50 Travels î/itû the IN DIE S. Part III. 
A Fair of the 
Ladies of ihe 
Serrjiglie, 
The great La- 
dies, Shop- 
keepers. 
Begum. 
Sluenchenies. 
The Kings Pre- 
fents at Neu- 
rous. 
The Prcfents 
of the Great 
Lords to the 
King. 
brought -, and that (as it is ufiial ) the Jewels of the other little Thrones 
had beeli taken off, for the adorning of this. 
The Fcftival began in the Sermglto , by a Fair that was kept there." The 
Ladies and Daughters of the great Lords, were permitted to come to it • and 
the Coiirt-Ladies of lels Quality, (who thought themiclves witty enough to 
make their Court, by putting off the curious Things that they had brought 
thither) were the Shop-keepers : But thele had not all the Trade to them- 
felves -, for the Wives of the Omras 3.nd Rajas (who were allowed to come 
in ) opened Shop alfo, and brought with them the richell Goods they could 
find ; and which they thought fuited beft with the King,and the Prinçeffes 
of his Serraglio. Many had occafion by felling, and difputing pleafantlv and 
wittily, about the Price of the things,which the King and his Wives came to 
cheapen , to make their Husbands Court -, and to Hip in Prefents to thofç 
that could ferve them in bettering their Fortune , or keeping them as they 
Were. 
The King and his Begum^ pay'd often double value for a thing, when the 
Shop-keeper pleas'd them ^ but that was, when they rallied "w'lmly and gen- 
tilely (as People of Quality commonly do ) in buying and felling : And fo 
it happened, that the wittieft and faireft were always moft favoured. All 
thefe itranger Ladies , were entertained in the Serraglio with Feàfting, and 
Dancings of ^enchenies, who are Women and Maids of a Cafte of that 
name, having no other Profeflion but chat of Dancing : And this Fair laft- 
ed five days. 
It is true , The Commodities fold there, WTre not fo fine , nor rich, as 
they would have been, had the Feftival been kept in l^ehly or Agra -, but the 
beft, and moft prêtions Things that were to be found in Az.mer, and in the 
neareft Towns , were expofed to Sale there ^ wherewith the King was ve- 
ry well fatiffied. 
During thefe re)oycings of the- Serraglio, The great Men,who kept Guard, 
entertained themfelves at their Pofts, or elfewhere • And there were a great 
many Tables ferved at the Kings charges , which gave them occafion to 
Celebrate the Neurom , or New Years Feaft merrily. 
The King appeared daily 'm xht Amcas^ at his uiual hour, but not in ex- 
traordinary Magnificence before the feventh day -, and then the Lords(who 
had every day changed Cloaths) appeared in their richeft Apparel. They 
all went to falute the King, and His Majefty made them Prefents , which 
were only fome Galantries of fmall value , that did not coft him Four hun- 
dred thoufand French Livres. The eighth and ninth days , The King alfo 
fat on his Throne , (when he was not Feafting with his Princefs and Omras^ 
in one of the Out-Halls ) where he made himfelf feveral times familiar 
with them -, but that familiarity excufed them not from making him Pre- 
fents. There was neither Omra , nor Manfepdar , but made him very rich 
Prefents -, and that of the Governour,or Tributary oiAz^mer^ was the moft 
confiderable of all. Thefe Prefents were reckoned in all , to amount to 
fourteen or fifteen Millions. The Feftival concluded at Court, by a review 
of the Kings Elephants and Horfcs, pompoufly equipped \ and in the Town 
by a great many Fire-works, that came after their Feafting. Gshanguir , 
indeed, gave not the Princes , and great Lords, the equivalent of the Pre- 
fents they made him at this Solemnity: But he rewarded them afterwards 
by Offices, and Employments. And this is the courfe the King commonly 
takes with them , and few complain of it. 
CHAP. 
