A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels Volume Ix Part 26

16. _Bando_, its chief city so called, borders with Agra on the west.--No such name is to be found in modern maps.--E.

17. _Malwa_ is a very fertile province, of which Rantipore is the chief city.--In the other edition of this list in the Pilgrims, Ugen, Nar, and Sering, or Oojain, Indore, and Serong, are said to have been the capitals of Malwa. The Rantipore of Terry may have been that now called Ramypoor.--E.

18. _Chitor_, an ancient and great kingdom, its chief city being of the same name.--Chitore is in the south of Ajmeer. In the edition of this list given by Purchas at the end of the journal of Sir Thomas Roe, he gives the following account of Chitore: "Chitore stands upon a mighty hill, and is walled round in a circuit of ten English miles. There still remain at this place above an hundred temples, the palace of the ancient kings, and many brave pillars of carved stone. There is but one ascent to the place, cut out of the solid rock, and pa.s.sing through four magnificent gateways. Within the walls are the ruins of 100,000 houses of stone, but it is now uninhabited. This was doubtless one of the residences of Porus, and was won from the Ranna, his descendant, by Akbar shah, the father of the reigning Mogul. The Ranna fled into the fastnesses of his mountains, and took up his residence at Odeypoor; but was at length induced, in 1614, to acknowledge the Mogul as his superior lord, by Sultan Churrum, third son of the present emperor Shah Jehanguire. This kingdom lies N.W. from Candeish, N.E. from Guzerat, and in the way between Agra and Surat; the Ranna keeping among the hills to the west of Ahmedabad.--"_Purch._

19. _Guzerat_ is a goodly and mighty kingdom, and exceedingly rich, which incloses the bay of Cambay. The river Taptee waters the city of Surat, which trades to the Red Sea, to Acheen, and to divers other places.

20. _Khamdesh_, the chief city of which is Brampore, [Boorhanpoor, or Burhampore,] which is large and populous. Adjoining to this province is a petty prince called Partap-shah, tributary to the Mogul; and this is the most southerly part of the Mogul dominions.

21. _Berar_, the chief city of which is called Shahpoor. The southernmost part of this province likewise bounds the Mogul empire.--The Shahpoor of Terry may possibly be Saipoor in the north of Berar. In modern days, the chief cities of the great province or kingdom of Berar, now belonging to a Mahratta chief; are Nagpoor, Ruthunpoor, and Sonepoor.--E.

22. _Narwar_, its chief city being Gohud, is watered by a fair river that falls into the Ganges.--This province of Narwar, now called Gohud, from its chief city, is to be carefully distinguished from Marwar to the westwards.--E.

22. _Gualior_, with its chief city of the same name, in which the Mogul has a great treasury in bullion. In this city likewise there is an exceedingly strong castle, in which state prisoners are kept.--Gualior is, properly speaking, in the same province or district with Gohud.--E.

24. _Agra_ is a princ.i.p.al and great province, its chief city being of the same name. From Agra to Lah.o.r.e, the two chief cities of this empire, the distance is about 400 English miles, the country in all that distance being without a hill, and the road being planted the whole way with trees on both sides, forming a beautiful avenue.

25. _Sanbal_, with its chief city of the same name. The river Jumna parts this province from that called Narwar.--This province and city are not to be traced in modern maps.--E.

26. _Bakar_, the chief city of which is Bikaneer, lies on the west side of the Ganges.--Nothing resembling either name can now be found in the indicated situation in modern maps. Bicaneer is a district and town in the desert, far west of the Ganges.--E.

