On
Coming Into The Presence, And Reaching The First Rail, He Made Three
Tessalims And One Sizeda, Which Is Prostrating Himself And Knocking
His Head Three Times Against The Ground.
On entering within the rail he
did the same, and then presented the letter of his master, Shabas,
[Shah Abbas.] This the king took with a slight inclination of the body,
saying only, How doth my brother?
Without using any title of majesty.
After some few words, the ambassador was placed in the seventh rank,
close to the rail beside the door, and below many of the king's
servants, which, in my opinion, was a very mean place for the ambassador
of Persia; but he richly merited this degradation for doing that mean
reverence to the dishonour of his master which all his predecessors had
refused, and by which he gave much offence to many of his nation. It is
reported that he had orders from Shah Abbas to give content in all
things, and hence it is conjectured that he is sent to obtain some aid
in money against the Turks, in which kind the court of Persia often
finds liberal succour from the Mogul government. Others pretend that his
object is to mediate a peace for the princes of the Deccan, whose
protection Shah Abbas is said to have much at heart, being jealous of
the extension of this empire.
According to custom, the king gave him a handsome turban, a vest of
cloth of gold, and a girdle, for which he again made three tessalims
and a sizeda, or ground courtesy.
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