Book JL Travels in I ND i 



4? 



and till the return of the King he never ftirr'd out of the Gate, where he bdg'd, 

 neither by night nor day. At fuch a time as that it was, that 1 was permitted to 

 fee the Palace of Agra : . The King being departed for Gehanavad, whither all the 

 Court followed him, together with the Women, the Government of the Palace 

 was given to one that was a great Friend to the Hollanders, and indeed to all the 

 FranfUis. M ni tir VcLint^ chief of the Holland- FaBory at AgNiy fo foon as the" 

 Kina was departed; went to vifit the Lord, and to prefent him according to 

 cuftom. The Pielent was worth about 6000 Crowns, and confifted in Spices, 

 Cabinets of Jap.w, and fine ffoffand-Qoath. He dcfir'd me to go along with 

 him when he went to Compliment the Governour. But the Lord being offended 

 that he had put himfelf to fo much charge, fore'd him to carry the Prefent back 

 again, taking only one fdpan-Gme, of fix that were in the Prefent, telling him he 

 would have no more, out of the kindnefs which he had for the Franguiz*. Nay, 

 he would not fo much as take the Gold-head and FeruU, but caus'd them to be 

 taken off. The Complements being over, the Governor ask'd Mtnheir Felant^ 

 wherein he might ferve him : whereupon he defiring the favour, that fince the 

 Court was gone, he might fee the infide of the Palace, the Governor granted his 

 requeft, and order'd fix men to attend him. 



The rirft Gate where the Governor of the Palace lies, is a long blind Arch, 

 which leads you into a large Court all environ'd with Portico's $ like our Piazza 

 in Covent-Garden. The Gallery irt front is larger and higher than any of the reft, 

 fuitain'd by three ranks of Pillars, and under thofe Galleries on the other fide of 

 the Court which are narrower and lower, are little Chambers for the SouJdiers 

 of the Guard. In the midft of the large Gallery, is a Nich in the Wall, into 

 which the King defcends out of his Haram by a private pair of Stairs, and 

 when he is in, he feems to be in a kind of a Tomb. He has no Guards with him 

 then, for he has no reafon to be afraid of any thing ; there being no way to 

 come at him. In the heat of the day lie keeps himfelf there only with one 

 Eunuch but more often with one of his Children, to fan him. The Great Lords 

 of the Con. t ftay below in the Gallery under the Nich all the while. 



At the farther end of this Court is another Gate that leads into a fecond' 

 Court encompait with Galleries, underneath which, are little Chambers for fome 

 Officers of the Palace. The fecond Court carries you into a third, which is the 

 Kind's Quarter. Cha-jchan had relblv'd to cover with Silver all the Arch of a 

 Gallery upon the right-hand. And a French- man, ~4ttjlin de Bordeaux by name_, 

 nras to have done the work : but the King no: rinding any one in his whole King- 

 dom io capable as the French-man was to treat with the Portvgals at Goa about 

 fome important affair lie had at that time ; the defign was laid alide : For they 

 being afraid of v////r *Vs Parts, poifon'd him upon his return to Cochin. This Gal- 

 lery is painted with branch'd-work of Gold and Azure, and the lower-part is 

 hung with Tapeltry. There are feveral doors under the Gallery that lead into 

 little fquare-Chambers j of which we faw two or three open'd, and they told us 

 all the reft were fuch. The other three fides of the Court lie all open, there be- 

 ing nothing but a fingle Wall, no higher than for a man to lean over. On the 

 fide that looks toward the River there is a Divan, or a kind of out-jutting Bal- 

 cone, where the King fits to fee his Brigantines, or to behold his Elephants fight. 

 Before the Divan is a Gallery, that ferves for a Portico j which Cha-jehan had a 

 defign to have adorn'd all over with a kind of Lattice-work of Emrauld's and Ru- 

 bies that fhould have reprefented to the life Grapes when they are green,aixl when 

 they begin to grow red. But this defign which made fuch a noife in the World, 

 and requir'd more Riches, than all the World could afford to pcrfecT, remains' 

 unfiniiVd ■, there being only three Stocks of a Vine in Gold, with their leavers 

 the reft ought to have been j and enamel'd in their natural colours, with fm- 

 ralds, Rubies and Granates wrought into the fafhion of Grapes. In the middle 

 of the Court ftands a great Fat to bath in, 40 foot in Diameter, cut out of one 

 entire grey-ftonc, with fteps wrought out of the fame ftone within and with- 

 out. 



As for the Monuments which are in and about ulgra, they are very fair ones -, 

 for there is fcarce an Eunuch belonging to the King's Haram, that is not very 

 ambitious of leaving a fair Monument behind him. Indeed, when they have 



* H heaf d 