27. _Nagracutt_, or Nakarkut, with its chief city of the same name, in which there is a temple most richly adorned, the ceiling and pavement being of plates of pure gold. In this place they have an idol called Matta, visited yearly by many thousands of the Indians, who, from devotion, cut out part of their tongues, which they sacrifice at his altar. In this province likewise, there is another famous place of pilgrimage, Jallamaka, where there are daily to be seen incessant eruptions of fire, out of cold springs and hard rocks, before which the idolaters fall down and wors.h.i.+p.--In the edition of this list, appended by Purchas to the journal of Sir Thomas Roe, this district and city are said to be in the northeasternmost confines of the Mogul dominions, N.E.

from the head of the bay of Bengal. This description is however entirely at variance with the accompanying map in the Pilgrims, in which Nagracutt and its capital are placed east from the Punjab; the capital being on the easternmost of the five rivers of the Setlege, and towards its head. In the edition of this list given by Churchill, as an appendix likewise to Sir Thomas Roe, Nagracutt is said to lie to the north, between the Punjab and Jamboe. In our best modern maps, no district or place, having the smallest resemblance in name, is to be found in any of these indicated situations. Terry gives no reference as to situation; so that we may conjecture that Nagracutt may refer to Nucker-gaut, the pa.s.sage of the Ganges through the Sewalick mountains, between Serinagur and Hindoostan.--E.

28. _Siba_, the chief city of which is Hardwair, or Hurdwar, where the famous river Ganges seems to begin, and issues out of a rock, which the superst.i.tious Gentiles imagine resembles a cow's head, which animal they hold in the highest veneration; and to this place they resort daily in great numbers to wash themselves.

29. _Kakares_, the princ.i.p.al cities being Dankalec and Purhola. This country is very mountainous, and is divided from Tartary by the mountains of Caucasus, being the farthest north of any part of the Mogul dominions.--In the map of Purchas, this province or kingdom is called Kares, and is placed directly to the north of where the Ganges breaks through the Sewalick mountains, above Hurdwar, at the _Cow's-mouth_. In that direction are the little-known districts of Serinagur, Badry-cazram, and others; but no names either of towns or districts that in the least resemble those given by Terry.--E.

30. _Gor_, its chief city of the same name. This province is full of mountains, and in it begins the river Persilis, which discharges its waters into the Ganges.--In the other copy of this list in Purchas, so often already referred to, Gor is said to lie in the northern part of the Mogul dominions. From this, and the mountainous nature of the country, as stated by Terry, it may possibly be Gorcah, one of the little-known _twenty-four rajahs_, to the west of Napaul; and the Persilis of Terry may be the Sursutty or the Marshandy, both head streams of the Gunduck.--E.

31. _Pitan_, and its chief city so named. The river Kanda waters this province, and falls into the Ganges on its confines.--This is probably one of the _twenty-four_ rajahs, called Peytahn, in the mountainous country to the north of Oude, which is watered by several of the head streams of the Gunduck and Booree or Rapty rivers.--E.

32. _Kanduana_, the chief city of which is called Karhakatenka. The river Sersili parts it from Pitan; and this province, with Pitan and Gor, are the north-east boundaries of this great monarchy.--The indicated connection with Gor and Pitan, or Gorcah and Peytahn, would lead to suppose that Napaul is here meant. Karhakatenka may possibly be some name of Catmandoo, or may have some reference to Kyraut, a district in the east of Napaul, bordering on Bootan. The river Sersili of this district is evidently the Persilis mentioned in Gor, and may refer to the Sursutty.--E.

33. _Patna_, the chief city of which has the same name. The river Ganges bounds this province on the west, and the Sersilis on the east.

It is a very fertile province.--In the former edition of this list by Purchas, this province is said to be watered by four rivers, the Ganges, Jumna, Sersili, and Kanda, all of which rivers here unite. Patna is seated on the south side of the Ganges, which is joined a little way higher up by the Jumna. Opposite to Patna the Gunduck falls into the Ganges, probably the Kanda of Purchas, of which the Sursutty, formerly supposed to be the same with the Sersili, or Persilis, is one of the feeders. Patna is well known as a princ.i.p.al city of Bahar.--E.

34. _Jesual_, the chief city of which is called Raj.a.pore, lies east of Patna.--This may possibly refer to the district and city of Hajipoor in Bahar, to the N.E. of Patna.--E.

