Each
Criminal Was Attended By A Keeper, Who Held His Prisoner By The Hair:
And
all thus waited the imperial sentence.
Most of these were remanded to
prison, and only a few were condemned to die, which power resides solely in
the emperor. All the governors of this vast empire, however distant from
court, send all malefactors to Khanbalik, to appear in presence of the
emperor. Each persons crime is written on one end of the board which he
carries about his neck; and the crimes against religion are the most
severely punished of all. Great care is taken to examine into all the facts
on these occasions, insomuch that the emperor holds council twelve several
times before he condemns any one to death. Hence a person who has been
condemned in eleven successive councils, is sometimes acquitted in the
twelfth, which is always held in presence of the emperor, who never
condemns any but those he cannot save. When the criminals were dismissed,
the ambassadors were led by an officer within fifteen cubits of the throne;
and this officer, on his knees, read out of a paper the purport of their
embassy; adding that they had brought rarities as presents to his majesty,
and were come to knock their heads against the ground before him. Then the
Kadhi Mulana Haji Yusof, a commander of ten thousand, who was a favourite
of the emperor and one of his twelve councillors, approached to the
ambassadors, with some Moslems who spoke the Persian language, and ordered
them to fall on their knees and knock their ground with their foreheads;
but they only bowed their heads three times. Then they delivered the
letters of Shah Rokh and the other princes, wrapped up in yellow satin, to
Kadhi Mulana, who gave them into the hands of a khoja of the palace at the
foot of the throne, and he presented them to the emperor. He took them into
his own hands, opened them and looked at them, and delivered them back to
the khoja, who descended from the throne, and sat down on a seat at the
foot of the steps. At the same time were brought out three thousand
vestments of fine stufis, and two thousand coarse, such as are the usual
clothing of the imperial children and household[35]. The emperor then
commanded the ambassadors to draw near, and being on their knees, he
inquired after the health of Shah Rokh, and put many other questions to
them, all of which they answered. He then ordered them to rise, and go eat,
saying that they had come a far journey. From thence the ambassadors were
conducted back to the first court, where they were feasted in a similar
manner as at other times already mentioned.
When this entertainment was finished, they were conducted to their
lodgings, in which the principal chamber was furnished with a large sofa or
raised platform, laid with fine silk cushions, a great basin, and a pan for
fire.
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