The Meats Were Not Amiss, But The Attendance And Order Were Excellent, As The Servants Were Very Diligent And Respectful.

After the manner of this country of giving presents to invited guests, he made me a present of five

Cases of sugar-candy flavoured with musk, and a loaf of the finest sugar, as white as snow, weighing fifty pounds, and requested my acceptance of an hundred such against my departure. He then addressed me in these terms: - "You refuse these from me, thinking I am poor, but being made in my government, it costs me nothing, as it comes to me gratis." To this I answered, that he had already much too far obliged me, yet would I not refuse his kindness when ready to go away. On which he replied, that he might not be then provided, and therefore desired I would accept now, that he might not lose both his offer and his labour. Thus, calling himself my father, and me his son, we took leave of each other, with many compliments.

I went to visit the king on the 16th, who, as soon as I came in, called to his women, and reached out his own picture set in gold, and hanging to a chain of gold wire, with a pendant of foul pearl, which he delivered to Asaph Khan, whom I warned not to demand any reverence from me on the occasion which I would not willingly perform; as it is the custom here, when he bestows any gift, that the receiver kneels down and touches the ground with his head; and which ceremony had been exacted from the ambassador of Persia. Then Asaph Khan came to me with the picture, which I offered to take in my hand, but he made a sign to me, to take off my hat and put it about my neck, leading me right before the king. Not understanding his purpose, and doubting he might require my conformance with the custom of the country, called sizeda, I resolved rather to forego the present than comply. He made a sign to me to return thanks to the king, which I did after the fashion of our country; on which some of the officers called for me to make sizeda, but the king immediately said, No, no, in Persian. So, with many gracious words, I returned to my place. You may judge of the king's liberality by this mighty gift, which was not in all worth thirty pounds, yet was five times the value of such as he usually gives of that kind, and which are yet held as a special favour, as all the great men wear the king's picture, which yet none may do but those to whom it is given. This ordinarily consists of only a small gold medal, not bigger than a sixpence, impressed with the king's image, having a short gold chain of six inches to fasten it on their turbans; and to which, at their own charges, some add precious stones or pearl pendents.

Gemaldin Ussen, who had invited me to the Havaer Gemal, as before mentioned, being newly appointed governor of Sinde, came to dine at my house on the 19th, accompanied by two of his sons and two other gentlemen, and attended by about an hundred servants. He partook of some part of the banquet, which had been prepared at my house by a Mahomedan cook, but declined eating of any of the dishes which were cooked after our English fashion, though he seemed to have a good inclination, being influenced by a superstitious notion; yet he desired that four or five dishes, of his own choice, might be sent to his own house, being all baked meats, dressed in a way he had not before seen, saying he would afterwards eat of them in private, which was accordingly done. At this entertainment, he offered us a free trade and secure residence at the chief town, of Sinde, his new government, and having filled himself with my banquet, he took his leave, after receiving a small present from me, according to the fashion of the country. This day, Mr Hall, my chaplain, died suddenly, to my great grief. He was a man of mild and gentle manners, and a most sincere Christian, of unspotted life and conversation.

On the 20th and the night before, there fell a vast storm of rain, called in this country the elephant, owing to which such prodigious streams of water flowed into the great tank, the head of which is of stone and apparently of great strength, that it gave way in one place, causing a sudden alarm that the whole fabric would give way and drown all that part of the town in which I dwelt. Insomuch that the prince and all his women forsook their house, and my nearest neighbour carried off his goods and his wife to the skirts of the hills on his elephants and camels. All persons had their horses ready at their doors, that they might save their lives by flight in case of necessity. We were in the utmost consternation, and sat up till midnight, having no alternative, as we thought, but to flee ourselves and abandon all our goods, for it was reported that the water would rise three feet higher than the top of our house, and carry all away, being only a slight mud building. The foot of the tank was level with our dwelling, and the water was of great extent and very deep, so that the surface of the water stood considerably higher than the top of my house, which stood in a hollow, in the very course of the water, and where every ordinary heavy rain occasioned such a current at my door as to be for some hours impassable by man or horse. But the king caused a sluice to be cut during the night, to conduct the water by another course, so that we were freed from the extreme danger; yet the excessive rain had washed down a considerable part of the walls of my house, and so weakened it by breaches in different parts, that I now feared its falling down, as much as I had dreaded its being swept away by the flood.

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