35. _Mevat_, the chief city of which province is Narnol, is a very mountainous country.--In the map of the Pilgrims, Mevat and Narnol are placed to the east of Jesual, but the geography of this part of Hindoostan in that map is utterly unintelligible, and no conjecture can be hazarded respecting either Mevat or Narnol.--E.

36. _Udessa_, the chief city of which is called Jokanat, is the most easterly territory in the kingdom of the Mogul.--In the other edition of this list given by Purchas, Udessa, or Udeza, is said to border on the kingdom of Maug, a savage people dwelling between this province and the kingdom of Pegu. Its eastern situation would lead to the province of Chittagong or Islambabad. The Maugs, or Mugs, are probably the barbarous mountaineers of Meckley to the north of Aracan; but no names in modern maps have any reference to Udessa, Udeza, or Jokanat, unless Jokanat be some strange corruption of Chittagong.--E.

37. _Bengal_, a mighty and fertile kingdom, bounded by the gulf or bay of the same name, into which the river Ganges discharges itself by four great branches, into which it divides.--In the other edition of this list, by Purchas, so often referred to, Ragamahall and Dakaka, or Rajemal and Dacca, are mentioned as the chief cities of Bengal. It would require far too long a commentary, to explain some farther ignorant indications of the havens and provinces of Bengal, contained in that former list, and in the map of the Pilgrims; both being so faulty in positions, and so corrupted in the names, as to be useless and unintelligible. By the labours of Rennel, as since extended and improved by Arrowsmith, the geography of Bengal is now as completely elucidated as that of Britain.--E.

Here I must take notice of a material error in our geographers, who, in their globes and maps, make Hindoostan and China neighbours, though many large countries are interposed between them. Their great distance may appear, from the long travels of the Indian merchants, who are usually more than two years in their journey and return, between Agra and the wall of China. The length of these before-named provinces, from N.W. to S.E. is at least 1000 cosses, every Indian coss being two English miles.

From N. to S. the extent is about 1400 miles. The greatest breadth, from N.E. to S.W. is about 1500 miles. The northernmost part is in 43 of north lat.i.tude.[230]

[Footnote 230: The northern mountains of Cashmere, are only in lat. 35 30' N. so that the 43 of the text is probably a mistake for 34.--E.]

To give an exact account of all these provinces, were more than I am able to undertake; yet, from what I have observed of a few, I may venture to conjecture concerning the rest, and I am convinced that the Great Mogul, considering the extent of his territories, his wealth, and the rich commodities of his dominions, is the greatest known monarch of the east, if not in the whole world. This widely extended sovereignty is so rich and fertile, and so abounding in all things for the use of man, that it is able to subsist and flourish of itself, without the help of any neighbour. To speak first of food, which nature requires most. This land abounds in singularly good wheat, rice, barley, and various other grains, from which to make bread, the staff of life. Their wheat grows like ours, but the grain is somewhat larger and whiter, of which the inhabitants make most pure and well-relished bread. The common people make their bread in cakes, which they bake or fire on portable iron hearths or plates, which they carry with them on their journeys, using them in their tents. This seems to be an ancient custom, as appears from the instance of Sarah in our bible, when she entertained the angels.

To their bread, they have great abundance of other excellent provisions, as b.u.t.ter and cheese in great plenty, made from the milk of their numerous cows, sheep, and goats. They have likewise a large animal, called a buffalo, having a thick smooth skin without hair, the females of which give excellent milk. Their flesh resembles beef, but is not so sweet or wholesome. They have plenty of venison of several kinds, as red and fallow deer, elks, and antelopes. These are not any where kept in parks, the whole empire being as it were a forest, so that they are seen every where in travelling through the country; and they are free game for all men, except within a certain distance of where the king happens to reside. They have also plenty of hares, with a variety of land and water fowl, and abundance of fish, which it were too tedious to enumerate. Of fowls, they have geese, ducks, pigeons, partridges, quails, pheasants, and many other good sorts, all to be had at low rates. I have seen a good sheep bought for about the value of our s.h.i.+lling: four couple of hens for the same price; a hare for a penny; three partridges for the same money; and so in proportion for other things.

