Book I Travels in India. 6> 



Elephants that carry Gages, which in fbme fort referable the Body of a little 

 Coach; there arc others that have but one man to guide them,, and another 

 in the Cage who carries a Banner. 



After the Elephants, follow the Camels by two and two, fbmetirnes to the 

 number of thirty or forty. Every Camel carries a kind of Packfaddle, upon 

 which is faiten'd a little Culverine, which a certain Engineer, clad in a skin from 

 head to foot, and lifting upon the Cropper of the Camel, with a lighted Match 

 in his hand, dextrouily manages from one fide to another before the Baleone, 

 where the King fits. 



After them come the Coaches, attended by the Domeftick Servants of the 

 Commander : Next to them follow the lead-Horfcs, and then the Lord appears, 

 to whom all this Equipage belongs, attended by ten or twelve Curtifans, that itay 

 for him at the end of the Bridg, and skip and dance before him to the Piasx*. 

 Behind him the Cavalry and Infantry march in good order : Which being a fhew, 

 wherein there was much of delight and ftate, all the while I fraid at Bag>;abar y 

 which was about four Months, I had the divertifement to lee them out of my 

 Lodging in the great Street every week as they mareffd by. 



The Souldiers wear no other Clothes than only three or four ells of Calicut, 

 with which they cover half their Bodies behind and before. They wear their 

 hair very long, and tie it up in a knot upon the top of the crown, like the wo- 

 men, who have no other Headgear than only a piece of Linnen with three cor- 

 ners, one that comes to the middle of the head, and the other two, which they 

 tie under their chins. The Souldiers do not wear Hangers or Scimitars like the 

 ferfuws j but broad Swords like the Switz.ers, as well for a thruit, as a blow, 

 which they hang in a Girdle. The Barrels of their Muskets are ltronger than 

 ours, and much neater ; for their Iron is better, and not fo fnbJccT: to break. 

 Their Cavalry carry Bows and Arrows, a Buckler and a Battel- Ax, an Headpiece 

 and a Jacket of Mail, that hangs down from the Headpiece over their Shoul- 

 ders. 



There are Co great a number of common Women as well in the City as in the 

 Suburbs, and in the Fortrels, which is like another City, that there are generally 

 above twenty thoufand let down in the Derog.Ss Book j without which licence, it 

 is not lawful for any Woman to profefs the i rade. They pay no tribute to the 

 King j only thev are oblig'd to come, a certain number of them, with their Gu- 

 vernefs, and their Mufick every Friday, and prefent themlclves before the Balcone. 

 If the King be there, they dance before him : if he intend not to come, an Eunuch 

 comes into the Falcone, and makes them a fign to retire. In the cool of the 

 evening they itand at the doors of their Homes, which are for the moft part little 

 Huts ; and when night comes, they let up a Candle or a lighted Lamp for a Signal : , 

 Then it is alio that "they open all the Shops where they fell Tari ; which is a cer- 

 tain drink made of the juice of a Tree, and is as fwcet as our new Wines. They 

 fetch it fbme five or fix leagues off, upon Horics, that carry two earthen-Bottles of 

 each fide, and trot at a great rate } of which there come every day to the City 

 above five or fix-hunder'd. The King has a confiderable Revenue by the Import 

 which he lays upon this Tari. And for that reafon he permits lb many common 

 Women, in regard it is for their fake that fo much Tari. is confiim'd j thofe that 

 fell it, for that caufe, keeping their Shopvs by thofe Houfes. 



Thcfe fort of Women are lb nimble and active, that when the prefent King went 

 to lee Majlipatan, nine of them undertook to reprefent the figure of an Elephant ; 

 four making the four feet, four the bodv, and one the trunk ; upon which the 

 King, fitting in a kind of Throne, made his entry into the City. 



All the Men and Women of Golconda are well proportion'd, and of comely 

 ftatures ; and fair enough in their countenances ; only the Countrey-people are a 

 little more fwart. 



The prefent King of Golconda bears the Name of Abdottl-Coutou-Ska ; and I 

 will tell the Reader in a few words, from whence he drew his Original. In the 

 Reign of Axbar King of India, the Father of ?eban-Guir, the Territories of the 

 Great Moguls did not extend farther Southward then Narbider -, to that the River 

 which runs by it, and which coming from the South, empties it felf into Gangc^ 

 feparatcd their Dominions from the Territories of the Raja of Narfwgn, that 



* K ftretch'd 



