مسالك الابصار في ممالك الامصار 2.148

2.148

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

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.