The cattle of this country differ from ours, in having a great bunch of grisly flesh on the meeting of their shoulders. Their sheep have great bob-tails of considerable weight, and their flesh is as good as our English mutton, but their wool is very coa.r.s.e. They have also abundance of salt, and sugar is so plentiful, that it sells, when well refined, for two-pence a pound, or less. Their fruits are numerous, excellent, abundant, and cheap; as musk-melons, water-melons, pomegranates, pomecitrons, lemons, oranges, dates, figs, grapes, plantains, which are long round yellow fruits, which taste like our Norwich pears; mangoes, in shape and colour like our apricots, but more luscious, and ananas or pine-apples, to crown all, which taste like a pleasing compound of strawberries, claret-wine, rose-water, and sugar. In the northern parts of the empire, they have plenty of apples and pears. They have every where abundance of excellent roots, as carrots, potatoes, and others; also garlic and onions, and choice herbs for sallads. In the southern parts, ginger grows almost every where.

I must here mention a pleasant clear liquor called _taddy_, which issues from a spungy tree, growing straight and tall without boughs to the top, and there spreads out in branches resembling our English colewarts. They make their incisions, under which they hang small earthenware pots; and the liquor which flows out in the night is as pleasant to the taste as any white wine, if drank in the morning early, but it alters in the day by the sun's heat, becoming heady, ill-tasted and unwholesome. It is a most penetrating medicinal drink, if taken early and in moderation, as some have experienced to their great happiness, by relieving them from the tortures of the stone, that tyrant of maladies and opprobrium of the doctors.

At Surat, and thence to Agra and beyond, it only rains during one season of the year, which begins when the sun comes to the northern tropic, and continues till he returns again to the line. These violent rains are ushered in, and take their leave, by most fearful tempests of thunder and lightning, more terrible than I can express, but which seldom do any harm. The reason of this may be the subtile nature of the air, breeding fewer _thunder-stones_, than where the air is grosser and more cloudy.

In these three months, it rains every day more or less, and sometimes for a whole quarter of the moon without intermission. Which abundance of rain, together with the heat of the sun, so enriches the soil, which they never force by manure, that it becomes fruitful for all the rest of the year, as that of Egypt is by the inundations of the Nile. After this season of rain is over, the sky becomes so clear, that scarcely is a single cloud to be seen for the other nine months. The goodness of the soil is evident from this circ.u.mstance, that though the ground, after the nine months of dry weather, looks altogether like barren sands, it puts on an universal coat of green within seven days after the rains begin to fall. Farther to confirm this, among the many hundreds of acres I have seen in corn in India, I never saw any that did not grow up as thick as it could well stand. Their ground is tilled by ploughs drawn by oxen; the seed-time being in May or the beginning of June, and the harvest in November and December, the most temperate months in all the year. The ground is not inclosed, except near towns and villages, which stand very thick. They do not mow their gra.s.s for hay as we do; but cut it either green or withered, when wanted. They sow abundance of tobacco, but know not the way to cure it and make it strong, as is done in America.

The country is beautified by many woods, in which are a great variety of goodly trees; but I never saw any there of the kinds we have in England.

In general their trees are full of sap, which I ascribe to the fatness of the soil. Some have leaves as broad as bucklers; others are much divided into small portions, like the leaves of ferns. Such are those of the tamarind tree, which bears an acid fruit in a pod somewhat like our beans, and is most wholesome to cool and purify the blood. One of their trees is worthy of being particularly noticed: Out of its branches there grow certain sprigs or fibres, which hang downwards, and extend till they touch the ground, in which they strike roots, and become afterwards new trunks and firm supporters to the boughs and arms; whence these trees come in time to grow to a great height, and extend to an incredible breadth.[231] All trees in the southern parts of India are perpetually clothed in verdure Their flowers rather delight the eye than please the sense of smelling, having beautiful colours, but few of them, except roses and one or two other kinds, are any way fragrant.

