168 VIZIER'S CHARACTER. 



kingdom, and carried them to Calcutta, where 

 he sold them to some one, who resold them to the 

 Vizier for the sum (as I was informed) of ten 

 thousand rupees (1250). They were fine ani- 

 mals. He took great delight in shewing them to 

 the native gentlemen, calling them the English 

 elephants. For a long time he amused himself 

 daily in seeing what a quantity of grain they 

 devoured at each meal, in fact, they were never 

 put to any use whatever, and were soon killed by 

 overfeeding. 



The Vizier was supposed to have the largest 

 and finest collection of pigeons and doves in the 

 universe. Their number and variety were so 

 great, that I should fail in any attempt to describe 

 them. They were kept in a large enclosure con- 

 taining a number of houses. Some of them were 

 as large as common fowls, others very small. 

 Many of the doves were less than the common 

 thrush of this country. 



This extraordinary man, spent the whole of his 

 time in viewing the different things he possessed, 

 or in shooting, cock-fighting, quail fighting, 

 pigeon flying, or paper kite flying, or in witness- 

 ing the combats of tigers and buffaloes, or ele- 



