They Were Brought Out Of Bengal, A Kingdom In His
Dominions Of Most Wonderful Fertility, Above Four Months Journey From
This Place, The Mid-Land Parts Of Which Are Watered By Various Channels
And Branches Of The Famous River Ganges.
I have not yet seen that
country, but mean to visit it, God willing, before my departure, the
nearest part of it being only about twelve days journey from hence.
[Footnote 248: The Persian word Hasaret, here erroneously rendered
Great Prophet, seems to signify literally face or presence, and is
metaphorically used as a term of highest dignity, of which an instance
occurs in the present section, used by Coryat himself in addressing the
Great Mogul - E.]
Twice every week elephants are made to fight before the Mogul, forming
the bravest spectacle that can be imagined, many of them being thirteen
feet and a half in height, and they jostle together as though they were
two little mountains; and were they not separated in the midst of their
fighting, by means of certain fire-works, they would exceedingly hurt
and gore each other, by their murderous tusks. The Mogul is said to keep
30,000 elephants, at a most enormous expence; and in feeding them,
together with his lions and other beasts, he expends an incredible sum
of money, being at the least 10,000 pounds sterling daily. I have myself
rode upon an elephant since I came to this court, meaning in my next
book to have my effigies represented in that form. This king keeps a
thousand women for his own use, the chiefest of whom, called Normal,
(Noormahal) is his queen.
In my ten months journey between Aleppo and this court, I spent just
three pounds sterling, yet fared reasonably every day; victuals being so
cheap in some of the countries through which I travelled, that I often
lived competently for one penny a-day. Of that three pounds, I was
actually cozened out of ten shillings, by certain evil Christians of the
Armenian nation; so that in reality I only expended fifty shillings in
all that time. I have been in a city of this country called
Detee,[249] where Alexander the Great joined battle with Porus king of
India, and defeated him; and where, in memory of his victory, he caused
erect a brazen pillar, which remains there to this day. At this time I
have many irons in the fire, as I am learning the Persian, Turkish, and
Arabic languages, having already acquired the Italian. I have been
already three months at the court of the Great Mogul, and propose, God
willing, to remain here five months longer, till I have got these three
languages; after which I propose to visit the river Ganges, and then to
return to the court of Persia.
[Footnote 249: This is obviously a misprint for Delee, meaning Delhi;
but it is more probable that Alexander never was beyond the Punjab. - E.]
In the course of my journey, I was robbed of my money, but not of all,
having some concealed in certain secret corners.
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