[Footnote 231: The Banian tree, a species of Indian fig.--E.]

India is watered by many goodly rivers, the two chief of which are the Indus and the Ganges. There is this remarkable in the water of the Ganges, that a pint of it weighs less by an ounce than that of any other river in the empire; and therefore, wherever the Mogul happens to reside, it is brought to him for his drinking. Besides rivers, there are abundance of well-fed springs, on which they bestow great cost in many places, constructing many stone-buildings in the form of ponds, which they call _tanks_, some of which exceed a mile or two in circuit, made round or square or polygonal, girt all round with handsome stone-walls, within which are steps of well-dressed stone encompa.s.sing the water, for people to go down on every aide to procure supplies. These tanks are filled during the rainy season, and contain water for the supply of those who dwell far from springs or rivers, till the wet season again returns. Water, the most ancient beverage in the world, is the common drink of India, being more sweet and pleasant than ours, and agrees better with the const.i.tution in this hot country than any other liquor.

Some small quant.i.ty of wine is made among them, which they call arrack, but is not common, being distilled from sugar, and the spicy rind of a tree, which they call _jagra_. This is very wholesome, if used in moderation. Many of the people, who are strict in their religion, use no wine at all. They use a liquor which is more wholesome than pleasant, called _cohha_; being a black seed boiled in water, which does not much alter the taste of the water, but is an excellent helper of digestion, serving to quicken the spirits, and to purify the blood.[232] There is also another help for digestion and to comfort the stomach, used by those who refrain from wine. This is an herb called betel, or _paune_, its leaf resembling that of our ivy. They chew this leaf along with a hard nut, called _areka_, somewhat like a nutmeg, mixing a little pure white lime among the leaves; and when they have extracted the juice, they throw away the remains. This has many rare qualities: It preserves the teeth, comforts the brain, strengthens the stomach, and prevents a bad breath.

[Footnote 232: The author here describes coffee, now so universally known in Europe.--E.]

Their houses are generally very mean, except in the cities, where I have seen many fair buildings. Many of the houses in these are high, with flat roofs, where, in the cool of the mornings and evenings, they enjoy the fresh air. Their houses have no chimneys, as they use no fires, except for dressing their victuals. In their upper rooms, they have many windows and doors, for admitting light and air, but use no gla.s.s. The materials of their best houses are bricks and stone, well squared and built, as I have observed in Ahmedabad, which may serve as an instance for all. This is an extensive and rich city, compa.s.sed about with a strong stone-wall, and entered by twelve handsome gates. Both in their towns and villages, they have usually many fair trees among the houses, being a great defence against the violence of the sun. These trees are commonly so numerous and thick, that a city or town, when seen at a distance from some commanding eminence, seems a wood or thicket.

The staple commodities of this empire are indigo and cotton. To produce cotton, they sow seeds, which grow up into bushes like our rose-trees.

These produce first a yellow blossom, which falls off, and leaves a pod about the size of a man's thumb, in which the substance at first is moist and yellow. As this ripens, it swells larger, till at length it bursts the covering, the cotton being then as white as snow. It is then gathered. These shrubs continue to bear for three or four years, when they have to be rooted out, and new ones subst.i.tuted. Of this vegetable wool, or cotton, they fabricate various kinds of pure white cloth, some of which I have seen as fine as our best lawns, if not finer. Some of the coa.r.s.er sorts they dye in various colours, or stain with a variety of curious figures.

