Purchas informs us, that these were taken from certain
notes written by Coryat, given him by Sir Thomas Roe; "whence, omitting
such things as have been given before from the observations of Sir
Thomas Roe himself, I have inserted a few." - Purch.]
A great rajah of the Hindoos, who was a notorious atheist, and a
contemner of all diety, and who boasted that he knew of no God except
the king, and neither believed nor feared any other, happened one day to
sit dallying among his women, when one of them plucked a hair from his
breast, which hair being fast-rooted, plucked off along with it a small
bit of skin, so that a small spot of blood appeared. This small scar
festered and gangrened incurably, so that in a few days his life was
despaired of, and being surrounded by all his friends, and several of
the courtiers, he broke out into these excellent words: - "Which of you
would have thought that I, a warrior, should not have died by the stroke
of a sword, a spear, or an arrow? But now am I enforced to confess the
power of the great God I have so long despised, who needs no other lance
to slay so blasphemous a wretch and contemner of his holy majesty, such
as I have been, than a small hair."
Akbar Shah, the former king, had learnt all manner of sorceries; and
being once in a strange humour to shew a spectacle to his nobles, he
brought forth his favourite Sultana before them, and cut off her head
with a sword in their presence.
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