The 23d And 24th I Waited For The
Merchants; And On The Latter Of These Days I Had A Letter
From Ispahan,
saying that my letters had been dispatched for Aleppo, and that we were
expected in Persia, but on
Condition that we seconded the wishes of Shah
Abbas, by diverting the sale of his silks from Turkey. My letters added,
that the general of the Turks lay with a mighty army at Argerone,
[Arzerom,] six days march short of Tauris, as if uncertain whether to
attack that city, or to enter Gurgestan and Gilan, the provinces in
which silk is produced, so as to win that by conquest which was refused
in the way of trade. To guard against both attempts, Shah Abbas was
encamped at Salmas, whence he could march either way as might be
required. But, it was farther said, if the armies did not come to battle
in two months, the approach of winter, and the wants attendant on such
numerous bodies of men, would constrain both to quit the field. It is
thought the Persians will not adventure a battle, though 180,000 strong,
as, being light, and unencumbered with cannon or baggage, they are
fitted for rapid marches, and can harass the Turkish army with perpetual
skirmishes and assaults on all sides, hovering round about, and wasting
them, without hazard to themselves.
Sec.6. Sir Thomas Roe follows the Progress of the Court, and describes the
King's Leskar, and some Places through which he passed; with instances
of the King's Superstition and Drunkenness, and some curious Incidents
respecting a Present.
The 25th of November I removed four cosses from Agimere, but waited
during the remainder of that month, for the arrival of a caravan, going
from Agra to Surat, by which I might transmit my papers in safety. The
caravan departed from Agimere at midnight of the 30th November: and on
the 1st December I went six cosses to Ramsor, where the king had left
the naked bodies of an hundred men, put to death for robbery. The 2d I
travelled seven c. I rested the 3d, because of rain. The 4th I went five
c. and this day I overtook a camel, laden with 300 heads, sent from
Candahar to the king, the people to whom these heads had belonged having
been in rebellion. Travelling five c. on the 5th, and four c. on the
6th, I that day overtook the king at a walled town called Todah, in
the best and most populous country I had seen in India since I landed.
The district was quite level, having a fertile soil, abounding in corn,
cotton, and cattle, and the villages were so numerous and near together,
as hardly to exceed a coss from each other in any direction. This town
was the best built of any I had seen in India, many of the houses being
two stories high, and most of them good enough for decent shop-keepers,
all covered with tiles.
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