The s.h.i.+ps that go usually from Surat to Mokha, are of exceeding great burden, some of them, as I believe, exceeding 1400 or 1600 tons; but they are ill built, and though they have good ordnance, they are unable for any defence. In these s.h.i.+ps there are yearly a vast number of pa.s.sengers: As, for instance, in that year in which we left India, there came 1700 persons, most of whom went not for profit, but out of devotion, to visit the sepulchre of Mahomet at Medina near Mecca, about 150 leagues from Mokha. Those who have been upon this pilgrimage are ever after called _hoggeis_, [_hajim_] or holy men. This s.h.i.+p, from Surat for the Red Sea, begins her voyage about the 20th of March and returns to Surat about the end of September following. The voyage is short, and might easily be made in two months; but during the long season of the rains, and a little before and after, the winds are mostly so violent that there is no putting to sea without extreme hazard. The cargo of this s.h.i.+p, on its return, is usually worth 200,000 sterling, mostly in gold and silver. Besides this, and the quant.i.ties of money which come yearly out of Europe, which I do not pretend to calculate, many streams of silver flow continually thither, and there abide. It is lawful for all to bring in silver, and to carry away commodities, but it is a capital crime to carry away any great sums.

All the coin or bullion that comes to this country is presently melted down and refined, and coined with the stamp of the Mogul, being his name and t.i.tle in Persian characters. This coin is purer silver than any other that I know, being of virgin silver without alloy, so that in the Spanish dollar, the purest money in Europe, there is some loss. Their money is called _rupees_, which are of divers values, the meanest being worth two s.h.i.+llings, and the best about two s.h.i.+llings and nine-pence.

This is their general money of account. There is in Guzerat a coin of inferior value, called _mamoodies_, worth about twelve-pence each. Both these and the rupees are likewise coined in halves and quarters; so that three-pence is the smallest piece of current silver in the country. That which pa.s.ses current for small change is bra.s.s money, which they call _pices_, of which three, or thereabout, are worth an English penny.

These are made so ma.s.sy, that the bra.s.s in them, when put to other uses, is well worth the quant.i.ty of silver at which they are rated. Their silver money is made both square and round; but so thick, that it never breaks or wears out.

For farther commodities; India yields great store of silk, which they weave very ingeniously, sometimes mixed with gold or silver. They make velvets, sattins, and taffetas, but not so rich as those of Italy. This country also produces many drugs and gums, and particularly the gum-lac, from which hard sealing-wax is made. The earth also yields abundant minerals, as lead, iron, copper, and bra.s.s, and, as they say, silver; yet, though this be true, they need not work their silver mines, being already so abundantly supplied with that metal from other nations. They have spices from other countries, and especially from Sumatra, Java, and the Molucca islands. They have curious pleasure gardens, planted with fruit-trees and delightful flowers, to which nature lends daily such ample supply, that they seem never to fade. In these places they have pleasant fountains, in which to bathe, and other delights by various conveyances of water, whose silent murmurs sooth their senses to sleep, in the hot season of the day.

Lest this remote country might seem an earthly paradise, without any inconveniences, I must notice that it contains many lions, tigers, wolves, and jackals, which are a kind of wild dogs, besides many other noxious and hurtful animals. In their rivers they have many crocodiles, and on the land many overgrown snakes and serpents, with other venomous and pernicious creatures. In the houses we often meet with scorpions, whose stinging is most painful and even deadly, unless the part be immediately anointed with an oil made of scorpions.[233] The abundance of flies in those parts is likewise an extreme annoyance; as, in the heat of the day, their numbers are so prodigious, that we cannot have peace or rest for them in any part. They cover our meat the moment it is set on the table, wherefore we are obliged to have men standing ready to drive them away with napkins, while we are eating. In the night, likewise, we are much disquieted with musquetos, like our gnats, but somewhat less; and, in the cities, there are such numbers of large hungry rats, that they often bite people as they sleep in their beds.

[Footnote 233: This is a mere fancy, as any bland oil is equally efficacious.--E.]

