FATHER A. MONSERRATE’S MONGOLICAE LEGATIONS COMMENTARIES. 531 
I refrain from analysing here more fully the contents of the MS. Suffice it to 
say that Monserrate’s account of the Kabul campaign (1581-82), about which the 
Muhammadan historians teach us very little (Cf. Eeuot, Hist, of India, Vol. V, 
Tabakat-i-Akbari , pp. 421 — 427), occupies fully a hundred pages (fob 39 b to fol. 92 a). 
And, since the subject continually crops up, I may as well announce that no 
revelations are to be expected about John Philip de Bourbon, or Akbar’s Christian 
wife. Monserrate’s silence in the latter instance is all the more insignificant, as he 
labours to explain Akbar’s leanings towards Christianity from the fact that some of his 
remote ancestors had been Christians. Akbar appears indeed to have had a Christian 
wife, but this must have been later. As for the appellation of Bibi Mariam ki kothi 
at Fatehpur, the reader will discover in this book (fob 356. 3 — fob 3 ya. 2) good reasons 
to believe it commemorates to this day the house and domestic ( ? ) chapel which 
Bl. R. Aquaviva and his companions had close to the Emperor’s lodgings. Monser- 
rate states that the Fathers had only to cross a door to be within the Emperor’s 
quarters. This is true of Blbi Mariam’s kothi. Hence, the name would commemo- 
rate the fact that it contained the picture of Our Eady, “ Blbi Mariam,” which 
Akbar came repeatedly to venerate in 1580. Close to Bibi Mariam’s kothi, there is a 
small separate building with a gable roof, the only one of its kind at Fatehpur. I 
failed to notice it on my visit to the place in December 1912 ; but, Father Felix, 
O.C., of Maryabad, Gujranwala Dt., Panjab, showed me a photograph of it. It 
looks altogether like a European construction, and would have answered the 
purposes of a chapel for the few European and Armenian Catholics then at Fatehpur. 
A small line of low penthouses, within the courtyard of Bibi Mariam’s house and 
built against the outer wall of the Emperor’s quarters, might have contained the 
Fathers’ kitchen. Local tradition still connects it with a kitchen. 
A word or two in explanation of the editing of the text. 
I have removed nearly all the abbreviations, but have imitated the spelling as 
closely as possible. Earlier versions of the text appear as foot-notes. In the main, the 
old-fashioned but systematic punctuation has been preserved. My reason for doing 
so was that I did not wish to obtrude any personal interpretation of the text in the case 
of the more difficult passages. I have, however, in many cases used full stops and 
capitals where the original did not. Lastly, as the text runs on without a break, 
I have paragraphed it to make the reading more easy and agreeable, and enable the 
reader to find more readily what he is in search of. With the same purpose in view, 
I have introduced marginally directions as to the contents. In doing so, I have 
adopted for proper names and place-names the orthography of the new Imperial 
Gazetteer , 26 vols. Names not identified have a mark of interrogation. Any remarks 
within [ ] are mine. 
Finally, let me record my obligations for valuable suggestions to Revv. FF. F. 
Opdebeeck, S.J., Paul Lefebvre, S.J., and C. Martindale, S.J. 
St. Xavier's College, Calcutta. 
