, and all these treasures are still at my disposal." The word bain signifies a very large cistern, into which there is a descent by a ladder on each of the four sides. The Sultan, delighted by this statement, ordered his seal to be put on these treasures, which was done. Then he ordered the rái to appoint viceroys in his dominions, and to reside at Dehli. He also invited him to turn Musulmán, but on his refusal he allowed him to adhere to his own religion. The rái dwelt at the court of the Sultan, and appointed viceroys to govern his territories. The Sultan assigned him a suitable income, and sent considerable sums into his territories to be distributed as alms among the inhabitants, seeing they were now subjects of the empire. Lastly, he did not touch the bains, but left them as they were, under seal.