In this country the winds, which are called monsoons, blow constantly, or altering only a few points, for six months from the south, and other six months from the north. The months of April and May, and the beginning of June, till the rains come, are extremely hot; and the wind, which then sometimes blows gently over the parched ground, becomes so heated, as much oppresses all who are exposed to it: Yet G.o.d so mercifully provides for our relief, that most commonly he sends so strong a gale as greatly tempers the sultry air. Sometimes the wind blows very high during the hot and dry season, raising up vast quant.i.ties of dust and sand, like dark clouds pregnant with rain, and which often prodigiously annoy the people among whom they fall. But there is no country without its inconveniences; for the wise Disposer of all events hath attempered bitter things with sweet, to teach mankind that there is no true or perfect contentment to be found, but only in the kingdom of G.o.d.

This country has many excellent horses, which the inhabitants know well how to manage. Besides those bred in the country, they have many of the Tartarian, Persian, and Arabian breeds, which last is considered as the best in the world. They are about as large as ours, and are valued among them at as dear a rate as we usually esteem ours, perhaps higher. They are kept very daintily, every good horse being allowed one man to dress and feed him. Their provender is a species of grain called _donna_, somewhat like our pease, which are boiled, and then given cold to the horses, mixed with coa.r.s.e sugar; and twice or thrice a week they have b.u.t.ter given them to scour their bodies. There are likewise in this country a great number of camels, dromedaries, mules, a.s.ses, and some rhinoceroses. These are huge beasts, bigger than the fattest oxen to be seen in England, and their skins lie upon their bodies in plaits or wrinkles.

They have many elephants, the Great Mogul having not fewer than 1400 for his own use, and all the n.o.bles of the country have more or less, some having to the number of an hundred. Though the largest of all terrestrial animals, the elephants are wonderfully tractable, except that they are mad at times; but at all other times, a little boy is able to rule the largest of them. I have seen some thirteen feet high; but I have been often told that some are fifteen feet in height at the least.

Their colour is universally black, their skins very thick and smooth, and without hair. They take much delight to bathe themselves in water, and they swim better than any beast I know. They lie down and rise again at pleasure, as other beasts do. Their pace is not swift, being only about three miles an hour; but they are the surest footed beasts in the world, as they never endanger their riders by stumbling. They are the most docile of all creatures, and of those we account merely possessed of instinct, they come nearest to reason. Lipsius, _Cent_. 1, _Epist_.

50, in his observations, taken from others, writes more concerning them than I can confirm, or than any can credit, as I conceive; yet I can vouch for many things which seem to be acts of reason rather than of mere brute sense, which we call instinct. For instance, an elephant will do almost any thing which his keeper commands. If he would have him terrify a man, he will make towards him as if he meant to tread him in pieces, yet does him no hurt. If he would have him to abuse a man, he will take up dirt, or kennel water, in his trunk, and dash it in his face. Their trunks are long grisly snouts, hanging down betwixt their tusks, by some called their hand, which they use very dexterously on all occasions.

An English merchant, of good credit, told me the following story of an elephant, as having happened to his own knowledge at Ajimeer, the place where the Mogul then resided:--This elephant used often to pa.s.s through the bazar, or market-place, where a woman who there sold herbs used to give him a handful as he pa.s.sed her stall. This elephant afterwards went mad,[234] and, having broken his fetters, took his way furiously through the market-place, whence all the people fled as quickly as possible to get out of his way. Among these was his old friend the herb-woman, who, in her haste and terror, forgot to take away her little child. On coming to the place where this woman was in use to sit, the elephant stopped, and seeing the child among the herbs, he took it up gently in his trunk, and laid it carefully on a stall under the projecting roof of a house hard by, without doing it the smallest injury, and then continued his furious course. A travelling Jesuit, named Acosta, relates a similar story of an elephant at Goa, as from his own experience.--The king keeps certain elephants for the execution of malefactors. When one of these is brought forth to dispatch a criminal, if his keeper desires that the offender be destroyed speedily, this vast creature will instantly crush him to atoms under his foot; but if desired to torture him, will break his limbs successively, as men are broken on the wheel.